Lilliwood approached Kuromueina as she stood on the rooftop of her residence in the Demon Realm.
"How is Isis doing?"
"She’s asleep. Normally, she shouldn't require rest, but this is likely the result of mental exhaustion."
"I see... I really messed up this time. I wanted to observe her development, so I kept Zwei’s initial magic power low. I should have given her at least enough power to withstand the pressure of Isis’s Magic Power of Death."
"I feel the same way, but I think Isis herself had simply forgotten. After all, everyone here is a powerful individual capable of speaking with her as an equal."
Kuromueina, Lilliwood, and the rest of the family were all well aware of the nature of Isis’s magic. In fact, Kuro had been incredibly cautious when she first brought Magnawell home, carefully evaluating whether he could handle the pressure.
However, since Isis almost never ventured out and had no contact with anyone outside the family, the reality of how other creatures reacted to her Magic Power of Death had eventually been pushed to the back of their minds.
"Kuromueina, is there no way to block that magic of hers other than by possessing raw power?"
"I’ve looked into it, but it’s difficult. That magic is just too unique. In terms of its nature, it’s closer to an Authority wielded by a god; standard defense magic can’t block it."
"An Authority?"
"Right. Well, besides this Demon Realm we live in, there is the Creator of the World—a God—and the God Realm they created. Explaining the details would take forever, so just think of an Authority as the power of that Creator. It’s a tier of power far superior to mere magic."
"Does such a world truly exist? I have heard rumors of a God through legends and folklore. Do they occasionally manifest in the Demon Realm?"
"The ones who rarely visit the Demon Realm are basically low-ranking underlings. I’ll explain all that to everyone in detail eventually. There are things I’ll need your help with, after all."
Kuromueina intended to eventually face Shallow Vernal. However, she was currently in the process of gathering a force capable of repelling the God Race of the God Realm who would undoubtedly resist her.
With a slight, bitter smile, Kuromueina returned to the topic at hand.
"Getting back to the subject, Isis’s Magic Power of Death has several specific traits. First, it instills a fundamental fear in anyone who touches it. The key feature here is that the influence grows stronger the greater the difference in strength is between Isis and the other person. For someone like you, Lilliwood, who is nearly her equal, it’s just a bit of extra pressure. But for someone significantly weaker, just a slight touch would make them lose consciousness. Even so, she has become much better at suppressing it than before."
"She did mention that before she met you, she killed everything around her, whether they were living creatures or inorganic objects."
"Yeah. Next, the pressure of her Magic Power of Death is heavily influenced by her own state of mind. Mana is naturally susceptible to emotions, but that trait is especially pronounced in her case. And finally, the power itself is so overwhelming that Isis can't fully control it. Perhaps as she grows and becomes much stronger than she is now, she might finally master it, but that will likely take an astronomical amount of time."
"So, in any case, there is no immediate solution."
"...No. For the time being, I’m going to raise Zwei in a specially-made detached house. I’ll have Ein move there as well to assist with her growth. Once she matures to a certain level, she’ll be able to withstand the Magic Power of Death. When that day comes, I’ll let her meet Isis again."
In her current state, Zwei could not resist the Magic Power of Death. Zwei understood Isis’s circumstances through the knowledge Kuromueina had given her, and she felt deeply apologetic for her initial reaction... but the fear was not something that could be overcome by willpower alone. Regardless of how Zwei felt, if she approached Isis now, she would be crushed by terror and flee screaming all over again.
In the end, there was no way to oppose Isis’s Magic Power of Death other than by increasing one's own power.
Though Kuromueina and the others did not know it, that magic had been derived from the unique mana of the Great Evil God of Despair, the creator of another world. It was not something that could be managed through mere mental fortitude.
If there ever existed an individual who—despite a massive gap in strength—could suppress that fundamental fear through sheer mental power and reach out to take Isis’s hand, it could be said that such a person possessed a spirit that transcended even the realm of the gods.
"...I hope this incident doesn't leave a permanent scar on Isis’s heart."
"Indeed. We must be careful to ensure her thoughts do not spiral in a dark direction."
Serious-senpai: "The greater the difference in strength, the stronger the influence... In fact, Aoi and Hina fainted without even realizing what happened, so the pressure must be truly terrifying. And yet, there’s a guy who endured it despite being officially ranked as the weakest in the entire story... Talk about a Singularity."