The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Alice indeed lacked the means to resist Grant for the time being, so she could only watch as the former Demon King absorbed Heris's mana. Fortunately, Grant was only taking Heris's mana instead of outright killing her. At worst, she would enter an exhausted state for a long period before making a full recovery.

As Grant absorbed more of Heris's mana, the clarity of his soul also continued increasing. Eventually, Grant's soul had even parted with Heris's body completely and looked no different than a living person. Only, if one paid close attention, one could still see the objects located directly behind Grant's soul. Right now, his soul looked like it had 90% opacity.

"Phew... The child of one of the Four Heavenly King certainly has a lot of mana. In my current state, I should be able to interfere with reality to a certain extent."

Grant's soul hovered in the air, separated from Heris's body. Unlike Bifrons and Heris, the two demons Alice had met thus far, Grant did not possess demon horns, bat wings, or a black tail. Based on this fact, Zauna's statement that Demon Kings originated from humans might be true.

"I have no use for this fellow anymore, so I'll return her to you," Grant said before kicking Heris's body and sending her flying and falling right beside Alice. Just like Grant stated, his soul could now interfere with reality. "Although you two have only known each other for a short period, I'll kill you two together to save you from a lonely death."

The corners of Alice's eyes twitched when she heard Grant's words. Then, she glanced at the demoness beside her.

After having almost all of her mana drained, Heris now wore a pale complexion, cold sweat covering her face. Moreover, seeing as she remained unconscious even after getting kicked and hitting the ground, it was unlikely that she would regain consciousness anytime soon. And even if she did regain consciousness, she wouldn't be of any threat to the former Demon King unless she rested for a few weeks and recovered her mana.

"Although I can now touch objects, a soul is still a soul at the end of the day. That girl's soul has merely patched up the deficiencies in my soul. It is still not enough for me to use my original strength."

Grant floated toward Alice and Heris and circled them. However, he didn't kill them immediately. Instead, he slowly floated back to the black crystal hovering in the middle of the hall. Then, he pressed a hand onto the crystal and said, "Fortunately, I had prepared for this possibility. The mana this thing emits isn't just radioactive. As this mana originally came from me, I can use it to supplement my lacking power... Young Demon King named Alice, look forward to it. In another minute, you will die under the power of the previous generation's Demon King!"

Three hundred years of solitary confinement had evidently taken a toll on Grant's mental state, seeing as he spoke like someone with eighth-grade syndrome. However, considering the culture of this world, Grant might not find his manner of speech strange at all. Even so, Alice sure as hell found it awkward.

However, now was not the time to be embarrassed. If Alice didn't think of a way out of this problem quickly, she might die by Grant's hands. Judging by Grant's past performances, he should be proficient at gravity magic. Hence, the killing move he prepared would most likely result in Alice being crushed into a meaty pancake, just like how Alice had previously crushed the Boria Wolf King.

Damn it, I still can't move at all…

Even when Grant's soul was at its weakest state, Alice could not break free from the gravity magic holding down her limbs. Now that Grant had restored a significant portion of his soul, Alice naturally had an even lower chance of breaking free from the gravity magic. Hence, she couldn't help but grow anxious.

Huh?

Suddenly, Alice felt something rubbing against her right hand. Turning around, she found that the Milu Rabbit had awakened and wobbled its way to her hand. Even though Grant's gravity magic had previously sent it plunging to the ground, the Milu Rabbit had long since acclimatized itself with blunt force trauma. Hence, the minor dizziness it suffered from colliding with the ground didn't affect it too significantly.

Meanwhile, when Alice met eyes with the Milu Rabbit, the latter had reacted like usual—its hair stood on end, and it immediately turned around and searched for the nearest object to knock itself unconscious again. However, Alice reacted even quicker and grabbed the Milu Rabbit's long, bushy tail before it could run away.

At this time, Alice felt a little fortunate that she had chosen to capture a Milu Rabbit, a type of rabbit with a fox's tail, instead of a normal rabbit that had a short tail. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to catch the rabbit now.

Even after having its tail caught, the Milu Rabbit still frantically tried to run and find something to bump its head with. Ignoring the Milu Rabbit, Alice lifted her head and looked at Grant.

Currently, Grant had his back facing Alice. As he was in the midst of absorbing the black crystal's mana, he was completely unaware of the fact that there was a Milu Rabbit frantically trying to run away from Alice. Even if he did notice it though, he would probably see it as nothing more than a meaningless struggle from Alice.

Fortunately, Grant dismissed his magic after realizing I used most of the magic stones on the Milu Rabbit. Otherwise, the Milu Rabbit would've been immobilized right now as well, Alice thought, letting out a silent sigh of relief. Then, she looked at the magic crystals located to her right and pondered. Seeing as these crystals are situated in inconspicuous locations, they shouldn't be as tough as the radioactive crystal in the center. They might even be very fragile.

Although Alice's plan carried hints of gambling, she had no choice but to take a gamble right now. The Milu Rabbit's head could already shatter a thick tree trunk. If her conjecture was correct and these magic crystals sealing her limbs were indeed fragile, then the Milu Rabbit might just be able to smash them.

The crystal facing my right hand should be responsible for imprisoning my right hand.

There were five magic crystals in the hall imprisoning her, so Alice chose the one that was most likely to be sealing her right hand. Then, after redirecting the Milu Rabbit toward the crystal in question, she released the Milu Rabbit's tail and shouted, "Go, Milu Rabbit! I choose you!"

Immediately after Alice released the Milu rabbit's tail, the Milu Rabbit charged forward at flying speeds. At this moment, there was nothing but the magic crystal in the Milu Rabbit's eyes. There was also only one thought in its mind, and that was to ruthlessly ram its head into the black object in front of it and cleanly lose consciousness.

Bang!!!

A crisp sound echoed throughout the castle hall, awakening Grant from his focus. Immediately, he turned toward the source of the sound and found an unconscious Milu Rabbit lying in a corner of the hall with a happy face on its face.

Meanwhile, situated beside the unconscious Milu Rabbit was one of the five magic crystals Grant had used as a medium to perform gravity magic. At this time, though, visible cracks had formed on the crystal's surface. Then, a moment later, the entire crystal shattered and scattered all over the floor.