A Villainess Should Be Strong

Chapter 176: Replacement

She already had an idea of why Estelle was so confused about everything even though she claimed to be the Goddess' incarnation, and the familiarity she felt with this girl along with the impossible showcase of power she held was enough to convince her. The ball of energy was originally hers, and there should be no qualms in her wanting to get it back, but she was hesitant.

Hesitant that once the pill was taken away, then there would be no more traces of the Goddess' magic in their country. The energy that had been depleting gradually, wouldn't taking the pill out just make everything collapse? Doomed. They were doomed if that happens for real. They were already struggling to keep their dignity up after all of these chaotic stretches.

As the Queen of said country, she hesitated before telling the other party what she knew. However, after debating with herself for multiple times, she then proceeded to speak up. 

"So.. this particular ball of energy really can be taken out, but I'm not sure whether it would cause negative effects for my country yet, so I don't know what to do yet," Shirley stated her reason firsthand before finally starting to approach the statue one more time. This time, she rose to the air and flew towards the back of the statue. 

She stretched her arm and began to operate the mechanism that worked inside the statue. To tell the truth, the statue could be said as a contained for this particular ball of energy. Although the entire isolated place was reeking in the Goddess' energy, the ball was the most potent, so it was placed directly inside the statue. 

Shirley took this thing out and presented it to Estelle. It was a glowing small sized marble.

"This is it?" Estelle looked at the shiny ball within her palm and observed it with wonder. Without a closer inspection, it looked like nothing more than just a blue pearl and not anything special. However, when she tried to appraise it using her magic, she felt a dense amount of energy suddenly surge forward. 

This was definitely the item she was looking for. The next step was to combine this with her ring. This would restore the original state of the ring, that was the bluish color she saw in the imaginative realm. 

The instructions were further deepened. It told her to tell Shirley that she was able to replenish the magic that laid behind this stone once she had recovered the ring since it would restore parts of her divinity back. Not only that, since the magic had been deteriorating for long, opting for this change would actually cause the energy ball to be even stronger than the one they had just stored inside the statue right now.

Naturally, replacing the marble with a stronger one would allow the statue to thrive with a deeper energy. Hence, it would be beneficial for Shirley too. 

"Shirley, I know that you are worried about the country's wellbeing, but I wonder if you have forgotten that I am the one who made the marble in the first place? Naturally.. won't I be able to replace it? Only the time effect will be lost, but if I replaced it right now, then the amount of power will only grow stronger,"

This tempting offer made Shirley's conscience stagger. She licked her lips and tried to regain her sense. "How... would I know that it would be replenished? In the first place, if you could make another one, then shouldn't you be able to make one of these balles by yourself without taking it from the one inside the statue?" Shirley concluded.

"About that, I had encountered a strange disaster that rendered by divinity be sullied. Thus, I couldn't properly administer my divine power.. But once I integrate that divine energy into myself, then I will be able to operate it once more. It will act as a trigger to my power," Estelle said. Her explanation was not actually lies. It was made using the instructions she had received. She followed it closely.

Shirley was still hesitant, but upon receiving Estelle's response, she thought that the girl could really be speaking the truth.

Thus, she did allow Estelle to execute her merging process in the end. Estelle sat down in a meditative position and started manifesting her mana and opening up her magic circuits to allow this foreign energy. Before, when a foreign element entered her, it had two possible conclusions. It will either riot and cause her harm or blend it with her smoothly to the point of achieving extreme success.

She wondered which one of the two it would be. After properly taking the energy in, she discovered that it was the latter. Perhaps because it was once a part of herself too, the energy became one with her core and strengthened her immensely. Estelle could finally feel traces of the divine power linger inside her, although it was still a bit unstable.

Estelle repeatedly controlled her magic to gain more understanding of it. Some of the abstract plans were already depicted inside the instructions, so Estelle was able to venture a bit further before having to discover the rest by herself. 

Since she already had experience with coming in contact with a foreign element and integrating it with herself, the process went on rather smoothly.

In the end, the entire fiasco took nothing more than half an hour. Shirley waited beside the child with patience. Not only was she anxious to what the outcome would be, she was also curious on how Estelle's process worked. She was also able to faintly detect the child's changing progress with each stage she went through and appreciated it. 

Then, it was time to replicate the original ball of energy. She had already noted the criteria that the ball had before absorbing it into herself, so she was rather familiar with what she had to make. 

"So... let me see here?" Estelle burst into a wide smile as she began to create a condensed ball of energy to replace the statue's original one. "This should do the trick... right?" Estelle handed it over to Shirley, and the woman began to look at it. Her heartbeat was speeding up as she was nervous. 

"This.. this is!" Shirley let out sounds of astonishment as she felt the overflowing power that emanated from the new marble. It was much more than the original one. Not because the current Estelle was stronger than the past Goddess, but because the magic was renewed and felt much for distinguishable. 

"Thank you so much. With this.. with this, perhaps the lineage would be continued," Tears started dropping down the beautiful elf's face, and she fell down to her knees, not minding about any grace of dignity. It was bound to happen. She was always so pressured to retain this depressing lineage. What seemed like despair suddenly turned around and began to be positive, why wouldn't she cry out of desperation?

"Thank you so much... thank you so much..." Shirley kept repeating, 

Estelle looked at Shirley, who shed tears of joy and began to feel bits of sympathy. The elven royal lineage started because in the past, she made a casual whimt hat ultimately ended up making up such a complex concept and structure. Then, they had to suffer because the power started to deteriorate because the original Goddess really did not plan to imbue them with magic whatsoever. This happened because she didn't think far enough back then. 

Silently, Estelle began to stretch her hand and placed it on top of Shirley's head, which was bowed down out of gratitude towards Estelle. The woman felt the touch, but she did not retract her head away and let the child continue her work. She even anticipated what she was about to receive since the child seemed to be concentrating on forming something. 

In a few moments, a warm stream of energy poured in from Estelle's palms down to Shirley's head, beginning to spread throughout her entire body as well. It touched her core, and she felt it getting stronger. 

"I can't give you too much of my power as it would only make things worse from now on. This blessing.. Shouldn't disappear. Although I gave you a moderate amount of divine power, the original effect actually happened because you guys stayed to near with the battle scene and eventually got the effect as well and not because the magic deteriorated with time. I originally did not plan to bless you all. That is a misunderstanding that could be said to be partly my fault, and since things have progressed to this far of a scale, I can't exactly tell you to end the farce. Thus, to make up for my past mistake and the things you had to go through because of it, carry on with Villarante's name." Estelle said. 

"This power won't disappear, and I made it to be particularly extra flashy so that the people you lead would gain trust,"