21 - Sacred Power, there’s no cooler way to say it

By the expression on Frey’s face, Eliza did not need to say more. With a gloomy, pitiful look, Frey slowly closed her eyes.

“ Please help me,” Eliza said. “No, please help humanity.”

“ I can no longer help you,” Frey said. “I’ve exhausted all my magic in the fight with the former Demon King, I am nothing more than a storyteller now.”

“ That’s not true!” Eliza shouted. “No magician in the world can surpass your power!”

Frey turned her back to her, Eliza chose her next words carefully. “Please, Great Sage, can you give me the strength to defeat the Demon King once more?” she said as she knelt and bowed her head as if in prayer.

Still, Frey did not look at her. “I cannot help you.”

“ Great Sage, please,” Eliza said as she put herself before Frey. “Think of the people. The world is in danger. Please, I’m begging, you,” she said as she bowed so low her forehead pressed against the floor.

Exasperated, Frey looked over her shoulder and said, “Very well, but I cannot fight. Instead, I will give you the Stigma, the Holy Power that the Hero once used.”

“ Thank you, Great Sage!” Eliza cried.

“ Now, give me your right hand,” Frey said.

As ordered, Eliza held it out, Frey took it with both her hands. White light shone from Frey’s hands, the back of Eliza’s hands felt warm. When Frey pulled away, Eliza found a stigma on her hand, in the shape of a cross inside a magic circle.

“ The Stigma has the power to ward off evil spirits,” Frey said. “With this, you will be able to resist their corrupting influence. Now, go: you are the Hero now.”

Eliza made a fist with her right hand and beat her chest. Immediately, she felt the Stigma’s power, a light so pure it would shine bright even in the darkest of times—a power that could counter even the Demon King. “I swear I will defeat the Demon King and protect the peace of this world,” she said.

“ I wish you luck,” Frey said.

Merle and her two companions slept till late in the afternoon, had breakfast in bed with their eyes still half-closed from sleep. Or rather, Levantine floated nearby, waiting for them to finally wake up, then tossed forbidden fruit at them.

As Merle chewed on her piece and wondered what to take under her control next, a curtain of the canopy bed suddenly fell to the floor. “Woah, is that supposed to happen?” she asked.

“ No, it is not,” Succubus said. “I build this bed myself. I designed it to be sturdy and safe so that I can make a child with Her Majesty at any time.”

“ There’s nothing more to say,” Merle said. “First the comb this morning and now this curtain. Aren’t there too many ill omens?”

“‘Ill omens’?” Slime asked as she sat atop Merle’s head as she ate her fruit. “What are those?”

“ It’s a sign of something bad about to come,” Merle explained. “It’s just superstition, though.”

Still, she couldn’t help but gaze at the fallen curtain through her half-asleep eyes; though they should have been pink, they turned white like they’d been bleached by the sun.