“Hahahahaha!!”
Having caught Aesphyra, Jiu Lixue let out a wild, ringing laugh while raining down spell after spell in a frenzied barrage.
This was magic without any artistry, without any refinement—purely raw, high-level elemental spells layered over her claws, used to rake and smash in a violent, chaotic assault. Compared to the dazzling spell exchanges earlier, this was the most primitive form of combat—brutal hand-to-hand.
Jiu Lixue pinned Aesphyra to the ground, her silk-clad legs in white over-the-knee stockings, geta clogs pressing heavily down on the Holy Sword, preventing her from standing or concentrating enough to cast properly.
Aesphyra did everything she could to channel her magic and use the Holy Sword to deflect the claw strikes, but she could not avoid the internal damage from the concussive force. Her clothes were torn, her hair in disarray, and a streak of blood glistened at the corner of her lips.
Seeing her opponent wounded and driven into a corner only made Jiu Lixue more exhilarated, her attacks growing even more vicious.
And just as she pressed her foot down, twin claws wreathed in lightning and frost raised for the killing blow—Aesphyra suddenly broke free of her suppression, vanishing from beneath her in a short-range teleport to a nearby spot.
Clatter, clatter... Countless fragments of shattered resistance scrolls spilled from the hem of her skirt. Several cracked enchanted gems rolled across the ground, faint elemental glimmers dying away the moment they came to rest. There were even a few already-expired alchemical potions—blue ones sparking with lightning, red ones searing hot, the latter exploding in bursts of heat upon hitting the ground.
These were all Aesphyra’s long-carried “life-saving charms”—single-use elemental resistance scrolls, elemental absorption potions, various elemental resistance gems.
They were meant to raise her margin of error in combat, though in every battle before this they’d gone unused—no one had ever even touched her.
Thankfully, she’d carried them as usual this time. Without them, Jiu Lixue’s earlier savage, magic-infused pummeling might have killed her outright—turning her into nothing but “Aesphyra paste.”
The Galathus family truly feared for her safety. Even the lowest-grade of these alchemical tools, scrolls, and enchanted items was mid-tier; a normal mage’s strike would only tear her clothing and leave light scratches, never a serious wound.
But once Jiu Lixue got her hands on her, the situation changed entirely. Nearly all the defensive tools were gone, and Aesphyra herself was heavily injured. If not for her short-range space transfer coming off cooldown at just the right moment, she would have been killed the instant Jiu Lixue caught her.
“Ah~ just as I suspected.” Jiu Lixue’s lips curled faintly as she looked at the debris of scrolls, alchemy, and enchanted trinkets scattered across the ground.
“Miss Galathus, your background is hardly ordinary. The power behind you values you enough to stack all these priceless treasures on your person? Even for a Hero, that’s a bit hard to explain.”
What confirmed her suspicions even more was that unrestrained teleport just now—Aesphyra no longer had the luxury of holding back. One more second of pretense and she would have been dead.
“Oh? Does the little fox want to know? If you’re that curious, I could tell you—if you’ll pay a price. Let me make a scarf out of your tail fur, that’s all.”
Aesphyra propped the Holy Sword in one hand, pressing the other to her injured arm. The black ribbon that tied her hair was long gone, letting her dazzling silver hair spill freely, streaked with blood. Her battle-torn dress was ripped in many places, the black stockings now a tattered, “damaged” version.
Yet even in such a state, she carried herself with calm ease, as though all of this was still within her plans—that she had many more hidden cards to play.
She even had the composure to tease Jiu Lixue.
“No, Miss Galathus, I don’t need to know. Curiosity doesn’t mean I must have the answer. Take those secrets of yours... straight to the underworld.”
Jiu Lixue smiled faintly, each word deliberate.
This trick might fool others, but not her. She could see Aesphyra was already at the end of her strength.
“What a pity. If it weren’t absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t want to harm an uninvolved party. Were you not the Hero, you’d already be on the road with that blue-haired classmate of yours.”
“But reality allows no ‘ifs.’ Miss Galathus, I don’t know your true secrets, but you’ve basked in the glory of your lineage and [Hero] title since birth. Have you ever thought... that one day, those very things might cost you your life?”
“If you weren’t the Hero, you wouldn’t be throwing away your life, your talent, and your future for them. Do you regret it?” Jiu Lixue asked with a hint of amusement.
“Regret?” Aesphyra laughed softly. “Little fox, that word doesn’t exist in my dictionary.”
“Oh?” Jiu Lixue raised a brow.
“I’ve walked the road I chose, openly and without shame, with my own name, my own strength, my own will. Every choice has been mine alone—what’s there to regret?” Aesphyra stood proud, like a white swan, her voice as confident and elegant as ever.
If she accepted the benefits of her status without hesitation, then she would accept the dangers and responsibilities as well.
“...I suppose I spoke out of turn.” Jiu Lixue smiled faintly after a pause. “But tell me—when that classmate left you behind earlier, did you feel even a flicker of disappointment? A hope dashed?”
“After all, you stand alone now.”
“Who told you I’ve ever been alone?” Aesphyra chuckled, resting the Holy Sword’s tip on the ground and flicking her hair back.
“Miss Galathus, you’re interesting. I must admit, you’re like me in some ways.” Magic surged from Jiu Lixue’s raised hand. “If I didn’t have to kill you, I’d be reluctant ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ to do it. We might have had much to talk about.”
“But you won’t submit to me.” She shook her head in regret.
Magic arrays flared around Aesphyra, and from them sprang withered black vines, binding her injured limbs.
“That strange teleport of yours—it’s still on cooldown, isn’t it?” Jiu Lixue said. “The moment I saw you keep using earth walls instead of blinking away, I began counting the interval.”
“And now, the time’s not up yet... is it?”
“How strange. This teleport isn’t dark-element magic, nor is it light-element—fast as it is, I’d still have sensed it. And the other elements are even more impossible; I detected no elemental signature at all. Let me guess—it’s your [Sacred Blessing]? Aside from being a Hero, you’re also descended from some [Sage] bloodline?”
“Well, never mind. I don’t pry into others’ secrets. Goodbye, Miss Hero.”
One of her tails morphed into a massive ice sword and thrust toward the immobilized Aesphyra.
Without magical defense, the human body is fragile—one or two spells are enough to destroy it.
And this was a high-tier ice-element spell.
There was no doubt—pierced by this, with her items exhausted, Aesphyra would die on the spot.
If she hadn’t used up all her “Emperor’s Crests” earlier, she might still have had a chance to escape even if she couldn’t wound Jiu Lixue.
But even as a reincarnator, she could not perfectly predict the future—not in this chaotic world. She had left herself no way out.
So would it end like last time? Helplessly, unavoidably, exiting the stage?
It was over.
That’s what every watching fox demon and succubus thought—Jiu Lixue included.
In truth, the fact that Aesphyra had managed to counterattack at all and nearly make Jiu Lixue stumble was what no one had expected.
An early Spirit Magus Realm mage lasting this long against the strongest demon lord alive—it was absurd.
It spoke to how terrifying her growth had been. No wonder their queen was willing to risk war with the humans to kill her now.
The magic hurtled toward her. Aesphyra struggled against the vines—futilely.
Without the Emperor’s Crest, she could not draw out the full power of her Carillian bloodline’s [Sacred Blessing]. Worse, without it, using [Sacred Blessing] came with a long, obvious casting delay—an opening Jiu Lixue would never miss.
Just before the giant ice sword struck, she felt herself drowning again in that same helplessness she’d known as a child.
Would there be another life after this?
At the last moment—an armored figure surged forward, a young man’s shout ringing out:
“Ice! Skin! Technique!”
“?!” Recognizing the voice, Aesphyra looked up in surprise to see a fully-armored “tin man” crouched before her, arms spread to shield her.
A layer of frost coated his armor as the massive ice sword slammed into him.
Crack—! The shattering was as sharp and grating as nails on glass, stabbing at her ears.
[Virtue +500]
[Current Virtue: 7,954]
Through the storm of ice shards, a blood-soaked figure was blasted backward—right into her—just as the vines restraining her fell away.
The impact carried her with him until they hit the ground. Only then did she see the blue-haired youth, barely conscious, lying across her lap.
“...” Aesphyra opened her mouth, but no words came. She didn’t know if it was because she had too many questions and didn’t know where to start, or because she couldn’t speak at all.
“...Why come back?” she finally asked, voice as calm as ever.
The blue-haired youth barely had the strength to speak. Lying on her black-stockinged thigh, he didn’t move, only glanced up at her weakly and said:
“You’re always saying... this young master owes you so many favors, right?”
Because he’d been wrestling with possible solutions—and whether they’d work—he’d arrived late, finding her locked in a life-or-death battle with Jiu Lixue, with no way to intervene.
As he tried to figure out how to insert himself, Aesphyra faltered—truly cornered. He had never seen her, always so effortlessly composed, look so battered and desperate. And he knew—there was no more time to think.
“This young master doesn’t like owing favors. Debt’s paid—stop crying. You look awful when you cry.”
“Be confident. Show some fire. Just like always. The Aesphyra I know is always confident, always dazzling—never like this.” With that, blood still streaming, Vinny’s head slumped forward.
“...She was crying?”
Aesphyra didn’t know. And she didn’t care.
She only lowered her head in silence.
[Virtue +300]
[Current Virtue: 8,254]
“...How foolish,” Jiu Lixue said quietly, apparently surprised he’d returned. “Why come back? This had nothing to do with you.”
[Virtue +100]
[Current Virtue: 8,354]
The fox demons and succubi were equally surprised—some of the succubus archduchesses even looked a little regretful.
He had spirit, and that was... appealing to them.
A shame.
After a long, deathly silence, Aesphyra’s injured arm trembled as she drew a small, ancient bottle from her chest—a pale pink alchemical potion.
It glowed faintly, the light alone enough to lift the spirit.
This elixir, sealed by ancient means, had been personally crafted by the Saintess of Dawn, infused with her magic and her blood. So long as the body wasn’t completely destroyed, it could bring the dead back to life.
There had only ever been one such bottle in the entire history of the Galathus family—its value beyond any price.
Without hesitation, they had entrusted it to Aesphyra, just as their ancestors had once risked their lives for the royal family.
And without hesitation, Aesphyra poured it into the mouth of the blue-haired youth dying in her lap.
Her small hands twisted the cap open, broke the sealing magic, pried his mouth open, and poured the potion in.
Because Vinny was lying face-down, and because her movements were hurried, she didn’t notice the cherry-pink holy light glowing faintly at his heart.
By rights, his bloodline—Facilis blood—should have triggered to heal him in order to preserve his life. But with the Saintess’s elixir securing his survival, the Facilis blood detected no mortal danger and canceled its intervention.
Aesphyra said nothing as she administered the potion, determined not to let anyone interrupt.
Jiu Lixue didn’t move to stop her, and her subordinates didn’t dare make a sound.
“...Cough!” After who knew how many times she’d poured and how many times he’d spat it back up, Vinny’s head jerked up and he coughed violently.