After the situation was resolved, the Zodiacs and the Imperial Knights conducted a thorough investigation of the surroundings before returning.
As the Zodiacs left, each of them greeted me. Their gazes towards me had definitely changed compared to when we first met.
Among them, the ones who changed the most were Lily and Monty.
“Frondier, let's have tea together sometime? Or maybe even some drinks!”
“Come to my mansion anytime. I'll give you valuable skills and strength that you can't even learn at Constel!”
They said their goodbyes with those words.
It's probably just a polite gesture. But it's still nice to be treated favorably.
Afterwards, I used the portal to send the Metamorph, who had been inside the workshop, to Roach's cottage.
Fortunately, it followed obediently, so there was no problem putting it back into the workshop from the cottage.
Why did the demons want to separate me and the Metamorph? What was the ‘mistake’ they made?
I was curious about those things, but there was something I had to do first.
“Without the Dragon Heart, Bartello will remain weakened, right?”
The Dragon Heart, originally enshrined within the Imperial Palace, was supposed to be used to restore the Emperor's vitality. Of course, I only found out about that recently.
But the Dragon Heart was used for a demonic contract, a gate, and Satan's appearance, so its mana was depleted. More importantly, I ended up destroying it.
Since I was the one who destroyed the Dragon Heart, I have some responsibility. That's why I'm here, contemplating Bartello's recovery─
“……No, that's not right.”
─That's actually an excuse. There's something I want to try.
“If this works, it'll be helpful for you too, right?”
I said, looking at the Metamorph.
The Metamorph was no longer Azier, Pascal, or anyone else. It had become something that didn't resemble anyone and was just sitting on the floor.
Actually, I don't even know if it's sitting or not. It had completely lost its form and become a semi-spherical blob, just squirming around occasionally.
...Simply put, it looked exactly like a ‘slime’ from other games.
“Maybe that's your true form?”
The slime-like Metamorph hasn't said anything since earlier. It seems to have stopped talking after it stopped mimicking. Or maybe it can't speak unless it's in human form.
This isn't what I need to do right now.
I manipulated my bracer and scattered the Obsidian.
The Obsidian scattered and formed a certain shape. The image of Satan, the Dragon Heart, and the open gate.
It was a perfect reproduction of my memory at that time.
“……Right, the Dragon Heart definitely ran out of mana.”
I muttered as I looked at the scene recreated by the Obsidian.
From the demonic contract to Satan's appearance. It's hard to believe that the Dragon Heart's mana alone could have accomplished all of that, given its limited capacity.
Then how did the Dragon Heart manage to endure?
When I had that question, I discovered the unusual mana within the Dragon Heart.
‘The Dragon Heart was the medium for the demonic contract.’
In other words, the Dragon Heart was probably the only object in this world that demons could directly interact with.
Then, the reason the Dragon Heart could endure must be because its mana was replenished before it was completely depleted.
And that other source of mana is, needless to say, Satan.
To maintain the gate and utilize its power, Satan sustained the Dragon Heart.
That means, in other words...
“I could do it too, right?”
I obtained the mana of Helheim and gained access to a much richer and more potent mana than others.
Of course, it may not compare to Satan's, but according to Azier, my mana was comparable to that of the demon ‘Mizonas’.
Although that was just Azier's speculation, since I never showed him all of my mana.
I wove a Dragon Heart in front of me.
Until now, I had used the Dragon Heart as a form of doping.
Since the Dragon Heart is created with my mana, consuming it would increase my mana while requiring me to compensate for the deficit with something else. So far, Fabric of Penelope had served that purpose.
But this time, I'm reversing the process.
Instead of consuming the Dragon Heart and then replenishing my mana,
I will fill the empty mana capacity of the Dragon Heart with my own mana.
“The Dragon Heart was a ‘mana crystal’.”
Everything I've created so far has been nothing but a fake.
But when it comes to the Dragon Heart, I might be able to create the ‘real thing’.