Chapter 22

Scales of Obedience (の) is the twenty-second chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Sousou no Frieren.

Summary
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Frieren and Aura continue to face off against each other. Using her Scales of Obedience, Aura casts the Spell of Obedience: Auserlese. Frieren notes that based on her mana, Aura must have trained for most of her five hundred years of life. In a flashback, Frieren's training under Flamme's apprenticeship is shown. Flamme tells Frieren that demons cannot limit their mana because they are beholden to it as a form of status. All the while, Frieren continues to train in restricting her mana. She promises Flamme to keep a low profile until she has defeated the Demon King. Once Flamme perishes due to old age, a series of scenes show Frieren's life, all while limiting her mana, up until she is recruited by the Hero Party and they face down the Demon King. The flashback then ends with Aura weighing Frieren's soul against her own. Initially, Aura seems assured in her victory, but slowly, the scale tips towards Frieren's side. Frieren tells Aura that she was limiting her mana and that Aura miscalculated, and when Aura reacts in disbelief, Frieren releases her full mana, which dwarf's Aura's mana. The scale tips fully to Frieren's side, and turning her back, Frieren commands Aura to kill herself, finally defeating the Sage of Destruction.

Plot Details
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Frieren and Aura continue their fight. Frieren observes Aura's Scales of Obedience and links Aura's confidence in using the Scales with her incredible mana levels, for only someone with as much mana as Aura could use the Scales so casually. Given that Aura has lived for over five hundred years, a period of time longer than most demons, Frieren speculates that Aura has remained unmatched in her mana levels. As Aura begins to utilize Auserlese: the Spell of Obedience which weighs two opponents' souls and grants the one with greater mana the other's obedience, Frieren pities demons' inability to limit their mana.

During her apprenticeship under Flamme, Frieren's younger self questions her mentor why demons, who are known to be cunning, don't conceal their mana as Flamme does. Flamme responds that demons are simply unable to: while demons are individualistic, they still require a minimalistic society in order to battle against humans. A society requires order and hierarchy, and demons which evolved from monsters lack nuanced indicators of order - they simply establish order using strength, a measure decided by their mana levels, and thus they are able to immediately discern what their peers' order in society are based on their mana. Flamme likens this superiority ranking around mana to how humans base superiority around status and wealth. Thus, considering mana quite literally constitutes the identity and dignity of a demon, she explains that there is no benefit to them limiting their mana and the thought isn't even entertained. Flamme expresses pity towards how demons are bound by their mana despite how much they enjoy magic and tells Frieren she should be glad she isn't a demon. The elf agrees, and notes that she is able to deceive demons for this very reason. Flamme comments that Frieren has been limiting her mana for three years now and praises her abilities.

Many years later, an older Flamme meets Frieren by a cliff. Flamme notes that Frieren's mana restriction has vastly improved and asks if she still enjoys magic, to which Frieren responds that she does in moderation. Flamme reminds Frieren about her love for magic decades ago and laments how she only taught Frieren magic used for fighting and revenge, but states that she has no regrets entrusting her magic to the elf. She tells Frieren that she will be capable of defeating the Demon King one day, and makes a final request of Frieren to grow a field of flowers around her grave. Frieren comments that the request is uncharacteristic of Flamme, but Flamme tells her that the spell to grow a beautiful field of flowers, which was taught to her by her parents, is what made her fall in love with magic, and thus is the spell she loves most. As Frieren requests for her to teach her the spell, Flamme reminds Frieren to live modestly and keep a low profile - the moment she makes her mark in history will be when she defeats the Demon King and not before.

After Flamme passes away, Frieren honors her request and grows a field of flowers around her grave. The elf then begins traveling on her own, settling down around a small village that over time grows into the Royal Capital and spending the years subjugating monsters and carrying out the endeavors of living like cooking and homemaking, all while still limiting her mana. Several centuries later, Himmel and his party seek out the mage that they hear has lived a long time. Frieren counters that just because she is long-lived does not mean she is a great mage. Himmel then asks Heiter what he thinks, and Heiter compares and finds Frieren's mana to be around one-fifth his own - that of an average mage. Irritated, Frieren tells the party to go home and leave an average mage like her alone, but like Frieren was once able to deduce Flamme's strength despite her restricted mana, Himmel's intuition tells him that Frieren is the most powerful mage he has ever met and he invites her to join his party. The Hero Party then advances on their journey, facing down against various monsters and demons before finally confronting the Demon King.

Back in the present, Aura casts Auserlese, and two fires representing Frieren and Aura's souls appear. Frieren asks if Aura is so assured of her victory. Aura thinks to herself that despite her title of Frieren the Slayer, the role she played in the Demon King's defeat eighty years ago, and her unknown age, her mana levels say it all. No matter Frieren's feats, her mana is unimpressive and indicative of only a century or so of training. The scale tilts in Aura's favor and she confidently declares her victory. Aura muses that if she knew it would be this easy, she wouldn't have sacrificed so much of her undead army to exhaust Frieren's mana. However, as she moves to behead Frieren, to her confusion, the scales begin to even out.

Frieren notes that Aura has placed her soul in the balance. She thanks Aura for using her magic, as it would have been a much closer call if she were forced to continue fighting Aura's undead army, but because of Aura's confidence in her own mana, Frieren is finally able to take her down. She reveals to the demon that she has been limiting her mana. Aura responds in disbelief as she didn't sense instability in Frieren's mana, but Frieren attributes this to the incredible familiarity she has with keeping her mana levels limited after a lifetime of doing so. Aura asks why Frieren would do something so nonsensical, to which the elf replies that despite seeming silly, it is precisely this that allows her to defeat demons. Aura rebuts that she is a great demon who has lived for over five hundred years, but Frieren, unleashing her full mana, reveals that she is a mage who has lived for over a millennium. Unrestrained, her mana completely eclipses Aura's, and the scales tip instantly to Frieren's side. Now with Aura under her control, Frieren turns her back and commands the demon to kill herself, finally defeating the Sage of Destruction.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Aura
 * Frieren
 * Flamme
 * Himmel
 * Heiter
 * Eisen
 * Qual
 * Demon King

Locations

 * Outskirts of Graf Granat's Domain

Battles

 * Frieren vs. Aura

Events

 * Aura uses her Scales of Obedience
 * Frieren defeats Aura

Spells

 * Spell of Obedience: Auserlese
 * Magic that produces a field of flowers
 * Unnamed magic that levitates planks of wood

Chapter Notes

 * The village Frieren initially settles by develops into the Royal Capital as seen in Chapter 1.