Chapter 90: Oh, No

As Alice thought, panties of similar design shared similar additional effects. The additional effects of Law-grade panties were merely upgraded versions of their Artifact-grade counterparts.

Thus, God's blue-striped panties had given the ability Alice had sought after.

"Here I come!"

After tightening her grip over the blue-striped panties, Alice kicked the ground and propelled herself upward. Then, she flew straight toward the Demon King's Power.

The passive skill named Wind's Protection granted Alice the ability to fly. It was also the reason Alice had asked for blue-striped panties. After all, now that the Demon King's Power had already flown into the air, she would need to be able to fly if she wanted to get close to it.

The Demon King's Power's flight speed wasn't particularly quick. So, Alice quickly caught up to it. Then, she switched the striped panties to her left hand and reached for the Demon King's Power before she started falling.

However, immediately after Alice caught the Demon King's Power with her right hand, the Demon King's Power started struggling madly. Now that Alice had reverted to being an ordinary little girl, it took only an instant for the Demon King's power to break free from her grasp.

Sure enough, it seems my right hand is incapable of controlling anything that is conscious and puts up a struggle.

Alice had more or less expected such an outcome. It was also why she did not reach out to grab the Demon King's Power as soon as she saw it.

The Demon King's Power would only choose people with deep hatred toward humans as its host. Alice evidently did not fit this criterion, so the Demon King's Power would definitely struggle when Alice grabbed onto it.

After getting shaken off, Alice quickly moved the blue-striped panties back into her right hand and gradually descended back to the ground. Then, as she watched the Demon King's Power fly off into the distance, she sighed and said, "White Hair, I don't think I can stop it."

"Dammit. It was such a good opportunity…" the Loli Goddess said in frustration. Even though the Demon King's Power's true form was right before her eyes, she had no way of taking it down. "Alas… You encountered it too early. Things wouldn't be so troublesome had you encountered it after you have fully matured."

Alice also felt helpless over the situation. Indeed, if she was capable of tossing out taboos as if she were breathing, she could keep on following the Demon King's Power and bombard it with taboos until she destroyed it. However, the problem now was that Alice had to hold onto a pair of blue-striped panties just to maintain her flight ability. This meant that she wouldn't have any leeway to attack with other panties.

"Nevermind. Although we didn't take care of the Demon King's Power this time, this incident has given us new insight," the Loli Goddess said. Although she was frustrated over the situation, she did not vent her anger on Alice. After all, she knew that Alice had only transmigrated to this world for around half a month. It wasn't Alice's fault that she couldn't destroy the Demon King's Power.

"What insight?" Alice asked, confused.

"If people possessed by the Demon King's Power can let go of their hatred toward humanity, it is possible to force the Demon King's Power out of their body," the Loli Goddess answered. "So, when you meet the next Demon King, you can try to make the other party let go of their hatred and force the Demon King's Power to reveal itself."

…Alice kept getting a feeling of déjà vu. Her situation was just like the start of The World Only *** Knows.

"Anyway, we didn't come out empty-handed this time, right?" the Loli Goddess said in an attempt to comfort Alice. "I have high hopes for you, so good luck, Alice. Though, to prevent such a situation from happening again, I suggest that you start learning about magic. Information on taboos isn't considered confidential in this world, so you can find documents on taboos even in the libraries of magic academies. It's just that most people are incapable of understanding these documents. However, with your aptitude, learning taboos will be very easy."

"So, I still need to study?" Alice sulked. However, she could sense that the Loli Goddess had already cut off communications with her, so she didn't bother waiting for an answer. Then, when she thought about how she might have to spend a long period studying subsequently, she couldn't help but have a headache.

However, Alice had a more pressing matter to take care of right now. Hurriedly, she ran up to Luna and started inspecting the silver-haired maid's body.

Fortunately, although the Demon King's Power had left Luna's body, the strength Luna had gained from the Demon King's Power remained. Thus, even after getting stabbed, her heart did not die. On the contrary, it was slowly mending itself over time.

In other words, even though Luna had already lost the potential to grow into a full-fledged Demon King, the strength she currently had already granted enough combat power to triumph over most creatures in this world.

Having said that, I haven't returned this striped panty to White Hair yet… Alice thought as she looked at the panties in her right hand. Just when she was about to keep it away for future use, blinding lights suddenly came from all directions, startling her.

Upon taking a closer look, Alice found that the lights actually came from rows of headlights. It would seem that while she was busy inspecting Luna's wounds, several dozen cars had encircled the area.

Moreover, these cars didn't look like ordinary sedans. Instead, they were military vehicles with hulking bodies and armored exteriors.

Before Alice could make sense of what was going on, the doors of these cars opened, and countless warriors clad in light armor quickly rushed out of these cars. Then, they turned their backs toward the ruins of what was once a mansion, seemingly guarding the perimeter.

Afterward, a woman clad in silver armor exited the leading vehicle and walked over to Alice in a swift and elegant gait. Then, just when the woman had arrived in front of Alice and was about to say something, she couldn't help but be surprised by the scene she saw.

In front of her was a blonde little girl dressed in a nightgown. The little girl held a pair of blue-striped panties that radiated holy light in her right hand as she awkwardly stood among the ruins. There were signs of damage on the little girl's nightgown, and through the gaps in the nightgown, she could see that the little girl wasn't wearing anything underneath.

Meanwhile, lying on the ground beside the little girl was Luna Cecilia in all her naked glory, the intelligence agent wearing her usual deadpan expression as she stared at the sky. Although there was a visible stab wound on Luna's chest, the rhythmic movement of her chest showed that she was still alive.

"???"

The Royal Guard Captain named Catherine found herself lacking in brainpower as she looked at the strange scene before her.

…

TL Notes:

[1]…Alice kept getting a feeling of déjà vu. Her situation was just like the start of The World Only *** Knows: This is probably a "The World Only God Knows" reference, but it's been a long time since I watched this anime, so I don't really get the reference.