"Lady Fíliya, I trust my magic has not disappointed you."
Macht's tone was as calm as ever, but Fíliya could clearly see the corners of his mouth curve slightly upward.
Heh... he's challenging me.
Fíliya clenched her jaw and closed her eyes.
She wasn't worried about it. She already knew how to deal with this Gold Transformation Magic (Di Agolze), and with her own unique approach at that.
The process didn't take Fíliya much time at all.
Fíliya's golden arm began to revert to its original state at a speed visible to the naked eye. Seeing this, Macht shot to his feet.
Heh, what's wrong? Don't tell me you're scared. Did you really think your magic was invincible? I much prefer the confident look you had just now.
Watching Macht's expression—clearly shocked, yet desperately trying to suppress it—brought Fíliya a great sense of satisfaction.
And Macht's feelings were just as Fíliya had anticipated.
He truly never imagined that this human girl before him would be the one to crack his Gold Transformation Magic...
A possibility he had never even considered had just appeared so abruptly before his very eyes.
However...
After regaining a bit of his composure, Macht immediately noticed something was off.
He could see it clearly: the human girl's mana was being consumed at a rapid rate.
Hm? Reversing the gold transformation should be instantaneous. Why is Fíliya's mana draining continuously? And the rate of consumption is even increasing.
Naturally, Macht came to a conclusion.
"Lady Fíliya, you haven't actually broken my magic."
Macht's tone became calm once more. This feeling of regaining his confidence felt quite good.
"Tsk, you figured it out fast. I was hoping to keep up the act a little longer."
Having been exposed, Fíliya didn't get angry or embarrassed. She just shrugged casually and stopped the pointless drain on her mana.
After she stopped resisting, her left hand quickly turned back into gold. Of course, in the process, Miss Fíliya was very careful to shift into a more comfortable position.
Unlike Fíliya's lighthearted mood, Macht's began to grow heavy.
Because, although Fíliya hadn't managed to completely reverse the gold transformation, she had proven one thing.
His Gold Transformation Magic really wasn't invincible after all. It could actually be interrupted by some means. And if Fíliya continued her research, there was a real possibility his magic could be broken and reversed.
"Lady Fíliya, I don't understand. How did you do it."
"It's simple. Your 'magic that turns all things to gold' doesn't actually turn things into gold at all. It covers them with a substance that resembles gold. Anything covered by this substance has its state eternally 'frozen' in that instant."
Fíliya explained her line of thought to Macht.
"Frozen?"
Macht frowned slightly. It was the first time he had ever heard someone interpret his 'gold transformation' as freezing.
"That's right, freezing. In my view, your magic has properties similar to the ultimate theory in ice magic—'Absolute Zero.' ...Rather than turning into gold, it's more like 'time stopping.' Of course, this time stop refers to the internal time of the object encased within this golden shell."
"So, my approach to countering your magic is to interrupt this 'frozen' state. Compared to 'reversing the gold transformation, turning gold back into a human,' isn't my line of thinking easier to understand and imagine?"
Fíliya said with a light laugh, her eyes filled with confidence in her own abilities.
"Mhm, although I can only achieve a temporary interruption right now, once you've gone from 0 to 1, making it permanent is just a matter of time. I'm determined to break this magic of yours."
Fíliya continued, quite arrogantly holding up her golden left hand with her right.
Seeing Macht remain silent, Fíliya assumed he was struck by the blow, so she stood up gleefully and walked straight out the door.
"Mmm, I really enjoyed our chat today, Macht... As expected, discussing magic with the Demon Race is always so enlightening for me."
Fíliya walked out of the reception room's door with a smile.
Macht, however, remained where he stood, a fierce struggle raging in his mind.
That is... whether or not to chase after Fíliya and kill her.
If someone in this world could truly break his Gold Transformation Magic, they would be the greatest threat to him.
But... even if I did chase her down and kill that human mage, would it really be meaningful?
In that moment, Macht felt himself sinking into an emotion called emptiness.
First, he was defeated by that powerful elven mage, and now, it was only a matter of time before his most trusted magic was broken by that human girl.
If he killed the human girl named Fíliya, he would face the relentless retaliation of the Magic Association and Solitär. Moreover, that elven mage he couldn't defeat might also intervene.
If he didn't kill Fíliya, once she could break the gold transformation, he would inevitably be dealt with by the Magic Association anyway.
...Macht was surprised to find that he seemed to have entered some kind of checkmate.
In a state of turmoil he couldn't quite describe, Macht ultimately chose not to act against Fíliya. Instead, he went out into the streets of Weise and stood before a somewhat lonely statue.
Macht stopped in front of this statue, his expression complex.
He had to admit one thing: he felt a bit lost.
He was quite sure that he would most likely spend the rest of his days in this state of confusion, and that he probably wouldn't get a second chance to experiment.
Under these circumstances... what should he do?
"It's a pity you can no longer hear my voice, nor can you speak."
He looked at the lord of Weise, Glück, whom he had turned to gold with his own hands.
If his 'best friend' in his human guise knew he was showing such a troubled expression, he would surely mock him without mercy.
Macht thought this, and finally shook his head in resignation.
...
Just what I was afraid of.
Meanwhile, after leaving Macht, Miss Fíliya quickly flew to the edge of the Golden Land's great barrier, to the spot where she had first entered.
But... the closer she got to the edge of the barrier, the more Fíliya felt a sense of unease, or rather, nervousness, begin to spread in her heart.
"Something feels a little off..."
The slightly panicked Miss Fíliya soon understood why she was nervous.
Because at this distance, she could see clearly that incredibly familiar figure.
"Weren't they supposed to rotate every few months...? Just what I was afraid of."
Fíliya bit her lip lightly.
Because, just a hundred meters away at the edge of the barrier, her older sister, Sense, was in a clear standoff with the three demons waiting for her.
___
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