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nThere were a group of about twenty puppets now sitting outside of the inn. They were just standing there, staring at the inn. They weren’t up against the barrier, nor did they seem to be trying to force their way into the barrier. Rather, they were just standing there. I thought about sanctifying the ground under their feet, but once I did that, I had a feeling things were going to get messy.

n“Lydia, do you see any other entities outside of the possessed dolls?” I asked, remembering that she mentioned other spirits from before.

nLydia shook her head. “I can see… some kind of aura resonating from the dolls themselves. I think the spirits are using them to hide. Even if we cut one down, it won’t kill the spirit. It can just attach itself to something else.”

n“If I cast Divine Aura on your sword, I have a suspicion that it will damage the ghost and the doll at once,” I explained. “It’s possible we can do something with her spirit fire too. It’d be nice if we could imbue your blade with the spirit fire. Actually, that gives me an idea. You learned a few sword skills from the guys at the Adventurer’s guild, right?”

nLydia nodded. “Yes, I learned a few sword techniques appropriate for my level.”

n“Does any imbue your sword with a kind of aura. Something that lasts for a minute or two?”

nLydia cocked her head, scrunching her nose as she thought for a moment, but then nodded excitedly. “Ah… that’s right, I have something called sharpened blade which makes my sword sharper for about ten minutes. The cooldown is pretty quick too, but I haven’t tried including it in my attacks yet.”

n“Miki!” I called out.

nMiki looked up from the books. “Yes, Master?”

n“Can you create that spirit fire as you did before? Once you do it, I’d like you to toss it to Lydia.”

n“Eh?” Lydia gave a nervous look.

n“Don’t worry, we’re at a party together, it won’t hurt you,” I explained. “When she tosses the fire at you, I want you to try to activate sharpening blade, but imagine incorporating the fire into your blade.”

nThese guys didn’t see their skills like I did, so I was trying to create a fusion skill simply by describing what I felt when I created mine. It was easier said than done, and I wasn’t convinced this would work, but it was worth a shot.

nThe girls obediently followed my orders, although both looked nervous. Miki was afraid of hurting Lydia, and I think Lydia was more afraid of failing and letting me down. I wanted to tell her it was okay if it didn’t work, but I didn’t want her to be too quick to give up on it either. Miki put her hands together and her tails started to undulate as the glowing light ebbed and brightened. Each rotation of light, the fireball was a little bigger. She created one a bit smaller than the one she had accidentally tossed at me.

n“I’m ready…” she said.

n“Throw it!” Lydia had her sword out and looked like she wanted to chop the fireball down.

nMiki threw the fireball and it struck Lydia’s sword. Lydia let out a noise and then squinted real hard. A light glowed over the sword, white in color. Meanwhile, the blue spirit fire started to disperse. It looked like it was going to disappear completely when suddenly a little light caught on and the fire spread until the sword was no longer sheathed in white light, but blue fire instead.

n“Ah… amazing! Master is amazing!” Lydia said excitedly, waving the sword, the silent flame dancing in her movements.

n“It really works… Master…” Miki was looking at me like I had done some miracle for her.

n“Actually, my magic circle should last another hour,” I explained. “Let’s practice your spirit fire. It’ll definitely be useful in the fight to come.”

nMiki continued to make spirit fire, and while at first, it took about thirty seconds, she had decreased that time to only a few seconds. It was major progress considering the short time. I had her chuck a few more fireballs at me. However, I was not presented with the text to create a fusion again. I also tried with Lydia’s other sword skills, and that also ended in failure.

nI suspected the answer was pretty simple. You only got one fusion per ability per people. I had fused her spirit fire with one of my skills. Neither skill could be used in another fusion with Miki. Perhaps if I knew another spirit fox, we could fuse a different skill, but that was the limitation of this new technique. I was stuck with my spirit circle, and Lydia was stuck with her spirit sword.

n“Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this?” I asked Lydia. “They will attack your mind.”

nAlthough Lydia looked uncertain, she gave me a smile. “I won’t freeze again! I can fight these monsters! With Miki next to me working hard, I couldn’t face master if I ran away.”

n“Alright…”

nWe turned to look out the window. There were about fifty puppets standing across the street, just waiting for the magic circle’s power to wane.

n“It’s time. We’ll get the first strike!”

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