Chapter 565: True Nature

Sand and dust swirled wildly on the battlefield. The fierce roars of demon beasts filled the air.

Her black eyes, seeing this, instantly understood its true nature. Its intention, its will.

Therefore, she closed her eyelids. She switched the magic power she had been pouring solely into her demon eyes to counter the witch, circulating it throughout her body. The intense pain writhing within her body seemed to subside slightly. Her eyes, which had been burning, found peace.

「…Just a few seconds…Please give me some time. I’ll kill her, even if I have to use poison. 」

With those words, Filaret kept her eyelids closed for a few seconds. The sand only bounced slightly.

Originally, Filaret and Doha Surah didn’t have a cultivated relationship of trust. They were fellow soldiers and currently served the same master, but their relationship was nothing more than that. If asked whether they could entrust their backs to each other…the answer would be no.

But right now, a strange sense of solidarity and trust had silently formed between them after standing before the witch Baronuis.

Filaret saw Doha Surah’s presence, who was opposing Baronuis, as a golden opportunity.

For the first time in her life, Filaret trusted a demon beast, closing her demon eyes and choosing to rest.

It must be said that this was the strange allure of the battlefield. In this land, sometimes sworn enemies became lifelong allies, and friends became enemies who stabbed you in the back.

It was truly a strange sight. But it gave Filaret time to sort out her internal magical energy.

「A culmination of the known and the past. The reason she is so incredibly powerful is because she knows everything… I’ve seen it before. 」

Her lovely lips murmured, as if reassuring herself.

She remembered the golden person she had seen at the Great Temple of Flimslat in her eyes. This witch, too, was of the same kind.

The sheer audacity of using magic while simultaneously wielding the Demon Eye was extraordinary. Filaret was barely able to counter her eye.

But now, that eye of death was encased in sand. She opened her eyelids. Filaret finally decided to use her demon eyes in their original form.

「…In short, I must kill with something unknown. I will plunder. All magical power. I will not permit her to possess all things. 」

She spoke to her demon eyes, sharpening its functions even further.

The magical power of every substance within her field of vision was being stolen by Filaret’s black eyes. She meticulously cut away the magical power, which was inherently inseparable from matter, as if using scissors.

Fear and disappointment, rage and impulse. Filaret finally regained her composure after overcoming the raging waves of emotion. She sharpened her focus to a single point: killing that witch.

She involuntarily contorted her cheeks. That’s right. The known and the past. That was everything Filaret hated. How many times had her ideas been denied by trying to mesh magical theories and conventional wisdom?

Filaret ran forward. She saw the dust begin to crumble before the shadows. Doha Surah was reaching his limit.

Filaret would have no chance of winning if it came down to another clash of demon eyes. That’s why she poured the magic power gathered in her eyes into one arm and closed in.

To kill the witch.

She slammed her toes hard against the ground. Strangely, she knew it was necessary. She raised her arm, filled with magic power.

「…Pierce the canopy. You have covered the heavens since the day you were born. But it must end. 」

What should she do to kill the witch? Hang her from a tree, or burn her at the stake?

No, only humans died that way. If she truly wanted to kill the witch, then she had to pierce her with a stake, just like she would do to a monster.

Therefore, what Filaret manifested in the world were seven long stakes, their crimson color as if dripping with blood. These were, in other words, dragon’s fangs.

The demonic beast was swallowed up, and the dust cleared. Understanding the nature of those shadows, Filaret sent the stakes she had manifested in the air.

One glided towards the witch’s heart. The shadow covering the witch continued to protect her body, albeit damaging itself.

The second and third stakes were aimed at her limbs. But the result was the same. The long crimson stakes forced the witch to retreat a step but could not reach her body. Filaret realized that this must be the essence of that witch.

「…I am amazed. I feel something akin to affection right now. The word “talent” is not enough to describe your capabilities. 」

Baronuis said, while showing her red cheeks.

Filaret, who had broken free from the framework of formal magic, forged her own path, and embraced the blood of the dragon. Her magic could truly be called heretical.

Leaving an ordinary thinking behind, deviating from conventional theories, Filaret transcended the mind of those around her.

Filaret La Volgograd. If Baronuis was the culmination of the known and the past, then she must be the culmination of the unknown and the future.

That’s why Baronuis welcomed Filaret. For Baronuis, the unknown wasn’t fear, but a welcome affection.

「How lovely. That’s why it’s sad. Only a handful can understand your talent. Surely no human being can truly understand you. There are only those who will try to use you. 」

Baronuis boasted that she understood her.

「I don’t need you to understand me. There is only one person I want to be understood by, and one person I want to understand. That’s what affection is, isn’t it? 」

The stakes, meant to devour life, resonated with Filaret’s words. The fourth and fifth stakes cut away parts of the shadow, draining its magical power. However, when the witch bounced the shadow, it swallowed them whole.

It wasn’t that Filaret’s magic was inferior. It was simply that Baronuis’ magic was too powerful.

Baronuis’ shadow represented her insatiable nature. It swallowed everything, absorbed everything. The delicious parts, the ugly parts, everything.

This wasn’t magic or sorcery. It was simply the magical power of a witch who had reached the pinnacle of her craft, reflecting her very nature.

「What a disgusting kind of magic. Shouldn’t a stake or two pierced a witch like you? 」

「There’s no such thing as disgusting. Besides, I don’t like being experimented on. I like to experiment on others. 」

Baronuis spoke, shrouded in her own shadow. It was a passive state, preventing her demon eye from fully exerting its power.

In reality, Filaret’s  stakes were magnificent. The magic that manifested was a part of the dragon, an absolute powerhouse, which transcended even the boundaries of magic itself.

That’s precisely why Baronuis’ instinct screamed that it was dangerous.

…Those stakes held a murderous intent that would inevitably kill anyone who got pierced by them.

Baronuis felt a faint tingling sensation down her spine. It wasn’t fear. She even doubted whether she possessed the emotion of fear.

What welled up inside her was boundless curiosity.

What kind of magic made those stakes? What was the theory of magic and its mechanism?

It was terrifying. Without a doubt, the witch Baronuis was the first and only to truly understand the extraordinary talent of the person known as Filaret.

And yet, a fateful destiny was born between them at their first meeting.

One of them had to die for sure.

「…Thank you so much, Filaret. I really like you. You’ve brought me the unknown. 」

Baronuis truly thanked her. She felt deep respect for the young sorceress.

That’s precisely why she had to swallow it. The witch, who feared no immorality or decadence, would even trample on her own respect.

She caught the sixth and final seventh stakes with her shadow. The dragon’s fangs were gone.

Filaret breathed heavily, with her black hair flying. Her magic hadn’t reached the witch.

The defeat of magic imbued with all her might was the defeat of the sorceress. She no longer possessed the magical power to even conjure up spells. The stakes were literally thrown with full force.

The shadow crept towards Filaret

「Filaret. I will never forget you. You have my full affection. 」

A shadow almost touched Filaret’s skin.

「Yes… 」

She replied.

「…And I hate you. I want to erase you from my memory. 」

Filaret’s eyes widened. The Demon Eye pulsated.

In that instant, Baronuis heard her own heartbeat. Her thoughts trembled for the first time in a long time.

…Next, she felt her own magical power being drained at an astonishing speed.

The Demon Eye strongly inherited Vrilligant’s nature, the plunderer Filaret had absorbed. Taking from others was the dragon’s greatest power. For that dragon, taking was its instinct.

But that wasn’t all. The plunder phenomenon strongly reflected Filaret’s characteristics.

After all, if she weren’t like that, she wouldn’t be Vrilligant’s heart.

「…It’s a bad habit of mine to get carried away when I see something magnificent. 」

Baronuis said, distorting her tongue. Her magical power was being drained one after another.

The act of taking was inherently a subservient act. They couldn’t take without someone to take from. They were, in a sense, the opposite of Zebrililith.

Plunderers always sought others. That was nothing less than an act of dependence on others.

Dependence and plunder. Baronuis swallowed seven of those magical energy masses possessing those properties. The stakes weren’t meant to kill enemies, but to pin them down.

「…I’ve got you. 」

Filaret’s black eyes gleamed as she drained Baronuis’ magical power. Undoubtedly, Filaret had fulfilled her role of binding the witch to this place.

But what filled her heart wasn’t joy. Rather, there was even a sense of impatience.

With each take, she felt her emotions growing inflated. To take was dependence. The roots of her addiction were swelling more and more.

A thick, almost thirsty feeling ran down Filaret’s spine.

…Ah. If only I could take it from him in the same way. How sweet that would be.

Such a thought had taken root in her heart. Stronger, and more intense thought.

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