Thanks to the magic stone absorbing the surrounding mana and converting it into magic power, the heat of the magma and lava had been somewhat reduced, and the eruption seemed to have been small-scale. It was good the damage was kept to a minimum. I’d felt terrible, though, when I’d heard residents and beasts from the surrounding area, including our neighbors, had fled from the mandrake captain’s solo rock festival. My sacred beasts had caused quite a disturbance.
Naturally, the only audience for the rock show were the captain’s wives and Dia. I hadn’t joined them because I’d been back at my log cabin, letting my imagination explode onto paper. In all the excitement of her first rock festival, Dia had apparently started glowing, igniting things, and had even summoned a hailstorm. I wondered if the surrounding area was okay?
“Ooh yeah, ooh yeah, mortis, mortis!” Hah! The captain slowly called for backup with that wonderfully hard-boiled voice!
“M-O-R-T-I-S!!!” I responded with the others, our voices rising with the captain’s enthusiasm.
“Wh-What...is that...?”
The captain wildly flailed his dreadlocked branches, headbanging furiously! The sound drowned out the pope’s voice entirely, so we could just ignore him, right?!
“Yeah! Hell is burning hot, baby!”
“Baby!”
The pope writhed, spewed, and delivered a retort, but it was overshadowed by the captain’s intensity! Anyway, it was a spell from that other world, so even if I’d said it, they wouldn’t understand. Everyone threw in more call-and-response with all their energy.
“Wow! So cool! Mortis!”
As Dia clutched the magic stone, the phantom magic that surrounded her wavered.
“On her head...a red...turtle? No, a mouse? Guhhh!” The pope ended up being tossed about by the surging sacred beast sound waves before he could decide if he was looking at a mouse or a turtle. Black smoke billowed up from his body all at once. His feathers fell out completely and his wings shrank and vanished. His body returned to its original size.
Oh dear, the disguise had been stripped away. But his skin was still a dark crimson, glossy and smooth... This was...ripe for fangirling.
But it was still early days; the real show was yet to come.
“Dia, can you encase the pope in a thin layer of smooth, frozen ground, like a plate? Imagine the ice content is twenty percent higher than usual. It’d be best to leave a gap in one direction so the pope can see Captain Dread’s onstage performance.”
“Got iiit!” What was this?! My angel’s reply was just too much! Unaware of how my pride was practically growing bigger on the spot, Dia deftly stood up on my head. “Come on, frozen soil! Yeeeah!”
No way! It was a rock angel’s chuunibyou summoning! I was buzzing!
Of course, she did exactly as I asked, opening the frozen ground in one direction only. Her voice had become so smooth and flowing... Mom was overwhelmed by her angel’s rapid growth! I might even cry!
“I’m getting into it, getting into it, getting into it!!!”
Just as I was about to cry tears of joy, flowers bloomed on the captain’s dreadlocks, which were now in top form. They were a deep indigo color speckled with gold, the same hue as the other sacred beasts’ eyes. The sound of the shamisen gained momentum, growing fiercer.
“Mortis!”
The wives enveloped us in a burst of fruity floral fragrance, scattering it all around as they played their instruments.
The pope writhed in agony, arching backward as he cried out, face upturned. Thanks to the frozen ground Dia had created, the amplified sacred beast sound waves reverberated behind him, multiplying their intensity exponentially.
“N-No...not yet...”
My, my, quite the tenacity. Where had that gentle look the pope always had on his face gone? He seemed to be glaring at me, his eyes fixed on me.
“Give up? No way—haaaaaaa!” Screaming, he rose with all his might. His internal magic was likely too chaotic to cast spells now. He lunged at me, aiming for my face—no, wait. He aimed for my eyeballs, stretching his arm out.
“Oh?”
Of course, the pope was covered in wounds. His movements were slow. He was no match for me.
“Ugh... Gah...”
I grabbed his collar, pulling his face—still bearing traces of his former life as a servant—toward mine to speak to him.
“No kissing Dia’s mother!” Oh dear, the angel had made a silly mistake. Magic power surged above us with a roar. Could it be the pope was giving off R-rated sensual vibes?! My hair seemed like it was about to catch fire!
“M-My lady... Your hair, no, your mouse is burning, gah... Huh, it went into a magic stone?!”
The pope, who I was still clutching by the collar, seemed busy. If it came to it, I could develop a hair growth tonic with the captain, so he should really just calm down... But Dia’s magic power was instantly absorbed by the magic stone.
It was the kind of magic stone that could maintain its shape even submerged in lava, absorbing magic essence by converting it back into magic power. It was a genuine treasure. It seemed to have excellent compatibility with the fire magic Dia had inherited from Lia, showing remarkable absorption power.
Just as I was thinking that, a magic stone plopped down from above. I let go of the pope to catch it.
“Dia? Hee hee hee, you got fussy and sleepy, didn’t you?”
Dia had fallen asleep on my head. It seemed like the typical pre-naptime fussiness babies got had made her lose control of her magic. Good thing there was a magic stone treasure. Good night, my sweet little one! I patted Dia’s shell gently, remembering how I used to put my grandchild to sleep in my past life. Oh, well...
“Skipping over the mother...to the grandmother... Why...?” The pope, who had fallen to the ground now that his collar was free, slumped over. But deep within his body, the power of the demon still lurked.
I looked down to stow the magic stone away in my subspace storage. Perhaps because it had stored so much of Dia’s magic, its color had changed to a vermilion that shimmered with five hues, depending on the light. And it hadn’t inflated—it had simply grown to the size of an adult’s head. A magic stone that grew? I’d never seen that before.
But then again, I’d never seen a sacred beast store magic into a magic stone either, so maybe this was how it worked.
“Dia?” I returned the stone to the subspace and gently took Dia down from my head to cradle her in both hands. And what a sight! Her angelic little body had shifted from its familiar crimson to a pale, icy blue white! The only remnant was the five-colored light visible under certain lighting.
From what I could observe, it seemed she’d transferred all the sacred beast power she’d inherited from Lia into the magic stone, solidifying the power she’d cultivated and nurtured herself. When I examined Dia again with magic, it made perfect sense. Only Dia, who became a sacred beast under such unique circumstances, could have done this.
Using Lia’s sacred beast power as a catalyst, I had awakened a new sacred beast power within myself. That was probably why I could perform opposing heat manipulations like Lia’s fire and Dia’s ice.
“You’ve been trying so hard all this time.” I hugged Dia. Her original color, close to white gray, was adorable too. “Now, shall we finish this?”
Using Dia’s magic, I conjured purifying snow to envelop the pope. This first joint spell with the white-blue Dia melted into the pope’s body, soaking in and softening the demonic power. His glossy, dark crimson skin turned sunburned, but at first glance, he looked like a snowman lying on its side.
Then the pope’s fingers twitched and he lifted his face.
“What... It’s cold. Lady Robur...”