+1 extra chapter because you surpassed the goal
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After leaving the village where Mashiro stayed, the army of hell advanced to the next village.
Elric's third attempt at diplomacy, and his third failure.
With the strongest fighters occupied, this time the army of hell finally had a chance to shine. Of the fifteen battalions that headed west, only one entered battle while the rest continued advancing.
Ai stayed behind to help.
Although she was not really needed, she still wanted to contribute, so she remained and did her part. Since her ability focused more on individual combat than group combat, she first targeted the commander and then the strongest soldiers or the ones acting as natural leaders, killing them to throw the rest of the army into chaos.
One battalion, equivalent to three hundred low rank demons, ten mid rank demons and one high rank demon, destroyed all the defenses of the city in only ten minutes, and that was mostly because they avoided large scale attacks to prevent destroying the village. After all, a large attack from a high rank demon could easily wipe out a small village like this one.
However, it did not end there. Each battalion was ordered to take the entire city, not just defeat the enemy.
This was one of the reasons why, even though diplomacy had worked only once and against Elric himself, now Elric was the one who kept trying to negotiate.
If they managed to make them surrender somehow, it was enough to place everyone under their command.
If not, Kaito would only receive the treasure chest when the entire village was under his control. He not only had to be acknowledged, the village also could not be in chaos because in that case it would not be considered a village but a disordered territory.
So, after killing most of the soldiers except those who surrendered, they entered the city.
While they marched through the streets, the residents ran to their homes in fear when they saw unknown soldiers.
Especially because most of them could feel their power and noticed that all of them were too strong.
When they reached the mansion of the city lord, it was completely sealed.
The high rank demon commanding them did not move. He looked at Ai for instructions, recognizing her as the highest authority present.
"I will go in. Wait here."
Saying that, Ai sank into the shadows and entered the mansion. After searching for a while, she found the former city lord hiding in a secret basement.
"W-who are you? How did you get in?", asked the fat woman when Ai suddenly appeared in her safe room.
"Are you willing to surrender to the army of hell?", Ai asked in a cold voice.
"What army? Who are you? Are you..." Before she finished her babbling, a shadow wrapped around her body and dragged her into the darkness, where she died instantly under Ai's orders.
"Someone who cannot even understand the situation in front of her eyes is useless", she murmured as she disappeared. She then headed to the main door and opened it from inside.
"She did not want to talk", she said simply. Everyone understood what she meant and no one cared much.
After that, Ai left the city in the demons' hands and headed to the next village with the others.
When she arrived, everything had already been dealt with. Once again, the city lord had refused to surrender and was killed.
This was very common. The city lords were dark elf women sent directly from the capital. Being sent to a low rank city reflected their level and ability, meaning they could be replaced at any time. Since they could not improve their strength, most chose other methods to keep their positions, usually bribes and deals with high officials. They secured their posts effortlessly and became arrogant parasites who enjoyed power without doing anything. Although, of course, there were exceptions.
Like the next village. There, the city lord was a dark elf man, something rare in the almost matriarchal society of the dark elves unless he was quite powerful or had connections. Not only was he exceptional in that sense, he also truly cared for his people. When he saw the army, he offered to surrender to prevent any harm to his citizens.
As soon as he met Elric and heard the explanation, he agreed even more.
This was one of the easiest villages to obtain, taking only a few minutes. The longest part was the paperwork for transferring authority, but even that took far less time than stabilizing and taking control of a village after killing the army.
…Or at least that was how it should have been.
The assigned battalion stayed there while Ai prepared to leave.
But as she left the village, she found Mashiro and Kaguya running toward her urgently, heading straight for the very village she had just exited.
Seeing the seriousness on both their faces, Ai followed without asking anything and noticed their destination was the mansion of the city lord.
They were only a few meters away when a ray of green light illuminated the sky, coming from the mansion's courtyard. Half a second later, a loud explosion echoed as something burst out from inside the mansion, breaking through every wall and destroying it completely.
Before they could react, a large muscular man, about two and a half meters tall and wielding a massive two handed sword, appeared in the air above them, about to strike.
They barely dodged. The sword hit the ground, opening a huge crater and destroying the nearby houses.
The man stood up and looked at the three girls with the eyes of a predator seeing its prey.
---
Five minutes earlier.
Mashiro was still trying to counter Morlum without success.
However, as they fought, she noticed that fighting him felt easier and easier, although she did not know why.
But Morlum figured it out. As the one who controlled the lightning, he realized that the lightning bolts that once pierced Mashiro's shield were now weakening before reaching it. Not because they disappeared or faded naturally, but because the damage they caused was lower, as if part of the lightning mana simply did not affect Mashiro.
Although the bolts were still strong enough to break her shield, keeping the battle even, this revealed something terrifying to the old man who had dedicated his life to magic. Somehow, Mashiro was beginning to control the mana inside the lightning.
That was what Morlum deduced as he analyzed the situation. Although at first he doubted it and found it impossible, it was the only explanation.
But this should have been impossible. Affinities were something one was born with. Some could be learned, but only the basic ones. It was impossible for the more powerful affinities, including lightning.
In fact, not even Morlum truly had lightning affinity. Despite being recognized as a powerful level four mage because of his lightning magic, the truth was that he had cheated.
Years ago he obtained a lucky encounter that allowed him to use lightning magic. Not only that, he did not even consume his own mana to use it.
What he had obtained was the small lantern hanging from his waist, which contained a living creature.
While Morlum thought about it, Mashiro was also thinking, and she finally understood what was happening.
While dodging, she was no longer trying to counterattack but trying to control the lightning around her.
Seeing what she was doing, Morlum mocked her internally for attempting something impossible.
Maybe her affinity had increased, which was already supposed to be impossible, but even then it was minimal. Going from that to controlling his lightning was inconceivable.
However, Mashiro suddenly stood still. A moment later, followed by thunder, a lightning bolt fell directly on her, but Mashiro remained still and ignored it. A second before touching her, without Mashiro doing anything, the lightning simply vanished.
Morlum was shocked.
He looked at Mashiro, but she was no longer looking at him. She was looking at the small lantern on his waist.
For the first time in the entire fight, Mashiro's expression changed. It was the expression of someone who finds something familiar, something known. A look of recognition toward something that should not be there but she found unexpectedly.
Trying to ignore everything that had just happened, pretending it was a coincidence, Morlum attempted to conjure a large amount of lightning for a final attack.
But he could not. The moment he tried to access his lightning magic, he realized he was unable to.
"What is happening?", he muttered in shock.
Before he could react, he was surrounded by Mashiro's magical attacks. Although he managed to dodge, a slice of wind cut the strap of the lantern and a sudden gust carried it into Mashiro's hands, who caught it carefully.
"What are you doing? That is mine!", shouted Morlum, terrified from losing his greatest weapon.
Mashiro did not even look at him. Instead, she observed the lantern in her hands and opened the lid.
As soon as she did, a small creature with lightning covered wings flew out in joy.
"I am finally free", she said with excitement.
"I am going to kill you, you damned old man", she added furiously. But when she saw it was not Morlum but Mashiro, she was surprised.
"Ah, you are not that old man. Actually, you feel... very good, even familiar", she said, flying around Mashiro. "You can even control my magic... who are you?"
"I am..."
"Ah!, I know!, you must be the fairy queen of this generation, right? Then you must help me teach that old man a lesson", she said, pointing at Morlum.
"Fairy queen?" Morlum's eyes widened at the revelation.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)