The moment Aura raised the scales used to cast the obedience spell in her hand, Ash had already dashed forward, closing the distance to right in front of her in an instant.
That movement was nothing like a mage's. Before Aura even had time to think about why he was so fast, he had already swung his arm violently.
There was a loud "BANG!"
The metal scales were smashed to pieces by his palm, while Aura stood there stunned, unable to react for a long while.
Only after quite some time did she lift her hand in disbelief and look at this long-separated older brother of hers.
"You… gave up gravity magic?"
"What do you think?"
"Your mana isn't that much weaker than me. This doesn't feel like you gave it up at all."
"So you do know our mana levels are close. And yet you still dared to use those scales to control me? That's not like you."
"Haha~ Of course I took your old advice into account and set up an emergency mechanism. If I lost, the scales would automatically self-destruct."
"Isn't that just earning yourself a nasty nickname?"
"Thanks for the compliment. It's an honor."
Aura, who felt no shame at all and instead took pride in it, nodded with an innocent, almost silly smile, and quietly stepped back again.
Because by now she had more or less realized that the safety distance she had left earlier wasn't quite enough. After all, she never would have imagined that this guy would go and train in martial arts.
However, before she had even taken two more steps, Ash walked forward with a smile, reached out, grabbed her horn, and rudely yanked her back toward him.
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave. We haven't seen each other in so long, shouldn't we catch up properly, as brother and sister?"
"You bastard! After all these years! You still treat me like this!"
That familiar treatment, strangely vivid despite hundreds of years having passed, made Aura grit her teeth as her head was pulled and her whole body tilted to the side.
The demon race members behind her all tensed up again, filling the air with a sense of danger that felt ready to explode at any moment.
But, if anyone else had done something like this, the normally proud Aura would have thrown all caution aside and ordered the undead army and her subordinates to wipe them out.
Yet when Ash did it, what she felt was only simple dissatisfaction and annoyance. It was nowhere near enough to make her lose her mind, and there wasn't that much anger either.
Even so, she was extremely displeased with herself for finding this treatment acceptable, and couldn't help glaring up at him fiercely from below.
Aura's vicious glare further tightened the already tense atmosphere.
But even though things were clearly on the verge of exploding, to the point where the surrounding demons felt it was hard to even breathe, she still didn't give the order to attack.
As if this were just a family matter, something that should be settled internally, by the two of them themselves.
Of course, demons are all orphans with living parents, so they don't really have any concept of family or relatives. All they could do was watch in confusion and wait.
Still, even after being apart for so long, Ash knew very well that from the start, Aura had actually been holding back while messing around.
After all, if she truly wanted to control him, the normal approach would have been to first wear him down with the undead army and her subordinates, and only then use the obedience spell. That would have been the safest method when facing a major enemy.
And in the past, whenever Aura used the obedience spell, she would always weaken her opponent first to ensure victory.
So he naturally didn't let Aura stay embarrassed in front of others for too long. He released her horn, letting her regain her freedom, and under her gloomy glare, smiled and used his fingers to comb through her messy hair. Only then did he enter the ancient castle together with her.
———
The ancient castle occupied by Aura had once belonged to humans, but now it was hers.
It was unclear whether she had picked it up somewhere or what, but inside the audience hall of this castle deep in the mountains and forests, the walls were mottled, the ceiling was covered in spider webs, and it was impossible to tell how long it had been abandoned.
Only the throne that Aura sat on, as if showing off her authority, was spotless, looking as good as new.
Of course, before Aura sat down, Ash had already noticed a young demon girl wearing a gray robe, with two small horns, who had wiped the already spotless throne once more before Aura took her seat.
"This is really unexpected. You actually took in a young demon?", Ash sat on the armrest of the throne and curiously examined the girl, who was now hiding in a corner by the wall.
"Ah! Linie? I happened to see her, she seemed to have some potential, so I picked her up," Aura explained casually while biting into an apple. But when she looked back at him, she suddenly seemed to lose her appetite and tossed the apple, after only two bites, onto the ground.
When Linie saw that, she immediately dashed out, picked up the apple, and started gnawing on it right there.
Seeing how clearly hungry she looked, he couldn't help complaining, "You haven't been abusing this kid, have you?"
"I don't have that kind of weird interest," Even though she didn't really want to bother, Aura still said casually, "Linie, don't eat things you pick up."
"Yes, Lady Aura," Linie was quite straightforward. She casually tossed the apple aside and went back to hiding in the dark corner.
That made him glance at her a couple more times, before remembering his real purpose and turning back to Aura.
"By the way, Aura, why are you here?"
"You know my magic. At the beginning, I needed to find some people to help restrain enemies, didn't I?"
"And you even made it into the Seven Sages of Destruction. Don't tell me you actually serve someone else?"
"How could that be?", Aura rolled her eyes.
For someone like her, who had no sense of loyalty, the life or death of the Demon King didn't matter at all, and the survival of the demon race was just as irrelevant. She simply tagged along with whoever seemed strong.
Yes, just tagging along. Otherwise she wouldn't be hiding out in these deep mountains.
Although the "Seven Sages of Destruction" were, in theory, elite great demons directly under the Demon King, in practice it wasn't just her.
Even Macht of the Golden Land, the strongest among the Seven Sages of Destruction, second only to the confidant and the Demon King, was said on the surface to be a directly controlled elite great demon, but in reality he didn't listen to the Demon King at all. He didn't participate in the Demon King's army, and even openly told Schlacht that he had no interest in the Demon King's forces.
Unless Schlacht, as confidant, threatened him with death, Macht would only compromise temporarily. But Macht killing members of the Demon King's army was nothing unusual. Aura was the same, equally uninterested in both the Demon King's army and humans, simply trying to control whoever wandered into her territory.
Yet even with them being like this, they were still part of the Seven Sages of Destruction, which made the state of the other demons even more obvious. It could only be said that Schlacht, who served the Demon King with wholehearted devotion, was a very strange exception.
Of course, Aura wasn't interested in other demons either, but she curiously looked Ash up and down.
"Speaking of which, Ash, you suddenly disappeared for over five hundred years. Before that, it seemed like you even went to the human side and became a general?"
"That did happen."
"And after that? Where exactly did you go?"
"What, were you worried about me?"
Realizing that Aura seemed to have investigated him, he smiled and casually started rubbing her head.
That only earned him a white-eyed glare, and his hand was casually slapped away.
Then, Aura showed a mischievous grin.
"Even though I want to say no, thinking about it carefully, I guess that's true. If you died, who would lick my feet?"
"Uh, do we really have to continue this topic?"
"Isn't that exactly why you came to find me?"
"Can you not say things you don't even believe yourself?"
Not understanding how this woman still remembered that after all these years, he couldn't help wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
But Aura asked in confusion, "I'm quite serious though. And besides that, I can't think of any other reason you'd come looking for me."
"You're serious?"
"Of course."
"Couldn't it be something like missing each other?"
"Missing me? After not coming once in all these years?"
"I've had all kinds of things going on too."
As the conversation dragged on, his stomach began to ache faintly, because he had more or less realized that Aura really did seem quite serious.
So he decisively stopped this strange topic and said bluntly, "I'll just be straightforward. I want to become the Demon King, so I need your help."
"So that's why you came to me," Aura nodded slightly in surprise, then propped her elbow on the armrest of the throne, resting her chin in one hand as she looked up at him, "It's true, my magic is extremely useful when there's preparation."
"So your answer is?"
"No."
Even though it was a request from her long-lost older brother, Aura didn't give him any face at all. She refused instantly, without even thinking, not a shred of hesitation, perfectly demonstrating their solid sibling bond after five hundred years.
Aura's blunt, lightning-fast refusal left Ash stunned for quite a while. He even supported his forehead with one hand and thought it over again before finally lowering his head and looking down.
"I mean…"
"What?", Aura, still resting her chin on one hand, lazily lifted her eyes to look back at him, completely uninterested.
"Normally, even if you want to refuse, shouldn't you at least be polite about it? You remember everything, so how did you forget the word 'tact' that I taught you?"
"That's rotten baggage. Why should I, a demon, be as hypocritical as humans?"
"You clearly remember all the foot-licking nonsense, yet all that other stu—"
"That's the essence."
"Ah! Fine, let's leave that for now, we can talk about it later."
Her oddly serious and unquestionable reply made Ash's mouth twitch as he took a deep breath, barely holding back the urge to complain.
Then, as if pushing all emotion aside, he let out a long breath and finally calmed down.
"Aura, you might be misunderstanding. I'm not asking you to help for free. Even siblings need to settle accounts clearly, right?"
"Besides, we're not even blood-related."
"Now's not the time to say things that ruin the mood."
"Oh my~ Now that you need my help, you're talking about feelings? Have you forgotten how you treated me back then?"
"Using love to reform a rebellious brat?"
"Sorry, I didn't quite hear that," Aura's malicious smile deepened, "Ash, what did you just say? Could you say it again?"
"Alright, in the past, it was all my fault as your older brother. If I offended you anywhere, please be magnanimous, and give your dear brother another chance. This time, I want to be a good older brother."
"While sitting on my throne?"
Knowing Ash was asking for her help, Aura maintained a lofty attitude and pointed at the armrest of the throne beneath him.
"Ahem!", He coughed lightly, stood up quietly, and smiled, "How about now, is this okay?"
"My dear bastard, start by telling me how you plan to be a good older brother."
"Well," He paused slightly, then used his sleeve to wipe the horn he had grabbed earlier, "Like this?"
"I told you to apologize to me."
"Sorry. Next time I'll be gentler."
"There's going to be a next time?"
"No, no, I was just joking," He chuckled lightly, finished wiping the horn clean, and stepped back with a smile, "So then? Dear Aura, my sibling… ah no! sister. What do you think of my proposal?"
"It's terrible."
"Don't tell me you'd actually serve the Demon King?"
"How could that be? Who do you think I am?"
"Then…"
"Are you crazy? That guy, the Demon King, has held the throne for over a thousand years. He must be at least two thousand years old. He might even have existed since the age of myths. He's a monster among monsters. We're just a few hundred years old. In his eyes, we're no different from infants. And you actually want to compete with him for the throne?"
The way Aura looked at him was full of concern, as if she were worried about his head. She was practically just short of saying, 'Are you stupid? Even if you are, don't drag me along to die.'
"In theory, that's true, but…"
"What?"
"I'm preparing for after the Demon King dies."
"Are you serious? Someone can actually deal with that kind of monster?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?", He looked back at her suspicious gaze with a seriousness he had never shown before.
That made Aura stare at him for a long time, before suddenly leaning back against the throne. Tilting her head, she raised the corner of her mouth and revealed that signature, malicious smile.
"If that's really the case, then it's not like there's no room to discuss it. But before that, let's first settle who becomes the Demon King, and who becomes the archduke."
"Isn't it obvious? You'd definitely be the archduke."
"On what grounds?"
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