Chapter 380: Frieren: Dominating Aura from the Start
Five hundred years, for a long-lived species, was merely the changing of seasons from spring to winter. At most, they might sigh and say that a considerable amount of time seemed to have passed, without much emotional impact.
During this time, Frieren's footsteps had covered many corners of the continent.
From the ice plains of the extreme North and the ruins of the Demon King's Castle atop them, to the human nations of the South.
The prestige of the Southern Unified Empire of the past still circulated, but it had long become a history not to be spoken of in detail, gradually buried in the river of time.
She had witnessed the rise and fall of human kingdoms, observed conflicts between different races, and even had brief exchanges with ancient creatures in unknown caves.
Consequently, her travel bag was filled with various magical items and grimoires involving many strange fields.
Her strength had steadily increased during this long journey, and her understanding of magic had become more thorough. Especially in Spatial Magic, she felt she was approaching mastery.
Perhaps in a while, she could complete large-scale teleportation magic independently, becoming a top-tier spatial mage in the true sense.
Although she still couldn't compare to her teacher Flamme—after all, Flamme took less than ten years from learning spatial magic to casting teleportation magic alone.
But Frieren was already very satisfied with this.
She didn't have her teacher's uniquely gifted magical talent; she only had persistent curiosity about magic and near-eternal time.
Frieren's exquisite, beautiful face remained expressionless. A mere five hundred years couldn't leave a mark on an elf's appearance. Only her emerald eyes had become more profound.
One day, she was strolling through a forest.
According to the markings on an ancient map in her hand, there should be a small human village nearby.
Frieren planned to resupply some food and see if there were any requests she could fulfill.
Over the years, she had obtained quite a few interesting grimoires by fulfilling requests for others.
However, most of these grimoires were eventually gifted to others, as she was still traveling and couldn't carry them all.
But she kept a few particularly interesting ones, intending to give them as gifts to Lord Rhodes and Lord Serie when she returned to the Magic Association one day.
However, before she even neared the village, an extremely faint mana fluctuation with distinct non-human characteristics caught her attention.
This mana fluctuation carried a trace of malice—clearly the aura of a demon.
Frieren didn't hesitate. She immediately approached the source of the mana fluctuation stealthily.
She had encountered quite a few demons over the years. Most had died under her staff, and a few she couldn't kill temporarily, so she had sealed them.
Among the demons she encountered, one was extremely powerful; even she wasn't their match.
Fortunately, that demon didn't seem interested in fighting. Especially after seeing her use Lord Serie's signature Light Spear magic, the demon chose to flee directly, which surprised Frieren greatly.
She passed through a dense thicket, and a village appeared before her eyes.
On a hillside not far away, a figure was standing there.
It was a... demon.
A trace of surprise flashed in Frieren's eyes.
In her long travels, the demons she encountered weren't weak. After all, demons who dared to appear openly before humans in this era were basically fully matured demons with lifespans of decades or centuries.
But a demon as weak as the one before her was rare.
She had pink hair tied in twin-tails hanging over her chest, a few strands framing her forehead. On top of her head were a pair of dark red horns spiraling upward, shimmering faintly in the sunlight.
Her features were exquisite, even beautiful. Fair skin, sky-blue eyes currently flickering with an eager nervousness.
She wore a dark dress of decent material, simple in style. The mana fluctuation lingering around her wasn't strong, even somewhat unstable, as if she had just mastered her power not long ago.
Frieren scanned her, evaluating.
Her strength was roughly equivalent to a decent high-ranking human mage, but her mana capacity was far inferior to those powerful mages.
More crucially, her emotions... seemed very rich?
Just the nervous, excited smile on that exquisite face was different from the cold, cunning, or bloodthirsty demons in Frieren's impression.
The pink-haired demon—Aura—was biting her lower lip, staring at the village not far away.
Born not long ago, relying on demonic instinct, she had barely mastered her own power and couldn't wait to explore this world, which was strange and novel to her.
She had learned from a demon companion she occasionally met that the demons' current situation wasn't good. It seemed that due to some extremely terrifying guy long ago, demons could hardly form large-scale forces anymore, mostly scattering and hiding, even needing to disguise themselves.
Thus, a newly born demon like her was actually in danger.
But Aura had confidence in her innate magic.
Obedience Magic.
This magic could forcibly compare the total mana of both sides. The one with weaker mana would obey the stronger unconditionally.
She had tested it on several low-level monsters and beasts before; the effect was outstanding.
The human village before her... in her perception, even the strongest individual's mana was pitifully weak. It was simply a testing ground tailor-made for her.
Taking a deep breath, Aura suppressed the inexplicable apprehension in her heart. A glint of determination flashed in her eyes, and she was about to step forward.
"Stop."
A calm, ripple-less voice sounded not far from her side.
Aura jumped in fright, whipping her head around.
She saw an elf with a slender figure, white twin-tails, and pointed ears looking at her quietly.
The elf wore a simple traveler's robe and carried a pack on her back—clearly just passing through.
An elf? And a mage?
Aura could feel mana fluctuations on her, but... very weak.
Not much stronger than the villagers she sensed earlier, maybe even weaker?
Probably an ordinary elven mage with average talent.
After the initial shock, Aura calmed down, even feeling a little excited.
My first time acting, and I encounter an elven mage!
Although not human, elves were a famous race. Perfect for testing the effect of Obedience Magic!
Thus, instinct drove her to assume a combat stance, although she wasn't actually good at fighting, relying more on her innate magic.
"An elven mage? What is your name?"
Aura tried to make her voice sound fierce, but it still sounded a bit lacking in confidence.
Frieren didn't answer her question. She just looked at Aura with those flat green eyes, as if observing something novel.
She was interested in Aura's rich facial expressions and emotional fluctuations.
Most demons were either expressionless or twisted with malice. One with such rich expressions written on her face was extremely rare.
This reminded Frieren of Solitär-Flamme, the similarly special demon in the Magic Association. Except Solitär-Flamme lacked expression, while this one was overly expressive.
Yet they were both demons.
"Hey! I am talking to you!" Seeing Frieren ignore her, Aura was a bit annoyed, but mostly eager to practice her plan.
She wasted no more words. Light flashed in her eyes, and she clasped her hands in front of her chest. A scale made of light and shadow appeared between her and Frieren.
"Hmph! Let me show you the power of the great Aura!"
The manifestation of her innate magic—The Scales of Obedience. Placing the mana of both sides on the scales, the one with weaker mana would serve the other forever.
Aura couldn't wait to "place" her mana on one end of the scales.
The light scale tilted slightly. The end representing her mana sank, displaying her mana level.
Simultaneously, an invisible force pulled at Frieren's mana, placing it on the other end.
Aura looked at Frieren triumphantly, waiting for the opponent's mana to manifest, then for the scales to tilt completely to her side so she could dominate her.
Gaining an elven mage as a servant right on my debut—can other demons do that?
Thinking of this, the upward curve of Aura's mouth rose higher.
Actually, the initial Aura was like other demons, without so many rich psychological activities and expressions.
But shortly after birth, she met a very special "demon."
Calling her a demon wasn't quite right, because the other party claimed to be human, yet the demonic aura around her was ridiculously dense.
Aura hadn't spent much time with her, but under her influence, Aura still became somewhat different from other demons.
Retracting her thoughts, seeing the motionless Frieren, Aura thought the elf didn't know her magic's effect, so she said smugly, "Don't worry, I will put you to good use!"
However, Frieren still looked quietly at the scales, making no move. She even tilted her head, as if studying the principle of this magic.
"Hey! Are you scared silly?" Aura urged, the unease in her heart starting to surface.
This elf was too calm.
Did she have a trump card?
Frieren finally moved her gaze from the scales to Aura's face. "Your magic is very interesting."
Her voice still had no fluctuation, yet it made Aura panic inexplicably.
Just then, a sudden change occurred!
The scales, which had been steadily tilting toward Aura, suddenly trembled violently without warning.
Immediately after, the end representing Frieren's mana seemed to gain unimaginable weight out of nowhere. It began to sink fiercely, while the end representing Aura's mana was launched high up.
"What?! Impossible!" The triumph on Aura's face froze instantly, turning into disbelief and horror.
She tried desperately to stabilize the scales, attempting to retract the magic, but found the scales completely out of control.
Around Frieren, the originally weak mana fluctuation vanished.
Replacing it was a majestic mana vast as an abyss!
The strength of that mana far exceeded any creature Aura had ever seen. Only that "human" demon could suppress it.
Under this terrifying mana, her body even began to tremble subconsciously.
"Sometimes," Frieren looked at the pale-faced Aura and said flatly, "what you see is not necessarily the truth."
The scales finally couldn't withstand the terrifying "weight" and shattered completely, dissipating into specks of light.
But the effect of Obedience Magic, due to the absolute crushing weight of Frieren's mana, had been forcibly activated—and the target was Aura.
"How is this possible!!!"
Aura could clearly feel an invisible but absolute binding force appear instantly on the core of her soul.
She had become Frieren's servant, unable to resist any of the elf's orders ever again.
Even if ordered to commit suicide, she couldn't resist.
"Despicable! Shameless! You actually disguised your mana! You insidious, cunning elf!!!"
Aura collapsed, trembling with rage. Tears swirled unworthily in her eyes—half from anger, half from fear.
She never could have imagined that the first time she used her innate magic on someone, she would encounter such a monster playing pig to eat the tiger, with ridiculously strong mana!
Frieren turned a deaf ear to her curses.
She walked forward a few steps, looking at the cursing Aura, and issued the first command: "Aura, kneel."
Hearing her name called by the opponent, Aura's body trembled, then knelt uncontrollably before Frieren.
"I ask you," Frieren continued questioning, "how many people have you killed so far?"
Under the absolute effect of Obedience Magic, Aura couldn't lie, nor could she resist answering.
She bit her lip in humiliation, answering in a voice barely audible, "...N-None. Not a single one. This... this was the first time I planned to act."
"In other words, this is also the first time you used this magic on someone?"
Aura nodded vigorously, her beautiful pale blue eyes full of unwillingness and grievance.
She felt she was utterly unlucky.
Learning that Aura had no blood on her hands and was even a novice demon born not long ago, caught red-handed on her first attempt at evil, Frieren nodded in satisfaction.
She thought of the Magic Association.
She seemed to haven't returned for a long time. Roughly calculating... it should have been over five hundred years?
She wondered how the Association was now. How was Lord Rhodes's research going? And that demon Solitär-Flamme, whom Lord Rhodes kept by his side—how was her understanding of emotions progressing?
And the Aura before her... although weak and a bit noisy with her rich emotions, she was also a somewhat special demon?
And she seemed more interesting than Solitär-Flamme. Perhaps if she brought her back, Lord Rhodes would be interested.
As for whether Lord Rhodes would use her for research, keep her for observation like Solitär-Flamme, or find her troublesome and dispose of her directly... Frieren didn't care.
She only planned to spare Aura's life out of a trace of curiosity, thinking Lord Rhodes might find her interesting.
"Stand up. Follow me," Frieren said to Aura kneeling on the ground.
Aura's body stiffened. Forced by the Obedience Magic, she couldn't resist this order.
She struggled to get up, patting the dust off her clothes, her body trembling uncontrollably from fear.
She knew she was done for. Falling into the hands of this terrifyingly powerful elf, heaven knew where she would be taken or what she would suffer.
"G-Go where?" she couldn't help asking in a small voice.
Frieren had already turned, walking in the opposite direction of the village. Without looking back, she dropped a single word lightly: "Home."
Aura froze in place.
Home? Whose home? This elf's home? What kind of terrifying place would that be?
Watching Frieren's receding figure, feeling the irresistible binding deep in her soul, Aura gritted her teeth and finally took a step to follow.
At least... the opponent didn't kill her on the spot.
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