"Good to see you again, Mahart."
"You shouldn't have come here, Solitär."
In the Golden Land, Wall City Vize, Mahart and Solitär faced each other across a barrier.
Seeing Mahart open his mouth but no sound coming out, Solitär tilted her head: "Hmm? What are you saying, Mahart."
Subsequently, Solitär watched the barrier in front of her with interest. She gathered magic power in her hand and pressed it against it, then chuckled: "I see. This barrier has a soundproofing function specifically for you."
"But it's fine. A soundproof barrier is very easy to break when singled out."
Crack...
A crisp sound of the barrier shattering rang out.
After finishing everything, Solitär sat down on a fallen tree trunk nearby and took out a human book from her space magic to flip through. The words from her mouth didn't stop either.
"Aura is dead. It was about two years ago. I went to investigate the scene. The traces left at the scene were very familiar..."
"Diego Brando little brother has returned."
"I think Schlacht should have mentioned it to you. After all, that guy is no longer something the demon race can oppose. As Schlacht, who possesses the ability to peer into the future, even if you have to abandon the other six of the Seven Sages of Destruction, you still want to preserve this trump card...
...I want to see with my own eyes that tragic future that will eventually come, the one that belongs solely to the demon race."
At this point, Mahart's emotionless eyes finally lifted slightly. He uttered four more words from his mouth: "You will die."
"Hmm?" Seeing Mahart speak, Solitär observed the movements of Mahart's lips and repeated word by word in a playful, light tone: "You... will... die... I shouldn't have misheard. Is it today?"
Mahart didn't continue speaking, as if agreeing with Solitär's words.
"What a chilling conclusion. Can I take this as you caring about me?" Solitär smiled knowingly. Then she clasped her hands together and said with surprise and delight: "Thank you. This is the first time I've heard words of concern from you!"
"..."
Faced with Solitär's smiling face, Mahart fell silent again.
Swish!
The book in Solitär's hand instantly disappeared. She placed both arms behind her back and looked up at Mahart, saying: "Don't be like that. I came here at the risk of being killed to lend you a hand."
"Although I don't think we can win at all."
"But with my presence, I can at least interfere with Diego Brando little brother's actions, right?"
Solitär placed her hand on the barrier and began analyzing its structure. After a while, she withdrew her hand.
"I understand now. No wonder even a peak mage like you couldn't break free from this barrier."
Colorless, invisible grids of varying specifications began to appear within the barrier.
"The magic theories of different countries and ethnic groups intricately form this barrier. This barrier was constructed by many great human mages. It is the crystallization of their wisdom." Solitär remarked with emotion.
"So far, what I've analyzed includes: the guardian magic array of the Kam clan from the Southern Nations, who live by sealing demons; the Andrel technique theory created based on the principle of irreversibility; and the Great Isolation Barrier, the greatest masterpiece of the imperial court mages, which was once used for national defense to unify the empire."
Mahart said flatly: "In fact, it's just a shit mountain code barrier where a bunch of people combined magic spells of different properties and completely unrelated ones together."
"Pfft, hahaha… You've learned to joke around after staying inside for so long.." Faced with the sudden cold joke, Solitär was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth and laughed.
Soon after, Solitär wiped the corner of her eye and seriously agreed: "The description is really accurate. The barrier is built upon the foundation of human magic theory. Without knowledge in this area, it's absolutely impossible to break this barrier. In other words..."
"This is a barrier that the demon race absolutely cannot break."
Solitär extended her hand. Complex magic spells immediately covered the barrier. She parted her lips: "Unless the opponent is a weird demon like me who loves studying human magic."
Subsequently, Solitär devoted herself to the analysis work. Mahart stood quietly to the side. The two demons spent several hours together in silence like this, until the sky gradually darkened.
Mahart, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly opened his mouth and asked: "How long will it take to fully analyze this barrier?"
"It will take about a month to complete the full analysis." Solitär replied. "Will I live long enough to break this barrier?"
"..."
Solitär smiled helplessly and complained: "How severe of a gag order did Schlacht place?"
"...Mutual destruction.." Mahart turned his head and slowly said: "The result of the battle is mutual annihilation."
"I see..." Solitär was obviously stunned for a moment and lowered her eyes. "Then that's really unwilling."
If only I had chased after and killed Diego little brother that day...
...
The next day, early morning...
The sun had not risen. Darkness enveloped Vize. The noisy sounds of insect chirping rose and fell, bringing a bit of vitality to the lifeless Vize.
Benefiting from the unique physique of the demon race, as long as magic power was not exhausted, Solitär would not feel fatigue like humans even after analyzing for a long time.
Therefore, she still had the energy to think about another matter: How exactly did Diego Brando survive from fatal injuries?
Regenerating severed limbs was understandable, but with the brain completely destroyed and the heart pierced, could a human body really still survive?
"?!!"
Accompanied by an unusually sinister aura appearing.
Almost in an instant, Mahart raised his head. Solitär stopped analyzing. Both demons' pupils shrank as they simultaneously looked toward the figure that appeared on the mountain to the left.
"Oh my?"
"There's another demon besides Mahart."
The most infamous criminal in human history, Diego Brando, appeared holding the Inverted Spear of Heaven!
He placed his palm in a semi-arc shape in front of his brow. His dinosaurified pupils locked firmly onto Solitär outside the barrier.
"You are... Solitär!!!"
Da!
Accompanied by Diego exerting force under his feet, the ground he stepped on instantly cracked and collapsed. Then Diego vanished from sight!
Seeing Diego disappear, Solitär subconsciously channeled magic power to create a massive rain of swords hanging around herself to prevent Diego from getting close.
"Solitär."
At this moment, Mahart inside the barrier suddenly tore off the cloak from his shoulders and turned it into a golden trident. He spoke to remind her: "That's enough. You've lost."
"What...?"
Drip... drip...
Soon, Solitär understood Mahart's words. The Inverted Spear of Heaven lightly sliced across her throat and was firmly placed against her neck.
Several drops of blood slowly seeped from the wound on her neck and dripped toward the ground.
My magic defense was forcibly dispelled by the Inverted Spear of Heaven...
Solitär lowered her raised hand and placed it on the blade of the Inverted Spear of Heaven, gently stroking it.
Then, from the corner of her eye, she glanced back. Diego was standing behind her holding the Inverted Spear of Heaven. The sword array she had hastily set up hadn't provided even the slightest hindrance.
"I see... What a monstrous growth rate. I lost with just one exchange." Solitär closed her eyes. The rain of swords floating around her disappeared. She seemed to accept her fate, but the corners of her mouth actually curved upward as she praised: "You're really amazing, little brother. This time, big sister admits complete defeat."
"I have a question I want to ask you." Diego stared at Solitär expressionlessly and asked unhurriedly: "Back then, why did you dig up my mother's grave?"
Solitär didn't answer Diego's question. Instead, she responded with a question: "Your eye whites have turned pitch black. This is a unique phenomenon of the spirit summoning technique. Did something happen? The caster was killed by you, right? Heavenly Restriction doesn't consume magic power to sustain the spirit summoning technique. I imagine you can keep acting in this form, right?"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
At the same time, Solitär's right hand also condensed a magic power light sphere. She turned around in an instant and pressed it against the Inverted Spear of Heaven, preparing to cast a magic counterattack that would scatter the magic power outward.
I need to find a chance to destroy this sword!
Only by destroying this sword do I have a chance of winning!
Puchi!!!
"Right arm."
Solitär's right arm, which had been condensing the magic power light sphere, was chopped off by Diego with one slash!
"Let me, Dio, see you attempt an attack again and I'll chop off your other hand too." Diego's expression remained the same as he flicked the blood off the Inverted Spear of Heaven. "Stop with all this nonsense and answer my question."
"...You escaped Schlacht's omniscience magic. I wanted to understand you."
Solitär stared at the gap where her right arm had been. After calmly answering Diego's question, her remaining other hand simultaneously scattered magic power outward.
Puchi!!!
"Left arm. You really don't give up, do you? —Hey, chopping off both your arms won't make a difference, right? As long as your mouth can still speak."
Blade blood fell. Solitär's left arm was also chopped off by Diego.
At this point, Solitär had completely lost her ability to resist.
Could she still escape?
No matter how she thought about it, it was impossible, right?
Magic power, magic, technique, knowledge, even everything accumulated from surviving until now, was meaningless in the face of Diego Brando little brother's speed and strength. In his eyes, my resistance was probably no different from slow motion...
Magic defense was broken by the Inverted Spear of Heaven. Mahart was still sealed inside the barrier and couldn't help at all...
Is this my end?
"I didn't bring Frieren, Mabel, and Alicia with me. Do you know why?"
At this moment, Diego's words successfully pulled Solitär back from her thoughts to reality.
"Because dealing with you and Mahart doesn't require their help at all. I'm just settling past unresolved matters."
"Keep answering my question, Solitär. What did you do to my mother's grave after that?"
Little brother is really arrogant. And he doesn't seem to have returned to that forest. In that case, before I die, I'll anger him as much as possible.
Only if he loses his reason can Mahart use All Things Turn to Gold magic to kill him. That's the scene Schlacht wants to see too...
The corners of Solitär's mouth slightly curved upward: "The grave refers to the bones buried under that mountain wall, right? Unfortunately, the bones there were destroyed by the magic I released when I left."
"..."
"Although I didn't witness it personally, it's a fact that it was turned into a big pit with nothing left."
"I see. So I really couldn't protect even my mother's remains..." After a pause, Diego slowly spoke, his tone revealing no joy or sorrow. "Legs!"
Puchi!!!
Thud!
Solitär's view instantly flipped from Diego to the grass. After losing her legs, she heavily slammed into the ground.
Moonlight parted the clouds and shone on Diego.
Shadows covered Diego's face. He stepped on Solitär's chest with one foot and slowly increased the pressure, almost crushing her to death.
But soon after, the pressure on Diego's foot lightened. He exhaled a turbid breath from his mouth and said: "Cry."
"Eh?" Solitär felt the strange sensation on her chest and looked at Diego somewhat surprised. "Little brother, what is this...?"
"Don't get carried away. Aren't you..."
The angle of the moonlight changed again. The shadow blocking Diego's front face was dispelled by the moonlight.
Diego's angry, ferocious face appeared in front of Solitär. His eyes, devoid of highlights, looked like a vengeful ghost: "...going to cry and beg for mercy before you die?!!! Bitch!!!"
"...Unexpected. Do you want to hear it?" Solitär didn't expect Diego to still remember what they said the first time they met.
"Liver!"
Diego replied to Solitär's words with action. His claws directly slashed open Solitär's stomach, dissected it, and placed the organs one by one on the ground.
"Haha…, are you going to arrange my organs in order? Um... I'm very sorry. I don't want to die..."
"Kidney!"
"...I'll turn over a new leaf. I just wanted to make friends with you all, but I really didn't know how..."
...
"Heart!"
Solitär's pleas for mercy had long since disappeared, but Diego, almost as if venting his anger, kept dissecting her dissipating corpse until it completely turned into magic power particles and vanished.