by Virlyce
Tafel frowned and rubbed her chin. “For some reason, I just don’t like your reasoning,” she said before sighing.
“That’s because you’re a queen,” Alice said with a snort. “It’s obvious you wouldn’t like someone saying they can overthrow your position if they wanted to. That makes you a tyrant, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I’m not a tyrant! My people love me,” Tafel said, glaring at Alice.
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s not because bad things would happen to them if they said they didn’t love you?”
“I’m not that kind of person!”
“Vur told me the Tafel-method of claiming a throne involves finding the current ruler of the land and smacking them over the head with a sword until they surrender.”
Tafel’s eyes widened as she whirled her head around to face Vur. “Why would you tell her that!?”
“Dragons don’t lie,” Vur said. He tilted his head. “Should I have talked about the moon instead?”
“Yes. Yes, you should’ve.” Tafel sighed and placed her hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Look, there were circumstances around my ascension to the throne, alright? The demon lord is supposed to be the strongest demon, so anyone who can defeat them can become the new demon lord. And I defeated the previous one, so the throne became mine.”
Alice picked her ear with her pinky and flicked away a glob of earwax. “Yeah, yeah, sure. Do you know what you sound like right now? A big, fat hypocrite.”
“What’s with you recently?” Tafel asked, furrowing her brow. “Why are you always picking fights with me? First, it was the thing about taxes, and now it’s this. Did I do something to make you hate me?”
“Hmm…, no?” Alice raised an eyebrow. She smiled at Tafel. “Or did you? I wonder.”
“She’s upset you went searching for genies without her,” Mr. Skelly whispered in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Despite how she portrays herself to be tough and independent, Alice has issues with abandonment. She’s like a puppy that way.”
“Who has abandonment issues? I’m not a dog!” Alice punched Mr. Skelly’s helmet, causing both the metal and his skull to fly off.
Daniel and Apollonia screamed at the sight, Daniel drawing his sword. “You killed a knight!”
“Uh, no, he’s already dead,” Alice said, waving off Daniel’s words with her hand. “Don’t worry about it.” She slapped the back of Mr. Skelly’s armor. “See? Say something.”
Mr. Skelly crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, not saying a word.
Daniel and Apollonia stared at the fallen set of armor before staring at the woman standing over it. Alice’s eye twitched as one corner of her lips curled upwards, veins bulging on her forehead. “You damned skeleton! Stop messing with me like this!”
Tafel opened a portal and reached into it, retrieving Mr. Skelly’s helmet and skull. She pulled the skull out of the helmet and raised it up. “Look. He was already dead,” she said, waving the two items at Daniel.
Daniel’s eyes bulged, nearly falling out of his head. Mr. Skelly’s skull moved, his lower teeth clacking against his upper ones. “Avenge … me….”
Tafel met Alice’s gaze. Alice nodded. Tafel threw Mr. Skelly’s skull over her shoulder without looking and handed Alice the helmet. “I’m sorry for not bringing you with us to go looking for genies. I just wanted to give you some alone time with Mr. Skelly.”
“Really,” Alice said, her eyes narrowing at Tafel. “If you’re lying, I won’t forgive you.”
Tafel bit her lower lip. “Alright, I admit it—I forgot about you two when I heard about the genies.”
“I knew it. You really did forget.”
“Speaking of forgetting…, was I forgotten again?” the devil asked, its face downcast. “Should I just go back home? I…, I wanted to succeed in my first contract.” It hung its neck, staring at the ground. “Maybe my sister was right. I really am just a useless devil with no presence.”
“Wait!” Apollonia said. “Don’t go.” She patted Daniel’s helmet. “Hurry up and follow my orders. I don’t know if the demon lord is actually going to sit patiently at my home. The faster you get here, the better it is.”
“Ah,” Tafel said as Daniel leapt off the pile of rubble. “Should we follow them?”
“No,” Vur said, his head appearing behind Tafel and Alice. “We’re leaders. Leaders lead. We’ll go find the empress first.”
8
“Your Imperial Majesty, what are you doing?” Apollonia asked. She was standing at a doorway with a tray of food in her hands. Ahead of her was the guest room she had assigned the empress. And inside of that room, the empress was balancing on the crown of her head, the rest of her body as straight and stiff as a pole with her arms pressed to her sides.
“I’m training.”
Apollonia walked into the room and set the tray down on a nearby table. “What kind of training involves balancing on your head? Doesn’t your neck hurt?”
“This is image training,” the empress said, still upside-down. “You copy an animal or object to take on its properties. Your understanding increases the more you do it.”
“Let me guess, Your Imperial Majesty is imitating a sword,” Apollonia said. “The tip of a sword is pointed down while sheathed. You’re as straight as a sword too.”
“No, you’re wrong. I’m not imagining myself as a sword,” the empress said. “I’ve already achieved the level of being one with my blade. Sword image training is nearly useless to me.”
Apollonia raised an eyebrow. “Then what are you imitating?”
“A carrot.”
“…Come again?”
“It’s like an orange radish.”
“I know what a carrot is, Your Imperial Majesty.”
“I see. Then I didn’t speak clearly enough. I’ll keep that in mind next time,” the empress said. She bent at her waist, her feet planting down onto the floor tile in front of her face. Then she stood up while cracking her neck before walking over to the table. “Breakfast?”
“I heard you liked mangoes, so I had my servants prepare some for Your Imperial Majesty,” Apollonia said. “The milk was freshly squeezed from one of my serfs’ cows. And the flour used to bake this bread was ground just the other day.”
The empress ignored the loaf of bread and grabbed a mango slice. She brought it up to her face and sniffed it a few times before popping it into her mouth, slurping it up like a noodle. In less than five seconds, three mangoesworth of slices disappeared from the plate into her stomach. The empress cleaned her hand on a hot, wet towel that was meant to be used before eating and nodded at Apollonia. “Thanks for the meal.”
As the empress was about to once again balance on her head, the door to the room swung open, and a servant stepped inside. “Grand Duchess,” he said, lowering his head. “The devil is here.”
“That was quick,” the empress said, before Apollonia could even open her mouth. “It hasn’t even been a day.” Without waiting for Apollonia or the servant to respond, the empress picked up her sword that was leaning against the wall and left the room.
“Hey!” Apollonia shouted as she scrambled after the empress. “If you’re going to confront it, you’re going the wrong way! That hall leads to the laundry room.”
The empress’ footsteps halted. She turned around and passed Apollonia without saying a word, walking as if she had always been moving in that direction.
“Not cute at all,” Apollonia muttered as she followed behind the empress.
It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive in the foyer where they found Vur’s party sitting around on the tiger-skin couches, eating snacks from plates on a low table. Vur’s eyes lit up upon seeing Apollonia, and he poked Tafel’s ribs, causing her to flinch. “I told you we found the right house.”
“Don’t do that,” Tafel said with a scowl as she brushed away Vur’s finger.
“You’re the devil sent to kill me?” the empre
ss asked, scanning Tafel from top to bottom. She frowned. “Why do you look so weak?” She sighed. “I’ll make this quick.”
Before Tafel could even say a word, the empress charged at her, reaching out to grab Tafel by the neck with her armored hand. Vur shot to his feet and placed his hand in the empress’ hand’s path, stopping her a few feet away from Tafel. His eyes widened as his arm buckled, and he leaned forward while digging his feet into the floor, straightening his elbow and pushing the empress back by a few inches.
The empress’ eyes flickered. “You’re strong.” She also corrected her posture and leaned forward, digging her heels into the floor. Neither side budged an inch.
“How long do you intend on holding another woman’s hand, Vur?” Mr. Skelly asked with a laugh. “Push her back.”
Vur grunted in response, the muscles on his arm bulging. The empress snorted and took in a deep breath, locking eyes with Vur. “You should give up,” she said. “You might get hurt. I only want to slay the devil.”
Vur snorted. “I’m not going to lose.”
“Wait,” Tafel said. Her hand trembled as she put back the snack she was holding onto the table. “Is this woman really as strong as Vur?”
“That’s impossible,” Mr. Skelly said. “Vur still has his polymorph.”
Tafel bit her lower lip. “But I’ve never seen anyone able to compete with Vur even if he’s not polymorphed.”
“Who are you?” the empress asked, ignoring Alice, Mr. Skelly, Tafel, and Alora. Her green eyes were focused completely on Vur.
“I’m Vur.”
The empress waited for more, but there was no response. “I’m Mary.”
The two’s arms trembled as they pushed against each other, but their midpoint hadn’t changed despite the constant adjustments of their posture. The empress narrowed her eyes, and a rune in the shape of a shell appeared on her forehead. Black aura gushed out of the cracks in her armor, forming another protective layer that clung to her like tar.
Vur’s elbow bent, and his upper body leaned backwards, but a black aura rushed out of the golden rune that appeared on his forehead. The two auras collided, and Vur pushed the empress back into her original position. He grunted. “I’m not going to lose.”
“Neither will I.”
At that moment, a crack appeared on the floor between the two. It widened and elongated, traveling through the tiles until it reached the walls. “Hey! You two, stop before you destroy my mansion!” Apollonia shouted, but it was too late. The mansion split into two as the crack ran up the walls and ceiling, Vur and Mary on opposite sides. As the floor was pushed apart, their legs went further and further away from each other’s, but their hands remained in the same position, slowly getting lower and lower, causing both of them to fall face first into the earth underneath the mansion as their bodies were completely stretched out. Without moving their hands, they jumped back onto their feet and braced themselves again, using the earth this time, ignoring the screams of the servants and the rubble falling around them.
“Hey!” Tafel shouted, “Are you two trying to split the world in half too!? Give it a rest!” and threw a blood-red fireball at Mary’s head.
The empress yelped and pulled back, clawing at the flames covering the black aura on her face. Within seconds, they dissipated as if she had covered her head with water. She glared at Tafel and lowered her hand, grabbing the hilt of her sword. Before she could draw it, Vur said, “Hah! I win.”
“You didn’t,” the empress said, whipping her head around to face Vur. “The devil interfered. There was no victor.”
“Nope,” Vur said, shaking his head. “I pushed you back first. I’m stronger. The end.”
“Again,” the empress said. “That time didn’t count.”
“Nope,” Vur said, shaking his head again. “It counted. I’m stronger.”
The empress stamped her foot against the ground, causing a web of cracks to appear in the earth. “It wasn’t fair. You’re not stronger than me.”
“If I’m not stronger than you, then how come I pushed you back?” Vur asked, puffing his chest out and pointing his chin upwards. “I wouldn’t have been pushed back if Tafel threw flames at me.”
“It didn’t count,” the empress said. She charged at Vur, stretching out her hand like before, but Vur ducked to the side and avoided her. “Why are you dodging?”
Vur yawned and patted his mouth a few times before crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m a very busy person. I don’t have time to play around with people I’ve already beat.”
The empress stared at Vur with a blank expression, her fingers twitching on her sword’s hilt. “You didn’t beat me.”
“Are you two children?” Alora asked, her gaze shifting from Vur to Mary. “You’re starting to sound like the annoying trio, gosh. I won; no, I did; no, I did! You, shut up; no, you, shut up! Jeez.” She stood up and picked up the plates of food that had fallen to the ground but not spilled, placing them into Vur’s and Mary’s hands. “Eat your snacks and behave.”
Vur and Mary stared at the plates of fruit. Mary pushed her plate of sliced apples towards Vur. “I want the mangoes.”
Vur pulled his plate of mangoes back and to the side, shielding it with his body. “They’re my mangoes.”
“I thought you hated mangoes,” Alice said.
“I want her to not have mangoes more than I dislike mangoes,” Vur said. He grabbed a handful off his plate and stuffed them into his mouth, making a face before swallowing.
The empress glared at Vur and threw her plate away like a frisbee. She tackled Vur, bringing him to the ground. “Give me my mangoes!”
“I had them first!”
Tafel sighed, planting her forehead into her palm. She shuffled over to Apollonia. “I see what you mean by the empress is oddly pure like a child.” The two watched as Vur and Mary pulled each other’s hair while biting each other’s arms. “There’s nothing adultlike about her.”
“I could say the same for your companion,” Apollonia said, placing her hands on her hips. “Look at what those two did to my mansion. It’s destroyed. I’ll have to remove all the debris and start from scratch.” She sighed as she surveyed the wreckage before her gaze landed on Tafel. “But how did you arrive here in less than a day? Don’t tell me it’s because you walk fast.” Her eyes lit up. “You rode the dragons, didn’t you? Where are they?”
Tafel pointed at Alora; then she pointed at Vur. “Those are the dragons.”
The empress stopped biting Vur’s arm and raised her head. She followed Tafel’s finger and blinked at Vur. “This person is a dragon? That’s impossible. He’s just a mango thief.”
“You’re the one trying to steal from me,” Vur said with a growl. He widened his mouth and inhaled, sucking up all the mango slices before chomping down. His neck bulged as he swallowed without chewing, ignoring Mary’s aggrieved cry. “See? They’re mine. I won again.”
“I was distracted by the devil again,” Mary said, biting her lower lip. “That doesn’t count.”
“Oh, more excuses,” Vur said, rolling his eyes. “You know only losers make excuses, right?”
“…I don’t like you very much,” Mary said as she got up and took a step back, placing her hands on her hips. “Are you here to kill me too?”
Vur tilted his head as he stood up. “Why would I do that?”
“You came with the devil,” Mary said. “A devil alone isn’t enough to kill me. You must be one of Apollonia’s elite knights that she’s kept hidden.”
“No,” Apollonia said, “he’s absolutely not related to me.”
Mary’s brow furrowed before relaxing. “You’re right. You couldn’t control someone this strong. Then who is he?”
Apollonia shrugged. “I honestly have no clue. He just appeared to watch the summoning ritual.”
Mary turned her gaze onto Vur. “Well?”
“We’re adventurers,” Tafel said. “We—”
“I wasn’t talking to you, w
eak devil,” Mary said, cutting Tafel off without even looking away from Vur. “Speak out of line again and your head will roll on the floor.”
“Don’t threaten my wife,” Vur said, narrowing his eyes at the empress.
Mary blinked and turned around. Tafel was glaring at her. Mary pointed at Tafel and turned back to face Vur, her finger still in the air. “She’s your wife? Are you a devil too? Or maybe you’re a person with an odd fetish?”
Tafel stepped towards the empress. “I’m not a devil!” Her eyes widened as she reached into a portal and drew her sword, barely blocking the empress’ sudden swing. Tafel grunted as she flew off the ground and crashed into the wall, leaving a web of cracks behind as she slid down to the floor.
“She’s not as weak as she looks,” Mary said, her expression blank.
Her sword lit up with a blue light. “You couldn’t behead her in one stroke because you didn’t train hard enough. Train harder!”
Mary sighed and leapt back, avoiding a column of frost filled with icicles that had shot out of Vur’s mouth. “You’re a mage?”
“I’m a dragon,” Vur said as his eyes glowed golden. Scales sprouted from his skin as wings extended out of his shoulder blades. His body grew in size as claws covered his fingertips, his tail growing from above his butt. He fell onto all fours as his neck elongated, stretching towards what remained of the ceiling.
Mary took a step back and froze upon seeing Alora undergoing the same transformation. After a brief moment of hesitation, she brought her sword up to her neck, pressing the black metal against her pale skin. A droplet of blood ran down the length of her blade as she took in a deep breath. She gritted her teeth and—“Stop!”—paused.
Tafel climbed to her feet, dusting off her clothes. She coughed into her hand a few times before glaring at Vur and Alora, wiping her bloody palm on her robe. “Don’t attack her.”
Vur tilted his head. “But she—”
“She’s mine,” Tafel said, a golden rune shining on her forehead. Blood-red flames erupted from Tafel’s skin as she raised her sword and let out a clear phoenix cry.
