* * * * *

Within the castle at the center of the city, Shina was lying down on a bed still asleep. The smell of alcohol from her body had already started to vanish and her body to settle down.

Without a single sound, Mystel opened the door leading to the room and quietly entered while trying not to wake up her daughter. Her bearing was completely different from before, any trace of bloodlust was gone and she looked at her daughter with pain and regret.

Shina wasn’t sleeping peacefully, she was constantly groaning and grinding her teeth as if she was constantly suffering.

Her body was still young and she shouldn’t be able to use magic yet. But her mind was far more advanced than her body which made her develop her powers faster than they predicted.

While she might be able to handle a faint amount of magic like at the human town, the amount she used to fight here was far too great for her body. She didn’t realize it yet, but her body was still too frail and could collapse should she try to gather a large amount of mana.

It was also the reason why both Arsal and Mystel didn’t teach her anything related to magic and solely focused on martial arts and weaponry. It was also the reason why they constantly kept feeding her divine ingredients such as phoenix meat and various kind of magical fruits in an attempt for her to build foundations.

By adjusting her body with the help of magical ingredients, they tried to gradually strengthen her body until she could handle using magic.

But she wasn’t ready yet, Mystel could sense that innerly she was slowly crumbling which made her worried. She had first planned on using her two rebel subordinates’ souls to regenerate her magical foundations and strengthen them at the same time.

None of them actually knew it, but Mystel herself didn’t really wish for their deaths. She couldn’t care less about their childish intent to pick on Listae, she also knew that it was for them just some kind of game to pass time and didn’t take it seriously.

Almost nobody, even Nekroi knew that while she could kill strangers without hesitations, she could also be somewhat tolerant toward her own subordinates.

But, compared to the life of her daughter… Which was the most important?

Forget about two subordinate, even if she had to crush the entire city and tear everyone apart to save her daughter, she wouldn’t even give it a second thought. Luckily for everyone, demons hearts were far more efficient and safe to use than their souls.

Taking out the succubus heart, she put it against Shina’s body and gently pushed into inside her body. The heart didn’t resist and gradually merged with her without any incident.

It was the safest ingredient in the world, but the number of demons with two heart as powerful as her subordinate was close to none, otherwise, she wouldn’t have hesitated to hunt down every one of them and take their hearts with her own hands while making sure not to kill them.

The expression on Shina’s face progressively relaxed as the heart entirely fused with her. A single heart was actually enough to save her. Confirming that Shina’s foundations recovered correctly, Mystel looked at the second heart for a moment before putting it away.

‘Better save it… It might come up handy should she find herself once again in this kind of situation.’

Mystel relaxed after seeing her daughter now sleep peacefully. But another thought crossed her mind after recalling how Ranae tried to enter her mind. Mystel’s protection had repelled him and due to his ability not allowing him to truly enter one’s mind, he hadn’t been very injured.

Should it have been someone with a more powerful ability like Vatrach, the shock would have probably instantly killed him or turned him into a disabled.

But what Mystel couldn’t understand was the black sword that cut Ranae’s tongue. She had seen Listae interfere, but this power didn’t belong to her, neither did it belong to Kanabo who was moreover restrained by a seal.

Who did it belong to? Mystel had a hypothesis in her mind… Did it belong to Shina? But in her state and not having much experience with magic, how could it be her?

Mystel dropped her hand on Shina’s heart and slowly moved it toward her head. She closed her eyes and her head became cloudy as she entered Shina’s mind. It was a power extremely similar to Vatrach, but she didn’t have much experience with it.

She didn’t really know whether or not she could enter someone’s mind, neither did she even think once about it. If it was about sealing one’s soul inside her own, then she had already done it many times. But it was the very first time that she tried to enter one’s soul.

Maybe it was due to the lack of experience in this kind of magic, but Mystel couldn’t manage to enter her mind. She had a hard time finding a way past her mental defense which had grown stronger after Ranae’s incident.

She could, of course, try to force her way inside, but the consequences on Shina’s mind would be gigantic so it was out of question. The only thing she could do was try to take her time and gently find a way inside.

Her mind finally arrived at a strange place similar to a bedroom and Shina’s body was sleeping on the bed. It was her conscious still asleep. She was sleeping on a seeming very comfortable bed while being warmed up by a lukewarm sun, the sun wasn’t very bright as to not disturb her peaceful moment.

Surrounded by a bed of flowers, it was a paradisiac place which was truly suited for a nap.

As Mystel approached Shina’s resting place, her feet suddenly stopped as she detected someone’s presence. Her head turned to her left and she felt a strong wind pressure charging at her.

Raising her hand to protect herself, she felt some kind of black object cut past her skin and slightly injuring her before being stopped by her arm’s muscle.

Mystel was forced to retreat and her eyes widened in shock at her injury. Only a few people had managed to make her bleed. She of course barely had any power in this place, but it still made her feel surprised.

In front of her, a girl with long gray hairs was standing with bloody eyes and a dark expression. Holding an immaterial sword made out of some sort of black smoke, Mystel’s blood slowly passed through the smoke and dropped on the ground.

The girl didn’t say a single word like she was mute. Mystel stared at her with a strange expression as if she started to understand a few things, but this also led to some other questions.

Mystel didn’t try to fight, and the girl didn’t move either. She simply stayed close to Shina’s body while still being wary of Mystel.

Having the answer she was looking for, Mystel turned around and her body slowly started to dissipate.

“Protect her well…”

The girl remained behind and after confirming that Mystel was indeed gone, she walked toward Shina and her dark expression relaxed, turning into a gentle one.

“Of course I will… She is my one and only mistress after all…”

With those words, the world disappeared and Shina’s eyes opened.

“Mom, are you alright?”

The first thing Shina saw when her eyes opened was her mother making a difficult expression while holding her left arm, but it quickly turned into a smile. Mystel fondled Shina’s hairs a few time as she returned to normal.

“Of course I am… It should actually be the opposite, how are you feeling?”

Rubbing her eyes with her little hands, she made a strange inaudible yawn while properly waking up. Still feeling tired after drinking a little too much, she also somehow felt very energized.

Feeling her body brimming with energy, she answered to her mother with a large smile which she returned.

Mystel made a satisfied nod and walked toward the door, opening it and revealing Kanabo who was hiding behind.

“Look like you have a guest.”

Kanabo made strange sound when Mystel opened the door, but after being invited inside, she didn’t say a word and walked. Taking this opportunity to leave the two girls together, she silently left the room.

She glanced at her sore arm with a smile as if something good happened and instead started enjoying this sensation. What she was actually enjoying wasn’t the sensation itself but the meaning hiding behind it.

The fact that Shina had someone that could take care of her while they would be gone was truly good. While this existence in itself was a very sad thing, it would help Shina in the future when she would need it.

Mystel exited the castle and walked in its court, nothing could happen to Shina as the enchantment on the castle’s wing only allowed permitted people to enter.

Just a few seconds were enough for Mystel’s arm to recover by itself. Moving on, she noticed that Fortiem, Listae, and Nekroi were walking toward her. The two other rebellious demons would have normally joined them, but they were still afraid of Mystel being angry at them.

Listae sighed as she felt like crying, when she previously wanted to purge this city, it meant all the criminals and Vatrach’s allies… But Mystel simply exterminated every elder present at the tribunal!

Not only their enemies but allies as well!

Some of them were regular elders who remained neutral and some others were Listae’s subordinate. Her workers… The amount of work was definitely going to rise up exponentially.

While stroking his skeletal chin, Nekroi approached Mystel with a smile and look at the room beside her.

“You said that you had a daughter now?”

Mystel’s lips suddenly raised, turning her expression into one that none of them had ever seen. It was a face similar to of a young mother who held an inexhaustible amount of love toward her newborn child.

This face made her three subordinate trembles, the vision of Mystel exterminating worlds suddenly started to feel even more real.

“So you’ve finally decided to make one? I remember how you’ve constantly been ranting about wishing to have a child.”

Nodding with a bright smile, Mystel started laughing. It was like nothing had happened earlier. Nekroi truly felt happy for her and also for the world. He always felt saddened by the fact that Mystel couldn’t find a way to give birth to a child.

While providing a few stories to the group, Fortiem looked at Mystel with a large smile and dropped a large bomb.

“Great! But you didn’t tell us who is the father?”

Both Listae and Nekroi were startled before calming down and looking at Fortiem while laughing.

“Idiot~ Her daughter is, of course, an Imago!”

A child made artificially, an Imago. While many species needed a male and female to reproduce, it was different for many magical and spiritual being. Many of them could create a child by creating a seed within them made out of their own magic and feeding it until it acquires a soul. It was very similar to how pregnant women would carry their child in their belly until it is ready to be birthed.

The amount of time depended on the races, but it generally took much longer than biologically forming one and the difficulty several times higher. As such, it was very rarely employed, it was also how Listae gave birth to her two daughters.

Mystel’s expression darkened as the ‘father’s’ face appeared in her mind.

“That asshole should get here at any moment…”

Nekroi and Listae’s mind almost shattered from the revelation. They both wanted to curse at the clueless Fortiem for once again being right. Countless questions rose up in their mind and as they were going to ask them, the sky distorted and started collapsing.

A golden figure dressed in a shining robe charged toward the castle accompanied by an army of shining soldiers. It was like the beginning of the apocalypse, angels shattering the sky and charging at an army of demons; a battle between heaven and hell.

Arsal arrived beside Mystel while glaring at her with a deadly expression. When he woke up he discovered an illusion of Shina sleeping in the bed, after dispelling it he found Mystel’s note telling him that he brought her to her realm.

If it was only that, then it might have been fine after scolding her when she got back. But she has also put Shina in danger, forcing one of Mystel’s protection to activate.

“Arsal… What are you doing here?!”

Listae glared at Arsal without an ounce of fear but he didn’t even give her a glimpse. While she knew that she absolutely wasn’t his equal, charging at their headquarter like that was something against a ‘pact’ made years ago. The only one that Mystel ever agreed and respected despite how much she detested following rules.

Neither of them were allowed to enter the other sides headquarter.

Arsal and Mystel silently stared at each other for a moment and surprisingly Mystel closed her eyes while dropping her shoulders.

“She is inside…” She said while pointing at the castle and allowing him to go inside.

A few minutes later, Arsal walked out of the castle while holding Shina’s hand. Both Nekroi and Listae stared at them with a dumbfounded expression.

Arsal made looked at Mystel with reproachful eyes before waving his hand and making a door appear in front of him.

“Alright, I got it! It’s all my fault, okay?!” While yelling loudly with a wronged expression, Mystel followed them and walked toward the door.

“You got your answer…” She said toward the two… Three people staring at her with an idiotic expression.

It took some time for Listae and Nekroi to calm down, at the same time Fortiem realized something.

“Wait… Is Arsal the father?!”

“...”

"And what about that army?" He said while looking at the starting war.

"..."

* * * * *

"I feel like I forgot something..." Arsal said with a pondering expression.

"Who cares? Keep walking!"

End of chapter 6