The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

"With this, the current generation's Demon King is no different than dead."

Aird let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Alice had stopped moving. Then, she stood up and started considering how she should explain the situation to the other kings. The new Demon King suddenly going missing wasn't a trivial matter. The other Heavenly Kings would definitely get to the bottom of this incident. Of course, Aird wasn't completely without solutions to this problem. Not to mention, even if the other Heavenly Kings did find out that she was the culprit of this incident, she was confident she could escape with her life intact.

However, as soon as Aird stood up, she immediately noticed that something was amiss. The "War God's Lock" that had penetrated Alice's right hand was a construct made out of Aird's mana. So, logically, Aird should be able to sense the chain's existence. Yet, the moment she stood up, the chain's existence had vanished from her perception.

What's going on?

Aird frowned and looked at Alice's right hand that was held up in midair. Even now, the War God's Lock remained in Alice's hand. The mana used to form the translucent chain had not dissipated. However, as this was her first time using the simplified War God's Lock, she wasn't sure if the sudden disappearance of its presence should be part of the magic's characteristic. Eventually, Aird concluded as such and turned around to leave.

However, the instant Aird turned around, she felt danger coming from behind her. Immediately, her instincts kicked in, and she tried to jump aside to evade the dangerous feeling approaching her from behind.

Unfortunately, the "person" who attacked Aird this time was none other than the War God's Lock she just used.

"What?!"

The next moment, Aird felt a familiar mana ruthlessly penetrating her right hand. Then, a sealing power spread across her right hand, keeping it frozen in space and sealing the flow of mana within it.

"This is…the War God's Lock?

Finally realizing the problem's severity, Aird quickly turned around to look at Alice. Sure enough, Alice had already stood up from the ground at this time, and the seals placed on her body had started dissipating.

Aird had placed two different seals on Alice. The first one was the simplified War God's Lock, and its function was to seal Alice's right hand, preventing her from using the Demon King's Power. Although the number of chains the spell summoned had been reduced to just one, the spell's quality was still on the level of taboos.

The second seal Aird placed was called Engraving of the Moon. Although it was only an ordinary sealing spell and not a taboo, it was more than enough to deal with Alice in her normal state. The spell could sap all of the strength from Alice's body and put her in a comatose state, preventing her from moving and growing for the rest of her life.

"You… How are you fine?!"

Aird's complexion paled. She had not expected such a situation to happen even after her two seals had taken effect on Alice.

Breaking free from Engraving of the Moon's sealing effect was a simple task. One could struggle out of the seal so long as one had sufficient mana within one's body. However, Alice was someone who didn't have an ounce of mana in her body. There should be no way Alice could struggle out of the magic unless a large amount of mana had spontaneously appeared within her body.

However, such a situation went against common sense. Nobody should be capable of conjuring enough mana to break free from Engraving of the Moon in a situation where they originally had no mana in their body. Such a situation was akin to filling a dried lake with water to full capacity in the blink of an eye. No matter how big the valve used was, there was no way one could accomplish such a feat.

The only possibility Aird could think of that could explain this phenomenon that defied common sense was that Alice had made use of the Demon King's Power. If it was the Demon King's Power, it might be capable of accomplishing such a feat.

However, it was precisely because Aird knew that something like this might happen that she had used the War God's Lock to seal Alice's right hand, preventing it from generating any mana.

Yet, even after Aird had done all this, Alice had still managed to regain her freedom. Moreover, not only did Alice manage to counter the War God's Lock's sealing effect, but she had also managed to conjure up a large amount of mana from somewhere to break free from the Engraving of the Moon.

"The reason why I'm fine is thanks to you, actually."

Alice breathed out a sigh of relief after feeling strength returning to her. Then, she looked at her right hand with a strange gaze. Even when the simplified War God's Lock had sealed her right hand, the moment her right hand grabbed onto the translucent chain, it had instantly robbed Aird of her ownership over the chain.

…

[Weapon: Sturdy War God's Lock - Simplified Version]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Effect: Mind +700, Control +700, Mana +700]

[Additional Effect:

War God's Imprisonment (Active Skill. Imprison the target penetrated by the chain, keeping the target in place and sealing the target's source of power. The size of the affected area depends on the user's mana.)]

…

Fortunately for Alice, even though the chain was made up of mana, it was still possible to hold onto it physically. Thus, the moment Alice grabbed onto the chain, the chain immediately became Alice's weapon. At the same time, the chain also supplied Alice with a large amount of mana, allowing her to break free from Aird's Engraving of the Moon.

In other words, had Aird not noticed the peculiarity with Alice's right hand and only used the Engraving of the Moon against Alice, Alice's tale in this world might have really come to an end today.

"What is this nonsense… How can the War God's Lock…"

Aird tried to move her right hand. However, to her horror, the War God's Lock had indeed sealed her right hand. In other words, the ownership of the chain which she had used her mana to create had indeed been stolen by her opponent. Never had she heard of such a feat was possible. If Alice really was capable of stealing other people's magic and using it as her own, was there anybody in this world capable of defeating her?

Meanwhile, Alice was staring at Aird as she pondered what she should do next. She had originally planned to subjugate Aird after sealing her, but the problem was that the "Sturdy War God's Lock - Simplified Version" only boosted Alice's Mind, Control, and Mana. It didn't give Alice any bonuses in Strength.

And although Alice currently had a large amount of mana flowing within her body, she lacked the means to properly utilize it. While she might be able to crudely use this mana to break free from Aird's Engraving of the Moon, she couldn't fight Aird using it. In other words, she still wasn't a threat to Aird in her present state.

So…I still have to use my panties?

Alice looked down at her skirt with a headache. She felt that it'd be best if she started learning about magic as soon as possible.