"So, how long have you two been together?"

"Well, we-...," Began Ciel.

"No comment," Interjected Rex dryly.

Some of the others have really latched on to this bit of news, the Fire Mage, Detector and Sera in particular. Isla seemed pretty interested too.

Well, the two of them are both pretty well-known and popular public figures, Ciel especially, so I suppose that's understandable.

Hm, Aria and I should definitely keep things on the down-low, at least for now. Because this seems like it'd be a pain to deal with.

"Come on, guys, if they don't want to talk about it, leave it be. More importantly, stay focused...at the very least, save the interrogation for after the raid," I remarked with a wry smile.

"

This sucks...why'd I have to get dragged into this raid, anyway? There are plenty of other Aces in Sanctuary Theta, you know," Grumbled Rex, quite visibly in a bad mood.

He's been like this ever since he and Ciel inadvertently made it obvious that they were a couple, he mostly seems annoyed at himself, but the questions from the others are definitely adding fuel to the fire.

"Yeah, but your Magic is pretty awesome. Even against a super powerful threat, you're basically guaranteed to come out unscathed, so long as you have Mana. That's amazing," Remarked Aria, in an effort to try and lift his spirits.

A valiant effort, but...

"Sorry, but words of encouragement really don't work on him. You can sing his praises all day, but it'll be in vain," Responded Ciel wryly.

Yeah, I figured as much.

"Hey, look on the bright side, we're more than two-thirds of the way through the Dungeon. We'll be done before you know it," I chimed in.

"Whatever...that's still over forty-five floors left, a Boss Room that's all but certain to have a Calamity Level Threat, and then we have to walk all the way back. But I guess you've got a point, we have covered a fair bit of ground," He muttered, looking like his mood was marginally improved.

"Nice work, looks like you understand him pretty well," Smiled Ciel, flashing me a thumbs up as she nodded in approval.

"Yeah, back when he was helping me train, it didn't take long to figure out that he's pretty tough to motivate, but through trial and error, I eventually figured out how to get it done. Though, it was far from foolproof, some days there was just no getting through," I sighed wistfully.

"Ohh, tell me about it. Believe me, I can relate. Had no choice but to just get used to it after a certain point," Laughed Ciel wryly.

"Heh, sounds rough."

"I can hear you two, you know," Responded Rex dryly.

"By the way, there's something I've been wondering about ever since you got promoted to X-Ace, this goes for you too, Ariella. How powerful of an explosion do you guys think you could take and still survive?" Inquired Ciel curiously.

"What?" Aria and I blurted out in bewildered unison.

"I mean-...and this is hypothetically, of course...-if I were to hit each of you guys with one of my explosions, how much power could I put into it without it ending up killing you? I've never blasted anything stronger than Critical Level, so I was curious about how much force it'd take."

Of course she was.

"Well, if the Dungeon Boss ends up being a Dragon, it's almost certain to be stronger than Aria and I are individually, so you can sate that curiosity to your heart's content," I replied, not wanting to answer.

"Oh, that's true! Nice, guess I've got something to look forward to," She responded with a gleam in her eyes.

Yeah, she's definitely got a couple of screws loose in there. Well, at this point, I guess that's just stating the obvious, huh?

"Uh, but maybe don't fire off any explosions that are too big. The rest of us could get caught up too, or the Dungeon itself might collapse," Pointed out Aria nervously.

"Don't worry about that, I've never unleashed my strongest Spells inside a Dungeon. Can't explode stuff if I die, after all, so smaller explosions are better than no explosions," Replied Ciel with a wry smile.

"For what it's worth, she's never hit another person with her explosions during raids, though she does get caught up in her own blasts every so often, as you've seen today," Sighed Rex wearily.

"Why don't you use your blade more often? You seem fairly adept with it, after all," Chimed in Isla.

"I mean, yeah, I work hard at it to make sure I'm not totally helpless at close-range, and I don't hate it or anything, but it's just not as fun as exploding stuff," She admitted sheepishly.

"What the...? Ugh," Suddenly came Keira's voice, as a chunk of the ceiling dropped down and hit her head with a wet smack.

She's been really quiet, she's barely said a word throughout this entire raid. Well, considering the trauma she went through, I can't exactly blame her, no way that's something she'll be able to move on from easily, not by any stretch of the imagination.

On another note, with that chunk of the ceiling that fell on her, that spot was kinda torn apart, a lot of bite marks around it.

We've seen damage to the walls, floors and ceilings across multiple floors, seems like the Monsters had decided to snack on the terrain.

Huh, actually...

"Hey, do you think the Monsters in Dungeons are starving? Maybe that's why they're all so aggressive," I suggested thoughtfully.

"Yeah, maybe, I've never thought about that. But, then, wouldn't the less intelligent species cannibalize each other? Especially in Dungeons that are tackled closer to the deadline, where several days have already passed," Pointed out Aria.

"Interesting, perhaps we should bring up the topic to the Union," Mused Isla in fascination.

"Yeah, we should. But for right now...," I trailed off as we stepped into the next floor, before continuing, "Let's focus on getting through the rest of this raid."

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