Chapter 179 - Phoenix's Daughter (6)
“Hoohp······!”
The shock made her gut wrench, and it made Etna gasp. However, the spell had been initiated already. Even if the spell was stopped, the Demonic energy would rampage more within her body. This was why Artpe poured more Mana into his staff in order to speed up the spell.
“Oooh. It is making me nauseous. I think I’m going to throw up….!”
“It won’t take long. Vadinet, you should get ready to heal her. Sienna, you should capture the rampaging Demonic energy.”
“Yes!”
“Leave it to me!”
“Nyaa?”
“You should just be on standby!”
“I hate you, master. Nyaa!”
There had been a lot of experiments up until that point. He even did a clinical test on a Demon stronger than Etna. Etna had fire energy within her that was an unpredictable variable. The fire energy won’t help in the process of converting the Demonic energy, but it also won’t actively interfere with his work.
‘Etna stores all her Mana as heat energy. To be precise, her fire is mixed with Demonic energy. It is neither pure fire energy or pure Demonic energy. She is unstable at a fundamental level….’
This was why Artpe had always been puzzled by her. She was born as a Demon, yet she was having a hard time finding an equilibrium for her body temperature. If she was a Demon born with the ability to control fire, she should be able control the fire within her. She would be like Petra. Petra was able to decrease the temperature by changing the property of his Demonic energy. Shouldn’t she be able to do that?
However, it wasn’t like that at all. In Petra’s case, it felt as if he was changing an A to an A-. In Etna’s case, it felt as if she was changing an A to a B. However, she wasn’t able to fully convert an A to a B. As a result, the energy she emitted felt closer to an A+B.
The fact that she was capable of using her explosive flame was amazing. However, Artpe had always assumed that fire wasn’t her true nature.
However, he had been successful in acquiring an answer not too long ago. Demonic energy was a twisted form of Mana. Demons were modified humans. Basically, he had to think of her as a human born with the power of pure fire. However, she had inherited the blood of the Demon race, so she was out of sync.
This might be why she was the most different in nature compared to the other Demons. The Demons were fallen beings that always possessed power that befits them. She might be the only Demon that was born with a power that went against the fundamental nature of a Demon.
‘In the process of turning Demons back into human beings, their power will be reduced. In Etna’s case, she might become stronger if she is able to shed her Demonic energy. No, it finally means she will be able to regain her true form.’
“Etna, do you feel it too?”
“Ahh-ooooooh! It hurts so much that I have no idea what’s going on!”
He decided to give up on getting an answer from her. Artpe relied solely on his magic tome as he surrounded his magic around her. He did it to cause a change within her. He focused on the reclamation magic.
Originally, she was supposed to be made out of pure fire energy. He was getting rid of the erroneous Record, and he was restoring her twisted body. In the process of doing this, he was displacing the Demonic energy, which had been surrounding her body, with fire energy.
“Oooh, ooh-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
A fierce wave of fire exited her body. Artpe was trying to return her body into her original form. His reclamation magic was reducing the Demonic energy as it let her fire energy flourish. The Demonic energy exited her body with the flame. The flame was burning the Demonic energy.
On the other hand, the remaining Demonic energy started to resist against being expelled. The Demonic energy started to inflated its size within her body. The Demonic energy started to claim her bones, muscles and organs for itself. In an attempt to preserve its identity, the Demonic energy was lashing out.
“I’ll purify it!”
“You should purify only the Demonic energy that’s emitted from her body!”
“Oppa, I feel Demonic energy moving within unni’s body….”
“I want you to suppress it. We can’t damage Etna’s body.”
Artpe was directing the reclamation of her boyd. Vadinet and Sienna busily worked under the supervision of Artpe. The Demonic energy let out a dark light, and Artpe’s Mana gave off a purple light. Sienna and Vadinet let out a brilliant white light. All of their powers mixed to create a powerful wave of Mana.
“Ooh-ook. This is…..”
Artpe was sure his spell would be successful. However, he was unsure as to whether Etna’s weakened body would be able to endure the shock created by the reclamation magic.
Still, all he had to do was make sure that she was still breathing at the end. After her humanification was complete, Vadinet could heal her. He had pushed ahead under this assumption…. As it turns out, his assumption had been entirely wrong.
“Hoo-ahhhhhhhhhh!”
“Kyahhhhhk!”
“Oppa, what is that!?”
The flame exploded. The glorious flame was clashing against the Demonic energy. However, the Demonic energy and the flame energy wasn’t weakening each other. The flame was continuously increasing in size. The blameless field of ice was being melted away.
“Hoo······ Ha-ahhhhhhhhhh!”
The fire was Etna. As the fire energy became larger than the Demonic energy, it quickly moved through Etna’s body. The fire energy started fixing her wounded and weakened body.
No, it might not be precise to say her body was being fixed. As the fire energy raced through her body, her body was turning into pure flame!
However, Artpe couldn’t investigate it. He wanted to use his Read All Creation ability to check on Etna’s status, but the Demonic energy was making its last-ditch effort. As if it didn’t want to lose, the fire raged to match the Demonic energy. The magic tome was in a precarious situation, so he had to put fully concentrate to take care of the magic tome.
“The flame······.”
“It’s incredible. It is as if her body is made out of fire.”
“So we just need to help the flames prevail?”
Artpe decided that the flame wouldn’t harm Enta, who was its owner. Artpe sharpened his Mana as he attacked the Demonic energy, which was opposing the flame energy. After receiving Artpe’s permission, Roa also helped out.
The reclamation magic was purifying the Demonic energy, but it was impossible to change all the Demonic energy into fire energy. Artpe let go of the Demonic energy that he couldn’t change. He focused on changing her body at a fundamental level. If the vessel remained intact, he believed it could be refilled.
“Hoohp······ Ha-ahhhhhhhhhh!”
He made the right call. The magic tome let out a last round of blinding light, then the fire energy accepted Artpe’s magic. In one go, the Demonic energy was purified!
“Nyaa!”
“It is no use crying over spilt milk, you dork.”
Of course, this was possible, because Artpe had used his reclamation magic. However, it was also true that the high purity of Etna’s flame power had helped.
“Artpe-nim, should I heal that woman…..”
“I don’t think so. Instead… Barrier!”
The magic tome had finished its job, so it had been descending from the air. Artpe quickly put away the magic tome as he gripped his staff. He created his strongest barrier. Afterwards, an enormous explosion of flame washed over the barrier.
“Gyaa-ahhhhhhhh!”
“Koohk!”
“Is she attacking us? Should I kill her?”
“You should be retrained as a hero!”
Each party member had been startled, so they spoke their mind. It was as if the red flame would engulf the whole world, but it disappeared in a flash.
No, it was more precise to say that the fire was reduced to a single point in space.
“Hoooo······.”
A fire spirit stood there.
“My god······.”
“Ooh ooh. This is why I felt uneasy. I should have killed her when she was a Demon!”
“How beautiful······.”
“Are you sure you changed her back to being human, Artpe······?”
The members of Artpe’s party were taken aback, and they each said something. Maetel was the only one to make a sharp observation. Artpe laughed as he answered her.
“I told you that I’ll revert her back to her natural form. I never said that she would be human.”
Of course, Artpe didn’t know things would turn out like this.
“Hoo-ooh······ Ha-ah······.”
“She is letting out flame with each breath.”
“Ooh ooh. Just the sight of that makes my body hurt..”
She was floating in the air as a subdued heat was being emitted from her body. She couldn’t be called a human. Her long and voluminous red hair looked as if it was finely spun by fire. Her large clear eyes flickered like fire.
[Etna Carlyfate Mirecard]
[Fire Spirit Mixed-blood]
[Level : 388]
[Innate Ability : Spirit Transformation]
Others couldn’t tell, but Artpe could see it with his eyes. She really wasn't human. If he had to guess, one of her ancestors had been a spirit, and the power of the spirit had manifested in her. However, the twisted blood of the Demon had suppressed the blood of the spirit. She had finally regained her true form now.
‘I see. In the end, it seems my dream was correct. She had lost control when she found out about my death. At the time, she burned her own body to bring out the spirits….’
Moreover, he had probably only glimpsed a portion of the power possessed by her spirit in the dream. She had finally regained her power. It had been crucial for Artpe to learn the reclamation magic.
“Hoo-ooh······.”
She looked unaffected as she floated in the air. After looking dow at Artpe’s party from above, she slowly descended. Strangely enough, the frozen ground around her didn’t melt away when she landed.
“You can perfectly control it now.”
“Yes, it is as you see right now.”
All the flames that had been burning nearby was retracted. Etna let out an alluring laughter. Maetel openly expressed her displeasure by glaring at Etna. Etna completely ignored Maetel as she walked towards Artpe.
“You really upset me. You are cheeky and confounding.”
“Huh?”
“You keep looking at me with those innocent eyes….. I was completely deceived by you.”
He could feel a disquieting feeling behind her words. Artpe retreated backwards, and he was about to ask for help from Maetel. At that moment, Etna suddenly detonated in the air, and she disappeared. She immediately appeared behind him.
“Artpehhhhhhhh.”
“Heeeek!?”
The mood around her changed! She had acted like an innocent older sister from the countryside that was coming up in the world. Now it felt as she was a sensual young lady from the city! Artpe wonder if Etna’s personality had changed through the reclamation magic. However, that wasn’t the case. The answer was much simpler.
“Will you accept me now? You are going to accept me, right? I approached you first. You definitely said you’ll accept me. Yes. That’s right.”
“Uh······ Etna? It seems you are mistaken. Maybe, we should start this conversation again from the beginning….”
“How can you be like this? You played hard to get, and at the end, you made a declaration saying you don’t like older women…. Do you realize how gutted I was when I heard that?”
What the hell?
Cold sweat ran down his back. He realized something big would happen if he let Etna proceed with this topic of conversation.
“Etna, do you perhaps…..”
“Mmm. That reaction…. As expected, you have your memories. It seems you got it much earlier than me. Maybe, you had it from the start. Or…. Are you the mastermind behind this? It doesn’t matter. We get to live again, and we were able to meet each other. Hoo hoo, Artpe.”
When he heard her words, he perfectly understood what was going on. He didn’t know what had happened, but it seemed the current Etna possessed her memories from her past life!
He had been surprised when Silpennon had spoken about his past life, but now she was talking about it too. At this rate, was he going to find out that everyone knew about their past lives? Are they going to make fun of Artpe! Was this some kind of a massive surprise party!?
“Get away from Artpe. Artpe doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like older women.”
“Oh my, hero. What are you saying? Artpe went through all that trouble to come to me. Can you not see that? This is basically a form of a public confession of his love for me.”
“It is said that deluded people are happy. Hoo hoo. It seems I have to put you down for good here.”
“Do you want to fight again? Alright. Let’s put our honor as women on the line. Let’s fight 1on1.”
In a flash, the atmosphere became heated! Maetel and Etna was displaying an overwhelming amount of power and spirit. Artpe’s party members retreated backwards in fright. Artpe realized that Etna had regained her memories from her past life. He was so appalled that he didn’t know what to do.
“Stop.”
Regina brought down the tip of her staff against the ground. Etna and Maetel whipped their heads around as they glared at Regina. It was as if they were tellling her to butt out of this. In a flash, cold energy was emitted through Regina’s staff. She quickly froze the ambient Mana in their surrounding. Etna and Maetel turned pale when they saw this.
“I understand that both of you have affection for Artpe. However, our party’s power will go down if the two of you fights each other. If both of you want to be killed by the Demon King, I won’t stop you guy. I’ll runaway with Artpe and Sienna in tow.”
Regina had succeeded the Winter Queen as the new owner of Glacia. The two women became quiet when Regina displayed her power. In that moment, the outcome of the fight was decided.