“Meow——”
Via raised her hand and cast a magic shield, blocking the magic missile flying toward her.
She sensed another surge of mana from behind, so she tilted her head. A sharp ice spike grazed her hair and flew past, embedding itself into the training ground floor.
“That last attack was actually a feint? Not bad tactics.”
“The attack isn’t over yet, Via!!” Stella’s excited voice rang out.
“Oh?”
Via looked up and saw several magic circles appear directly above her, locking onto her from different angles. Attacks of various attributes activated simultaneously.
Flames, ice, and lightning struck together.
Boom!
A sharp explosion echoed as the training ground floor trembled slightly.
“Did I succeed?” Stella’s eyes widened.
“Yes, you succeeded, Stella.”
Via walked out from the smoke and dust, smiling as she patted the dust off her clothes.
“Your attack landed on me successfully.”
“How is that considered a success?!”
Stella looked dejected.
She saw that Via was completely fine—not even a single scratch.
“There’s nothing I can do about it. After all, I’m the Demon King. My resistance to magic attacks is naturally stronger,” Via shrugged. “Besides, there’s quite a gap between our current strengths. It would actually be strange if your attacks worked on me.”
“Fine…”
Stella was helpless, but she could only accept it.
Her strength had not yet reached the Transcendent tier, while Via was already at the Legendary tier.
The gap between them wasn’t small at all.
“I thought you’d be strong, but I didn’t expect you to be this ridiculously strong.”
“It’s not that ridiculous. There should still be people in this world stronger than me, right?”
“Really?”
“Maybe.”
Via knew from Sashaya that Mythical-tier existences still existed in this world. She herself hadn’t reached that level yet.
“Let me give you my conclusion. Your control over magic is very precise, and your combat thinking is flexible. You can create opportunities even in unfavorable situations. However, due to your current stage of strength, you can’t deal significant damage to powerful enemies. Your attack power is only about a medium cup. As for your potential in magic… I’m willing to give it a large cup rating!”
“Medium cup, large cup—what kind of evaluation is that?”
“It’s like drink sizes. Just think of it that way,” Via replied.
“Future prospects… I guess that’s not bad. Getting this kind of praise from you means my previous efforts weren’t wasted after all.”
Stella looked at her own hands and smiled.
This afternoon, Via had invited her to the training field for a sparring match. Since Stella was quite curious about Via’s strength, she had accepted. That was how the previous battle had come about.
“Come to think of it, you spend every day in the library and don’t attend classes. I thought you had no combat experience at all,” Via said.
“It’s not every single day in the library. I occasionally go to the black market. I even crushed a gang there once and took control of an underground faction.”
“Oh right, the first time we met was in the underground black market,” Via said, slightly surprised. “You actually have that side to you. You look like such a willful princess.”
“Those were all… disguises. If I had shown too much ambition, I would’ve drawn attention from Father or the other heirs. Ever since Mother died, I’ve known one thing—if I don’t want to live an ordinary life, I have to put in effort,” Stella sighed softly. “But all my previous efforts didn’t amount to much. Even an underground faction is no different from roadside stones in front of the imperial army.”
“That’s true.”
Via understood. What Stella had done before was nothing more than small-scale troublemaking.
Although the Ninth Princess of the empire did have ambition and ability, no platform or faction had been willing to invest in her. No matter how much she did, it wouldn’t have led to anything significant.
“Alright, there’s no point in only talking about me. You’re the one who’s actually strange, Via.”
Stella showed strong curiosity.
“You became so strong in such a short time because you awakened the Demon King’s bloodline, right?”
“That’s part of the reason. But real combat experience was also necessary for my breakthroughs.”
“Can that method be used on me?”
“You?”
“Yeah. I also want to become stronger like you, Via.”
“It’s a bit difficult. You don’t have demonkin blood. You’re pure human. There’s no bloodline awakening for you.”
“Then what about accepting the power of the abyss like you did? Wouldn’t that work?”
“Accepting the power of the abyss without natural resistance will very likely make you lose your sanity and turn into a monster. If you get infected by abyssal aura, you’ll either become like those crazed demonized people from Abyssal Eye… or worse.”
“I see…” Stella sounded disappointed.
“Stella, it’s better for you to train steadily. Not everyone can be like me. I’m just a special case.”
“Mm.” Stella nodded.
“From now on, I’ll teach you some more practical magic for actual combat. I’ll also design some ways for you to grow stronger. You can improve step by step.”
“Hehe~”
Stella leaned closer to Via, pressing her pretty face near.
“Because what you’re doing right now feels a bit like a teacher~”
“Why are you suddenly laughing?”
“From now on, should I call you Teacher Via?!”
“Is that necessary?”
“One day as a teacher, a lifetime as a mother. Doesn’t that mean you can be both my teacher and my mom?”
“Hey!”
“Alright, alright, I was just joking.” Stella showed a mischievous expression.
“Stop saying things like that from now on.”
Via felt a headache coming on. Recently, Stella had started saying these kinds of strange things to her. This wasn’t the right attitude to have toward an ally.
After all, she only wanted Stella to become a bit stronger. If the emperor of the empire was too weak, she wouldn’t even have the confidence to speak firmly.
“Later, I’ll think of a proper way to repay you.”
Stella seemed to be thinking of some bad idea.
“Don’t get any weird ideas. We’re only allies.”
Via raised her staff, intending to knock Stella on the head, but the other girl dodged.
Stella playfully stuck out her tongue at Via.
“Ahem.”
Just then, Via heard other voices coming from inside the training field.
She turned around and saw that Alef had arrived.
“Demon King, my apologies for disturbing you and the Ninth Princess. There are some important matters I need to report to you.”