The Price of Power

Having engaged in battle multiple times, Nelly’s impression of this clumsy bear could be summed up in a single word: Tough!

Regardless of its energy tier or its various abilities, it was merely a Tier-Four demon. Yet, its physical resilience was utterly beyond imagination, as if all her attacks were merely tickling the creature. While its speed and strength were typical of a Tier-Four, making it easy for Nelly to evade, if they continued to clash at this rate, she would inevitably deplete her magic first.

This was because the clumsy bear’s energy was almost entirely consumed by self-restoration; its attacks relied solely on its inherent physical attributes.

‘This won’t do! I have to retreat for now!’

Just as Nelly prepared to disengage from battle and depart with the girl, her peripheral vision caught a familiar flash of gold.

‘Chloe?’

‘What is she doing here!’

What unsettled her even more was that the girl was drawing a bow, immense energy gathering on the arrow. The tips of her flowing golden hair were tinged with silver, and within her golden, luminous eyes, a faint, almost imperceptible pink shimmered.

The first time she had seen Chloe, she had noticed this phenomenon, and her instincts had warned her it was not a good omen.

‘Furthermore, shouldn’t Chloe’s Tier-One magic power have been almost completely depleted just now? How is she still able to gather such immense energy?’

‘My magic is insufficient…’

The initial anti-air barrages, coupled with the high-speed pursuit, had already drained her magic dry. Fortunately, Chloe discovered she could also draw upon the black energy within her, though it would come at a small cost…

The vast black energy, long dormant within her, temporarily broke free from its suppression, once again seeing the light of day. While granting power to its user, it simultaneously seized the opportunity to infiltrate the void left by her magic, further devouring her pure soul.

Chloe knew that using the black energy was not a good idea. The unfamiliar appearances of Xiaolan and Tia, when their minds were corrupted by the black energy, remained vivid in her memory.

And then there was herself. The man she had accidentally killed seemed to be watching her from hell, every moment.

However, because of this demon, a very important person had died before Chloe’s eyes. Now, with the beast right in front of her, she had to consider if this was her only chance to strike. This demon had managed to escape from Tia’s grasp, making it incredibly difficult to find another opportunity to eliminate it.

Currently, the clumsy demon was still attempting to seize Nelly, who darted about like an eel, oblivious to Chloe’s presence.

The reason for its extraordinary resilience lay in its exceptionally rapid regeneration of wounds using black energy. Since even Tia had failed to kill it, this suggested its healing speed might even surpass the scorching effect of the Power of Demon Annihilation on black energy.

Yet, even demons were not pure energy constructs composed solely of black energy. They still required a physical body as a fundamental support, and their head, naturally, remained a weakness.

Chloe aimed her arrow at the demon’s head. Its head, significantly larger than a watermelon, presented an ideal target, and she was confident in striking it with a single blow. As long as the amount of the Power of Demon Annihilation was substantial enough, creating a fireball that enveloped its entire head upon impact, the demon would be too slow to react…

Her captain had already noticed her presence, and with her abilities as a Tier-Four agile magical girl, she would be able to evade the arrow’s blast radius.

As if by some strange impulse, Chloe suddenly recalled a steel pen in her pocket. She pulled it out and gently placed it upon the glowing arrow, which pulsed with searing heat. The steel instantly melted into liquid, then flowed to the tip of the arrow, becoming the sole material forming its support.

The glowing, incandescent arrowhead, imbued with the Power of Demon Annihilation, shot forth.

Even the demon, whose perceptions were relatively sluggish, sensed the immense, life-threatening energy. This very flame had previously inflicted unprecedented pain upon it, and now, this identical energy presented an unparalleled threat. Its primal instinct for self-preservation caused it to immediately abandon the bothersome little fly, and its simple brain began to think in overdrive.

At this range, evasion was impossible; it could only endure the blow. The head, of course, was out of the question. Therefore, it had to use its torso to absorb the impact.

The demon reacted instantly, arching its massive body like a shrimp. Its towering back stood firm like a city wall, shielding its head behind it.

Chloe had not anticipated that this demon, which appeared to possess immense inertia, could react with such speed. Her pupils constricted, and she stared intently at the glowing arrow. If it could penetrate its torso and then unleash the Power of Demon Annihilation contained within, the energy could still be transmitted to its head.

The slender arrow appeared remarkably puny compared to the demon’s colossal body. When the almost imperceptible silvery-white metallic dust touched its coarse, gray-black fur, it made no startling sound, like a pebble dropping into the vast ocean, seemingly without any effect.

Witnessing this, Chloe, surprisingly, let out a sigh of relief.

The demon lowered its head, watching as the arrow, carrying a trace of flesh and blood, pierced through its chest. The golden shaft of the arrow suddenly flared with intense light, and a fierce, tiger-like torrent of flames erupted, surging forward.

Nelly, having taken the opportunity to hide to the side, remained vigilant at all times. Upon seeing this scene, an alarm blared in her mind, and she sprinted with extreme speed in the direction opposite to the demon.

Chloe, from a distance, was immensely satisfied with the arrow’s effect, but Nelly’s sudden look of panic struck her as odd. Logically, Nelly should have seized the opportunity to deliver a finishing blow. Yet now, she was suddenly rushing towards the direction the demon was facing—which was the very side of the explosion—as if to protect something.

The Power of Demon Annihilation erupted from the demon’s chest, and golden flames incinerated the fur. The demon’s flesh, still saturated with black energy, served as the perfect fuel. The increasingly rampant flames burned a large hole in its abdomen. Black energy continuously stretched out from the wound as healing tentacles, but upon contact with the flames, they instantly charred and curled, forming a jagged ring around the edge of the hole.

Through this gaping hole, Chloe was able to see the scene in the direction the demon was facing.

Not far in front of the demon, Captain Nelly was crouched on the ground. Her originally fair arm bore a small, conspicuous, ugly scar, and the path before her was scorched black by the flames.

The range of the explosion should not have been this extensive, but the demon’s curved body had formed a concave surface. The Power of Demon Annihilation, exploding almost at its focal point, had inadvertently received directional amplification, erupting further in the direction the demon was facing.

This should have been inconsequential, as long as the flames could cover the demon’s head.

However, the charred object Nelly clutched to her chest sent a tremor through Chloe’s heart.

The humanoid husk, now reduced to an unrecognizable form, was identical to the image of the innocent man in her memories. The Power of Demon Annihilation possessed the most potent destructive effect against demons, whereas for ordinary people, it was akin to extremely high-temperature flames. Magical creatures might still employ various abilities to barely resist, but what recourse did an ordinary person have when facing such man-eating fire?

Perhaps only death.

The sense of accomplishment from successfully inflicting a fatal blow on the demon instantly vanished. The devastating news of accidentally harming an ordinary person once again cast a shadow over Chloe’s eyes, her golden gaze dimming slightly. Her chest rose and fell violently, and she remained indifferent even as the demon, now missing half its head, frantically counterattacked.

The charred, foul-smelling bear claw, exposing white bone, lunged towards her with a powerful gust of wind.

A spherical object, reflecting a metallic sheen, suddenly dropped from the sky into the demon’s gaping maw, instantly exploding and knocking it to the side.

A petite figure slowly descended from the sky.