"A rune has been placed on your forehead and I am going to remove it," the apprentice mage stated, not waiting for the maid's consent. For all she knew, the girl would be obliged to try and stop her because of whatever else the rune was [i]doing[/i]. One hand blurred into position under black hair and the other got ready to stop anything that she might choose to do.

Maybe a more experienced magic user could have done this with no mental preparation or elaborate symbolism. Ryuuko had no such shortcuts available and split the simple operation into two parts: first establish a link with the target. Her fingers formed the physical bridge and from there made a path for the mystical. Then visualise a void within the rune, drawing down mana through the link, consuming all until the fragile symbol would be unable to take any more and the gaping emptiness would devour it as well.

The inefficiency of such an operation was clear; a spiky corona of darkness--coloured mana--engulfed her hand and the top of the girl's head, but she was sure that some of it was going into its destination and--hopefully--would remove the rune to continue their investigation.