Everyone held their breath as if nothing happened for a few seconds. However, Maria was not worried in the least. She could feel the served magic falling around her like small pieces of a puzzle and she instantly yanked the source open.historical

And then all of a sudden, the whole place was filled with light. High intensity, burning light that caused everyone to divert their eyes away from the source. The magic circle had lost its form and was breaking apart piece by piece now. Trisha seemed to be gaining color back as well, her magic flowing the way she wanted it to and Maria was sure to say that she had done it.

She had forced the process to stop and as a result, saved Imu from collapsing.

"Maria, how's the princess?" Kagemori asked from her position far away. She held the chimera at bay but her attention was focused on Maria and her charge. She seemed to be having trouble getting away from her attacker but Maria was sure it was intentional.

"Alive and well. Her magic would make sure she survives this" Maria could already see the signs of improvement in Trisha's complexion. Not only was the color returning to her face but she also looked healthier overall.

Kagemori finally pushed the chimera away and lept toward Maria's location. No one was in their right mind to stop her either and it suddenly drew on Maria that the future had successfully been changed. Despite her system's warning, Maria had pulled this trick off.

"Y-You're all fools. What did you do?" President Rosewell was the only one who had enough presence of mind to actually be able to speak. His pale face looked pale as he tried to speak.

But his energy looked zapped and Maria had a sneaking suspicion that he had been connected to the magic circle as well. The backlash of breaking it prematurely must be getting to him as well.

"Haven't you caused enough damage already? Look behind you, you caused this. Not only demons, but you're killing humans as well with your greed. Is your ambition alone enough to make it right?" Lady Elma asked as she stepped ahead from the rubble.

She had been silent this whole time, willing to not get engaged and Maria did understand her reasoning. They did a neutral party in case things went south and somehow the blame was put on their shoulders. The only one in such a position was Lady Elma currently.

"Ambition? There is no ambition but only inevitable. Imu is dying due to the demon's leaching ways. You should know that better than anyone else" huh, that was new. Maria had no idea how such a conclusion had been reached but she did not approve of it.

Imu dying should have nothing to do with demons or such things but with magic. Not that Maria could feel anything bad within the magic of this place.

"Demons? Don't project one demon's mistake onto the whole race. And it was the humans that chose to discard the body in the node" Lady Elma replied in a cutting voice. The topic seemed to have hit a nerve in her.

Honestly, Maria just wanted to go back to bed and sleep this whole nightmare away. She no longer cared about Imu or the node since they were stable now. And Imu even had a demonic candidate now which was alright.

She never did seal this node and now she won't be able to till Kagemori died somehow.

"It's too late anyway. That body had all but dissolved and Imu had absorbed its magic. No matter what you do, you cannot save your holy magic. There would be no more saints born on Imu" Lady Elma explained and it all flew over Maria's head.

And by that she meant, she knew what was being talked about but she had no context of the information being offered.

"The balance of power on Imu would tilt. It's no longer a safe spot for humans. I tried so hard to prevent it and now the only people who could keep this balance will be eradicated" the man, Rosewell, sounded so tired and angry. He sounded as if his whole world was collapsing.

Not that it mattered to him when he caused the royal family's world to collapse. He even caused unneeded death and destruction in his wake.

"So, does anyone have any idea what is going on here? I feel like their conversation flew over my head" Kagemori asked as she propelled Trisha into a sitting position. The princess was finally starting to regain consciousness and Maria stroked her back to help her.

As curious as Maria was about knowing all this, she also wanted to rest. Her body was starting to feel the fatigue the adrenaline rush caused her to miss. Her joints were protesting as well and there were people down in the plaza that needed her help.

There was just too much to be done right now.

"I guess it was unfair of us to thrust you all into this situation without knowing anything and I apologize for that. The simple truth of the matter is - Imu is dying slowly but surely. It had been ever since the previous war when the previous demon lord plunged and killed the previous candidate of Imu. He was poison, an abnormality, and people could not deal with his dead body. So they dumped it into the node to contain it. In the end, the dead body ended up corrupting the node itself" the node was corrupted?

Maria had not felt anything when she had been there and neither had Kagemori by the looks of her expression. Trisha just looked confused, having missed most of the information revealed that had happened.

"So, what will happen now? Rosewell started all this to get the node's power, right? But I already took it in that sense. What will happen next?" Kagemori asked. Rosewell looked startled at the exclamation but not angry. He looked as if he had somehow expected this answer.

"Nothing will happen. The previous body had disappeared and the poison had already seeped deep into Imu. All we can now do is live with it. It's not like we have the means to clean this poison anyway" Lady Elma exclaimed but Maria was not sure.

She felt like there was still a chance for this place and the node to live out its life. Besides, her system has not issued this notice before.

'System, has the future changed for Imu?' Maria asked, not sure if she would be answered or not.

[The future has not changed. The host is advised to not try and change the future anymore as well]