“Buzz”

Purplish-Black electricity flashed from Lydia’s albino hand, descending upon the body of water in its violent lash.

>BZZZZZZZZTTTTTZZZZZZ<

Instantly rampaging the water until it began boiling and evaporating into steam, the pangs of lightning didn’t stop.

Its destructive nature coiled about, heating it until everything dried up and became white clouds of hot vapor.

>BZZTZZZ<

“Now what?” The Demon Lord grinned with glee.

The building they were in was designed to prevent any external interference. Ana’s confrontation was a big mistake since she was isolated from everyone else.

‘No one is coming to help you, foolish child!’ Lydia thought to herself, expecting to see the girl’s body lying flat on the ground.

However–

“How were you not affected by the rampaging electricity?” Ana’s voice called out in a small tone.

“U-uh?!”

“I didn’t see you cast any defensive Magic. Ah, I see. You must have used your shapeshifting ability to turn your body into something with no conductivity… like rubber?”

The mist cleared, and Ana was busy rubbing her chin while murmuring to herself.

The Spell Buzz was a spell that ignored defensive barriers.

As long as it had enough conductivity with electricity, anyone and anything within reach would be under its influence.

Even though Buzz wasn’t a lethal Spell, it still caused extreme pain and rendered its targets unconscious.

Yet…

“It’s a good thing I developed a Spell that negates my conductivity. After that experience with Kuzon, I promised myself never to fall under the influence of electricity. That stuff friggin hurts, you know?”

Lydia was beyond astounded.

“Ah, my apologies. I’ve been rambling on and on, haven’t I?” The girl removed her glasses and used a piece of cloth to rub the surface of the lens.

It had gotten quite misty, after the whole vapor experience.

This left her open, so Lydia wanted to take the opportunity. However–

>VWUUUUSSSHHH<

Several lances filled with Mana charged at her at breakneck speed.

“Tch!” She negated them with her barrier, casting a Spell in response.

Unfortunately, the Drones once again interfered.

“Ah, much better.” Ana was already done cleaning her lens.

Her wide smile was so charming and innocent. One would never expect that her drones were currently firing tons of Spells at her foe.

Of course, Lydia avoided every hit.

After all, while Miasma was lethal to normal people, the opposite was also true.

Demons were weak to Mana–especially the Whites.

They had sensitive bodies. That was how they were so malleable–capable of changing forms as they wished.

This served as their greatest strength and weakness.

‘Tch. Do I really have to exert myself against this child?’

While she had intentionally avoided using Spells that cost a lot of Miasma and had a low destructive range, Lydia had definitely been trying hard in the battle.

‘Should I just kill her?’ The thought appeared in her head.

The girl was very troublesome and unpredictable, so it was better to eliminate her as soon as possible.

‘Fine. I’ll just kill her!’ Lydia’s face morphed into a grin.

Her blank face suddenly had a slit open up, and a disgusting smile was formed from the sharp line.

“Looks like you’re finally taking this seriously. I can now begin my experiment.”

With the snap of her fingers, something popped out of nowhere.

It seemed like teleportation, but it had simply been the undoing of Cloaking Magic.

‘W-wha–?! I didn’t notice something like that was here this whole time.’ Lydia’s eyes bulged in surprise as she laid eyes on the new entity that now made its entrance.

It was behind the small girl, having a humanoid build.

It was slightly muscular, possessing the appearance of an average adult male.

It was, of course, dyed in a metallic color, though it shone unnaturally.

‘Is that… a rare metal?’ Lydia wondered, observing the construct that had just appeared.

“I present you the Ultimate Automaton, Ku-Red! Or, should I call it Ja-Zon? Uh… this is hard…”

To be frank, Ana was yet to name the Automaton behind her. It was still in its test phase, after all.

She had a policy not to name anything until it had completely been perfected.

“Well, you get the gist, don’t you? This is the main reason I acted on my own. I wanted to test the capabilities of this stuff, and also find out where I need to work on.”

“Are you joking? Really? You’re in extreme danger, yet you want to test something?” Lydia had given up on understanding the girl’s logic.

It was now painfully clear that she was an oddball even a Demon Lord couldn’t see through.

“Okay, Automaton… show her a good time, okay?”

The tall construct–at least over six feet, nodded his head and moved from behind its master.

Though silent, it was emitting an aura that spoke of its resolve to fight. Standing in front of its master, for her protection and also to impress her on its progress, the machine prepared itself.

“I’ve taken on this farce long enough. Just di–“

In a flash, the Automaton lunged, swiftly closing the distance between itself and the target.

Before anyone could react–

>BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<

–It slammed her head upon the Magic-Enhanced Concrete.

The ground trembled, and the area of impact shattered.

“Guark!” Lydia let out a sharp cough, accompanied by a surprised yelp.

She hadn’t anticipated such speed and precise movement.

Still clinging unto her head, the Automaton made to hash her head further into the concrete.

“Let me gooo!!!” In a brilliant burst of energy, negative power emerged from the White Demon.

The Automaton instantly knew that it had to retreat, and so it leaped backward to avoid any dangerous hits.

“You…” Lydia rose from her disheveled state

Her face, which had been bashed and disfigured instantly recovered.

It was as though she was violently beaten a few moments earlier.

If that was the only difference, then perhaps one could overlook it. But, things were now terribly more precarious.

Lydia’s body was currently emitting a dangerously high amount of energy–negative energy.

“… That does it! You’re dead!”