"It's been completely destroyed. Not a trace of power remains," Mirajane concluded, pressing her fingers against the demon's frozen forehead through the crystal.
The icy atmosphere made Warm feel strangely at home.
He squirmed in Mira's arms, stretching out his tongue to lick the massive frozen figure, like a giant "ice pop" in the shape of a demo, but Mira tapped him lightly on the head.
"We don't even know if it's safe yet," she scolded, pulling Warm back.
Rhodes, however, said, "Let him try licking the ice somewhere else. He's an expert with ice and snow, he might notice something."
Mira carried Warm over to the wall and let him lick the frost there.
Warm tried his best to communicate his findings to Rhodes: the ice was cold.
"You don't need to tell me that!" Rhodes barked. "What about anything useful?"
Warm thought hard, then added with another "Purrr ~"—
It didn't taste good.
Rhodes laughed. "That's it. No dinner for you tonight!"
"Phew…" Warm's little horn drooped in pitiful defeat.
He was only being honest.
Mira chuckled, reaching out to gently stroke Warm's horn to comfort him.
Before coming to the church, Rhodes had been hoping Mirajane might be able to unlock a new Satan Soul form, but with the demon long dead, there was no chance of that.
He thought for a moment and asked, "Back then, when you came here, how many demons were in this church?"
"Just one," Mirajane said. "And even that one was incredibly difficult to defeat."
She glanced at him. "Do you think there's something wrong with the altar itself?"
Rhodes studied the frozen demon. "Yeah. This giant ice pop doesn't look natural at all. The altar must be the problem. Let's destroy it. Since Grandma Annie will be living nearby, it's better not to risk another incident."
Mirajane nodded without hesitation.
Even though the ice seemed indestructible now, sooner or later it would melt. If another demon crawled out then, the consequences would be dire.
Rhodes was careful. Before demolishing the altar, he inscribed a circle of defensive magic arrays around the church ruins.
Once everything was ready, he pressed his palms to the ground, channeling earth magic.
The earth roared. The floor cracked apart, the frozen surface splitting as the decrepit church collapsed in on itself.
Dark stone, still wrapped in icy layers, fell into the fissures, splashing up crimson "water flowers."
Below, molten magma churned and bubbled, sending up a nauseating stench.
The enchanted ice hissed and evaporated, releasing bursts of steam that carried soot and ash into the air.
Rhodes clapped his hands together, and the fissures erupted with a thunderous blast. Magma surged upward like a fountain, only to be confined within the church's remains by a blazing golden array that flared to life.
When the building had been reduced to ash, Rhodes pulled out the magic tome the Second Generation Master had given him. Carefully, he began tracing intricate purple runes in the air, stroke by stroke.
The Amaterasu Twenty-Eight Style array detonated with a heavy boom. The defensive circle flickered violently, straining as if it might shatter at any moment.
Mirajane gasped. "That's Second Generation's magic? You already learned it?"
"Not exactly," Rhodes admitted. "I haven't memorized the full construction yet. I tried to draw the Hundred Style, but I couldn't even hold the Twenty-Eight Style stable."
Still, Rhodes found himself liking this series of spells. Their power could be scaled from weak to overwhelming. As long as he grasped the principles, he could draw whatever level of array he needed, perfectly precise, never a drop of excess.
If he called for One Style, it had only the strength of one style. Nothing more. The rigor of its design appealed to him.
Once the magma calmed within the array, Rhodes cast a final burst of light magic.
Rhodes raised a hand and shaped the earth, creating a small mountain where the church once stood, sealing the place physically and magically.
Mirajane carefully checked several times. When she confirmed that not a trace of demonic aura lingered, only then did they return home to change clothes, after all, they had promised to visit Grandma Annie today.
But as soon as they stepped through the courtyard gate, they saw Grandma Annie setting a small bag on a handcart, looking as though she was preparing to move.
"Grandma?" Mirajane blinked in confusion. Yesterday, the old woman had invited them over warmly, so why was she leaving now? Follow current novᴇls on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
Was she frightened by the commotion from earlier?
"You are, " Grandma Annie paused mid-motion, staring as if she hadn't seen Mira the day before. "You're from the Strauss family… Mirajane?"
Rhodes and Mirajane exchanged troubled glances. Something was off.
Had her memories been tampered with by magic? Or was the Grandma Annie from yesterday someone else, using Transformation Magic?
"You've come back… About what happened back then, I'm sorry," Grandma Annie said softly. "I only heard later that you became like that because of magic. But by then, everyone had already left, and I too was preparing to go…"
Mirajane listened quietly, then asked, "Grandma, do you remember yesterday? Did anything strange happen?"
"Yesterday?" Grandma Annie tilted her head, thinking hard. "I went out to collect firewood as usual… Oh, I forgot to make dinner yesterday, but oddly I wasn't hungry when I went to bed."
Rhodes glanced around at the courtyard. The firewood pile was full and neatly stacked, the grounds tidy and well kept. She seemed to be living quite steadily.
"Do you remember me?" Rhodes asked.
The old woman squinted at him. "You are… Elfman? No… not quite. Your hair's the wrong color. Whose child are you?"
It seemed the person who dined with them yesterday had indeed been her, but now she had no memory of it.
Seeing her confusion, Mirajane gently explained, "We already met yesterday."
"But… I don't remember visiting your house at all," Grandma Annie's face paled. "Am I getting that illness? The one where you slowly forget everything? I've heard some elders suffer from it…"
"We can't say for certain," Rhodes said gently. "But don't be afraid. Even if that were true, there are healers who can treat it. I know medical experts and memory specialists."
He tried to calm her nerves, even conjuring a flash of radiant light magic.
The display eased her worries, and she seemed to trust him more.
"Why do you want to move?" Rhodes asked carefully.
"Because… there's a demon in the church."
"When did you decide to move?" he pressed.
"Of course it was, " Grandma Annie faltered, brow furrowed. "A few years ago, I thought of leaving with everyone else. But just before I went, I felt it was fine to stay. And then, just now, during the thunder, no, it sounded like a landslide… At that moment, I suddenly felt I had to move right away."
She looked lost, unable to explain why she had stayed all this time.
Rhodes's expression darkened. If her change of mind coincided with his destruction of the altar, then it was likely connected. Could this be some kind of lingering mental suggestion, like charm magic?
"Do you mind if we run a quick check?" he asked.
Grandma Annie nodded.
But in the next instant, her eyes turned blood-red. Her hands twisted into pitch-black claws, and she lunged straight for Mirajane!