Test vs the Tower of the 5 Elements

"Serena, you might want to lead him to a table." Sophie suggested.

"Can do!" the cloudy woman replied before she started to drag Test through the library again until the came across a table and some chairs.

Several minutes later, Sophie arrived with a tall stack of thick books. The maid placed them on the table with a loud thump.

"So, what do you need these for anyway?" the earth elemental asked curiously.

"Asena's got me in some sort of magic collar. And I'd like to get it off." Test explained as he took a book off the top of the heap. "Any advice on how to find what I'm looking for." He asked. The sight of the stack making him a bit worried about his chances of finding what he needed.

"What? No!" Serena said before her sister could answer. "Love Magic! Love! Magic! You said something about the Love Magic being a problem, so we're going to look for a way to make it not a problem!"

"Oh. Well that also works." Test replied. He did want to rescue the trapped wizard if he could. But first priority was going to be to find a way to neutralize the dangerous Love Magic flow. "Do you know if your master wrote anything on continuing a continuous flow of Love Magic like this?" Test asked Sophie.

"Continuing a continuous flow?" the maid asked with a confused tilt of her head.

"Sorry I meant to say containing a continuous flow." Test clarified. It had been a active day and now that his earlier anger was spent he suddenly felt very tired.

"Maybe?" Sophie said as she dug threw the pile of books.

"He's definitely written about a continuous flow, at least." Serena said, with absolute confidence.

"That's a start." Test said wearily. He began to flip through one of the books, a bit sluggish now that the day had caught up with him. His exhaustion and all the talk of magic had caused some ideas to begin to form. He thought back to what little magic he did know, perhaps he did have a way to break the collar and defeat Asena and Sophia. It would be terribly costly, but if he did go through with it he would be the one paying the costs of his failures, not the locals or Serena or her master.

"Here it is!" Sophie said as she pulled out the book she was looking for. "Master had been wanting to observe the transformation of us into our pseudo-midara states, but we had kept doing it outside his presence."

"So he teamed up with a bunny witch to force the issue! That's why Fiona's a bunny girl!" Serena chimed in.

The maid nodded as she handed Test the book. "This should contain the details. Master's current situation is based on that ritual."

"Thank you." Test said as he took the book and began to read. This was good. But just because he knew the details didn't necessarily mean he could fix things. But if he could just find a way to reduce the Love Magic to safe levels that would let him leave with a clear conscience. And maybe even give him the time to return and fix things for good.

For a book written by a mage studying love magic, it was surprisingly clinical. Except for the occasional doodle of a bunny girl, it was easy for Test to imagine the writer had an almost purely academical interest in the subject.

While the notes didn't mention anything about containing the effects of the ritual, it did mention that increasing the number of midara acting as a ground for it would diffuse the Love Magic more and prevent it from building up. Although, he could only speculate on how much the number, or even if the type of midara, affect how effective that was.

Test studied the notes more closely to try and divine exactly what a midara needed to do to 'ground' the Love Magic. Did she need to partake in the ritual or was simply being within the tower enough.

As described here, the grounding midara had to be directly in contact with him during the ritual.

"Ah, that's something Hanna changed!" Serena said as she read the book over his shoulder. "We obviously aren't in there having sex with our Master and Amy if we're out here!"

Sophie looked at the part her sister was talking about and nodded in agreement. "The Love Magic was funneled into my sisters and I to fuel our transformations into full midara. So, I guess, in a way, we are acting as 'grounds' for the ritual."

"Which means all we have to do is figure out to make a bunch of little sisters!" Serena happily concluded.

That sounded reasonable enough. An increased midara population within the tower was certainly preferable to all of the ones outside the tower being driven into a frenzy. "Do either of you know how we would go about doing that." Test asked as he continued to search the book for answers.

Serena's body went completely still as Test's question knocked the wind out of her sails.

"Maybe you can find the bunny witch that helped Master before?" Sophie suggested. "She should already be familiar with the base ritual, so she might be able to help set up the new 'grounds'?"

Like a switch, the thunder elemental's enthusiasm returned. "Oh! Oh! We'll also need new elementals to turn into our little sisters! But they have to be different elements than us 'cause, 'cause, 'cause-"

"Serena," the maid said gently, "you shouldn't add arbitrary restrictions like that."

"It's not arbitrary." Serena snapped. "I mean like, what if we got another earth elemental sister, and it... unbalances something? Like, the nexus thingy starts making earthquakes cause it's too earthy?"

Test let out a weary sigh. Creating new midara was suddenly sounding a lot more difficult. "Ok. Let's assume that this bunny witch is able and willing to help us make new grounds. If I understood what little Asena told me you all used to be simple non-midara elementals attached to your master, where would we get more elementals like that? I'm not a wizard. I can't conjure elementals." Test said with a yawn.

"Are you alright?" Sophie said as she put a hand on his shoulder. "You've been pretty busy today."

"Maybe you should sleep on it for now, and we can get brainstorming tomorrow!" Serena added.

"I can't sleep yet." Test said quietly as his head slowly slumped onto the table. "What if the seals reform while I'm asleep. If this ground idea doesn't work I'll still need to defeat Asena and if the seals reform it will all be so much harder." He muttered. Test had no idea why he was suddenly so tired. It was as if ever since his earlier outburst all his energy had been quickly draining out of him like a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

"I don't think we'll be able to test this ground thing before the seals reform." Serena pointed out. "Pun maybe intended?"

"You still need to beat me, too." Sophie pointed out as she hugged the man and gently pressed her generous chest against the side of his head. "And you'll never do that in the state your in."

"I can fix this." Test muttered as he leaned against Sophie and desperately tried to stave off sleep. After all he still had the bitterblack salts Reisen insisted he take with him. But the concept of using them right now terrified him. He didn't wish to indebt himself to The Forge like that but, he wasn't sure if he had any other choice.

"Why are you pushing yourself so hard?" Serena asked curiously.

"Because as long as the Love Magic continues to flow people are in danger. And I won't rest until they're safe." Test said. Reminding himself why he was here and why this was so important, helped him find the energy to pull himself to his feet and start rummaging though his supplies to find the salts. He wasn't going to risk it, there was no way of knowing if this ground idea was feasible, and if he tried it and it failed then he'd be back at square one. It was time for some drastic measures.

"Yes you will." Serena said as she puffed out her chest.

Test suddenly found his head trapped in a prison of boobs; Serena's cloudy chest on one side, and Sophie's massive mounds on the other.

"Nooo." Test cried, without much conviction. With his energies already spent he couldn't stop himself from going limp between them. He felt like he might drift off to sleep right then and there.

"Shh." Sophie said as she gently rubbed his back.

"Nighty night, Test." Serena whispered as she kissed the top of his head.