"What do you mean, what a coincidence? You're the one who misspoke first!"
"So I already apologized."
"You call that expressionless apology an apology?"
"At least it's better than none at all."
The broom in Mira's hand creaked under the strain.
Lin Yuan glanced at her demon claw. "Squeeze any harder, and there'll be a broom to repair tonight too."
Mira abruptly let go.
Five deep grooves had already been gouged into the wooden handle.
Guild members left one after another, and the noisy hall gradually grew quiet. One repaired the floor while the other swept up the debris. Neither was willing to lose to the other, and they worked faster and faster.
Lin Yuan soon noticed something.
When Mira was angry, the scales on the surface of her demon arm spread open, and the black magic grew denser. When she focused on cleaning the floor, the scales closed slightly.
It was not completely beyond her control.
"How did you make it stronger just now?" Lin Yuan asked.
"What are you trying to say now?"
"Your arm was bigger than it is now when we were fighting."
Mira stopped sweeping and looked down at her right hand. "I just wanted to beat you up."
"Then try to make it smaller now."
"I can't."
Her answer came so quickly that it was as if she had already tried countless times.
Lin Yuan put down the wooden plank in his hand. "What were you thinking when you defeated the demon?"
Mira's expression immediately turned cold.
"That's none of your business."
"Then keep going around with that arm."
"You-"
The demon claw clenched again, but Lin Yuan did not take a defensive stance. He simply waited calmly.
Mira glared at him for a moment before finally looking away.
"That thing burst into the village church. Elfman and Lisanna were there too." Her voice was very low. "All I could think about was that I couldn't let it touch them."
"And then?"
"Then I grabbed it. By the time I came to my senses, the demon was gone, but this arm had stayed on me."
Lin Yuan understood.
Mira had not completed the Take Over to gain power. She had not even known she was using magic; she had simply wanted, on instinct, to take the threat away from her younger brother and sister.
"The first thought of yours it obeyed was the thought of protecting them."
"So what?"
"But now, every time you see that arm, you think about how you might hurt them." Lin Yuan pointed at the black magic constantly seeping out. "You're ordering it to protect them while being convinced it can only cause harm. Those two orders are colliding, so of course it won't obey."
Mira froze.
After the villagers began treating her like a demon, she too had grown afraid of the arm. She did not dare sleep soundly at night, always kept half a step away from her brother and sister when walking, and even dared to use only her left hand to hug Lisanna.
She had always said she did not care.
But her body was more honest than anyone.
"Easy for you to say." Mira bit her lip. "What if I can't control it?"
"Then stop."
"What if I can't stop?"
"I'll hold you down."
Mira looked up at him as if she had heard something utterly absurd. "You?"
"The master is upstairs too."
"Then you're still relying on the old man!"
"Why not use someone who's available?"
Mira had no answer to that.
Lin Yuan picked up the wooden plank again. "Besides, it's the magic that's out of control, not you. Take Over is just magic, not a curse."
Those words left Mira silent for a long time.
She sat down against the edge of a table and laid her demon arm in her lap. Before closing her eyes, she did not forget to warn him, "If anything goes wrong, get Elfman and Lisanna out first."
"Just try first."
Mira took a deep breath.
She did not imagine driving the demon out of her body. Instead, she recalled that moment in the church. It had not been a monster standing in front of her brother and sister; it had been her. The power that defeated the demon had not taken away her consciousness either-it had responded to her.
The black magic slowly drew inward.
The spread scales closed one by one, and the massive arm really did shrink a little. The dark purple faded from the little finger on the outside, briefly returning it to human skin.
Mira's eyes flew open.
"Did it work?"
"Only one finger."
"One finger is still a success!" The corners of her mouth had just lifted when she quickly pressed them down again. "Of course I know that. I don't need you to tell me."
Footsteps came from the doorway leading to the back courtyard.
Lisanna entered the hall carrying two portions of dinner she had secretly saved, with Elfman following behind.
"Sister, your hand..."
Lisanna ran toward her in delight.
Mira's newly restored finger suddenly spasmed violently.
Black magic surged back out without warning. It was not because of anger, but because the moment she saw her sister coming closer, the first thing that flashed through her mind was the fear that she must not hurt her.
The more she wanted to protect her, the faster the power swelled.
"Stay back!"
Mira sprang to her feet, the scales on her right arm bursting open in layers. Demonic power spread over her shoulder, rapidly creeping up her neck and across half her face. A curved black horn pierced out from among her white hair.
Tables and chairs were sent flying by the magic, and the windows shattered at the same time.
Mira's eyes turned blood red.
She had only just learned to restore one finger, yet at that moment, Satan Soul went completely berserk.