Both of those options proved Velvet’s previous guess. She wouldn’t be able to treat Nereus soon, and definitely not in the two months she had.

But, it was a lead, and, where there is a lead, there is a path. Even if it still couldn’t be seen.

Velvet got up from her bed, stored Frenese’s Book and dusted off her dress. Looking at Udulluay, the owl had gotten comfortable on the staff, and had his eyes closed. She debated whether or not to notify him that she didn’t need his presence anymore, or just let him there.

For a devil, he really acts more as a magical pet…

Udulluay opened his eyes slightly, and, just as Velvet was going to open her mouth, an explosion sounded, shaking the hut.

Like the previous time, it had come from the barrier.

Is Nebura testing that box again? Hm. Velvet schemed in silence, an idea forming in her mind.

“I’ll go check.” She told Udulluay, even when she didn’t need to, since he, as a hivemind, already knew what had happened.

Velvet inspected her things: Sinoe’s Baslard was buried, the time for using it up, needing to recharge; Syon’s gifts, the earring and the umbrella, were fine, and her money had increased by 10500 auris. Ten thousand were Kartal’s compensation for the Syon mission, and 500 were from ending the Arena at the position twenty-seven. Ceres had simply thrown all her money together, and just let her figure it out.

The 500 auris were part of the monthly benefits from the Mergifari towards mages with High Tier rank.

Velvet had no need to worry about that now, so she pushed those thoughts back, pulling out one of her enhanced paper sheets.

She held it, waiting as the sheet bloomed, converting into paper figurines.

I can do the conversion spell faster now. The time has been reduced by half.

The twenty newly-born figurines flickered around like confetti for a few moments, before going back inside her body, awaiting for orders.

Putting on her hat, Velvet went out, towards the barrier.

…

Nebura calibrated the artifact, tinkering with the box’s levers, adjusting them based on the barrier’s reaction to the explosion.

She was more than halfway done, a month or so and she will be finish-

Something was wrong.

Nebura lifted her head from the box, the sensation of something watching her not disappearing. She looked to the sides, up, down, turned around-

“Shit!” She jumped, seeing an orange spot not too far away from her. It was Velvet, staring at her motionless and in silence, like a creepy little thing from behind the woods.

The hell is your problem?! She wanted to shout, but calmed herself down, not wanting to get into a discussion. Conversation with Velvet were just a quick way for someone to get pissed, and usually the other person was the one ending mo-

A paper figurine teleported right above her head.

Shit! Nebura repeated.

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Boom!

Quickly, she made a mercury wall over her, preventing the explosion from blowing her head. Even so, she fell down due to the force.

“Oh, mercury. So that’s the metal you picked. Like water, always adjusting its form after containers given by others.” Velvet said, using her infuriating, softly mocking tone.

“The hell is your problem!?” In the end, Nebura ended up shouting her previous thoughts, rising up to her feet, pissed.

“Hm? Oh, trueee… Maybe I should’ve warned you first. Oh well.” Velvet laughed, as if not understanding why Nebura was angry. “The box. Gimme.”

“What?” Taking a step back, she glared at her. “The box?”

Sighing dramatically, Velvet took a step to the right, tilted her body to the right, looked her up and down, took two steps to the left, tilted her body to the left and repeated the motions. “For what I see… you only have one box, sooo… The box does indeed refer to that box.”

“You can’t be for real.” Nebura moved her mercury around, threatening her.

“Well then!” Velvet clapped once. A figurine flickered left to Nebura, just before exploding.

Nebura covered her left side with mercury, protecting herself.

A figurine appeared in her right, and exploded again!

Nebura pulled out a door, which creaked open, swallowing the explosion. The hair at the back of her head rose, the barrier too close to her.

Velvet was pushing her towards it, blocking any attempt to escape.

“Have you gone insane?!” She tried to reason with her.

Velvet raised her hands, before joining her index fingers, tracing a square in the air.

Nebura clenched her teeth, cursing in silence. “Do you- Do you think you can attack a follower of Arhontissa without consequences?”

Velvet smiled at her, with a mix of pity and mockery. “We both know no one will come.”

Nebura was confident she could take Velvet in a fight. She had more experience, and had been longer on the Mergifari, and yet…

She had not seen what happened during this year's Opening, the only ones with the authority to watch it being the official mages, but she had heard chunks and pieces of what had conspired. The official mages even commented on separating this year's Selected between ‘Pre-Frenese’ and ‘Post-Frenese’, based on whether they were eliminated before the devil showed up or not.

Nebura had only peeked at the list out of curiosity, but knew Velvet was Post-Frenese, and not only that, she was a High Ranked mage.

And to add, Velvet was acting like she wanted to kill her.

Another paper figurine flickered, but Nebura clicked her tongue. “Stop!” Surrendering, she tossed the box artifact towards Velvet, who took a step back.

Nebura almost panicked, believing Velvet was going to let the box fall to the ground and crash, but soon, a vine grew from the floor, catching the box.

“Oh, you should look at your face.” Velvet mocked her. “Imagine if I just crushed it right now.”

“You better don’t. Because I will get it back.” Nebura threatened her. She knew Velvet wouldn’t break the box, not because she was merciful, but because she was curious. She had always been.

“Haha. Of course you will! Now, need me to escort you out of the woods, princess?”

Nebura made a face of disgust, turning away. “No.”

Saying that, she left, uninterested in trying to ‘negotiate’ with her, leaving Velvet alone in the forest.

Frenese’s voice criticized her. “Are you that keen on dying before our pact ends?”

Velvet laughed. “You don’t understand, do you? When mages want your head, you cannot allow yourself to be unnoticeable. The moment you fall to the shadows, you become an afterthought. And I cannot allow myself to become an afterthought.”

Her security depended on enough mages paying attention to her, so that their mere presence served as a deterrent to the others.

To stand your ground in the middle of mages who want your head, you need to stay at the center of the stage. And the only show mages liked were the shows of power.

“You know? All the devil’s blood I drank still isn’t gone. I’m going to squeeze it for all its worth for the remaining four days.”

Her plan was already in motion. She needed to fight as many novice mages as she could before the devil’s blood effect ran out, and ‘comprehend’ their spells, so that once the four days were over, she had built enough infamy to keep her momentum going.

“I’ll make sure to crush my way to the stage’s center, and I’ll make it so that they can’t take their eyes off me.”