"Elizabeth Starbright, [sit right now]." Rossie looked cute while angry.

  "I'm back Rossie." Elizabeth felt as if she was walking on top of clouds, the world seemed to till ever so slowly around.

  Was her shadow helpiand upright? She felt as if she was using some kind of mesh , but she never liked that type of clothing, it didn't mix well with her clothing style either.

  She usually dressed as a proper student, after all, she would like to see her Rossie wearing fishogs... and a fish blouse... and nothing else.

  "What have you doo [your soul]?" Rossie seemed to be fussing about her, she barely blinked once when arriving at the apartment and now Elizabeth was staring at the ceiling of their living room.

  "Rossie? You look pretty." Elizabeth felt the words slur in her mouth.

  Why was she slurring? Was she drooling too?

  She would need a towel, she didn't want to droll on Rossie's skirt, at least not on top of it.

  No wait, was her head resting on Rossie's skirt? Why?

  What?

  "[Stabilize Soul]." Rossie's magic started weaving above her tummy, it felt weird.

  "It tickles Rossie~" Elizabeth said while stifling a ugh, why was she givihe tickles?

  "[Amp Regeion] + [Soul Restoration]." Rossie tinued casting spell after spell, what was she mending?

  "Elizabeth, listen to me-" Rossie started saying while her spell tinued h above her chest, "I need you to allow me to feed you a fragment of my soul."

  Oh? Only that? That was easy; she could ahat ohout slurring, "No." See? Easy.

  "Eli-Eli...your soul is straining, what did you do?" Rossie asked her, she seemed to be having a hard time uanding something?

  Elizabeth didn't know what the pink-haired adorable and cute thing eaking of, what had she done?

  Then she felt something warm on her cheek, that made her...hurt. She raised her hand and touched it, it was a tear, and her Rossie was g. That was cheating, she wouldn't allow Rossie to mutite her soul, but she didn't wao cry.

  But it was so hard to think!

  And the room swaying from left tht didn't help, no wait. It wasn't swaying anymore!

  The spell Rossie cast must have secured the room in pce yes, now...What had she done? She hadn't done anything. No wait...

  "I mao summon these little guys, look!" Elizabeth said while willing one of the shadons to rise from her side.

  Her Rossie looked at the thing with one eye arched, then just like almost every e she had found i days a magic circle formed in her eye.

  ...That one looked cool, the one in Michael's case was edgy, then on everyone else, it looked kinda me. But her Rossie made it look quite nice.

  "Elizabeth, that thing has a [Soul], did you rip a k out of yours?" Rossie said while looking then at her, she felt as if the girl could see through her, almost as if she eering through her clothing...She wasn't ready for this, she didn't have her cute under..."But your soul is in one piece...Even if it is somewhat strained, what?"

  ....Way to kill the mood, Rossie, way to kill the mood.

  "I have more, look!" But she could bring it back to good, she could summon more! So she did, summoning the other four, "We have moreeeeee, I ran out of mana so I couldn't summon more, but with enough practice, I will be able to summon the old gang!"

  And so oer the other four shadons got up from uhe shadows, they all materialized from different shadows in their apartment, one even came from uhe door, as it had been scouting around.

  "...Oh yes, that would expin it." Rossie said nodding her head, "They all have [Souls], where did you evehem [Souls]?"

  Of course, they had soul, what was Rossie going about? They always felt alive, so of course they would have one. See, she was right, and the system had been wrong, you 't have a soul and not be alive, right?

  "...*le sigh*" Rossie let out a sigh, she was just so adorable that Elizabeth just wao nom her whole...Should she? She felt something within her soul tellihat it ossible to nom the heck out of Rossie.

  "[Sleep] + [Soul]+[Aura]+[Life]+[Soothe] = [Hypnos Blessing]" But her lovely aiful Rossie cast another spell and Elizabeth felt sleepy, so sleepy...No thoughts only silly little brain fluid in her head.

  The st thought Elizabeth had while falling asleep was that Rossaline looked nice while smiling at her and that she would miss dinner, she was hungry...

  "ASDASDFASFDSADF" Elizabeth woke up with one of the worst headaches she had ever had, no wait, hadn't she had one of those before? She had this vague feeling that she had one of those before.

  Either way, her head hurt and that was all that mattered to her, "What happened?" Elizabeth asked to no one in particur.

  She felt information flood into the back of her mind, a 3d picture of the apartment and buildings around flooded into her mind, feeding from the information her shadons were giving to her.

  ht, she had mao summon her shadons again right? Then she walked back to their apartment? But had something happened before that?

  She had some vague recolles of speaking with someone? And of something going off while summoning her shadons? But what? She felt like she had seen something that she shouldn't.

  "Oh, are we awake now Elizabeth?" The voice of Rossie spoke from behind her.

  Elizabeth noticed that she was on the coustead of their bed, why? With great effort she rose while nursing her headache "Rossie? What happened?" A quick look at her wristwatch she noticed it was almost eight in the m.

  Did she overslept? But even then why was she on the couch?

  "Oh, you don't remember? You were quite the handful girl st night Elizabeth." Rossie seemed...angry.

  She had spoken to her not using her usual cheerful toh her pet name, but was using her full name instead... Was...was she in trouble?

  "I'm sorry Rossie, but my head is killing me, you help me with this so I think straight?" Elizabeth wasn't quite sure what was the problem, but she needed her head straight to apologize. So her petition was quite normal, right?

  "Ohoh, you had enough mierday to not let me cast spells st night but now you want my [Heal]?" ...Rossie was mad.

  What had she doerday?

  "I'm sorry for..."Elizabeth started speaking, not quite sure of what she ologizing.

  "Nothing of that," Rossie stopped her and with a bad gesture she threw a heal towards her. "I do uand why you did that, but it still hurt me you know...I kept thinking that you wouldn't wake up...And whatever you did to prevent my [Soul Magic] from w on you...Do you have any idea what that feels like?"

  Elizabeth felt her mind clear as the spell started doing its magid she also felt her memories e back, she had summoned her shadons all right. But something else had happened, somehow whatever was different with her soulscape, with her [Shadow Haven] had twisted the [Summon].

  And something else had e, looking ba it, something was definitely different, her summons looked the same, but they were different.

  "...What happened?" Rossie asked her, with a hard stare on her fad nothing of the pyfulness she was used to, "What did you do Elizabeth?"

  It hurt her, it hurt her to see her pyful Rossie like this.

  "...I have been trying to summon bayx] or [Beato] sihe first day I woke up." So she started expining, of course, Elizabeth was aware that Rossie khis, she had been on most of her attempts, mostly because they teo drain her of mana.

  "I am aware, the first is your shadohe sed is that little girl you keep speaking ht? The one you keep saying was my daughter?" Rossie said, the pink-haired girl had mao keep most of their memories. But Beato, Sebastian, and most of her other shadons hadn't made the cut. Nyx had somehow, but that was about it.

  "Yes, yesterday after my talk with the student cil I decided to focus my efforts oing them back, they were my security and informatiowork. And...Evangeline knows too much..." Elizabeth willed it and one of her shadons rose from within her shadow. "See?"

  The little shadon projected a miniature of their apartment and their surroundings, "They serve as scouts and spies." In the proje they could see everyone around their apartment and how they moved.

  Rossie didn't seem too impressed by it, "I get the same effect with a few wards, that isn't worth the strain you made on your soul Elizabeth." And if nothing else she seemed quite angry.

  "Yes, the effect be achieved by wards and magic, but...Do you sehem?" Elizabeth asked, as she willed her shadons to lurk closer to them, "There are five shadons in this rht now."

  Rossie for her part, frowned and closed her eyes, "[Life]+[Soul]+[Aura]+[Mana] + [Dete Array] = [All seen eye of the gods]" and soon afterward she felt wave after wave crash against everything around, some seemed to focus on the shadows around.

  Quite a few focused on the shadon that was h in front of her, but the little thing just ighem.

  "...I ot detect them, are you lying to me to make a point Elizabeth?" Rossie seemed quite flicted about this, she of course preteo not notice how the pink-haired girl had pinged quite a few wards, she uood the need of pretending to not see it after all.

  "Rise." But even so, she said and soon enough her loyal shadons rose from the shadows, one of them even rose from Rossie's shadows...ht, she had ordered oo guard Rossie...

  "...Fine, but that is still no excuse to strain your soul." Rossie ceded and said, and sihe pink-haired girl gave a pat to the shadon that rose from her shadow, she had almost mao win the argument!

  "I'm sorry about that. I was not aware that the spell had strained my soul." Elizabeth said, and she wasn't even sure why the thing strained her soul, the description stated that while it ossible to grant souls to the summons, it was hard and needed a long list of requirements. "I don't even know how it happened, I do not know [Soul Magic]. I was going to ask you about that actually."

  At this (and at st) Rossie seemed to calm down, "Good." And said so, "It's good that you po ask me about it first Eli-Eli."

  Victory!

  "I'm still mad at you, but I will believe you that it was a mistake." Rossie said while turnitention to her, "So? Did you get something of this at least?"

  Did she got something of this? Yes, she mao reinforce her e to Nyx, and she mao get her summons back... But for now, how should she ahat?

  "I guess?" Elizabeth wasn't quite sure, " you watch me try and summon another oo see what's the deal?"

  Rossie at this shone a bright pink light and soon afterward she was dressed in her magical girl regalia, it was as she remembered, pink colors with heart motif jewelry, if anything had ged was that one of the earrings of Rossie now had a star in the heart.

  "Okay, go for it." Rossie said as she poi her and a magical circle was weaved under Elizabeth's feet.

  So instead she focused on her mana, it was full once more, a small flick of her will into the skill returhe knowledge that she could use the skill, "I'm summoning ohat's what I did yesterday too." And when Rossie her, Elizabeth focused on her mana ahrough the motions again. "[Minion Summoning - Shadon Scout]"

  Immediately afterward she felt her mana drop once more and something made tact with her [Shadow Haven], as if it was looking for something, in the end, the feeling dissipated as soon as the prove entered one of the ruined buildings, and on the real world her shadow stretched and from within a new shadon rose.

  It was like the other five she already had, "So?" Elizabeth asked while looking at Rossie.

  "...It has a [Soul], it seems to be mostly bnk, like a newborn. But there is indeed a soul in there, so unless you found how to harvest, indoate, and tame the soul of a newborn...I don't know how you did it." Rossie said while a few magical circles hovered around her shadon. The small little thing just pawed at them as if they were pythings. "Was that all you did yesterday Eli-Eli?"

  "Well no, afterward when I noticed my mana was still good I summoned another four." Elizabeth answered, "Should I do it again?"

  "...Sure, but if you feel anything wrong say so immediately. Also if I tell you to stop, you stop. No question asked." Rossie said and summoned a few extra magical circles, she also felt a thread of mana ect from Rossie to her.

  And from her [Soulscape] she felt ara flow of mana irradiating outwards into her [Shadow Haven]. Was Rossie passively casting spells from outside and inside her [Soulscape]? Smart girl.

  "[Minion Summoning- Shadon Scout] x4" So Elizabeth didn't dey it aed the same thing she did st night, and as before she felt her shadow stretch outward and four small blobs of shadow form and grow out her shadow.

  After but a mere moment she felt four more presences bloom in her sciousness as four new shadons were born into the world, and as yesterday her mana dropped to almost a fourth of her total capacity.

  "No weird strains, no sign of drop in sciousness, everything seems...normal." And so the pink-haired lovely girl said while prodding Elizabeth with all kinds of magic, she noticed that from within her soulscape Rossie was casting magic after magic outwards, as if cheg the state of her [Shadow Haven].

  Cute.

  "I'm stumped, did anything else happen Eli-Eli?" Rossie asked her, but that was it.

  "Besides a weird halluation about the moon, no. That was it, I got four levels st night on my [Minion Summoning] skill but today I..." Elizabeth reted the weird illusion of the moon she had seen, and then moved on to talk about the levels she had earned. As, she got stopped midway as a new notification popped up in front of her.

  Notice:Minion Summoning 5>10Another blue s with a single line of text, "But what Eli-Eli?" And a pink-haired girl asking her with a worried tone what was happening.

  "My [Minion Summoning] skill jumped from level 1 to level 5 yesterday." Elizabeth said, in a slow and measured tohen today it jumped again from 5 to 10."

  "...That shouldn't be, you usually get more levels as the plexity and amount of summons you manage. While impressive your shadons should be below average in the summoning spectrum as elemental summons are." Rossie started saying, "But then again...they are quite advanced in their use and if my readings are correct they seem to be self-sustaining themselves? That shouldn't be possible uhey are of a higher order."

  "Yes, they only require mana if hurt or when maniputing big amounts of mana, but outside of those situations they are self-sustaihat's why I used them as scouts before." Elizabeth said, she of course didn't know or notice that facet before, as her skill managed most of the stuff by itself, or Beato did. "So you think these are high-order summons instead of basics? And that is why my level keeps rising?"

  "It may just be," Rossie said back, then as if notig something she added "That may be the reason why your soul was so strained yesterday, you may have used a formu to summon a high-order being and so strained your soul while trying to keep the summon stable...We o ask an expert to be sure."

  An expert? They had experts on summoning? Who?

  "I know we are at a school, but do we even have someohat knows about these kind of things?" Elizabeth asked, she doubted that. The whole first year she only met 2 teachers after all.

  "Why yes Eli-Eli, even if she doesn't show it. Miss Agatha is quite knowledgeable in [Summoning]. And we are in luck." Rossie said as she brought out her pamphlet with the csses they o take. "Today's css is about [Summoning], most specifically about summoning a [Familiar] but it should be a good enough to ask about it."

  "...Ain't that ve." Elizabeth said as she read the name of the css, "[Summoning your life bound familiar, precautions and tracts.]"

  "It is what it is, I haven't decided if I want oo be ho. My inal pn was to bind a cardinal demon with a footions, but..."Rossie said while trying to not look at her. "I may need help with appeasing depending on the demon I get..."

  "I help if you need Rossie, you have helped me enough as it is." Elizabeth said quite worried, Rossie wasn't this retit on a normal day, maybe she had been hit quite hard by her strained soul event.

  "Okay...Good...Yes, there aren't that maional demons anyway. And I will not summon one of the problematies, they wouldn't let me summon a [Wrath]demon anyway." Rossie nodded while ting down those she wouldn't deal with, "Same with [Gluttony] or [Sloth], so in the worst-case sario it will be one of the four remaining types."

  Four remaining types? Wait, "Aren't those the cardinal sins?" asked Elizabeth, linking the o what she knew.

  "Yeah, it's better to stay to the basics when summoning a familiar like that so we got told at the start to think about a basicept and find what we could make work." Rossie said as much while passing her one of her older notebooks full of otes.

  "So cardinal sins remaining would be...[Pride], [Greed], [Envy] and [Lust] huh..." Elizabeth eed the other four cardinal sins...

  She would o appease Rossie in one of those...Pride...She couldn't link her adorable cute Rossie with Pride, so that would be an iing image to have. Greed? Her Rossie didn't have an ounce of that on her, she shared everything with her after all, from clothes when she was rec to food, to bed, and they even shared a shower nowadays!

  Not at the same time (sadly).

  Envy? Rossie didn't envy anything, if anything she didn't seem to pay attention to anyone else, most of the time even fetting the names of people she didn't o deal with.

  So on three of four occasions, it should be quite easy to deal with...

  Lust oher hand...

  Was Rossie a lustful being?

  ......................................................She may be in trouble.

  Not that she would mind said trouble ?