Lügner is dead, so next up is Frieren feinting an attack while Stark and Fern carry out the decapitation operation.
Aura toyed with the Scales of Obedience in boredom. She had anticipated the death of her executioner long ago—everything was proceeding exactly toward the future Schlacht had described.
[Aura, run!]
[If I stay with you, you won't be able to escape Diego Brando's pursuit either.]
[You have to live on. This is a battle that concerns the very survival of the demon race. Even though we can't win right now, as long as you live, there's still hope!]
[That guy's finally showing signs of fatigue—I'll stay behind to hold him off!]
Ah… here it comes again…
That guy Schlacht is way too clingy…
Even though Diego Brando is already dead, this memory keeps resurfacing in my mind.
Schlacht, why didn't you tell me what I should do next? What exactly should I do…
Why was I the one you insisted on saving?
Aura gazed at the endless army of undead stretching before her, a trace of bewilderment rising in her heart. She simply couldn't understand Schlacht's choice back then.
Among the Seven Sages of Destruction, her own abilities weren't particularly outstanding—she relied on the Scales of Obedience, a magic that forced opponents to submit and allowed her to manipulate them at will.
To save the demon race's survival, weren't there better choices…?
Even so, the magic of the Seven Sages of Destruction still far surpassed human wisdom and comprehension.
Aura could place her own soul and her opponent's soul on the scales to weigh the amount of mana.
The one with less mana would become a puppet obeying the other until their body rotted away completely.
Whoosh…
Hm?
The wind carried news of the enemy.
After sensing someone approaching, Aura raised her head and fixed her gaze on Frieren under the moonlight. The two stared at each other, the atmosphere growing tense and charged.
"Long time no see, Aura."
"Yeah, it's been about eighty years, hasn't it, Frieren."
"Aren't you going to keep hiding anymore?" Frieren looked down at Aura from the air, her tone indifferent. "Like you did eighty years ago."
Aura's smile didn't fade as she lightly shook the Scales of Obedience in her hand and teased, "No way!"
"Why not?"
"Because Diego Brando is already dead. Seventy-eight years ago, I personally witnessed him perish in the Demon King's self-destruction."
"…"
Frieren's gaze grew even colder, a faint, hidden killing intent flashing through it. She retorted sarcastically, "Yet even so, you still vanished for half a century—just to confirm whether he was truly dead or not."
"…"
Hit where it hurt, Aura furrowed her brows and fell silent. She shook the Scales of Obedience, silently urging the undead army forward to surround Frieren, who remained hovering in midair.
...
Time rewinds to the pre-battle meeting…
"There are currently two ways to counter Aura. The first is to find someone with more mana than her and place their soul on the scales."
Count Granat sat on the sofa, arms naturally resting on his thighs, leaning forward as he laid out the experience summarized from decades of battles.
When Fern heard the first method, her eyes lit up. She tugged at Frieren's sleeve. "Lady Frieren! Lady Frieren!"
"Fern, that won't work. Aura would never use her submission magic on me." Frieren shook her head. Her already slightly furrowed brows tightened further as she said gravely, "We already tried that eighty years ago. Unfortunately, the omniscient Schlacht told Aura about the amount of mana I was restricted to. She didn't fall for it back then, and she certainly won't now."
Hearing this, Fern looked as if she'd been doused with cold water—her excitement deflated.
Count Granat's face showed surprise. He glanced around at Frieren and the others before calmly continuing, "The second is that someone with a strong will can resist her magic to a certain degree. The more a hero or champion has been tempered through countless trials, the stronger their iron will becomes."
"However, she's aware of this flaw. Whenever she controls a human, she first chops off their head. It's too cruel…"
"So, it has to be a sufficiently powerful warrior to kill her using this method."
Fern raised her head again and patted the shoulder of Stark, who was eating dessert. Full of hope, she said, "Lord Stark! Lord Stark!"
Stark froze for a moment, then shoved the rest of the pastry into his mouth and mumbled through it, "Munch munch… I'm not giving it to you…"
Food-guarding…
Fern's pupils dilated in shock.
What kind of team did Lord Diego bring together?!
Lady Mabel guards her food, Lord Stark guards his food, Lady Frieren is a picky eater who won't touch onions, and Lady Alicia easily mistakes poisonous mushrooms for shiitake.
I'm mad!
Smack smack!
"Why all of a sudden?! Fern, stop it—I was wrong, don't take it out on me…" Fern's soft fists landed on Stark. Overwhelmed, Stark raised his hands in surrender and handed over the pastry with a wronged look. "Fine, I'll split it with you."
"Don't talk while eating." Fern stopped her attack, sighed, and spoke again. "What I meant was, could Lord Stark pretend to be controlled and launch a surprise attack when Aura gets close?"
Stark shook his head weakly. "How could I possibly break free from submission magic? My will is the weakest…"
"Ugh—"
Fern lowered her head again, disappointment plain on her face.
Frieren gave a confident chuckle and comforted her. "Heh heh~ It's fine, Fern. We can combine the two plans."
"Troublesome things should be dealt with as soon as possible."
...
Watching Frieren continuously dodging attacks from the undead army in the distance, Aura's thoughts raced. Schlacht's words kept replaying in her mind.
[In our traditional way of thinking, mana determines strength and status—so we applied that same view to humans.]
[But now, Aura, I must tell you: that idea is wrong.]
[Diego Brando once hunted great demons with his powerful body that had zero mana—until Grausam the Miraculous shared Tot's memories with all demons. Only then did we start to be wary of that ferocious beast.]
[However, aside from me, the others didn't think Diego Brando had no mana. They stubbornly insisted his mana was astonishingly vast and mistook the discomfort from his killing intent as being enveloped by mana detection.]
[It wasn't that he had no mana—it was that the range of mana he emitted was so vast it couldn't be perceived.]
[How tragic…]
[So, abandon that notion. For the future of the demon race, Aura—use submission magic on Diego Brando.]
Impossible. That guy once casually snatched the Scales of Obedience right out of my hands.
I didn't even get the chance to use submission magic…
Fear once again enveloped Aura's heart. She frantically urged her mind, sending even more undead soldiers to join the encirclement to kill Frieren.
My mana is far inferior to Frieren's—I can only keep having the undead army wear down her mana.
Unlike Aura's caution, Frieren spared no expense with her mana. Powerful dispelling magic was continuously unleashed on the undead soldiers besieging her.
Once Aura's submission magic was lifted, the undead soldiers became nothing more than ordinary suits of armor, collapsing one after another before Frieren.
After a while, nearly half the undead army had been freed from submission magic.
"Frieren, are you still waiting for those two brats to come support you?" Aura tilted her head, pressing one finger to her chin as her mocking smile grew stronger. "Weren't you planning a decapitation operation?"
"…How do you know that?"
Aura didn't answer Frieren's question directly. She lightly shook the Scales of Obedience, and the undead soldiers spontaneously formed a chair for her to sit on.
"Could it be?!"
Frieren anxiously expanded her mana detection range. The image of Stark and Fern trapped in the demon army's encirclement flooded back into her mind.
Rustle rustle…
At the same time, a large number of mana signatures appeared within Frieren's detection. A dense swarm of demons emerged from the forest, looking down at Frieren on the ground from above.
Although mana represented status and power for demons, they would still restrict their mana output for short periods when concealment was needed.
"You guys sure took your time getting here," Aura said, crossing her legs and resting her hand against her cheek with a light chuckle. "Did you catch those two brats?"
"Hmph! Aura, don't you dare order this old one around! If Schlacht hadn't handed command to you, do you really think you could command us?" The leading great demon elder—whose arm had been severed by a battle axe and showed signs of ordinary magic attacks—glared and roared. "Besides, those two little mice aren't weak either!"
Aura's smile froze. She darkened her face and snapped back unhappily, "That sounds awfully harsh. No matter what, I'm stronger than you lot who've been holed up in the Demon King's castle for decades."
"You—! Fine. Those two brats have no fighting strength left. What do we do next?" The great demon elder forcibly suppressed his dissatisfaction and asked.
"Just kill Frieren."
The moment the words left her mouth, a barrage of attack magic flew toward Frieren—only to be blocked one by one by defensive spells.
At the same time, Aura retreated to the rear of the battlefield and used submission magic to take control of Stark and Fern.
She took a sword from a one-kneed soldier and walked step by step toward the two.
Fern was a mage—controlling her was worthless. Just kill her.
Stark was a strong warrior. With him added, her undead army's strength could rise another level.
I'll personally chop off their heads!
As the sword approached Stark's throat, Stark's eyes narrowed. Resisting Aura's magic, he struck instantly. His battle axe swung with ferocious momentum straight toward Aura's head.
Clang!
Several strands of purple hair were severed and fluttered in the wind. The battle axe was blocked by the great demon elder, unable to advance any farther.
"Aura, this old one has already defeated the mana-exhausted Frieren. She's yours to deal with."
The great demon elder's weak voice rang out. Even with human-wave tactics constantly draining Frieren's mana, she had still made the undead army and demon forces pay an extremely heavy price.
Nearly half the undead army had been freed from submission magic, and the demon army had lost close to a third of its numbers.
"Even with perfect preparations, she still took down so many undead soldiers… We'll have to replenish them later…" Aura thought to herself.
Stark stared at the elder before him—his battered body still swinging the battle axe relentlessly. Gritting his teeth, he roared, "What did you do to Frieren?!"
He himself was gravely wounded, Fern was unconscious, Frieren had been defeated—wave after wave of bad news hammered at Stark's mind. Helplessness flooded his entire body.
After a few breaths, blood flowed from his cracked wounds to cover his whole body. Stark gripped his battle axe and knelt to the ground, heavy panting echoing through the night sky.
"Hmph, finally lost your will to fight, huh? You just asked about Frieren, right? Of course she—"
The elder sneered and pointed toward the battlefield encircled by the demon army.
"Roar!"
At that moment, a familiar roar from the center of the battlefield interrupted the elder. It turned its head and was stunned motionless by the sight before it.
In the center of the battlefield stood a figure. Diego—missing for seventy-eight years—had reappeared. He held the exhausted, fainted Frieren in his arms, his expression unreadable. Through the dense swarm of demons, he coldly fixed his gaze on Aura.
The demon army instantly collapsed. The tight encirclement was torn open with a huge gap.
Unlike the demons, who were scared out of their wits, the undead soldiers—still under Aura's control—continued their fierce assault on Diego through the breach, only to be violently kicked flying by him.
The soldier flew like a kite with its string cut, crashing straight toward Aura. The powerful force brought a gust of wind pressure that forced her eyes shut as she was slammed hard.
"You're really stupid. Why not just blast all these corpses away? Why go to the trouble of using dispelling magic? To protect these corpses?" Diego reached out to brush aside Frieren's disheveled hair, gently pinched her cheek, and murmured, "You've picked up bad habits from Alicia. That's exactly why inflexible idiots who don't know how to adapt are the ones who suffer the biggest losses."
Even on the battlefield, Diego gazed at Frieren's profile in a slight daze. He slowly lowered his head, stopping just before their lips met. After a moment of silence, he smiled. "Never mind. I'll let you off this time."
Diego's appearance had clearly caught the great demon elder off guard. It instantly panicked.
"The Scary Monsters… Didn't that guy die? How could he still be alive—and looking so young…" The elder's mind raced in chaos. It turned to Aura and demanded, "Aura, give this old one an explanation! Quick!"
It had originally organized the remnants of the Demon King's army to hide in the Demon King's castle out of fear of being hunted by Diego. This time, it had only come out following Schlacht's arrangements.
It had thought the task was a sure thing—never expecting to run into that jinx Diego.
No, no, calm down. His eyes don't have normal pupils or sclera—the depths are pitch black. This is necromancy. He really is dead!
The great demon elder steadied itself.
"Old geezer, old geezer, what are you thinking?"
Aura's voice called from beside its ear.
"Snap out of it. Didn't you ask earlier about the part I kept hidden from Schlacht's arrangements? Now I can tell you. The most critical part is next—we two have to stall until the necromancy runs out, then control him."
"…"
The elder, who had been stabbed in the back, said nothing. It slowly raised its head. Instead of replying to Aura, regret welled up and spread through its heart. Its gaze remained locked—fixed dead on Diego's face in the center of the battlefield.
After a moment, it said softly, "This old one regrets it—helping a guy like you who hid crucial information."
"Hm? What did you say?" Aura hadn't heard clearly.
The elder didn't repeat itself. Its eyes narrowed as it shielded Aura behind it.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted!