Illya lit up the plain with her powers. Her clothes disappeared into white particles as pink photon clusters covered her. She looked like a dainty fairy when the participles formed a pink magic girl dress on her. She looked pinkish-white with that dress on her. Meanwhile, there is a white fairy-wing cape billowing behind her.
âOkayâŠâ
She tapped her feet against the ground as her wings slightly fluttered.
Then, she took to the sky.
âYeah! Flying feels great!â
Illya floated a few meters above the ground. She didnât want to fly too high.
âIt feels like I am truly a Mahou Shoujo.â
âRight? Feels amazing, doesnât it?â
Ruby smugly chimed in. She twitched even if she was supposed to act as the magic wand.
âIllya, youâre still new to this. You need to train harder to surpass the Aging Twintails. This is why we are here, to train you!â
âAhahaâŠâ
Illya rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
.box-4-multi-134{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:15px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:15px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:250px;min-width:250px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}âOkay, what are we doing today?â
âFlying!â
Ruby said.
âBut, I can already flyâŠâ
âIllya, you can fly but that doesnât mean you can truly flyâŠâ
Ruby cautioned her.
âYou can only fly in simple directions and your technique is rigid. Youâre making poor use of your magic power and youâre slow.â
âMagic?â
Illya tilted her head.
âI thought you can provide infinite magic power?â
âWe can, but, the amount you can use is limited by your capabilities and talent.â
Ruby explained.
âImagine yourself as the spigot, no matter how limitless the supply of water, the spigot can only pour out so much magic power.â
âFlying takes up magic power so if you canât make better use of your limited output then youâre in big trouble.â
âIs that so?â
Illya looked at herself.
âI donât feel weird, that means I have enough energy, right?â
âBecause youâre not fighting. All your output can be hogged by flying magic.â
Ruby wiggled around.
âTrust me, you need to be more efficient with your magic power usage. Otherwise, youâre going to be a burden to everyone else during fights when you canât attack or defend on your own. Youâre just going to lose to that cheater Heroic Spirit again at this rate.â
âLimited output, eh?â
Illya tilted her head.
Then, she had an idea.
âWhat if we use this?â
Illya took out a card from the thigh pocket near her leg. It was a tarot card with an archer on it.
âOh?â
Ruby gasped.
âThe Archer Card?â
âRin-nee said I can have it. She said it would be useful in fights since she can no longer use it herself.â
Illya said.
âBy using Ruby as the medium, I can summon Noble Phantasms, right? Shouldnât this make me like, super strong then?â
âToo bad, IllyaâŠâ
Ruby said.
âYou can only use Noble Phantasms for a limited duration and usually only once. After that, it goes on cooldown for hours. You cannot rely on it to get you through a fight, only as an insurance or trump card.â
âOnly one Noble Phantasm may be manifested at a time. You canât manifest them all.â
âThe Archer Card can give you a bow but you need to find arrows to fire the bow. Sure, it is powerful but I donât think you would like to run around with bundles of arrows behind you, right?â
âOh, shucksâŠâ
Illya was disappointed.
âThat Rider Spirit the other day was super strong with her Noble PhantasmâŠâ
âThe Pegasus is strong. Bellerophon only enhanced the Pegasus. Without a suitable steed, that card would be useless in our hands.â
Ruby teased her.
âPlus, Rider is in that scary man âs hand, you knowâŠâ
âOh?â
A hand grabbed Ruby as Illya shrieked.
The assailant pulled the magic wand away from Illya.
âSo, I am a scary guy, eh?â
Illya identified the man before freezing up.
âI wonder how punishing a magic wand feelsâŠâ
Wu Yan put more strength into his hand.
âTell me⊠can you feel this?â
âArgh! It hurts!!!â
Ruby started struggling.
âNo violence! I protest against excessive use of violence!â
âY-youâreâŠâ
Illya stuttered.
âT-The man from that nightâŠâ
âThat scary guy!â
Wu Yan rolled his eyes.
âHey, girl, donât talk about people behind their backs⊠Thatâs rudeâŠâ
âN-Not me!â
Illya sold out Ruby in an instant.
âRuby said it first!â
âIllya! You traitor!â
Ruby yelled in despair.
âI was wrong about you!â
âEnough.â
Wu Yan knocked Rubyâs head. Then, he tossed her back to Illya.
âAnyway, I didnât think I would get the Archer Card so easilyâŠâ
Illya and Ruby both stopped at the same time. Wu Yan stole that card from them without them even picking up on it.
âEh-Eh?!!!â
Illya turned teary-eyed.
âOh, no, Rin-nee is going to yell at me for losing the cardâŠâ
Wu Yan raised the card to her face.
âYou want it back?â
Illya nodded vigorously.
âI can give it back.â
He spun the tarot card on the tip of his index finger.