Ankh was sweating buckets while muttering under his breath.
"How the hell was I supposed to know you'd just stand there like an idiot?"
In her fury, Seilah swiftly raised her hand.
A torrent of vast, sinister dark energy poured out, transforming into multiple destructive rays that shot straight toward Ankh.
And just like before, there was zero fluctuation of Magic Power within that energy.
It felt… empty, yet deadly.
Ankh, who was extremely sensitive to magical perception, frowned hard.
He barely managed to twist his body in mid-air, dodging Seilah's bombardment by inches.
"What kind of Magic is this?" he asked, genuinely surprised.
Seilah raised her hand again.
The Beast King, who had been swatted away like a fly moments ago, returned with a dazed expression.
The two of them now loosely surrounded Ankh.
"Magic? Don't insult us. We Demons use the far superior Curse Power!" Seilah's normally tranquil face contorted as she spoke, her eyes burning with fanaticism.
'Curse Power?'
Another new term he'd never heard before...
[Curse Power... what a vulgar name.]
Seram's disdainful voice echoed in his mind, and Ankh had a sudden spark of inspiration.
"Seram, do you know about this ability?"
[Heretical arts. Mere tricks. Why would I bother knowing about such garbage?]
Ankh curled his lip.
'Tch...'
'And here I thought you actually knew something useful for once...'
Sensing Ankh's scornful thoughts, Seram explained, sounding somewhat irritated.
[Our predecessor—the God of Life and Death, Ankhseram—mastered the supreme Divine Power of life and death. The abilities derived from these two powers are "Blessings" and "Curses."]
[This so-called "Curse Power" they use is basically a cheap knock-off. It's a special ability obtained by having someone else's curse power forcefully stuffed into a physical body... Of course, this trash can't compare to true divine craftsmanship.]
Ankh nodded, finally understanding.
Then he asked while a bit annoyed, "Why didn't you tell me about this power before?"
After a long, awkward silence, Seram replied.
[You grew too fast and had no real opponents, so... I forgot.]
That explanation was truly something else.
If the timing weren't so inappropriate, Ankh would've mentally given Seram a middle finger for that excuse.
While Ankh was standing there, spacing out in his own mental world, the ignored Seilah's eyelid twitched violently.
Her fair, delicate face actually began to emit a dark glow as mysterious runes crawled all over her skin!
"Bastard! What are you spacing out for?!"
Snapping back to reality, Ankh looked toward the charging Seilah and nearly jumped out of his skin.
'Holy shit!'
'She's transforming too!'
The fully demonized Seilah threw a punch, her arm completely wreathed in dark energy.
Simultaneously, the Beast King behind him received her mental instructions, clenching both massive fists to smash down toward Ankh's head.
A dangerous glint flashed in Ankh's eyes.
A circle of air currents erupted at his feet, and a transparent hemispherical barrier instantly enveloped the entire battlefield.
Titan Gravity: Repel.
At that moment, all "force" attempting to act upon Ankh's physical body was instantly redirected by him!
The Beast King immediately let out a miserable howl before being blasted away like garbage again.
Seilah's expression tightened as she hastily retracted her arm, barely avoiding the repulsive force.
Staring at her now red and swollen hand, Seilah gritted her teeth.
"Fairy Grim Reaper... you're truly difficult to deal with."
Her "Macro" command curses were ineffective, and close combat offered no advantage either.
This was truly troublesome.
Seilah—or rather, demons like her—had many members who excelled at close-quarters combat, but few who were masters in releasing pure curse power at range.
Against previous opponents, Seilah would simply use one command curse to make them kneel.
If she encountered someone she couldn't control, she'd immediately demonize and physically "liberate" them from life with one punch.
The outcome was always the same—she was invincible.
Who would've thought she'd encounter such a freak anomaly today!
"Speaking of which, why didn't that girl's curse magic work on me?" Ankh crossed his arms, genuinely curious.
Now it was Seram's turn to despise his lack of comprehension:
[WE are literally the ancestor of curses. Have you ever seen a grandson bossing his grandfather around?]
Ankh's mouth twitched.
He really felt Seram had become increasingly cheeky over these past few years.
Just then, hearing the commotion, the three Strauss siblings—Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman—finally rushed back into the clearing.
Seeing the chaotic, destroyed battlefield before them, they were instantly dumbfounded.
Mirajane looked at Ankh, whose Magic Power was surging around him, and ran over while looking confused.
"Ankh... why are you here?"
Ankh glanced at Mirajane, then saw that Lisanna was safe and sound.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief but didn't speak.
However, Seilah, standing across from them, thoughtfully decided to stir the pot.
The demonized beauty speak in a flippant, mocking tone.
"It seems the Fairy Grim Reaper was worried about his little sweetheart and secretly followed her here? How romantic."
'And then accidentally discovered the White Devil Cult's schemes and ruined my plans...'
Thinking this, Seilah's mood suddenly became even worse.
Hearing Seilah's words, Mirajane gazed at Ankh with watery, hopeful eyes and asked softly.
"Is that true...?"
Behind her, Lisanna and Elfman facepalmed simultaneously and sighed in unison.
Whenever their big sister stood in front of Ankh, it was like her IQ dropped and she became a totally different person.
Ankh stood silently to the side without speaking—it seemed Mirajane had misunderstood something again.
"I was worried you might handle things unreliably and cause something to happen to Elfman and Lisanna, so I came to check," Ankh said after some thought.
His words sounded somewhat harsh as he was trying to cover his concern.
Yet Mirajane, who knew Ankh's character well, wore a radiant smile and obediently nodded instead.
Compared to the fact that Ankh had personally followed her to protect her out of concern... things like completing an S-class mission or proving herself...
Were nothing at all!
Instantly, the gloom in Mirajane's heart vanished completely.
She started happily circling around Ankh like an overexcited husky who just saw its owner come home.
Not far away, Seilah couldn't help scratching her head, inexplicably feeling like she was being blinded by some weird pink aura.
'How dare you ignore me like this!'
Seilah raged internally while continuing her movements.
She commanded her curse magic to activate once more, targeting the three siblings—Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman—standing right next to Ankh!
...
After a long moment, nothing happened.
Mirajane tilted her head, staring at Seilah who was striking an arrogant pose with her hand outstretched.
The entire battlefield fell into dead silence.
'Huh?'
Seilah blinked, dumbfounded.
'Why was the curse ineffective against this woman too?'
'Am I the one who's cursed today?!'
As someone who had taken in a Demon Soul, Mirajane's physique and bloodline were no longer purely human.
Seilah's human-targeting "Macro" naturally had no effect on her.
But Lisanna and Elfman weren't so lucky.
With terrified expressions, Elfman swung his massive Beast Arm to attack his own sister, while Lisanna fully activated her Take Over: Cat Soul and lunged to kill Ankh!
Seilah's heart leapt with joy—it seemed her curse still worked on normal people!
'In that case, they will surely hesitate to hurt their family...'
Before Seilah could finish her internal scheming, the "battle" across from her had already been done.
Mira, in her Satan Soul form, calmly grabbed the rampaging Elfman by the throat.
Then, with practiced ease, she applied a joint lock by wrapping her long legs around his beast arm, dislocating it in one smooth move...
Meanwhile, Lisanna swung her cute cat-like fists furiously but was kept at bay by Ankh's hand pressed firmly against her forehead.
Her short arms flailed uselessly, unable to reach him no matter how hard she struggled...
Immediately after, Ankh and Mirajane struck decisively, knocking both siblings unconscious with precise chops to the neck.
Witnessing this scene, Seilah's mind completely collapsed.
She wanted to cry but no tears coming from her eyes.
'Could you two be any more useless?'
She didn't even get the chance to command them to commit suicide—how was she supposed to play this game?!
'What kind of Mages this Fairy tail guild has been recruiting anyway?!'
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator