Circle of Death." Lupusregina intoned, and a massive ring of negative energy appeared where she pointed. It seared into the bodies of both the devout and the irritating new-world dragonlords to very different effects. One withered, the other bloomed.
Nixcerra, the recently-undead servant of lord Ainz was mostly fine, in terms of power, enough for new-world things anyway. But she was still a few levels lower than Lupusregina herself, or Solution who had just dexterously avoided the deathly spell. And was thus losing badly.
The platinum dragonlord, the other contender, was a force that actually required Ainz or one of the level 100 NPCs to deal with properly one-on-one. Thus, her most powerful necrotic spell that would both keep the undead ice dragon from completely dying while slowly eating away at the annoying ones vitality. It did the job, ish, this wasn't a great matchup for Nazarick's newest toy. 'At least it's fun to watch.' And the pained roars almost made up for her fully refusing to dodge and trying to tank every hit, which she couldn't do and so needed constant 'healing' from Lupusregina. 'Even with Aureole's buffs I'm going to run out of mana at this rate.' She popped one of the mana potion bottles that Ainz had given her beforehand. "Circle of Death."
Lord Ainz himself was nearby but only waiting for the battle to finish, he had made an amazing speech earlier about how the faithful cultists needed to prove their devotion by facing this threat, and conjured a throne from which to watch. Or to step in if he was actually required. As were Cocytus and Aura, hidden nearby. Pandora's actor and Narberal could likewise step in if the situation became truly dire, but their cover as Momon and Nabe made that a less appealing option.
Right now they were letting themselves be distracted by Ainz's covertly summoned creatures which were allegedly her, Solution, and Shizu's work. Narberal was dancing around and electrocuting a swarm of wraiths while Pandora's Actor was having a wrestling match with a Colossus of Bone. That the golem was at least four times 'Momon's' size was not deterring him in the least, it looked rather fun.
Either could have escaped the situations they were in with even a very slight effort, but this show required them to be distracted, and so distracted they were.
Lupusregina let herself fall from the sky and landed with a role underneath the battling dragons. She rose amidst her own group of death cultists, the 'Voices of the Grave' the priests were calling themselves; that they were actually harnessing divine magic using faith in a mostly fictional god of death was academically interesting. Although the fact that Ainz was a more than worthy stand in for divinity meant that it was not really a great theological discovery. "Mists of the Styx," she cast and a fog rolled in that would empower all necromantic spells cast from within its area.
It also slowly drained their maximum lifeforce as a price but these ones were familiar with her preferred forms of encouragement by now and they took initiative with her buffing them, casting a variety of low level magic at the annoying dragonlord.
"Do ya think they'll make songs about this? Glorious death puts out the last of the light! The world falls away in a late battle for fate! … and so on! " She sent the thought through the 'party chat' with her sisters and Ainz.
Her earlier circle had faded away leaving Nixcerra nearly dying again, but by now enough damage had been done to the platinum one that he joined her in roars of agony. This particular cry coming from Solution's appearing and plunging a very envenomed pseudopod through a place where his scaled armour had been shrivelled away by all the death magic flying around. "Blight."
"Likely. However, odds of good songs without our input are remote. Also: boo dramatics." Shizu commented through the same party-chat from across the battlefield. A spray of blood tore from the dragonlords wing joint as her sister tried to restrict his movement with a hail of bullets.
"False Light." She cursed the wound, her magic registering as a healing spell which helped bypass defences but fixed injuries wrong, setting the not-quite but nearly crippling injury in place. Solution flipped of the dragonlord's back and as she fell, flung a knife at the same place, on contact it exploded into a cloud of grey smoke that clung to scale and flesh, eating away at it further.
"Great shots, excellent teamwork you three. And I sure hope not, this world's music has been awful so far." Ainz praised from where he sat reclining on his floating throne.
Lupusregina leaped and cast " Mass Fly " on herself and Solution, rocketing them both back up to a point halfway between the ground and the paladin's underbelly as the dragon staggered in midair from their three blows. Nixcerra, not given the privilege of party chat or sisterly coordination dove for his head, sinking her jaws into flesh and tearing into scale. She took half of the annoying ones face with her, the flesh rotting instantly at her bite. "And Jircniv looked like he was about to have a heart attack when you told him so!"
"That might have just been 'cause of you Lupu." Solution added, "Can you get me back up there?"
It had only been a little demonstration. And tendons made great violin strings! But that was also beside the point, there was a dragon to slay. Lupusregina smiled wickedly at her sister and then looked up, aimed, shouted "fore!" and flung her upwards.
For such a powerful being the platinum dragonlord was sure taking a beating. Solution compounded that problem by forming herself into a spearlike point that Lupusregina flung into an open wound.
The quietly deadpan "weee" from her blond sister was unfairly mocking. Lupusregina rolled her eyes and cast "Spirit of life" down on the congregated cultists, to counter the wasting effect of the Styx, the fog of which had already dissipated. Only a few of the already injured had died so far, but most weren't doing great. "Mass remove curse, Garden of Asphodel, Mass Heal." The first spell cured them of the reduced maximum health, the second took advantage of their near-death state to prime them towards being stronger undead in the future like Ainz asked for, and the third allowed them to keep fighting. Lupusregina downed another mana potion.
Meanwhile, Solution exploded outwards from inside the wound in the platinum dragonlord's torso, shredding muscles and, if Lupusregina had aimed correctly, probably pierced a lung. "That was gross." She complained, slipping back out of the shredded hole and leaving a slick trail of venom behind. "And the trail is flammable." Solution told them, taking out daggers to climb to another opportunistic stabbing place.
Lupusregina could have used that but despite the serious wounds the paladin had nearly killed Nixcerra again, he had a severe type and level advantage after all. "Ray of Negative Energy, Unholy Fortitude, Sigil of Charon." She cast in succession, healing, buffing, and protecting her charge in turn.
"On it!" Shizu declared, firing some sort of cannon at the wound which erupted again into fire. At last, the platinum dragonlord lost the ability to stay airborne and plunged several hundred feet down. He landed, conveniently, a few dozen feet away from the nearest group of cultists - Solution's - rather than atop them.
Solution, falling slower and with more style flourished and pulled a lance from her body, spinning like a drill and apparently intending to use gravity to drive it into the dragon. "Show off!" She accused and Solution stuck out her tongue on the way by.
Shizu continued to fire precise bullets into wing joints, keeping the dragonlord from getting up. Ainz had just 'bestowed' the weapon as well as Lupusregina's borrowed wand and Solution's very enchanted dagger upon his 'most esteemed high priestesses' before the battle. The cultists had loved it, seeing their beloved leaders honoured by their God.
Lupusregina pulled out a pair of the scrolls Mare had prepared earlier "Earthbind" she cast, then "Malice of Níðhöggr." and the ground erupted in massive coils of enchanted dirt, stone, and vines that held the dragon down. The bindings then grew a dozen faces that each bit into the platinum body poisoning and debuffing. "Wow… that worked really well."
The thing was basically stuck and Solutions' spearing dive would have pierced its skull had not he twisted, crying out in pain at the thorns which dug into him. She instead impaled his jaw, pinning the dragonlord's mouth shut.
Which probably saved all the nearby cultists who followed High Priestess Alecto, that being Solution's borrowed name, who were clumped together within easy breathing range. Instead they had time to scatter, casting a variety of spells, spears, and whatever came to hand at the dragon, death-by-a-thousand-cuts style.
"Missed." Was Shizu's assessment. "Eight outta ten!" was her own. "Oww." was Solution's reply, it having been a rather big fall."Heal." Lupusregina cast, flying down and soothing the blow that was more to pride than body.
Only a little late to the party Nixcerra also crashed into the Tsainy little asshole. She sent out splintering bones from her own arms that looked super uncomfortable and also pinned them both to the dirt even more.
"Circle of Death." Lupusregina cast again, Solution having gotten out of the way. Her and Shizu's groups of cultists followed her lead in attacking as their Undying Sentinal and future ruler, Nixcerra, unleashed freezing breath onto the paladin's unprotected back.
"This probably counts as bullying now. He can't even fight back with Mare's spells."
"Good thing you're not squeamish then." Solution replied, stabbing once again into the dragon.
"Uwa! Fun for you." From Shizu, who was right but shouldn't say it, aiming with something she had called a 'mortar.'
Ainz's thoughts floated across the mindspace. "Is that… all."
"Tsaindorcus's mana is nearly depleted, father."
"Yes… I see that. Hmm, the armour cast spells using it's hitpoints so I was expecting… watch out for a last reserve, all of you."
"Where did that go anyways?" She asked, using the wand to cast a "Twin magic: Harm" and bombarding both dragonlords with negative energy.
"A victim of pride." Narberal answered, "Idiot left it behind to show solidarity with us poor mortal humans."
Lupusregina laughed and flipped to avoid a beam of light shot out by the trapped platinum dragonlord, spear no longer pinning his mouth closed, and saw her sister hovering casually amidst the wraith storm. Enveloped in a cage of lightning and only kinda pretending to still be fighting back, completely outside the dragonlord's line of sight. Shizu was directing volleys of arrows from RuneCraft bows which were sorta contributing while herself firing an assortment of artillery to different effects. Solution had by now disappeared, probably about to stab someplace unkind.
Pandora's Actor was… also gone, but the broken bits of Colossus of Bone were scattered about below Narberal.
"Poor tactical choice. Convenient." Shizu projected. "New toy for us, not even broken."
"Yes! And I'm curious to see how it works, I hadn't seen any drones like that in Yggdrasil. How much of a struggle is he putting up against the binding spells Lupusregina?"
"Like… nothing. No magical resistance, just wriggling but the Níðhöggr spell is withering that away. Super easy to hold him!" Relatively anyway, concentrating on both spells at the same time was an effort, especially since they weren't spells she knew, but cast with Mare's scrolls instead.
"Strange. Let us know if that changes. Solution, try the chemical napalm we synthesised."
Apparently a whole warehouse in E Rantel had nearly burned down making that stuff. Solution appeared from underneath the dragon, twisted above his head and as the platinum dragonlord tried to bite she used a skill to slip away, leaving behind the warehouse-full of napalm that fell directly into his mouth, erupting in fire.
"Woah! That went up!" She said, reforming a little ways away.
"Hmm… not as effective as I'd hoped. But good job getting that in there!"
"Thanks Ainz!"
Lupusregina flew up towards the throne that Ainz was sitting in, still watching, hovering off to the side. "Is this really it?" She asked, watching the one-sided beat down.
"I'm not sure… it looks like it but... Surely a last trick, some final card?"
She cocked her head to the side, flying closer and still maintaining Mare's spells holding the dragon down. "Why? If he had something, surely it would be better to have used it by now."
"It is a bit late for a trump card." Ainz acknowledged, "but it is best not to dismiss someone as a threat only because they look beaten. Or else they might surprise you."
"Well… yeah but he's basically crippled by now."
Ainz chuckled darkly. "You've all done well against the 'raid boss,' yes. But they often look that way before the second stage."
She turned back to the battle, looking for any sign of change. There were none. "Do ya think he's got another form?"
"Oh I doubt it but- Ah, there is the counterstroke."
There was a brief surge of power, and the air felt tense, like something very powerful and deadly was about to be unleashed. Overwhelmingly destructive, radiant fire that would destroy everything. Lupusregina braced but there was no need.
"Counterspell." Pandora's Actor reappeared in the form of Lord Ulbert and the ominous feeling vanished with his interruption, before the energy could be released.
The dying dragon didn't last much longer after that.
When the battle was won and Ainz was publically reproofing Momon for siding with a 'foolish wyrm' and Pandora's Actor as Momon was loudly proclaiming his prior ignorance of Ainz's honestly divine nature and desire to cleanse the world of a heretic he had thought was using his rightful master name falsely and in vain. Alas, the evil creature had hoodwinked him, but now he swore a further, more binding oath of servitude to the God of Death.
The cultists of the former Argland nation, who for their part loved the show, weren't the only people in attendance after all. news of this would spread like wildfire across the continent. The Dark Hero of the people, now a vaguely defined psychopomp and divinely endowed warrior would remain a hero in their eyes. Conveniently, according to Shizu, neither role required much proof except the say-so of a God, which was currently happening. 'Hah! Idiots.'
Lupusregina walked through the frozen and broken battlefield. For a mostly aerial battle until the last bit it had done surprising damage to the surface, and to people on that surface. Beckoned by a call of "Lady Megaera!" Lupusregina made her way to where a cluster of her faithful cultists gathered around some neatly lined up dead and dying.
She offered in-character platitudes about fate, declared God's will to be that these faithful who have clung to life should live until they met a hypothetical peaceful end, and healed those still alive.
She was going to miss those devout looks when a doppel took over this role and she returned to Carne.
'Perhaps I'll declare a few destined for immediate death. Just to keep things interesting.' Interesting in terms of a mysterious fate and plan by Death itself of course. Not in terms of how much she liked the carefully masked fear or rapturous fervour that such declarations would cause. And she would resent anyone who suggested so!
But the variety of expressions she got to see were immensely satisfying.
This was bad, this was very bad. But he was Dragonlord, and the Great Protector. There was no challenge he could not overcome, no evil that would best him. The Puh'layers of old had killed his father, but he had bested them. These pretenders would stand no chance.
Tsaindorcus roared out in rage and pain, swiping a claw at the murderous traitor. The undead beast, once a beloved niece, now corrupted by those terrible Puh'layers, roared in response but didn't even seem to feel the blow.
Rather, she felt no lasting pain from it. His claws were sharp, they tore and rent. His every blow created a wound that should be lethal but then… "Circle of Death."
Pain
Hurt like he hadn't felt in centuries. Not a mortal agony, but a debilitating one. And worse, as had happened a dozen times over, the wounds he made in the traitor were healed. Pain and all his efforts were unmade before his eyes.
Again.
Yes, the situation was dire. He could handle the traitor, but these priestesses made the fight impossible. This was a war of attrition now, and his opponent was undead.
Pain
And he nearly fell from the sky. Agony and then something burned through his insides exploding in fire and hurt.
But he was the hero of this story. The Platinum Dragonlord would not fall, would not fail, would never surrender to the forces of evil.
Momon and Nabe would turn the tide. They had their own battles, but they would be victorious, and then they three would win, together. 'Such friends as those will never falter!'
Never before had Tsaindoricus seen such true heroes. In his heart of hearts, he felt unworthy in their presence. Momon was a man of great words and greater deeds, so very dedicated and heroic. He had the same fire that burned in his own heart, Momon would come through. And Nabe was wise, quiet but all seeing. She would find the time, the perfect moment to strike and secure victory.
Yes, the day was not lost. No, not with true friends like those.
Pain
And he was falling, then the ground tore itself open and pierced him in bone and dirt, strangled him with vine and thorn which stabbed and rent and bit . He was pinned, he couldn't move. Pain and a spike of something ripped through his jaw at the point of letting out a devastating roar and his own power seared his throat. Then worse as the traitor descended like the winter itself. He tried to strike back but he couldn't move enough to land a solid blow. Once again the unlight of death energy enveloped them both, searing him and healing the wretched traitor.
This would not be the end. As the True Protector of the World he would overcome all evil. He roared, rage and pain, fury and vengeance, wrath and justice. Forcing the impaling spear out he unleashed a beam of energy to cut swaths through the foolish misled mortals. But he was wounded to the heart, everything was agony and he couldn't move. The very ground was turned against him and it bound and tore.
Then there was a rot that ate into him. A spike of pain that struck with indignity. A hail of arrows that found every gap in his hide. A bombardment of something that blasted and ruined. Claw and necrotic maw that tore into his spine. And a fire that clung and burned.
He needed to get out.
Teleportation magic was useless, he had tried before, when things began to look bad. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this, to his true trump cards that would destroy so much of the land he loved. Tsaindoricus reached deep within the core of Wild Magic within him, the font of power. This type of magic was pure destruction, the traitor, the priestesses, the cultists, all would die. Alas, Momon and Nabe might be caught up, but either they were strong enough to live, or would be glad to make this sacrifice.
"Nuclear ex-" "counterspell."
His power vanished. At the point of explosion it all fizzled to nothing. Wasted and gone, the last chance was whisked away like it had never been.
Momon, the man he would have betrayed for this needed victory, stood nearby. Only it wasn't. The shape was changed, a demon with the head of a goat and terrible claws pointing at him like an accusation. A suit of black and red, and an eyepatch that held back a disaster which might ruin whole worlds.
Then it was Momon again, a whole different person between eyeblinks.
Pain
So very much hurting, his body was failing, he couldn't breathe. 'Is this betrayal… after we bonded after we agreed on how the world should be…'
No. No it couldn't have been, Momon was a true hero. That image was just a trick of these evil undead, to make him doubt. To sow discord between himself and the adventurers. It was clear now, Tsaindoricus was winning, the traitors were just scared and playing mind games. All he needed to do was persevere.
He roared and something caught in his throat that tore and tasted of his own blood. It burned of venom and of curses.
Pain
He couldn't breath, couldn't move.
Pain
He couldn't feel his body, like some great part was missing and ruined.
Loss, agony, hurt
Something struck his eye and he couldn't see, couldn't feel, couldn't act.
'I have failed… I am a failure and with me the last hope of the world has died.'
Pain
'No. Momon will save us all!'
Pain
And then nothing. Forevermore.
"And so ended the last great hope for… ah… democracy?"
"I think the council thing was an oligarchy, Lupu."
"Really? Huh, well either way he kinda went out like a little bitch."
As far as reports went Lupusregina's estimation of the Platinum dragonlords combat abilities was less estimation than dramatic retelling.
If it weren't for Narberal's input to bring her back on track they would have a stage play rather than a report. 'Which actually might not be too bad. It was nothing beyond what we anticipated.'
"I think those do pretend to be democracies, sometimes Narberal, from what Momonga has told me."
"Oooh!" Lupusregina lent forward, hands stretching out over Albedo's desk from where she was sitting in front of it. The werewolf was grinning at her slip up, the Overlord's real name was reserved for in private, which this arguably was. "And what other se~crets does Mo- Aaak, Na-babe!"
Narberal, still leafing through her pages of reports and cross-referencing with Lupusregina's, had reached out to give her sister a little static shock. "On task, Lupu."
Lupusregina made a very put upon sigh. As though the world was a very unfair place, collapsing into a despairing slouch. She then immediately bounced into her usual upbeat posture, grinning wide. "Well then, since we can't have fun, after the binding spells he really did go out easy. Mare's magic was amazing strong! But he didn't really do much trying to get free, or do any crazy-world magic except that thing Pandora's Actor counterspelled, so I'm still not sure about how our mana draw interacts with that."
That had been the main point of curiosity that Lupusregina was to test. What was the basis of wild magic-tier magic interactions: scroll edition. 'Well, that and replenishing our supply of dragon steaks. A group effort.' Solution was testing mundane chemical weaponry such as napalm, mustard gas, and something Momonga called agent orange. Shizu had tested a variety of ballistics and artillery.
"But!" Lupusregina continued, "I think that's because he didn't know he could magically resist the effects. The only struggle was physical and even the low-tier spells from my cultists were having more of an impact than they should have."
'That would imply that the dragonlords don't understand how our magic works.' Which was possible, their new pet dragonlord Nixcerra had said that for them casting was mostly instinctual but they still needed specific intent. She would also be an adequate test subject if Ainz ever lifted the ban on experimenting on their new-world servants. "We'll need them to think that Nazarick has only benefits. Even if the experimentation doesn't leave lasting harm it's more convenient that they think they're more useful as servants than curiosities."
Albedo leaned back in her chair. "Well, in any case Aura has tracked down the Worm dragonlord to its hiding place, and that one will be much easier to contain for future studies so it's no matter."
The maids both grinned, sharp in Lupusregina's face, subtle in Narberal's. Predatory, the both of them. "For now," She continued, "take some time to relax. That was a big assignment.
Enri shuddered at the sudden chill as Lupusregina released her from her warm embrace. Then shrieked as they both plunged suddenly down from the high atmosphere, gravity reasserting its control. Nfirea had invented a parachute, which was not something he was meant to have been doing, but some migrated dwarvish craftspeople had talked him into it.
The design was terrible, according to Ainz, and would never have worked. Alas, it was all that stood between the brave Enri and eternity.
Well, that and Lupusregina herself, but only at the last possible moment.
She ended her spell on Nfirea and the two craftsmen as well, sending them plummeting and pushed her flight down rapidly to catch up with Enri who was by now laughing with the joy of going very fast. A joy that wouldn't last much longer.
Lupusregina had taken them to about ten thousand feet above a field outside Carne, now more town than village. It would be about half a minute before they would try the useless parachutes and she wanted to get in a good position to see their expressions when they realised the mistake.
She twisted around when she was about a dozen feet below Enri, Nfirea and the dwarves about a hundred feet above. They all looked excited and Lupusregina let them believe that her grin was for similar reasons. About three thousand feet above the hard, unforgiving ground she mimed pulling a chord. They all obligingly did, their packs burst open and a trail of cloth flew out from behind each of them.
… and nothing else. No inflation, no slowing of the fall. Lupusregina slowed her own descent the slightest amount and they all began to rapidly gain on her, faces widening in horror and panic.
Enri, the closest to her, reached out a hand which Lupusregina let brush the tips of her fingers before being tossed away in a gust of wind because the invisible Narberal was amazing and had perfect timing. She let herself go spiralling away out of reach, surprise and fear but not blame, it was a good face, an exciting once, but not a great one.
Nfirea's was better. Dread. His eyes were wide and mouth agape, screaming as he stopped struggling with the parachute chord and reached a useless hand down towards Enri. His whole face was poised in terror and reproach. Self loathing hadn't set in yet, but it would soon and… 'Oh I know how to make this worse.'
As Lupusregina passed through a cloud she cast "Message, can ya make some of their parachutes work Na-babe?" As she came out of the cloud and could look up she saw the parachutes of Nfirea and one of the dwarves fill up with air, much more than it could actually hold, and their fall slowed immediately.
But the other dwarf's didn't, and neither did Enri's. Rapidly, they fell away to tiny dots as the distance increased.
And there was the self loathing, the blame, shame, disgust and terror. So much delicious pain in the idiot mortal's eyes. Lupusregina committed them to memory, to savour later and teleported a thousand feet below.
It would be so much more fun if Enri and the other dwarf did spatter all over the field, Nfirea's face would never recover and it would be amazing. But Enri was protected by the say-so of Ainz.
'And the fear of what almost happened will still make for a lot of fun anyway.' Lupusregia appeared between Enri and the falling dwarf less than three hundred feet above the ground. "Reverse Gravity." And as they both braced in the last seconds before impact their fall slowed dramatically, but not nearly enough, at the rate they were going it would still be splatterville. 'Oh shit!' She cast the spell again in the same area, the two simultaneous castings a bit of a strain but the doubled deceleration was much more effective at slowing them down.
It looked like an uncomfortable landing, but not a deadly one. Lupusregina let go of the magic before it tossed them back skywards and landed herself. She immediately schooled her face from glee to concern and bounded over to the motionless pair. "Enri! Are you okay?!"
She was, a silent casting of 'Life Essence' confirmed that, but it was more fun to pretend not to know. The woman turned slightly, looking dazed and smelling of lingering fear, she tried to stand, staggered, and Lupusregina caught her as she began to sob. The dwarf meanwhile had finished vomiting and sat knees to chest and glaring hatefully up at the two successful parachuters. 'Oh that's perfect.'
"Thank you… thank you…" Enri was whimpering against her chest, muttering almost at random. "I was so scared…" Lupusregina held her, this gratitude was far from the reason for her actions, but it wasn't displeasing to have someone so utterly prostrated before her, so totally reliant and indebted. Plus, the real treat would start soon. And Enri was playing her role perfectly in getting an even more exquisite face from Nfirea. She silently cast 'Amplify Emotions' and spoke, stroking her hair "I knew those parachutes were a bad idea. We're so lucky you're okay."
Luck had almost nothing to do with it. Enri, entirely caught up in the spell, sobbed. The dwarf, upon careful consideration, vomited again and resumed staring hatefully. Lupusregina waited for the show to go on, using her spell to aggravate that anger.
Eventually the others landed and Nfirea ran towards them, tears streaming down a red blotchy face that was all anguish and regret. Relief started to bloom when he saw everyone alive, and Lupusregina strangled that emotion with a sombre glance and a shake of the head. He fell to his knees, looking broken, absolutely shattered.
The dwarf who had nearly died falling, stood, and ran to the other with raised fists and voice. "You tried to kill me!" "Selfish bastard, you chose the working parachute!" "I hate you! That was terrifying and I hate you!" "You left me to die!""Traitor!" "Your idea was stupid, you utter failure of an engineer!" "I would have died if not for that mage. And it would have been your fault!"
Except for the inevitability of death none of those were actually true and several were contradictory. But with each accusation Nfirea winced, crumpling further as if he were the target of words and fists. He was clearly imagining Enri saying them to him and it was such a hilarious face.
She loved it.
Eventually the other dwarfs' patience ran out and they began brawling, which ruined the perfect face of Nfirea. So, with fake concern she laid Enri down on the grass and dispelled the 'Sleep' spell she had been under to put an end to their noisemaking.
Enri woke up as Lupusregina pretended to care about the dwarves, separating them. She didn't bother looking at Nfirea's face, joy would be much less interesting.
After some time, once they were all back in the village, Nfirea did ask why she had shook her head like that.
"Wha-! I was just telling ya that your parachute didn't work Nifi! It's totally broken! Super flawed! Didn't work at all and they almost died!"
His face fell again, wonderfully.
"How have you not accidentally broken them yet Lupu?"
'Because I can take care of my toys Na-babe!' She stuck her tongue out at the still-invisible Narberal in lieu of a verbal answer.