A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry that I've been gone for so long, but I got pretty busy with work over the summer, but here we are now with a new chapter! This was originally going to be a lot longer, but I split the chapter I've been writing in half so it wouldn't take as long to read and so I could get it out faster to you guys. I hope you enjoy!

Roswaal pulled some strings to have a dragon carriage suited for traveling through the Augria Sand Dunes delivered to Miload Manor in time for departure, and you hated to admit it, but this was actually a great move on his part.

The new carriage that currently rested on the driveway was a beefed-up version of a normal dragon carriage. It had wider wheels to enable it to traverse over sand, and its cabin looked like it could hold twice as much as an average one.

In addition, he somehow had desert-travelling attire prepared for everybody, although not everybody had a perfect fit. You were wearing yours now, and although you appreciated the color, it was admittedly a little small, not that it really mattered.

'I cannot decide whether I should be galled by the clown's preparation for my teleportation to fail in any measure or whether I should be pleased that the tool is working efficiently,' Omega remarked to you telepathically.

'Why not both?'

You heard Omega audibly chuckle, and at the same time, Ram opened the main doors to the manor, which faced the driveway. Out of the group going to the Watchtower, her attire seemed to stand out the most because the green cloak she adorned was a heavy contrast to her hair and the maid outfit that she always wore. In fact, this was probably the first time you saw any of Roswaal's maids wear something other than their uniforms.

Held by Ram's hands was a wheelchair with a comatose Rem in it, and although it was more than a few strides away, you quickly made your way towards the twins.

Ram stared at you blankly as the crunch of the gravel under your feet somehow made this moment awkward as she waited for you to arrive. When you finally got there, you asked, "Hey Ram, do you need any help getting Rem down these stairs? They're not exactly wheelchair accessible."

The pink-haired twin sighed. "I expected more of you, although the fact that I expected anything surprises me." As you watched, she expertly maneuvered Rem down the stairs without a hitch.

"Ah, I totally forgot," you mentioned, "you've been doing this for a while, so I guess you've figured out stairs by now."

Ram clicked her tongue. "You make it sound as if stairs pose a challenge to me. How condescending of you, (Y/N)."

You couldn't tell if Ram was joking or not, but you didn't let another one of her typical snide comments bother you. If anything, it would bother you more if she suddenly became nice and polite.

So, in turn, you playfully retorted with, "You know what they say; the more you hang around people, the more you start to act like them."

Ram turned her head slightly, and you saw the hint of a smirk across her cheek. This was her way of saying 'touché' and you saw this as a win, since it looked like the trip was about to start with the maid not being angry at you.

The mood flipped around and turned sour immediately as Roswaal strode out of the mansion doors and stood next to you.

"Sooooo, will you be sitting next to Omega-san today~?" the grown man in clown makeup asked. The way he asked this sounded like he was teasing you, but there was also a hint of something else. It almost sounded as if he thought that he was better than you because he knew something that you didn't.

Yeah... Roswaal was trying to covertly flaunt his superiority over you, but he had no way of knowing how far behind the truth he actually was.

You said nothing in order to keep Roswaal from getting any satisfaction from provoking you, and as you looked away from him, your thoughts turned towards Ram's even more limited knowledge about Omega.

She would find out someday, and this was another case of whether you should tell the truth now or conceal it until the timing felt right. You've been faced with dilemma many times by now, but the answer has always been the same.

'Are you a fool? Preemptively telling the oni about my true identity will almost certainly lead to a significant decrease in cooperation from her toward anything that is related to us. Wait as you have waited for everybody else, and she will surely find it within her prideful self to accept this fact.'

You shrugged and moved on from the thought, because you've done the exact same thing every time this dilemma has arisen.

Now, the only person not outside was Meili, and this sounded like a great excuse to get away from Roswaal one last time before the mission commenced. Without answering his question about Omega or explaining what you were doing, you walked into the mansion.

Since your sense of direction in mansions was a very obvious point of grievance and a potentially fatal weakness, Echidna forced you to spend the last few months memorizing where everything was so that you could almost go anywhere with your eyes closed. The only thing stopping you from actually closing your eyes was the fear of bumping into something and breaking it or misjudging distances.

With that said, you were about to successfully make it to Meili's room without incident.

Time Skip

Meili had been apprehensive about leaving Elsa behind and going to the Augria Sand Dunes regardless of her company, but when you got to her room, you saw that it had been the Bowel Hunter herself who eased the girl's mind.

Now, Meili was walking next to you with an Elsa plushie that was actually well made. She walked right behind you as the two of you exited the mansion and headed toward the new dragon carriage, which was completely loaded by now.

With a fragile confidence, Meili said, "I'm a bit older now, so maybe that desert isn't as scary as I remember it. I'm just getting myself more scared, I think... Yeah, that's what onee-chan said, so I'll be fine."

You patted her on the back. "You're a lot stronger than you think you are. If you're afraid or if you're ever doubting yourself, just trust all of us who believe in you and your strength."

Meili looked up at you and smiled genuinely as she hugged her Elsa plushie.

'That was very touching,' Omega communicated sarcastically, 'but I am prepared to cast my teleportation spell. In fact, I have been prepared for over an hour, but you all have been all too engrossed in your temporary farewells.'

You didn't sigh to make Meili think that something was up, but instead, you increased your pace.

"Hey, everybody's waiting for us, so let's go and do this!" you announced encouragingly to Meili.

She nodded, and walked as quickly as her short legs allowed her to.

Time Skip

The dragon carriage was loaded with three weeks' worth of food and water in the case that the carriage wasn't teleported right to the Pleaides Watchtower. These were stored in a compartment underneath the floorboards.

Meili, Roswaal, Ram, and a sleeping Rem were sitting in the coach of the carriage, above those supplies, as you took the steering position.

Patrasche, the trusty earth dragon, was going to be pulling the dragon carriage, and other than Subaru and sometimes Otto, you were the only one that she would permit to steer her, although 'tolerate' would be a better way to describe it.

Omega took a spot next to you as she looked into the back. "Is everybody and everything prepared for our departure?" she asked, making sure that nothing was out of place before casting her spell.

"You are good to gooooo~" Roswaal replied, his voice irritatingly nonchalant.

Omega moved her lips as if she was saying something, but you quickly realized that it wasn't a curse toward Roswaal, because the entire world seemed to shimmer and bend.

Suddenly, you were blinded by a darkness that seemed to swallow the carriage, moving it closer to its target.

For a moment, you were reminded of your final moments on Earth, right before you were sent to this world. The warping was familiar, but something was different. What exactly, you couldn't put a finger on, but this was definitely not the same method that brought you here.

The teleportation spell that Omega casted without a verbal incantation was over in an instant, and you were immediately met with a gust of wind and a lot of sand in your face. Thankfully, the outfit you were wearing had a hood and a mask to cover the majority of your face, so you were able to keep most of the sand away for now.

As you pulled them over to protect your face, you noticed that the entire carriage was enveloped in a sandstorm, as all you could hear was the whooshing of wind and all you could see was fine particles of sand blow everywhere, making it seem as if you were trapped in a prison of shifting gold walls.

Thankfully, all earth dragons, including Patrasche, had the Divine Protection of Wind Evasion. This meant that when Patrasche was running, she - and all her passengers - would be unaffected by the wind or by any wind resistance. On the flip side, since the carriage was unmoving at the moment, this also meant that the Divine Protection wasn't in effect.

The gap between your hood and the mask filled up with sand at an unbelievably quick rate, and it took next to no time for some to get in your eyes and mouth.

'Did we bring any goggles?' you asked Omega telepathically, since the wind and the sound of the sand hitting the carriage was loud enough to compromise clear communication.

'You cannot see this, but I am currently holding a pair, as I was prepared for this situation. While we should have equipped these earlier, take them now to mitigate any further inconveniences.'

You had to close your eyes to keep the sand from entering them, so since you could not see her, Omega took one of your hands, and soon, the feeling of her hands was replaced by the sensation of a goggle.

Keeping your eyes shut, you wiped the area by your eyes and slipped the goggles on, quickly slipping the straps underneath your hood so too much sand didn't make it under your clothes.

Thankfully, there wasn't much sand in the goggles, so when you opened your eyes again, you were able to see clearly. Now that your vision was not impaired, you turned to Omega, who also had goggles on. 'I know that we're probably in the Augria Sand Dunes right now, but how far away from the Tower do you reckon we are?'

Omega gave a reluctant shrug. 'Until this sandstorm passes, I will not be able to accurately discern our current position and its relation to our destination.'

At that moment, you felt Patrasche gently tug on her reins, so you took the hint and began to steer her forward, or wherever it was that she felt like was the correct direction.

The earth dragon started pulling slowly, since it was difficult to begin pulling the carriage when it was over sand, but soon enough, she was able to begin running, which abolished the wind that blew right onto you. Now, the sand fell naturally as the Divine Protection of Wind Evasion kicked in around the carriage, and you had to periodically sweep some away with your foot as it collected near your feet.

At this point, it was safe to open the sliding window that connected you to the rest of the passengers, so you motioned for Omega to open it.

As soon as it was open, you were surprised as to how calm the interior was. If Subaru were there, you would have surely been met with a shout, but everyone in the carriage seemed relaxed.

In fact, Roswaal had his legs crossed as he leaned back into his seat. "Congratulations, Omega-sannnnn," he exclaimed, "We are most definitely in the Augria Sand Dunes, as we have arrived in the middle of its infamous Sand Time!"

You cocked your head to the side, and over your shoulder, you questioned, "Sand Time? You mean this sandstorm?"

"Indeeeeed." Not letting Omega explain, Roswaal continued, "This desert has three violent sandstorms a day. I believeeee that they occur during the morning, afternoon, night periods~"

You heard Ram give a cocky 'hmph' in the background. "Ha! The puny locals are afraid of a little wind? Perhaps this will be easier than-"

As soon as Ram began gloating, the force of the sand tripled, and even with the wind, which seemed to be approaching gale speeds now, being canceled out, the sand had so much momentum that the carriage began to shake.

Even worse, you were being coated in sand now, and it wouldn't be too much sooner until you were buried.

"Perhaps you spoke too soon!" Omega shouted over the sound of the sand. Initiating a plan for this exact circumstance, she cast Ul Dona, the third degree of the Dona earth spell series.

Thanks to the goggles, you saw and recognized what was happening, so you pulled on Patrasche's reins, forcing her to stop. At the same time, the spell shook the ground around the carriage and although you couldn't hear it over the sand and the wind, the earth took the shape of a dome around Patrasche and the entire carriage, isolating it from the outside world and the violent Sand Time.

Using Goa, Omega proceeded to create lights so that the interior of the earthen dome would be illuminated.

As the lights came up, you shook as much sand off of your clothes as possible, and you looked back inside the carriage.

Ram was staring blankly around the carriage which had received a small load of sand, as if she hadn't said anything out of place.

Ignoring her, you asked, "So... how long does Sand Time last? I'm getting the feeling that we might get really used to seeing the inside of this dome, no matter how far away from the Tower we are."

"Several hours, I presume," Omega answered out loud. "We will have to travel during the intervals in which Sand Time is not active."

As Omega said this, you noticed that Meili seemed to have a slight frown on her face as she brushed some sand off of her thighs, so you remarked, "Hey, at least we don't have to worry about mabeast attacks while we're in here."

Meili looked up toward you as she contained a laugh at how mistaken you were. "Heh... You're welcome! There's a bunch of squirmy sand earth worms under us, and they can munch at us from here, but I'm shooing them away right now."

"Oh..." you said, "Well, in that case, awesome job! You're doing great!"

Counting on her fingers and looking up, Meili added, "And we can't forget about the one-horned mabeasts and the feathered moles that roam around too. And then the scariest animal-chans, the courtesan bears, are somewhere far in the desert. The bears are the really scary ones, but I can handle everything else."

"What makes the bears harder to deal with?" you asked her with curiosity.

Meili crossed her arms. "I can control a lot of animal-chans, but there are some that I'm just not compatible with. Like the While Whale! That's also a mabeast, but since I'm not compatible with it, I can't make it listen. The bears are weird too, so I can't tell them to go away like the others."

Entering this new conversation, Roswaal interjected, "As you might know, the Pleaides Watchtower acts as a place to watch over the toooomb of Satella, who is sealed away there. This means that the area surrounding the Watchtower is unnnnnnaturally covered in her miasma, so the mabeasts, especially the courtesan bears, who live near the tower, are a bit different than typical mabeasts. Aaaand, Sand Time blows the miasma from east to west, so all mabeasts in this desert who reside westward of the tower are affected by it."

"Indeed," Omega nodded her head along with what Roswaal was explaining. "We are travelling directly against the wind, so we are undoubtedly placed some place westward of our destination. Furthermore, the miasma that has been carried across these Sand Dunes contaminates everything, so I highly advise against consuming anything that originates here."

That part was actually interesting, and since it looked like you'd be in the dome for a while anyway, you asked, "So, does that mean that miasma actually has lasting effects on physical stuff? I thought that it just made you feel sick if there was enough and that it smelled weird."

Roswaal wanted to answer, but in his non-existent heart, so probably his brain, he knew that Omega should answer. After all, Echidna was the one who conducted the groundbreaking research to discover the true essence of miasma.

This caused him to hesitate in his answer, which gave Omega the guaranteed chance to explain. "You see," she began, "as mysterious as you may perceive it, miasma is merely corrupted mana. As you know, mana comes from Od Laguna, the supposed manifestation of the world's will, as it regulates mana and the distribution of Divine Protections. Authorities, or Witch Factors, as some may call them, come from a source unaffiliated with Od Laguna, and their directly antithetical existence to it corrupts mana. Normal mana is pure, and it has no color as well as no directivity. Miasma is associated with black and purple pigments, and as your gate naturally absorbs it as it typically does with mana, you are also corrupted. The gate is akin to an organ that constantly takes in mana, so this absorption is unavoidable. This means that miasma usually only contaminates organisms that possess a gate, but the miasma here, as it is extruded by the Witch of Envy, is far more potent. Her miasma corrupts everything, including food and water. Now, we all understand that miasma will cause insanity and potentially death just by having any pass through your gate, so consider the severity of the effect if you consume any of it directly through your stomach. For any of us, except for perhaps (Y/N), this will result in certain death, although Ram may have a slight resistance to the harmful effects of absorbing miasma through her gate."

It seemed like your immunity to Authorities extended to miasma, especially since Echidna's miasma didn't affect you, and you were slightly curious as to why Ram had some protection against it, but you didn't like what it meant for everybody else. "That means that we need to get this mission done as soon as possible. If we can go insane because of miasma and have no way of stopping it, then we need to get to the Watchtower soon and fetch Shaula as soon as we get there."

"Indeed," Ram remarked in a genuine way, which was surprising since you would've expected a sarcastic comment here. At the moment, she was looking at Rem, and any of her usual pompous self was lost to her love for a sister she couldn't even remember.

Ram being sincere put any words that might have come out of your mouth away, and the carriage was devoid of conversation while the sand audibly beat the earthen dome and started to pile around it.

Time Skip

After a couple of hours, the sound of sand and wind suddenly disappeared, which signaled the end of Sand Time.

While the carriage had been silent for a short time, everyone had actually spent the rest of the waiting time to begin planning your next steps.

Omega would calculate your current position by using the sun, the approximate time, the possible locations within the radius of her teleportation spell, and if she was lucky, any landmarks. After that, she would find the distance between where you all landed and the Pleiades Watchtower.

As it turns out, she didn't know any specifics of the Watchtower other than its purpose or its location. Only to you, she explained that it had been Flugel who built the entire thing with only some advice and ideas coming from the original Echidna.

While she was secretly explaining this to you, she also added that Roswaal was seeking out Volcanica, the Divine Dragon, to kill it and take the blood from its last heartbeat to use its legendary power to potentially revive his teacher.

'I did not lie about the Divine Dragon's likely presence at the Pleiades Watchtower, but I will obviously not allow the clown to take its blood, if that is even a feat plausible for th-...'

Omega paused in her thoughts, which made you think that something was up.

'What is it? Is there some Achilles' heel or something that he can use to kill Volcanica?'

'No,' she replied, 'I have just had a moment of revelation, if you will. You see, this tool has never intended to kill Volcanica by his own hand.'

'Huh? You might need to elaborate so I can hop on that train of thought, which is wildly passing right over my head.'

'I do not blame you, for even I just arrived at this conclusion... We may have blundered for agreeing to bring the pink-haired sister along, for she is my tool's ultimate tool. Do you recall her backstory?'

'Which part of it?'

'The part where she is the alleged reincarnation of the Oni-God.'

'Oh, that... Yeah, I kinda forgot about that since she lost her horn and got nerfed.'

'Indeed. Well, this fact is crucial, for I believe that, during our time in the Watchtower, the clown may attempt to use the maid in some fashion to kill Volcanica, and whilst their rate of success is logically abysmal, the small chance that they may succeed needs to be avoided at all costs.'

'Wait... isn't it your goal to get revived?'

'To begin, 'me' and the original 'Echidna' are two separate entities, as I have already established. As far as I am concerned, I have already achieved my goal, and having yet another version of myself in the world would cause more grievance than it is worth.'

'I got'cha. I'm perfectly just having you here, so if and when I see them sneaking off somewhere together, I'll snoop around and keep them out of trouble.'

Omega mentally sighed. 'Now do you understand how it feels to be one of the exclusively mature individuals here? You and I are having to babysit these immature brats while simultaneously convincing them to work together with us to achieve our common goal.'

'It's pretty sad that, out of the three of them, Meili's the one not included in the babysitting.'

At that very moment, Meili opened the window between the inside of the carriage and the driver's seats, which had been closed when Omega's Ul Dona dome was dispersed and sand fell down everywhere.

Speaking of that, you really needed to find somewhere to get out of the new traveling clothes to get sand out of the inside, since it seemed to find any gaps you left, even though the clothes were kind of tight.

Pointing slightly to the right, Meili announced, "The animal-chans are saying that there is a small town over there. Do you want to stop there really fast?"

"Meili, you couldn't have suggested anything better!" you replied with enthusiasm. Yeah, it was really important to speed run this trip so that the miasma didn't corrupt anyone, but if you had to do it as fast as possible, you might as well find somewhere private to be able to get all of the sand out of your clothes so you could do everything comfortably.

Omega sighed, but she didn't look disappointed in you. "As reluctant as I may be to admit this, I did not expect our party to locate a landmark, so I fully expected to rely on my calculations alone as our guide. However, visiting this town and asking for directions may prove to be a valuable proof to validate my answer."

"Hey," you said sympathetically as moved one hand from the reins to Omega's shoulder, "You can always tell us what you calculated first, so we'll know you were right the whole time."

Unfortunately, this genuine act came off as the opposite; to Meili, it seemed as if you were sarcastically consoling Omega.

Thankfully, Echidna could read your mind, so she knew what you meant. If she were somebody like Ram, your harmless comment could have started a whole argument.

"Indeed," she said calmly, which momentarily surprised Meili. However, the Mabeast user didn't really care about the dodged drama, so she discarded it from her mind.

She continued to point out of the sliding window as you maneuvered Patrasche to follow the direction her finger pointed in.

You felt some resistance from the earth dragon, and she made an audible squawk, as if she didn't want to stray from the path she was already taking. After you didn't relent in your steering, Patrasche turned her neck, and it looked like she was giving you an angry side-eye.

Thankfully, she didn't turn around and try to bite you, as she's done a couple times before, and after Patrasche yielded to you, Meili's information proved to be true.

The sun was past its midway point in its journey across the sky, but it still hadn't reached sunset, which meant that you were traveling right into it with nothing to ease the strength of the light on your eyes.

Sunglasses were definitely next on the inventions list, but more importantly, somewhere in between the glaring sunlight and the sand was what looked like a small town, and you'd finally be able to get sand out of your clothes as Omega and the rest gathered some quick information.

Time Skip

When you arrived at the town, you were actually reminded of something you'd expect to see in a old western movie.

There were a few buildings, all in a straight line along a sandy path. Oddly enough, some of the windows seemed to be barred, while the others were only half-blocked. The largest building, although this title is only relative to the buildings around it, was labeled as a saloon, and you almost felt as if you were in a ghost town since nobody was outside and you couldn't see or hear anything inside the buildings.

The wheels of the dragon carriage grinded on sand as it slowed to a stop, and you silently thanked Patrasche for being so cooperative so far.

Before you got off of the carriage, you leaned back and asked into the passenger side, "Hey, could one of you open the bag of jerky so Patrasche can have something to eat while we're here?"

Roswaal hummed a question. "Hmmm? Did we not feed her durrrrring Sand Time?"

"Yeah, but she's been extra tolerant of me today, so I think that deserves an award."

Omega tried not to let it show, but a small smile stretched itself across her face. She noticed that you noticed, so she decided to let you know what she was thinking.

'If this is the compensation the earth dragon receives after one day spent with you, I wondered what I would receive... In retrospect, I am not aware of the reason as to why I found this thought humorous, but at the time, it was quite amusing.'

'Hey, you get a bunch of anime and stuff, so even if I took that seriously, I'd say that you get your time's worth.'

At that moment, the bag of jerky found its way to you via a creepy clown who just appeared in front of you, grinning and offering it to you like he would with candy to a child.

You silently took the bag and with narrowed eyes, slowly dismounting the carriage. Omega did the same, and as you gave Patrasche a treat, your contractee led the others inside the saloon.

You heard Ram sigh as she passed you on her way into the building. "There better be a restroom..." you heard her mumble, or at the very least, that's what you thought you heard.

Patrasche, on the other hand, didn't do any complaining. In fact, she was overjoyed by the fact that she was being treated to jerky, and in her reptilian eyes, you could almost see her forgive you for veering off the route she wanted to take for some reason.

"Good girl," you said as you patted the earth dragon on the head, careful not to drag your hand across it since her scales were quite rough.

Now, since you didn't want to go inside the saloon and get sand everywhere, although it looked like this was inevitable from the moment anybody went through the swinging doors, you chose to go inside the carriage and then sweep the sand out, since it looked like a little bit got inside earlier anyway.

As you closed yourself inside the carriage to quickly undress, Omega gave you a telepathic report of the information she was receiving inside.

'There is a self-proclaimed shopkeeper inside this establishment, and he has served to verify my conclusions. My calculations were correct, and oddly enough, it appears as if the earth dragon was pulling us in the exact same trajectory as I have discovered.'

'Well, at least we have three different sources telling us that we're going in the right direction. I'm still a little worried since something out there stopped Reinhard from reaching the tower, but at least we have step one figured out.'

'In relation to that upcoming quandary, I am certain that the Sand Time played a role in stopping the Sword Saint during that mission. I am doubtful that it was the sand itself that obstructed him, so we must be weary of any other effects of these sandstorms.'

You sighed as you got the sand out of your clothes and off of your skin. 'And speaking of Sand Time, how long do you think it'll take us to get to the tower, since we have to stop during each storm?'

'If we travel in a straight line and optimize our travel time, we can reach the Pleiades Watchtower within two days.'

'Oh, that's not too bad.'

Time Skip

Two days through a desert was much worse than you thought it would be.

Thankfully, as you noticed near the end of the first day, the Augria Sand Dunes weren't as blazing hot as you assumed a desert would be. However, you started to get really tired of sand, and the driver's seat started to get really uncomfortable after sitting on it for so long.

At this point in time, it was now exactly two days since Omega teleported everybody to the desert, and the Pleiades Watchtower was actually within sight. Its outline seemed to pierce the distant horizon like a skyscraper, and seeing it gave everybody hope.

This hope, however, was wavering at the moment because Meili was becoming quite fatigued, and the afternoon Sand Time just ended. Of course, Meili was taking naps during the sandstorms, but being stuck inside the carriage most of the time and having nothing but desert and the distant tower to look at was tiring. It seemed that even her days as an assassin didn't fully prepare her for the trip, or perhaps it was the fact that she had to constantly tell the 'animal-chans' to go away that exhausted her.

Either way, this meant that while ideally, you would use this time to travel towards your destination, having Meili compromised meant that everyone would have to defend against the mabeasts.

This was not impossible, but according to Meili, the sand earthworms could attack from beneath the dragon carriage, so it could make for a very unpleasant time.

From inside the carriage, you heard Ram say, "Let her sleep. If we cannot defend ourselves from mere mabeasts, then we do not need to be on this journey."

"Is that really ok-ay?" Meili asked in your direction.

To answer, you tugged on Patrasche's reins, who began to pull the dragon carriage forward through the coarse sand. "Yeah, don't worry about us, Meili. Like I told you before we left, you can trust us."

While you couldn't see her, Meili's body relaxed after your reassurance, and she fell asleep while hugging her Elsa doll.

"Mayyyyy I suggest that we take initiative in this situation and create an earthen shield beneath ussss?" Roswaal suggested to Omega, who seemed to be in thought as to how to approach Meili's currently incapacitated state.

Omega, upon hearing Roswaal's suggestion, turned back to address him. "You must be quite confident in your mana capacity and your abilities if you intend to maintain that shield until the child returns from the realm of dreams."

Roswaal chuckled slowly before creepily answering, "You seeeee, I had a verrrry good teacher, so neither of these will be annn issue. I am sure you understand, no?"

Ram looked at Roswaal incredulously since she didn't expect him to make any mention of Echidna at this random moment.

The margrave ignored the maid's expression since he was focused on seeing Omega's reaction. As usual, Omega didn't reveal anything to Roswaal through her guise. Instead, she casually turned back around to face the desert. "As long as you do not exhaust too much mana, you can do as you please, but do keep in mind that we are approaching the Pleiades Watchtower, so we may encounter threats far more dangerous than sand earthworms."

Roswaal pretentiously guffawed, which got on your nerves since it was loud enough to wake Meili up right after she started to sleep. "Would you just shut up and cast the spell?" you asked with irritation.

You didn't see whatever it was that Roswaal did, but you heard some shuffling come from inside before the clown chanted, "Dona!"

For a moment, the wheels of the carriage began to jump from the shield underneath them to the sand that forced itself in between the two, but after a few seconds, the shield was lowered farther into the sand, so the carriage was steady once again.

Time Skip

It didn't take long for the first mabeast to appear. This wasn't surprising, but what did surprise you was the fact that the first one that appeared was not a sand earthworm, which had been the main one to be discussed.

No, just based on a first glance, you could tell that it was one of the feathered moles that Meili had mentioned during the first Sand Time.

It was about the three times the size of a regular mole, and it had burst from the sand with its wings that sprouted from its back. In addition, its skull seemed to have formed in the shape of a horn, so its head almost looked like a drill.

When the feathered mole appeared, Patrasche didn't flinch in her running, and almost immediately, Omega cast 'Fura,' which decapitated the beast with a swift blade of wind.

This preceded to anger a lot more moles, all of which began flying up from their holes beneath the sand.

There were a few thuds from beneath the earthen shield, and one even flew up and hit the space in between you and Omega.

Omega grabbed it, chanted "Minya," and tossed the now-crystalized mole toward its companions. As it traveled through the air, another flying mole crashed into it and shattered it. Every purple shard that was propelled by the impact killed even more moles on impact.

As this unfolded, Omega calmly said to you, "Keep on holding onto the reins. I will handle this."

"Sounds good to me," you replied as you closed the sliding window into the inside of the carriage. You didn't want any moles to make their way inside and cause a disturbance, and at the very least, it muted some of the sounds so that Meili could sleep soundly.

Now, there were dozens of feathered moles surrounding the carriage, and in a combined effort, they all dove toward the carriage, some even going after Patrasche.

However, none of them made it very far as Omega used El Huma to pierce all of them with meticulously launched ice spears that shredded every target in a way that was definitely incompatible with life.

As these dozens of moles fell down, you could see a large disturbance in the sand, and before all of the moles could even complete their descension, a much larger explosion of sand buried their carcasses, and along with it came a piercing shriek.

You didn't exactly know what you expected a sand earthworm to look like, but this thing was definitely larger than you thought it would be.

Apparently, these things were usually the size of someone's arm, but the miasma in the Augria Sand Dunes corrupted these mabeasts, so what came from the sand was a school bus-sized worm that used its slimy, muscly body to propel itself toward the carriage, which gave you a wonderful view its gaping mouth that could easily fit four people inside and the rows of teeth that lined the inside of it. To make matters even better, an overwhelming stench came along with the earthworm, and the saliva that dripped from its small teeth sizzled as it dripped from its mouth to the sand below.

As horrifying as it might have been, this sand earthworm stood no chance against Omega, who elected to cast 'El Dona,' which created several spears of earth that pierced its body, rendering it immobile and killing it instantly.

The blood from the worm oozed down the spikes, and you almost thought that some of it was going to drip onto the carriage, but it seemed like Omega had even taken the blood into account when she cast her spell.

Sometimes, you forgot how utterly terrifying Echidna could be, but in a way, this was pretty endearing.

Time Skip

About five other sand earthworms appeared before the next Sand Time, and although they varied a little in size, the size comparison to a school bus was pretty accurate in all cases, although a couple of the worms were slightly smaller.

Now, as the night settled in, both you and Omega could feel the desert wind begin to pick up again, which gave the signal to stop and raise the dome once more.

As you slowed Patrasche to a stop and Omega erected the earthen dome and illuminated it, the both of you dwelled on a thought that had been troubling you for a while now:

Even when the sun had set, the Pleiades Watchtower looked as far away as it was at sunrise.

Echidna had estimated that the carriage would arrive at the tower by the end of this day, but as you noted in stunned silence, you were still far from it.

'This must be the mechanism that prevented the Sword Saint from reaching the Tower, even with all of his abilities.'

You nodded silently. At first, you thought that the tower didn't seem to get any closer because you didn't have any points in the distance to compare it to, but after Echidna verified your suspicion earlier, the two of you were sure that you hadn't made any progress during the entire day.

As you stretched your back and legs after 'steering' Patrasche for so long, the window to the inside was opened by none other than Meili, who had recently woken up.

Rubbing her eyes, the ex-assassin asked, "I'm sorry that I got so sleepy..." After being interrupted by her own yawn, she continued, "Are we almost there yet?

You and Omega looked at each other while Roswaal inserted with frightening intuition, "Or are we perhapssssss still quite a ways away from our destinationnnn?"

"Indeed," Omega dryly replied. "To be quite honest, I do not believe that we have made any progress as of today. This must be the work of the Pleiades Watchtower's defenses, which seem to be a form of space warping. I believe that-"

"What?!" Ram screamed. Gripping Rem's wheelchair tightly, Ram cursed Omega. "We have wasted an entire day, but you hide it from us until the end of it? How presumptuous can you be?!"

Countering Ram, you came back with, "What would you have done? First off, it took half the day to make sure we weren't just imagining things, and after that, we troubleshooted by seeing if we're looping in the same area or if the tower is the one that's being affected by the magic. While you were sitting inside, Omega found out that we didn't seem to be looping, so we've already solved part of the problem! What else could we have done, except for making you panic sooner?"

The maid crossed her arms and sat back, regaining some of her composure after being called out, but she wasn't done arguing. "While all of your points are not foolish, you seem to be incapable of understanding my frustration." Looking at you in the eyes, she explained, "Hiding a truth such as this, for whatever excuse you may have, and regardless of your intention to reveal it later, is wrong."

"Is that so?" Omega scoffed. Ram's statement just now applied to a situation much larger than the one you were currently in, and Omega hated to be wrong in her informed judgement in how to handle it. "What exactly is wrong about it, then?" she challenged.

"Tsk." Ram clicked her tongue, annoyed at Omega and her overbearing attitude. "Is it not obvious? When we are in a situation such as this, and the well-being of others-" she clearly glanced at Rem as she paused - "are at stake, revealing the truth sooner rather than later can make the difference in whether we can save her or not! Perhaps I am of no use! Perhaps I cannot have made a difference, but at least, if I am not able to save Rem, I know that I failed after doing everything in my power to do so!"

Ram's voice rose in volume, and her hands, holding the wheelchair, began to shake along with her voice. "How would you feel if you had to live knowing that you failed to save somebody precious while you could have done more?! Perhaps Roswaal-sama could have helped! Perhaps he and I could have solved this problem! Perhaps I could have done something other than wasting time away sitting and doing nothing! No! Instead, I am left in the dark! I am left powerless and useless! How am I supposed to remember my sister if you won't tell me the truth?!"

The entire carriage was silent with the exception of Ram's heavy breathing and the sound of the sand and the wind beginning to pound on the dome.

After hearing her heartfelt frustration, you couldn't help but feel bad. Hiding the truth was something that you did a lot of recently, and in this situation, you couldn't find it in your heart to justify doing so. You knew exactly how it felt to live with the guilt of losing people after you tried so hard to save them. Even now, you occasionally found yourself in the bath or sometimes in bed, staring at the blank ceiling, wondering if you could have done anything differently that day.

Obviously, the answer didn't matter since you couldn't go back and change the events of that day, but guilt is difficult to overcome, so you knew that Ram's fears and frustrations came from a very real place.

You couldn't just underscore her feelings with a retort or another argument, because when it came to emotions, you couldn't just argue them out of existence. In this case, you had to acknowledge the fact that you and Echidna had ignored how the others might have felt when hiding the truth, and it ended up causing a bigger problem than if you would have told them earlier.

You waited for the tension to dispel before replying, but inside your head, there was another reason why you delayed your response.

Telepathically, Echidna was doing exactly what you couldn't do, and she was arguing with Ram's emotions.

'How foolish and idealistic! Knowing that you used every resource available and proceeding with your maximum effort and still failing is even more crushing than being given a false illusion of denied success! You see, life is cruel, because even if you commit no mistakes, you can still fail! No matter how hopeful, how powerful, or how intelligent you are, you will fail, and you will be forced to live with the fact that you were not enough! I would much rather live a lie in which I can convince myself that I could have made a difference!'

Echidna's sudden outburst wasn't all too surprising, but it was the content of her rant that caught you off guard. 'Hey, Echidna, I know that this is a very touchy subject, and I'm actually really surprised that you just opened up a little bit about your feelings on something - which is wonderful - but would you want to talk about this some more? I know that I'm not the smartest person here, but I'm pretty sure that what I just heard comes from something huge from your past that you haven't gotten over quite yet. You've helped me a lot over these past few months, so can you let me help you?'

Echidna was silent after your offer, and she only answered so that she would not violate the term of your contract that stated that neither of you could hide something from one another without good reason, in which the reason had to be explained.

'I... do not wish to discuss my past quite yet. Although it is quite difficult to believe, it is not impossible that I may be afraid to explore my own emotions, as I have apparently suppressed them for centuries while assuming that I did not possess them.'

After a pause, the Witch added, 'Perhaps I should forgive the oni for her little ebullition, for she is honest with herself, which ironically aligns with her message, and in doing so, she is far more courageous than myself.'

'Wait... so does this mean that you're starting to understand emotions?'

'Not at all! I am merely beginning to understand my lack of understanding of them, which has marked the inception of my intellectual journey to understand such things.'

And just like that, Echidna was finished acting upset, and she had made it up in her mind that she would hold Ram on good terms once again.

The problem was actually conveying this intention to an upset Ram.

Omega, who didn't have a problem since she didn't know how it felt like to be awkward or uneasy, spoke up. "While I would love to debate about the true necessity of revealing this truth earlier, I concede that the factors that moved you to berate us in such a way cannot be used to hold you in the wrong. As a result, I would like to informally apologize for the assumptions I had acted upon without their results."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too, Ram," you added as you tagged along with Omega. "Although you were a lot closer to her, I've lost Rem too, so I know how much it hurts. Her, along with Crusch, and those people who died to Greed that day all hold a weight in my heart, and I want to help you save Rem so you don't have to live with that guilt too."

Ram hmph'd in acknowledgement, but she made no other cue.

With the situation now deescalated and resolved, you and Echidna were now able to move on to the most pressing issue: how would you succeed where Reinhard failed? What plan would make you the first group to ever make it to the Pleiades Watchtower?

What would it take to finally get closer to your goal?

Hey, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

As you can see in the title, this is part 1 of a 2 part chapter series, since I didn't want to release a 12k+ word chapter that I'm almost done with. But hey, that means part 2 will be done soon! (Within a month if everything goes well!)

These past few months have been pretty busy for me since I've been working a lot and getting ready to move, but next week, I'll be moving out of my house and leaving my summer job to go live at a university, so I'm not sure what my writing schedule will look like until it actually happens.

I haven't really been reading a lot lately, so if the chapter is delayed, that might also be a reason... I have a lot of stories to catch up on, and after not having to work overtime every week soon, I feel like I'll be back in the reading mood again. With that said, I'll do my best to get as much of it written as soon as I can! I have the next year or two's worth of chapters all planned out, so I just have to write them.

Annnnd with that, I'll see you next time!