Season 1[]
(P) The human with the fur coat is introduced as 'a mysterious magician' in the prologue of season one.
Chapter 1: A Girl with a God's Name[]
(1) A short, blue haired human with a fur coat walks pass Kubera Leez who is up on a hill.
(3) The human with the fur coat puts her left arm around Kubera Leez's neck and casts hoti vayu hoti chandra to conceal and dodge the red bird's Crimson Burst. The human then asks whether Kubera knows how strong that red bird is and that even with a group of magicians would be hard to take him down. She continues that Kubera is lucky. Had she come a second later, Kubera would have turned to dust. She grabs Kubera's hand and explains that she plan on taking her to Atera, to a safer place, after losing sight of that red bird.
(4) The human with the fur coat gives Kubera Leez a lecture after the latter rants that she would rather die where they are than go to Atera and pulls her hand away from the hand of the human with the fur coat. The human tells Kubera that the latter is frozen by her own fears, and that she is arrogant, weak, and reckless. She does not know how to say thank you to her savior nor can she control her own emotions. She looks like an idiot. The human agrees with Kubera that the latter should die right here, so that it would be better for the world. Annoyed, Kubera calls out 'hey'. The human replies that her name is not 'hey'. Her name is Asha. She continues that if Kubera wants to die then she can die alone. She does not want the red bird to find where they are and give her more trouble. She goes on to explain the effects of hoti chandra. The red bird might be able to sense where they are using the sixth sense, but it cannot see nor hear where they are unless she or Kubera steps out of the boundary then the magic would wear off. Although they can run away after the magic wears off, Asha prefers using minimal magic. After hearing Asha's explanation, Kubera Leez apologizes and tells Asha her real name (Kubera Leez) as a farewell courtesy. But when Kubera is about to leave, Asha trips her by binding her two feet in place using hoti brahma. Asha explains that she would love to leave her, but the latter unfortunately has the name; thus, she will do whatever she can to protect her, even if it means using up all the magic uses for the day. Confused, Kubera tries to tell her, again, that she does not want to go to Atera. Asha responds that she does not care for her opinion before casting hoti vayu.
After teleporting to someplace else, Asha states that they will walk from here as the red bird should not be able to follow them anymore. Kubera states that she can find her way back. Asha bids her good luck in finding the way back when there are many suras who are hungry for food. Annoyed, Kubera asks her whether she knows how she is feeling right now. Asha wonders then proceeds to analyze that Kubera's actions and words are contradicting, but two things she knows for sure: Kubera wants revenge and wants to live. Kubera tells her not to make assumptions. Asha responds that even without the mind-reading ability, she can tell that Kubera also wants to cry. She goes on to tell a story of a ten year old child who has buried her tears and has sought revenge after losing everything. She compares how that child is totally different from a kid who whines all the time. Ten years have passed and that child is still seeking revenge. Asha concludes that Kubera is not the only unfortunate person in the world, so she should not act childish or go bother someone else instead. Right after the story, she sees the red bird approaching them. She hurriedly grabs Kubera's hand before the red bird attacks.
(5) Unfortunately, Asha slightly miscalculates and ends up with her right arm under a boulder, much to Leez's distress, who has no idea what to do without hurting Asha. The magician ends her predicament by simply destroying the boulder with hoti agni. She calls Leez a burden, but is forced to partially take it back when Leez creates a shock wave with her punch, despite her bleeding arm.
Chapter 2: The Queen and the Bum[]
(2) Asha and Leez have been making their way to Atera for half the day. Along the way, Asha tells Leez to stop complaining about trivial stuff when they nearly died earlier the day. However, Asha softens and tells Leez that they'll get dinner after securing a place to stay. At Atera's checkpoint, it is revealed that Asha has an A++ magic ranking, graduated university at the age of 16, and has many fans. Once in the city, Asha walks ahead and explains that they have to quickly get to the magician's guild otherwise they'd have to stay at lesser lodgings. When she looks back, she finds Leez embarrassingly drooling over some skewered mushrooms. Asha unamusingly tells Leez to be aware of of how she presents herself, gives her a gold coin, and heads for the magician's guild first but not before telling Leez not to move from this location. Unfortunately, Leez is not listening.
(3) After Asha finishes booking two A-rooms at the guild (with a very disappointed Ruche Seiran in charge of preparing the rooms), she is forced to go looking for Leez when she sees that Leez isn't where she told her to stay put.
(5) She finds Leez much later in a temple garden, where Agni brought her, and Asha is extremely suspicious of him, but cannot grasp who he is despite her analytical abilities. She threatens Leez with cutting off one of her ears with a bhavati marut spell to make her listen better to her orders, and then they exit the garden together, leaving Agni alone. The god is left completely mystified due to the result of using insight on Asha, in which he saw nothing except a big red X. According to Agni, this kind of result is "unthinkable" to see in a human. He notes that there is something suspicious about Asha and that she is hiding something, but says nothing as he watches them leave.
Upon their return to the guild, Asha discovers that Ruche is away on a mission with Lorraine Rartia to investigate the recent red sky incident, and warns the other magicians not to talk about Leez's village in front of the girl herself, offering to pay generous compensation for the silence.
(6) Later, Asha goes up to meet Leez outside of their rooms. After inspecting the doors (one of which is visibly suspicious looking), she hands Leez the key card for the (normal) room that was meant to be hers. Once Leez has gone inside her room, Asha uses a gold coin to trigger the traps Ruche prepared in the room meant for Leez. After all the traps noisily go off, Asha decides to sleep sitting on the floor in the hallway outside Leez's door.
Chapter 3: The Sorrow of Loss[]
Asha using Bhavati Vayu
(2) Asha is the reason why Ruche is keen to return back to Atera after hoping for a quick investigation of the latest red sky attack.
Asha is mentioned by a checkpoint employee who wishes she had passed through later so that the employee could have met her.
At Leez's village, Lorraine deduces that Asha's arrival is why Ruche wants to go back to the city as soon as possible and blackmails Ruche into going through with a thorough investigation.
(3) As Asha is sleeping in the corridor, she is awakened by an extremely bright blaze.
(4) That same night Gandharva attacks Agni. The god's rage spreads fire all over the city, almost trapping Leez and Asha in the guild building. Asha uses hoti kubera to break down Leez's door, only to find her asleep on the floor and refusing to wake up. Taking pity on the fact that Leez is still dreaming of her lost mother, Asha decides to keep her unaware for a bit longer, and takes her out of the room using bhavati vayu to walk from the 5th floor down to the streets on fire.
(5) Asha is carrying Leez through the burning street of Atera. When Leez wakes up and yells to be put down, Asha complies and throws her down. Leez thinks how predictable Asha's response was and not to expect more than bare sympathy from her.
Later, Asha is framing out her plan to Leez. Instead of evacuating like everyone else, Asha plans to alternate and reactivate the downed closed space barrier that was protecting the city. She cites that due to the perfection of the the barrier maintained by Brilith, all the other possible fire magician candidates that could take over the barrier, should anything happen to Brilith, have left for opportunities elsewhere. Leez then offers to piggyback Asha to get the Temple faster to which Asha replies with a resounding "No!"
(6) Asha notices something, looks behind and orders Leez to stop. They both stare at the fog rapidly developing.
(7) Leez, apparently unconscious, somehow carries Asha all the way to the temple. Leez does not remember how they got there and when asks, something stops Asha from answering her. Asha tells her to get moving as they are running out of time to reactivate the barrier.
Eslewhere in the temple, a pair of guards dismiss a colleague who witnessed Leez speeding to and jumping up past the temple walls while carrying Asha.
Asha after deflecting Maruna's attack
(8) Discovering that Brilith has fallen into a coma-like catatonic state for unknown reasons, Asha demands to be taken to the room with the barrier orb, ignoring the protests of the temple magicians. The temple magicians are left with no choice when the sky suddenly turns red, heralding the impending attack, and Asha goes to the barrier stone in order to reactivate the barrier. Leez offers to do it in her place, since she has triple attributes, but Asha points out that she has no idea how and promptly kicks her out of the room before she can say anything else. She then proceeds to change the barrier's attribute and reactivates it successfully just as Maruna fires his transcendental skill, thus saving the entire city of Atera.
(9) Just before reactivating the barrier, Asha goes through the process of selecting the best candidate to reactivate the barrier. The best candidate would be someone with a triple attribute that matches the attribute of the barrier stone. If there is no such candidate, the next choice would be someone with triple attribute that doesn't match with the barrier stone. Anyone who isn't a triple attribute like her will be barred due to the incompatibIlity in attributes that would result in death. However, Asha works through the problem and reasons that instead of trying to match the attributes of the barrier stone, changing the attributes of the stone to match that of the candidate would be better.
Asha changes the attribute of the barrier stone and reactives it just in time to stop Maruna's attack.
Outisde, Leez notices that the sky's color has returned back to normal and concludes that Asha has accomplished reactivating the barrier. From outside the barrier room, she hears a thud and someone yelling Asha's name. She barges in and sees Tara holding Asha on the floor. Leez thinks that the worst has happened and screams but Asha turns to her and tells her to "Shut up." When Leez tries to hide her embarrassment, Asha makes fun of her and asks her if she has a problem with her not dying.
Chapter 4: AAA Magician[]
(1) After activating Atera's barrier, Leez explains Asha has become extremely fatigued to the point she can only eat and sleep. She is isolated and taken care of by the temple magicians. However, sometime before reactivating the barrier, Asha instructs the temple guards to forbid Leez from leaving the temple grounds.
A month later, Ruche and Lorraine are discussing the birthday presents they'll give to Asha while passing through the temple plaza. Leez eavesdrop without knowing who they're talking about. Lorraine and Leez greet and introduce each other. When Leez brings up the topic of Asha still sleeping, Lorraine tells her to just wake Asha up and offers Leez to come with her as she's actually heading to visit Asha.
The primary temple magician taking care of Asha informs Lorraine that waking Asha up right now may sour her mood. Lorraine and Ruche debate whether they should wake Asha. They instead decide to visit Brilith in the meantime. There, Ruche quizzes Leez who well she's known Asha and why they're travelling together. Leez keeps her lips sealed in case she might slip her true name accidentally and refuses to discuss Asha anymore further as she's not around. Undeterred, Ruche turns to Brilith for more information on Asha. Brilith starts that they met 4 years ago.
On the 12th month of year N11, 17 year old Brilith is taking her magic test in Rindhallow's magician's guild. She is partnerless so the masked test administrator partners her with 16 year old Asha. Brilith voices how shocked she is to be partnered to someone that young. Behind her, Asha rebuts that the test is about their magic skills, not their respective ages. Brilith turns and recalls assuming Asha was a boy at first and how brusque 'his' personality was.
(2) Continuing with the flashback from N11, the test administrator comments to both Brilith and Asha that they are fated to be partners. The administrator then requests their signatures for official purposes. Brilith tries to delay it by asking Asha what she thinks of the partnership. Asha brushes off Brilith's concern by stating that she will take and pass the test no matter who her partner is.
Brilith is vexed when Asha suggests that having her as partner is inconsequential to Asha's abilities. However, Brilith likes Asha's confidence. As Asha's signing the necessary documents, Brilith notices that she has no right arm. When Asha leaves and it's Brilith's turn to sign the papers, the test administrator informs Brilith to take care of Asha because of her right hand.
As the test-goers are waiting and prepping for the first exam, the Rapid Calculations Test, Asha takes out a candy and bites the wrapper off. In between Asha's action, Brilith tries to tell Asha she could open the wrapper for her but stops herself from completing her sentence when Asha does it herself. Confused, Asha gives the candy to Brilith. They take the first test individually, and Asha, finishing first, waits and eavesdrops as Brilith completes the first test. When Brilith comes out, Asha asks how she did and scoffs when Brilith lies saying she did well, suggesting that Asha has been waiting since near the beginning of the test.
The two complete and wait for the announcement of their scores from the second part the exam, the Divine Affinity Test. The other test-goers gossip about Asha and why she's testing here instead of at Eloth. Ignoring everyone else's talk, Brilith reveals to Asha that she's wearing a hooded cape to conceal her identity a fire priestess. Asha expresses her disturb when she divulges that she knows Brilith's low score of 50/100 points from the first exam. She then congratulates Brilith on her 2058 points from her second exam and discloses that her score has been revealed earlier when Brilith inquires that they stay till the announcers reveal Asha's score. Brilith notes that Asha's divine affinity must be especially low if it was announced near the beginning. The two head over to the third test where they'd be marked as a team.
Elsewhere, one of the late documents that arrive to Rindhallow's Magic Guild to be reviewed after the examinations are completed is a request from Eloth's Magic Union's Saha On outlining that Asha take the magic exam in either Eloth or Mistyshore due to the danger she risks to her partner and the exam itself.
(3) At the 3rd test, Asha mocks Brilith for her score Rapid Calculations score. Brilith silently questions how well Asha could have done if she won't reveal her score. The test supervisors discloses that the difficulty of the 3rd test is based on the results from the previous two test, and that the 3rd test is weighed the most when calculating a magician's rank. The supervisor clarifies that they'll be facing 5-10 mara-ranking suras and that no real injury will be sustained. However, in lieu of that, marks will be deducted for each "injury". The test supervisor then continues that the suras will not attack until the examinees do and that they'll be given reasonable time to plan without mark deduction. Lastly, to prevent cheating by illegal hiring of a powerful partner, the Magic Guild will penalize a large score gap between partners by scoring the lowest one with a 0 and reducing the score of the higher scoring partner. Asha is peeved by the condition that her marks will be dependent on Brilith's score. An incensed Brilith demands if she'll do any better and what her attributes are. Asha ignores her and enters the test simulator first. After they both enter the test, it is revealed that they'll be battling hundreds of suras.
Asha asks Brilith is she's more comfortable using bhavati agni or hoti agni and launches her into the air with hoti kubera and bhavati vayu after Brilith replies hoti agni. Asha ignores Brilith's pleas to be let down.
When Brilith fires the first attack by casting hoti agni, Asha lifts her further up in the air in order to face the remaining suras by herself.
Outside the simulation, as the test supervisors are investigating the cause of the malfunction, it is revealed that Asha's attributes are Marut-Indra-Vayu and that she scored a perfect 100/100 in Rapid Calculations and 0515 in Divine Affinity.
(4) In retrospect, Brilith acknowledges it was Asha who made her realize that she could never be as skilled a magician as her mother. As the flashback continues, Asha casts a hoti kubera and bhavati marut to strengthen her legs and splice the surrounding rock pillars to crush the oncoming suras.
Brilith is awed, wondering how Asha's bhavati marut spell could be so powerful when it's only a single attribute. She surmises that since it was only one attack, some suras must have survived. Asha orders Brilith to stay put and let her handle it when even more suras charge. She casts hoti vayu to avoid getting eaten and transport herself to a rock to give her height. Asha strikes a large number of suras using hoti indra and finishes off the remaining ones using hoti agni. Brilith is shaken that Asha can calculate a range of powerful spells at a rapid speed, all the while keeping her up in the air. She's ashamed for underestimating Asha because of her age and vows to try harder to match her one day. A sura survives the fire and launches itself to attack Asha from behind, but is quickly killed by Brilith casting bhavati agni.
The test supervisors outside the simulator observe the two's quick dispatch of the suras. One of the supervisor recaps to her colleague that an examinee scored 9999 points in the Divine Affinity Test that was corrected to 0515. They determine that the cause of the malfunction was due to the test system recognizing the previous score over the corrected one. They file a report to Laila and congratulate Asha and Brilith for passing with scores of 279081 and 150719 points, respectively.
With their exams finished, Brilith tries to get Asha to apologize for calling her short and wrinkleless brain as an alternate thank you for saving her life near the end. Asha brushes her off claiming she could have taken care of that last sura by herself. She does, however, concede that Brilith is a better magician than she originally thought, thanks her, and takes back the comment of having a wrinkleless brain. Brilith tries to get "him" to say it again but Asha rejects it saying that she won't repeat herself. When Asha leaves, Brilith admits her initial judgement of "him" may be wrong and that she'll wish "him" luck for the rest of "his" tests.
(5) As Brilith continues narrating the flashback, she explains that after witnessing Asha's magic skills, she neglected to consider that Asha's attributes would make her inadmissible for the fourth test.
Brilith leaves the fire-attribute Barrier testing room and finds Asha fighting with the destruction-attribute Barrier Test administrator for a chance to be allowed to take the test. The administrator rejects Asha nonetheless for fear that taking it would kill her. Brilith tries to diffuse the situation by explaining to Asha she could easily achieve A ranking without the need for the fourth test. Asha ignores her to lay hands on the administator, and threatens him. Brilith is startled and drops her coat. The present day Brilith interjects the story to illustrate that the Asha then, with her violent and impatient tendencies, is much different to the Asha now.
Asha and Brilith are taken into a room to be interrogated by Laila. Brilith tries to downplay the situation and speak up for Asha who's refusing to explain herself. Laila notes Brilith's change in attitude towards Asha, a complete stranger to her. When Laila threatens to disqualify Asha for her actions, Brilith jumps up in protest. She highlights how young but skilled Asha is and how that must have taken serious commitment and time. Asha looks to her and remembers a memory from her childhood of kids brushing off Asha's efforts as an unfair genetic gift when she scores higher than them. Brilith continues explaining that to due things beyond "his" control like "his" attributes, "he" shouldn't be punished for ardently, but rashly, advocating for "himself". Laila pauses and proclaims her threat as a sike. She then proceeds to hand the two their magician's licenses, giving Brilith an A rank and Asha a newly created, just for her, A++ rank, that would give her A+ priviledges. Laila reveals that Asha achieved the highest score among examinees in Rindhallow's history that would allow her AA ranking even without the fourth test score added. However, Laila upholds the requirement necessary to obtain AA ranking, thus justifying Asha's newly created rank. Asha rejects it claiming she needs AA priviledges to access the Human Search System in Eloth to find someone she's looking for. Laila considers Asha's needs and writes a consent letter to be presented to the AA magicians in Eloth if they grant permission. Laila adds one more condition to the consent letter: Brilith must accompany with her to Eloth and be taken back to Atera after the search has been complete. Asha reluctantly accepts the offer.
The next day, the duo are leaving Rindhallow for Eloth. They converse and Brilith reveals that she's elated to go to Eloth since someone is holding an item that her mother used to own. Brilith wasn't allowed to have it until she became an A ranking magician. She states she's one step closer to being a great magician like her mother. Asha expresses envy over having an innocent goal. She claims there is no room for innocence in the corrupt path she's been walking since the beginning.
The flashback ends, Brilith refusing to divulge anymore despite the others' pleas. She maintains that Asha's story is to be told by her and her alone. Lorraine is dissapointed. Ruche is disheartened to know she could have bent the rules for Asha if she went tried going to the wind-attribute Barrier Test room where she was administrating. Leez is confused by the jargon. Lorraine switches the topic to Asha's right arm and whether Brilith can attest to the rumors. Again, Brilith refuses to say anything. Offscreen, someone announces to Lorraine that Asha has woken up.
(6) Before the four see Asha, Leez worries to herself how reliant she is on Asha when she may not consider her important and can easily leave her.
It takes Asha almost a month of rest to recover completely. Asha reveals she didn't anticipate she'd have four guests – she thought only Lorraine was visiting therefore didn't dress appropriately. She asks not to be stared at so blatantly and say what they need. When no one says anything important, she asks they return tomorrow as she wants to sleep some more. Ruche cheers that today is the 21st day of the 11 month, therefore is her birthday, and promptly gives Asha her present which is filled with her feelings. This comes as a shock to Leez. Asha rejects Ruche's present but Ruche insists and opens the gift. In it, Asha sees a floatable swimsuit and floatable patch, items that Ruche heard Asha's been wanting. Asha accepts her gift but rejects Ruche's feelings. Ruche pesters Lorraine for her gift, but Lorraine explains it would arrive later than anticipated from Eloth and that it contains multiple choices for Asha to pick from, including god-level items. Brilith presents her gift, a handmade red hat, next. Leez is startled and concludes that Asha and Brilith must be very close. Asha wonders if Brilith knows her favorite color to which Brilith replies she needs to try new looks and puts the hat on Asha. Lorraine and Ruche look rattled by Asha's new look but brush off Asha's inquiries of why they have that face on. Brilith insists the hat looks good on Asha prompting everyone but Leez to jar whether it suits Asha. Leez discovers that her and Asha aren't as close as she thought they were. Despite the gravity of the situation they experienced and shared, the time they spent together is miniscule to the time Asha has known the others. Leez quietly leaves, and when Asha notices she left, she tries to go after her. Ruche and Lorraine urge Asha to stay and rest to recover from the resistance the fire barrier must have exerted on her. Asha reveals there was no resistance because she changed the attributes of the barrier stone to match hers. Lorraine is amazed by Asha's brilliance. She recalls being informed by Laila of how exceptional Asha is, and, if given, would have been ranked above AA.
Elsewhere, Leez breaks her gloominess and resolves to buy Asha a perfect gift with her one gold coin.
Chapter 5: The Golden Knight[]
(1) Asha runs after Leez and stops her as she is about to escape from the temple. She sends her confined to her room. A while later, while Asha is with Brilith discussing the gods and her lack of belief in them, Leez takes her chance and escapes successfully. In the temple library, Brilith questions why Asha never sticks around long enough and vents to her in a way she can't with the other temple magicians. Ruche drops by and slips the news of Leez's disappearance. Brilith tells Asha that she'll have the guards look for Leez and whisks Ruche away despite her protest, leaving Asha alone. Asha is deeply disappointed with Leez's lack of obedience.
In the city, Leez spots the woman delivering Lorraine's gift for Asha. The woman is wounded, stressed by the dangerous journey to Atera, and personally upset over missing Asha's birthday.
Brilith's gift
(2) Leez finds a merchant selling curry mushrooms for one gold coin each. She dreams of cooking a special curry-based meal for Asha with Brilith's permission.
(3) At first, fear of Asha's punishment is what's preventing Leez from volunteering to catch the thieves who stole Asha's present.
(4) As Leez is falling down a cliff past the edge of the city while chasing the thieves, she is thinking of ways to minimize her injuries to lessen the discipline she fears receiving from Asha.
(5) Sometime in the future after Leez tells Asha of accepting a bet made with Kubera over who gets to keep the bracelet that involved leaving the box of Asha's presents unattended, Asha tells Leez she should have declined and stayed with the box.
(6) Unable to take off the bracelet that has shrunk and fit tightly to her wrist, Leez desperately hopes that the last method of taking it off would be reasonsble. When Kubera informs her that the last method is to seek the Priest of Earth for his knowledge to take it off, Leez is elated and ignorantly assumes she could easily find this Priest. Kubera dashes her hopes when he adds that the Priest of Earth of found in Kalibloom, a city on the other side of Willarv, 20 thousand kilometers away. Leez is discouraged as she can't seek the Priest out without informing Asha, and would be an unreasonable person to ask Asha to come with her to Kalibloom.
(7) After taking down two suras with the help of the bracelet, Leez is happy to hope that if she can control it one day, maybe she'll eventually stop feeling jealous of Asha.
(8) Leez is distressed when she notices she lost the curry mushroom she was going to cook as Asha's birthday present. Kubera, who noticed Leez dropped it while in pursuit of the thieves, pulls it out of nowhere and gives it to her.
(9) Several hours later Asha finds Leez, with a foreign item affixed to her wrist, dropping off the stolen box outside Lorraine's shop. Asha threatens to cut Leez's ear off for disobeying her orders, but backtracks when Leez becomes extremely troubled over losing not only the curry mushroom she was going to cook for Asha, but also everything precious to her. Asha tells Leez not to cry and considers her gift received. She informs Leez they will be traveling to Kalibloom tomorrow as she has a situation to handle at the Chaos Temple.
Chapter 6: The Past I Yearn For/Longing for Yesterday[]
(1) The following day, Asha discusses with Leez about going through Rindhallow to reach Kalibloom. After taking some teasing from Asha over her lack of general knowledge, Leez starts to worry about why Asha hasn't said anything about why and where she disappeared to for an entire day or how she obtained the bracelet on her wrist. Coincidentally, Asha asks Leez why she has not asked her anything about how they met or why she decided to bring Leez with her, and presses her to give an answer other than "I trust you."
(2) Leez thinks back to how Asha took her from her village without giving her a chance to choose. She thinks about how Asha may be a smart but unfriendly magician, she did ultimately carry out her promise to protect her.
Leez voices what she was thinking and that she expected Asha to drag her to Kalibloom without her say again. She continues on by saying that although she has questions, she won't ask and would rather wait until Asha tells her all she wants her to know. Even if Asha may be mean to her, Leez would still follow her around because Asha's the only person she has. Asha starts to say something, but something prevents her from speaking and instead she cuts off the discussion. When pressed by Leez to tell her what she was trying to say, Asha only replies that god is cruel. Asha goes ahead of Leez as they make their way back to the temple for dinner.
Asha and Leez are having dinner in the temple that was cooked by Ruche for Asha. Asha isn't fond of the the food and comments that Ruche has a lot of time to spend despite being the Branch Head of Atera's Magic Guild. Lorraine and Airi Yui also arrive, and when they talk about the stolen god-level item from the returned box, Asha pulls Leez under the table to hide the Golden Knight she is wearing. Asha then leaves Leez alone to eat and goes outside. The group quizzes Asha about Leez's background and why she's with her. Asha refuses to say anything other than it's for personal reasons. Lorraine, who has changed her mind regarding what to give Asha, gives her a pair of Hunter's Eyes x50 as a present. Airi shares the information she received from her brother of an imminent sura attack on Rindhallow, which alarms Asha.
(5) This news makes Asha change her plans and tell Leez to immediately pack her things. Lorraine starts to talk about the red-sky incident in Leez's village, but Asha quickly kicks Leez out of the room, orders her to wash her face, and prevents her from hearing what the magician was about to say using hoti brahma. Lorraine then proceeds to inform Asha that the number of deaths registered as zero, which bothers Asha.
(6) After Leez washes her face, she spots Brilith milling outside Asha's room. When Brilith sees she has been noticed, she runs away. Leez thinks of how not many people know that the Priestess is close to Asha. Leez goes on her day talking to herself about what to pack and what to leave to Asha to pack. When Asha hears that she's packing toiletries for both her and Leez, Leez embarrassingly adjusts and packs herself some toiletries.
Once everything's packed, Asha informs Leez that Rindhallow is dangerous to approach at the moment and that their new route is completely different. She asks Leez if she could swim, to which Leez replies she can. After a few questioning by Leez, Asha reveals that she hasn't informed anyone of their course, not even Brilith. Leez then asks Asha about survivors in her village and Asha, after hesitating a little, lies, telling her that there were none, and blames Leez for their deaths, since she has the name of a god. Leez starts to cry, but then Asha offers to teach her how to kill Maruna as a means of taking revenge.
(7) Asha explains to Leez the legend of the Sword of Return, a god-class item capable of preventing regeneration, and their reason for going to Kalibloom. Asha makes it clear to Leez that currently, she would need much more to kill the sura that caused her pain, but right now, they'll take it a step at a time and see if Leez can unsheathe the Sword of Return. Leez is determined that she will do whatever it takes and that forces Asha to think of a bloodied girl determined to take revenge even if she has to use dubious methods. Asha states how similar Leez is to the girl, but doesn't explain further.
While departing from Atera, Brilith asks Asha to stay, and why she keeps so many secrets. Asha replies that Brilith keeps secrets from her, too. Meanwhile, Leez spots a person who looks a lot like Kaz and wants Asha to let her check, but gets cut off by a hoti vayu spell, taking them away from Atera.
Chapter 7: Half (半)[]
(1) After a week of traveling, partially by foot and partially by using teleportation spells, Leez complains of how hot the journey is and hopes that when they get to Mistyshore, the temperature would be cooler. Asha informs her that it depends on one's standards, but Mistyshore is known for having weak-willed residents kill themselves due to the heat. When Leez notices that Asha's handling the heat well even with her coat on, Asha replies Airi gave her temperature-controlled underwear for her birthday. Along the way, the duo skip villages in favor of towns as Asha surmises that the the defensive systems villages utilize are substandard. From her observations, Leez notes that Asha's coat acts as a bag capable of carrying items larger than Asha herself, Asha always books two rooms and locks the bathroom even though her and Leez are both girls, and that teleportation is dependent on the magician's range of vision so Asha couples the Hunter's Eyes X50 glasses Lorraine gave to her with a location's high vantage point for maximization. When Leez is distracted by a strange smell, Asha tells her to hurry up so she won't fall behind.
(2) They reach a town where Leez is immediately drawn in by fried curry fish fillets. Asha tells her to focus on finding a place to stay as this town is much busier than the previous towns they visited. Leez then witnesses a Half being auctioned for the first time, but Asha stops her before she can even object to the auction as the places in and around Mistyshore oppose half rights unlike Atera, and the two continue along.
In the evening, while Asha is booking some rooms, Leez is surprised to learn that Asha doesn't keep change because although her coat shrinks the size of an object, the weight of that object remains unchanged. Asha instead gives Leez the change for her to spend. While talking to the front desk, Asha learns that this town is busier than the others because it is the last checkpoint before travelers cross the channel to Mistyshore. However, because the Gandharva clan suras living across the channel are acting up, traveling by boat has been disrupted causing a backlog of people looking for magicians with good eyesight. Asha says nothing. The front desk tries to recommend Asha a magician to help her cross the channel for a fee, but is interrupted by an announcement of a Half escaping. Asha turns to warn Leez to behave and stay in place but finds that she has vanished to her annoyance.
(3) Asha goes to the fish fillets store Leez was eying before, and is informed by the vendor that Leez was indeed here, but went after the Half hunters.
(4) Asha reaches Leez just as she is being threatened to be killed by one of the half hunters.
Leez is esteemed to know that Asha used one of her teleportation spells when she has been adamant about saving them for emergency situations only. Asha tells Leez to stay still when she claims she'll take care of hunters herself. Asha then reveals that she has noticed Leez's bracelet when she orders Leez to turn it off, and promises they'll talk about it later. Two of the half hunters recognize Asha and decide to leave. One half hunter, the one who threatened Leez, stays behind, confused why his companions are leaving him. Asha then proceeds to scare him away by describing how if she gained the Magic Guild jurors judgement in her favor, she'll be charged with "Involuntary Homicide by Magical Incident" and pay nothing more than a fine if he doesn't leave this instant. The man runs away, and Asha then focuses her attention to Leez, furiously asking why she disregarded her orders to not interefere with the half auctions. Leez tries to explain she did nothing of that nature and tries to get the black haired boy's corroboration who refuses to say anything. She begs the still boy to save her ears from being cut off while Asha turns to heal the Half with hoti asvins to get the story from her.
After healing the half who remains unconscious, Asha is bewildered why she observed the hoti marut cast on the half stop midway. When Leez recommends that the two strangers stay with them for the night, Asha reluctantly replies that Leez be the one to carry the half. They transport the still-unconscious girl to their room, and while Leez is busy getting dinner, Asha talks with the boy, discovering that he is mute.
(5) The three arrive at the hotel's dining room that has Leez awing. She looks at the menu intently, but Asha swipes it from her hands as she'll be the one to order since she's paying. Leez whispers to the boy that Asha has weird tastes and hopes she orders something normal.
Determined to test the boy, Asha orders only vegetarian plates, and scrutinizes him carefully. Because of Leez's comment about hating people who waste food, the boy swallows his food whole. Asha takes note that the boy wasn't enthusiastic when he stopped Leez from trying to order more vegetarian food for him.
Later after dinner, while Leez is busy tidying the room, Asha asks her where the boy went and is told that he wrote on a notepad to say that he'll be outside to have some fresh air.
Outside, the boy is actually throwing up his food. Asha, having followed and witness him retch black contents, lays out all his suspicious behaviors (can't talk, can't digest vegetables, and capable of swallowing food whole) and concludes he's a superior sura in human form. Due to his appearance, Asha specifies he's a 2nd/3rd stage rakshasa or 3rd stage upani. However, due to the Cataclysm confining all the superior suras to the sura realm along with the fact he goes around rescuing halfs, Asha determines the boy to be a 1st/2nd stage upani left in the human realm during the Cataclysm who defied the low survival rates of a young, parentless upani to developed into 3rd stage. But still, Asha doubts that because she questions why an upani would pretend to be a human or part human. The boy kneels down to write she not reveal what he is because he doesn't want to hurt her. Asha replies she could easily defeat a sura who ranks below a 5th stage upani. The boy smirks and writes down he's a rakshasa.
(6) Asha returns to the hotel room with the boy. She calls out for Leez who then rushes out of the bathroom naked.
Asha forces Leez to kneel and apologize for her actions. Asha points out that just because the boy looks young, because he's a half who ages more slowly but keeps the knowledge he gained, he should not be treated like a normal human child. Asha then forces Leez to apologize again and be more specific for what.
Later that night, Asha leaves a sleeping Leez to join the boy at the balcony. She hands him a notepad and a pen, tired of seeing him write on the floor with his blood. Asha tells him not to thank her and instead asks for his name. The boy writes that he can't reveal it. Asha responds saying that it won't matter anyway since he won't be with them for long. She continues, advising the boy it would be better he pretends to be half as he can't reveal he's a rakshasa. For his safety, Asha declares she'll even vouch for him. When the boy asks where the two are headed, Asha replies Mistyshore, but only as a short stop. Asha asks if that's where he's heading as well. The boy writes his destination is actually Kalibloom so he could draw the Sword of Re, but he'll join them part way. Asha expresses her shock, and when asked by the boy about it, brushes him off. When Asha asks why he needs it, the boy divulges that he's been stranded in the human realm since the Cataclysm, and needs the Sword to get back to his family in the sura realm. Asha is surprised to know that the Sword has hidden functions and can open passages between the realms. She states that they'd have to hurry if that's the case. She also learns from the boy that the rules of the Sword doesn't apply to him. The conversation makes Asha realize that their chance encounter with the boy is not a mere coincidence, but rather something planned by the gods, which she does not like one bit. She continues, saying that the gods can easily turn their backs against her, and for that, she will not trust easily. However, Asha accepts the sura boy's sincerity and welcomes him into the party. In the meanwhile, she'll think of a name for him to make things convenient.
The following day, Asha writes three possible names for the boy: Blackie, Whitie, and Spotty. She shares it with Leez who refuses all three and crunches the paper into a ball saying she'll decide what to name the boy.
(7) Asha goes to Leez to tell her that they should get going since the half is awake. When she finds Leez struggling with what to name the black-haired boy, Asha recommends she not take it seriously and go with 'Spotty'.
The group partially accompany the Half girl on the road to her village. The half bows in gratitude to Asha, thanking her for her help. Asha is forced to depart ways with both 'Halfs,' since the girl doesn't want to reveal her village's location to a human magician, and instead accepts the boy's offer to escort the half. Asha does, however, make him promise to only partially surafy when he is for sure confident there are no humans around to witness it.
While traveling, Asha asks Leez if she would be friends with a superior sura such as a rakshasa. Leez's expression, however, makes her immediately take back the question, pitying the poor sura boy disguised as an Half, who makes his reappearance only a day later.
(8) Asha is amazed at the boy's speed after he caught up to them within a day even though he had to cover a greater distance. However, she is still suspicious of him insisting to travel with them after considering that with the time it would take to find a magician to vouch for him, he would still reach his destination faster if he travels alone. Asha emphasizes that her concern is not because of the boy, but due to Leez's hatred for suras. For the boy to travel with them, he has to remain vigilant of keeping the appearance of being a half and doing exhaustive things such as eating vegetables and making sure that when he feeds on other suras, he has to do it covertly. Asha asks him again if he wants to travel with them. The boy writes that she should not worry, insisting her worries would not materialize, and that he is sure of his decision. Asha just silently accepts.
The following day, after the boy chooses the name 'Yuta' for himself from Leez's list of names, Asha threatens to cut off one of Leez's ears by jokingly saying bhavati marut when Leez reacts too arrogantly and boasts about herself at the expense of Asha. Asha teleports the group one last time for Mistyshore; Yuta notices her missing right arm when he goes to cling on her, but doesn't say anything.
Near the coast of Mistyshore, a man with a braided ponytail lies on a floating raft expressing his frustrations on an 'Asha Rahiro' for deceivingly titling her book "Topology is Really Easy."
Chapter 8: The Wavering King[]
(2) While being confronted by Gandharva suras, Ran has a flashback from when he was being tutored by Rana. It establishes that Rana is a great admirer of Asha. Rana uses Asha as an example of someone who Ran will never match up to. It is also revealed that Asha graduated from Eloth University at the age of 16, and is both the fastest and strongest magician alive. Back in the present, after Ran reflects through his memories, he pictures Asha as a monster because of the short time it took for 'him' to graduate. Still, Ran believes that Asha can't cast a bhavati spell faster than him because he doesn't need to calculate. He casts a bhavati varuna spell on the suras.
Elsewhere, as Asha, Leez and Yuta are making their way to Mistyshore, Yuta hears the faint cries of Ran fighting against the suras. Asha tells Yuta to pay it no attention as it's likely the city wiping out the nearby agitated Gandharva suras as a precautionary measure. Leez agrees with Asha and tells Yuta to get going.
At Mistyshore's checkpoint, the trio are nearing the barrier agent. While waiting, Leez asks why Asha couldn't teleport them inside the city. Asha tells her that the barrier allows free movement to the outside, but if someone were to travel inside a city, they would need to go through the barrier checkpoint first. After waiting for a while, when it was their turn to be checked, a hurt young man suddenly runs into them and cuts the line, calling Asha a 'pervert' for wearing a skirt in the process. Asha was at first willing to heal the man, but his lack of manners and accusations of being inept makes Asha change her mind. While the man's identification was being checked, Asha glimpsed at the man's information on the display, and learns his name, rank, location, and other personal information and decides to have a 'nice friendly conversation' with him.
(4) Asha walks around Mistyshore, eavedropping on some people planning to buy a Gandharva half for the purpose of killing it.
Asha leaves Leez at the hotel (while Yuta vanishes to be by himself), explaining she has to go Mistyshore University of Magic's headquarters to find Ran Sairofe who she deduces is failing the Topology exam just from his BB ranking, thus is highly likely enrolled there. She tells Leez that Ran's triple water attribute and status make him a "perfect victim to torture." Leez is left bored thinking to herself why Asha is resolute on finding the man.
(5) Leez steps out of the Guild in search of Yuta. When Leez sees he's not there and is problem somewhere further away, she returns in fear of having to face Asha's wrath once again.
(6) Rana happily greets Asha at Mistyshore University and gushes over her pedigree. Asha tells Rana that she's looking for a Ran Sairofe, souring Rana's mood. Rana tells her that she has known Ran for 17 years, and has spent the past few years trying to help graduate to no avail (Ran has just failed Topology for the eighth time). The two are distracted by a crowd buzzing over the appearance of Kasak Rajof's sura form—which Asha understands was due to something done by Yuta. Asha focuses the topic of conversation back on Ran. Rana informs her that she just treated him for injuries and should still be in the university grounds, especially after the shocking news he'll receive.
Asha finds Ran elsewhere in the university as he's contemplating running away due to failing Topology eight times. She tells him she can't let him do that. Ran exclaims his surprise that it's the pervert from the checkpoint.
(7) Ran, on second thought, realizes that calling Asha a pervert is too harsh. He instead titles her as a "cutting-edge pioneer" of men's fashion. Rana comes flying in and thwacks Ran in the head, apologizing to Asha for Ran's bizarre behavior. Ran asks Rana if she has a crush on Asha. Just when Rana is about to correct Ran for misidentifying Asha's gender, Asha interrupts to claim it isn't important. Instead, the magician forces Ran to embark on a quest through the water channel in exchange for his graduation. Ran combatively replies that quests are only for poor people who don't have enough money for tuition. Asha ominously responds that his opinion doesn't matter.
Chapter 9: Rival[]
(1) Asha returns to the Magic Guild and is disappointed to find Leez deep asleep. In their room is a calendar showing it's the 2nd day of the 12th month of year N15. Asha originally planned to have dinner with Leez, but decides to let her sleep some more. She chooses to order dinner first while Leez sleeps when she notices a bill slip out of the menu. Asha wakes up Leez by electrocuting her with bhavati indra. She knew Leez wouldn't die, but is mildly surprised to see her unharmed. Asha tells to herself that she'll make the spell stronger next time. With Leez awake, Asha voices her disappointed at Leez for having dinner without her. She tells her it makes an idiot out of the one who anticipated company. Leez tells her not to worry and that she won't mind eating dinner a second time. Asha replies that there's no need. The two are interrupted by a crowd outside fawning over Mr. Kasak. Leez, suddenly remembering Yuta has been missing, asks Asha where he is. Gazing out of the window, Asha calls out Leez's disregard of Yuta and asks her if he means little to her. Bothered by Asha's non-answer, Leez repeats her question again. Asha tells her not to worry as Yuta is outside. She tells Leez they should get going as Yuta is looking funny.
Frustrated with a different Topology book, Ran contemplates taking up Asha's alternative quest offer. He recalls Asha looking at him viciously, and bets 'he'd' make his life a living hell. Rana comes in asking why he is so reluctant to go. Ran, still calling Asha a 'he', refuses to because he reckons Asha's a "nobody magician." Tired of Ran being brainless, Rana clarifies that Asha is the 5th highest ranked magician, and questions how Ran could go around not recognizing her.
(2) Rana forces Ran to go on the quest; Ran connects that Asha wrote "Topology Is Really Easy."
Asha and Leez accompany Agwen and her unconscious father to their room. While observing the Rajofs, Asha reveals to Leez that Kasak is the only half dragon on Willarv and is 132 years old. Agwen is his quarter daughter who's 62 years old and was one of Asha's professors at Eloth. Asha further explains to a confused Leez, who's suspicious of Agwen's treatment towards her dad, that there's hidden traumatic circumstances surrounding the Rajof family. She tells Leez if she's wants to know more, she should ask Agwen directly as it's not Asha's story to tell. Once she settles her father, Agwen, grateful for Yuta's help, offers to buy dinner for not only him, but also Asha and Leez.
Back at Mistyshore University, Rana reveals to Ran's aunt and uncle she isn't afraid for Ran's safety while he does his quest as he will be accompanying Asha. The Sairofes surmise that Asha must have business on the other side of the sea at Eloth, Kalibloom, or Aeroplateau and is using the water channel as a detour due to the Gandharva clan going wild, therefore would need a tripe water-attribute magician like Ran. However, Eline has trouble understanding why Asha would choose Ran to navigating the water channel as it usually requires a smart magician, which Ran is not.
(3) Agwen takes the group to an expensive buffet restaurant for dinner. After Asha summarizes her plans to Agwen about Kalibloom, Agwen offers to take them there by the end of the day. Asha refuses as they're in no rush because she's timing their date of arrival to coincide with the opening of the Chaos Temple which is a month from now. When Agwen tries to pry why the Chaos Temple, Asha clams shut, forcing Agwen to drop it. Rana interrupts to share an important message from Atera. After reading through the letter's contents, Agwen immediately begins to pack for her emergency departure to Atera. Before leaving however, Agwen pays the bill so Asha won't have to worry about it. After Agwen leaves, Rana and Asha discuss who exactly the group Ran will be accompanying consist of. Realizing that Yuta, a "half", is included, Rana informs Asha that Ran is terrified of Halfs, so she may need to find someone else for the quest, or leave their Half friend behind.
(4) After they finish dinner and have returned to their room, Asha is disturbed to see Leez all blissful even after having two dinners for the night. Asha turns her attention to Yuta. She examines his teeth and remarks that with his teeth and black blood, it would be difficult for them to masquerade Yuta as a pure-blood for the trip's duration without being discovered by Ran. For that reason Asha thinks it would be hard to get both Yuta and Ran in the party. When Leez speaks out that it's not right to kick Yuta out when he's been with them longer, Asha agrees. They can try to look for a different magician as an alternative, but that would be time consuming. As Asha starts to leave to bid Agwen goodbye, Leez points out that it would also mean Kasak going as well to join her. This causes Yuta to run out in panic, bumping into Asha along the way.
(5) In the early hours before the trip through the Water Channel, Ran reiterates he does not want to do the quest and refers to Asha as a "liar." Rana ignores him and hastily throws a magician's suit at Ran telling him that Asha requested he get to the entrance of the Channel by the time it's the Hour of Creation. Reluctant but tired of the idea of going through a ninth semester of his supposed to be final year due to Topology, Ran elects to go through with the quest, even if it is with a "liar."
Asha, Leez, and Yuta make their way to the entrance of the Water Channel on the Hour of Creation. Leez comments on the foggy conditions of the city which Asha explains is normal, especially during the mornings. Tired of waiting for Asha to tell her what exactly the Water Channel is, Leez insists she explain it to her so she can prepare herself. Asha tells her to wait till they're inside as seeing something is better than interpreting someone's words. Yuta, who returns with the pair of magical earrings that he borrowed from Mr. Kasak, runs off appearing sick before they enter the Channel to secretly throw up the ten cucumbers Leez forced him to eat. Asha notes that the earrings doesn't change the sura user's digestive system, making it as good as useless.
Going past the students there for an assignment, Asha and Leez make it the entrance of the Water Channel where they catch up with the water magician who chides them, specifically Asha for ridiculing his "tardiness", when they did not even arrive early like he did.
(6) In his goodbye letter addressed to Rana, Ran misreads her nearly decade old admiration of Asha as unrequited love. In his misunderstanding of the situation and Asha's gender, Ran wrongly concludes that Rana was using him as a way to get close to Asha. Ran writes that he'll use this opportunity to closely scrutinize Asha's character, and if deemed fit, will cheer the couple on. Rana is dumbfounded to find out that Ran genuinely thinks Asha is a male.
Once the sun has risen and the fog has rolled out, Asha, Leez, and Ran start heading inside the Water Channel. Once again, Ran misreads the situation after adding Leez's words that the outfit she's wearing, the outfit Ran keeps hounding her as inadequate for the cold temperature of the Channel, is from the person she loves to her happily running towards Asha to equal they being a couple. Thinking to himself, Ran declares that Rana doesn't stand a chance because she has a smaller cup size than Leez. When Yuta shows up, Ran questions Asha how she ended up being the guardian to two kids. Asha detachedly says it just somehow happened. Shocked by all these revelations, Ran (again, wrongly) concludes that Asha is a shady character for dragging two kids around, and has a penchant for big boobs.
At the Channel's waters, Asha creates a boat with hoti brahma. When Ran points out the boat will disappear when the spell wears, Asha tells him that they just have to get to the next section quickly. Eventually, Asha pointedly remarks to Yuta and Leez that Ran is a lousy, incompetent man for hesitating to get on the boat. Ran notes that Asha is the kind of person to use Involuntary Homicide by Magical Incident as defense for killing a person.
Ran concedes and rapidly captains the boat through the Channel. However, he is forced to stop when a geographical feature that was never there before appears. He, along with Asha, conclude that the Channel's geography has changed, forcing Asha to use hoti surya to make sense of the maze. With Yuta's notebook and her perfect memory, Asha detailedly maps the new route through the Water Channel. She hands over the notebook to Ran who can't decipher the map, so she decides that she'll instruct him how to navigate.
Chapter 10: The Night it Rained Fire[]
(1) Brilith recalls her and Asha in Eloth to take back the Staff of Agni from Natasha Ross. Brilith later proudly shows off to Asha how her attributes allow her to use the Staff only for it to blow up in her face.
After Brilith gives Lorraine the Staff for modification, Lorraine voices her surprise to Ari that Brilith has a close friend other than Asha.
(3) Atera is attacked for the second time, and the Temple magicians brainstorm how they can protect the city. Asha is brought up by Blue-mustache when he wonders if Lorraine can change the attribute of the barrier stone like Asha did before.
(8) A silhouette of Asha with Leez is depicted as Sagara narrows down the persons of interest she's looking for to Brilith who is desperate to stop Sagara from annihilating the city.
(15) When Agni tells a dying Brilith that he will only give her her life back if she has a reason to live, Brilith's answer is she has a friend who she wanted to be truthful to and who she needs to hold on to and can't leave alone or she else will disappear.
(20) Back to the entrance of the Water Channel, while Atera was struggling against Sagara's forces, Asha was bullying Ran into navigating the boat. She used Ran as an example of a scared, and potentially lousy and incompetetant man, to Leez and Yuta.
Chapter 11: The Power of the Name[]
(1) In the Water Channel, Ran observes Leez's unfeminine actions, and, assuming that she is Asha's girlfriend, wonders what "he" likes about her. He asks Asha about her preferences, and Asha tells him that she doesn't care about a girl's face other than to distinguish one person from another. Ran interprets this statement as Asha only caring about breasts, and deduces that Rana doesn't have a chance. Looking at his expression, Asha assumes that Ran doesn't know the way and tells him to go straight, causing him to complain.
(2) The groups continues traveling for a week. Under Asha's guidiance, they decide to rest before entering Area 51 where the journey becomes more difficult. When Ran inquires why that is, she specifies that there are suras in Area 51 and beyond, making Yuta perk up. She also notes that the Water Channel's geography is only supposed to start shifting after Area 50, not near the start like they experienced, so she awaits "something unexpected up ahead," drawing a horrified expression from Ran. After some taunting from Leez who calls him scaredy-cat and a weakling for not being able to tolerate the cold, Ran swears he's not and will even strip his clothes off to prove it. Asha stares murderously at Ran, forcing him to backtrack his words.
Later, while the group is asleep, Yuta, and later Leez, leave the area where they are resting. Leez goes off to take a bath after having trouble sleeping.
(3) Leez wanders off towards a brightly lit tunnel until she sees it leads to Area 51. Heeding Asha's word of caution, she elects to explore a different area. As she walks away, the sign changes to reveal that the tunnel Leez chose is actually still part of Area 51.
Determining she's far enough, Leez gleefully jumps into the waters. However, the mood is interrupted by a series of gurgles and loud splashing caused by a Gandharva sura Yuta hunted down. Leez questions if Asha is right since supposedly, she should be the only one there. Guessing it could be Yuta in need of help, Leez sprints toward the origins of the splashing noise.
When she gets there, Leez finds it quiet with no one around. As she turns to leave, the sura under Yuta's grip fights him back, causing her to determine there is probably a sura present, and that the paths have changed. With no backup, Leez decides to return to Asha and report back what she gathered. However, the thought of leaving Yuta to unknowingly stumble on a sura pushes her to investigate the area, and she jumps into the water. Noticing nothing, Leez resurfaces and is greeted by god Kubera in his child form. He comments that she must be a headache to her guardian.
(4) Leez, lost deep in the Water Channel, is offered a helping hand by God Kubera so long as she’ll answer the question he left her with the last they met: Does she want to live a painful life, or die here and now? When Leez jestfully plays with the idea of her choosing not to live, Kubera agrees that her dying isn’t so bad. He acknowledges that although she has found more reasons to live (Asha, Yuta, and Ran) than when he first proposed the question to her, if she bases her decision on those few reasons, she will end up regretting her choices.
(5) After Leez gives an answer to Kubera’s question, he offers to take her anywhere she wants. Leez responds that all she wants is to return to her group’s camp area. The god obliges, but is confused why she didn’t ask him to take her to Kalibloom, her final destination. Leez responds why would she when Asha, Yuta, and Ran are all here.
When Leez finally returns, she notices that everyone was searching for her, and comes face-to-face with a dripping-wet Asha who had even searched in the water for her. Asha just smiles when Leez discovers that the area she explored was Area 51 and beyond. She tells Leez to sit down so they could have a talk, promising to try to keep it under 3 hours.
Chapter 12: Lies for You[]
Leez asks Ran about people who can use magic without calculations, and he replies that he was one such magician himself. This causes Asha to mock him and it leads him to bet 10,000 gold that he scored higher on his magic exam than she did on hers. She accepts the wager and tells him they will compare their scores at the Kalibloom Magic Guild. Leez interrupts to ask if there was a test to see if someone could use magic without calculating, so Asha uses hoti brahma to create a pair of loops. Just as Ran is about to start the test, a boat filled with terrified magicians appears. They inform that the signs in Area 51 started to change randomly, and state that the three of them were the only survivors of their original party of thirteen, and they had encountered black suras with undefined shapes that caused their magic to fail.
But Asha doesn't heed the warning and leads the group back and forth through Area 51, stating that they would keep doing this till they entered Area 100. This was safer than passing through several areas and risking encounters with suras. Ran is still worried about the strange suras appearing in Area 100, but Asha decides to deal with this once they get there. Ran thinks she's irresponsible, and asks her what she can do without her magic, but Asha replies to this by assuring him that they would remain safe as long as they did what she said.
After failing in a 100 attempts, the group decides to rest. Leez once again asks Ran about the test, and he takes it. When she correctly guesses that a shape could not be formed from the second tube, Ran compliments her. But Asha dismisses the accomplishment, by stating that every magician would be able to guess it. Ran reprimands her for this comment, stating that many people in his class weren't able to get it in one try. He then continues with the test, and explains to the girl that a theoretical shape could be guessed, but it was impossible to draw it. Leez points out that indeed, it wouldn't be possible to draw it unless one makes the shape intersect itself, but that didn't correspond to the image in her head. Asha is surprised by her answer, and so is Ran, as it revealed that, like him, Leez could learn magic without calculations. However, Asha dismisses the whole concept, noting that using magic by guesswork makes one dangerous to those around them. Ran is annoyed at Asha's inability to praise Leez, then suggests teaching Leez a spell that doesn't cause much damage even if it fails-hoti kubera. Leez turns around to ask Asha if she too knew the spell. However, Asha is gone.
In another tunnel, Yuta asks Asha why she wasn't teaching Leez magic. Asha tells him that indeed, it would be better for Leez to learn magic, but it would be better for Asha, not Leez. Yuta is confused by this answer, but Asha then asks him why Leez would suddenly show interest in magic, and how she'd learn about magic without calculating while they were in the channel. When Yuta doesn't reply, she tells him to forget about it, stating that even without calculations, magical theory is difficult. Thus, it would take time for Leez to learn magic.
But, as if on queue, Asha hears Leez shouting hoti kubera. Startled, she thinks of a woman asking her if this isn't what she wanted, and telling her to be happy that the most useless pawn had acquired a useful function. She then thinks of Rao, telling her that while she was living for the dead, he was living for those who were alive. He told her that his only wish was for his daughter to find happiness. Clenching her teeth, Asha starts mentally apologizing over and over, and heads back to find Leez. However, it turns out that Leez couldn't cast the spell. She just tried saying the spell since the theory seemed easier than she expected. At this, Ran points out that along with theory, visualization was important as well. He then casts hoti kubera himself, helping Leez to visualize. Leez then tries to cast hoti kubera once again, but fails again. Asha notices that the bracelet was off, and then tells her that it's enough. She then instructs both Ran and Leez to go to bed.
The next day, the group reaches Area 100 in the first try. Asha tests the area with hoti surya, but is unable to see the outer limits due to the large size of the area. While navigating through, they note that strangely, the ceiling is all black. On their way, Ran wonders about the type of suras mentioned by the magicians earlier. Asha states that they may be from the 'Chaos clan'. There was very limited information on them, and they were rarely sighted in the human realm. She adds that it was forbidden to even utter the name of the clan, surprising Ran about her knowledge.
The boat suddenly stops, and Leez tells Ran to cast hoti varuna again. Ran notes that the spell shouldn't have run out yet, however. Looking up, they see a huge creature with red eyes.
Ran realizes that it was one of the suras that the magicians earlier had mentioned, and decides that someone had to act as bait for the others to get out of harms way. Deducing that he was the only one who fit the bill, he gets up, only to be ordered by Asha to sit back down. While Ran is arguing with Asha, Yuta writes down something and passes his notebook to Leez, telling her to ignore him and head straight to the exit. He then leaves the boat and is captured by the sura.
After he disappears, Leez angrily states that they should go after him, but Asha doesn't heed her and instead instructs Ran to start moving the boat again. She then informs Leez that Yuta left of his own free will and assures her that Yuta will return perfectly fine. Not convinced, Leez decides to go after Yuta on her own. Ran grabs her, but Leez pulls her hand away with her bracelet activated, surprising Ran at her strength. Asha uses hoti brahma to bind Leez, but Leez casts hoti kubera, and the spell activates. She breaks away from Asha's restraints.
After breaking free, Leez jumps off the boat and runs away after Yuta. After she is gone, Asha tells Ran to keep going while she goes after Leez. Ran objects, and states that even the strongest magicians or fighters could die fighting a sura, making Asha agree to take him with her. On their way, Ran notices a sign, with an unreadable symbol. Asha informs him that the symbol was part of the alphabet of Plant Carte, and states that they were in one of the 400 areas of the Channel in Carte. This surprises Ran, as they were now in a planet that was destroyed way back in N5. Asha points out that the Channel wasn't exactly located on the planet, so it is now a sealed place without an entrance or an exit. She then reveals that she had memorized the layout of Carte's channel, as the magic exam was held there. Shocked, Ran realizes that Asha is a survivor of Carte, and took the Carte Magic Exam there. He thinks it doesn't make any sense, since Asha would have been a little child in N5. Asha accidentally steps into a trap and tells Ran not to move. She instructs him to go ahead and find Leez before her hoti kubera runs out, then disappears into the trap.
She reappears in another area, and realizes that it was quite close to her destination. To conserve her uses of hoti vayu, she casts bhavati vayu. But before she could proceed with casting it, a large Chaos sura appears behind her. Because of its size, she decides that hoti brahma isn't enough, so she'll have to use another spell, even though she doesn't want to use it there. She casts hoti visnu.
She next appears in the channel where the rest of her group was just in time to see Yuta flying away. She informs Ran that he might not return, and suggests that they leave the channel before they collapses.
As they make their way through the crumbling tunnels, Ran complains about her not telling him that Yuta was actually a rakshasa. Asha replies that since he had just met them, there was no guarantee that he would believe it. Ran then asks if she knew a way to return to Willarv, and she points out to a passage that had suddenly appeared. Ran points out to the accuracy of her predictions. Asha does not reply to this and instead instructs him to prepare his spell.
After the group manages to escape, Ran asks Asha if the Channel collapsed due to the fight between the suras. Asha replies that as the Channel was a god-class Item, built by Brahma, only a power equivalent to Brahma's acting on it could destroy it. She then states that she couldn't guess the true cause for the collapse.
Ran further asks why the name of the clan of Chaos cannot be used, to which Asha replies by telling him about the Power of the Name, astikas (who later came to be known as natural gods or created gods), nastikas and the primeval gods. She then adds that Visnu was the one responsible for naming each of the astikas and nastikas. As they already had names that were immortal, none of the primeval gods except Kali had the desire to take the names. She took possession of the left over names of the nastikas that were not used because of they had flaws.
Ran realizes that Asha was referring to the god who made the Sword of Re and had a bad reputation. He finds the information interesting and asks why they didn't teach it in school. To this, Asha informs him that the knowledge was considered heresy, causing him to complain. The magician then adds that the information was beneficial. He just didn't have to talk about it. Ran once again poses a question. This time, he asks whether or not Yuta will return, to which Asha informs him that Yuta didn't benefit from traveling with them, and it was his decision.
But Yuta returns soon after, and Leez tries to find Asha to tell her about this. The magician is in the shower, apparently with blood on her towel. When Leez opens the door to the bathroom, it greatly angers Asha, who casts hoti marut and bhavati indra on her. Leez complains that it was her fault to not lock the door, to which Asha points out that the lock was broken, and blames her for not knocking. She then adds that both Leez and Ran had no manners. Elsewhere, Ran is pouting. He too had opened the door to the bathroom while Asha was in the shower, who got mad. He still didn't realize that she was a woman.
Later, the group continues its journey to Kalibloom via hoti vayus. Leez and Yuta hold on to Asha for the teleport, and Asha calls Ran to come over too. Since Leez and Yuta were already hugging the magician from the sides, he decides to hug her around the neck, but lets go when he sees her angry expression. Still angry, Asha tells him that he could either come with them on his own or return to Mistyshore. She then teleports away with Leez and Yuta. Annoyed, Ran decides to follow the group until he claims the prize for his bet.
Season 2[]
Chapter 13: Lost[]
(1) Due to the influence of the chaos barrier, Asha ends up teleporting Yuta, Leez, and herself to the Kalibloom forest. She mentions to Leez that there will be suras and poisonous plants to keep a lookout for. As they walk through the forest, Leez expresses concern about leaving Ran behind, but Asha says it is not her business to care. Then as if she already knew Ran has caught up, she casts bhavati vayu on him before he was able to cast bhavati varuna as a prank. Asha hustles Yuta and Leez to move along and to not stare at Ran who has been thrown into the air. Later in the evening when Ran reunites with them, Asha explains that her vayu magic was not intended to cause harm because her calculations are usually accurate that the magic would not work as intended in the chaos influenced barrier. Right after Ran calls her a “dangerous bastard”, Asha changes the subject by provoking Ran about her beating him with the magic exam score and her gaining the 10,000 gold from him. Later on as they make their way through the forest, Asha casts Indra magic that not only hit suras but also Ran and Leez—“unintentionally”. When they are getting closer to the Kalibloom checkpoint, Asha warns that there will be stronger suras like stage four mara and upani that they need to watch out for.
(2) Asha finds it strange to have a half trap in front of the checkpoint, because it might harm humans. But then she says that since Ran can destroy the trap with his hand, the trap might not have posed much harm. Then when Leez comments that she is hungry, Asha assures her that they will visit a restaurant as soon as they cross the checkpoint, and that Leez can order whatever she wants.
(3) Something is following and aiming at Yuta. After Ran uses hoti indra without calculation in the chaos barrier, Asha grabs his shirt and chides him. Having the same annoyed expression, Asha tells Leez to stay close to Yuta and not fall behind.
(4) Asha, Leez, Yuta, and Ran have arrived at the Kalibloom checkpoint. When she overhears Ran calling Leez, Chickie, she tries to provoke Ran again by stating that, perhaps, he does not feel sorry for the chickens of the world.
(5) Noticing that Ran is about the recite another spell without calculation, Asha muffles his mouth with her fur coat. She states that she does not care if he wants to die, but she does not want him to take the rest of them with him. After Ran gives his reasons for wanting to cast a spell: he felt something wrong and Yuta is gone, Asha still believes those are not good enough reasons to warrant his action. Later, she and Ran notice that Yuta fell into a trap. But Asha stops Ran from helping Yuta, because she knows that it is not an ordinary trap for Yuta will disappear along with the trap.
Chapter 14: Blood/Hide[]
(1)After Yuta suddenly disappears, Leez complains to Asha that they should immediately go after him. To this, the magician coolly replies that Leez could lead the way, even though the girl did not know where Yuta had disappeared to.
After the group arrives at Kalibloom and books a hotel, Leez once again voices her concern about Yuta. Asha replies that he was most probably taken by half hunters. And since the trap used to catch him was extremely expensive to activate, she narrows down the culprit to the richest women in Willarv, Riche Seiran. At this, Ran proposes to go to Riche's house and buy Yuta back for a huge amount of money, since they couldn't take him by force as the house was full of installed traps.
(2)As planned, the three of them go to Riche's house, Asha answering Leez's questions about Kalibloom on the way. They are invited into the house by a huge servant, and take the opportunity to look at Riche's vast collection of expensive items. Asha takes special notice of the Neutral Bow, kept in a glass case. Through the CCTV cameras, Riche is informed of her guests. She is alarmed at the sight of two important people, and hatches a plan to drive them away without handing Yuta over to them. Asha, realizing that their initial plan won't work, requests Ran to return to the hotel with Leez, assuring him that she would return with Yuta, without spending any money on him.
(3)After the two leave, Riche comes out to greet Asha, assuming that she is there for the half. But to her surprise, Asha instead expresses interest in buying the Neutral Bow. Riche offers it for the greatly inflated price of 100,000 gold. The magician accepts the offer and then asks where she keeps all the halfs she had captured, to which she gets the reply that they were locked up in the basement. Asha points that it would be difficult to confine an aggressive half, but this is dismissed by Riche, who states that there were traps and god-class items installed to prevent any escape.
But, as if on queue, the alarms in her house go off. Someone was breaking through the basement doors one after another. At this point, Asha starts bargaining for the Neutral Bow for a cheaper price. At first, Riche is reluctant to believe Asha's warning about the half, but seeing that none of her cameras were working, and the doors were continuing to be destroyed and traps continuing to fail to stop the half, she gets perplexed and finally sells the Bow to the magician for 100 gold. After she signs the contract Asha makes preparations to stop Yuta. She requests that the Marut&Asvins Statue be brought down to the basement, but Riche objects. Asha quickly manages to make her comply, and goes down to the basement with the statue and is locked in there.
(4)At that moment, a half-tied, bleeding Yuta appears and Asha uses bhavati indra to break the statue into the blood which it was made from. She offers it to the half as food, which he takes. Believing that Yuta was back to his senses, the magician is relieved and explains that the statue contained gods' blood, which was more nutritious than the meat of suras. She then states that she understood that he must have acted on instinct and hunger. But when she reaches out her hand to untie the Hide of Bondage off him, he smirks and suddenly bites her arm off before she could react.
(5)Asha has a flashback about her meeting Visnu, and uses hoti visnu on Yuta, reverting him back to the time before he was caught by the Hide of Bondage. After the half regains his senses, he sees Asha covered in blood, and realizes that he was responsible for it. Realizing that he was the one responsible for it, he hugs Asha, crying. Taken by surprise, Asha hesitates, and asks Yuta that is she and Leez were to fight in the future, whose side he would take. When she sees that his question puzzled him, she dismisses the question, stating that she already knew the answer.
The magician changes the topic, and states that she wanted to finalize her deal with Riche, and asks for Yuta's help. They break out from the basement, shocking the merchant. With Yuta intimidating Riche, Asha tells her that she wants to sign another contract.
(7)When the two return to the hotel, Ran becomes suspicious of how she was able to take the Neutral Bow and the Hide of Bondage for free. The two start to discuss how useful the items are, and from Ran's point of view, they were pretty useless because the Hide cost a fortune to activate and no one knew how to fire the Bow. He and Asha begin to argue again, and the issue of their magic test score bet is once again brought up.
Chapter 15: The Weapon of a God[]
(1)Ran witnesses Asha practicing silent magic by striking a dummy with lightning and incinerating it. He is stunned by her skills, as it was extremely difficult to control the path of lightning with silent magic. Asha points out that it was inefficient, but would be useful within the Chaos barrier as it would enable her to not hit the her allies when she uses magic. At this, Ran complains that she could have even used it in the forest, but the magician replies that she was out of practice. When the two return to the hotel, the group discusses what they should do. It is decided that they would first go to the Magic Guild, where Ran and Asha would compare their exam scores and then head to the Temple of Earth.
(2)The Kalibloom Magic Guild President is honored to compare the scores of both the only A++ magician and the only magician to achieve a perfect score in Mistyshore. But points out that as they took their exams from different places, the scores would be hard to compare. When they check the score sheet, Asha's rapid calculation test score was higher, while Ran's divine affinity score was higher. Currently at a draw, he compares the third part of the exam. But since Ran's real score was suppressed as it had crossed the maximum marks, the scores could not be compared. The deciding factor becomes the 4th exam, where Asha received a 0. The president says he can't compare the last score since Asha was prevented from taking that exam, but Asha concedes anyway, and admits her loss in the bet. Ran suddenly asks an assistant to lend him her glasses. After confirming the score sheet depicting Asha's gender as "female," he pats her, saying that apparently there's a mistake in the data. The assistant corrects him, stating that Asha is indeed female. Ran thinks back to all the times he misbehaved with Asha, thinking that she was a male. Unwilling to admit he was wrong this whole time, he denies Asha's true gender, insulting her further.\
(3)Later that day, Asha approaches a distressed Ran. Having already planned to apologize to her and cancel the bet, he jumps to say 'sorry'. But when he sees that the magician is accompanied by Leez and Yuta, the word is unable to escape from his mouth. Instead, he points out that everyone made mistakes and tells her that he would cancel their bet. So she should 'be a man' and call it even. But Asha is not amused and asks for his account number. Ran is worried about accepting the money under such conditions, and recalls that Asha wanted to modify two god-class items. He says that instead of the gold, she could give him the items, but Asha refuses before he could finish his statement. Ran then states that he only accepted payments if it was in real gold coins. As it was not possible for Asha to pay him up-front, he would keep the items until she made the payment, and also get them modified in the meantime by his brother. Asha agrees with these terms, but asks him why he made this offer. Still unable to apologize, Ran gets frustrated and heads back to the hotel, stating that he wasn't going to the Temple of Earth with them.
Asha, Leez and Yuta head for the temple, and to Leez's horror, she finds out that it is located on a moutain 9,050 metres up. But before she could latch on to Asha to teleport away with her, the magician teleports alone, leaving a message with Yuta that it sudden teleportation to a height would cause dizziness and that she should just crawl up.
(4)When Asha reaches the Temple of Earth, every citizen gets excited.Siera, the Priest of Earth apologizes to her for the commotion and explains that it wasn't very common for famous magicians to come to the Temple of Earth. He then and asks how she came up without bhavati kubera, and is shocked to learn that she arrived via hoti vayu, as the interference caused by the Chaos barrier makes it dangerous to use. Asha asks to go somewhere more quiet to wait for her companions. When Siera asks her why they did not accompany her, Asha replies that there was a greater chance that her calculations would go awry had she carried more weight with her. When they had moved to a quieter place, Siera informs her that 'someone as famous as her' had arrived the day before, but Asha interrupts him by asking if he happens to know where the Golden Knight was at the moment.
(5)Asha learns that the Golden Knight was stolen from the temple and that Siera was waiting for the Stolen Goods Law to be changed before he takes it back. She strikes up a deal with him to not try to recover the bracelet even if the law was amended in exchange for 50 thousand gold. To Siera’s shock, Asha then reveals that someone she knew was already wearing the item. When Siera agrees to the proposal, Asha shifts the topic to the other magician who was visiting the temple- Claude Yui.
(7)Sometime later, after introducing Leez to Siera, Asha prepares to head back to the hotel but is informed by a messenger that Claude wanted to have a word with her. Thus she stays back after sending a word to Leez to descend without her.
(8)Asha meets up with Claude, and they play a card game, where Asha draws a cryptic losing hand. Claude then reveals the Death Silent Magic (being able to see the remaining lifespan of someone in close proximity) and Asha asks if that was the reason he wanted to meet her. When the Priest of Death begins to address stuff in a roundabout manner, she cuts in and demands to know what exactly he wanted to say. Claude then advises her to discard her “cards”, since she cannot win with them.
Later that night, while pondering on what Claude’s intentions were. Asha witnesses the Neutral Bow being shot and hurries back down the mountain. She pays for the damage that was caused, being the sponsor of Yuta who had fired it. Then, she settles the argument between Ran and Leez, who were fighting over the possession of the Bow by making a deal with Ran. If he figured out how to fire the Neutral Bow before Leez managed to use an offensive transcendental using the bracelet, she would sell him the Bow for a hundred thousand gold. On the other hand, if he lost the bet, Ran would have to both hand over the Bow to Leez and still pay Asha the hundred thousand gold. She also warns Leez to not become lax in her training since the girl was not losing anything in the bet. After Ran and Leez walk off, Asha tells Yuta that she needs to think on a few matters alone and starts to recollect her meeting with Claude.
Chapter 16: Caution[]
(1)Asha dreams about a memory when she was asked what she would be willing to sacrifice in return for power, to which she answers “Everything”. The magician next sees a scene where someone slashes at another with a spear and snaps awake, gripping her pillow.
(2)She goes to Leez’s room in a daze and starts to choke the girl while she is still asleep. The latter wakes up and kicks her reflexively, sending Asha crashing into the wall. When asked if she was alright, Asha dismissively replies that she must have still been asleep, repairs the wall with a hoti asvins and leaves, instructing Leez to hurry up and go practice since Ran had already left to learn how to shoot the Bow. Asha heads out of the hotel, thinking about what she was trying to do to Leez when she once again witnesses the Neutral Bow being shot, this time obliterating a part of a faraway mountain.
(3)Asha uses hoti vayu to teleport to Ran and Yuta who were on the mountain and reprimands them for their actions, warning the Rakshasa that even if she can undo the damage caused, even her sponsorship will become difficult to maintain due to the disasters he has been causing.
(4)After repairing the mountain, Asha is met with amazement from Ran who wonders how she is able to use hoti asvins those many times even if she does not have the attribute. She simply hints that it was through practice, just like how he was able to use hoti kubera very often. Asha then comments on how close Ran and Yuta have seemingly become and states that she now does not have to worry about finding him a new sponsor since she plans to take he sponsorship back, keeping in mind all the ruckus the sura has recently been causing. Ran starts to complain about her bad attitude to which she replies that even this hated attitude of her’s will be missed when she is no longer with them. Taken aback from the statement, Ran remarks that Asha is talking as though she is about to die soon. The A++ Magician just turns around to face him and smile, thinking back to Claude’s advice to discard her cards. She reasons that there will be no need to do so, as victory can still be achieved if something else replaces what will not be lost.
(5)Her smile weirds out Ran who points it out. Asha reminds him that he will be returning to Mistyshore soon for his graduation, just after the deal regarding the Neutral Bow ownership is taken care of. Thus, he should not care about her attitude. She then makes him realize with a smirk how his comment about her looking like ‘someone who is about to die’ could be misinterpreted. She walks off, with Ran rushing behind her, trying to explain what he actually meant.
(6)After Asha returns to the hotel, she learns about Leez’s interaction with Claude and flares up, reprimanding the girl on trusting Claude with information even when Leez did not know the first thing about him. When Ran tries to smooth things down, Asha snaps at him in anger. The look of shock in Ran’s face makes Asha conscious about her outburst and she brings her fury in check. She dismisses the subject, warning Leez to not readily trust strangers henceforth and returns to her room without waiting for dinner.
Chapter 17: Reflection[]
Chapter 18: The Test of the Sword[]
Chapter 19: Rift[]
Chapter 20: Grudge/Enmity[]
Chapter 21: Frozen Tears[]
Chapter 22: The One Standing Before Me[]
Chapter 23: The Good/The Line[]
Chapter 24: Taboo[]
Chapter 25: That Which Cannot be Grasped or Held[]
Chapter 26: Outsider[]
Chapter 27: Last Resort/Last Stand[]
Chapter 28: Emergency/Flight[]
Chapter 29: Isle of Myths[]
Chapter 30: Falling Petals[]
tension
(1) After finishing up a lesson on bhavati kubera with Leez, Leda asks Mirha if they should reveal the truth about Asha and her intentions to Leez. Mirha rejects this, saying that she will tell Leez once she and Asha grow distant, as she would be less hurt by the information. Leda brings up the upcoming Grand Magicians' Conference, and expresses discomfort with defending Asha despite her misdeeds, as well as them just allowing Leez to continue trusting Asha, but Mirha remains firm on this matter.
Later, Mirha approaches Asha, and informs her that Saha is currently in the city, and has the power to pinpoint Asha's location in order to attack. She states that she is giving Asha one more opportunity to speak to Leez, but advises her not to do anything suspicious. Asha walks up the staircase and into the sunlight, where a fashionably-dressed Leez greets her.
promise me
(2) Leez asks if the outfit Mirha had given her looks strange, as she had never worn anything like it. Asha tells her that it suits her, which makes Leez incredibly happy. Asha then asks Leez what she thinks of the accidental manslaughter incident of twenty-nine people, and Leez says that it was a mistake. Asha asks if she really thought a mistake like that could happen so many times, and Leez affirms this, stating that if Asha was the type to kill so many people on purpose, she would have left Leez to die.
Asha thinks back to the past, in which her younger self asks Rao Leez if he truly believes that all of her actions were just mistakes. Rao confirms this, which prompts a tearful Asha to ask how he could, when he knows the truth. Rao states that he believes in the possibility of the future; that a person who had started off on the wrong path could eventually return to the right one. In the present, Asha asks if Leez is sure she will not change her mind, and when Leez confirms this, asks her to promise that she will believe in Asha. Leez agrees.
As they exit out of the temple, they find a large crowd as well as a Prison of Silence, confusing Leez. A few magicians approach Asha and apprehend her, telling her that as long as she cooperates they will treat her in a way that befits her rank. Leez spots Ran in the crowd and rushes over, asking him why he is there and what is going on. Ran tells her that he would explain the situation to her later on; for now, it would be best for her to step back, as Asha is currently being arrested for the crime of intentionally murdering not just twenty-nine, but thirty-two people.
(3) Near the Temple of Wind, Ran explains to a sitting Leez about the investigation over the twenty-nine homicides and three unsolved cases that Asha was involved in. It seems that these cases had one thing in common, which gave a clear motive for murder; all of the victims had the name 'Kubera.'
coffee time
As a bunch of high-ranking magicians discuss Asha's soon-to-be trial, Claude, who has just arrived, wonders if he can be of assistance; if Asha is given the death penalty, he could volunteer as the executioner.
Meanwhile, as Asha sits in a cell, drinking coffee, she is visited by Leez, who asks if she has been framed with killing the people with the name 'Kubera.' Asha had not killed Leez despite many opportunities to do so, and had sworn to protect Leez after learning of her true name, so there must have been a mistake. Leez pleads with Asha to defend herself, and not to just remain silent. Asha, finally speaking, asks if Leez really thought it was a coincidence that Asha just happened to be walking past her village. Asha and the suras both search for the people named Kubera. If Asha finds them and kills them first, only one person dies, whereas with the suras the entire area gets destroyed. If Leez had died sooner, her village would not have been destroyed. Asha tells Leez that she could think whatever she wants about why Asha kept her alive and brought Leez along with her, but the result of that decision and the guilt would be for Leez to bear.
awaiting fate
(4) Before the start of the Grand Magicians' Conference, Asha's magic usage record were examined, and the twenty-nine 'accidental' killings were determined to be murders. The record for her uses of hoti visnu provides evidence for the remaining three unsolved homicides. Thanks to this investigation, it was also determined that she had used hoti visnu more than a thousand times since arriving to Willarv in N5. As the unsolved cases were proven to be intentional murders, Asha's sentence was to be determined at the conference.
As Asha sits in her cell, it is announced that the conference will begin in fifteen minutes, and all magicians ranked 1-100 should enter the main hall in rank order.
(5) As the trial begins, Erin Florussi addresses the audience, stating that twenty-eight deaths occurred between the years N7 and N10, and then one more in the year N12, upon which Asha was arrested since she could be tracked via her magic license, obtained in the year N11. The reason Asha obtained a license despite the danger of her previous crimes being found out was due to her need to find her twenty-ninth target with the name 'Kubera.' The only way this is possible is through gaining AA-rank privileges and using the Human Search System. Though Asha did not manage to get an AA rank due to being unable to take the barrier test, it seems one of the four AAs had searched for her. Asha would commit more murders; except she decided to use hoti visnu to cover up the next three murders, leaving those cases unsolved, as if she was caught again for murder after her previous conviction she would not be able to get away with just a fine. Her hoti visnu record confirms this. Erin brings up the fact that Asha disappeared after the third murder for three years, then suddenly showed up in Atera in the 10th month of N15. She then suggests that Asha committed even more murders during the time of her disappearance that still have yet to be discovered.
long wait
Saha then asks Mirha if she had anything to say to refute these claims. Mirha acknowledges these charges, surprising the crowd, but states that there was clearly a reason for Asha's actions. Using her tablet, she brings up the search results for N11 on the large screen and crosses out the locations of the three unsolved murders. She then begins to cross out many more locations before revealing that these were where villages were destroyed by sura attacks—in other words, the red sky attacks. She also reveals that Asha knew about these attacks in advance thanks to an oracle she received back on planet Carte. Asha was aware that she suras were going after the people with the name 'Kubera,' so she eliminated these people in advance; with the villages without a name-bearer, the suras would hold little interest destroying the towns in their pursuit. Therefore, her crimes were committed for the sake of saving more lives and not for personal gain. She asks for Asha to get a lenient sentence. Many seem to accept this defense, but Natasha Ross asks why Asha acted alone. Mirha responds that otherwise everyone would have been locked in endless debates while the suras continued their attacks.
Saha does not accept this defense, and proceeds to bring in a bunch of halfs, whose friends and families had been killed by Asha. He would now explain what Asha used her hoti visnu spells for, and how she acquired her magic ability.
(6) Saha explains that though Asha's divine affinity was known to only be 515, it had been measured incorrectly; in reality, it was 10,515. Though this was an unusually high number, it was not unheard of; Jibril Ajes was an example of a magician with a divine affinity well over 10,000. Divine affinity is known to be inborn, and it would seem like Asha was simply born with such a high divine affinity, but this was not the case.
stoic
Lilia Shu, the Branch President of the Aeroplateau Magic Guild, speaks to the audience, describing how she had ranked second and Mirha had ranked first in the only magic academy on Carte; the Eos Magic Academy. Though Asha was also from Carte, and remarkably intelligent, she was unable to enter the academy due to having almost no divine affinity. Lilia asks for Mirha to confirm this, and she does, further stating that Asha chose to pursue a career as a scholar and entered a regular academy due to this. Lilia thanks Mirha for answering, then continues, describing the records of Asha's usage of hoti visnu. From the years N5 to N6 she only used it occasionally, but then in N7 her usage began to greatly increase, including multiple uses in rapid succession in the same location. Lilia then introduces the halfs, and tells the audience that they will testify the dates on which their loved ones were slaughtered, which coincide with the dates their friends and family were brutally murdered. Lilia reveals that the evidence shows that Asha repeatedly killed and resurrected the halfs, occasionally using hoti visnu on herself when her other spell usages ran out. She only stopped when either her vigor or hoti visnu ran out, neither of which are recoverable with the resurrection spell.
Natasha speaks up and asks that even though Asha should be severely punished for the murder of humans, murdering halfs was not considered a crime and therefore irrelevant. Lilia explains that she brought them in just as a way to doubt Asha's supposedly 'just' cause. By using the spell on these halfs, Asha's daily spell usages increased dramatically, which is odd considering that they were just halfs; what made them special? The names of all of these dead halfs were the same; Kubera. Lilia states that Asha killed a total of 61 people named Kubera—29 humans and 32 halfs. The halfs had no record made of their deaths except for one, a sponsored half whose death was recorded as destruction of property.
As Lilia steps down, Saha states that all of these murders considerably improved Asha's daily usage and divine affinity. Lorraine interrupts, asking what proof was there for the murders of Kuberas increasing divine affinity. Saha then reveals that he had received an oracle from Surya, the god of light. The god in question was worried that Kubera was in danger and would soon disappear. Saha came to the conclusion that Kubera's power was split between him and the people named after him; so as Asha was practicing on those with divine power, her magical abilities skyrocketed. It also seems as though by killing the Kuberas, Asha was helping the suras in the long run; though it is unknown what goal the suras have by killing the Kuberas, it is clear that it is something favorable for them. nstead of enlisting the help of humans to help stop the suras, she set out to kill humans herself to develop her magic and possibly aid the suras. It is impossible to know if she truly received an oracle and from which god, but the gods only offer choices. Asha had to take responsibility for her own actions.
Outside, an announcement can be heard informing everyone to enter five minutes before the final vote begins. A group of magicians discuss the conference, one of them wondering why Asha prevented them from giving all those named Kubera their protection, or helped them provide backup for the attack on Atera. They were surprised that Asha did not even try to defend herself. As they discuss how there was no way there was anyone named Kubera left in the city, as Asha most certainly would have killed them, Leez, back in her yellow outfit, sits behind a tree, having heard their conversation.
(7) Saha announces the results of the vote; Asha would be executed with hoti yama. The spell would be cast on her, and they would hear her final verdict twelve hours from now. If there was anything worth reconsidering in her statement, the spell would be removed; otherwise, she would be left to die.
no change
Airi and Ruche discuss the revelations concerning Asha from the trial. Airi is shocked and disappointed by these reveals. Ruche wonders why Asha used hoti visnu for the purposes she did, yet never once used it to help the people who truly needed it. As they continue to converse over their votes concerning Asha's guilt or innocence, Claude interrupts. He surprises both of them and comments that there is no use in speculating why Asha revealed that she could use hoti visnu.
Ran runs into Saha, who is accompanied by Leez. She expresses concern for Asha, and hopes that she defends herself despite the evidence against her. As Asha had saved her and safeguarded her for so long, there was no way she could be entirely bad.
The next morning, as Asha's prison cell sits on a platform next to a lake, the speaker explains the hoti yama process. The criminal was to be surrounded by flowers when the spell was cast, in order to make sure the spell had the intended effect; the hoti yama spell affects everyone within a certain range, which means if the flowers became wilted twelve hours from the casting, the spell had worked. They then announce that, as twelve hours were up, it was time to hear Asha's defense. As the covering over the cage is lifted, the crowd is shocked that Asha has barely aged, the only notable difference being her longer hair.
glance
(8) As the audience buzz over this revelation, Saha turns to Claude and states that he must have known this would happen. Claude admits this, and asks Saha if he truly believes someone with a lifespan this short would commit such heinous crimes for personal gain. Saha goes on to ask Asha for her final statement, but she remains silent, only glancing at the audience. Remembering the promise she had made to Asha,[1] Leez steps up and, requesting to speak in Asha's place, tells the crowd that Asha was her sponsor, and that she took care of her and helped her as they traveled together from Atera all the way to Aeroplateau. Leez believes that the reason Asha took the trouble of caring for her is because the two of them shared the same goal; to kill the superior suras responsible for the red sky incidents.
As the onlookers discuss this reveal, Mirha steps up and adds on to this defense of Asha, stating that as planet Carte had also fallen due to superior suras, it was not so far-fetched to believe that Asha had wanted to get revenge on those suras, and received an oracle on how to do so. Mirha claims that if Asha's true goal is to eliminate superior suras then it would benefit everyone, and once again asks for Asha's death sentence to be postponed. Claude agrees, as they could not afford to kill such a powerful magician with the threat of superior suras upon them; she could at least offer some utility. Saha considers these words.
As Mirha and Leda discuss Asha's sentence being postponed, Leda reveals that she had given Leez copies of Mirha's paperwork that contains the truth behind Asha, as she felt the girl deserved to know the truth, having suffered for so long.
At the Sky Tower, Leez, worrying over Asha, decides to check the paperwork given to her by Leda. The papers reveal the truth behind Asha's actions, how she kept Leez isolated to control her while she was emotionally and mentally vulnerable. A weeping Leez thinks back to when she was on the transport ship to Aeroplateau before she was discharged in the escape pod,[2] and realizes what Asha had said before she blacked out; the spell hoti marut.
Chapter 31: Your Justice and Mine[]
(1) Recalling when Asha cast a barely-audible hoti marut on Leez in the emergency escape capsule, nearly slicing her in half,[2] Leez speaks of how she had wanted to believe that her eyes deceived her, because she is unable to process Asha trying to kill her. Later, Leez would attempt to speak with Asha, only to be turned away by officials due to Asha's status as a dangerous murderer. As she leaves, she runs into Mirha, and asks her if it was true that Asha kept her in the dark on many matters in order to isolate and control her. Mirha nervously confirms this. Leez tells her that Mirha was right about most of her feelings, but was mistaken on one key point; Leez was very aware of the fact that Asha had attempted to kill her.
(2) Suspicious of Asha, and investigating the cause of an unknown explosion on the transport ship she happens to have been on, Lutz, Tilda, and Yuta watch camera footage taken from inside the ship. As they watch the recordings, Yuta catches sight of Leez getting into the escape capsule, Asha following her, himself returning Leez to the ship, and Asha taking away the scarf.
boring punishment
(8) As Asha sits in her cell, grading papers from the magic academy, someone calls out to her, telling her that she has been granted conditional release. They ask her to follow them. Asha smiles.
.png){kind=link}
dangerous magician
(9) Asha is lead to a room in which she has a video chat with Saha. He pulls up her hoti visnu records and reveals that he has a theory on why she disappeared for three years in the past. Based on her currently minor usage of the spell after having used it more than a thousand times previously, and because she had used the spell right before her disappearance, Saha concludes that in the three years she was missing, she simply did not exist. Everyone had forgotten about her existence during this time, which was most likely a side effect of the spell, and the penalty of Asha using it was losing her existence. He then reveals that Asha's executioner had looked at her lifespan and found out that she was originally supposed to die by N13; hoti visnu had managed to extend her lifespan, her three years of disappearance adding three more years. Asha confirms his theory, and remarks on Saha's excellent qualities, noting that if he was honest about receiving an oracle, she would have a low chance of defeating him. Asha then asks him what his point is in showing her the magic usage records. He points out that she only has a limited number of hoti visnu uses left before she disappears again. She confirms this, but does not reveal the number of uses she has left.
Saha then finally discloses the reason why he has given her conditional parole; he would make her fight the suras, but in a way that she cannot harm humans. Saha tells her to go through the door opposite her that, when instructed to, which will transport her into the middle of the suras. Asha will have a choice to either repent for her crimes and fight or to escape; but if she joins the suras, he will kill her using bhavati surya. Asha accepts the conditions and says she will wait until given further orders.
useful outfit
(10) Lorraine breaks Asha out of her cell, and hands her what she considers her greatest achievement; a cloak made from the fur of Yaksha, the nastika with the greatest light attribute. This cloak could block any long-range light magic attacks, and make the wearer unable to be located by magical means; only by a direct view. Asha thanks Lorraine for siding with her despite being engaged to Saha, and Lorraine assures her that she believes that Asha is a good person and is doing all of this for a greater purpose. Asha smirks, and tells her that she has made the right choice.
(12) Asha slices her hair with hoti marut, then pulls her new cloak over her head.
confession
(13) Lorraine asks Asha why she used such a dangerous spell to cut her hair, rather than asking Lorraine to do it for her. Asha explains that it is a way of testing and strengthening her resolve; if she wanted to live comfortably rather than participating in a war where she could become a target, she would have made an unconscious mistake in her calculations and slit her own throat. Lorraine tells her not to be so careless with her life just because she received a death sentence, but Asha reveals that she has been using this method to cut her hair for a long time. Recalling her words from years ago, where she is determined to get her revenge no matter the cost, she concludes that this must be her way of assuring to her past self from when she had first cut her hair that she still had her resolve. In her head, she sees her present self facing her past self, and assures her that she is still on her side, and that there is no reason to feel any remorse.
(18) As transcendental attacks blast on the cities, Asha, wearing her Hunter's Eyes, watches the show. Lorraine tells her to hide amongst the magicians, and to prove her innocence by fighting; if she saved some high-rankers in this battle, they could side with her in future trials. Lorraine goes on, wondering why a magician of great aid like Asha was being banished, and that if Asha truly had evil intentions, she would not have allowed herself to get caught so easily. Asha thanks Lorraine for helping her despite the danger of being labeled an accomplice, and tells her to go and make up with Saha, or at least pretend to support his decision. Lorraine thanks Asha for apparently worrying over her relationship with Saha despite his antagonism towards her, and tells her that there will be a day where everyone will understand Asha's justice. Asha once again thanks Lorraine, and asks her to stay safe.
confrontation
(19) Asha hides from a group of oncoming magicians. As she hides in the shadows, another magician approaches her, asking her what she is doing there, and that hoti chandra was not a spell that could work on certain Death magicians who have developed a sixth sense. Asha realizes that this is Claude using bhavati yama. He tells her that he will block her from reaching her destination, fighting with the body of the magician he was currently in; if this magician dies, he would simply find another body to use. Asha would eventually tire out, get caught, and be executed. He tells her to choose another 'Kubera' to kill in this city, as only one needed to die for this all to end, and he does not want Laila to die. Asha agrees to change her target, surprising Claude, who thought she would give in less easily. As she leaves, he tells her that he supports and understands her; killing others for ones own goals was natural in the sura realm, after all, and she was simply born in the wrong place. Asha points out that he claims he understands yet treats her worse than human, and Claude responds that they were both too far gone to be treated like humans.
dangerous magician pt 2
(20) Lorraine tells Saha that she needs to speak with him. He asks if she is alone, and when she replies yes, he opens the door. Suddenly, Asha appears behind Lorraine. A horrified Saha grabs Lorraine and pushes her to the side as Asha delivers a killing blow to Saha.
(21) In a flashback, Lorraine, looking at Asha's written-down calculations, compliments her fast mental calculations at such a young age. Lorraine tells Asha that it was a good idea on her part to ask her to sponsor her, remarking that with Asha's intelligence combined with Lorraine's money and connections would guarantee Asha's success. Asha tells her that she wishes to become a powerful magician, and Lorraine agrees to teach her, as one of the most powerful magicians on the planet.
teacher and student
In the present, Lorraine shields herself with hoti brahma as Asha attempts to strike her with hoti marut. As Lorraine tears up, another flashback occurs.
In this, Lorraine is giving Asha a lesson on attacking a barrier created with the hoti brahma spell, even one made by the most powerful magician on the planet. Though the spell bhavati marut was a way to counter this spell, it has its downsides; as it is a slow spell, the other magician could attack with a follow-up spell before bhavati marut strikes them. Asha correctly deduces that the right spell to use in this situation would be bhavati indra, a spell which attacks any blood-filled creature regardless of the obstacles. Lorraine then asks Asha why she would need to know how to counter a spell like hoti brahma anyway, and Asha simply tells her that she might need it to face against a bad magician.
Once again in the present, before Lorraine can finish reciting her spell, Asha attacks her with bhavati indra, electrocuting her. As she does so, she sees some of the electricity going into an unexpected direction. Remembering Lorraine telling her that an unexpected flow of the bhavati indra spell could signify the presence of hidden enemies, Asha follows the sparks to a door, opening it. She finds a sobbing Brilith inside, who cannot process what Asha has just done. Asha closes the door on Brilith as she protests.
ruined memories
In a flashback, Asha and Brilith are having a picnic together. Brilith compliments Asha, noting that any hard work Brilith put into becoming a good magician pales in comparison to Asha's efforts. Asha responds that this was only because Brilith always chose the path of virtue, which confuses Brilith. Asha explains that the things Asha had to do were not things that Brilith would ever do, or even begin to comprehend.
(23) As a pillar of light appears in the distance, Hura deduces that a Kubera must have died, and Maruna realizes that it was the doing of "that magician" (Asha). Hura asks if she is on their side, and Maruna responds that though she is following the same course, she could become an enemy, and regrets not killing her back on Carte. Just then, Asha, wearing her Hunter's Eyes, strikes Hura riding on Maruna using hoti surya hoti indra.
Later on, as Airi, Ruche, and Leez operate Turret #1 in the city, they spot Asha hovering outside, who immediately casts bhavati marut on the turret, slicing it.
your daughter?
(24) In a flashback to Carte in the year N5, Asha asks Rao if it is true that she will sponsor him once they reach Willarv. Rao instead brings up that he has just received a picture of his daughter, five years late. Asha is surprised that he has a daughter. As he coos over his newborn daughter's picture, Asha instantly despises her, acknowledging that it is for no good reason, but what the girl was actually like mattered little to her.
Back in the present, by the time most people in the turret recover, Asha is already gone. It seems as though Leez has disappeared as well.
pillar of light
(26) At the pillar of light, Leez asks Asha what she meant after Asha presumably said something, prompting Asha to mock her for not understanding. She then repeats the information; Saha was a Kubera, and as he has been killed, the suras have backed off. Originally, she had not intended to kill him, as he was incredibly powerful and skilled, but since she had an opportunity she took it. Leez explains that what she did not understand is why Asha brought her here after destroying the turret just to justify her murder. Asha explains that she wants Leez to take responsibility; despite Leez being the weakest and easiest of the Kuberas to kill, Asha chose to kill Saha, sparing her. Asha tells a baffled Leez that it was Leez's fault that Saha died, and that she should thank Asha for sparing her. Leez, having been pushed past her limit, punches Asha hard enough to send her sliding away, telling her that she could only tolerate so much.
harsh reveal
(27) Leez asks Asha how she is the one responsible for Asha's murders; she did not ask to live at the expense of others, and did not mind dying for others herself. She tells Asha to take responsibility for her own mistakes. Asha comments on her ungratefulness, noting that she has changed. When Leez retorts that Asha is the one who has changed, Asha points out that she was always this way, treating Leez horribly, but the difference was that in the past, Leez would naively trust and believe in her regardless. Leez was no longer willing to accept this treatment, and Asha thinks this is because of something Mirha told her. Leez corrects her, telling her that it was Mirha's secretary who gave her paperwork on Asha's killings of Kuberas, her behavior towards Leez, etc. Leez would have gone to ask Asha if all of it was true had Asha been permitted to have visitors. Asha affirmed that whatever was written in the paperwork was correct, bar one thing; Asha let Leez live not because she could serve as a valuable warrior, but because she was Rao's daughter.
more awful reveals
(29) Asha tells a Hunter's Eyes-wearing Leez that the man in the center of a mob of suras was their leader; the superior sura that attacked Leez's village had only been following that man's orders. If Leez kills him, she will not only get her revenge, but stop the suras from achieving their goal. Saha's death makes the sura's closer to their goal, meaning if Leez did not kill the man with the Sword of Return immediately, all is lost. Leez tells Asha that she should not have killed Saha in that case, and asks why she could not have just told Saha of her plan and allied with him. Asha responds that she would not have won in that case; her ultimate goal required her to live until the end, and it did not matter to her what people and values she forsake to achieve it, so long as they were not part of Rao's family. She once more tells Leez that if she was not related to Rao, then she would have gotten rid of her faster.
Leez thinks about how all those times Asha had shown warmth to her were really just directed to Rao, not herself, and wonders why she expected Asha to show affection to her without reason. Leez decides to ask Asha one final question; if she ever considered looking for a better way to achieve her goal, in which people did not have to die, or if she ever regretted her choices. Asha replies no, and that she would kill thousands if it needed to. Asha then tells Leez to go on and help her kill the man. Leez again thinks about her disillusionment about Asha and laughs to herself before asking what she is supposed to do now. Asha points out a passage behind the sitting man and suggests that she go through there. Leez predicts that the suras will swarm her once she attacks, but she must survive in order to see her friends again.
instructions
(30) Hidden from the gathered suras, Asha tells her that Leez is on her own now; Kubera magic was back thanks to them being a good distance away from Aeroplateau, and Leez's bracelet allows her to regenerate, so she should be fine. Asha says that she will stay behind and watch the situation, and that when given the opportunity, Leez must cut off the man's head with the Sword of Return without hesitation. She tells Leez that though she is sparing her due to being Rao's daughter, if she messes up she will kill her and finish the job herself. Leez tells her she understands and walks off. As she does so, Asha thinks to herself that this is the end of her tainted path; Asha would finally reach her goal. She smiles and thinks to herself that this was her victory.
Chapter 32: Loser[]
her or me?
(4) Asha approaches Yuta and an injured Leez. Yuta asks for her to use recovery magic on Leez, only for Asha to reveal she saw Yuta's scarf with leez on the transport ship, and knows he combined it with the Hide of Bondage, which attaches itself to Leez. Asha wonders why he puts up with her antagonism towards the girl, and asks him a question that she had once asked before; that if Leez and Asha were on opposing sides, which side he would choose.
Once Leez recovers, Asha reminds her of what she has to do; while Yuta uses his eyes to block the transcendental skills of the other suras, Leez must quickly go in and kill him. Yuta would exclude Leez from the effects of his eyes. When Leez states that she thought Yuta's eyes blocked the transcendentals of anything that passed by, Asha asks her how she could assume that with how little Leez really knows about Yuta. Asha then proceeds to tell Leez that she knew a great deal about Yuta, and vice versa; he knew she had been killing Kuberas and was thinking about killing Leez. Asha calls Leez naive for seeking out Yuta when he was always on Asha's side.
why hello
(5) After Leez goes to fulfill her task, Asha expresses satisfaction that Yuta is still on her side despite his attachment to Leez. She tells him to stay at a specific position and continue to use his eyes, and Asha would wait until it was the right time to get involved. She tells him to do exactly as she instructs; no matter if Leez is successful or not, Asha must be the only person to enter and obtain that power. Yuta, using insight, pities Asha when he figures out what exactly she had lost in her exchange.
As Asha (wearing her Hunter's Eyes) watches Leez get injured after hesitating in killing 'him' (revealed to be God Kubera), criticizes Leez wasting the opportunity to herself, and tells herself that as Leez could never do anything right anyway, Asha had no reason to apologize to Rao. As she states that this was the end of her miserable relationship with him, Lorraine rams into Asha with her car.
way to success
(6) In a flashback, a young Asha, surrounded by scrolls, memorizes a list of requirements for success from someone unknown. They tell her that if she fails to complete the requirements based on what choice she makes, her chance of success will drop from 90% to practically nothing at all. However, depending on the kind of mistake, there could still be a way to ensure her victory. On the list of requirements, it states that when the priest of light is killed, his fiancee must die with him.
rescued
Back in the present, Lorraine talks to herself about her sneak attack on Asha with her flying car. She tells Asha that it does not matter what reasons she undoubtedly had for killing Saha; the moment she murdered him, regardless of her motives, Asha became evil in Lorraine's eyes. She then activates a self-destruct sequence in the car that will apparently blow up everything within a 10km radius. Just then, Yuta knocks Lorraine out, then lifts the car off of Asha. Asha strikes Lorraine with bhavati indra, and when realizing that Lorraine might be wearing electricity-resistant clothing, attempts to strike her with bhavati marut. Yuta stops her with his eyes, causing Asha to have a meltdown, asking if he was truly on her side. As she insists that she has to win, Yuta wonders why she was chosen since her soul is unable to bear the power it has now, much less the greater power she wants to obtain.
halfhearted rescue
(7) Asha teleports into the sura gathering, next to where Leez lies on the ground, injured. As Sagara orders Kubera to kill her, Asha informs her that they cannot kill her.
(8) Asha tells a rescued Leez that she knew that it was unlikely for Leez to succeed despite sending her over, and her current plan was far more likely to succeed anyway. Asha reveals that she had only sent Leez over to show to her that it was ridiculous of her to hope for getting revenge when she could not do it in the end even with it all laid out for her. Leez, in turn, blames Asha for her being unable to use any transcendentals due to her low vigor. Asha tells her that Leez's inherent mental weakness was to blame for her drop in vigor, not Asha's harsh words. Leez points out the flaw in this reasoning, then asks her what she was planning to do. Asha states that in the original plan, she would finish the job when Leez failed, but as this did not work out due to something unexpected, she would have to attempt something else. Asha tells Leez that she should just be grateful that she saved her, and when Leez tells her off, gives her one last piece of information; that she was the one who had murdered Rao Leez. Yuta has to hold back a raging Leez, who swears that she will kill her. Asha claims that it would not have been fair to leave her father alive, since Leez had such a great advantage already. She tells Leez that seeing her have blind faith in Asha without knowing what she had done was amusing to her, before driving off in Lorraine's car.
This would be the last time Leez would see Asha for a long while.
at the gathering
(9) When Asha returns to the sura gathering in the car, Sagara mockingly informs her that there was nothing she could do now; "He" has sacrificed himself to allow Ananta to return, and as he was the only one that could close the passage, Sagara had won. She thanks Asha for helping them out, intentionally or not, by killing most of the Kuberas. She tells her that she was a fool for believing that a mere human like her would get a chance to become the most powerful being in the universe. Sagara figures that the only thing left for Asha to do is die; as "he" was already gone, there was no way for Asha to claim that power. In response, Asha contends that she could cause a delay until she gains possession of the power. Sagara loses her smirk as the car's self-destruct function's countdown nears its end. Right before the car self-destructs, Asha casts hoti visnu.
Chapter 33: Asha[]
.png){kind=link}
sisters
(1) Asha explains, in exposition, that her mother once had a close half-blood friend, who, due to her husband's status as a priest on Willarv, would go back and forth from Willarv to Carte to stay in contact with both her husband and her friend. When the Cataclysm occurred, the half-blood was killed, leading to all of her possessions going to her daughter, Mirha. However, since Mirha was still young, Asha's mother would look after the possessions for her, and would end up raising both Asha and Mirha together.
The scene changes to somewhere in a purple forest, where a group of children (including Asha and Mirha) talk about playing a game of hopscotch. Asha reveals that though Mirha got along well with the other children, Asha secretly found playing with them a total waste of time, and believed that she would no longer need to put up with this once she entered the Eos Magic Academy.
angered
As an Eos Academy official looks over Asha's personal file, she commends Asha's great intelligence, having solved a waterway structure problem designed to prevent anyone from achieving a perfect score. However, she tells Asha to go to a regular academy and become a scholar, as the magic academy could not take her in as a magician due to her low divine affinity of 136. When Asha points out that the person before her who had been accepted only had a divine affinity of 120, the official explains that as that person had triple light attributes, her abilities increased dramatically when using light magic. Since Asha had three different attributes, this could not apply to her; she needed a divine affinity of at least 300 to pass. The official fails Asha's paperwork, telling her to not be so discouraged when she has so many other talents suited for other jobs. Asha mentally acknowledges that this is true, but all of these jobs were below the elite role of magicians.
normal school sucks
As people gush over Mirha's triple-Wind attributes and divine affinity score of 1830, they notice a dejected Asha approaching them. She reveals that she failed due to her divine affinity being 136, and tells Mirha that trying to comfort her would only make her angrier. As they would now see each other less, Asha wishes Mirha well before walking off. Again in exposition, Asha describes how though most superior suras vanished after the cataclysm, magic was still highly valued since the strong were favored over the intelligent; so Asha would naturally be left behind. She was made to be educated with those less talented that she was just because of her low divine affinity, something she was born with and could not control. Thanks to the absence of superior suras in the human realm, humanity could still manage to thrive without the need of magic; but Asha wonders why there is even magic in the world if she herself could not use it.
study study study
Students at the normal academy look over Asha's perfect exam scores, and thought they pity her at first for having a low divine affinity, their pity turns to annoyance; seeing how easily Asha is able to understand the material and scorns those who do not, Asha probably never had to put effort into anything. Asha once again narrates in exposition that she learned once she was in school that she could barely interact with anyone who was beneath her level, especially without a mediator like Mirha. Her image at the academy went from an excellent student to that of a rude overachiever. Asha admits that their words were partially true, but her search for knowledge did not just end with the academy's textbooks; while the other students would interact and play, Asha would try and gain every piece of knowlege she could in the library. Asha believes that even if her peers do not understand her efforts, she would enter the world much faster and have a better life as a scholar than her peers anyhow.
.png){kind=link}
sad mom
Under some pink trees, Asha faces her mother, who asks her about her life at school, and if she is truly enjoying herself. Asha claims that that is unimportant; the academy was just a stepping stone for a brighter future, after all. Her mother mentions that this was something Asha's father would say often as well, and he ended up passing away at a young age during the Cataclysm. Asha's mother asks her to focus less on the future, and more on the present, prompting Asha to wonder if her teacher had informed her mother that she did not get along with the other students. Her mother sadly states that she just wishes Asha would smile more, and would not work as hard. Asha dismisses this, and tells her that she could tell her this after she graduates.
Asha reveals that this date (the 30th day of the sixth month in N5) was the last day she had seen her mother alive.
(2) Asha details how even after the Cataclysm, Carte suffered through a lot; the Carte waterways became flooded, and the water ended up gushing out of the entrances with such speed and force that the geography of the planet itself changed. Over twenty million people died due to the floods, and four hundred thousand died from the red sky attacks while trying to avoid the floods. Even after the water stopped flowing out, many irregular and severe climate changes took place. As Carte was less developed than the other planets, they had no way of informing the other planets of their awful situation. Not only that, but many on the planet, including Asha, had no idea of the severity of their situation.
the opposite of headless
As Asha asks around a village for her mother, some comment on how little Asha had visited her mother (Lilith) despite usually taking good care of her, and perhaps if she had visited more often, Lilith would not have left home and ended up in the situation she is in now.
Asha reaches Lilith's home in a panic, only to find her mother in bed, with a man and a woman standing near her. Despite the warnings of the other two, she frantically reaches out to touch her, only to find that Lilith's body had been replaced by a rolled-up blanket. The man explains that they did not want to alarm Asha, since her mother's head was the only part of her they could find intact, having been caught in a red sky attack. Asha screams at them to get out, and as the two do so, the woman tells her that this may not have happened had Asha visited her mother more often.
fond memory
As Asha cradles her mother's head in her hands, she thinks back to how, when her father had died during the Cataclysm, she had not cried, and people believed this was because she had not yet understood the concept of death. However, even now, she did not shed any tears; not because she did not understand death, but because she knew that crying solved nothing. Asha swears to her mother that she would live on without shedding any tears, and getting along with others the way her mother had wished to repay her for everything.
death and destruction
Suddenly, Asha hears booming noises outside. Before she can go out to investigate, a little boy appears and tells her that she will die if she goes outside, which would be a waste of talent. Asha asks who he is, and he tells her to come closer. Asha hesitantly takes a few steps forward, and refuses to go any farther when the boy asks her to take another step. Just then, the nearby window cracks open, and glass shards slice Asha's hand and leg, causing her to fall over. He tells her that she should have listened to him, and that though he could heal her right away, this was her punishment for being stubborn. After looking outside, he informs her that it was safe for her to go out, and vanishes before she could ask any more questions.
As Asha steps outside and surveys the destruction around her, she notes that she could not even fulfill her promise to her mother; all of the townspeople were gone, thanks to the red sky attack.
alone and powerless
(3) As Asha walks through the bloodshed, she thinks about how she had only ever wanted to be a magician due to their elite status, never once because of their abilities. Thanks to the disappearance of the superior suras, she had figured that her achievements as a scholar would be just as significant as that of a magician. However, as the superior suras were back, the situation had changed; Asha was completely helpless in her current situation. As Asha cremates her mother's head, she realizes that her desire to become a scholar had completely vanished, as she believed it to be useless and unsuitable for the planet's current situation. A new goal took its place; a goal to become stronger than all of those around her, and getting revenge on the suras who harmed her. Though she had a low divine affinity, there was a possibility that her fiendish magic ability (a skill that had vanished over a thousand years back) was high, and decides to search for records on the subject.
unexpected visitor
Just then, the little boy from before appears, telling her that it would be a waste of time. As he offers her more firewood to burn her mother's head, she demands to know why he had let her town die if he already knew about the attack. He asks her what was so special about her townspeople that warranted saving them, with countless dying before them since the start of the universe. Asha realizes that the boy in front of her is in fact the primeval god Visnu, and is surprised that he is here, as he was said to have disappeared during the Cataclysm. Visnu explains that he was simply a transcendental made by the actual Visnu, and after sensing her doubt, takes on the actual form of Visnu. He commends her intelligence, but notes that she could not hope to reach her goal at her current state. Visnu asks her to tell him what she needs, and what she can offer in return for him helping out. Asha requests for power, and would give anything in exchange for this.
dangerous ten year-old
In response, Visnu shows her a memory from five hundred years ago, in which the only creature to have ever understood a primeval god died. Though only a few knew about this situation, he allowed Asha to experience it vividly; to show her how swearing to give up anything and everything was not something to be said lightly. A tearful Asha asks what she could do, when there was nothing in the present she could offer. Visnu points out that though she had nothing in the present, there were things that she would possess in the future. If Asha gave up one of these things, Visnu would grant her what she desired. Asha immediately agrees, and Visnu asks her to think it over, as what she was giving away was something that people tend to value more than their own lives. Asha stands by her decision, and Visnu accepts this. They are then transported to an area with a different landscape. In the distance, a group of people are sitting together, tied up. Visnu tells her that this was a preparatory stage; kill all of them, and he would allot her a divine affinity of 1000. If she could not do it, she could say so; it was her decision.
long hair again
(4) Asha swears to herself that she will get revenge, with whatever means necessary; all that matters is that she will be the victor in the end.
After commiting the deed, Asha uses hoti marut, cutting her hair. When Visnu asks why she did this, she states that she just wanted to test if her divine affinity had really increased. He notes that she has started speaking more formally around him. As he returns her hair to its original length, he tells her to remember that gods have the ability of insight; there was no use in hiding her feelings around them. He then proceeds to inform her that in order to obtain greater power, she would have to find people with a certain god's name and kill them. As she appears to be ready, he would tell her what to do.
rejected the offer
After Visnu gives her the first half of what she needs to accomplish, Asha wonders why she could not have just teamed up with a group of other magicians with a decent divine affinity and killed the superior sura. Visnu points out that this goal would be for her revenge for the sura killing her mother, but that was not Asha's only goal. Asha valued power, and was more saddened by her hitting rock bottom than the death of her close ones. Asha angrily admits that she would rather stand at the top than be trampled on. Visnu mentions that humans with the necessary capability to memorize all of the future that he discloses to them are very rare, and there are some on this planet, but Asha just killed them. He then explains that the 12 people she killed had gambled that all his candidates would refuse to commit murder in order to gain power, and live a comfortable life instead. There were another seven who declined to take the bet. She was the final candidate, and the refusal of those 12 people from committing murder would be acknowledged in the underworld. He points out that the one who passes judgement there considers murder to be a serious crime, but Asha tells him that she has no regrets, to which he says that it would be good if she never has any from now on.
lots to read
Visnu transports her to an area with scrolls swirling all around them, and informs her that he would now detail the choices she could make after N15 to her. Before this, Asha asks Visnu to clarify a part of his instructions that made no sense to her; the part about paralyzing the power room on a transport ship and making it look like an accident. Only two people would die as a result of this, after all. Visnu explains that one of these people would be the current priest of Wind, Trisilla Ajes, who would have summoned the god Vayu to evacuate the people from Carte to Willarv. Due to her lifespan being used up to keep the god in the human realm, at the scheduled arrival of the transport ship, she would die as soon as she set foot on Willarv; however, in the event of the power room being paralyzed, the ship would be delayed, the priestess would end up dying on the ship before it could land.
As for the other person, after the priestess dies and the god leaves, he would end up using his body as a shield, to allow the ship to land safely in Willarv after Vayu's power no longer holds it up in the air. Asha asks why such a powerful human should die, and Visnu reveals that their survival would ensure the victory of another candidate, chosen by another god. If Asha paralyzed the power room and the person dies, this candidate would go from being a top candidate for victory to having the worst chances of all the candidates, living in suffering. Visnu tells Asha that though she did not know now, she would soon figure who it is that will die, and who the candidate is, and to choose carefully when the time comes. Her gains and losses depend on the choices she makes.
one final thought
The Asha in the present, driving in Lorraine's car, wonders if the path not chosen would have truly been the unhappier one. An image of Asha and Rao going towards Anna, who is holding a small Leez, is shown.
Chapter 34: What Remains[]
(1) After Asha's disappearance, Leez consistently has dreams about Asha and her betrayal; but oddly enough, it seems as though no one else aside from Yuta cares about Asha's sudden disappearance. While searching for answers in Eloth, Leez discovers paperwork on Saha's desk pertaining to Asha that no one seems to care about. She asks for permission to flip through it, and while reading, finds a segment on Asha's existence being forgotten for three years.
(2) After reading through the information, Leez finds out that everyone else not directly thinking about Asha despite remembering her was a side-effect of using hoti visnu. This had occurred once before in N12, and lasted for three years. Leez realizes that Asha may be gone for longer this time around; with her short lifespan, Asha would definitely choose to wait until a decisive moment to return and fulfill her goal. Leez wants to make sure that she is ready when that happens.
Season 3[]
Chapter 35: Return[]
Chapter 36: Another Beginning/Start, Again[]
.png){kind=link}
boo
(2) Asha Rahiro, looking the way she had back when she had first taken the magic exam, appears before Brilith while she is in bed. Asha speaks about how she cannot forget her past in the pursuit of greatness, and in doing so she would be denying the toil and hard work her past self had gone through. Brilith is aghast at these words, telling Asha that these thoughts are wrong, but Asha believes that she is simply lying.
Suddenly, Brilith is transported to a red-hued wasteland, Asha alongside her; this time taking the form of her childhood self when on Carte. Asha says that she is just like the others, and tells her to die. The child Asha begins strangling the priestess, taunting her, calling her privileged and someone who never had to work hard. As Asha begins to scream at Brilith, Laila Hemawati, who has arrived via dream tracking, kicks Asha away and wakes Brilith up from her apparent slumber. Brilith cannot remember anything from her nightmare after waking up.
Chapter 37: Threat[]
Chapter 38: Devastation[]
Chapter 39: The Value of a Life[]
Chapter 40: Twisted Bird[]
References[]
- ↑ Kubera, Season 2 Episode 128: Falling Petals (2)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kubera, Season 2 Episode 117: Emergency (5)