The Mevis Bracelet contained no power at all?

Both Leon and Rosvisser found that hard to believe.

If this divine relic were nothing more than an empty shell, then how could the portion of power belonging to the God of Wisdom—used to suppress the Void Gate—be explained?

If the wisdom god’s power were truly gone, Atos would have broken through the Void Gate long ago and returned to the Samael Continent to wreak havoc.

It would be impossible for only a single Magic Eye to remain behind, stirring trouble all this time.

The couple exchanged a glance and immediately decided to question the matter more thoroughly.

“Fanny,” Rosvisser said slowly, “my elders once borrowed the Mevis Bracelet to complete something important. That matter was so critical that, when they took the bracelet, they neither could nor were able to confirm whether it still contained power. If it truly had none, they would never have been able to accomplish what they set out to do. Afterward, they returned the bracelet to the Cold Mist Forest.”

As long as the power of the primordial gods still existed, it could suppress the Void Gate—even if the relics themselves were not gathered together.

Back then, Vida and Cecilia sought out the Mevis Bracelet largely to prevent the Void forces from seizing it first.

Even so, when they found it, it would have been impossible for them not to examine it carefully.

And if the bracelet had already been powerless at that time, the events that followed would never have proceeded so smoothly—nor would Vida and Cecilia have failed to mention it at all.

“So now,” Rosvisser continued calmly, “there are only two possibilities.”

She looked straight into Fanny’s eyes.

“First: between the time my elders returned the bracelet and the moment you took it, someone else touched it—and removed the power within.”

At that, Rosvisser deliberately paused.

She and Leon stared at Fanny in silence.

Fanny blinked, then quickly understood what they were implying.

She shook her head and said:

"Second: this bracelet is fake, and the real one is hidden somewhere. Is that it?"

Rosvisser gave a soft hum.

“Even though it would be extremely difficult to forge a perfect magic relic in such a short time, we can’t completely rule it out.”

Fanny let out a sigh.

“I couldn’t use it to bring Owen’s soul back. He’s still bound by magic-sealing chains. At this point, what reason would I have to lie to you?”

After a brief pause, as if remembering something, she added:

“If you still don’t believe me, you can bring that deep-blue slime over. It can definitely tell whether the relic is real or fake.”

“Deep blue?”

The couple froze.

“What… deep-blue slime?”

Leon frowned. “Weren’t all the slimes we encountered on the way here under your illusion magic?”

“Not all of them,” Fanny replied. “That deep-blue one isn’t affected by my illusion magic at all. It’s even… intelligent.”

Leon scratched the side of his head.

An illusion-resistant slime that was also intelligent—this was the first he had ever heard of such a thing.

“How intelligent?” he asked.

Fanny shrugged.

“It shows far more empathy than ordinary slimes. It even figured out my intentions and tried to secretly hide the bracelet ahead of time. And when I finally got the bracelet, it wouldn’t leave me alone. Since illusion magic didn’t work on it, I created dozens of identical bracelets with illusions, trying to confuse it. But somehow that still didn’t work. It could always pinpoint the real one exactly.”

She sighed again.

“In the end, I had no choice but to… use some rather rough methods to shake it off.”

After finishing, Fanny looked up at the couple.

“What? I thought you found me because that slime was guiding you. You’re telling me you never ran into it?”

Hearing her explanation, Leon and Rosvisser exchanged another look.

She didn’t seem to be lying.

After all, liars usually invent explanations that sound airtight and perfectly reasonable.

No one would fabricate a lie involving a smart slime.

“I did run into...”

“Captain! Over here! Something’s happening!”

Leon was cut off by a shout from the distance.

The three turned toward the sound.

From beyond the thick fog on the other side, more than a dozen figures came running toward them.

They had clearly been discovered.

Just as Leon and Rosvisser were wondering what was going on, Fanny immediately guessed their identity.

“Damn it. Those brats again.”

Rosvisser turned back to her.

“Brats?”

The moment she said it, Rosvisser realized exactly what Fanny meant.

“Oh. It seems you’ve already crossed paths with the children.”

The queen’s voice cooled slightly.

Fanny froze. “You’re together with them? …Just how many people did you send to catch me? I only wanted to borrow the bracelet…”

She never could have imagined that a perfectly ordinary illusion mage like herself would one day attract so many terrifying figures hunting her down.

Rosvisser frowned.

“The bracelet you borrowed is far too important. We couldn’t afford to be careless.”

As she spoke, Noa arrived with the members of the Adult Dragon Division.

They had rushed all the way here and hadn’t even had time to catch their breath, so no one had used recording crystals to coordinate in advance.

However, Claudia had already informed Noa on the way that her parents would also be coming, so she wasn’t particularly surprised to see them.

“Dad. Mom. So you already caught her.”

Without wasting time on greetings, Noa’s gaze went straight to Fanny, who was restrained by lightning shackles.

“Yes. We only just ran into her,” Leon said. “She’s called Fanny. She came here to save her husband…”

Leon briefly explained Fanny and Owen’s situation, as well as her reason for stealing the Mevis Bracelet, to the members of the Adult Dragon Division.

After listening, Noa nodded thoughtfully.

“A cult, huh. That’s unsettling enough. But the method they use to strip and guide souls—doesn’t that resemble what At...”

Before she could finish, Leon raised a hand and pressed a finger to his lips, signaling her not to reveal too much in front of outsiders.

Noa immediately understood and stopped speaking.

“Oh, no wonder you found me so quickly,” Fanny said softly. “So it’s with you.”

Her gaze shifted toward Helena.

More precisely—to the deep-blue slime cradled in Helena’s arms.

The slime stared back at her with wide eyes.

Human and slime locked gazes.

After a moment, the little creature suddenly began struggling, trying to break free.

“Hey, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ don’t move around. You’re still injured,” Helena said, trying to calm it.

But the slime was surprisingly strong, and its body was slick and gelatinous. In a moment of carelessness...

It slipped straight out of her arms.

The large blue mass rolled forward, wobbling rapidly toward Fanny.

Fanny instinctively stepped back half a pace.

“I’m just saying—could someone stop it? It definitely didn’t hear your explanations. It probably still wants revenge.”

The slime let out a series of “wum-wum-wum” sounds and leapt toward her.

But the instant its round body left the ground, Leon casually intercepted it.

“Witch Mother! Witch Mother!”

The slime curled in on itself, but no matter how it struggled, it couldn’t escape the grip of this incomprehensible two-legged beast.

Slime: “Ee!”
Leon: “=A=”

After staring at each other for several seconds, the slime finally stopped resisting and instead wiggled toward the Mevis Bracelet in Rosvisser’s hand.

“Witch Mother—Witch Mother!”

Rosvisser didn’t understand slime language, but from its gestures, it was clearly focused on the bracelet.

She stepped forward and held it out gently.

“Is this what you want?”

“Witch Mother! Witch Mother!”

Seeing how strongly the slime reacted, Fanny spoke up.

“See? I told you—it can tell whether the relic is real.”

Rosvisser turned back to Fanny.

“But even if the bracelet is genuine, there’s no power left inside it. That doesn’t only concern your husband. It also concerns—”

“Concern what?”

“—the efforts my elders have maintained for hundreds of years.”

She paused, then asked seriously:

“Fanny, think carefully. When you first obtained the bracelet, did anything about it feel different?”

“Um… dear?”

“What is it? Wait until I finish asking.”

“…All right. But if Mevis knew that his relic nearly got eaten as dessert by a slime, I wonder what kind of expression he’d make.”

Rosvisser froze, then turned her head sharply.

“What dessert—hey! You little thing, how can you eat everything!”

She had been fully focused on questioning Fanny and hadn’t noticed that she was still holding the bracelet out.

And the bracelet was now less than an inch from the slime’s mouth.

Seeing this, even Helena couldn’t help muttering:

“Uncle and Aunt really do handle things… very freely.”

Noa silently covered her face.

Rosvisser quickly yanked the bracelet back out of reach.

The queen frowned.

The slime looked devastated.

“Don’t think being cute means she won’t hit you,” Leon said, shaking the little creature in his hand. “I’ve got several just as cute as you back home.”

After reclaiming the bracelet, Rosvisser walked back to Fanny.

Fanny shook her head helplessly.

“I can’t answer your questions. No matter what actually happened, when I used the bracelet, there was absolutely no effect.”

Rosvisser’s expression grew heavy.

She lowered her gaze to the Mevis Bracelet in her hand, thought for a moment, then said:

“It’s not an issue of activation. Isn’t every magic artifact activated by injecting magic power? Is there some other method?”

On the Samael Continent, all magical tools required the user’s own magic to function.

Whether it was the tower master’s teleport crystal, or Claudia’s communication recording device.

Divine artifacts were no exception.

The Five-Core Spear and the Sacred Spear Gungnir both worked the same way.

There was no reason the Mevis Bracelet would be different.

“Either way, let’s try again,” Noa said, stepping forward. “You want to save your husband. You won’t refuse, will you?”

At this point, there was no other option.

Fanny nodded without hesitation.

“Then… please.”

With her permission, Rosvisser walked up to the restrained Owen and attempted to pour her magic into the Mevis Bracelet.

They weren’t helping solely out of kindness.

They also needed to determine once and for all whether the bracelet had truly lost all its power.

The activation process was brief.

Everyone held their breath and waited.

A few seconds later, a dim blue glow flickered in Rosvisser’s hand.

Leon’s eyes lit up.

“Oh. It actually activated.”

Fanny’s breath caught as she rushed forward.

“It—did it work?!”

The light from the Mevis Bracelet reflected across Owen’s face.

Those lifeless, stagnant eyes—like a pool of dead water—slowly began to regain their shine.

Moments later, Owen stirred as if waking from a long dream. Expression returned to his once-blank face.

“I… where am I? Fanny? And… who are you?”

“Owen!”

Leon released the lightning restraints at once so she could run to her husband.

Rosvisser, reading the moment perfectly, stepped back beside Leon.

The three of them watched Fanny and Owen embrace.

After a brief silence, Noa spoke.

“So… what exactly is going on here?”

Leon shook his head and placed a hand gently on his daughter’s shoulder.

“I don’t know. But the fact that the Void Gate hasn’t been breached again is proof that Mevis’s power still exists in this world.”

Beside him, the queen lowered her head slowly, gazing at the Mevis Bracelet in her hand.

After thinking for a long while, she murmured:

“I’m wondering… if the bracelet was never meant to store Mevis’s power at all.
If it was merely a tool Mevis used to transfer human power.
And the true God of Wisdom…
Not only never went to the Hall of Valor, as we already know.
But even now—still exists somewhere in this world, silently fulfilling his duty.”