Finally, I can Retire, Or so I Thought

Luna raised her staff and began chanting under her breath. "Enchant Blessing!" Five streaks of yellow light shot from the tip of her staff, sinking into Aria, Cleo, Sheila, and Mei to boost their offense and defense.

Seeing them power up, the minotaur dropped into a low stance. Thump... thump! It charged full speed at Sheila, who was holding the front line, bringing one of its massive broadswords down in a vicious side sweep.

Clang! Sheila caught the blow on her double-headed axe, holding her ground with a smirk as yellow light radiated around her body.

Tap! Mei dashed up from behind, using Sheila’s shoulder as a springboard to vault high into the air. She crossed her twin blades, aiming straight for the minotaur’s throat.

Clang! The beast parried with its second sword. Mei deflected the strike, kicked off the creature’s forearm, and flipped backward through the air.

Before the minotaur could recover, BLAM! "GRAPHH!" A scorching fireball slammed directly into its face. The minotaur stumbled back, clutching its head and roaring in pain.

Aria didn’t miss the opening. Thrusting her hand forward, she called out, "Dimensional Transfer!"

A swirling dimensional vortex opened up right beneath the minotaur, swallowing it whole. A second later, another vortex tore open high above, dumping the beast into a freefall.

"Nice one, Aria! Earth Spike!" Sheila slammed both her axes into the floor. A sharp spire of earth shot up from the stone, catching the falling minotaur right in the gut with a heavy BLAM!

The impact nearly knocked the monster’s eyes out of their sockets as its jaw flew open. While it was still reeling, two massive fireballs slammed into its chest, shattering its iron armor to pieces.

"Now, Mei!" Aria yelled.

"On it!" Mei called back.

Mei sprang onto Aria’s warhammer. Working in tandem with Sheila, Aria swung the massive hammer with all her might, launching Mei like a missile toward the floating minotaur.

Shiiiing! Mei pointed her twin swords forward, spinning her body violently into a human drill. She tore straight through the minotaur’s unarmored chest. Blood sprayed from the beast’s mouth as its eyes rolled into the back of its head. Clang! Its broadswords hit the floor well before its body did.

"Yaaaaah!" Sheila swept her axe upward in a spinning arc, severing the minotaur’s head from its shoulders.

BOOM! The massive corpse crashed onto the floor, right in front of the elevated podium. Mei landed smoothly beside Sheila, completely drenched in blood.

"Ugh... covered in gunk," Mei muttered, flicking the blood off her blades before sheathing them.

"Yeah... nature of the job," Sheila replied.

"Alright... my turn! Hum... hum... hum..." Aria hummed cheerfully, skipping over to the minotaur’s lifeless body.

"Ugh... she’s definitely going after the magic crystal. Dumb princess," Luna scoffed.

"Hey... I heard that, idiot princess," Aria snapped, not breaking her stride.

"Gimme a break, you two never stop bickering... Mei, go change your clothes," Cleo said, dusting off her armor.

"Dion... hand me my spare clothes," Mei requested.

By the time Mei turned around, Dion had already pulled a fresh set of clothes out of his dimensional bag and handed them to her.

Mei smiled softly. "Thanks."

"I figured you’d need them. Go change," Dion replied. "Man... if I used Black Knight, one slash would’ve ended it without all this mess," Dion thought to himself.

"Got it... back in a second," Mei said.

She stepped off to the side, stripped down to her undergarments without a second thought, and slipped into her clean outfit. She walked back over to a visibly confused Dion.

"Wait... where are your dirty clothes?" Dion asked.

"Tossed them," Mei answered simply.

"Uh... alright then," Dion sighed. "Not like there are washing machines in this world anyway, so... fair enough," Dion thought to himself.

Dion turned to look toward the podium. Cleo, Luna, and Sheila were carefully inspecting the stone pillar that resembled a control console. Off to the side, Aria was gleefully dissecting the minotaur’s corpse, whistling a happy tune while carving out not just the magic crystal, but also its horns, hide, and thick, ivory-like hooves. Gina was perched on Luna’s head, squinting intensely at the console, mimicking Luna’s curious posture.

"Let’s check it out," Mei suggested.

"Yeah," Dion agreed.

They walked over to the short stone console. Dion stepped up beside Cleo and Luna, leaning in to check out the flat top of the pillar. His eyes widened slightly. Mounted on top was a black metallic plate etched with silver circuit patterns, featuring a raised square imprint of a human palm right in the center. It looked almost identical to the palm scanners on Earth used for high-security access.

Dion narrowed his eyes, studying the plate with absolute focus. Cleo, Luna, Sheila, and Mei kept their eyes locked on his face.

"Do you know what this is?" Cleo asked, pointing at the metal plate.

"Hmm... no idea," Dion replied flatly, his eyes still fixed on the device.

"I wonder what it does... I tried resting my hand on it, but nothing happened," Luna said.

"Yep... I tried too," Sheila added.

"Please don’t go touching random things next time. What if it was a trap? Didn’t you learn anything from earlier?" Mei chided.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. You’re way too serious, Mei," Sheila brushed off with a wave of her hand.

"Alright... all done! What’s next?" Aria asked cheerfully, trotting over.

She had already swapped her clothes and washed the blood off her arms, leaving only faint traces behind. Behind her, the stripped minotaur carcass lay neatly covered. Aria glanced at the stone console and its metal plate.

"What’s this?" she asked innocently.

"No clue. We’re still trying to figure it out, so don’t ask stupid questions, idiot princess," Luna barked.

"Why do you always gotta answer my questions, blonde airhead?" Aria snapped back, annoyed.

"Hmm... what if we give it a try?" Dion suggested out of nowhere.

Before anyone could stop him, Dion pressed his palm firmly onto the metal plate, lining it up with the handprint icon. A bright green light flared up beneath his hand, sweeping up and down as it scanned his palm. The light shifted to a crisp blue, surging through the circuit-board etchings, down the stone pillar, and into the floor. The blue energy raced along the seams of the floor tiles and up the wall panels, illuminating the entire chamber in a radiant blue glow.

Griiind... whirrrr... hummm...

The deep thrum of heavy machinery coming to life resonated through the room. Dion glanced at the walls, the complex mechanical gears recessed into the stone began spinning rapidly, glowing with energy.

"What’s happening, Dion?" Luna called out.

"I... have no clue," Dion admitted.

"Whoaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly, the floor shot upward at extreme speed. Dion, Luna, Cleo, Aria, Sheila, and Mei who was clutching Gina tight, all dropped flat onto the floor, screaming at the top of their lungs. Dion looked down and immediately rolled over; the floor beneath them had gone completely transparent. He could see six massive, screw-like circular pillars surging with blue light, drilling upward and propelling the entire pyramid complex straight through the cavern ceiling.

Meanwhile, in the main plaza of Mageford...

"Whaaa! Earthquake!"

Townspeople scrambled to grab onto nearby posts, while others hit the ground or dove under long wooden benches. Buildings rattled violently from the intense tremors. Suddenly, the center of the plaza cracked and buckled, shattering into rubble as a massive crystal pyramid pushed its way out of the ground.

The shaking stopped just as quickly as it had begun. Guards, knights, mages, adventurers, and locals stood frozen in utter shock, staring blankly at the mysterious, giant crystal pyramid that had just materialized in the middle of their town square.

Inside, Dion slowly got up, then helped Cleo, Luna, Sheila, Mei, who was holding Gina and Aria to their feet. They looked toward the doorway, which was bathed in bright sunlight streaming in from outside.

"Looks like we went up," Dion remarked.

"Let’s head outside," Cleo urged.

"Yeah... it feels like we finally made it back to the surface," Luna added.

They walked out, but as soon as they stood at the doorway, shing!

They froze in shock as dozens of spearheads were thrust straight at them. Standing right outside the pyramid’s entrance was a thick line of city guards and knights, staring back at them with fierce, aggressive expressions. Dion instantly threw both hands in the air. Cleo, Luna, Sheila, Mei, and Aria followed suit without hesitation, raising their hands and Gina, perched on Mei’s shoulder, raised her little paws too.

"What... what is this?" Cleo squeaked out.

"Are we... in Mageford? How is that even possible?" Sheila asked, bewildered.

"How did this happen... whose fault is this?!" Aria blurted out.

Luna, Aria, Sheila, Mei, Cleo, and even Gina turned in unison to glare at Dion standing right in the middle of them.

"Hey... I had no idea this would happen, so don’t throw blame at me," Dion defended himself.

"Grrrrr..." Luna, Aria, Sheila, Cleo, and Mei growled in frustration.

"Kyuuu..." Gina shook her head, letting out an exhausted sigh.