Hel walked quickly toward the pool, then leapt lightly from the edge. When she was about half a meter above the bottom, she gently stepped on the air — her body floating weightlessly against gravity.
To be safe, she didn't land completely, but this distance was enough to see what was below. The energy that once glowed blood-red now shimmered with faint golden threads.
"This feels… almost like soul energy. Could it be that the refined Desire Energy separates the soul from desire?"
But after examining it closely, Hel dismissed the thought. It was still Desire Energy — only denser and more potent than before.
Thinking for a moment, she waved her hand and produced a small chunk of Desire Crystal, shaping it into a bucket. Then she tried using her spiritual power to gather the liquid below — but as soon as her spirit touched it, a strange feeling washed over her.
"Right… I nearly forgot. Desire is a kind of spiritual energy."
She quickly withdrew her spirit, then instead used necrotic energy to scoop the liquid up. There wasn't much left — barely enough to fill ten or so buckets.
Once it was all gathered, that strange feeling became even clearer.
"This stuff… it's so much like a Philosopher's Stone. I wonder… can I use it to cast magic?"
Curious, she formed a magic circle in her palm, suppressing the strange heat rising in her chest as she drew on the energy. A moment later, she completed one of her signature spells — Death's Touch.
Except… the spell that appeared was pink.
"This… definitely isn't the Death's Touch I know."
She could clearly feel that the necrotic tendrils were now wrapped in a thin membrane of desire energy — which explained why the spell looked so absurdly pink.
"Though… aside from the color, the power doesn't seem weaker. It might even be stronger thanks to the outer layer of desire aura."
Hel studied the tendrils for a while, analyzing them with her spiritual sense. Once she had learned what she could, she grew curious about their true destructive power.
The only problem was… she needed a test subject.
Suddenly, she remembered the little wolf girl she had locked away. With a casual wave, she released Nikki.
The small wolf girl, still half-asleep, yawned and blinked up at her captor.
"Sorry," Hel said awkwardly. "I almost forgot you were still in there. But don't worry — you'll get to stretch your legs this time."
She smiled, polite but… unsettlingly so. "Although, this time I'll need you to help me test a spell."
Before Nikki could even respond, Hel unleashed the pink Death's Touch — tendrils shooting out and wrapping around the little wolf.
"Wha—?!" Nikki yelped, suddenly dangling midair, panic flashing in her eyes. But as the familiar sense of confinement set in, her struggle weakened — she recognized this.
It was just Hel being… Hel.
She knew her master's cruelty always had limits. So she sighed internally, deciding to wait it out until Hel was "done playing."
But this time… something was wrong.
Her face grew flushed. A strange warmth welled up from her belly. When she glanced down at Hel's calm, beautiful face, an inexplicable thought slipped into her mind — How pretty she is…
"Wait— what the hell, Master!? What did you do to me!?"
Her fangs bared, her tail puffed out — panic and embarrassment clashing in her tone. She could feel something invading her, twisting her emotions.
But before she could resist, the desire energy seeped deep into her body. Her eyes turned glassy; the fierce little wolf soon melted into a docile pup.
"Master~ hehe… Master, you smell so nice…Master, do you wanna wag tails together?Master~…"
Hel shivered. Goosebumps crawled down her arms.
"W–What the… Death's Touch, are you still the same Death's Touch I know?! Did you… gain a magical girl charm buff or something!?"
Realizing how dangerous the side effect was, Hel hurriedly dispelled the spell. Before Nikki could pounce on her in that delirious state, Hel sealed her back inside her containment orb and tied her up tightly with spectral cords.
"Sorry, Nikki. I'm restraining you for your own good. If I leave you like that, you might… do something you regret."
With a small sigh, she turned back toward the gathered Desire Energy.
Based on the experiment, she had a general grasp of its properties now. That single advanced spell had consumed only a tiny fraction of the collected energy — barely a trace.
To make sense of it, Hel compared it to her usual units of measurement.
Casting a full-scale Nation-Level Transmutation Array — a seventh-tier spell of extreme power — required what she now called one Nikki worth of mana. That is, the total magic capacity of her pet wolf girl, the so-called "Shame of the Seven Kings."
Yes — after all her years as a "War Witch," Nikki had only barely reached Sixth Tier, One Star. A truly pathetic achievement.
So Hel measured the refined Desire Energy accordingly. She divided it into units of ten Nikkis each — each portion no larger than a pinky.
Then, wrapping each portion with Desire Crystal, she shaped them into Elemental Cores.
Direct contact with Desire Energy was dangerous — it polluted spiritual energy and could easily induce a state of euphoric madness.
But by sealing it into cores and channeling it through automated alchemical circuits, no direct mental contact was needed.
This — Hel concluded — was the proper way to use Desire Energy.