Homunculi… What if Glasses is just as skilled fighting with homunculi as his manga counterpart? Is there one hiding somewhere nearby?
I survey the area, hoping to disprove that theory. I don’t see any especially suspicious shadows…
Or so I think, until I notice a shift in magical energy out of the corner of my eye. That’s the exact direction that would be a blind spot for Julius! I break into a run.
“Julius, move!”
I jump in front of Julius and thrust out my right hand to protect him from the ball of magic propelling toward him at earth-shattering speed. Between my fingers I glimpse what looks like a tiny person encased in magic zooming at us like a fiery bullet.
Without much of an incantation, I unleash a massive amount of magic from my hand to stop the mysterious blazing humanoid before it can attack. My magic and the living bullet clash, creating an intense burst of light that I squeeze my eyes against.
Magic pressure explodes like a bomb blast, and something squeals.
My hair is yanked back by the hot wind and I’m almost blown away, but I plant my feet and endure the pressure. The roaring winds are too loud to hear anyone.
But I’ll stave off this attack! After all, I was once one of the Four Grand Magi who could silence the crying winds!
I keep my arm out with a constant flow of magic until I sense whatever was charging us disintegrate. I stop emitting magic.
A strong wind ravages the area for a brief moment, immediately followed by absolute silence.
I slowly open my eyes, afraid of what I’ll see. The ground directly in front of me has caved in, and the forest area beyond has been scorched worse than if a forest fire had burned through.
I look down as I catch my breath. Some black lump is curled up on the sunken earth. It looks like the magic light ball that was gunning for us.
I did it! I stopped it! You’re amazing, me! That’s why you’re Elle!
I’m celebrating my success when my stretched out hand flops against my side. I drop my gaze to it and gasp.
Lacerations cover my right arm, blood is seeping everywhere like a water balloon with a hole in it, and a portion has been seared right off. Did I fail to fully block that attack? Or was I incapable of withstanding my own magic? I don’t know.
I don’t know which it was, but…
“Holy crap that hurts…,” I unconsciously mutter as tears prick at my eyes.
I mean, it hurts. Hella bad. I’m bleeding. A lot. And my skin has turned black! It hurts, it hurts so much, but if I break down crying here, it’ll ruin my super cool moment saving Julius from danger!
“Elle!!!”
I hear Julius’s panic-stricken voice behind me as I’m trying not to cry. He walks around until he’s in front of me and looks at my mutilated arm. His cool-blue eyes waver with unspeakable distress.
“E-Elle…your arm…blood…,” he stammers in a threadbare voice, looking like he’s in more pain than me. His cheeks are ashen.
Somehow, seeing someone else panicking more has helped ground me in reality and fight back the pain-induced tears.
“I-It doesn’t hurt that bad! I’m just glad you’re okay, Julius!” I bluff and manage to hold my head high.
It really doesn’t…hurt at all. This little injury will heal with the DemiOracle’s elixir. Oh, right, I used it up when I was persuading Laurent’s village to join us. Julius said he doesn’t have any potions, either…
Wait, will my arm hurt like it’s burning in hell forever? I’ll never be able to use it again? Tears sting the back of my eyes again.
It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t hurt. I won’t cry. It doesn’t hurt. I’m an adult. Adults don’t cry…!
Except repeating that desperate litany in my head does not make it true.
Julius lifts his worry-darkened eyes from my arm to my face, his expression grim. “You’re just glad that I’m okay? There is not a single damn thing to be glad about when you’re hurt this bad!”
Julius’s furious shout stops my tears from falling.
He seems pissed for some reason! I’m too shocked for words. He grabs me by the shoulders. His tortured face is only inches from mine.
“Why don’t you ever listen to me?! You let those suspicious spies pretending to be saints escape and even threw yourself into danger to protect me! You’re their target, Elle!” he thunders.
“Y-You say I don’t listen, but I know that Aela…that Saint Aela isn’t a bad person. And don’t pretend like you weren’t starting to like her and Prince Guido, too! Plus, if I didn’t make a move just now, you would’ve been in worse danger than me, Julius!”
“I don’t matter!”
“O-Of course you matter! You could’ve died if I didn’t do something!” My words come out shrill and deafening because I can’t believe what he just said.
There’s no one who doesn’t matter! Julius would’ve gotten seriously injured if I let things be and that magic bullet hit him when his guard was down. It might’ve even taken his life…!
Imagining a world without Julius makes me feel like I’ve taken a knife to the chest.
I don’t want a world without him! I’d gladly offer up one or two arms in return for keeping him alive and well. Besides, this is a world of magic. We can figure out a way to heal my arm…probably.
“You fool! Why must you do such senseless things? Enough! Just sit by and let me protect you, Elle! All you have to do is listen to me! Then you will be safe! Why don’t you understand that?!”
Huh? Just sit by and let him protect me? All I have to do is listen to him? What the heck! Putting it like that is the same as saying he doesn’t need me to worry or look after him. Like my efforts are unwanted!
“What the heck! I’m not just some damsel in distress waiting around for you to save me! Being protected by you and doing whatever you say…makes me the same person I was when I foolishly entrusted everything to the Demon Lord. I’m not who I was in Analia. I am not a puppet who rejoices when someone else pulls my strings!” I lay into him with unbridled annoyance.
Julius goes wide-eyed and those pools of blue waver like a storm is brewing within. This is the first time I’ve seen him this flustered; I’m so surprised I forget my anger. And then he’s suddenly leaning on me!
Er, uh, why is he hugging me now of all times?! Also, my arm is killing me!
I think he’s doing it until all his body weight crashes down on me and I’m crushed underneath him.
This isn’t a hug. Julius lost consciousness?!
I roll him off me with my one working hand and examine his face.
Is he sleeping? He’s breathing, but his eyes are closed and he’s unresponsive. What in the world happened?
“Ufufu! I did it! I can’t believe Mesmerize worked on Julius!” Sereniel cheers even though she was supposed to have been smushed against the ground by Julius’s gravity spell.
I look in Sereniel’s direction just as she rises to her feet, then back at Julius—his eyes are still closed and he isn’t moving.
Mesmerize? Julius was mesmerized?
I’m pretty sure Mesmerize is the spell Sereniel casts on manga Laurent. It forces the victim to sleep and shows them illusions. Losing to the illusion while asleep will turn the victim into a living puppet who obeys Sereniel.
How did Julius fall for it? Mesmerize is another mental spell that takes advantage of a person’s emotional instabilities. It’s the type of spell that rarely works on a sorcerer of Julius’s caliber. I mean, he’s the strongest Grand Magi and a confident man. Mesmerize shouldn’t have any effect on a stable mind!
When Julius went unconscious, it lifted the gravitational spell he had restraining our enemies, and now they’re all standing up.
“I never thought I’d live to see the day Julius would fall to Mesmerize! Ufufu! Lucky me. Perhaps I should thank you for arguing with him. You created a crack in his mental defenses. Thank you, Elle.” Sereniel winks at me.
Next to her, Regulus is rubbing his lower back. Clark is checking out the forest I obliterated and whistling an amused tune.
“You’ve been away from home long enough. Time to go back, Elle. I’ll apologize to the Demon Lord with you and have you reappointed as one of the Four Grand Magi.” Sereniel smiles like she’s won the day.