"Who is-" Gadriel attempted to ask, but Ikaris''s entire persona flipped and her caring aura was reced with a dark one as she pressed her hand on  the floor causing every one of them to fall t as gravitational magic was used on them.


    "Fire it now!" Ikaris shouted before skipping over to the other side and standing at the back of the mass watching as Sitri walked in with a strange metal weapon in her grasp. "I will hold this side for as long as I can." She raised her hands toward Sitri blocking the way with barriers stacked upon each other all the way to Sitri''s face.


    "This is useless against me, true goddess, you should know!" Sitri started walking again, shattering each barrier with a flick of her knuckle as she approached.


    "Everyone stand clear!" Dina took a deep breath and then released her mana.


    "Pulsar!!"


    The gods even though shackled felt the clear cosmic mana radiating off the human girl who spoke to their respected primordial as an equal, and it suddenly started making sense; she too was clearly something special, it seemed Ikaris had a habit of gathering the strong around herself.


    Light radiated from Dina''s palms, and the rock and iron that had obscured them all vanished as a massive tunnel was carved in the blink of an eye, unlike the usual pulsar which was destruction on a cosmic scale, Dina had reduced the power and extended the range, and as a result the beam was thinner but it had broken all the way through to fresh air that started sucking the warm air out.


    "This is nigh divinity!" One of the gods eximed in shock, he was never capable of something this powerful back in his pantheon before they were attacked by demons.


    "Ikaris, it''s done!" Dina spun, but found Ikaris already in Sitri''s grasp being suffocated as the demon-god grinned with her one hand holding her by her throat. "Let go of her!" Dina snapped, reaching Ikaris''s side within the sh of a second and pressing her hand against Sitri''s side. "Let go of her, otherwise I''ll blow a hole through you-"


    "If you had the power to do it after what you just did you would have done so, I know the power you hold, that unique attack can only be used once in a day, but I can entertain that much I suppose, Hero, go ahead, fire away." Sitri grinned, taking her eyes off Ikaris and looking down at Dina. "Go on-"


    "Mana spears!" Dina released several spears at Sitri''s side without hesitation, but they didn''t even scratch her bare skin.


    "Run..." Ikaris wheezed. "Take the others... and run, Dina, I will be fine... Master Will Come...!"


    "I can even entertain that, a good hunt after my failure to retrieve the goddess of war is just what I need, my lord has been avoiding me because of you all, I am not in a good ce with him and it is all because of that damned... Ugh, I would love to seek you out one by one and ughter you all like livestock so go ahead and enjoy a few hours of freedom!"


    "Dina...!" Ikaris snapped grabbing Sitri''s hand and spinning, catching the demon-god off guard and locking her in a chokehold with her legs. "Don''t let this opportunity pass, I said go!"


    "But-"


    "Do as I say, protect the others!" Ikaris grunted when Sitri stood upughing at her attempts and mming her against the wall.


    "Sol wille!" She arose and grabbed Sitri by her waist. "I promise, he will!"


    "Ikaris-"


    "Raaah!" Ikaris roared raising Sitri off her feet and mming her into the ground and straddling her, this time the demon-god was shocked, she had never seen a selfless god before, nor had she ever seen a desperate one, they usually epted their fate as soon as it was issued, sheid there intrigued taking each ground shaking punch from Ikaris who was doing her best to distract her from Dina and the other gods running away.


    Ikaris punched until her knuckles started bleeding, and it was then that another guard made it there and kicked her off Sitri then ced arge rectangr gun at her head intent on shooting her.


    "Explosion!"


    Ikaris set off several constant explosions over the span of half an hour, evaporating the guard and everyone else behind him, sending mes all the way to the ground floors of the castle, then watched Sitri walking through the white mes and fanning it out of her face as if it was a passing puff of smoke.


    "Explosion!"  Ikaris tried again, but only a small insignificant eruption of mes escaped her palm


    "They are gone, you have seeded at the cost of your own freedom, Imend you at least, brave goddess, but you have no more power to spare, surrender yourself, Ikaris." Sitri rested her hand on Ikaris''s head when she fell to her knee shaking from the mana loss.


    "Sol will note, nobody wille, but do not lose hope, do not break yet, I want to see your face when I bring that girl back to your feet as nothing but a corpse."


    ***


    [I detected another high reading of Arkadian mana; cosmic mana and high concentrations of explosion magic]


    "Pulsar and Explosion." Sol''s eyes narrowed as he began exerting more pressure while prism-shaped barrier appeared over him, protecting him as he continued speeding up. "How soon until I make contact?"


    [The time has been reduced from a day to ten hours, your demonic mana is still at a steady 100%]


    "Ten hours is still a lot of time, anything can happen by then." He shook his head. "I still didn''t sense either of their magics, I''m not close enough to lock on, and without the Arkadian manasphere to quickly rejuvenate them they will lose their ability to fight back if they overexert themselves, and they usually do, please keep monitoring."


    [Understood]


    "How long until you''ve grasped and taken control of thews?" He asked again.


    [Another twenty hours estimated, until then I can only manage and interact with those who you have physically interacted with]


    "System... Do you intend to spread your roots and allow free usage like you did on Arkadia?" Sol asked.


    [Never, demons have gued Arkadia for such a long time, killing many Arkadians who could have be great, taking innocent lives, I have stated the importance of me remaining in the grey, but how could I grant my powers to a species that mindlessly invade other dimensions and wantonly ughter the innocent?]


    The system responded in voice again, and Sol hummed. [I am not good, but I am not evil either, there has to be bnce, you saw the power Sitri amassed after I foolishly revealed myself to her, such a disaster can never happen again under my hand, I learned a valuable and hard lesson, and to you who also suffered because of this decision of mine, I am sorry]


    "..."


    ***


    "Hours have passed without you saying a word, Mdy, are you doing well?" Law who had finished his daily routine stopped and looked at A who had wordlessly followed him all day, remaining steps behind and reading from what the system had told her was called a tablet.


    She had asked about magic at first, but the moment the system had fed thenguage into her brain all she had done was read on all avable history, and there seemed to be a lot, Z-Prime and Hāl were interesting ces, but they were dark and twisted as well, these demons were all in a way like Sitri.


    The only care they showed was to their own kind, and it was far less care than reptiles shared for their young.


    "I am learning of your history." She replied.


    -exclusive-content


    "Art, culture, these things are interesting to me, though, I am still curious about the decline in the magic on Z-Prime from a thousand years ago, it seems your people discarded magic and epted technology, and while I agree that technology is beautiful and useful, magic is pure, it is the foundation of enlightenment, why would the people follow the dictatorship of a single individual and allow him to siphon that power for himself in exchange for something that can so easily be taken away?"


    Law''s eyes opened wide at her question, he thought she had been pretending to read to pass time and seem intelligent, but this ve woman was incredibly well-read, as she had said simply waking her master was enough to enlighten her.


    "Have you... any experience with magic?" He asked, and A paused and looked up again.


    "I am a mage, master values the strong, and I am." She boasted. "How else do you believe I would have turned this n to ashes if not by magic?" She asked and He shrunk before her and lowered his head.


    "Of course, forgive me, I merely assumed that you were a very skilled warrior."


    "I am." A answered again. "I am everything I am demanded to be, be it a pillow, or his maiden, I will dlyy my life down for him, after all he is worthy of it."


    Law couldn''t rte to this, from his knowledge, demon-gods were pure evil, they were monstrous beings with the power to tten entire worlds, he would never assume that the servant of a demon-god would not only be so modest, but also so devoting without the use of fear.


    Then again what did he know, he was a simple old demon in a rural town where the strong preyed on the weak, the world was far wider than the well he grew up in.