Choice

At the same time, in another timeline,

As she stared at her true body, which currently had a large hole in it, 'Beatrice' couldn't help but let out a faint breath as she lightly moved her hand, causing the huge elemental stone next to her to begin slightly floating.

'Beatrice' then began carefully moving the elemental stone, which, in truth, was not very fragile, towards the large opening in the box.

Step by step, bit by bit, 'Beatrice' lowered the elemental stone into the cube that was her body, being extremely careful not to damage her body.

Finally though, after around thirty seconds, the elemental stone was finally able to slot itself into the cube, causing 'Beatrice' to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Just one last step..." mumbled 'Beatrice' as she carefully opened the cube, revealing its insides, as well as the bottom of the elemental stone.

After preparing herself for a few moments, 'Beatrice' finally took action, and began doing the most dangerous part of the operation, truly connecting the elemental stone to her body.

One by one, with the help of an earth ant, who was able to use some earth magic, 'Beatrice' began connecting several metal tubes to the stone with the help of the ant.

The moment 'Beatrice' grabbed a hold of a metal tube, an uncomfortable look appeared on her face, but even so, 'Beatrice' knew still carried on slowly and placed the end of the tube, which had a small device on it, onto the elemental stone.

As 'Beatrice' held the metal tube in place, the earth ant finally got to work, and began quickly fusing it onto the elemental stone.

Unlike 'Beatrice', the small ant did not seem to be worried about failure in the slightest, and quickly fused the tube with the stone in just a few moments using its earth magic.

The moment 'Beatrice' saw that the fusion process had ended, she finally let go of the tube, which was not attached to the stone.

After that, 'Beatrice' suddenly snapped her fingers, causing a small 'beep' to be heard from the small device on the tube, causing elemental energy to suddenly begin flowing from the stone into the tube, and to 'Beatrice's' main body itself, where it would be utilized.

As she looked at the system, which was working perfectly, 'Beatrice' finally smiled, as relief washed over her.

"As expected, If I don't overdraw the stone, 4 tubes is the limit the stone can bear..." mumbled 'Beatrice' as she stretched out her finger and petted the head of the small ant next to her, causing the latter to stretch her neck and try to get a better feel for 'Beatrice's' finger.

Unlike normal elemental stones, which were merely elemental energy condensed into a solid state, the large elemental stone that 'Beatrice' had placed into her body was actually something that could create elemental energy.

The elemental stone was originally part of an elemental stone mine, in which it would be able to produce a large quantity of elemental stones over an extended period of time.

Sadly though, under Selena's orders, this elemental stone mine was destroyed, and this elemental stone, alongside several others, were obtained from it.

But although it was extremely wasteful to do so, and not even Selena would do something like that, this elemental stone could be used like a normal one, and the elemental energy in it could be emptied.

At that time, the production of elemental energy of the stone would stop, and the valuable object would be destroyed, something which 'Beatrice' would very much like to avoid happening.

"Three should be more than enough for my need," mumbled 'Beatrice', who had already estimated the elemental energy consumption of her newly improved body long ago.

As such, 'Beatrice' began the process once again, and successfully added two more tubes of elemental energy onto the contraption with the help of the earth ant.

...

As she looked at her main body, which now had a permanent barrier around it, always protecting it from the outside world, a faint smile appeared on 'Beatrice's' face, causing her to suddenly snap her fingers.

Merely a moment after 'Beatrice' snapped her fingers, a Dark Arrow suddenly appeared in front of her main body, looking extremely threatening.

Under the control of 'Beatrice', the Dark Arrow was able to quickly and efficiently move around the room, causing 'Beatrice', who was controlling it, to smile once again.

Using the large amount of energy that 'Beatrice' had obtained from the elemental stone, she was able to not only add several new features to her body, but also greatly enhance its existing ones, including the main function of cube in the first place.

Originally, this cube was created by Beatrice as an anchor for her to be able to find her way back if she got lost.

Now, though, this ability was greatly enhanced by 'Beatrice', allowing it to send its exact location straight into the mind of Beatrices if 'Beatrice' wished so.

At least that's what 'Beatrice' hoped.

...

Although Beatrice was unaware of the fact that the clone she had left behind when she had died the second time was progressing smoothly, a large smile still could be seen on her face as she sunk into the hot water of the pool.

Even though Beatrice had washed recently, she had not taken a true 'bath', in quite a long time, mainly thanks to the fact that her bathroom had been destroyed, and a new bathroom had yet to be built.

Now though, now that there wasn't anything urgent going on, like two kids that could go out of control at any moment, Beatrice could finally relax.

As Beatrice's wings, which were almost twice the size of the entire rest of her body, sunk underwater, Beatrice couldn't help but let out a relaxed sigh before closing her eyes.

But although the bath was very relaxing, Beatrice couldn't help but open her eyes after a few moments, with a pondering look on her face.

"Maybe I should take in a little Witch as an apprentice..." mumbled Beatrice, who had already become somewhat accustomed to Kiara's presence after over ten years.

But although Beatrice could admit that she had grown to appreciate the young girl a bit after spending so much time together, she did not feel any sort of regret over her choice.

No matter how deep her affections to a person were, when faced with the possibility for boundless power, as well as power over her own destiny, Beatrice was bound to only make one choice.