"No." Elizabeth's answer came automatically, way before anyone else could say anything or eve. "Nope, not going to kill you."

  Beatrice sighed at her answer, but Elizabeth wasn't finished.

  "I assume these girls are the group on syers you allegedly raised? They don't feel that dragoo me." Elizabeth said as she brushed her senses against them. So far, she could barely perceive them; it was weird having what should be Minions in front of her and not feeling a thing from them.

  But then again, it wasn't like something she hadn't felt before; she just o stop treating them as Minions in her mind and more like normal people.

  "..." Rossie at the back said nothing and merely walked towards Beatrice; Elizabeth was worried that the group of unknown girls would do anything, but they just let her pass forward. Their expressions remained unged, but there was a subtle shift in their stance, a silent agreement that they would not interfere.

  Elizabeth didn't know why, but her [instincts] told her that they would not let her do the same. So she waited to see what Rossie would do.

  "...Mother?" Beatrice said slowly as she turo look up to Rossie.

  Rossie's face was devoid of aions, her eyes cold as she eyed Beatrice, "[Life]+[Soul]+[Aura]+[Mana] + [Dete Array] = All seeing eye of the gods," Rossie's eyes shone in golden light and Elizabeth saw the Valkyrie Girls flinch, but none moved.

  Rossie's eyes sed Beatrice, and Elizabeth was half sure that Rossie would murder ahat interrupted her.

  All that Rossie did was frown, "Elizabeth, give me higher access to your mana." And demand things of her. "NOW!"

  "YES SIR! MADAM!" Elizabeth, of course, would not question Rossie; she was scary(And sexy) when angry. She only obeyed and opened all the treasure vaults to her Mana and Core to Rossie. She did notice that Rossie didn't even look twice before starting to drain her Mana.

  Rossie was attuo [Healing], [Divine], and [Holy] Mana mostly, so using Elizabeth's [Elemental] Mana could turn into a bad affinity problem, a problem that Rossie solved by shoving copious amounts of Mana at her problem.

  And before closing her eyes, she gred once more at Beatrice. Then pulling as much Mana from Elizabeth as she could Rossie started speaking once again, "The Divine will desd on this area, the might of Akasha will be rend sve to me, her vast library will open for me to find what I require, the power within it will be increased and the highest order of Authority will be granted, seard find the reason of the illness and problems hidden within. I and this uhe True Authority of the Divine." Rossie's t advanced as spell nodes fred around her and burst as they got used as fuel to el this Divine Mana.

  [Divine], [Infosec], [Amp], [Highest], [S], [Localized], and [True Divine]'s spell nodes were used as material.

  "Asclepius' Eyes!" Rossie's eyes turned reptilian-like, simir to how Elizabeth's [Dragon's Eyes] worked.

  She could feel Rossie's Mana Circuit strain uhe power that was c her body.

  "Stop her Elizabeth! Mom's body 't withstand this much Prana!" Beatrice screamed at Elizabeth.

  And, of course, Elizabeth was ready to cut short the e that she had ope the first sign of Rossie's Soul to break, but perhaps it was because of her lifestyle? Because of what she had suffered. But Rossie's Soul was withstanding it as if nothing.

  "Heh, you called me Mom," Rossie smirked as her eyes focused on the purple gem that Beatrice was holding.

  "I-I...Sorry... I was-" Beatrice stammered as if she was about to be scolded.

  Even so Rossie only shook her head, "It's okay...Let Mom deal with this," Rossie smiled as her eyes started bleeding; even so, her Soul was still fine.

  "In the name of the undying armada of shadows," Rossie started her new t, as she spoke the shadows around started dang at her tune, as if ented by it.

  The fourteen Valkyries gave room so these shadows could get closer and dance around both Rossie ariot a single one of them moved near Elizabeth though.

  "I summon the fourfold forces of creation!" Rossie said first pointing to the north, "From the heavens, the sparks of lightning, the light that brought forth the advance of civilization. The ever-eternal light ress!"

  At the spot that Rossie had pointed a small orb of lightning maed, Elizabeth could swear that there was one of the stupid yellow birds ihat... She hoped the thing didn't explode ruining this ritual.

  "From the world's underbelly, I summon the shadows, the bance of night and day, life ah. The keepers of souls and those that soothe the weary while they await their ce to start over!" Rossie then poio the south, there a small orb of shadows rised from the ground. Elizabeth could feel the presence of one of her Shadons within; this one, however, felt different. She k was one of her Royal Magis, but it felt...old.

  "To kihis miracle, I summon the fire, the eternal fe of rebirth. The force of destru that nourishes the nd, burn ah. The means to kickstart the never-ending cycle that all souls gh." Rossie poio the right and sure enough a fire was created there, Elizabeth could almost see the seed of a new minion, one fire attuned... Perhaps she really ought to try her hand, she would love to see what was created as a Fire Attuned minion...

  "And from the light of the gods, the power to restore. To mend, to heal, and to protect. Te the domain of the gods with those of mortals and create a new Beion uhe and of this one..." At this point Rossie poio the left and the fourth and final elemental sphere materialized, this one was a golden fire... Perhaps it could be called a Divine Fire? It was blue, and Elizabeth was sure no chemical that ged its color was being burned.

  Also, she was half sure that one wasn't one of her elemental manas.

  "Blend these sacred elements into one—" Rossie tinued speaking, her voice was turning hoarse, but also seemed to vibrate everything around them, "To purify, to heal, to make whole that which I desire. By divine decree, I and thy, restart The 'Celestial Fe of Life' once more and bring back my daughter's health to normal!"

  As the Rossie's t arrived at the cresdo, the four spheres of Mana resonated, and the Mana turned a goldehe lightning orb shone brightly. The shadot an azure hue, the fire mana ot a golden border, and the Divine one...well, that was already golden-ish, so Elizabeth didn't notice that much ge.

  No, that didn't matter! What was more important was that-

  "Master!" One of the Valkyrie girls rushed to Beatrice while two others darted to Rossie's side to ensure she didn't fall to the ground, as for Elizabeth?

  She was stopped by the other eleven who gred and poiheir ons at her...

  She was going to obliterate the little annoying brats if Rossie was hurt or needed help... No, calm down Elizabeth, they want to keep Beatrice safe, and for some reasohink that you are a dao her. Rein in your Pride...

  Breath in, Breath out...

  Don't gre at the little shits...Don't summon the Shadow Armada to deal with them... Don't opees to your Armory and pull out all the Dragon Sying ons io bombard them...

  "...It failed..." The Valkyrie that rushed to Beatrice said in a small voice.

  What the...What was she saying?!?!? That was the Ritual spell that Rossie ted! The thing was so stupidly plex that Elizabeth would probably he help of her Royal Mages to study and try to cast!

  It used multiple types of Mana to increase efficy! It was such a plex and intricate spell that if someone asked her, she would rather say that it was some Divine Mana shenanigan that her Mother casted and not something a Human made!

  How could-

  "Of course, it failed," Beatrice's voice sounded calm through it all, "Even with Mom's mastery over mana, even with access to the exotia types Elizabeth has..."

  What was Beatrice going for?

  "Only the Divine turn back Time, my Core is broken as I went against the very base tenants of my creation," Beatrice spoke as she put more strength on her little hand, the ohat was holding her [Core]. "Even with all the power and might Mom and Elizabeth have, they are, in the end. Humans."

  ...Well of course she was Human, what did she meant by that?

  "...So what if you did that." Rossie said from the side as she silently hugged Beatrice, "We just ask Eli-Eli to make whatever rule you broke invalid, so that you never broke any rule."

  ...Somehow Elizabeth wasn't sure that would work.

  "It is normal for children to break the rules; no Mother would make a rule that would kill their daughter if they broke it," Rossie said as she put more strength on her hug and hid her fa Beatrice's hair, "You don't have to die...I will not accept it."

  her would Elizabeth.

  "I assure you that anything that you made was not against any rule I set, I didn't even put that many rules on the Shadons." Elizabeth said from her spot behind the annoying brats, "Even if you raised them as Dragon Syers. They didn't sy any dragon, did they? Why would that mean that I o kill you? Hahat Core so I attempt to fix it."

  Elizabeth would just fix the thing, Beatrice was her summon, no matter how she acted or moved. So she should be able to fix it easily enough, or in a worst-case sario, she could just refresh the summon. That was something she had never done before with any minion.

  But as far as she was aware, every Summoner could do that whenever a Minion was destroyed.

  "... It isn't that simple, Elizabeth," Beatrice sighed, "The rules you set up for the Shadow Armada are simple, yes, but there are things that any Minion will follow even if the summoner doesablish it."

  Beatrice handed her Core, the Valkyrie that went to help her, and poi Elizabeth while nodding.

  "First, we are to protect your identity." Beatrice started speaking as the Valkyrie Girl started walking to Elizabeth, "Sed, we are to help you in any way that is possible to us."

  The Valkyries seemed to not want to let the girl holdirice's core pass, but in the end, they moved away to let her move. Even if a couple walked behind her.

  Elizabeth wasn't going to kill anyone! Well, she might just do it if they kept annoying her like that!

  "Third, we are to protect those that you deem important." Beatrice tinued speaking, "And fifth, we are to never betray you or those that you deem important."

  ...She...hadn't actually thought about those rules. She just assumed the spell that made them would have some simple orders embedded, and since most of her minions obeyed her orders she had never worried too much about that.

  "Those are the basic rules set up into our Core as we are born, some nuance is expected from us. And most of the true ws we follow are set up by the Dragon cil, but you think of them as those are the most important ones." Beatrice said, as the little girl with the Core stopped in front of Elizabeth, "Hand Elizabeth my core Skuld, she is not hostile. We talked about it."

  So she was called Skuld?

  That was not a cute name.

  "But master! Even if she isn't the debauchery dragon anymore! She reeks of Pride, Envy, Greed, and Wrath!" The little girl said while turning to Beatrice, "She is barely holding it in!"

  "Skuld!" Beatrice roared back, "Don't make me look bad, hand over my Core. Even like that, Elizabeth Starbright is more talented and dangerous than you all think. The only reason you had a ce of victainst The Debauchery Dragon was because that was a mindless lizard bitch. Against Elizabeth you will never win."

  Well thank you?

  "Here," Skuld hahe Core to Elizabeth in silehat was the only thing she did quietly, since as soon as Elizabeth touched the Core (and the irl's hand), she felt her Mana wanting to infiltrate her.

  Elizabeth just took the Core and zapped the Mana into oblivion giving the girl a jumpscare as her Lightning Mana terattacked and ihe girl's body.

  In a fra of a sed Elizabeth had her Mana surrounding the Core of the girl, "Everything okay? Skuld was it?" Elizabeth asked while smiling sweetly, "You seem pale."

  "*Sigh* Please don't bully them too much, they may look like that, but they were born two to three months ago." Beatrice said from the back.

  "Tch," Elizabeth only clicked her to that a her Mana fade away, "Okay, let me just fix this thing and we have a talk about how the as we do while under great duress should not t then!"

  And without fanfare or much, Elizabeth extended her senses into the Core; she half expected that her Mana would fix the thing as soon as she touched it...

  That did not happen.

  "...What in the seven pnes of hell?" Elizabeth couldn't help but curse as her searted returning data about the state of the Core... And how much effect Rossie's spell had on it. That is to say, none whatsoever.

  The thing was cracked everywhere, and the wounds went from the outer part to the ter. This..."You shouldn't even be alive." Elizabeth wasn't sure how Beatrice was even standing there.

  "Is it that bad?" Rossie asked showing her face from behirice's head. "... you fix it?"

  Could she?

  ...She doubted. But that wasn't an answer she could give to Rossie.

  "I will try my best," Elizabeth answered as she closed her eyes and put both hands atop the Core. She o focus and el her Mana perfectly for this to work. Rossie had done what robably one of the most plex ritual spells Elizabeth had ever seen, and that hadn't been enough. So she would focus and try her best too.

  "Heed my call, darkhat hides deep within the shadow of the world," It was the first time that her spell hadn't prompted her to call upon the might of the Dwellers of the Dark, but then again, she wao heal one of them. If Beatrice could fix this by merely having other Minions heal her, then she wouldn't be like this. "I summon the shadows that dwell within the broken world, rise and spread once more, rise and cover all that I desire."

  Well ain't that ominous? "Through the cracks within space heralded by the Dragon of Camity, I offer this broken vessel," Elizabeth raised the broken Core of Beatrice, "Let the shadows cover it, let the darkness whisper upon its ear."

  She only wao fix the Core dang it! She didn't need su ominous t!

  "In the name of the Mistress of Shadows, I and it once more, refe what was broken, tie it once more to my and, return it, and it once more to the darkness night." ...She only wao heal the maid! This sounded more like a trato svery! "Let the shadon roar once more haunt the eternal night. Bound by shadows and tied to the undead legions-"

  And when the Shadow was about to fully cover the Core, when Elizabeth was sure her Ritual spell would stick.

  *Crash*

  "Pffft," Elizabeth felt the e break and half the Mana that she had used on it rebound, it was the first time she had felt a mana backsh for a failed spell, "What?"

  And more importantly, while she couldn't see any new crack upon the Core, she had a rough idea of why it had failed.

  "Beatrice?" Elizabeth said turning to the little maid who was still being hugged by Rossie, "You...don't want to be a Minion anymore, do you?"

  That was the main reason why this Core had been broken, part of it of course, was the guilt the little girl had because she had attempted to murder Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth had seen a it, the guilt, the shame. Everything the little maid felt, but she didn't feel that was the main reason why the Core had cracked, of course. It was an important bit, and perhaps Elizabeth should dedicate more to the fact that one of her Minions attempted to murder her.

  But no, she had more important things to discuss.

  "You... The reason why we 't heal it...You no longer wish to be a Minion," Elizabeth said aloud the reason once more, to make sure she was heard.

  Beatrice didn't deny or look for excuses. Instead, she just opened her mouth to ahe question.

  "I-" This was going to be iing to hear.