"Ah!" Lina's agonized scream came from behind. Aoko turned her head and suddenly noticed that Zelgadiss' eyes were glowing with the same ominous red light. He punched Lina, knocking her to the ground, and seized the Orihalcon Goddess Statue containing the Philosopher's Stone.
Aoko immediately used her Mirage Step to appear behind Zelgadiss, intending to subdue him and retrieve the statue. However, Rezo was already prepared for this. He landed ahead of Aoko and snatched the statue from Zelgadiss' hands.
But Aoko, with her magically enhanced speed, was no slouch. She struck Rezo with her palm. This time, it didn't pass through him like before—it landed solidly.
Rezo grunted in pain, surprised by Aoko's quick reaction. However, he was confident that such a physical attack, devoid of magical effects, couldn't harm him…
The next moment, Rezo's crimson robe fluttered wildly, enveloping him completely. He spun and twisted, then vanished before everyone's eyes.
Aoko immediately closed her eyes to sense Rezo's location. He was directly above them, outside, at the very top of the tower.
The reason Aoko could locate Rezo so quickly was that her earlier palm strike wasn't meant to harm him—it was to secretly place her magical seal on him. With this mark, she could track Rezp wherever he went.
"I'll go ahead. Once you deal with Zelgadiss, catch up quickly," Aoko instructed. A portal of space opened beside her. Before Lina and Gourry could even respond, she disappeared from the hall.
Meanwhile, Gourry was locked in a sword fight with the mind-controlled Zelgadiss. Lina, after writhing in pain on the ground for a while, finally stood up and began supporting Gourry with her magic.
Zolf, not adept at support magic and unwilling to harm his boss, had no choice but to use defensive magic to fend off Zelgadiss' spirit magic attacks.
When Zelgadiss unleashed the Demon Emperor Slash, Gourry was forced to draw the Sword of Light to counter him. However, worried about injuring his controlled ally, Gourry's movements were constrained, making the fight even more challenging.
"Demon Wind!" Zolf gritted his teeth and used a relatively gentler spirit magic to surprise his boss from the side, launching an air bullet to knock him to the ground.
Seizing the moment, Lina rushed forward, grabbed a decorative art piece from the hall, and smashed it down onto Zelgadiss' head with all her strength.
In truth, Zelgadiss had already broken free from the mind control when he was knocked down by the Demon Wind. He was merely disoriented and unable to react immediately. However, for some reason, Lina didn't stop and continued hammering his head until the decorative piece shattered against his stone-like skull.
"Ouch… my head hurts…" Zelgadiss groaned, clutching the spot where Lina had hit him. "What happened to me? Where's Rezo?"
"He escaped," Lina replied with a stern expression. "He controlled you and stole the Philosopher's Stone from me. Miss Aoko is already chasing after him. We need to hurry!"
...
In the blink of an eye, Aoko had reached the top of the tower. What greeted her was a massive magic circle engraved into the floor.
The circle was glowing intensely, with enormous amounts of magical energy surging through its circuits. At its center stood the Red Priest Rezo.
The Goddess Statue's form had disappeared. Floating in the air was a stone radiating immense magical energy—the legendary Philosopher's Stone.
"Shabranigdo, the time for your resurrection has come!" Rezo's voice, layered and echoing amidst the magical storm, reverberated through the tower.
Aoko raised her palm, magical runes forming intricate arrays along her arm. A deadly spell was about to be unleashed at the stone. However, something unexpected happened—the Philosopher's Stone shattered into powder on its own.
Both Rezo and Aoko froze in shock. This wasn't how things were supposed to go.
At that moment, Lina and the others arrived, finding Aoko and Rezo locked in a tense standoff. The situation grew increasingly complex.
"Did it fail?!" Zolf exclaimed. "The Philosopher's Stone… it's gone!"
"How could this happen?!" Rezo cried in disbelief. "Aaaaaah!"
He let out a tormented scream, then suddenly opened his eyes. A sinister crimson light of magical energy shot forth from them. In that instant, it seemed as though one of the Five Great Sages, the Red Priest Rezo, had finally regained full awareness.
But his triumph was short-lived. A surge of even stronger magical energy erupted from within him, causing him unimaginable pain.
"...I see now," Aoko murmured thoughtfully as she watched Rezo writhe in agony. "The fragment of the Demon King wasn't sealed in the tower—it was in Rezo's eyes all along. What a twisted sense of humor."
Though Aoko felt some sympathy for Rezo, it didn't mean she would allow the Demon King's fragment to be unsealed. She wasn't one to wait for her enemy to complete their transformation before striking.
Aoko let her staff hover beside her, clasping her hands together. She activated the Law Imprint, a power not fully compatible with this world, unleashing a surge of magical energy that rivaled Rezo's current state.
Lina and the others were stunned by the sheer scale of the magical power emanating from both Aoko and Rezo. It was far beyond anything mere mortals could comprehend.
To prevent Rezo's transformation from completing, Aoko fired her Earthlight Starbow without fully charging it. The brilliant beam of light struck Rezo's head directly, vaporizing it.
Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Aoko noticed that Rezo's headless body remained standing. His magical energy continued to rise as something broke free from his physical form and manifested in the material world.
With a grotesque transformation not fit for children's eyes, the once-dignified Red Priest was no more. In his place stood a massive, hideous demon with curled horns, four arms, and bat-like wings.
The most striking feature of this demon was its ruby-like eyes. Despite its monstrous appearance, its eyes gleamed with a sinister, intelligent light.
"The Ruby-Eyed, Shabranigdo!" Zelgadiss' voice trembled slightly. If the legends he had read were true, then the being before them was far beyond their ability to handle.
"You may choose your path," Shabranigdo spoke in a calm tone. "Consider this a gesture of goodwill for releasing me. If you submit to me, you may live out your days in peace. What do you say?"
"But if you refuse, you will be my enemies here and now."
Shabranigdo's words were almost reasonable, a stark contrast to the ruthless image of the Ruby-Eyed Evil God recorded in history.
"Don't think that escaping your seal makes you victorious!" Aoko responded in a voice both calm and angry. "You're just a fragment of the Demon King, yet you boast about destroying the world?"
"Oh?" Shabranigdo finally turned his attention to the slender figure before him. To his surprise, the magical energy within this human was among the strongest he had encountered in his long existence. "I didn't expect to see someone like you in this era… No, are you human? I have my doubts…"