Chapter Text
Suisei dusts off the leaves stuck to her haori from having crawled on the ground to sneak her way into the castle grounds. She unsheathes her sword, preparing for any assault that may come now that they are on enemy territory. They need to be alert and prepared for anything that might happen.
She feels like a real adventurer, a hero instead of a princess, or even both at the same time. Despite the extreme danger that the current situation poses, there's a certain thrill to it that makes her feel alive.
She would have preferred to bring her axe for this, but a sword is much easier to carry around. Besides, the sword she brought is also no ordinary sword, it is infused with magical properties, blessed with a holy element to have an advantage over the Demon Army if necessary. It is also specially made to have extremely high physical attack, in case the opponent is immune to magic damage.
The dark blue hue of her blade matches the color of her haori, which she had specifically requested to be made for her, with a small comet design embroidered into it. Her haori is also blessed with extremely high magical defense to nullify any magic attack that could be thrown at her. She had donned the dark blue haori to be able to hide in the darkness and easily blend into the shadows, which proves to be useless anyway because someone decided to wear a bright banana colored haori for this stealth mission. She throws a glare at Kanata, who blinks back at her curiously.
On the other hand, Towa is wearing a dark purple haori with black markings to camouflage into the darkness as well, because she is just as paranoid as Suisei. Towa had already given Kanata a piece of her mind earlier that day, so Suisei decides not to revisit the argument.
Besides, the star patterns on her own haori admittedly defeats the purpose of blending into the shadows, so she has no room to talk.
She can't get distracted now, so she brings her attention back to the task at hand. She focuses on the surroundings once more as her eyes adjust to the darkness, darting around the premises to make sure there are no enemies nearby waiting to strike. She strains her ears to listen to any signs of movement, but all she can hear is the rustling of leaves from the wind.
There are no sounds of animals or insects nearby, nor are there any presence of monsters around the area. All the creatures must have instinctively sensed that this place is dangerous.
She carefully takes a step forward towards the castle, remaining vigilant as she scans the area for any signs of danger or traps. She doesn't let herself relax, and her posture doesn't falter as she creeps forward towards their destination.
The air is filled with silence, thick and heavy with tension.
“We can still back out,” Towa hisses nervously from behind her, clinging on to Kanata's arm unconsciously with one arm while her other hand is grasping onto the back of Suisei's haori in obvious trepidation.
Towa squeaks in surprise at a sound from somewhere beside her, and Kanata exasperatedly remarks, “Calm down, I just stepped on a leaf.”
Kanata repeats the motion, the leaf making a crunching sound beneath her boots. The sound seems to echo in the silence, so Suisei can kind of understand why Towa is a bit jumpy.
“I-I knew that!” Towa defensively stutters out, looking around at the surroundings in barely hidden panic as she clutches harder at the back of Suisei's haori. Suisei is a bit worried that she might stretch it out.
“Why are you so scared of a Demon Lord?” Kanata scoffs, “Aren't you a demon yourself?”
Towa's face flushes red, stuttering out a response, “Why you little- I'm a devil, not a demon!”
“Enough,” Suisei grunts at the bickering duo. Again, they're trying to be stealthy here.
She and her companions tensely brace themselves as they appraise the outside of the castle. It looks ominous and intimidating, with darkness shrouding the surroundings. The menacing aura seems to be coming in waves, as if it is holding back a great threat within its walls.
The only light available is from the moon above, the stars in the sky that dimly casts a faint glow, and a light spell that Kanata had produced, a bright orb floating on her hand to help with their vision.
Her fist clenches tightly around the hilt of her sword, the thought that the Demon Army could possibly be inside the castle right now reminds her that she needs to be extremely careful with how to proceed, especially since it might put her friends in danger.
Most monsters are slaves to instincts, but more dangerous than those are the monsters that are capable of thoughts. They can make plans, schemes, and strategize their attacks, causing more trouble. On the contrary, there are also those that can blend into society and live peacefully among humans, which is the rarest kind. Based on the rumors, the Demon Lord seems to be the slave to instincts type, either that or they are just extremely cruel.
Demon Lord is merely a title granted to the strongest of demons, more powerful than a common demon or monster. Although there aren't that many around, there is a sufficient number that their existence can be considered as normal, albeit quite rare. Most can be subdued by the strongest heroes and warriors of the land, and the only reason why Suisei had decided to get involved is because of the unique circumstances surrounding this case.
Honestly, she's not sure if what they are doing is a good idea, but she doesn't really have much of a choice when nobody else seems to be planning on doing anything to this creature that threatens to ruin the peace in her kingdom.
Recently, Suisei had been hearing stories about a fabled Demon Lord, thriving in the suffering cries of the masses and bathing in the blood of the innocent with pure joy while burning everything in their path to the ground. Even monsters were afraid, the Demon Army's power and lack of mercy causing every living creature to tremble in fear. Tales of the Demon Army's insatiable thirst for destruction and chaos had spread throughout the land, causing unrest among the people.
This Demon Lord seems to have a few companions as well, which is why the people have dubbed them as the Demon Army. She heard that one of those companions is a cerberus with a nature so violent, so aggressive, that it consumes everything in its path with jaws that are stronger than steel and takes the severed fingers of its poor victims. The other companion seems to be a pirate, known for having hair as red as blood and notorious for their greed and thirst for power and wealth, wreaking havoc to anything that stands in their way. There might be more in their ranks, but they are the only ones that have gained such a notorious reputation.
The Demon Lord.
The Cerberus.
The Blood Red Pirate.
No wonder the people are afraid.
As the princess, Suisei had decided to take matters into her own hands when she heard of the horrors of the Demon Army, tales of their thirst for destruction and chaos had spread throughout the land after recent events, the latest being that a village had been burned down, leaving nothing behind but ashes.
Normally, heroes across the land would look into these kinds of matters themselves and resolve the situation with their guilds, however imagine everyone's surprise when the Kingdom of Shiranui suddenly stepped in and declared that the Demon Lord's castle is off limits. Then, some other neighboring countries had followed suit and also started to declare their intentions to keep the Demon Lord under their protection, such as Princess Luna and Queen Mio, among others.
This decision had sparked outrage throughout the leaders, some representatives from other countries had felt betrayed when they found out that the Demon Lord is untouchable because of interference from some of the most powerful nations, which even Suisei didn't really understand.
After all, the Demon Army's existence threatens the peace of not just one country, but all of theirs. It had caused a huge controversy, but the Kingdom of Shiranui is a powerful country, one that could even rival Suisei's own. Plus, with other powerful nations backing them up, there was nothing that can be done.
Honestly, the first thing that Suisei thought when she heard this was that there must be some sort of conspiracy happening behind the scenes. Why would so many kingdoms come together to protect a creature so cruel and vile?
However, Suisei personally knew the leader of the Kingdom of Shiranui, and she had a good relationship with her. She was noble, kind, and had a gentle spirit. She wouldn't be involved with something shady, so Suisei was confident that there must be a reason why Flare would suddenly make such a decision to protect the Demon Lord of all people. The problem is that for some reason, Flare wouldn't share any information with her.
She had then taken the liberty of doing some research on her own, a little bit of underground information gathering, and she had found out that the rumors were extremely exaggerated. There are no listed casualties among the villages that were attacked, or rather, burned down. The smell of blood that people had associated with the Demon Army might have just been from nearby monsters.
Legends say that you will know if they are near when the smell of blood permeates the air. It seems that they have built such an extreme reputation for themselves, so Suisei knows not to take the rumors lightly despite the seemingly exaggerated stories. Regardless of the truth to the rumors, what is real is the fear in the people's hearts, and she needs to provide hope and comfort, so that everyone can live in peace once more. This is her duty.
Her research had just raised more questions than answers, and she feels even more determined to find the truth.
If she wasn't going to get answers, then she needed to investigate this herself. There must be a reason, and she's going to get to the bottom of this.
Suisei had decided to take matters into her own hands to give her loyal citizens some peace of mind. If no one else is planning to take any action, then she will, but she has to be sneaky about this or else it might lead to a commotion if people find out her intentions.
She had then discarded her princess garments and donned an outfit fitting for an adventure, one where she can move around comfortably in. She is confident in her skills with the sword and with magic, but she's not stupid and rash, so she gathered two of her most trusted confidants to accompany her, both who are known to be skilled with magic which would prove useful in the worst case where they would have to directly face the Demon Army.
Other than being two of her most loyal subjects, they also have skills that can help with their current goal. Kanata has holy magic which is strong against demons and dark type creatures, and she has a high physical attack which might be useful in case the Demon Army is immune to their magic damage, while Towa is supposedly a demon herself, so she just...sort of tagged along. Suisei is pretty sure she just doesn't want to be left out, but her agility and cat-like vision proves to be extremely helpful in navigating around the darkness, so they don't mind.
They have no intention of making any contact with the Demon Army in the first place, their goal is simply to find some answers for now, but in case things turn to an unexpected direction, she wants to be well-prepared.
She had then informed some of her most trusted attendants of their plans just in case something happens.
Okayu and Nene had nodded, as loyal as ever, and provided them with a way to sneak out of the royal palace without alerting anyone.
“Just make sure to come back before noon tomorrow, or else the queen might find out,” Nene worriedly warns, “Your sister is going to freak out if she realizes that you're doing this.”
“Anemachi's too busy to notice,” Suisei waves off her concern. Ever since her sister had become the queen, she's been too busy to keep up with the details of what Suisei does in her spare time. Running a country takes up a lot of time and energy, luckily their parents still help out with ruling the kingdom behind the scenes despite their retirement.
“They'll be fine,” Okayu calms Nene down, as laid-back as ever, “They're three of the most powerful and skilled among the kingdom, so no need to worry.”
All they need to do for this top secret stealth mission is to be as sneaky as possible. Just a quick in and out of the castle, find any clues about the Demon Lord and their connection to the Kingdom of Shiranui and other nations, and hope there won't be any unexpected encounters.
They could use teleportation magic, but doing so would use up too much mana and they have no idea where they might land, since this is the first time they're going to be approaching the Demon Lord's castle. They had instead taken Coco with them, transforming into her dragon form in order to give them a ride on her back for fast travel.
They left Coco somewhere outside the gates to be able to make a quick getaway if anything happens. Here they are now, right on schedule and finally ready to infiltrate the Demon Lord's castle. There is no way they're turning back when they've gotten this far.
“Let's go,” Suisei whispers.
Kanata and Towa nod, and they brace themselves as they carefully walk towards the castle. They glance at a window several stories above ground level. Suisei sheathes her sword for now, seeing as there are no enemies nearby at the moment.
She's thankful that she's been trained and taught all kinds of magic since a young age, so she casts a levitating spell and runs gracefully up the wall towards the window, grasping onto the ledge and taking a peek inside to make sure nobody is in the room.
When the coast is clear, she gives a thumbs up to her companions.
“That was so cool,” Towa praises as she uses her default skill as a devil to fly towards the window.
“I know,” Suisei winks at her as she sits daringly on the window sill, crossing her legs smugly, “I've been wanting to do that for so long.”
“Show off,” Kanata chuckles, flying beside Towa.
Suisei slides through the window and looks around the room.
Kanata lets her orb of light float towards the ceiling in order to illuminate the room, and what they find makes the three of them immediately freeze on the spot.
The walls are painted pink.
Not that it matters, but she kind of expected the interior to be dark and gloomy.
Suisei walks over to flip a nearby switch, lighting up the room, and she's also somewhat astonished that there's electricity here.
They look around the surprisingly well lit interior of the castle, the total opposite of its dark and menacing appearance from the outside, and the three of them gape in shock, standing stock still in the middle of the room as they take in the sight before them.
The room is clean and tidy, and the bed near the corner of the room is covered with fluffy pillows, pink and white, and there's a cat plushy on top of the covers. The furniture is simple, all pink and white, and everything is shockingly cozy and warm. The room even smells like cherry blossoms.
What is going on?
“Look at this,” Kanata calls their attention towards a closet, and they all take a peek inside to see a variety of casual clothing inside - dresses, shirts, skirts, stockings.
“This must be some sort of trick. These clothes must belong to the Demon Lord's victims,” Towa says as she looks around the room suspiciously.
“It has to be,” Towa adds, trailing off, “Right?”
Suisei might agree, but there's a nagging feeling in her gut, an instinctive feeling that the answer they're looking for is somewhere inside this castle.
“I don't know what to think, but something's definitely up,” Kanata says as she continues to search the room.
“Let's look around for more information,” Suisei suggests, and the three of them try to check for further clues.
She finds a pair of fluffy gloves, and Suisei is starting to doubt that they got the right location. Sure, the outside of the castle looks incredibly creepy, but maybe the owner is just really bad at maintenance. What kind of Demon Lord would wear fluffy cat patterned gloves? She would think that they would wear one similar to Suisei's, black and clinging to her hands to avoid hindering her movements. But this glove looks like it's used for baking.
She rubs her temples, trying to think and put this all together.
“Look,” Kanata calls out to them, “It's a pretty scarf.”
Suisei groans and rubs her face in frustration, “I think we got more questions than answers from this little trip.”
They continue to search around the room, and Suisei is about to suggest trying to go further inside the castle to explore, but Towa speaks up.
“Look here,” Towa says, lifting the charred remains of cloth.
“At least we know for sure that we're in the right place then,” Suisei firmly says with newfound determination. This Demon Lord is closely associated with fire and lava, so this evidence is pretty damning.
Before they can further investigate, they hear footsteps right outside the room. The three of them throw each other a startled look.
“Go! I'll hold them off,” Suisei commands, grabbing the hilt of her sword and bracing herself for battle. She's not leaving until she gets some answers, and she's sure that the Demon Lord won't let them leave without a fight anyway, so she hopes that her companions can at least safely escape before things go south.
“We can't go home without you! Your sister is going to kill us!” Towa hisses at her, getting ready for a fight too.
“Thanks,” Suisei dryly states, keeping her eyes on the door as it slowly opens to reveal possibly the greatest foe they have ever faced -
Or not.
Because standing on the doorway is a girl with pink hair, looking extremely confused as she stares at them with wide eyes.
Suisei's world seems to have slowed down, her vision tunneling on the incredibly adorable girl standing in front of them.
Despite being trained her entire life to never let her guard down, Suisei feels her grip on her sword slacken as she stares back at the girl. She feels like she's been enchanted as she is faced with the cutest girl she has ever laid eyes on.
She has so many questions, but instead, her voice comes out breathy as she asks, “Who are you?”