The Space-Time Disc

The golden vine inside Lady Nancy was the first to hatch. Then the other nine Tree Spirit Parasites gathered around her burst apart one after another, each releasing a golden vine as thick as a wrist.

Every vine was alive. The moment they emerged, they slithered swiftly toward the base of the Space-Time Gate from every direction.

An intricate Magic Circle was carved into the base, divided into ten sections. A golden vine burrowed into each one. A hum rose at once, the base began to tremble, and the Magic Circle was finally complete.

The next instant came a crackle, like an electrical arc discharging, and a blue point of light flashed between the two gateposts.

It flickered once, then swelled rapidly from the size of a ping-pong ball to a basketball. With another boom, like a bomb going off, it spread into an enormous oval Space-Time Gate.

Almost at the same moment, High Priest Sonic appeared out of thin air before the Space-Time Gate, a faint smile on his face. Then he opened his hand, drawing ten colors of light from the Magic Circle on the gate's base. They came from the golden vines that had burrowed into it and absorbed its space-time Psychic Energy. The light separated out again and gathered before High Priest Sonic into a multicolored disc one meter across.

High Priest Sonic, who had remained as still as an ancient well, could not suppress his excitement at the sight of the multicolored disc slowly turning in midair. He raised a hand and pulled it to him, stroked it gently, and laughed. "The Space-Time Disc! We've finally reached this point!" Then he grew calm again. "My old friend, to inherit my lord's legacy, I'm afraid I must ask you to make one more sacrifice. As a