Towa sat at the head of the table, her expression unreadable. Beside her, Kaori reed slightly, exuding an air of quiet fidence. Across from them, two of Towa’s ministers sat in teicipation.
Towa sighed, breaking the silence. “So, it’s true.”
Kaori nodded. “It appears so. The five nations have already begun their march. They should reach your borders within a few hours.”
Towa’s brow furrowed. “That doesn’t make sense. For them to arrive so quickly, Lacua must have had them mobilizing since yesterday.” She rested her on her hand, deep in thought, before turning to the Tengu kneeling beside Kaori. “Did you notiything else?”
The Tengu, one of the few who had joined Kaori’s intelligework under Pito’s guidance, g her. She gave him a small nod, granting him permission to speak.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said. “Our iigation revealed that most of the royal families of these five nations have been repced by demons. The same applies to several of their high-ranking generals.”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
“So they’ve already fallen,” Kaori murmured, her voice ced with mild amusement as she unfolded her metal fan, fanning herself slowly. “Unfortunate.” She shifted her gaze to Towa. “What will you do?”
Towa took a slow breath, letting the weight of the momele over her. When she finally opened her eyes, there was ation, only unwavering resolve.
“I’ve made my decision,” she decred.
The ministers sat straighter, waiting for her verdict.
“The Kingdom of Raja,” Towa announced, her voice steady and firm, “will bee a vassal of the Kingdom of Maple Tree.”
The ministers gasped, their expressions a mix of shod disbelief. Kaori, oher hand, merely raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
“What’s going through that mind of yours?” she asked.
Towa exhaled, a small, sad smile grag her lips. “Lady Kaede has done so mue and my kingdom. If Lacua had his way, I’d be suffering right now, probably even worse.” She ched her hands into fists. “There’s nothing I could ever do to fully repay that.”
Kaori tilted her head slightly, her amusement evident. “So, you’re her your kingdom as payment?”
“No.” Towa’s lips curled into a smirk, her eyes gleaming with determination. “I’m giving her six kingdoms.”
Kaori’s expression shifted, her usual posure faltering for the briefest moment. “Six?” she echoed, genuinely surprised.
Towa nodded. “The five nations that have decred war on Raja have already fallen to demonifluence, haven’t they? That means we won’t just be saving my kingdom, we’ll be liberating theirs as well. And iurn, they’ll swear allegiao My Lady.”
Kaori remained silent for a moment before letting out a chuckle. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a ft cup and a bottle of sake, p herself a drink. “Not a bad idea,” she admitted, raising the cup slightly. “But what if they refuse?”
Towa’s smirk faded, repced by an icy determination. “Then we’ll simply destroy them. They attacked first, after all.”
Kaori took a slow sip of her sake, silently a brief prayer.
'My dolences, Lady Kaede. There are two of them now.'
She could already imagine Ari’s rea to meeting Towa.
'She’s going to love her.'
---
Boom!
Csh!
Boom!
A streak of violet light tore through the void, weaviween shattered fragments of floating structures. Hot on its trail, a blinding yellow streak pursued, each of their movements leaving behind rippling explosions in its wake.
[Nuclear on]
A trated mass of magicules bubbled and densed, f a vibrant pink sphere ner than a marble.
Violet shot forward, dartiween two colossal pilrs of stone. As she twisted midair, nine more pink marbles formed at her fiips. With a flick of her wrist, she unleashed them all at once, sending them hurtling toward her pursuer.
The now green streak shifted, revealing Caos, grinning wildly, her green hair billowing behind her as she surged forward.
With effortless precision, she cocked her fist and smmed into the first marble, defleg it with sheer brute force. The sed and third projectiles whizzed past as she twisted her body, avoiding them entirely. The fourth, she struck away with the back of her hand.
Then, without hesitation, she opened her mouth wide, swallowing the fifth whole.
Her fingers eloransf into razor-sharp cws. With a single sweeping motion, she unleashed five sshes of deep blue energy, eae crag with chaotic force as they carved through the void, slig apart the remaining five marbles in their path.
[Reality Breaking Blow]
“Tch!” Violet clicked her tongue, summoning a much rger pink sphere into her palm. Without a moment’s hesitation, she spun, using the orb’s immense energy to carefully divert the ining sshes, redireg them away from her path.
The five sshes tinued, unimpeded, until it collided with the 'edge' of the gap, long white gashes f in the face of reality.
pleting her spin, Violet cupped her hands, increasing the size of the pink sphere even further, before shooting it at Caos.
Moving at speeds faster than light, the pink sphere expanded rapidly, growing to an immense five meters in diameter before colliding with Caos.
Bang!
The sphere came to an abrupt halt. From its ter, massive cws of silver energy emerged, pierg through the magicule mass with ease. With a single, forceful motion, the cws pulled apart, slig the sphere ly in two.
As the energy dispersed, Caos stood at the heart of the destru, lig her lips. Her silver hair shimmered uhe eerie glow of her aura, which had taken the form of a massive, grinning demon looming behind her.
"Is that it?" she taunted, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "I expected more from a Primordial!"
Then, with a slight bend of her knees,
Boom!
The stone pilr beh her crumbled to dust as she unched forward with terrifying speed, closing the distaween them in an instant.
"She got faster?" Violet's instincts screamed. There was no time to dodge.
Instead, she reacted on impulse, summoning dozens, no, hundreds of pink spheres in an instant. They surrounded her in a chaoti, eae aimed directly at the charging Caos.
Boom!
Violet and Caos collided, their purple and red auras g violently, pushing against each other before erupting in a fiery explosion.
BOOM!
When the smoke cleared, Violet's expression twisted in disbelief. A thin trail of blood trickled down from her lips, only to evaporate instantly, as her body was posed entirely of magicules.
She lowered her gaze. Embedded iomach was Caos’s cw.
“H-How did you get past my Multi-Barrier?” Violet choked out.
Caos grinned, slowly pushing her fingers deeper into Violet’s stomach. “What good would that information do? You’re about to die anyway. Might as well put on a good show for the perverts watg.”
Violet's eyes widened. “W-What?”
Caos chuckled. “Heh. Just kidding. A certain red-haired Demon Lord probably wouldn’t like that. Besides, I’ve learned all I need from you, and this pne.”
Violet’s expression hardened. Without hesitation, she gripped Caos’s wrist, still buried iomach.
[Nihilistiish]
Dark, thread-like energy surged from Violet’s hands, spreading up Caos’s arm and over her entire body, coating her in writhing void energy.
erely grinned.
With a sharp pull, Violet yanked Caos’s cw from her stomad leaped back, her eyes locked on the figure being ed.
A moment ter, a massive bck co floated in the void, pulsating ominously.
“Gotcha… Finally!” Violet exhaled in relief.
Suddenly, -crack-.
Fissures spread across the co’s surface. Bck fragments crumbled away like scattered pixels, dissolving into the void.
[Devour]
A figure stepped out from the remnants, a purple-haired Caos, stretg zily as she yawned.
“Yawn… I’ve lost i, little demon.” She eyed Violet with plete disi.
"W-What…?" Violet's breath hitched. 'What the fuck is going on? Just who the hell is this?! Why is Guy watg us? Even that creep Noir is watg. What the actual fuck!?'
Before she could react further, thick smoke enveloped Caos, obsg her figure. When the smoke finally cleared, Kaede stood there, heaving a sigh of relief.
“That was incredibly weird…” she muttered.
Kaede raised an eyebrow. “Wait, really? That retty fast.”
“Huh?”
'Hang on, I did all that? I know I was doing something, but that's a lot.' She turo the flying demon. "So what do you say, Viole? You've clearly lost."
Viole grabbed her hair in frustration. 'I don't uand what's going on!'
Beside her, a figure appeared, the figure had the appearance of a gentlemanly middle-aged man with slicked-back purple hair and a lean physique. He wears a butler outfit and sports two curved horns and a handlebar mustache.
"Pardon me, my Lady, but I have an update," the butler annouaking a respectful bow.
"Hah?" Violet turo face him, her expression s with irritation. "Where have you been? And how dare you interrupt my business?"
The butler remained unfazed. "It seems that Lady Kaede was correct, Lacua has taken matters into his own hands." He adjusted his gloves, his tone calm and posed. "Raja is currently utack by its neighb tries."
Violet's eyes widened slightly. "What?"
"It appears Lacua instigated the flict with false information. Furthermore," the butler tinued, "he has been doing something to the queen’s body beyond the cursed poison, something preventing her from rec naturally."
A moment of silence huween them before,
"Fuck." Violet bit her finger, frustration flickering across her face. "That puts a bck mark on our tract. It's no fun this way."
"Indeed. Uhese circumstances, I regret to inform you that the tract must be voided."
Violet let out an exaggerated sigh, her shoulders slumping. "Well, nothing I do, I guess."
Kaede exhaled, already feeling the mental exhaustiole in. She felt the urge to take a long rexing bath whe home. "Does that mean our meeting is over?" she asked, rubbiemple. "I have no i in your personal circumstances. If you leave the Kingdom of Raja alone, I’ll overlook this matter."
Violet smirked. "Aww, really? But we were having so much fun."
With a pyful skip, she closed the distaween them, pressing a single finger against Kaede’s chest.
"Now that we’re no lorying to kill each other," Violet murmured, tilting her head slightly, "I kinda see the appeal."
"So, what do you say," She leaned in closer, her breath ghosting against Kaede’s ear as she whispered, "Wanna have fun with me?"
"Huh?" Before Violet could react, her feet left the ground.
Tomokashi had appeared in an instant, gripping the back of Violet’s dress and lifting her effortlessly.
"Hold it right there, pipsqueak." Tomokashi grinned, spinning Violet around to face her. "You’re not worthy of my Lady’s love."
With a hearty ugh, she decred, "Maple is truly one of a kind."
"Hah?" Violet frowned, still dangling from Tomokashi’s grip. "And you are? I'm way strohan you, so I get priority."
Kaede murmured, "I'm not sure that’s how it works." She gnced around, as if searg for something. "That watchful feeling is gone."
Violet snorted. "Ah, you mean those creeps? Guy and Noir are just busybodies with nothier to do."
Internally, however, she was less dismissive. They better not try anything. She's my human. With her by my side… who knows the fun things we do?
Tomokashi suddenly shook Violet aggressively, making the demon fil midair. "What’s with that look on your face, short stuff? If you’re thinking about using my Lady, you better stop. It’ll never work, your schemes don’t stand a ce against Maple’s luck."
Flipping over midair, Violet twisted out of Tomokashi’s grasp and nded with a huff. "What was that, you big-breasted bitch?" She dusted off her dress before looking around. "Hey, where’s my other butler? I left him with you."
Tomokashi smirked and poioward a er. As the void faded, they found themselves standing in a vast underground cave.
Violet’s butler was crouched behind a rock, his entire body trembling as he murmured unintelligible words to himself.
Kaede winced. What the hell did Tomo do to him?
Violet scowled. "Will you stop shaking like a baby a over here!"
"Y-Yes, my Lady!" The butler rasped, scrambling to his feet and rushing to Violet’s side, giving Tomokashi aremely wide berth as he did.
Tomokashi chuckled, clearly enjoying herself. "So, my Lady, shall we take our leave?"
Kaede nodded. "Hmm, sure. There’s nothio do anyway."
As Tomokashi waved a hand, a portal shimmered ience. Kaede stepped toward it, but Violet suddenly spoke up.
"Hey… where did you say your kingdom was again?" There was something almost nervous in her expression.
Tomokashi smirked, as if sensing something. Kaede turned as she answered with a smile. "Oh? Maple Tree is located in the eastern part of the Great Forest of Jura. It’s hard to miss."
Kaede gave a simple nod and walked into the portal without hesitation.
Grinning, Tomokashi followed.
Siletled over the cavern.
"...Lady Violet?" The older butler hesitantly spoke, watg as his mistress stood motionless, her body slightly trembling.
Then, with an eerie grin, Violet spun around. "Alright, I’ve decided! We’re moving to Maple Tree. Get our things."
The butler blinked in surprise. "My Lady?"
Violet’s smirk widened. "I have a feeling… Guy has developed an i in my human. We o get a headstart."
---
The Frozen ti, a desote and frigid nd covered iual id snow. In the midst of this inhospitable realm stood a castle, a massive structure carved from ice itself, known as the Pace of White Ice.
Within the pace, in a grand chamber of crystalline frost, a red portal suddenly maed, swirling with ominous energy.
Kaede and Tomokashi stepped out, only to immediately pause.
Kaede raised an eyebrow. “Where did you take us, Tomo?”
Tomokashi’s eyes narrowed, her body tensing. “Someone hijacked my portal.”
Before either could react further, a voice echoed through the chamber, smooth yet ced with an undeniable pressure, ohat sent a chill down both their spines.
“Well, hello there. Hope you don’t mind me summoning you at this time.”
Kaede turned slowly, instinctively preparing herself.
Seated upon a frozen throne, bathed in an aura of overwhelming presence, was a figure cd.
The pace itself was a serene shade of blue, refleg the purity of ice. Yet to Kaede, everything ainted crimson, overwhelmed by the sheer presence of the being before her. Red.
It was as if reality itself bent to his will, tainted by his mere existence.
Despite the pressure bearing down on her, Kaede found herself straightening her posture, her lifting just slightly. Some primal instinct deep within her refused to yield.
He wasn’t just strong. He wasn’t just dangerous.
He was the Stro Primordial Demon.
Guy Crimson.
SaberGlory