I awoke to the feeling as if something strong was looking for me. I was hidden in my illusion layers so I should be safe but I also went into stealth. I was still curled up and comfy in my tail ball. The feeling went away. I was relieved. My buddies came to mind. I dropped stealth, my illusions and uncurled from my tails. That proved to be a fatal mistake. I instantly got attacked by something blue and pink and it was… a hug? I can''t… breathe… is this how I die?


    “So dramatic! What do you think of my new look!” I can''t… see anything like this…


    “Oh silly me!” I finally got released. Phew, I almost choked there. I took a step back and looked at her. Whoa. I mean what of it?


    “Hehe! I knew it! You like it don''t you?” She spun around. I’m sure you did something unnecessary; you seem almost twice as strong as you were before, and… you went for the bubblegum witch look I assume? Please don’t tell me your charm magic also got a boost…


    “Yes! It looks great on me!” I can’t deny that… Azu pounced at me and locked arms.


    “Let''s go!” Go where?


    “Where else of course! A date on the lake!” You mean the hexagon? And I have important stuff to do!


    “Like?” Uhm, the dimensional fabric!


    “Didn''t you say that you could only do something about it if the root was gone? Gregory says that it became weaker after the guardians got defeated so we just have to be patient!” But…


    “Let''s go!” Someone... Help… We arrived at the hexagon. So, what is the plan?


    “I want to chat!” Uhm, ok.


    “Well… I was afraid that I wouldn''t have enough mana to help you guys out for this whole timeline but I solved the problem now.” She showed off the pink strands of hair. So, this wasn''t just a fashion statement?


    “I killed two birds with one stone! This also made me sexier. I can feel it your heart is skipping beats!” She got really close. Well even though you are difficult to deal with I’m glad that you can stick around for longer.


    “Yeah… You might think of me as being difficult but everything I do is for a reason…” I started to feel bad. I know that she has been imprisoned and alone for over 2 millennia. I’m sure I’m just not great at dealing with people who act as you do…


    “That''s fine! It’s so endearing!” Ugh, so you absorbed your pink clone I assume? There are 0 side effects?


    “No side effects! It took me some time to fix that though but I’m just me now with some extra oomph!” So, are you giving up on your name Azure Mist? You are quite… pink now.


    “Hmm well, that name is quite stuck to me so nothing will change that. A lot of strong individuals get nicknames fitting their personalities, battle styles, or a strong custom moves they are known by. For me, it is [Azure Mist] as you know.” Yeah, that Thing stood no chance. I don''t even know what happened…


    “Hehe. You will find out eventually! And well uhm, I kind of lied to you… My real name isn''t Azurra Mist. Please don''t hate me!” Hmm, I kind of figured that, I don’t mind it that much, you must have a good reason for why.


    “Well… I didn''t want you to treat me differently.” Hmm? Why would we?


    “Well, this how I look now is how I really look like, well the pink is new... But this prison altered my appearance to… not sexy.” Wait? Are you Troll? I mean Kanna?!


    “No silly! You know me as Uraya.” What? I had difficulties processing what I just heard.


    “It is me, Uraya! This prison forced me to age like a human… I hate it!” What? So, the reason you acted so familiar was…


    “Yes, I already knew you guys for 5 years. But you guys suck at hiding stuff it was quite funny.” Wait so…


    “Yes, that was me” And back when?


    “Also, me!” And when the!


    “That was me too!” Hey, wait a second there''s no way you did all those random events I came up with!


    “Ooh, so you''ve noticed” Ugh, my headache…


    “My real name is Ayaru Mistflower, but you can keep calling me Azu, I have grown to like that name.” Aha… I still was shocked.


    “You are not upset, are you?” No, just shocked. So, all that stuff you needed for your potion?


    “Was to get back to this!” She struck another cute pose. Right… Is that why you needed so many mist flowers? “Oh no, I love mist flowers, here smell!” Too close! I can smell them yes! I guess that checks out then…


    “So, you had no idea that I was Uraya? I was getting nervous 2 timelines ago because I thought you caught on!” I’m sorry… I had no clue.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    “Hehe, then I still got it! I deceived a nine-tail spirit fox! I will take cuddling your tails as a reward!” Uhh, sure.


    “Yay!” My tails got assaulted as I was deep in thought. All the interactions I had with Uraya flashed by. In hindsight, it started to make sense. Hey Azu, if you got the nickname Azure Mist because of your skill wouldn''t it be a problem to just give it to me? She popped her head out from my tails.


    “Not really, mentors and couples do that all the time.” But I don''t fall into either category! She popped her head out again.


    “That is fine!” What would the witch community think if they saw me use that skill?


    “Oh, that might be a bad idea, they will go after you and know that I escaped. Not that I care if they go after me.” Figured…


    “Oh! I have more skills to teach you and your friends!” Uhh, we’re fine!


    “Rejected!” I felt mana flow into my tails and got 2 passive skills and 2 more magic skills. Really?!


    “Hehe, whoopsie?” I’m sure that was deliberate! Azu escaped from my tails and ran to my buddies.


    “Ted! Help! I made Agnis mad!” Don''t listen to her it’s a trap! She put her hands on Ted’s shoulder as she hid behind him and winked at me. Hey, what! Wait what is this, Azu? She ran away again! I used [accel step] because she was cheating with dimensional magic again.


    “Raishin! Want another hug?” Of course! Oooh, so soft, wait what is this? I guess I can''t stop her…


    “Hey, Gregory!” What? Hmm, interesting. Ugh, I was too late. [Earthquake] and [Arcane mastery] eh? I got [Chain Lightning] and [Updraft]. I got [Shadow Separation] and [Quicksand].


    “Hehe, you’re welcome!” Isn''t passing skills on like that either extremely rare or extremely hard?


    “Hehe, I’m a genius so it''s no problem for me!” I guess we just became bigger environmental hazards. Since when do you care about the environment? Ted pointed at this whole area. I have to say, he has a point. So, what did you get Agnis? A headache… Did you learn all this magic or did you make some of them?


    “Ooh, a good question! Most of these I learned but my research was focused on magic skill synthesis. I focused on passive skills but I also made a lot of custom skills! [Arcane mastery] is something I helped Paula with. I recreated my interpretation of [Shadow Separation] after I saw an assassin use it after he failed his assassination attempt on me. It was quite hard to make. The rest I just learned.” So, what did you get Agnis? I got [Purifying flame] passive skill. Whenever I use fire-based attacks they have a chance to remove effects like confusion, panic, and nausea.


    “This one was hard to make without my workshop, I don''t have anything against your nausea, sorry Gregory.” That is fine, Did you make this recently?


    “Yup, but I’m out of mana runes now and [Purifying flame] is quite limited, normally It would guarantee the removal of nausea but because I was short on materials and don’t have my workshop, this is the best I could do it should have a 20% chance to remove those attacks so just blast away when you get nauseous!” Cool! So, you gave him a reason to blast away… at this point, I’m not surprised anymore… I got [Frozen skin] whenever I use water and I guess frost attacks I get this which protects me from taking damage. It seems to build layers and each one protects against 1 hit. Finally! You’re not a glass cannon anymore! Thank you, Azu!


    “Well, it only builds 5 layers and after it loses 1 layer it will become inactive for 30 minutes. It is also weak against multiple attacks. This was the last skill I worked on before I got imprisoned. It is incomplete but it should prove useful.” I got [Dimensional sword] and [Meteor]... Meteor? Meteor?! Cool!


    “It suits him right! He can drop a [Meteor] and Raishin can use [Solar stream]!” Hey, Agnis it doesn''t damage us just like your other skills, right? Right? Uhh, want to find out?


    Noo! Noo! I was kidding chill guys! Thank you for the cool skills Azu! We will try to not destroy the world with them!


    She gave Agnis [Meteor]… we are all going to die! Hey, come on it’s not that bad! Wait isn''t that one of those skills that get more powerful the user''s affinity is to its element?


    “That is correct Raishin!” Wait so if this guy with a stupid high-fire affinity uses it what will happen?


    “Is his fire affinity that high?” Phoenix and 9t fox checking in!


    “Oh, be careful to not destroy cities or a country then haha!” Silence fell. I will… try to not use it. I bet 2 gold that he will forget to not use it! You don''t even have that much gold!


    I will after I win! Right, thank you Azu. We have to remember that we might have to deal with gods in the near future so on that scale these attacks aren''t that crazy…


    Hey Azu? How many [Meteor] does Agnis need to cast to drop a god?


    “Hmm, maybe 15 or 20? Depends on the god and if he can hit them.” 15 or 20? How am I supposed to cast that many? That is not the point? Right, I guess we now can destroy this root, just let Agnis cast [Meteor] and Raishin [Solar stream] ...


    Oh, yeah that would work. How long does it take for your meteor to drop Agnis? Well according to this magic skill, it depends on my fire affinity. Time until impact, the power, its speed, and its size, are all determined by my fire affinity. So, it will drop instantly, be enormous, and vaporize everything, gotcha.


    Anyways it''s getting late let''s rest up because this guardian doesn''t seem like he will come out today. Ooh, I can''t wait to blow up Slowpoke and then the root! Tomorrow is going to be a good day! We ate some deer Raishin caught with again fish from my dimensional pocket. Azu told my buddies what she told me. It seems they too were shocked. We talked about our new skills and other different stuff and then decided to go to sleep. I was about to curl up in my tails to sleep when I saw Azu look at me with puppy eyes.


    No! Azu dove at me as I curled up. I think she got caught between my tails but I was safe.