Chapter 93: The Great Barrier

Alone in the wreckage of Weise, Macht broods over his failure to gain any new emotion despite gilding the city. As he decides to move on, Serie appears behind him, undetected until she speaks, and orders him to restore everything or die. The demon cannot comply, because, as Serie explains, magic is a matter of visualization, and a creature who fails to understand humanity can never picture itself turning people back from gold. His curse is therefore irreversible once cast. Furious, Macht seizes her and tries to transmute her, only for the spell to rebound onto his own hand.

Serie reveals her countermeasure, the curse reflecting magic Mistilziela, a crude relic of the Mythical Era that simply throws any curse back at its caster. She names herself a great mage so ancient that even demons have forgotten the dread she once inspired, and Macht recognizes her as unlike any reckless challenger before. Their duel sees her effortlessly deflect his golden blade and his Zoltraak volleys while taunting him as a mere monster who, for all his skill, can never imagine restoring the gilded.

Before the fight can escalate further, Serie's first class apprentices interrupt and trap Macht in a small barrier. Lernen arrives and urges Serie to spare the demon, since killing him would erase the only means of saving Weise. He proposes sealing Macht within the city until a cure for the curse is found, and Serie, having lost interest, relents. In the present, Denken and Frieren finish reading the memory, and Frieren's deeper analysis drains her mana so badly that she can barely move, leaving her dependent on Fern just as Solitär arrives to dismantle the Great Barrier of the Golden Land.

Serie confronts Macht and reflects his gilding curse with Mistilziela, proving him helpless against her. Lernen and the first class mages intervene, sealing Macht and the ruins of Weise inside the Great Barrier of the Golden Land until the curse can be reversed. In the present, Frieren and Denken complete their reading of Macht's memories, and Solitär appears at the barrier to begin tearing it down.

Released May 18, 2022, the chapter is titled The Great Barrier and runs in volume ten of The Golden Land arc. It establishes that Macht's curse cannot be undone even by the demon who cast it, since restoration demands a vision he cannot form. Serie's Mistilziela is described as a primitive Mythical Era magic that reflects any curse without analyzing it, a tool she dislikes yet finds perfectly suited to defeating Macht.