118 A tale about two girls IV

"..."

Evlin was staring at East as if waiting for her to finish the rest of the story while still sitting in the middle of her completely destroyed home.

"... And...?"

"No "and"... This is it."

But East was acting like that was all she had to say.

"I told you, nobody knows what happened with Hana and Angela... After that, the world simply continued its path leading to where it is today."

"..."

Evlin then proceeded to stand from her chair, walk towards what used to be her kitchen, grabbed a frying pan, took a deep breath, and smacked East in the head.

"The hell does any of that have to do with Mia you goddamn moron!!!????"

"Ooouuchhh!!"

The rest of her friends who were also listening to the story in silence were simply sighing after finding out that Evlin was just as violent as ever. The sound of the pan smashing against East's head was so loud that Ellie who was resting on top of Sphinx finally woke up from her sleep.

"Eh... Wha...? What did I miss...?"

Evlin proceeded to grab East by the collar of her shirt and began to shake her back and forth.

"All I wanted was to find what that little psycho wants to do with my world and you proceed to waste my time telling the story of two idiots who started a war because they had nothing better to do over a berry tree?? Where the hell are your priorities woman??? Tell me what I wanna know!!"

"Please... Stop... Shaking... Me... I'm... Sorry!!"

Evlin finally released East after Calming down a bit. In any other case, Daren and Lilith would have tried to hold Evlin back, but the two were in no rush to save East from Evlin.

"I'm just telling you this because the reason why any of this is happening is due to your little trick in the demon kingdom."

"Eh...?"

"The power to kill a god, the power to kill any living being... That was Angela's power, a power that combined all the three variations of energy, a power that we should only obtain at the peak of our evolution as a species, the terminal energy."

"Terminal energy...?"

"The reason Mia is even here right now is because you were dumb enough to reveal to the world that it was possible to obtain terminal energy again, the same energy that gave birth to the magic on the other world. It was supposed to be a secret, but West just couldn't keep her mouth shut..."

"So Mia is trying to get terminal energy herself..."

"Yes, but that is impossible for anyone but you. Terminal energy is not just about collecting all forms of power in one body, you need to actually fuse them together into one power or the energy will just start destroying its host."

Evlin started to think about the time she unlocked terminal energy during her fight with the demon leader. She remembered how all the forces were fighting each other inside her body trying to gain control and almost tore her apart. If it wasn't for her power of recreation she would never have survived that experience. This means that Mia trying to unlock terminal energy herself was a suicidal idea.

"Then let her have it... She'll tear her body apart trying to unlock this energy by herself and just end her own life, problem solved!"

"You really think Mia is that dumb?"

"...!"

Evlin did not. As much as she hated that little girl, there was no doubt she was way smarter than she looked. She managed to get a blessing at the age of twelve, survived two centuries on her own, convinced a group of demon-slayers to follow her command, found a way to travel to another world and even acquired enough knowledge and money to live by herself despite only being in this world for less than five years.

Whatever it was that Mia was actually trying to do, despite the fact she was treating it as a game, she probably had carefully planned the whole thing beforehand.

"No... I've faced dumb enemies before... She's irritating, bratty, and absolutely crazy... But she's not stupid..."

East looked at her as if she agreed with that.

"Indeed. If she is trying to obtain the power of terminal energy, that means she found a way to do it successfully."

Lilith approached the two ladies and joined the conversation. There was a theory she wanted to confirm.

"Mia apparently has the dryad inside of her... Does this mean she only needs the power of recreation magic to reach terminal energy?"

East traded glances with the silver knight. For a brief moment, Lilith started to recall one of her most painful memories. The time the goddess of the east appeared out of nowhere in front of her and all of her friends and turned them each into metal statues because she couldn't accept Daren as the chosen partner of the living weapon.

She tried to hold the urge to unleash her sword and slice the blond woman's head off. East on the other hand simply began to smirk as if she was daring her to try.

"That would be the case yes... But Mia is an extremely competitive girl... She probably doesn't want to simply obtain the same power our little mage here displayed, she wants to surpass it!"

"Surpass me?"

Evlin heard that and started to remember Mia's words at the restaurant. How she was starting a new game and Evlin was her opponent this time.

"And how exactly would Mia surpass me?"

"By using the power of the six remaining leaders of the demon army."

"!!!" x3

"You remember the story right? Angela used her power to get rid of the leaders so she could focus on fighting Hana alone. She sent them all to a world with no magic so that they could do no harm to anyone."

Evlin rubbed her eyes after realizing what she meant.

"So let me guess... That stupid fire girl sent the six morons over here? To my world?"

"Yes. And Mia is after their power right now. She... She came here to get their location out of me..."

The group looked at her with confused expressions. Daren was the one who talked this time.

"What do you mean?"

"..."

"East, what did you do??"

"... When I became a goddess... Many years after the event involving Angela and Hana... I found out about these six demons and ordered my champion at the time to lock them up so that there would be no danger of them ever returning... I sent my champion to this place, and while the power of his blessing still lasted, he sealed them all."

Daren took a deep breath and made another question.

"And when you mean seal..."

"They were all turned into metal statues..."

"..." x 3

Evlin looked at Daren and Lilith who were behaving as if they were being bombarded with an extreme desire to kill her maid after remembering something that they were trying to forget. Evlin herself however simply continued their conversation.

"You're not very creative are you...?"

"..."

"So? Did you gave her the location?"

"Not at first... I had no desire to help that crazy child or bring these demons back to power... But..."

"But...?"

"Miss Stephanie, your mother, showed up..."

"M- My mother!!?? She was here??? Mia saw my mother??"

"Yes... She told me that if I didn't give her the location of the demons, she would kill her."

"Wh- Where is she?? What did she do to my mother!!??"

"..."

"EAST!!!"

"I don't know... She just thanked me for my cooperation and left with her..."

"No..."

"I'm sorry..."

"No, no, no..."

Evlin's wooden armor started to change shape due to the power of her modeling magic and began to gather on her arm in the form of a gauntlet. She then released high levels of healing magic that increased the strength of her right arm.

"GODDAMMIIIIIT!!!!!!!"

And right after that, she smashed her apartment's wall while filled with rage, destroying the place even more.

Ellie watched terrified as her aunt demolished the wall as if it was made of glass and hugged Daren as if trying to hide from her. Her aunt was once again carrying the glare of someone ready to take a life without thinking twice.

"A- Aunt Evie...?"

"!!?"

Evlin turned her head after being called by her niece, and for a second, as the smoke of the destruction she caused covered her figure and the debris continued to fall, Evlin was projecting the image of a wild beast in her niece's eyes.

Lilith approached her friend in an attempt to calm her down.

"Evlin, please... Try not to lose yourself... We need to think about what we are going to do."

"Oh...? Oh, I know exactly what I'm going to do... I'm going to find that little shrimp with colored eyes and make her pay for ever messing with me or my family."

"Evlin..."

"I am going to kill her!"

Daren, Lilith, Marcus, and Ellie stared at her. Evlin had always had a reputation for being a very aggressive person, but this was the first time they ever heard her say the word "kill" with so much conviction. Ellie felt that her aunt was once again starting to look more and more with Myriad.

While the group continued to gaze at her unsure of what to say, East started to talk again.

"And how are you going to find her?"

"... I'll play her game, and beat her..."

"Her game?"

"She gave me two weeks to win her game... One to get my power back, and one to find her..."

"I see..."

"Just a while ago, she dropped a giant pile of absorbing crystals on my head so I could get my magic back... But a mage needs both magic and a staff to use its power..."

Lillith realized where she was going with that.

"Which means..."

"Yes... She doesn't know that I have my armor in this world..."

Evlin then proceeded to walk towards her window and stared at her city.

"Which means... Soon we will receive another attack... One that will lead us to more pieces of the channeling tree..."

Evlin continued to look as if wondering where in the city Mia was hiding herself, her mom, and a piece of the tree.

"And after that... East..."

"Eh...?"

"You are going to lead us to the location of the demon leaders..."

Evlin turned around and looked at her group. Her friends from another world, her housemaid who used to be a goddess, two enormous feline creatures, and her niece who seemed to be terrified for probably multiple reasons. This was going to be her new team, the only people she could count on right now.

Just like she would often do before charging into a big battle, Evlin took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and tried to focus as she made her resolve.

The story that started with Angela and Hana had made its way towards her and Mia. It was her turn to tell which direction it would take.

"We are going after Mia, we will save my family, we will stop the power of the demons from falling into her hands... And we will put an end to this story... Once and for all!"