"And do you think anyone will actually believe you?"
Solitär was the first to voice her doubts.
"Of course they will. A voice that appears suddenly inside someone's head triggers a primal human curiosity — I don't need them to believe it right away. I just need to light the spark, and they'll go out and verify it themselves. We can set this aside for now and let it ferment in its own time. We have other things to attend to."
With that, Fíliya dismissed the others entirely and began walking toward the far end of the empty main hall.
"...Don't follow me."
She didn't look back — she simply called out the words, stopping Miss Solitär, who had already started drifting after her.
"Don't worry. I'm only going to receive a guest. Solitär — look after the others for now, would you?"
As she spoke, Fíliya threw a brief glance toward where Tot and Aura were.
"...Honestly. She really has gotten very good at bossing people around all of a sudden, hasn't she."
Solitär narrowed her eyes at the retreating figure and let slip a quiet, trailing complaint.
By the time she reached the main throne room of the Demon King's Castle, Fíliya had already settled herself onto the throne at its center — unhurried, still, as though waiting for someone's arrival.
In the space between one breath and the next, a hand descended onto her shoulder — abrupt and uninvited.
"No matter how you look at it, you've gone too far this time."
The voice was familiar. Fíliya didn't need to turn around. There was only one person in the world who could appear before her in an instant like this.
Fíliya said nothing at first. And so her visitor had no choice but to continue on her own.
"[Magic to Transform Humans into Elves]... so that was only a test, wasn't it. What you truly wanted to ask, back then, was whether there existed a [Magic to Transform Humans into Demons] — am I right? Tch... When you found that there wasn't, you still refused to give up. And then... you actually went and did it yourself. You created that magic from nothing. What exactly are you trying to do?"
Serie's expression at that moment was, to put it generously, remarkable. If one were to read it closely — the look in her eyes was unmistakably the kind that only comes from watching someone brilliant squander every last drop of their potential.
"Hmm? Serie — wasn't it you who wanted me to become someone strong enough to stand at your side? And now you're unhappy?"
Fíliya lightly batted Serie's hand away and put a small measure of distance between them.
"What I wanted was... for you to do that as a human... I could have accepted you keeping demons as companions — but why did you have to turn yourself into one as well?"
There was a flash of accusation in Serie's eyes.
"That's actually quite easy to understand."
Fíliya smiled — composure perfectly intact — and continued.
"If I cannot stand on the same ground as them, think with the same identity as them — what right would I have to lead them into the future?"
Serie fell briefly silent. But she recovered quickly and moved to a new point of attack — she had prepared for this conversation long enough.
"Then... why spread that kind of temptation among humans? When faced with the lure of power and longevity, precious few humans will be able to resist."
"Ha — on that note, don't you find it rather interesting, Serie? Humans have fought the Demon Race for a thousand years. And yet, in the end, the temptation they face is whether to become the very thing they despise — whether to live on as the enemy they have always hated."
"...You've truly lost your mind. Stirring up a crisis like this will send shockwaves through human society — the damage could be even more catastrophic than leading a demon army in open invasion. I genuinely do not understand. What on earth could make you hate humanity this deeply?"
When those words left her lips, Serie meant every one of them.
She turned over in her memory every single thing this girl had done — each incident, each choice, each scene — and she could not make it add up. Fíliya had never once displayed hatred toward humans. If anything, she had been remarkably proactive about using her standing as a First-Class Mage to resolve crisis after crisis on humanity's behalf.
"I think you may have misread the situation, Serie. Yes — what I've done will shake the human world considerably. But human resilience and human courage are not so easily broken... And besides: when the ones consumed by desire choose to leave the human world of their own accord, what remains? Only those with the strength of will to resist the lure of power and immortality. Let those who stay rebuild a new order from the ground up — and let those who were swallowed by their own hunger come to me, where they can be remade. Honestly? I think this might even be a good thing for humanity."
"...It seems we've reached the end of what words can accomplish here."
Serie exhaled quietly. She was willing, in some part of herself, to acknowledge that there was a thread of genuine logic running through Fíliya's argument. But even so — if things truly unfolded the way this girl described...
What would the world look like? Whether or not humans managed to build a new order in fifty or a hundred years — the moment an existing order collapsed, it would bring with it unimaginable suffering and death in the interim.
As the leader of the Continental Magic Association, she could not stand by and allow that to happen.
The instant she had caught Fíliya's presence re-emerging into the world, she had come here immediately.
"Is that so. When humanity was on the verge of extinction — when the population had been ground down to a mere three percent — you didn't lift a finger. And yet now, you choose to stop me? Mm... All I've done is hold out a possibility to humanity. But you — you are the one reaching in with your own hands, concretely, to interfere with the choices they make."
Fíliya laughed — cold and contemptuous — and drove the words into Serie like a blade.
"...On that matter, I have spent a long time regretting it. I should have acted sooner. I should have helped humanity earlier. As for you... are you truly this angry? Because I made a fool of you once — is that why you've chosen the most extreme possible means of striking back?"
"Absolutely not. I will admit that what happened still rankles — but dragging the entire world into a personal grudge is contemptible, and I'd never do it. What I am doing is something I have been planning toward for a very long time. It has nothing to do with you. This is a trial — and I am its examiner. I am simply curious to see what choice humanity will make. That's all there is to it."
"Is that so... calling yourself an examiner, no less. And moreover... putting the entire human race to the test. If nothing else, that singular arrogance of yours is proof positive — you are still you, Fíliya. It seems that joining the Demon Race hasn't touched your mind in the slightest."
Serie let out one final sigh, her face written over with regret and something that looked almost like wistful feeling.
"How has Sense been, lately?"
The question came out of nowhere, and it caught Serie slightly off guard.
"Sense... not well, but not at her worst either. To be honest, I had expected that child to spend her days drowning in tears — but her emotions have been remarkably steady. Every so often she asks me whether I've found any trace of you. She clearly sensed something coming. The person who knows you best really is that child — no question about it."
"You... after doing something like this, are you really not..."
Afraid of hurting her?
The second half of the sentence never made it out. Fíliya's attack was already on its way — and it forced Serie to gather herself fully.
This girl had only been gone for three months. And yet the aura around her had already undergone another upheaval so vast it was scarcely believable.
Even Serie — even facing this Fíliya — had no choice but to pour every last thread of her attention into the fight.
If words won't reach her... then even if it's for that child's sake — I'll break this lunatic's legs, and drag her back by force.
That was Serie's final thought before the battle began.
____
👻🔥Here: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
✅ Gain early access to 40 chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive content and special announcements.
We have set new community milestones:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for all readers
👻 P - Walnut-chan