It took an entire day, but Tarnished finally managed to soothe Ranni.
Ranni had not really been angry-she knew Tarnished too well. That punch really was an ordinary combat skill; its name was simply outrageous. Still, she had to show her displeasure, or the man might shout an even more embarrassing move name next time.
"Use a name like that again, and I'll freeze you into a block of ice and display you in my Sorcerer's Tower," Ranni warned him at last.
"Yes, yes, I promise." Tarnished raised his hands in surrender. "But 'Boob-Groping Dragon Claw' really is descriptive. Just look at the movement back then-"
Four Caria Queen's Staffs pressed into a certain someone's face.
"-I was wrong," Tarnished immediately corrected himself.
The two arrived at the Blood Temple. The spatial passage Leda had opened still pulsed faintly, like a transparent ripple suspended above the altar. Through it, they could just make out the dark, distorted landscape on the other side.
"Is it stable?" Tarnished asked.
Ranni did not answer immediately. She approached the passage and gently touched the ripple with a fingertip. Magic flowed from her finger, seeping into the passage like countless fine blue threads as she examined its structure and stability.
Tarnished watched from beside her-with his 12 intelligence, the complex magic Ranni was performing might as well have been written in an alien language. All he could see were flashes of blue light, all he could hear were her occasional murmured incantations, and the magical fluctuations in the air were growing increasingly pronounced.
After several minutes, Ranni withdrew her hand. A wave rippled across the passage's surface before it returned to normal.
"It's very stable," she concluded. "Even more stable than I expected. The incantation Miquella provided is only a key. What truly sustains the