Chapter 159

"Uh... I mean the orange is sour, you... wait, are you saying, she can reveal her true form at any time? Aunt, you already fought against her true form?"

"Of course! Look, her true form is just as small as that creature over there! But the magic power inside her is like an unfathomable ocean trench!"

Ailellek gave a vivid example, and everyone simultaneously turned their heads toward where she was pointing.

The Little Holy Sword was propping up the door with brute strength, standing on her tiptoes. She tossed the hammer aside and directly used the back of her hand to pound the nails into the door, looking fierce and reckless.

She heard everyone saying something about a shorty?

So she turned her head and glanced behind her, only to find no shorty there. She spread her hands, showing that everyone was really strange.

The moment she let go, the door tilted forward again, pressing the loli Holy Sword underneath it!

"Waah waah...! This door! Sneak attacking me! Fixing doors is so hard!"

Ailellek withdrew her finger; she decided not to point at that one anymore.

Not very smart, rather pitiful.

Belith pondered for a moment, and combining it with the intel provided earlier by the Royal Sister, she was able to reach a rough conclusion.

"The appearance of a child... Royal Sister mentioned before, that so-called [Human God] emphasized that her seal had not been lifted. So, I think appearing in a child’s form should be a sign that she hasn’t completely regained her power."

"That, I don’t know. Anyway, when that one’s true form appeared, I really didn’t realize it. The last time I felt that way... was when I was helping Sheffy practice new magic. Cough... though back then, you disgusted me even more."

"Hey, hey... can’t you speak more politely? Just because we’re family doesn’t mean you can speak without restraint."

That wasn’t wrong. When Ailellek helped Sheffy practice magic, she often went without restraint.

Of course, that lack of restraint referred to the rainbow-colored vomit.

Ailellek had to admit... her little niece’s talent was terrifyingly high. The sheer amount of magic power Sheffy unconsciously leaked out already made her feel dizzy and overwhelmed.

One had to know that Ailellek always prided herself on the attitude of "defeating magical strength with physical prowess."

Even so, she never truly intended to fight Sheffy seriously.

Ahaha... her body might be strong, but she couldn’t just destroy herself, right? Even if she could recover, being pierced through by magic still hurt quite a bit.

"And then, there was that strange magic she unleashed at the end. Sheffy, Belith, have you heard of it? It could be cast instantly... no, it wasn’t even on the level of instant-casting. It was more like lightning directly branching out from your heart. The moment that magic appeared, it already meant the heart was pierced. No, not pierced, but an attack spell directly triggered on the heart itself. That was the most incomprehensible and troublesome part."

"You didn’t try using defensive magic to block it?"

"I can’t! I don’t know magic!"

"......"

Oh right, that’s true.

Sheffy almost forgot, her aunt’s reputation among the Demon Clan was really bad—punching the elderly, kicking children, utterly terrible.

But in truth, she didn’t hit just anyone.

Everyone she beat up had once mocked her, or mocked her right in front of her.

All those who ever laughed at her for not knowing magic—no matter if they were old, young, or in their prime—were beaten by her without exception. In a sense, she was the most down-to-earth "Calamity" of the Demon Clan.

But still, beating up kids who didn’t know any better—wasn’t that a bit too petty?!

Now, throughout the entire Demon Clan, no one dared to gossip about her anymore.

The inferiority she once felt for being unable to use magic—

Had been forcibly turned into a source of pride.

Mm… from this angle, Sheffy actually admired her quite a bit.

Belith, upon hearing the description of this "instant lightning strike" magic, also looked solemn.

Under Xiarette’s equally wide-eyed stare, Belith discreetly stroked the back of Sheffy’s hand.

Not only because she loved her sister dearly, but also because she was truly worried.

"Royal Sister… have you ever heard of such magic before?"

"How do you know I’m so well-informed?"

"So that means Royal Sister has heard of it?!"

"No, I only meant to say I’m well-informed, not that I’ve seen everything."

"......"

Royal Sister, you being this cheeky really made Belith want to do something unnecessary, didn’t it?

But now, she had to hold back.

Because Belith felt this matter, this information, carried an extremely grave threat. It could not be treated carelessly.

Belith knew Royal Sister was strong.

But… wasn’t there a saying?

—There’s always a boat that sinks in the ditch.

Not to mention, the opponent wasn’t just any ditch, but an unknown being who claimed to be a god.

Just the thought of that… left Belith deeply unsettled.

She wasn’t afraid of facing a god head-on.

But she was afraid of losing her sister.

"Royal Sister once faced her alone… We know far too little about her. If she had struck back then with this kind of attack..."

"It wasn’t alone, Xiarette was there too."

"Don’t say that hateful name right now!!"

"Eh?!"

I was just factually correcting you, and you won’t even let me say it!

But… Sheffy could feel that Belith’s hand truly trembled out of worry.

That alone made Sheffy unable to lecture her further.

All in all… thank you for worrying about your sister, Belith.

Xiarette found it hard to join in such a high-level discussion. Don’t be fooled by the fact that this Hero of the Kingdom was just standing there pouring tea for everyone—her thoughts were turning just as quickly as theirs.

Perhaps she couldn’t contribute much to the other topics.

But in this matter, she too instinctively wanted to protect her family.

And as much as possible, she wanted to confirm more information.

"This aunt… could you think more carefully about the details of that magic? Did it really appear in an instant? With absolutely no casting preparation? Could there have been some flaw, something we overlooked?"

“Mm...? No, I don’t think so... Hey, you human girl! Calm down! You spilled boiling water all over me!!”

“Sorry...!!”

Caring led to panic, and for an idiot, panic only made things worse.

They always said a dead pig wasn’t afraid of boiling water, and with Ailellek’s level of toughness, boiling water really couldn’t do anything to her.

But that didn’t mean she was a dead pig, okay?!

Timani was clumsily peeling an orange. In truth… she found it quite mysterious.

Weren’t humans all supposed to be afraid of death...?

But Princess Belith and Xiarette’s anxious questions didn’t seem to be for their own safety.

Instinctively, they clustered around Sheffy in the middle.

As if, should such a magic really exist and they had no means to counter it, their first priority would be protecting the angel in the center.

Flashes of her parents’ powerless gazes and bitter smiles in their dying moments flickered across Timani’s mind—an earnest wish that she might live on.

“Hiss...”

She held her head with one hand, shutting her left eye, her head throbbing with stabbing pain.

Such complicated, unfathomable feelings...

Was this really the right thing...? Those who survived weren’t absolutely fortunate at all, but instead went on living in pain...

Ailellek glanced sidelong at the slightly abnormal fire lizard.

But she quickly withdrew her gaze, shrugged, and spoke frankly.

Ailellek had no intention of lying. She could see how worried they all were, but this was something that had to be faced with reality.

“It’s precisely because I couldn’t find a flaw that I came so urgently to tell you all... That magic—for now at least—I haven’t thought of a very good countermeasure. But at the same time, I also noticed—the opponent didn’t actually have much strength left either.”

A victorious smirk curved across her face.

As if, last night, she hadn’t been the loser, but rather the one who scraped out a narrow victory.

“That one called Aimeris must have known I wasn’t dead, yet she didn’t pursue me further. I could tell... she only had just enough strength to unleash that one spell. Once the magic ended, she quickly withdrew her true form. And besides—you mentioned before her so-called authority... called the 【Reverence of God】 domain, right? That in that domain, magic power gets compressed down to less than one-tenth? That doesn’t affect me at all, since I don’t have magic in the first place~ I said she doesn’t restrain me with her true form, but actually, I restrain her!”

This was perhaps the first piece of good news they’d heard today.

Aimeris’s seal was real and unshakable—otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to invite Sheffy and Xiarette to meet, attempting to persuade them with words, to break the seal and regain her freedom.

Ailellek’s dangerous encounter last night only confirmed this even further.

Sheffy sat in the middle, lost in thought the entire time, maintaining near silence except for the occasional quip.

Even though Ailellek had been rambling endlessly about her experience, her attention had always been fixed on her little niece’s shifting expressions.

Heh… Sheffy, this child of yours really could endure in silence.

Clearly, you’d already thought of some countermeasure, hadn’t you?

Ailellek understood her well. This child was sharp and cunning, and whenever she fell into such quiet—silent and still—it was surely the calm before a storm.

At this moment, everyone’s gaze was fixed on Sheffy, sitting at the very center.

That shift of focus happened naturally.

After all, whether it was Xiarette, Belith, Sylatrella, or Timani—Sheffy was the pillar of them all.

Compared to hearing the news Ailellek had brought, what they wanted more was Sheffy’s judgment.

But Sheffy didn’t say anything.

She didn’t speak—she acted.

Sheffy suddenly stood up slowly, her eyes set in the direction of Sylatrella. More precisely, on the door Sylatrella had just finished fixing.

She raised her left hand, pressed thumb and ring finger together, but left a tiny gap between them.

Holding that gap before her eyes, Sheffy’s gaze passed through the slit between her fingers, locking onto one nail on the doorframe.

Then, a sudden anomaly arose.

——thud.

At first, everyone was confused by Sheffy’s strange stance.

But when they heard that sound, they turned toward its source.

And then… all of them slowly widened their eyes.

On that little nail, a faint, nearly invisible purple magic line had pierced straight through.

And that wasn’t all.

There wasn’t just one nail on the door. Sylatrella had worked diligently, driving in dozens to make the frame secure.

And yet, in only the blink of an eye…

As Sheffy again pressed her fingertips together, from each of those nails, needle-thin purple magic lines extended out of nowhere!

This time, Ailellek saw it clearly.

The first time this magic appeared, she had suspected maybe it was just fired from Sheffy’s hand—only too fast for the eye to catch.

But with this repeated demonstration, her keen dynamic vision confirmed it.

The magic didn’t come from Sheffy’s hand—it was conjured from the nails themselves as the point of origin!

And if that origin weren’t nails… but hearts—while amplifying the spell’s power…