Our Ideal Place (Little Witch Academia)

Chapter 21: One Who Seeks Death

Was it too much to ask for a fun, relaxing trip with her friends? Diana didn't need fortune telling to tell her that it wasn't in the stars. Instead, she was sitting in a cramped crevice in a cliff face waiting for something very large and white to appear. How did this happen?

Upon a crescent moon, signs of danger shall be revealed, keep watch else all is lost.

The rocks in the cave and tunnel showed signs of unnatural wear in the form of numerous small pits and grooves, giving it a sponge like surface. A very hot fire would create a smoother surface and leave a black crust. She could only guess that very strong acid sprayed on the rocks. Then there was the gate. Something had tried to destroy it. The uneven ceiling and walls of the tunnel indicated that these were damaged too. As soon as the gate was rebuilt, the arch of an inverted crescent moon was another sign that she had to go back.

The little pebbles were of a similar material as crystals or a sorcerer stone so that meant that these were being used as a magic source but the artifacts that contained them were destroyed, thus shattering the power sources into pebbles.

Akko was often wrong in school, but her visions hadn't been wrong so far. Their first case with Juniper happened within two weeks after her Solstice vision, so this recent vision may happen soon. They had found this cave, so that was correct. Next, something very large with wings would be flying over the sea. She tried not to think about a big boulder that turns into a monster. If she dwelled on it too much, she would lose her resolve and go to Akko to make sure she was all right.

Diana glanced at her watch. Almost three hours had passed since she left them. Where were they? She continued her nerve wracking vigil. Then she saw it and her heart skipped a beat. A large creature was approaching. When she looked through her binoculars, she gasped. Why Fafnir? If this was part of Yggdrasil's challenge, she was ill-equipped to handle it. All she could hope was that her preparations were enough.

The storm hardly bothered the great dragon. He landed on the cave entrance and cautiously looked inside. After a few minutes, he went in. Within seconds, a tortured roar echoed from the cave. The traps had sprung. She had found remnants of traps that inflicted a physical attack followed by a magic spell. To preserve the appearance that the traps had already sprung, she took the apparatus out and placed it somewhere else. As she repaired them using the magic dust from the boat, she had wondered what would trigger it and now, she knew.

Fafnir struggled against the trap and spat acid. Rocks sizzled and acrid smoke rose in reaction. That explained the condition of the rocks in the cave. Did Fafnir come here before or another white dragon?

Diana wiped her sweaty hands and activated her wand. With a flick, she allowed the camouflaged shelter around the boat to crumble and manipulated her doppelganger to stand at the helm. She whispered into the wand to instruct the spectral hand. The hand guided the boat away from the cave and into the storm. As it revved the engines, she activated a shield around the boat.

"Cavendish! You won't get away! Fafnir struggled against the trap, and hit the top of the cave's entrance. To her horror, the entrance collapsed and the rubble pushed Fafnir into the water. He was submerged halfway up his neck but he still struggled against the trap.

Little by little, the green bonds grew dim and broke as he pulled himself out of the rubble. The traps were very old and she repaired them as best she could. When half the bonds were broken, Diana activated her own trap and the water turned into ice, forming a prison around Fafnir. He roared in pain but it was cut short as the ice covered his head. The ice would freeze his wings to prevent him from flying and slow him down if he decides to give chase.