She started small, first, what was in front of her, she felt her mana and how it reacted with everything around her apartment. Within it, she felt [More] kinda simir to how it was around the basement where her former self had floated ihe pod.

  But outside the apartment? It was desoted, and while the atmosphere wasn't hostile. It wasn't weling, only the bck fmes seemed to wele her, but now that she khose were tempering the pce... Yeah, she didn't want to mess with them.

  So she felt around, the shadows? They seemed to flow freely within the apartment.

  The mana? It was calm and rexing.

  One by one she checked everything and found something iing. While she could [Will] something to happen, that ed [Idea], the maion of her desire brought upoy. A within the apartment, there seemed to be a third force at py.

  It wasn't the shadows, while those were fast and almost om within the apartment (And ruined city in general) it wasn't that what answered her. It wasn't her maher, or not her normal fvor of mana.

  If she willed for any of the appliao work, they turned and moved, if she willed for a door to open or close, it did so. But it wasn't her shadows or pure mana those that moved them.

  "Is it air?" She wondered aloud, trying to imagine how that would go, remembering the wind spells she used before and trying to mimic that without using the actual spell formue.

  "...." It didn't work.

  Obviously, she already khat it wouldn't, but she didn't want to think about the obvious reason. " *sigh* Fine..." And after her feeble attempt at not looking at the truth she raised her right hand towards the outside of her apartment and focused on the weird new sense she had.

  "[Railgun]" And ihe hat both Chloe and Alexanders seemed to love.

  Immediately afterward she felt some kind of reflex within her mind activate at the subvocalization of those words, first, she felt as if her sciousness sank within the area around her. It seemed as if she could feel every metallic object within her radius of influence, and within those, her mana g to the motes of metallic dust taking them towards her hands, floating a mere timeters away from her index finger.

  Afterward, that clump of metallid densed into a small orb that floated there in pce, immediately afterward her mana formed a tunnel where it modified the magic properties of the barrel and within a sed the small sphere of metal that was floating in front of her index finger moved into that el.

  *BANG*

  And like that a beam got shot from her index firaveling faster than it should be able without damaging anything around her aroying one of the ruined buildings near her apartment.

  "Huh..." Elizabeth couldn't believe herself even though she was aware that part of the [Skill] of Chloe had bee for her...That ed way less mana than she should if only by going on what Chloe had left her.

  But then again "Using the formue left by the knowledge Alexanders left...Improved the efficy?" She had mixed part of the informatio from Alexanders memories of sce.

  In that way she had maniputed the reflexes imbued within her mind to tweak the way her mana maniputed the eleagic currents, she had turhe way it reacted with the world around her and saved some mana here and there.

  And it felt [Right], she also noticed how the crumbling building outside reformed and somehow felt ected to her, like this apartment...Like the building in the middle of the city.

  "Do I o destroy the whole pce?" Elizabeth wondered aloud.

  "We would prefer something less destructive Mistress, while the pce isn't real. The destru does take a toll on your [Soul] and [Mana]." Said Sebastian to her left.

  The butler hadn't left yet, she had thought he would.

  "Fine...Let me think about this then." She said and moved forward to the closest apartment to her.

  She would try to seed her mana in each apartment and see if that would work, how long could it take her anyway?

  "IT TAKES TOO LOOOOOOONG!!!!" Elizabeth screamed at the injustice of the world.

  She had decided to go apartment by apartment to [Cim] the buildings, at some point she tried to take more than one apartment and see if that worked. It did, but it also left her more tired, it saved her the effort of climbing stairs too often so it was a good exge in her opinion.

  She had spent the st month doing so and she had barely mao [Cim] a few bloear her apartment, more than half of the city was still uncimed... And Rossie's mana infusions had started to beore and med.

  So she was running arouending her shadows all around to try and cim more and more parts of the [Soulscape], "Mistress there are no more buildings left in this area besides that one." Aian the always helpful butler was around pointing her in the right dire to move.

  The buildi owerpnt, it seemed to be the one responsible for p this side of the ruined city, because of course this cursed peeded personal power stations...No wait, do cities usually have power stations?

  Her gut told her no, usually, cities didn't have separate power stations, but her instincts told her that this was better from a broader infrastructure point of view as each part of the city would be indepe in case of a crisis on the prid.

  Either way, she expanded her shadows towards it "What's ...." Started asking to the butler when her shadows got zapped and scurried away from the power station. "What?"

  The electricity seemed to be destroying any shadows that got close, that...." Shouldn't be possible." Was something hostile within?

  She didn't feel anything wrong there "Mistress that is one of the nodes for your hunder] aligned skill, you will o use the correct mana." Sebastian said.

  At this, Elizabeth just grumbled about rude butlers letting her get zapped, "Fiupid [Soulscape]...Stupid smart-ass butler..." And focused inward, searg for the spark of lighting within her soul.

  She felt a chamber within the building in the middle of the city start an engine and in tandem, electricity danced in her hands and so she walked towards the power station. She didn't make it far before notig aric outlet in a wall.

  She was usiricity...And that power station was right there, so perhaps...

  "[Assimite]" Elizabeth called while a lightning bolt shot from her hand into the outlet, she could feel the energy c through the outlet into the prid, assimiting everything within into her trol.

  One by ohe rooms within the building became a part of [Her Soulscape], it was...Easier. She noticed how the building seemed to bee part of her soulscape in a way no other buildings had, the powerlines were hidden deep within the building and enpassed it fully.

  Soon her mana spread all over the building and whehought it would be all...Then it tinued spreading, a web of lighting c across the city blocks she had taken over already.

  Eae shone brighter in her mind after the lighting spread in them, rooms that were dim in her perception turned brighter, and parts of buildings she didn't ked lit in her mind, she noticed how it seemed that while her shadows always found pces to be...They couldn't be everywhere, not really.

  There were spots where light did...And if there isn't light...Then there 't be shadows.

  Su obvious thing, and she had missed it pletely.

  "gratutions Mistress, the north block is yours to and," Sebastian said, his presenehow dimmer this time.

  "What happeo you?" She asked to the small butler.

  "My presence is a remnant of your former self...Even if your current one is the same, I shall only remain as long as you stay. Only lord Nyxfyre will survive the merge." Sebastian spoke with sudden gravitas, "You will probably o try and summon us again, and while Miss Beatrice would be easier to summon...I fear my existence will not be."

  "Why?" Asked Elizabeth, she...Didn't i much with the butler, since most of the time she used Beato to transte.

  "Miss Beatrice was summoned using your and the sort's mana. While I was summoirely from your mana, the signature for Miss Beatrice should be easy to create sihe sort provided most of it. As...Mine is not." Sebastian spoke as if this meant nothing. "Do not attempt a folly such as spamming for my creation Mistress. My mission was to guide you to this point and I have fulfilled, we [Minions] do not have a [Soul] or [Life]."

  That...Her skill said that too didn't it? That her minions weren't alive. But he felt alive?

  "Okay..." Even so, she wouldn't bring that up, she did feel bad for Sebastian as he wasn't around that much, and while Nyx was adorable and sleeping partner, Sebastian wasn't.

  He wasn't like Beato either who moved here and there helping them, no...Sebastian was just there...Waiting... Waiting for this? She wasn't sure, but he probably just wao fulfill some kind of mission. Probably another of the surprises Alexanders left for her.

  Still, this seemed to be a better way to take trol of her [Soulscape] so she would do it like that for the other sectors, first take trol of the power station and then spread her influence, make sure everything was under her trol and spread her shadows after to make sure. "Let's go to the east sector," Elizabeth said trying to not think too much about Sebastian.

  "Right this way Mistress, would you like to take the subway station?" And so they walked away.

  She didn't take the subway station though, that thing gave her bad vibes, it was weird to see bck fmes on the surface but nothing underground. Bad juju lies there.

  "And that is another sector done!" Elizabeth said with a tired tone, in the end, she hadn't got into the subway even once. So she had to walk all the way from sector to sector.

  It wasn't that bad at first, since she had pany with her, Sebastian was a good talker when she prodded him the right way... So she missed the guy, and she hadn't even spoken that long with him!

  Like...Maybe a couple of weeks total?

  He had disappeared pletely after she was halfway through the south sector, so she ended up having to rely on her shadows to mark the parts she had taken over already. Those had bee easier to manipute the further she took trol.

  That in turn made it obvious that she rogressing and helped point her in the right dire...But the disappearance of Sebastia that the [Soulscape] was more [Her] than [Previous Elizabeth]...Or Alexanders...

  Or whoever this thing was before, she wasirely sure at this point. Not after finding out that Alexanders didn't have a [Soulscape] yeah, that was iing to find out about. When she finished assimiting the south sector she found a hidden cache with some books about Alexanders.

  Among them was one expining that he was maniputing mana to gee electricity manually and his experiments to try and create a [Core] to help with this. The madman dimension was in the earlier stages of creating mana, and he was already rushing for the creation of skills.

  He had got information about [Soulscape] from her Mother and wao make one for himself, but he didn't succeed though. But he mao create a on of some kind, the reports ehere and so she filed it away as something iing to know.

  But it was relevant because...That meant that the soulscape wasn't from Alexanders, it wasn't from Chloe since she owered, and they didn't have access to a [Soulscape], or not like a [Magical Girl] had.

  She couldn't imagine Chloe having one like this either, so that meant that...This revious Elizabeth's Soulscape?

  It wasn't the Cathedral/Library, but this? A ruined city?

  Granted she was (Allegebly) the reination of Alexanders, and he did destroy his world (Allegebly) but even so...Was this the reason she could take trol of the pce like this?

  Hard to know...

  Now she was standing at the boundary between the west sector and the north sector, the st sector she o trol to hold all the sectors under her reign... And the first sector she started with.

  "With this, I will be able to wake up...Finally..." Elizabeth said to herself, she had rushed the st part, to be ho.

  As the flood of mana from Rossie started to crumble faster and faster she was getting bad feelings, the st batch had tasted like blood...Mana shouldn't taste like blood.

  So she raised her hands to the sky "[Assimite]" and intoned as such, calling on the mana she had seeded in all the sectors to rush forward and flood the prid, she had found that this ossible duritempts at taking shortcuts with the west sector.

  She could call a rush of mana from a previous sector to flood into a new one, finding the spots the mana cut out and walking towards the power o power it manually, and so she mao cut time!

  Now it was barely over four months since she woke up here!

  God knows how much time she spent unscious before that, she had an inkling that it should be betweeo two months between aggregated time after waking up and before waking up.

  And then she felt herself be yanked, she was ready this time so she closed her eyes and allowed herself to fly across the space of [Her Soulscape].

  When she opened her eyes she was once more in the basement of the tral building, within the crystal pod that the previous Elizabeth had been. The pod en so she just walked out of it, examining the boratory iail.

  It was still mostly destroyed, with chairs on the floor and papers all around, half of them burned with some having barely legible letters on them, but at one of the stations C with the monitor turned on.

  "Return? Y/N" Read Elizabeth from the monitor.

  That...Was the dumbest question she ever seen, of course, she wao return. Why in the nine pnes of hell and seven heavenly pnes would she want to sti her [Soulscape]?

  "Yes." She wrote into the puter.

  "[Elizabeth Starbright, know that the world ged. You are free of burdens now, but you also ged with the world.]" A voice spoke from the speakers.

  It sounded meical.

  "Doesn't matter, Rossie needs me so I will return," Elizabeth answered with determination.

  "[So be it, you are no lohe Ior as someone else fulfilled your role. You may keep whatever your parents left for you.]" The speakers said and then a blue s showed in front of her.

  Ohat she had been trying to summon all this time to no avail.

  Notice:System initialization...Error, the user has a [System] installed.

  Uninstalling system....

  Resetting stats...

  Deleting user figuration...

  Removing [Authority]...

  ing cache...

  -------------------------------

  Wele new user to [The World's System]!

  May you bee a better and more you!

  You have [1] unread message.

  You have [■■] unread notifications.

  Warning, not accepting notifications mean you 't get the experieo level up.

  You are currently level [1] after the system initialization.

  Your [Skill] and [Magic] have been turned into new [Skills] for ease of use. You may still summon magical effects manually if you wish so, but the [System] will not help in the casting nor in mitigating mana backsh from failed cast of [Skills]. Also, no [Proficy] will be earhat way.

  May the [World] bless your travels.

  But that wasn't important, she felt herself grow weary, her body no longer responded like before, she felt weak, her eyelids were heavy, she struggled to breathe, and she felt dizzy. And her ched like something was stu it.

  She tried to swallow something that was stuck at the back of her throat but nothing happened, and while her eyelids felt heavy she still opened.

  "Eli-Eli, I'm back ?!" And just in time, just as her pink-haired friend walked into her room with a big strained smile on her face. She didn't look her way, since she was busy setting some bags near her bed.

  "I mao get everything on the list you gave me !" Said Rossie while pg some medie boxes on her dressing table. "I even mao get that new fvor you liked!"

  Seeing her like this made her smile "....ie....." She tried to say, but couldn't even pronouhe words right, her mouth didn't seem to want to speak, it was dry.

  "And here is your dinner how you like it ?!" Rossie said after donning a pair of gloves while holding a big syrihat seemed to hold around 40 cm of some weird liquid.

  It was at this point that Rossie finally looked at her, she could see that time hadn't been good with her, while her face looked normal and bright as usual, her eyes had dark circles uhem, and her hair wasn't as well cared as she remembered.

  And she seemed to be losi too.

  *crash*

  And she also seemed to be having some trouble with her hands, as she had dropped the syringe and she seemed to want to cry "A...E...A...Eli-Eli?" Rossie asked with a trembling voice.

  "..." She wao answer of course, but she doubted she would be able to, so instead she he motion made her grimace as something tugged at her face.

  Looking dowiced a tube ing from her face, and how it was tied to a railing on her bed, actually this wasn't her bed, was it?

  "Am I dreaming?" Rossie asked while walking towards her bed. Tears f in her eyes.

  She didn't seem sure about how to aor what to do, as if toug her would break some kind of spell she was under. Of course, Elizabeth didn't have that problem.

  She focused inwards trying to feel her mana pool, it was there, at the bottom of her sciousness, she could feel her [Soulscape], and her mana pool was miserable, barely anything to work with at all.

  "[Shadows...Heed my call...]" She didn't speak, no sound came out of her mouth, a...She had spoken and the shadows answered.

  The curtains closed, the door closed, and was locked. "I'm so sorry Eli-Eli...No...Elizabeth...I'm sorry..." Rossie was g in full now.

  This wouldn't do at all.

  She tried to raise her hand but her body couldn't answer her ands, so she maniputed a shadow tendril to move her hand for her, she was burning mana quite fast.

  At the same time, she motiohe shadows behind Rossie to move her forward, so she would sit on her bed. Rossie had enough mana to brush her off, more than enough to break all the feeble attempts she made to isote them from the outside world.

  But she did nothing, she accepted all with tears in her eyes and an attitude that pissed her, this wasn't her Rossie at all, this wasn't the girl she had been living with all this time.

  This would hurt her, she already k, and the backsh would be no joke, she hadn't even built her mana pool, so it would be bad, but it o be done.

  So while pooling the remaining mana she had she spoke "[I'm back Rossie]" once more, the only way she had to unicate right now.

  And using the shadows puppetering her body she grabbed Rossie's fad pushed it towards her so that her lips would find purchase on the pink-haired girl. Her lips felt parched against the lips of Rossie, she could feel herself losing track of time. It was but a mere tender brush, she didn't have the required strength for more, not yet anyway.

  Even as her hands lost strength as her mana flunked away, dropping to her sides she still g to Rossie's lips, the pink-haired girl seemed to wake up from her stupor as her hands hit the hospital mattress, her eyes fused, she had mao jolt away her tears.

  As their lips parted, a breath hung in the air, pregnant with unspoken words. Rossie seemed to have mao get trol of herself, but even so, she didn't know what to say.

  So she would be the oo do it this time so that she would reciprocate even a smidgen of the care the irl had doo her, she wouldn't be like her previous ignorant self who didn't notice Rossie's advances.

  Instead, she would kiss the girl and try not to think about anything else...

  And f herself she breathed deep and started vocalizing each word, this time not using mana nor that weird [Idea] nguage that she seemed to have mastered after her trip into her [Soulscape]

  Instead Elizabeth "L.....o......v.......e........y........o.........u......" she said oer at a time, enjoying every sed of Rossie's stunned face.

  All while it sted as she was feeling her sciousness slipping, 'ht the backsh' was the st scious thought she had.

  Before bg out.

  ht, she fot to sp Rossie...

  Well, she would do that ime she woke up. With some luck this time, it wouldn't take her 5-6 months. Oh, and she would o introduce her to Mother and Father...That would be fun.