Volume 1, Chapter 75 – Remedios Messed Up!?

The remnant soul belonging to the Pale Lord vanished without a trace in an instant beneath the incineration of the Sanctity of the Heart.

And precisely because of that unrestrained collision, most of the Sanctity of the Heart’s momentum had been exhausted. The Holy Light that had always been so aggressive finally settled down as well.

The abyssal magical power whose consciousness had been erased was now ownerless. It had lost its aggression, yet still retained the extraordinary magical power belonging to the Pale Lord, mingling with the magical factors of Valentine.

The war that had once left Stella suffering between fire and water finally came to an end.

Of the two utterly incompatible powers, one had suffered setback after setback while the other had fought to its heart’s content. Now, at last, they stopped trying to destroy each other. They rose, or fell, or spun, or shattered, gradually moving toward an elegant conclusion.

Golden Holy Light transformed into a dam, sealing away the pitch-black torrent.

The magical power of the abyss transformed into a deep pool, containing the overflowing Holy Light.

After everything had settled, Stella slowly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was that the Eye of the Black Mass in her hand had already turned clear and transparent. The black ember that had tried to reflect itself into her eye had vanished without a trace.

The Eye of the Black Mass now resembled nothing more than a lifeless glass bead.

Stella gave the eyeball in her hand a puzzled pat, then held it beside her ear and shook it.

“Hello?”

“Anyone there?”

“Was there some kind of voice just now?”

Dead silence.

Stella blinked, recalling what had just happened.

Hmm…

First, she’d gotten her hands on the Eye of the Black Mass. Then she’d heard someone babbling a bunch of nonsense that she hadn’t caught clearly. After that came the Holy Light going berserk again and some miserable screaming…

“Ahem… I should keep this a secret.”

Stella guiltily looked left and right.

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Then she rose onto her tiptoes and carefully put the glass bead back where it had been, even giving it a simple wipe with her sleeve while she was at it.

The soul inside was already gone anyway. If she carried a glass ball out with her now, she’d be arrested in minutes.

Putting it back was perfect. No one would know a thing. As long as she kept her mouth shut, nobody would ever know what had actually happened to the Eye of the Black Mass.

The process might have been a little convoluted and the methods a little cruel, but the result was good!

At the very least, she didn’t have to worry about turning into a giant Holy Light bulb anymore.

And besides…

Stella clenched her fist.

Had she gotten… just a tiny bit stronger?

Compared with the torment she’d suffered in the awakening pool before, Stella didn’t feel anything particularly unusual now. If there was anything slightly strange, it was probably just that her right eye felt a little itchy.

Stella couldn’t help raising a hand and rubbing it twice.

Conveniently, there was a slightly smaller full-length mercury mirror standing in a nearby corner. She walked over to it while she was at it, intending to check what was wrong with her right eye.

The moment she looked, Stella was immediately startled.

The girl in the mirror still had the crimson left eye that symbolized Valentine, but her right eye had already changed completely, seeming almost independent as it darted around on its own.

Pallor for iris, ember for pupil.

It was clearly a miniature version of the Eye of the Black Mass.

“…What’s going on?”

Stella touched her eyelashes and stared at the black prismatic crystal in the mirror.

“The Eye of the Black Mass… went into my eye?”

Stella suddenly understood.

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In other words, she’d merely wanted to find something that could suppress the Holy Light just in case, but she’d accidentally burned the Pale Lord’s remnant soul as firewood. Then, as if using the other party’s magical power to suppress her own Holy Light weren’t enough, she’d even incorporated that power into herself.

What did this count as?

Devouring someone down to the last scrap?

But that wasn’t all.

Before long, Stella noticed that something had also changed with the Sanctity of the Heart on her left hand. The magical factors of Valentine and the Eye of the Black Mass had also influenced the Sanctity of the Heart. Centered around the Sanctity of the Heart, exquisite intertwined black and crimson patterns spread across her slightly soft skin, tightening into an ever-growing pattern of sigils.

Wasn’t this way too eye-catching?

Stella felt that her current appearance looked far too evil.

Fortunately, the patterns of the Sanctity of the Heart soon gradually dimmed again. It seemed they would only appear when she mobilized either Holy Light or the power of the abyss.

Thinking this, Stella looked at her right eye again and found that it had already returned to looking exactly the same as her left.

That was good too. At least she wouldn’t attract too much attention. If Remedios really saw it, explaining things would become very difficult…

‘Right, Remedios!’

Stella remembered that her good sister was still outside keeping watch for her.

Fortunately, she hadn’t been delayed inside for very long. She’d even finished everything in less than ten minutes.

Although Remedios had confidently declared that she could hold out for a full fifteen minutes, the Lord of the Forest looked terrifying enough that it was better not to waste time and risk some unexpected trouble.

Stella straightened the hem of her skirt and walked toward the cavern entrance with a relaxed expression.

She hadn’t gone very far.

When Stella was only a dozen or so steps away from the cavern exit, she heard a terrifying sound.

It was terrifying because it was Remedios’s voice, but it wasn’t speech. It was some kind of pained groan.

Besides that, Stella also heard a wet, slippery squirming noise.

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Squish… squish…

“…Hm?”

Stella stopped walking, the relaxed expression fading from her face.

An ominous premonition instantly surged through her.

“Remedios?”

Stella tentatively called out.

There was no response.

Something had happened.

Stella immediately lifted her skirt and hurried toward the cavern entrance.

The instant she stepped out of the cavern, the scene outside made Stella’s heart leap into her throat.

The tranquil clearing in the forbidden forest had already turned into a wrecked feeding ground.

The Lord of the Forest had fully awakened.

In fact, it was even more active than before. Countless thick black demonic vines danced wildly as though celebrating. The surrounding trees had been snapped in half at the waist, while the enormous translucent slime completely blocked the path directly in front of Stella.

The scarlet flower bud had now fully bloomed, filled with an ominous red glow. High above the blossom hung an enormous tree cage woven from countless thorn-covered vines.

And trapped inside that cage…

Was Remedios.

Miss Book Demon, who had always been elegant and composed, had completely lost her usual poise.

Her uniform and robe had been torn to tatters by the thorns. Her entire body was tightly bound by vines, their sharp spikes piercing deep into her skin as they greedily sucked away her magical power.

A ghostly blue radiance of magical power visible to the naked eye flowed endlessly from her body through those vines and into the Lord of the Forest’s central flower bud, continuously increasing the Lord of the Forest’s size.

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Remedios’ face was pale as paper, her eyes tightly shut.

She had clearly fallen into a severe state of unconsciousness and could only instinctively let out muffled groans.

The top-student succubus who had confidently promised not long ago that everything was under control and claimed she could crush a magical beast with sheer intelligence had now, exactly as Stella had initially feared, actually been thrown into slime mucus and was slowly having her magical power squeezed out of her.

…Remedios had messed up.

“How could this…”

Stella stared at the scene in shock, her mind going blank for an instant.

Before she could make sense of the situation.

Squish!

The sound of the slime squirming rang out.

As though sensing the appearance of an even fresher source of magical power, the Lord of the Forest, which had been enjoying its appetizer, began moving again.

The scarlet flower bud covered in hypnotic patterns rotated ninety degrees with a series of clicks, locking onto Stella at the cavern entrance like an enormous eyeball. Countless vines waved excitedly, their whistling through the air sounding like hungry shrieks of longing. Mist-like sleep spores began spreading once again, filling the surroundings in the blink of an eye.

The Lord of the Forest had noticed new prey.

It was preparing to hang this even more delicious-looking little snack inside a tree cage as well.

Translator Note

Stella powers up! Her race is becoming more and more like a succubus xD