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The aftermath of their lovemaking was a drunken haze.
The witch lay bonelessly on top of Haru, a faint smile on her usually stoic face, her pale, delicate skin flushed with an alluring crimson.
Alice pressed her cheek against Haru's chest, her slender, graceful body trembling uncontrollably.
Haru, his body trembling in sync with the witch, suddenly sighed and, holding her, lay back lazily on the mattress.
Their heavy breathing gradually slowed. Unlike Haru, who lay sprawled out, completely relaxed, not wanting to move...
Alice, her face radiant, her slender, long fingers continuously tracing circles on his chest, seemed full of energy.
Haru lifted Alice, slowly withdrawing from the battlefield.
Suddenly, Alice's brow furrowed. The discomfort of the foreign object Haru had left inside her had just reached her brain.
Worried it was a side effect of Touko's drugs, Alice investigated the source of the discomfort. When she realized what it was, the blush on her pretty face deepened.
————
"What's wrong, Alice?"
Haru raised an eyebrow. At such a close distance, he had immediately noticed the witch's abnormality. A concerned gaze fell upon her face.
Sensing his concern, Alice's face softened. But even in their current relationship, or perhaps because of it, the witch didn't dare to reveal the true cause of her discomfort.
To feel uncomfortable because of the 'salad dressing' inside her—to Alice, it was an exceptionally shameful topic.
"It's nothing,"
Alice said, deliberately turning her head away, not wanting him to see her burning face.
"Oh?" Haru looked at the averted Alice with suspicion.
Having been through the wringer with a certain Kiyohime's lie-detecting divine skill, he could, to a certain extent—sense the presence of a lie. And now, he knew the witch before him was lying.
Feeling his suspicious gaze, Alice secretly grumbled—'Why is he so perceptive?' and forced an explanation. "It's just the discomfort of my magic being sealed by the drugs."
Alice wasn't lying.
The magic-restricting potion Touko had fed her was still in effect. The discomfort was real. It was just that, compared to the other discomfort, she had completely ignored the potion's side effects.
Sensing that Haru could detect her lie, Alice had, without a teacher, learned the art of changing the subject. Perhaps lying was a witch's natural talent.
"Let me check." A smile flashed in his eyes. Haru reached out and, under Alice's stunned gaze, cupped her delicate, pretty face and took a fierce bite.
An invisible spiritual perception passed through their connected lips, peering into the witch's inner workings.
Though he could have just sensed it from the outside, Haru, with his wicked sense of humor, had chosen this method. To be blunt, he was still savoring the aftertaste. If not for the fact that the witch was already exhausted, the 'big bad wolf' would never have stopped his hunt.
But it was always okay to collect some interest on the side.
Alice, who had just tasted the forbidden fruit, acquiesced to his actions, responding with a shy, yet passionate, fervor.
Haru, who had forcibly imprinted the Mage's Association's magical data into his mind, not to mention his hands-on abilities, his knowledge was enough to be considered old and modern.
A small magic potion was naturally no match for him. In just a dozen seconds, he had discovered the drug's prototype. However, the mucosal contact continued for six or seven minutes. It was only after the witch began to react that Haru finally stopped.
The moment he did.
Alice glared at him, her face filled with frustration. This feeling of being left hanging... it made the witch a little irritable. With an angry look, she expressed her indignation at him for starting a fire and then arbitrarily calling a truce.
————
"The raw material is the seventh-degree magic potion, huh? It'll be automatically absorbed by the body in three days. If you want to speed it up, the fastest way is naturally my Fourth Magic, to clean it up on a material level. The next best thing is to use a large amount of magical power to counteract it. And the next best thing after that is to spend a day using drugs to assist absorption."
Facing the dissatisfied witch, Haru deliberately put on a straight face, like a rigorous scientific researcher, and in a clumsy way, he avoided the witch's anger.
"A time-delaying potion? ...Time?"
Alice rolled her eyes at him and muttered a few words under her breath. Then, she repeated the word 'time' with a look of suspicion.
"..."
The two fell silent. They had clearly noticed something was wrong.
After a long moment.
"Aoko..." Alice said, her voice a low whisper.
Touko's purpose in delaying them had been seen through. So, why she had delayed them was obvious.
"She's still alive, but her condition is..."
Haru's gaze sharpened. He quickly used the contract to check on Aoko's condition. When he sensed her aura, which was like a flickering candle, his lip twitched.
Before he could finish his sentence, Alice had already stood up, most of her clothes already on. Though her expression was still calm, the atmosphere around her suddenly turned grim.
"Your body..." Haru said.
He didn't want to stop her from rescuing Aoko, but he was worried about her body, which had been through so much, which had been so... 'ravaged.'
Alice frowned, feeling her body, which was restricted by the magic potion, and the foreign object inside her. A hint of hesitation flashed in her dark eyes, but then they hardened.
The foreign object had a 'mana-replenishing' effect in the Moon world. And since she was currently in a dangerous period, the witch didn't want to become a mother at the age of seventeen.
So, she naturally used it as a source of magical power.
An exceptionally thick magical power surged from Alice's lower abdomen. In just a moment, it had neutralized the potion's effect, and there was still a large amount left, replenishing the witch's depleted body.
"Uh."
Haru's gaze went blank for a moment. He knew what she was doing. He could only shake his head with a wry smile at her arbitrary actions.
"Dangerous period," Alice said, sensing his strange expression, and explained succinctly.
"Eh?" Haru, who had not expected the witch to deliberately explain, looked at her with surprise. Seeing her flushed face, a wicked grin appeared on his.
"I understand. I'll keep track of the time next time."
"Let's go," Alice said, her voice calm after a slight pause. She put on her black uniform.
Haru snapped his fingers, and a set of casual clothes appeared on him.
At the same time, a door, radiating a strong sense of distortion, appeared before Alice.
The space between the Kuonji mansion and the Tokawa was forcibly connected.
————
"How tragic~" Haru looked down at the 'Aoko Aozaki' below and sighed softly.
It was an object that could barely be called a 'person.'
Its skin was gone, its muscles and blood vessels exposed, and there were scorched marks on it. A strange 'meaty aroma' filled the air.
From the magical fluctuation in the atmosphere, Haru could sense the traces of 'runes.'
Touko's specialty was the power of the 'fire' rune. It was clear that Aoko had been ravaged by Touko's signature move, and for over twenty minutes.
Her limbs and torso were covered in claw marks from a beast. It was clearly the work of that golden wolf. And the reason Haru could recognize this as 'Aoko'—was her only intact face.
Only Aoko's face had not been ravaged by Touko. For some reason, she had held back.
————
Alice stared blankly at the 'Aoko' before her. She stood silently beside it, her thoughts unknown.
But Haru could feel the witch's mood from the terrifyingly low pressure surrounding her.
"Hah..." Aoko's breathing was extremely weak.
The oxygen she inhaled was constantly escaping from her torn throat. But on her mangled right arm, the Aozaki family's Magic Crest glowed with an azure light.
The Magic Crest had the effect of preserving the successor's life at a minimum level. But at this moment, this effect was only adding to Aoko's countless pains, preventing her from even losing consciousness.
Though, once she lost consciousness, it meant she would never wake up.
This method, of calculating the damage the human body could withstand, and even taking into account the healing effect of the Magic Crest, of intentionally making Aoko's life a living hell... besides the puppet master who was an expert in human anatomy—Touko Aozaki, not many people in the world could do it.
Haru narrowed his eyes, a sharp glint in them. Though it was a family affair between the Aozaki sisters, Touko's cruel actions had really angered him.
At some point, Alice's gaze focused on Haru's face, a hint of pleading in her dark eyes. This kind of injury was beyond her magical level to handle.
"Leave it to me," Haru nodded slightly, his expression suddenly serious.
The next second.
The aura of the 'Law' descended upon the bridge.
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