Columbina finished absorbing the last bit of power and floated away from the pile of filth that reeked of sour rot, regrouping with Coppelia, who had run over to meet her.
"How does it feel to be stronger?" Coppelia asked with a smile on her face.
"Very happy," Columbina replied, her voice somewhat lighter than before. "I've become much stronger." She paused, looking toward the shallows where the battle had taken place. "Now... I can fight alongside you, too."
She extended her hands, and solidified white moonlight flowed at her fingertips, as if she were scooping up a handful of tangible yet formless water made of light.
"No," she corrected her previous statement. "Now, I can beat all those guys away by myself."
Coppelia looked at the other's eager demeanor, a thought crossing her mind: With this sudden increase in strength, is her ego getting a bit inflated? But thinking about it from her perspective, if I suddenly got stronger, I'd probably get carried away too.
She raised a hand to point at the deep-water pool, now covered in ice and barred by a stone pillar, and changed the subject. "By the way, when that large Vishap jumped back into the water just now, why did you rush down after it without even thinking? I didn't even have time to react."
"Shouldn't we have chased it?" Columbina asked back, somewhat puzzled.
"I'm not saying we shouldn't have chased it." Coppelia gestured with her hands, trying to explain clearly. "I mean, before chasing, we should at least have some preparation, like thinking about what we might encounter. What if it wasn't just running away, but deliberately luring us into the water, where more and stronger companions were hiding? If we suddenly encountered an ambush underwater, we might not have been able to defend against it."
"It ran away as soon as it saw us," Columbina said with certainty, her tone carrying the confidence brought by her power. "I'm stronger than it. I could definitely defend against it."
"What if running away was an act?" Coppelia pressed on. "What if there were guys underwater that even we couldn't handle?"
"Do they lie too?" Columbina was a little confused.
"Of course they do." Coppelia nodded. "Anything can lie." She paused, thinking of an example the other might understand. "Even the moon can lie..."
The moment the word "moon" left her lips, fragments of certain memories surged forth: the false sky, that "moon" which seemed close at hand yet could never be touched, and the fear that welled up from the depths of the soul when attempting to fly towards it...
She shuddered involuntarily, and her brows and the corners of her mouth, which had been slightly upturned, slowly drooped.
Coppelia immediately caught the shift in the other's mood.
"I'm not trying to discourage you." Her tone softened. "Getting stronger is a good thing; I'm happy for you. I just hope that after getting stronger, you won't be too impulsive. It never hurts to think a bit more before acting; that way, you can avoid a lot of unnecessary danger."
Saying this, she paused herself, a look of mixed shame appearing on her face. "Actually... I often fail to do what I'm saying myself." Her voice grew lower. "At the start, when you said you wanted to sneak over and get the stones, I agreed almost without thinking... As a result, we caused such a huge commotion, attracted all the Vishaps, and dragged you into such a dangerous situation... We could have achieved our goal in a safer way."
"But," Columbina interrupted her softly, her gaze turning toward the pile of Moonlight Stones that had turned into residue, "if we hadn't made that commotion, we wouldn't have drawn out that large Vishap. Wouldn't we have missed out on that other large half of the stones?"
Coppelia opened her mouth, momentarily at a loss for words. It seemed... that was indeed true.
Seeing Coppelia about to speak again, a small smile reappeared on Columbina's face.
"Don't worry. I understand what you mean. In the future, I'll pay more attention."
"Then it's a deal," Coppelia relaxed as well, speaking half-jokingly. "If I get too impulsive in the future, remember to remind me too."
"Mhm." Columbina nodded.
Just then, a zzzt sound of electric current coursing through water came from beneath the frozen deep-water pool. In the empty and silent underground space, this sound was exceptionally clear. The two, still in conversation, turned their heads simultaneously to look in the direction of the sound.
Coppelia reacted first, raising her hand to point toward the hidden cave entrance high up on the rock wall from where they had come. "We'd better leave here first. This is their lair, after all."
"Wait a moment," Columbina said.
"Did you sense attraction again?" Coppelia asked.
Columbina shook her head. "I just blocked the door to their home."
As she spoke, she raised her hand.
Solidified moonlight surged from around her body once again, flowing like water. From that "stream of light," six or seven diamond-shaped water bullets, the size of a palm and with sharp edges, rapidly separated and hovered silently.
She swung her arm forward. The water bullets shot out soundlessly, precisely hitting the thick layer of ice sealing the pool's opening.
Pfft, pfft, pfft... With a series of dense, soft sounds, the sturdy ice surface instantly disintegrated, falling into the water with a crash and disappearing.
Next, Columbina's hand pointed at the thick stone pillar lying across the pool's mouth. The stone pillar trembled slightly, then slowly detached from the gap between the rock wall and the water surface, floating upward. She controlled it, making it fly steadily back to where it had collapsed earlier, setting it down gently as if it had never been moved.
Almost the second the stone pillar was moved away, with a splash, a deep purple Bathysmal Vishap popped its head out of the water, looking around vigilantly.
However, it only saw a faint white light flash and vanish before its eyes.
In the underground space, aside from its own heavy breathing and the dripping sound of water, there was nothing left.
...
With a flash of white light that came without warning, the surrounding scene instantly switched from a gloomy cave to open daylight and a gentle breeze brushing their faces. They were now standing on the land of Fontaine, with solid earth and green grass beneath their feet.
Coppelia knew that Columbina had used her power to teleport them directly to the surface. She turned her head to look at her companion; seeing that Columbina's breathing was steady and long, and that there was not a trace of exhaustion on her face from the long-distance travel or overexertion, she finally felt relieved.
Teleportation... this was clearly some form of spatial authority. Authorities related to space were not common. Coppelia's thoughts couldn't help but drift: Was the Frost Moon itself connected to the Shade of Space? Or was it a trait inherent to the Moon God's authority? She immediately cut off these boundless associations. Thinking about these things had no substantial meaning.
She looked up at the sky. It was still daylight; the sun hung in the west. Judging by its position, it was probably only three or four o'clock in the afternoon. It seemed they hadn't been delayed too long underground.
____
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