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

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

"I assume these girls are the group of dragon slayers you allegedly raised? They don't feel that dragon slayer to 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 needed to 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 unchanged, 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 turned to look up to Rossie.

Rossie's face was devoid of any emotions, her eyes cold as she eyed Beatrice, "[Life]+[Soul]+[Aura]+[Mana] + [Detection 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 scanned Beatrice, and Elizabeth was half sure that Rossie would murder anyone that 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 attuned to [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 glared once more at Beatrice. Then pulling as much Mana from Elizabeth as she could Rossie started speaking once again, "The Divine will descend on this area, the might of Akasha will be rend slave 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, search and find the reason of the illness and problems hidden within. I command this under the True Authority of the Divine." Rossie's chant advanced as spell nodes flared around her and burst as they got used as fuel to channel this Divine Mana.

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

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

She could feel Rossie's Mana Circuit strain under the power that was coursing her body.

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

And, of course, Elizabeth was ready to cut short the connection that she had opened at 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 chant, as she spoke the shadows around started dancing at her tune, as if enchanted by it.

The fourteen Valkyries gave room so these shadows could get closer and dance around both Rossie and Beatrice, not 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 of progress!"

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

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

"To kindle this miracle, I summon the fire, the eternal forge of rebirth. The force of destruction that nourishes the land, burn and rebirth. The means to kickstart the never-ending cycle that all souls go through." Rossie pointed to 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. To bridge the domain of the gods with those of mortals and create a new Benediction under the command of this one..." At this point Rossie pointed to 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 changed its color was being burned.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

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

"Blend these sacred elements into one—" Rossie continued 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 command thy, restart The 'Celestial Forge of Life' once more and bring back my daughter's health to normal!"

As the Rossie's chant arrived at the crescendo, the four spheres of Mana resonated, and the Mana turned a golden hue; the lightning orb shone brightly. The shadow orb got an azure hue, the fire mana orb got a golden border, and the Divine one...well, that was already golden-ish, so Elizabeth didn't notice that much change.

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 glared and pointed their weapons 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 reason they think that you are a danger to her. Rein in your Pride...

Breath in, Breath out...

Don't glare at the little shits...Don't summon the Shadow Armada to deal with them... Don't open the gates to your Armory and pull out all the Dragon Slaying weapons inside to 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 chanted! The thing was so stupidly complex that Elizabeth would probably need the help of her Royal Mages to study and try to cast!

It used multiple types of Mana to increase efficiency! It was such a complex 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 exotic mana types Elizabeth has..."

What was Beatrice going for?

"Only the Divine can 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 one that 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 can 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 face in Beatrice's hair, "You don't have to die...I will not accept it."

Neither would Elizabeth.

"I can assure you that anything that you made was not against any rule I set, I didn't even put that many rules on the Shadow Dragons." Elizabeth said from her spot behind the annoying brats, "Even if you raised them as Dragon Slayers. They didn't slay any dragon, did they? Why would that mean that I need to kill you? Hand me that Core so I can 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 scenario, 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 doesn't establish it."

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

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

The Valkyries seemed to not want to let the girl holding Beatrice'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 continued 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 laws we follow are set up by the Dragon Council, but you can 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 chance of victory against The Debauchery Dragon was because that was a mindless lizard bitch. Against Elizabeth you will never win."

Well thank you?

"Here," Skuld handed the Core to Elizabeth in silence. That was the only thing she did quietly, since as soon as Elizabeth touched the Core (and the other girl'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 counterattacked and invaded the girl's body.

In a fraction of a second 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 tongue at that and let her Mana fade away, "Okay, let me just fix this thing and we can have a talk about how the actions we do while under great duress should not count 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 planes of hell?" Elizabeth couldn't help but curse as her senses started 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 center. 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 behind Beatrice's head. "Can...can 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 needed to focus and channel her Mana perfectly for this to work. Rossie had done what was probably one of the most complex ritual spells Elizabeth had ever seen, and that hadn't been enough. So she would focus and try her best too.

"Heed my call, darkness that 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 wanted to 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 Calamity, 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 wanted to fix the Core dang it! She didn't need such an ominous chant!

"In the name of the Mistress of Shadows, I command it once more, reforge what was broken, tie it once more to my command, return it, and chain it once more to the darkness night." ...She only wanted to heal the maid! This sounded more like a contract into slavery! "Let the shadow dragon 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 connection break and half the Mana that she had used on it rebound, it was the first time she had felt a mana backlash 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 and felt 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 can'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 answer the question.

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