Mouse Tail

The magic Ciri had painstakingly constructed was instantly dispelled by Joshua, dealing a severe blow to her confidence and fighting spirit.

Yet driven by the desire to survive, Ciri still summoned the magic within her. Pale white magical light formed sharp arrows that shot toward the doorway.

The earlier impact had extinguished the candles in the room. Ciri could only rely on the glow emitted by the magical Runes around her to see her surroundings, but from a human perspective, her field of vision extended only one or two meters.

Did it hit?

Ciri gripped her staff tightly and warily watched her surroundings, while rapidly constructing the most basic Light Spell.

The instant the spell was completed, a sphere of white light slowly rose beside Ciri. Its radiance dispelled the darkness in the room, along with the sight of Joshua standing directly before her...

The moment this female mage apprentice saw Joshua suddenly appear in front of her, the fear and unease in her heart exploded. She screamed, and before she could even construct another spell, she raised her staff and swung it at Joshua.

Unfortunately, the female mage apprentice was simply too weak. Joshua easily caught her arm.

Having her arm grabbed did not hurt Ciri. Joshua had used very little strength and had no intention of causing her pain. He had merely blocked Ciri's reckless... physical attack.

Controlled by terror, Ciri tried to break free from Joshua's restraint. She succeeded... Joshua released her arm, and Ciri retreated several steps, putting distance between herself and Joshua.

She forced herself to calm down. Unknown Runes once again appeared on her exquisite wand as she prepared another offensive spell, her eyes fixed firmly on Joshua. If Joshua made any rash move, she would not hesitate to risk magical backlash and die together with him.

"I advise you not to be so impulsive, unknown mage."

To Ciri's surprise, Joshua showed no intention of continuing his attack. Instead, he calmly picked up a candle from the table and lit it.

While Joshua was lighting the candle, Ciri seized the chance to construct a new offensive spell. But then she noticed Joshua pointing at her neck.

My neck?

Ciri froze slightly. Only then did she notice something strange around her neck. It seemed that something had been tied there.

The strange sensation made Ciri turn her head toward the mirror beside her. By the light of the Light Spell, she saw that at some unknown time, a... red crystal had appeared around her neck.

The gem-like crystal was sewn onto a black ribbon... Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought it was some precious Necklace, and an expensive one at that.

But Ciri knew perfectly well that she did not have the money to buy something as expensive as a ruby!

This was something that demon had forcibly put on her without her knowing when.

When Ciri looked at Joshua again, she found that he was holding an identical red crystal.

To demonstrate what the crystal could do, Joshua lightly tossed it onto the ground. The instant it hit the floor, a not particularly powerful explosion erupted from the crystal, its sound echoing throughout the room.

"..."

Ciri stared at the cracked floor caused by the explosion, completely forgetting about constructing any magic. She immediately tried to tear the thing around her neck off with both hands.

The crystal's explosive power was not that great. It could only just barely separate Ciri's head from her body.

This was also one of the Third Prince's creations. Joshua had casually found it on the workbench—a... rather useful little tool.

"Don't waste your strength. With your power, you can't break free from that thing."

Can't break free? Didn't that make it the same as a slave collar?

Ciri instantly realized just how dangerous her situation was.

That demon had not taken her life right away. Instead, he had put something like this on her...

Ciri gritted her teeth. She had already resolved to resist unto death in order to protect her chastity.

But... wait. Was chastity more important than her life?

Ciri spent a brief two seconds considering it before reaching an answer... no!

"What do you want from me?"

Ciri used the last shred of courage in her body to ask Joshua.

"What do I want? There are quite a few things I want. Let's start with your name. What are you called?"

Joshua took the opportunity to light all the extinguished candles in the room. The Light Spell Ciri had cast gradually faded away as well.

"I... am Ciri."

Considering her life, Ciri thought about it and chose to answer honestly.

"Ciri? Do you know a Gwent player named Geralt, whose side job is being a Witcher?"

Joshua was quite familiar with the name Ciri. She was Geralt's adopted daughter in The Witcher 3, and the personality of the female mage before him really was a little like Ciri from The Witcher 3.

"Who?"

She did not know any Witcher. If she did, she would not have ended up in this situation today.

"That was an unnecessary question. Next, I want to know what kind of magic you use."

That was what Joshua most urgently wanted to know. The magic used by this Female Mage was clearly completely different from the magic of Chaos Demons.

She could use her own magic to affect and even control things around her, such as turning books into weapons and firing them.

That was something Chaos Demon magic could never accomplish.

If the goal was to completely destroy this room, Joshua was confident he could do it within a minute. But using magic to move objects around? Joshua believed that even the Lord of the Demonic Realm might not be capable of that.

It was precisely this destructive, chaotic magic that had turned his plan to control the images within the Source Crystal Stone into empty talk on paper. Joshua did not even know where to begin.

But Ciri's magic gave Joshua a glimmer of hope.

"This is power bestowed by Lloyd, the God of Order. The Power of Order and Rules."

Ciri had always been proud of being a mage. Naturally, she had no reason to hide anything when introducing the power she possessed.

From Ciri's explanation, Joshua learned that the people of this world seemed to firmly believe that magic was bestowed by gods. The magic granted by different gods had different traits. Ciri's magic represented order and control, and mages of her school were known as White Magicians. Beyond that, there were also many gods who controlled fire, lightning, and other powers.

To compare it to gaming consoles on Earth, it was like Sony's PS4, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's Switch. Every player could choose according to their preferences. Some games were shared between consoles, while others were exclusive, and each had its own benefits and strengths.

Gods...

Having come to a world full of magic and demons, Joshua was no longer particularly surprised by the existence of gods. But magic being bestowed by gods?

Joshua reserved judgment on that claim for the moment. Whether it belonged to gods or not, if he wanted to find a way to edit the images in the Source Crystal Stone, he had to master this stable form of magic.

"Tell me how to learn the magic you possess."