Re; A Hero’s New Life in a New World!

Chapter 18 — “Crush”

“Aisha! You’re awake!”

Justice kicked Vetto in the abdomen, pushing both of them away from each other. He extended his hand towards the beast-man and unleashed a furious blast of Fire Magic. Justice ran over to Aisha and Ulysse and kneeled down.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, somehow.”

“Thank goodness. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Hearing that comment, Aisha’s cheeks reddened. “H-huh?! D-don’t say weird stuff like that!”

“Weird?”

Vetto then tore through the flames surrounding him. “You’re gonna have to try harder than mere flames to stop me,” he said. He raised an arm up. Orange aura began to wrap around it… he used a Beast Magic spell again, [Bear Claw]. The aura surrounded his arm and made it resemble a bear’s claw.

A thin blast of wind flew through Vetto’s arm, with immense speed. Although his arm was not wounded, the orange aura surrounding it was destroyed by the wind. A Magical Circle appeared under him. A tornado was created by that circle and enveloped Vetto’s entire body.

“…[Wind Magic]: Towering Tornado,” a girl said, as she walked forward, a brown wand in her hand. “It’s a great spell, however, it drains too much Mana.” The girl continued to walk forward, passing the tornado. Her pink hair danced along with the wind.

“Ram! Where were you?”

“I was wandering around the village. As soon as I bought this new wand from a villager, a few robed men tried attacking me. Right now, they’re all unconscious and their Magic has been sealed with Wind Restraining Magic.”

“Ah, that’s good to hear.”

“Where are Rem, Roswaal-sama, Emilia-sama, and Barusu? And who is this man?”

Ram pointed at Ulysse, who was holding onto Aisha.

“I don’t know,” Aisha said. “But they did say that they were going to the Demon God’s skeleton, so I assume they’d be there. As for Roswaal and Emilia, I don’t know.”

“And I’m—” Ulysse tried to say before he was interrupted.

“I’m heading to that area, right now!” Ram interjected.

“—You aren’t going anywhere.”

The tornado covering Vetto dissipated. He had no visible injuries on his muscular body. He extended both of his arms to his sides. “[Beast Magic]…” he said. “Bear Claw,” orange aura surrounded his arms and formed the shape of a bear’s claws. Ram stood up straight and faced him. A gust of wind now surrounding her.

“I guess I’ll have to get serious, then.”

Justice looked at Aisha.

“Look, Aisha, I know you’re powerful, especially with all that pent-up Mana of yours, but if you can’t control it, you need to retreat. We’ll definitely end up having a lot of casualties, because this guy’s no joke, with your strong power, we can’t have you become one of those casualties.”

“—But!”

“No buts! I don’t want to go through that pain of thinking you were dead, again.”

She was confused because of that statement. No man, not even her father, had cared for her this much. Justice stood up and began to walk towards Vetto. Aisha only stared at him.

“Since when were this guy’s shoulders so broad…?” She thought to herself. “A man that values me for my power… and not for my body or beauty…” she continued to think. “Oh… that’s it… I’ve fallen for him, huh?”

“Rem… before we even do anything…”

“Yes, Subaru-kun?”

“We need to… find out who the hell this guy even is! Seriously! Who the hell do you think you are?! Just going and attacking us without any caution like that! You, sir, should be ashamed of yourself.”

“I am Alecdora Sandora. I will not be ashamed of attacking the children of Lugnica who are invading our lands. You all shall be killed for what happened back then!”

Alecdora swiftly extended his hand at Subaru and shot a large glob of beige-colored Magic. “Subaru-kun!” Rem yelled out. She maneuvered her flail to grab Subaru by the waist and, basically, threw him over to a different spot. The small area of land that the glob of Magic hit was decimated.

“Oh crap, thanks, Rem!”

“Anything for you, Subaru-kun!”

Subaru extended his arms to his sides. His grimoire flew out of the sack he kept it in and floated right in front of Subaru. It opened and began to flip through many pages until eventually stopping. He pulled a black broadsword out of a book and held it.

“You don’t stand a chance, green hair!”

“…That grimoire… why do you have it…?”

“Huh? Oh, it just came to me, one day, when I was getting beaten up by this one dude. After I got it, I kicked that dude’s ass!”

The area around Subaru and Rem became heavier. Alecdora landed on the ground, his grimoire floating next to him, his eyes, not able to be seen.

“…Arrogant. How very arrogant of you. I cannot sense any Mana from you, yet you still act this way…?”

“Uh…”

“That attitude of yours is the very meaning of arrogance!”

Alecdora exclaimed in anger. There was an explosion of dust on the ground and the area around the two was getting even more intense. A large sentry-like golem was starting to appear behind him, as he screamed.

“[Water Magic]: Mizu Kanbaku!”

Rem created and launched a serpent-shaped water thread towards the giant dust-guard behind Alecdora, to try and combat it. The guard used one of its arms to hit the serpent, destroying it. Rem extended her hand forward. “[Brine]!” She shot a powerful stream of magical water in a diagonal fashion to hit the guard.

While the spell did hit, it did not do any visible damage to the guard. Raised its arm and transformed it into an ax, to attack the two.

“Uh, Rem?!”

“Tch, [Huma] won’t hold. I guess I’ll have to use that spell.”

Rem crouched and placed both of her hands on the ground. “[Water Magic],” she said. “[Kairyu no Su]!” A dome of water, which composed of multiple whirlpools was created, shielding Subaru and Rem. The guard’s attack hit the dome, hurting it, rather than the magic barrier.

“Woah! That’s cool!”

“Right? Roswaal-sama taught me most of my spells.”

The two cheered as the guard was destroyed. They immediately looked up and saw Alecdora flying over the dome. He spread his hands to his side.

“[Sand Magic]: Crushing Sand Clod!”

A large block of sand was dropped onto the dome of water. It wasn’t destroyed by the whirlpools like how the guard was, though. In fact, it was actually harming the dome. The large block of sand was actually absorbing all of the water. If Rem let the barrier go, then they’d be crushed by the sand block, but if she kept it up, she’d be losing a lot of mana, while the sand would continue to absorb the water until there was nothing left.

“Rem, release the barrier. I’ll use this sword to cut through it.”

“I trust you, Subaru-kun!”

The dome of water disappeared, causing the large block of magical sand to descend. Subaru took one step forward and swung the sword as hard as he could. He sliced through the sand, and, due to the sword’s Anti-Magic properties, it made the sand completely disappear.

Using this opportunity, Rem swung her flail at Alecdora. The spiked ball missed Alecdora’s head by a few inches, as he tilted his head.

“[Sand Magic]: Sandbox.”

Magical sand rose up from the ground and surrounded the two. The sand then formed into a cube and contained Subaru and Rem inside it. Subaru hit the Sandbox from the inside of it, causing it to dissipate.

“Tch. Give me the grimoire.”

“No way! I’m not just going to give away my grimoire to some random dude who just appeared and tried to kill us!”

“That grimoire is not yours, nor is it any other human’s.”

“What? If it’s not any human’s, then why do you want it? Are you giving it to a friend?”

“You fool, don’t you dare act as if I am a human. I am an Elf, one who is loved by Mana, unlike you. I am appart of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, we are all loved by Mana, give me that grimoire. It belongs to us!”

Subaru looked dumbfounded by what Alecdora said.

“Your ears aren’t even pointed, like how an Elf’s would be. At least try to come up with a better lie.”

“No, Subaru-kun. He is speaking the truth. His Mana patterns state that he is no human, but rather, an Elf.”

“In that case, could you tell us more about ‘The Eye of the Midnight Sun’?”

“We are beings who are loved by Mana, working together to find Magic Stones. Now, hand over the grimoire.”

“What are you using the stones for?”

“Nothing. Just hand over the grimoire, now.”

“Fine.”

“Subaru-kun?”

Subaru put the blade back into the grimoire and closed the book. He held it in his hands and began to walk towards Alecdora, who was on guard. Suddenly, the grimoire began to fly on its own. It flew towards the Sand-Magic user at high speed, eventually hitting his face, hurting him, and knocking him off balance.

Using that timing, Subaru used his sword to hit Alecdora.

“Now, Rem!”

“Yes, Subaru-kun! [Water Magic]: Mizu Kanbaku!”

Rem created a sea serpent out of Water Magic. The serpent latched onto Alecdora and dragged him to the sky. Immediately, the serpent began to descend to the ground with the man in its mouth. Both Alecdora and the serpent crashed onto the ground. Alecdora was knocked out cold, the serpent latching onto his body, tieing him.

“That was somehow easier than I thought it’d be.”

“Yeah.”

“What do we do now?”

“Let’s head back to the village. I can sense dangerous Mana coming from there and I’m worried about everyone.”

“Okay, but what do we do about this guy?” Subaru asked while pointing at Alecdora.

“Let’s leave him here. I used a Water Restraining Magic spell. His Magic will be sealed until I, or someone else, undo it. We’d probably have met up with everyone the time someone undoes my spell.”

“Ah, right! Let’s go, then!”

Vetto dashed towards Ram at great speeds. “[Fura],” Ram said, causing a small gust of wind to push her up into the air, making Vetto miss his attack. She spread her arms and said: “[Wind Magic]: Fujin no Murasame!” She manifested a dozen swords solely composed of solid wind.

The swords launched themselves at Vetto, who fought back with his Beast Magic. “[Wind Magic]: Piercing Needle!” Ram created a miniature vortex of wind and elongated the vortex to create a needle-shaped spear. The needle shot itself at Vetto, who was too busy fighting the wind-swords to dodge.

The needle pierced through Vetto’s shoulder. Justice ran up to Vetto. He sliced his sword up. Vetto dodged the attack but wasn’t able to dodge the fire that emerged from the sword explosively, leaving him with a minor injury. Ram landed on the ground with elegance. She fired another blast of wind from her wand, which Vetto tore through, using his Magic, only to be bombarded with explosions of fire from Justice’s blade.

The beast-man knocked away Justice with a [Bear Claw] and did the same to Ram, practically knocking the two out. Vetto turned to face Aisha and Ulysse and began to walk toward them.

“Now then, it seems that you two are my next prey. Though, I’m not allowed to kill you,” he said, pointing at Ulysse. “You, on the other hand,” he said to Aisha. “I am allowed to kill you. It doesn’t seem that you are native to this Demonic Kingdom, though. So, I could spare you,” he said. “But, I’ll only do so, if you hand over that jewel on your ribbon.”

“If you abandon them,” Vetto said to her. “You’ll survive.”

Aisha just stared at him, in fear. She slowly began to reach for the jewel, to give it to him. —Suddenly, a thin blast of magic wind flew past Vetto’s cheek, cutting it. He used healing magic to easily stitch it back up. Turning around, he saw Ram laying on the ground, one hand up, holding a brown wand. Moments later, her hand fell down, and she lost full consciousness.

“Heh, using up the last bit of Mana left in your body to save your ‘friend,’ huh? Ya’ could’ve expended that Mana for something better, like maybe using it to try and escape.”

The purple-haired girl grabbed her jewel. “No,” she said.

“Huh?”

“No,” she repeated. “You can’t have it.” With her other hand, she summoned her staff and pointed it at Vetto, to intimidate him.

“So you are just a maggot, like the rest of them. Even when given a chance, that’s what you choose? To not live?”

Before she could even respond to him, he raised his arm up and surrounded it with Orange Aura. “Then, take this! The despair called death!”

Slashing his arm downwards, he hit a hard surface. Protecting Aisha was Subaru, who had blocked the hit with his sword.

“…An Anti-Magic sword?”

Rem shot the spiked ball of her flail at Vetto, who swiftly dodged the attack. Her attack was followed by Subaru, who tried attacking Vetto by swinging the sword around. The two continued to attack him. Vetto would use his magic to deflect or parry Rem’s attacks, while dodging Subaru’s Anti-Magic sword attacks.

“Boring. Slow moves, weak attacks. …Though, I suppose I shouldn’t expect more from Magic-less trash and scum from the sticks.”

“…You sure talk a lot, you hairy gorilla!” Subaru countered. He and a now enraged Rem dashed forward, towards Vetto. “We’ll show you what happens when trash and scum get serious!”

Subaru released a barrage of swing attacks, while Rem used her flail to attack, as well as use it to cover Subaru. Vetto tried his best to defend himself from both of their attacks, but eventually was overpowered by their strikes.

“We can do this!”

Subaru dashed forward once more, preparing to strike Vetto once again, with his weapon. “[Cheetah Charge]!” Vetto said. He increased his speed to dodge his attack. Immediately after dodging, he rewarded Subaru with a punch to the face, sending him flying away.

“Subaru-kun!”

Without thinking strategically, Rem used her flail and shot the spiked ball at Vetto—who easily caught it. He pulled it away from Rem, who wasn’t able to resist.

“…Did you get your hopes up? Childish attacks like those will not work on me.”

Subaru slowly got up, one eye closed, blood slowly pouring from his mouth and forehead.

“Magic-less trash… prancing around with a weapon too good for him… You don’t have a shred of hope.”

He charged towards Subaru, making it look like he simply teleported. He created orange giant spider-like limbs with his Beast Magic. He unleashed a flurry of attacks at Subaru, whom used his sword to block some of the attacks. Just as the fast attacks stopped, Subaru prepared to swing at Vetto with the sword.

Vetto swiftly hit Subaru’s arm, breaking it. “You don’t know when to quit,” he commented. He grabbed Subaru’s other arm and held him. Vetto pulled Subaru closer “Boy… do you really believe that continually trying something will make it work out, in the end?”

No response.

“The idea of trash like you holding the Demon-Dweller Sword and using the Anti-Magic grimoire makes me sick! You never had any chances of winning!”

He began to crush Subaru’s arm. “Go on…” he said. “Scream! Despair!” Subaru felt an immense amount of pain. He began to scream. Vetto laughed at this, as if he was gaining some sort of sadistic pleasure. A giant sphere of water suddenly hit Vetto’s arm.

“…Let him go,” Rem demanded, a white horn appearing, on her head.

“You think you can stop me with words?”

Rem saw her sister laying on the ground, unconscious. She noticed Justice, as well. On top of everything, Vetto was still torturing Subaru, with his hand. Suddenly, Vetto got chills. Rem stared at him, with cold eyes. Her hand was extended forward, magic water being drawn to it.

She remembered what Subaru told her.

❝No matter how dull the topic is, let’s talk about tomorrow because there is a tomorrow. How about it?❞

A surge of anger burst in her body. She was oozing out demonic dark-blue aura.

“Let Subaru-kun go!!”

“I knew it,” Vetto said. “He’s your ‘host,’ huh?” He released Subaru and powered up both of his arms with [Bear Claw]. “But, very well. Have at me, use all your strength! I’ll force you and that sinful Mana to your knees!”

“I’ll take you down, whether you ask me to or not! [Water Magic]: Kairyu no Hoko!”

Rem manifested the head of a sea dragon with sharp teeth and fired it at Vetto.

Vetto used [Bear Claw] to defend himself from the raging Water Dragon. Just before the Dragon was about to attack Vetto, the latter punched the former in the mouth, in order to defend himself. At first, it seemed that they were equal in strength, but Rem’s spell proved to be stronger.

The raging Sea Dragon ripped off Vetto’s muscular arm and flew away. Vetto stood there in pain, while Rem, Aisha, and, Ulysse, all stood there in shock. “W—what power…” Aisha commented, in her mind. Due to this incident, Vetto suddenly began to remember all that had happened.

He remembered that he was lying down in pain, as he had just lost a fight. A man with white hair, that were placed in braids, extended his hand towards the beast-man who lost the battle against him. That man—he was Patolli. The same man who was able to hold off Reinhard, back at the Loot House. “It is the people of the Kingdom of Lugnica who should suffer,” he said. “Not you. Remember… Your true self…”

Hearing this brought up a suppressed memory to Vetto. “Please,” a young blonde-haired man said. “Take good care of my little sister.”

He then remembered being at a wedding. It was a special one. Despite everything, this was the memory he had always remembered. It was the wedding ceremony between a Human… and an Elf—Patolli. There was one Human at the ceremony, who was Patolli’s soon-to-be-wife, the rest of them were elves. Everything seemed to be cheerful and everyone was happy. In the blink of an eye, that happiness disappeared.

The elves were all dead. So was the one Human. They were being attacked by magic. The last thing Vetto could remember clearly… was Patolli kneeling down, with his now-deceased wife in his arms.

“I’ll… I’ll kill them all!“

A third eye grew on Vetto’s forehead. “Impressive…” he enigmatically commented. “You drew me out!”

Aisha, Ulysse, and Rem, all widened their eyes.

“What… what’s with that eye…?!” Aisha terrifyingly asked, in her mind. “I’ve never felt such eerie magic ooze out like this, before..!“

“[Demon Beast Magic]: ❑▇◩◩▒▅❑❐.”

A magical circle appeared next to Vetto. Due to this, Vetto began to heal. He regrew the arm that was ripped off, in a matter of seconds. He pulled out a monster cell given to him by Nyan, which now looked like a dried fruit.

“Can’t believe I actually wanted to use this thing.”

He then threw it on the ground.

“What?! Aside from Divine Magic… there isn’t any form of Magic that allows you to regrow a limb!” Ulysse worriedly stated. Vetto smiled and extended his arm. “Alright,” he said. “It’s payback time. Vanish!”

“[Demon Beast Magic]: ⊠∎⊡☗▬⊞▒▀⊡.”

The head of a giant ram manifested from Vetto’s orange aura. It fired a deadly white beam of Mana at Rem. The last spell she used ended up draining her Mana too much. “S—Subaru-kun,” she whispered to herself, in despair. The attack completely wiped out Rem and the whole area she was standing at. It was a few meters away from Aisha.

“She’s… gone,” Aisha said in disbelief.

“Eh?” Rem lifted her hands from her eyes and realized that she was still alive. Though, she was in a different area. Close to the house where Orsi was sent flying towards.

“Wait, what?” Aisha didn’t understand what had happened, neither did Rem. Vetto also seemed to have been confused as to how Rem survived the attack and how she was able to travel to a different area so fast. “What happened?” Rem asked.

“That was my doing,” Ulysse answered, lifting up a finger. “Although I can’t exactly use teleportation Magic, I can temper with displacement Magic. But, I guess it looks like it’s my turn to fight.” The grimm-turned human began to walk towards the man-beast. He stopped walking once he was in front of him. He got into a fighting stance.

“Don’t get too full of yourself just because I have no intention of killing you,” Vetto told him. “Just because you’re about to waste my time more, I’m going to have to charge you some lives.”

“[Demon Beast Magic]: ◩∎▌⊠∎◪⊞▒░⊟◩.”

Vetto created a shell of dark orange aura, with spikes protruding out, resembling a porcupine. The shell fired several arrows which aimed for everyone that was unconscious. Those people being Justice, Subaru, Ram, and Orsi. “Know your limits,” Vetto commented.

“I-I can’t move four people at a time!” Ulysse stated, panicking.

Before the arrows could hit any of the people, water-like whips swiftly grabbed them and pulled them out of the range of the attack. The unconscious people were placed on the ground lightly, together. Vetto turned in confusion, only to be hit by an enlargened fist made out of water. He was knocked back. Sister Lily and Emilia had arrived at the scene.

“Decent Magic… perhaps that’s what they call a noble… Are you next? You must entertain me!”

Lily opened her blue grimoire. “—[Water Magic]: Holy Fist of Love!” She swung her fist forward at Vetto, creating an enlarged version of the fist composed entirely of water, which had a large cross in it. Her target dodged the blow. She created more fists and began to attack, once again. Emilia noticed who the unconscious people were.

“Ram… Justice… and even the father… this man clearly isn’t someone we can underestimate. Aisha and Rem seem to be wounded heavily, as well. I wonder where the other three are…!”

Then, she noticed Subaru. There was blood all over his face and clothes.

“Subaru!” She immediately kneeled down began to heal him, as he was clearly the most wounded of all. With Sister Lily taking care of the offense, Emilia didn’t have to worry about the beast-man attacking her while she was vulnerable. “Keh,” he laughed. “Looks like not all people of the village are total pushovers.” Lily continued to attack him with her spells.

“Why are you attacking us? There’s no need for any of this!” she preached. “Like you, we all have our dreams and bonds, that we wish to go on! We have people we love. Living in a village that’s separated from others is hard to live in, but we’re managing to live as best as we can!”

Emilia, Rem, Ulysse, and, Aisha, all listened to her. They could tell that she meant everything. “Please,” she continued, her eyes beginning to water. “There is no need for any of this to occur!” No response from him.

“There is no need for any of this to occur,” he repeated quietly. “So what?” he asked. He destroyed the cross that was in the fist she used to attack him with, causing the spell to dissolve. “Dreams? Bonds?! People like you…” Vetto charged at Lily. “Shouldn’t even talk about such things!”

“Sist—”

Before Rem could even finish saying her name, Vetto struck the sister with a strong punch. Snakes made out of water launched themselves at Vetto, who easily destroyed all of them with punches. “We’re the only ones who truly have dreams and bonds… The ones you broke. Our golden dreams and our bond of blood.”

“…What is he saying?” Aisha questioned. Vetto picked up Lily by her hair and held her that way. “You know what? After killing you all, I’ll destroy all buildings and the crops you were harvesting. Well, weakling? Did you get a good taste of despair?!” She simply glared at him, as a response.

“In that case, how about I rip off your limbs, one by one?”

An icicle hit Vetto’s arm. He looked over to Emilia, who had her hands extended forward and possessed a disgusted expression. “First, I lose everyone I loved in the forest, now, I’m about to lose everyone I love here? I won’t accept that.”

The beast-elf threw Sister Lily onto the ground and turned to face Emilia. He looked at her ears. “Half-Elf, eh…? Sad to say, but even if you are Half-Elf, I’m still going to have to kill you. You’re probably Half-Human. Prepare to die now.” He enhanced his arms with Magic. She fired a barrage of icicles his way, which he easily managed to dodge. Once he got in close, he struck.

Emilia dodged Vetto’s attack, by dodging backward. She created an ice sword and thrust it forward, which her opponent dodged. As a counter-attack, he grabbed her head. She created another sword and thrust it into his abdomen, making him kneel down and release his grip. “Puck, now!”

With that signal, Puck appeared instantly and fired a giant ice flower at Vetto. He was able to activate [Rhinoceros Armor] before the attack hit, though. He stood up, his wounds now healed. “The Great Spirit of Ice is here, as well? More despair is always better than no despair.”

“I agree,” Puck stated, creating icicles around him and his target. “It would make my day to see the look of despair on your hairy face!” Puck and Emilia shot more rounds of icicles. “[Ice Magic]:” Emilia spread her arms. “Frost Aura!” A wave of freezing cold visible aura expanded from Emilia’s body. The temperature plummeted upon exposure to the intense cold, and the very air seemed to groan.

Vetto was able to dismiss the wave with one slash. Puck shot more icicles at the beast, who jumped up into the air to dodge. Puck raised one of his hands. “Ice Pillar!” Two massive pillars of ice erupted from the ground to attack Vetto. He moved his head to dodge the sharp tips.

He landed and slashed his hand—buffed with [Bear Claw]—horizontally, destroying the pillars. “Bakus Saikanetsu!” Puck motioned his arms as if he was throwing something. A few seconds later, explosions occurred around Vetto. He successfully managed to dodge the attack.

“[Demon Beast Magic]: ▄⊠∎▉▒▪⊞⊟▋▅.”

A whip made out of orange aura enveloped Vetto’s hand. He used it to attack Emilia and Puck. Aisha who was still sitting on the ground watched their battle, frustrated. She knew she could escape at any time, but didn’t. She was mad because she wanted to be able to protect herself. She wanted to prove her own strength.

“…Aisha?”

She heard a female’s voice. When she looked up, she saw someone very familiar. She didn’t see Emilia, Ram, Rem, Sister Lily, or any of the female children of Hage Village. She had long black hair and calming gold eyes. She brushed her black hair aside and extended her arm to Aisha.

“Why are you sad?”

That woman… she was Aisha’s servant. “…Ara.” She was Aisha’s best friend and a maternal figure for her.

“Did his majesty do something again?”

That single question made Aisha mad. Not at Ara, but… her father. Ever since she was a young child, he had abused her. Ara and the other servants knew about this, but couldn’t do anything, since he was the King.

“I’ll do my best to help you escape from this place! But, as compensation, I would like you to do your best as well!”

Those words echoed in Aisha’s ears.

She stood up swiftly. She held her staff and her body was covered with a strong and bright purple aura. Not only that, but she was letting her immense mana reserves out, causing massive pressure on everyone in the area. Emilia, Puck, Ulysse, Rem, and even Vetto, all turned to the purple-haired girl.

“This mana… are you a royal?” Vetto asked.

“So what if I am?”

“Perfect!” Puck interjected. “You can fight; that’s good. Lia and I need some support, do you think you could handle that?”

Moments of silence went by, until… “—I can’t,” she stated, hesitantly. Puck didn’t seem too shocked at this. “So you can’t control your Magic, huh?”

Aisha was surprised. “I never said that!—” Emilia and Rem were both shocked by that statement, as both of them have seen Aisha use a strong magic spell without fail.

“You never said it, but you thought it.”

“But we saw you attack Raven with a high-tier spell, back at the mansion,” Rem interjected.

“I… I can use spells, but I can’t control them,” Aisha responded. “Even if Raven didn’t dodge, my attack would’ve missed her anyway.”

“I’m going to be judged again…” Aisha melancholically thought to herself.

“What do you mean?” Puck asked. “Why would we judge you about this? You should have just told us about this and we would’ve helped you.”

“That mind-reading ability is kinda creepy…” Ulysse thought. Puck pointed at the Grimm, in surprise. “Oh! I think I recognize you! You always wandered here back when I was uncontracted. Well, Pup—do you finally see the world for what it is?”

“I’m not a—” before he could respond, Puck fired icicles, prompting him to dodge instead of talk.

“Stop spouting that nonsense, you foolish mutt!” the cat exclaimed. “Face the truth. You’re not a dog, as such—not anymore—but nor are you a human! I’ve seen days of you moping at your mistress’ grave, day after day, with eyes for nothing else. —But, you have a responsibility now. It’s your job to chase grave-robbers straight from here to the nether realm.”

“How long do you plan on ignoring reality and wait for the dead to return?!”

Those words stuck in Ulysse’s head.

“You’ve had more than enough time to mourn! Now quit your sniveling…” Puck exhaled an icy breath at him. “And return to the form you were given to do your job—Church Grimm!” The icy breath enveloped Ulysse’s body and began to revert him back to his original form, a black dog.

Author’s Comments

Hello everyone! Yes, I am finally back. I completely forgot about this, so when I got an email from WordPress, I remembered about this and went “Oh yeahhhhh.” Nevertheless, I’ve finally released a new chapter. You probably shouldn’t expect frequent weekly releases like in the past, but, I’m not finished with the story yet, so you should still expect new chapters coming out whenever.

Initially, this chapter was planned to be longer, but upon re-reading this draft that hadn’t been opened for a few months, I just decided to release it, since it’s complete for the most part, and I didn’t want to make a chapter with over 6k words just yet.

Anyway, that’s all! See you all next time and Happy New Years!