Night fell quietly, and the clamor outside gradually faded; amid the darkness, a lamp lit in haste illuminated the entire room that had now sunk into stillness.
Aura, who had been struggling frantically, was by now utterly collapsed upon the bed, her eyes rolled back to the whites, her half-stripped dress and limp limbs dangling over the edge of the bed, her hair disheveled in a manner that was completely senseless to the world.
Nanoda looked at the hand that had just been clutching Aura's throat; even she herself wasn't clear on what exactly had just happened.
That had originally been an experiment and a prank to chastise Aura.
Surging Mana brimmed within her body.
By contrast, this Great Demon now passed out on the bed no longer radiated even the faintest trace of Mana.
Had she really absorbed Aura's Mana?
But it seemed she'd gone a bit overboard—had she thoroughly refined Aura away entirely?
The warm, cozy sensation at the instant of absorption had made Nanoda outright lose consciousness. It was just like tasting a delicious sweet—instinctively impossible to tear oneself away from.
By the time she came to her senses, Aura was already in this sorry state.
Nanoda had always been able to absorb natural Mana by instinct, but this Mana would never be retained for long; it would be expelled as time passed, or consumed when she used magic.
During that period when she had been ambushed and sent back a thousand years into the past, Nanoda had once asked that "One" what was the matter with this singular, special constitution of hers.
The answer she received was that this was a protective mechanism of the body—a human soul, while possessing limitless potential, is also very fragile, and all the power borne by this Mythical Era Great Demon's body was in itself a burden, requiring a phase of adaptation.
Unlike a human's purely physical body, under normal circumstances a member of the Demon Race who completely lost their Mana would fall into a near-death state, just like the Aura before her.
After Nanoda came to know that "Paradox Magic" existed, she had a conjecture—perhaps her body had originally been subjected by "One" to one or more instances of Paradox Magic, and these spells had all along been operating on their own, unconsciously.
The biggest thing troubling Nanoda right now was not untangling that Paradox Magic she couldn't comprehend.
"How should I go about returning the Mana to Aura?"
If she merely released the Mana, then it would mean Aura's Mana would only gradually dissipate into nature.
Should she learn from the operations in those manga and "replenish the Mana" for Aura?
Or should she start with some skin-to-skin contact, stripping off all the clothes first?
Thinking this way, out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed the Scales of Obedience on the table, upon which Aura's Mana still lingered.
Inputting Mana into a member of the Demon Race—Nanoda had no confidence in that, but if it were an object then there'd be no problem at all; enchanting weapons amid frequent battles had given her that confidence.
At once she had a good idea: she snatched up the Scales of Obedience and output Aura's Mana into it.
It was, after all, the rare magical artifact that hadn't broken even with both Frieren's and Aura's Mana piled onto its two ends, and could still carry out the Magic of Obedience.
Nanoda poured this entire load of Aura's Mana onto the Scales of Obedience.
Considerately, she placed Aura's two limp arms over her chest, tucked the Mana-filled Scales of Obedience in between them, and then draped a thin quilt over her.
After blowing out the lamp, Nanoda withdrew beyond the door; the creaking door swung shut, and the room returned to pitch darkness.
Good night, Aura.
It seemed it had been a long while since—
Aura had another dream.
"Aura, the future has been changed. I now need your help."
The one who came to seek her out was the Demon King's confidant, the brain of the Demon King's Army, the all-knowing Schlacht.
"The future you will suffer a fate worse than death. By means of that ill-omened magic, there is still a chance now to change it."
The scene shifted.
Schlacht and the other Seven Sages of Destruction were all already standing together.
At the very center of the encirclement was one of their own kind; apart from that pair of horns, she could not make out his appearance.
The very moment the battle began, three of the Seven Sages of Destruction directly lost their Mana and scattered upon the wind.
Macht, who had activated the Mana-to-Gold magic, turned to silver himself.
Grausam of Miracles seemed to fall into a nightmare, kneeling on the ground and murmuring.
Undying Böse was crushed by his own barrier into a two-dimensional paper sheet.
Schlacht went blind in both eyes, bleeding without cease.
Even though that fellow had done nothing at all, every single Great Demon present was utterly routed.
But why did her line of sight keep flipping all over the place—ah, it seemed her body had lost its head.
The other party's final words came to her ears,
"Well done. But this one does not care for such underhanded schemes."
At the end of the dream, Aura slept peacefully.
"...!"
How much time had passed? It was truly too bizarre; her memory was still frozen at the moment Nanoda reached out her hand.
"Ngh..."
Her limbs could summon no strength; from the struggling just now, her body felt as though it were about to shatter, and Aura had no choice but to halt her movements.
Then, Aura discovered where the greatest problem lay—
Her Mana? Where had my Mana gone?!
This was precisely the reason her body was so utterly weak!
Had she become a cripple?
Fear—purer than when she had faced Nanoda's oppression; powerlessness—a powerlessness deeper than several defeats in battle, an unprecedented experience.
Why was she shedding tears? When she hadn't wanted to do so, when she wasn't trying to feign a plea for mercy.
This was the first time Aura had ever fallen into utter despair.
No matter the moment, even when her demon's life sank to its lowest valley, that mighty Mana had always been her last shred of arrogance.
An army could be rebuilt once it was lost; it didn't matter if she couldn't defeat the Hero, for she could simply drag things out until he died of old age; Nanoda might oppress her for the time being, but one day her Mana too would catch up to the other party, and she'd undo the Magic of Obedience—
But now,
she truly had nothing left.
"Wuh... wuwaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The cold-blooded, merciless centuries-old Great Demon was like a newborn infant, wailing because she had come into the world for the first time.
Absolute rationality collapsed.
For the first time, a member of the Demon Race truly experienced what was called despair and grief—an "emotion" more profound than death itself.
"What's happened? Lady Aura!"
Linie was the first to rush over; the somewhat guilty-conscienced Nanoda arrived second, and Jane came running too, still clutching the reading material she hadn't finished.
And it was at this very moment that tears dripped down upon the Scales of Obedience.
Almost miraculously, the Mana that Nanoda had stuffed into the scales burst forth, as though flowing water had found its channel, and once again returned into Aura's body.
The power was gradually coming back, and Aura, like a fish back in water, gripped tight the Scales of Obedience in her hand.
"I'm sorry, Nanoda. From now on I'll surely listen to you obediently."
Two deep tear-streaks lingered on her face, her tears having soaked a broad expanse of the bedsheet; for the first time, Aura spoke her true feelings.
At this moment, both Linie and Jane looked strangely toward Nanoda.
All at once they had the same feeling: today's Aura had become a little different.
____
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