Chapter 228

The disguise of the six wings faded away, and eight wings began to faintly emerge, finally condensing into eight solid black feathers.

Aimeris’s glistening eyes showed a “just as expected” expression, as if delighted, with laughter continuously bubbling from her lips.

Amid the torrent of magical power surging from all directions, she maintained a childlike, innocent smile, her hands clasped behind her back as she strolled left and right—like a dance, or perhaps a hymn offered to mythology itself.

The tenfold Spirit-Erasing Barrier roared like mountains and seas, resonating with the atmosphere; even the snowy peaks a thousand meters away were affected and crumbled inch by inch.

Each time the concentric rings drew inward, the violet glow in Sheffy’s eyes grew more radiant.

Even the ground where Aimeris had stood was bombarded into massive craters, with snow mist shooting up thousands of meters, blotting out the sky, rendering the battle within completely obscured.

Sheffy remained seated in a small wooden chair, one leg crossed over the other, arms folded across her chest. Whenever the waves of snow surged toward her, they were deflected midair by an invisible defensive barrier before her.

No matter who witnessed this scene, they would likely assume that the golden-haired little girl had been reduced to dust.

And yet…

—Whoosh!

A streak of golden light shot out from the mist, scattering the snowy haze.

A longsword condensed from pure magical energy pierced through one layer of Sheffy’s defensive barrier, shattering the surrounding air, and stopped mere centimeters from Sheffy’s cheek—unable to advance any further.

Aimeris remained completely unscathed, the same smile still on her face.

And Sheffy, too, held her seated posture, unmoving.

It was as if both sides had already predicted this outcome—neither showed any surprise.

The only difference from before might have been the excitement and delight now deeply coloring the smug smile on Aimeris’s delicate face.

“It only pierced one layer of defense… Sheffy, you truly surprise me. Do you know when was the last time I felt this thrilled during a battle?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. But I do know that even if I say I don’t care, you’ll still tell me anyway.”

“Yes… It was when I fought Tieer. Ha…!”

Boom!

Aimeris, as if having discovered some delightful toy, became even more excited and pushed the golden swordlight forward again.

Yet even with the weight of a thousand bolts of lightning behind it, it only managed to leave a few cracks on the second layer of Sheffy’s defensive barrier.

And how many layers this barrier had was entirely up to Sheffy herself.

As the dark glow shimmered behind Sheffy’s eight wings, the sword in Aimeris’s hand snapped in response.

Beneath those divine, heterochromatic eyes—

That ecstatic and arrogant grin was no longer hidden—yet just as she was about to launch her next wave of attacks, her expression calmed.

She took two steps back.

Aimeris lifted the hem of her princess-style dress and gave a slight curtsy, performing the etiquette of a noble young lady from this era.

This might have been something she had only recently learned.

“Sheffy, little sister, you—”

“I already told you, drop that kind of address. It’s disgusting.”

“Then how about ‘big sister’? Heh… To be called ‘big sister’ by a god—what an honor for you. By the way, your eight wings… can I touch them? I’m very curious.”

“Get lost.”

The word “get lost” wasn’t merely verbal aggression.

Boom!

A violent, invisible air current exploded between the demon and the god, forcefully blasting Aimeris several meters back, away from Sheffy.

But her retreat showed no sign of disarray—more like a graceful glide across ice.

Realizing she could no longer get close, Aimeris gave a bitter smile and shook her head, as though giving up on that previous impulse.

The unnatural blush faded from her face, and the tilted, smiling expression she wore was bizarre in its own way.

“I suppose you understand now. Though I have yet to recover all of my strength, I am immortal and indestructible. Your magic cannot affect me. Likewise, in my current state, I cannot do anything to you either. So, you should know—I only came to exchange a few words of ‘honest truth’ with you, not to fight. After all, this fragile world cannot withstand such turmoil.”

“You’re right. You’re no longer in spirit form—you’ve retained a physical body? Seems you’ve grown just a little stronger than before?”

“You say ‘a little’… Hah, there’s a bit of Tieer’s arrogance in your tone.”

“Don’t bring up that coconut or whatever. I don’t know her. But you’re right—negotiation’s important. If you hadn’t come looking for me, I would’ve sought you out myself. But before that…”

Sheffy put away her little stool.

The silver-haired, eight-winged girl, whose expression had remained cold the entire time, suddenly flashed a mischievous grin.

Under Aimeris’s slightly confused and dazed gaze, Sheffy extended her hand forward.

Resting in her palm was a bright golden crystal.

Within the transparent crystal floated mysterious magical particles, unlike any structure found in modern magic.

“Dear goddess, out of courtesy, I should tell you this first~ Just now, I sneakily stole a little something from you. I’m sure you don’t mind~”

“……”

—

58. Authority

There’s that old saying from her previous life, wasn’t there?

A gentleman loves wealth, but acquires it honorably.

But Sheffy in this life was no gentleman, so if her little hands were occasionally a bit dishonest—that should be perfectly reasonable, right?

The magic crystal floating in Sheffy’s palm was an evolved version of the Demon-Sealing Crystal, an item she had personally improved.

Back in the arena, didn’t Belith use a Demon-Sealing Crystal? At the time, it had sealed Jeffriel’s domain magic, Zero.

A Demon-Sealing Crystal could temporarily borrow a spell, seal a single-use spell within the crystal, and later release it when needed. However, its flaw was that the longer the spell remained sealed, the more magical energy it lost, and the weaker the spell became.

But Sheffy, after pulling an all-nighter to upgrade it, had created the Modified Demon-Sealing Crystal, which significantly reduced the rate of magical degradation and made its use far more efficient!

However… this wasn’t even the most ingenious part of the modification.

A sly curve lifted at the corner of Sheffy’s lips.

Originally, a Demon-Sealing Crystal could “store” magic.

But this new crystal, powered by Sheffy’s magic, could extract magic.

In someone else’s hands, the Modified Demon-Sealing Crystal might not mean much. But in Sheffy’s hands—so long as she understood the essence of her opponent’s magic—her enormous magical reserves could compress that type of magic to its limit, seal it within this tiny crystal, and thereby prevent the opponent from using that magic again.

The old crystal was for borrowing.

The new one was for stealing!

Holding up the crystal like she was showing off a new toy, Sheffy began circling around Aimeris, her smug little grin infuriatingly impish.

“Ehehe… Oh golden one, guess what’s sealed inside this little thing?”

Faced with such an aggravating display of mischief, Aimeris still smiled faintly.

But this time, her eyes narrowed. Her hands relaxed at her sides, as though she were asleep, quietly sensing something.

All around them fell silent. She was either sensing the world—or sensing herself.

It didn’t take long before she opened her eyes again.

The shimmering light in those heterochromatic eyes revealed nine parts appreciation, and one part indifference.

“It is 【Creation】… Sheffy, it seems that not only do you possess the power to shatter stars, but you’re also a genius of invention. I find myself increasingly intrigued by you, you know?”

“Uh… are you being serious? You don’t seem to care at all. If you’re not bothered, then did I steal it for nothing?”

“It matters not. All things in this world are divine power—none can strip a god of authority. At most, it is stored temporarily in the lakes and seas of the starry rivers, the mountains and rivers beneath the sun and moon. When I truly return to this world, my authority shall naturally return to me.”

“Lakes… sun and moon something…? Wow, that’s pretty poetic. Well, if you don’t care, then it’s whatever. At least for now, you won’t be hurting anyone else.”

Sheffy casually tossed the Modified Demon-Sealing Crystal deep into her storage magic space.

She then cast multiple layers of sealing and preservation spells upon it, reinforcing it thoroughly.

What was sealed within this crystal wasn’t just any ordinary magic—but one of the divine authorities of the Human God Aimeris.

【Creation】.

At first, Sheffy hadn’t known Aimeris possessed such a power. Wasn’t it thanks to Murof’s monologue in the little wooden cabin just now~?

【That lady created another me in the royal capital. A version of me that never existed—but everyone just accepts that he does!】

If what he said was true, then this divine authority was indeed extremely dangerous.

The “Salnor Yarin” who never truly existed in the royal capital hadn’t fooled Sheffy’s eyes. Yet, she hadn’t exposed it on the spot.

She wanted to see why such a nonsensical, conjured figure hadn’t raised suspicion from anyone.

As it turned out, Father King and Mother Queen truly hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Salnor’s presence.

Which meant the divine authority 【Creation】 could even affect the Six-Winged Demons.

—But Bryant, the Chief Strategist of the Third Corps stationed in the borderlands, along with the ordinary soldiers, had remained completely unaffected.

This showed that the divine authority currently had a distance limitation—those too far away were not influenced.

Was it because Aimeris had yet to regain her full strength? Just how far did the authority’s effect range?

All of that remained unknown.

However—

There was no way Sheffy could turn a blind eye to this.

Uncertainty was fine—just seal it away.

She shifted slightly, listening to the crisp clinking of gold coins in her pocket.

Beyond the satisfaction of a good harvest, Sheffy was also perfectly aware of her goal in collecting those coins.

Since Murof had been the target of 【Creation】, then among the items he once owned, there must be lingering magical traces—clues to uncover.

Sheffy only needed to infer the larger truth from the smallest signs—once she understood the nature of a magic, she could glimpse its essence.

Thus, the first condition for sealing a magic had already been fulfilled.

And the second condition—was to come into contact with the source of the magic being released.

The spell 【Tenfold Sealing Barrier · Super Spirit Erasure】, which Sheffy had cast upon meeting Aimeris, wasn’t meant to destroy her.

Its target wasn’t Aimeris herself, whose indestructibility was plain as day—

But rather the divine authority 【Creation】 hidden within her vast soul.

Let alone a god being stripped of their authority—even a child who had their candy snatched would probably burst into tears, wouldn’t they?

And yet, Aimeris simply clasped her hands behind her back, licked her lips with interest, and stepped forward.

With every step she took toward Sheffy, the disgust on Sheffy’s face deepened.

Until she once again drew near.

Only then, as the two lolis stood side by side, did it become clear—Aimeris was actually a little shorter than Sheffy.

Roughly the same height as the undernourished Holy Sword Sylatrella.

How pitiful.

And yet, despite being so short, Aimeris’s gaze held a strangely seductive maturity—clearly contradictory, yet somehow not in conflict.

“Hee… Sheffy, from the start your goal was to seal 【Creation】, wasn’t it? A wise decision indeed.”

“Talking like that—still, you’re pretty sly too. I was even wondering if I could maybe seal away a few of your other authorities while I was at it. But it seems you came prepared? From the very beginning, you’ve been avoiding using any of them, haven’t you?”

“Mhm mhm. After all, when meeting a clever child like you face-to-face, caution is necessary… Well, no matter. Consider 【Creation】 my formal gift to you—just seeing you has put me in a very good mood.”

“Spare me… that thing, a gift? I’m never taking it out again. I need to figure out how to destroy it.”

“Divine authority cannot be destroyed, you know? Elimination—that’s impossible.”

“Which is exactly why I need to figure it out. For someone with such a tiny head, your comebacks are surprisingly sharp.”

“Are you talking about yourself?”

A flash of black light appeared.

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