The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

Leaving the claw machine filled with "shady dealings" and surprises, Gray, holding Philippa's hand, followed the crowd to the central square mentioned earlier.

Just as Gray had said, the place was indeed very lively. In the center of the square, there was a temporary circular stage where a magician dressed in an extravagant robe adorned with sequins was performing a magical show to lively music.

He waved his wand, his fingertips dancing with dazzling magical light, sometimes summoning colorful orbs of light that danced and collided in the air, blooming like fireworks.

At times, it would transform an ordinary top hat into a white dove with fluttering wings, made of pure light elements, eliciting gasps and joyful laughter from the children watching.

Gray and Philippa found a relatively quiet spot on the outskirts of the crowd and watched the performance with great interest.

"These spells... are beautiful, but they don't seem to have any practical use. The magic circuits are cleverly constructed, focusing on shape changes and light and shadow effects."

Philippa watched as the light dove circled a few times before dissipating into starlight, and commented softly. Her eyes held the analysis of a professional magician, as well as a hint of appreciation for this pure beauty.

This type of magician won't have a very high magic power level.

After all, a truly skilled magician wouldn't spend time specifically practicing performance-oriented magic.

“Yes, it’s mainly for visual effects and entertainment.” Gray nodded in agreement, his gaze sweeping over the flashy but eye-catching magical effects on stage. “Essentially, it’s similar to those magicians in the streets who entertain audiences with techniques and props, except they use real magic, so the barrier to entry is higher.”

“Speaking of performance magic,” Philippa seemed to recall something amusing. She turned her head, a mischievous smile in her amber eyes, and lowered her voice to Gray, “Actually, in our hero team, there’s someone who’s good at this kind of flashy and beautiful magic.”

“Oh?” Gray raised an eyebrow, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. He ruled out Taric, as he didn’t seem like the mature and composed Phoenix.

Philippa leaned closer, and with a hint of sharing a secret in her voice, she said with a smile, "It's Sofia!"

“Sophia?” Gray was genuinely surprised. That female saint… the utterly devout saint…

Why doesn't this thing have a normal prefix description?

“Yes!” Philippa nodded vigorously, her smile widening. “Sophia’s affinity for and microscopic manipulation of light is actually very high! Sometimes when resting at the camp, or to amuse the children, she uses light to conjure all sorts of little animals, such as hopping light rabbits, swimming light fish, or weaving shimmering, intricate wreath patterns. She does them much more delicately and vividly than the one on stage!”

In terms of affinity with the Light attribute alone, Sophia has the highest affinity among the heroes, after all, she has innate Light attribute talent, while Taric and Philippa have acquired Light attribute talent through hero bonuses and Holy Light blessing.

The Holy Light Church selects its saintesses solely based on their light attribute talents; otherwise, it would be impossible (or perhaps there is no education at all) to produce such an extraordinary saintesse.

She paused, then added with a mix of helplessness and amusement, "In her own words, 'Since I'm just killing time anyway, using this meager amount of light magic to please the princess and the little brat crying from being scared by monsters on the roadside isn't such a waste of faith, is it?'... Well, she's probably the most 'utilizing' of the light element and the least concerned about divine power and dignity among all the 'saintess' candidates in the history of the Holy See."

Imagining Sofia with a stern face while using her exquisite magic to conjure up cute little animals to cheer people up is a bit hard to bear.

"She sounds like she has a real talent for this, and... she's not as serious on the inside as she seems," Gray commented succinctly.

“Yes, Sofia is actually very gentle, just a little stubborn,” Philippa said with pride. “That’s why I always think of her when I see performances like this.”

Just then, the magician on the stage performed a new act—he summoned several water spheres and then used delicate wind blade techniques to carve various flower shapes on their surfaces. The crystal-clear water droplets refracted a magnificent light under the sunlight, once again drawing admiration.

Philippa watched intently, then whispered to Gray, "Look, this water sculpture technique requires a very precise control over both water and wind elements. Although it doesn't have much power, it's truly beautiful. Sophia can also do something similar with light threads, weaving three-dimensional flowers of light..."

Just as the magician on stage manipulated the water sphere to sculpt the final, exquisite rose, drawing thunderous applause, Gray watched the precise manipulation of the elements, a faint hint of interest flashing in his eyes. He muttered to himself, "With my current level of magical control, I wonder if I could create something similar..."

His voice was soft, more like an unconscious contemplation. After all, standing at the pinnacle of power, he hadn't tried this kind of toy-like use of magic purely for "looks" in a long time.

However, Philippa, who stood beside him and was intimately familiar with his scent, clearly caught the whisper.

Almost instantly, fragments of memory uncontrollably surfaced in Philippa's mind—not specific scenes, but a sense of awe and terror of vastness and destruction imprinted deep within her soul.

Was it the purplish-black magical light curtain that blotted out the sky and seemed capable of swallowing all light? Or was it the terrifying pressure that, even a slight leak, was enough to make space tremble and the laws of nature wail?

She shivered violently, instinctively grabbing Gray's arm, looking up at him with a mixture of fear and amusement on her face, and quickly whispered, "No! Gray, please don't!"

"Huh?" Gray was taken aback by her overreaction and looked at her in confusion.

Philippa took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts, trying to make him understand the problem in the most intuitive way possible: "The performance needs that kind of... well, something that looks impressive, a bit intimidating, but doesn't actually hurt people's visual senses. The key is 'dazzling' and 'controlled.'" She pointed to the magician on stage taking his final bow, "Like this, everyone will think, 'Wow, that's amazing!' and then they'll happily applaud."

Then, she changed the subject, looking at Gray with a complicated expression, her tone filled with absolute certainty and a hint of lingering fear: "But your magic... that's pure 'power' itself! Even if you only use one in a billion of that power to imitate and create a small ball of light, the magical power contained within it would probably make everyone present with even a little bit of magical perception go weak in the knees instantly, and might even trigger elemental turbulence."

This isn't a performance, it's a preview of a terrorist attack! It's going to scare children and ordinary citizens to tears!

She shook Gray's arm hard and concluded, "In short, absolutely no one will dare to 'watch' your performance! Performances are about surprises, but what you've done... is a real-life demonstration that could destroy the world; all that's left is shock!"

Seeing Philippa's confident, even slightly panicked, expression, Gray remained silent for a moment, then chuckled. He thought about it carefully, and it seemed... that was indeed the case.

His power is too sublime and domineering to be contained within the realm of "performance." Forcibly imitating it would likely result in what Philippa said: turning a "magical performance" into a "warning of a magical disaster."

“Okay, you’re right.” Gray readily abandoned the dangerous idea and smiled helplessly. “Looks like I’m better off as a spectator.”

Just then, the magician on stage concluded the performance with an elegant bow, eliciting even louder applause and cheers from the surrounding crowd. The performance had officially come to an end.

Philippa breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Gray had accepted her suggestion. She patted her chest, a smile returning to her face, and took Gray's hand as they slowly moved along with the dispersing crowd: "That's right, just look around! Let's go, let's go find the next fun place!"

A potential "performance accident" that could have affected the entire square was averted thanks to Philippa's keen sense of crisis and decisive dissuasion.