Fate/Magus Path

156 Peace

By the next morning, most of the participants from the previous night's events had gathered at the Kuonji witch's mansion.

However, aside from Alice Kuonji, who was still exhausted from the prolonged battle and resting in her room, the others showed little signs of fatigue. Touko Aozaki had refreshed her state by dying once, Aoko Aozaki and Roy had stabilized their conditions using their respective Magics, Shiki Ryougi was carrying Avalon, and Arcueid had barely been involved.

Last night, she had merely gone through the motions with Merem, while Roy had single-handedly dealt with Vlov, Roa, and the Child of Einnashe.

All she had done was keep watch from the sidelines, contributing little to the actual fight. Even her attempt to kill Roa had backfired, nearly putting Roy in danger. She had been the one being protected all along...

The thought left her feeling disheartened, so she decided to go out for a walk to clear her mind.

"This incident saw the elimination of two active Dead Apostle Ancestors and the complete resolution of the Roa problem," Roy remarked, leaning back in his chair.

"With this, everything should be settled."

The intense week-long ordeal had finally come to an end, and now he could afford to relax for a while.

"Yeah..."

"Though it was supposed to be a team effort, you were the one who solved everything," Aoko said, her tone tinged with frustration. What had seemed like a group effort had essentially been Roy carrying the entire battle on his shoulders.

Even though the battlefield was in her city, and she was the one responsible for managing the leylines, she had merely played a supporting role. All the tough opponents had been handled by Roy.

Worse still, due to her poor compatibility with the situation, she hadn't even managed to take down a single Child of Einnashe.

Touko, who had returned that morning, couldn't resist taunting Aoko, who was slumped in her chair.

"Well, well, I heard all about last night's events from Shiki. As expected, Aoko, you were as useless as ever. Even as a Magician, you couldn't handle a single offspring of a Dead Apostle Ancestor?"

"Don't act so high and mighty, Touko. If we're talking about incompetence, you, a Grand Magus wannabe, were the first to be taken out. By the time you came back, everything was already over. If we're comparing, you're the more useless one here."

Aoko shot back, glaring at her sister. If she hadn't been so drained from spending half the night exchanging magical blasts with the Forest of Einnashe, she would have gladly put her older sister in her place, reminding her who was stronger now.

"Still, because of those monsters' sudden attack, Misaki City suffered quite a few casualties. Thankfully, the Church managed to cover it up and even took care of the compensation for the damages," Aoko said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Half the city was blown up, and several kilometers of forest near the mansion were destroyed. If I had to cover the compensation as the city's manager, even selling off the Aozaki family wouldn't be enough."

The forest near Alice's mansion, connected to the Child of Einnashe, had been dragged into Roy's Reality Marble and annihilated by the angel, leaving behind only scattered wood chips. The area now looked barren and out of place.

But given the circumstances, it was a miracle that the fragile mansion had survived. Alice only cared about the mansion itself; the surrounding forest could always be replanted.

"By the way, where's Shiki? Is she still wandering around outside?" Aoko suddenly remembered the girl who had fought alongside her last night.

"No, the Church took over the task of dealing with the remaining Dead Apostles. She's probably somewhere practicing her swordplay, still processing the events of last night," Touko replied.