Nika fainted for quite a while, that form she subconsciously activated in Lake Floria seemed the most natural thing in the world, it didn't even register how much it was draining her, only when she woke up floating in the water she realized how exhausted she was.
"What happened?" She asked nobody in particular, "The form you were in up until passing out drained all of your energy, the moment you ran out you turned back to normal and passed out." The sword spirit explained, "How am I awake now then? And why does it feel like my body is quickly recharging?" Nika questioned, but was met by a fairy circling around her before coming to a rest on her forehead.
The fairy made a chime noise and said "You fell in our spot and seemed to be hurt, so we healed you the best we could, the sacred water is doing the rest.", at the mention of the water, Nika remembered what she was doing in that place to begin with.
Quickly getting back to her feet like she didn't faint a few minutes before, she grabbed the bottled and scooped up some water, "Now that I got it, I can go back to Faron." Nika planned the steps before to her surprise, she started floating in the air, surrounded by a dark aura, then instantly, like teleportation, she was brought back right in front of the Water Dragon.
"That was quicker than I thought, didn't expect you could teleport." Faron mused, Nika didn't really have an explanation so she just ran with it, "Yeah, I also got the water... So do I just... Pour it in?" Nika aksed and the Dragon nodded in respinse, so Nika did as such.
Expecting it to take a while, Nika prepared to sit down, but in a matter of seconds, Faron shot out of the Basin she was resting in, revealing her entirety, "Ahhh... Much better." Faron pleasantly said, "Just like that? Anyways, ready to keep your part of the deal?" Nika asked.
Faron motioned to follow her, only to end up in front of a waterfall which Faron divided with her powers, "There we go, this is the entrance to the Ancient Cistern, I would keep my guard up Hero, many monsters call this place home, it also hides something... Evil..." The Dragon warned before flying away.
"Wouldn't be so different from the rest of the things I've seen since this adventure started." Nika muttered as she took thefirst step in the cistern.
ᗩᘉᑢᓰᘿᘉᖶ ᑢᓰSᖶᘿᖇᘉ
Inside the the Cister was an incredible sight, compared to the other temples she's been at, this place made her feel calm, but like Faron said, there was also something dark, it was in the air, "Hey uhh... Sword Spirit, first you need to tell what to call you because this is getting ridiculous, second, why does this place feel like a holy cemetery?" Nika asked the spirit, "If you wish to adress me with a name, then you can call me Angel, as for the presence, the Cistern was originally used to seal away the malice brought by the Harbinger of Demise, that's why there this high amount of holy power." The Sword Spirit, now known as Angel explained.
Hearing that something brought by the main threat Nika is facing, made her sweat a bit, she just hoped that she wouldn't have to enter the exact room where it was held, but brushing that aside, she knew that this place probably was safe from Ghirahim's meddling, probably.
Looking around the main thing Nika could focus on was a giant statue with the appearance of a Buddha (No Nika doesn't know that it's modeled after a Buddha), only the bust however, in the middle of it, a door locked with a key.
Nika started walking to check closer, and fell right in the water, which went completely unnoticed, along with the giant lilypads, "Thank Shiva Samba for the dragon's scale..." Nika muttered as she got back on dry land.
Stepping up to the door, she saw that it wasn't like the giant doors that held the Temple monster like the other times, just a regular key, this made her sure that she could just break the lock and go through, "This is too easy, Blaiser Impact!" Nika exclaimed, using the technique she hadn't used ever since her first time in Skyview Temple, slamming both her hands against the lock, breaking it apart.
Now that the lock was broken, Nika could enter inside the statue, and just like she expected, the structure was tall, really tall, she looked down, and saw a pile of bones, brings back memories, looking up, she saw the door, locked of course.
"It's on the ceiling... And I don't have the key... At least I know where it is, just need the key" Nika thought before dropping down where the bones were, expecting just one thing, and the thing happened, they came to life, just with four arms.
This seemed like it was going to be harder unlike the first Stalfos she fought, but "Master, the swords used by your opponet appear very rusty, I believe that by making your sword vibrate they'd fall apart." Angel instructed, prompting Nika to do just that, luckily enough it worked.
The Stalfos, or at this point Bistalfos stepped back when it's swords broke right in front of it, this moment of distraction however made it vulnerable to getting it's spine cut in tree pieces making it fall to the ground, and when it's head fell to the ground, Nika stomped it into dust, "Now where do I go?" She thought, before realizing that there was a door in that room, going through, only a chest, "...What could they possibly have put here...".
In thbe chest there was a book titled, Encyclopedia of Devil Fruits, "Why-! Does this!?" Nika exclaimed as she started flipping through the pages until she found it, the fruit she ate, labeled with human human thing, the same fruit Ghirahim recognized during their fight... "What in the world made them think this was a good idea?" Nika deadpanned when she realized that every single ability of the fruit was also listed.
While this was dangerous, Nika decided to learn as much as she could about the fruit before ripping the page to shreds, "That was a good call master." Angel commended Nika's decision.
"Angel, do you know where the key is located?" Nika asked the spirit, but soon regretted doing so as the sword jumped out of the sheat on it's own and embedded itself in the ground which began leaking an ominous aura, "Oh no..."