Under normal circumstances, if Macht hadn't expressed willingness to submit beforehand, or if his final words were ambiguous and their sincerity couldn't be guaranteed, the safest method would be to directly cut off his head and turn him into a mindless soldier, or control him through brain surgery.
But once a demon dies, their uncontrolled magic turns their body into dust, so such measures are naturally impossible.
Therefore, the only choice was to believe that Macht was genuinely willing to become a puppet... at least for now.
If it really didn't work, they could deal with it later.
After all, even if his willpower was strong and his magic power immense, allowing him to break free of control for a short time, it probably wouldn't cause too much trouble.
After all, the Diagoldze had already been deciphered. Even if Aura were turned into gold, Frieren could undo it, and soon they could issue a command. Ordering him to kill himself immediately after attempting any act of rebellion.
But that would basically make him a one-time-use bomb that might explode at any moment. After all, Macht didn't need Diagoldze to display powerful combat ability.
So how to handle him properly became a problem. For now... they could only send him somewhere far away to be used, keeping him as distant as possible from Aura and the others, so that if anything went wrong, the losses could be minimized.
And now... under the control of obedience magic, the bleeding from Macht's chest had already stopped. The loss of magic power was quickly halted, and it was even gradually recovering.
"Pretty amazing, right~ my obedience magic?"
Aura sat leisurely on a piece of rubble nearby, legs crossed, looking up at Ash with high spirits.
That smug look on her face practically had "Praise me!" written all over it.
'Sometimes, even small fry like Aura has cute moments... no, wait, is something wrong with me for thinking that?', Ash wore a faint smile, pondered briefly, then quickly stepped forward and started patting her head, "As expected of my little sister. When you're serious, you're pretty cool."
"Heh heh~ of course! Now... wait? Why are you touching my hair? Normally at a time like this, shouldn't you be happily kneeling on the ground, full of admiration, licking my feet?"
"Have you ever considered that your 'normal' might be a bit abnormal?"
"Really? Isn't the abnormal one you?"
"Since the moment I was born, not once have I thought of myself as abnormal."
Even though his hand was roughly pushed away, Ash still sat down beside her, watching Macht, who had already gotten up on his own, and fell into deep thought.
Honestly, he really couldn't understand how this man's mind worked. To coexist, he had to first understand human thinking, and the method of understanding... had to be killing.
And this way of killing had gradually changed from simple slaughter to getting to know people first and then killing them, 'Could it be that in Macht's impression, human emotions consists only of negative feelings?'
The various actions earlier were also somewhat beyond expectation.
Originally, when he felt like he wanted to die, in reality he didn't want to die.
At first he refused surrender, and now he could accept it.
'Yeah, it all feels off in various ways.'
In the end, if he really wanted to stimulate emotions through killing, wouldn't using a blade be more stimulating, emotionally?
Judging by the melee ability Macht displayed when he instantly killed the vanguard earlier and when he took the initiative against him, purely relying on hand-to-hand combat, as long as his stamina could keep up, wiping out a city shouldn't be too much of a problem.
He could even first use Diagoldze to seal the entire city, then take it slow, stimulate himself gradually.
Turning everything directly into gold... honestly, Ash found it hard to comment. The stimulation would only last an instant. He wouldn't even truly kill them, and there wouldn't even be any stimulating scenes.
If that single instant could already make him feel some kind of emotion, then wouldn't slow slaughter, even listening carefully to the screams of friends, stimulate him even more? Maybe he would have developed emotions long ago.
Although that was what he thought and believed, he really couldn't say this out loud, nor could he leave it to Macht... otherwise Macht would definitely go try it.
And the entire city before him, although already damaged, still had golden statues of people standing intact.
Although Serie had threatened Macht, telling him to restore the city, Macht had completely ignored her... and she had directly concluded that he had no way to restore humans.
Her reasoning was that demons considered life the most important.
But at that time, the two sides hadn't even fought at all. Macht had instead been angered by her attitude, and only afterward did they start fighting.
Even then, they only exchanged a single clash before being interrupted by those disciples, and even until the end, neither side showed any sign of winning.
At least, that was how it was in that conflict that had just begun before being cut short. Both sides had looked somewhat disinterested.
Therefore, based on Macht's memories, Serie's overly casual judgment, directly concluding that he could only restore himself and objects but not humans... Ash personally didn't quite agree with that.
And now, with no casualties, perhaps Macht had deliberately preserved them?
Well... honestly, he couldn't figure it out either. Macht was simply too hard to understand.
———
Ash was troubled by his inability to understand, while Macht, whose injuries had stopped worsening, was taken away by soldiers during this time to receive treatment from the army's priests.
It was also at this moment that Solitar leisurely walked up to them, and... With elegant ease, she brushed the loose strands of hair on her forehead behind her ear. Then, as he looked up, she revealed a charming smile, lowered her head naturally, and kissed him, even holding his head.
The entire process was so smooth and natural that both Ash and Aura failed to react.
The sudden moist sensation on his lips made Ash, who had still been thinking, widen his eyes in shock. His mind buzzed.
Meanwhile, Aura, who had been sitting proudly with her legs crossed, waiting for more praise, merely glanced over at first and dismissed it.
But the next moment, it was as if she realized she had overlooked something. Tilting her head to think for a moment... she finally snapped back.
"What the FUCK?"
She turned her head sharply, stunned, her whole body seeming to petrify as her mouth hung open for a long while without closing.
After quite some time, the two finally separated.
Solitar licked her lips, revealing a radiant smile, and said to herself, "Since you weren't willing to kiss me, I'll do it myself~ Mm! You're really great~ Aura isn't bad either, so... from now on, let her push from behind~"
"W-wait? Ash! You actually let this woman kiss you? Huh? N-no... wait? Push? What push?"
Aura snapped back to her senses, forcefully pushing Solitar away. She angrily demanded an answer, but then caught the strange wording and instinctively turned to Solitar, not quite understanding what bizarre role had just been assigned to her.
"I read it in a book. That's also a very important task. Only the most trusted woman can receive that honor, assisting behind the ruler."
"Huh? What are you talking about? And of course I'm the most trusted! But the problem right now is you!"
"Wait a second," Ash wiped his mouth, trying to sort things out, "The problem right now shouldn't be—"
"Don't try to change the subject. Answer me first! Why did you let her kiss you?", Aura cut him off with a face full of black lines. Before Ash could even organize his thoughts, Solitar, hands clasped in front of her chest, smiled and said, "It wasn't just a kiss, you know? It was a kiss filled with love~"
"YOU SHUT UP TOO! I'm not talking to you right now!"
"My, how mean~ Being this harsh to your future sister-in-law? Ash, hurry up and explain?", Solitar added fuel to the fire, sitting down beside him and even hugging his arm.
This attitude made Aura so angry that she jumped off the rock, furious, "I don't remember ever allowing you to become my sister-in-law!"
"Both of you calm down first. I'll answer one by one. First of all, I didn't have time to react..."
"With your reaction speed, there's no way you didn't have time!"
The moment Ash's clumsy excuse came out, Aura, who understood him too well, immediately exposed it, making him awkwardly turn his face away, "Honestly, as a man, instinctively rejecting a beautiful girl would be pretty bad too, right? Though I do regret it a bit now... and her strength was greater than I expected. By the time I tried to break free, it was already too late."
"My, why would you regret kissing me?"
"Because I like gentle older women."
"I'm not gentle?", Solitar showed a maternal smile and asked as if genuinely confused, "And no matter how you look at it, I'm an older woman, right?"
"You can really say that with a straight face. You're even more lacking in self-awareness than Aura. Anyway, the 'older woman' I'm talking about isn't about age—"
The words he spoke without thinking instantly angered both girls at the same time.
Solitar still remained relatively gentle, but Aura looked like she wanted to fight him to the death on the spot.
But joking aside, when others approached, the two still quietly withdrew for the time being.
However... before leaving, the fierce look Aura cast back over her shoulder made it clear that this matter wouldn't end like this.
Left alone, Ash sat among the golden ruins, looking absent-minded as he thought about something.
He felt that the development of events was a bit strange. The victory itself was fine, but being ambushed by Solitar was really unexpected. Though... he didn't feel like he lost out either, even if it didn't match what he had imagined.
Things like the setting, the person, the emotions... after all, he wasn't the type to simply vent base desires.
Compared to desire, he cared more about other things. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed alone all these years. The most important point was... the lack of a suitable person.
"Why are both Linie and Solitar flat? At least they should be like Aura and Fern... ugh, no, I can't go after them no matter what. I'm not an animal! Even though now that they've grown up, they do have more feminine charm... but I watched them grow up... and Fern will grow old soon..."
After a victory, he should have been celebrating, but the strange situation disrupted the calm he usually maintained.
In contrast, the three people who rushed here from afar were in much worse moods.
The two outer walls of the urban fortress, once unshakable defenses, were now riddled with damage.
Massive stones lay scattered everywhere, leaving only broken walls trembling in the wind.
Inside the city, the streets were narrow and winding, filled with the wreckage of buildings destroyed by the "battle."
Former shops, homes, and churches were now reduced to half-standing walls and broken beams. Occasionally, shattered furniture and utensils could still be seen scattered among the ruins, telling of the cruelty and mercilessness of that conflict.
On both sides of the streets, the once-bustling markets and lively squares were now silent and desolate... and right at Ash's feet lay the head of a goddess statue.
"What a tragic sight," Denken looked at the city-fortress that was like a second home to him, his lips trembling slightly.
But Ash still sat on the rock, even playing with the goddess's head under his foot, "But as long as people are fine, the rest isn't really a problem."
"Is Macht dead?"
"Of course. But that really was an exhilarating battle."
"Is that so? Even such a powerful existence will eventually come to an end," Denken felt like he should be happy about his master's defeat, but his heart was filled with mixed emotions.
"It can't be helped. That's just the cycle of the world, what they call cause and effect," Ash nodded with a smile, having also picked up the notion of karma and retribution.
But Frieren stared at him without blinking, as if she had something to say, making him frown, "What is it? Didn't I do something very good? This is when you should be praising me more."
"Leave the praise for later. I have quite a few questions I need to discuss with you afterward."
"I'd rather not talk about it... but fine, if you want to, then we'll talk."
He silently stood up from the rubble, brushed off his backside, and casually kicked away the head of the goddess statue at his feet.
Frieren gave him a deep look, then began preparing, intending to pull all the golden statues out from the ruins before lifting the curse on the fortress city.
Fern, on the other hand, happily ran up to him, her eyes shining without restraint, filled with admiration and emotion, "As expected of Lord Ash~ You even defeated the strongest Sage of Collapse. They say he was already the strongest demon known in the world, right?"
"Haha~ I'm pretty amazing, right?"
Being admired by a beautiful girl, especially one he had raised, naturally made Ash smile. He unconsciously reached out to pat Fern's head, happily enjoying the admiration and the feel of her hair.
It didn't last long... Frieren quickly pulled him away to help with search and rescue.
———
The four of them busied themselves after the battle, preparing to restore the city.
And during this process, Frieren suddenly came over as if casually, moving rubble with magic while speaking without looking back, "Ash, you actually did it on purpose, didn't you? You let Macht have the chance to use that large-scale move and destroy the city."
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
"Because with the strength you showed, you should have been able to end the battle before the city was completely destroyed... so why didn't you?"
"That's unexpected, you can be perceptive sometimes?"
This unusually sharp moment from the normally slow girl made Ash pause his actions.
"Of course!", Frieren puffed out her chest proudly, hands on her hips.
But then she suddenly remembered something and frowned slightly, "Wait, that's not it. There's something else!"
"What now?"
"The Demon King Serie mentioned... could it be... you?"
Just as he had relaxed, Frieren suddenly recalled Serie's words. She stared into his eyes, as if trying to see through his thoughts, her voice carrying an unspoken tension as she slowly asked, "The future Demon King has already obtained unprecedented authority. Both humans and demons have been gathered under him, and they are no longer controlled purely by fear... If I want to stop him again, I won't just be facing the Demon King alone, no matter how I think about it, I can only think of you."
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