The magic was performed smoothly, although the elderly lady's cries of pain were heart-wrenching, everything else went well.
Initially, when Granny An heard that using the 'Separation Attachment' magic to remove the demon's power would be painful, she wanted to refuse.
But Mira told her the truth, that without doing this, she would die.
Although the elderly lady said that at her age, it didn't matter what happened, in reality, her will to live was quite strong.
Not only did she endure the pain with great effort, but she also managed to resist the Devil Soul to some extent with her own willpower.
In Mira's opinion, if given more time, perhaps Granny An could really learn Receiving Magic like her.
"It's coming out!" Rhode held his palms over Granny An's head, as a dark shadow roared while being pulled out.
It bared its claws, trying to attack Rhode.
But Mira effortlessly grabbed it with her bare hand and completely restrained it.
The Devil Soul struggled in Mira's hand, but within seconds, its body gradually turned ethereal and shattered into dust-like particles, disappearing without a trace.
"Healing of the Ocean!" Rhode cast a Healing Magic.
Granny An was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily, "Did it... succeed?"
Mira quickly said, "It succeeded, it's all over now."
"..." With a definitive answer, Granny An immediately fell asleep; today's events had truly exhausted her.
A stove was lit in the room, warm and cozy, Mira gently wiped Granny An's sweat, changed her clothes, and then called Rhode back in.
Mira pointed at the sleeping Granny An and whispered, "Looks like we'll have to stay here tonight."
Rhode nodded, "Yeah, we can't just leave her like this."
The two chatted sporadically, slowly figuring out the reason Granny An ended up like this.
A few years ago, the event of the demon's mischief was deliberately created to attract people, intending to seize their life energy to recover its power.
However, a fire rendered its efforts almost completely futile.
Later, as the villagers gradually moved away, the demon became impatient.
But at that time, its power wasn't enough to directly deter the villagers, so it had to use 'Spirit Suggestion' to keep people.
Considering the success rate, its primary targets were the elderly and children.
But even if children cried and stayed, they would be taken away by their parents. If elders wanted to stay, they would be persuaded to leave by their children.
So, Granny An, being a lonely elderly widow, became its only successful target.
Unexpectedly, although Granny An was influenced, she had quite a resistance to the command of 'approaching the church,' no matter how hard the demon tried, all it managed was to keep Granny An from moving out of the village.
One person and one demon stalemated like this, until last year when it seized the opportunity while Granny An went out to collect firewood, unknowingly bringing her much closer.
But... that man suddenly appeared.
His powerful Ice Magic almost completely annihilated the demon—thanks to that man's overconfidence and impatience at the time, it only managed to crawl out halfway.
So it had the chance to temporarily reside in Granny An's body via 'being received.'
Only a received demon is a good demon, having the opportunity to evade that man's notice.
If it attempted a forceful possession… it would have been exterminated on the spot.
The man's almost natural enemy-like suppression frightened the demon, as long as it sensed the icy aura from the church, it kept lurking, not daring to reveal any power.
Yet the sudden appearance of two young people in the village yesterday gave the demon a bold idea—if it absorbed these two people's life energy, it might even return to full strength!
However, after probing yesterday, it was so frightened that even the scythe in its hand fell.
Why is it that such ridiculously strong people always come to this remote little rundown village?!
When those two young people blew up the church today, the demon realized it had to escape.
As soon as this thought emerged, it was out of control, because the trigger for releasing Spirit Suggestion-type magic is precisely a change of thought.
So Granny An immediately started packing to move, and the anomaly was quickly noticed.
Thus, that young man proposed an inspection.
The demon had no choice but to fight desperately.
The result…
The result was Mira ended up with a new form, which she called 'Demon Shadou.'
Rhode looked at the jubilant Mira with admiration.
Her hair was still white, but her skin had turned dark, as if purposefully sun-kissed, and her ears had become pointy like those of an elf.
Her outfit was as simple as the Satan's Soul, with a shoulder guard, wrist guards, and a scanty black top, paired with long boots and a bold miniskirt that her emblem couldn't even cover—not sure if it should be considered a miniskirt or boneware.
For this form, Rhode expressed his appreciation: "If you had two short blades, you'd be a Dark Night Elf."
Mira blinked and laughed, "Dark Night Elfman?"
'Elf' means elf, and Mira played a pun with her brother's name.
Rhode felt a pang of discomfort.
Mira pressed on: "Want me to turn my head into Elfman's?"
Rhode threw up his hands in surrender; having a wife who knows Transformation Magic isn't entirely a good thing, especially when she's being cunning.
After some playful banter, Mira finally said seriously, "Actually, rather than a Dark Night Elf, it should be called a Shadow Elf, since Shadou's magic is Shadow Element."
It's a pity that being at Granny An's house isn't conducive to studying Demon Shadou's specific abilities and body structure.
Rhode felt truly regretful.
The two of them took turns standing guard through the night until dawn, and Granny An showed no more abnormalities.
Upon waking, she immediately expressed her desire to move out, not wanting to stay in the village for another second.
Rhode and Mira helped pack her things and escorted her to the town before saying their goodbyes.
Granny An said countless expressions of gratitude, and finally told Rhode, "If only Mirajane had met you sooner."
She thought that if Rhode had been around sooner, Mira wouldn't have faced disdain from the villagers, and the young ones wouldn't have had to risk traversing over hills and rivers.
But Mira didn't quite agree; Receiving Magic is now an important power to her, and she didn't want to be deprived of it.
However, she did think it would've been nice to meet Rhode earlier.
Perhaps she would have bullied him quite a bit, just like she used to tease Natsu.
After saying goodbye to Granny An, Mira walked down the road pondering such possibilities, unable to stop herself from chuckling.
Just then, Rhode teased with a grin, "Mira, I had an affair."
"What did you say?!"
Rhode's words almost startled Mira into transforming on the spot.
Luckily, she caught sight of the newspaper in Rhode's hand, seemingly a not very well-known tabloid, the headline featuring a scene of her and Rhode with Yukino at a Royal Capital café.
Back then, the discussion about Kono had Yukino looking quite emotional, which was then spun into a story that busybodies loved to read.
Mira kicked Rhode's shin lightly, "Explain these kinds of things properly!"
Rhode looked aggrieved, "You suspect me…"
Without saying another word, Mira knew he must be up to something mischievous, "What do you want?"
Rhode hugged her and whispered, "When we passed by that clothing store earlier, I saw…fishnets…"
Mira punched him lightly; he would definitely follow up with 'otherwise there's no way to heal the psychological trauma.'
The two of them bickered playfully as they strolled through a not-so-bustling small town.
Meanwhile, another person involved in that tabloid story was having a rather unhappy time these days.