The fifth day of the Festival came with a new wave of excitement as it was the last and most important day. Morrigan donned a new beautiful kimono-style dress. Its black color made a stark contrast to Morrigan's ashen skin while the lava flower motif complemented her red hair.

She sat on a special podium made specifically for the last remaining contestants, Deziara sitting on her right while Viana sat on her right. The podium was positioned on the right front side of the stage that had been used the previous days while a crowd of enthusiastic watchers were excitedly chattering among themselves and occasionally stealing glances in their direction.

"Dear audience, we have reached the final day of our wonderful festival and also the last day of the competition. And how better to end it than with a wonderful performance where everyone has a chance to show off their talents!" Azrael strode across the stage, talking in his amplified voice and looking exactly like the big show hosts Morrigan had seen on TV.

I wonder if he has seen some of those popular talent shows. I don't really remember what he was watching while we were on Earth.

"Of course, we need to determine a winner, and to do that I have gathered a council of judges," Azrael said and then pointed towards a different podium that was set up on the other side of the stage, right across from the participants. "Among our judges, we have representatives of our foreign delegations, our King's four beautiful consorts and none other than His Majesty himself."

That has got to be the most biased group of judges I have ever seen. Viviana and Lady Lily are there too, it's quite obvious they are voting for their daughters while Father will probably vote for me. The representatives will no doubt vote for their champions. Although the winner is likely to be a demon since the remaining two consorts will vote for one of us princesses.

The audience however didn't seem to have any issues with the judges and greeted them with applause. Or more likely was that nobody dared to show their disdain since the King was one of the judges. Would anyone even dare to oppose his vote and vote for somebody else? Consorts could probably get away with it but what about the diplomats? Morrigan prayed that her father wouldn't try to intimidate them.

"Now, let's get this started!" Azrael cheered and shot sparks of lightning from his fingertips into the air, making the crowd go wild. "We'll begin with the participant who finished last in the maze and then move our way up to the winners. So would our lovely vampire Larissa kindly take the stage?"

Azrael retreated from the stage with a flourish and Larissa gracefully strode to take his place. The men in the crowd couldn't take their eyes off her, staring unabashedly at her beautiful form which was even more accentuated by the long black dress she wore.

"If I may request some music," she said, addressing the group of demon musicians who sat on the side of the stage. They nodded, no doubt already well aware of what she wanted them to play, and began. A melodious tune began playing with the violin taking the lead among instruments, and Larissa began to dance.

As soon as she began moving, Morrigan became entranced. She moved so fluidly, so perfectly along with the music that was playing that it felt that Larissa had become the music itself. She embodied it perfectly as her body twisted and turned in the delicate and beautiful balance. But all too soon, the song came to an end and she stopped, her piercing red eyes looking at the audience.

There was a moment before everyone realized that it was over and then the crowd erupted into cheers. Men were especially enthusiastic, and Morrigan noticed that even her father was applauding, his gaze glued to Larissa.

"Father is liking this a bit too much," Deziara grumbled.

"Her dance was very good," Viana said, but it was clear that she didn't want to admit that.

"We need to keep her away from Father. She's too good," Morrigan said and both of her sisters agreed with a firm nod. A vampire concubine was the last thing they needed in the Demon Castle.

Larissa left the stage, escorted by thunderous applause. The next participant was the infernal champion whose fiery form attracted everyone's attention in a different sort of way. Morrigan looked at him with deep curiosity and wondered what sort of talent he would display.

The infernal snapped his fingers and a little infernal child ran onto the stage holding a large box in his hand. The boy put it in front of the champion and then with a bow and with what Morrigan assumed to be a smile left the stage. The infernal broke the lid open and then turned the box, showing its contents to the audience. It was sand.

"Why is he showing us sand?"

"Is he going to do something with it?"

"This is disappointing."

The audience muttered in dissatisfaction, but the infernal didn't appear to put be off their reaction. Instead, he jammed his hand deep inside the box and then kept it buried in the sand for a while. When he finally pulled it out, the sand within had formed into what looked like molten glass. He shook his hand and then the glob fell down from it onto the infernal's other hand.

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And then he began molding the molten glass with his hand as if it were modeling clay. First, he formed an elongated body with what looked like a tail. Then he grabbed more sand from the box and melted it, putting the resulting blob on the figurine's head. Then he formed the wings, the legs and finally used his fingernails to perfect the little details on the dragon.

As he revealed the fragile little dragon statue to the judges and the audience, everyone began clapping. It wasn't the same sort of applause that Larissa got, but it still was a good reaction. Morrigan was applauding most enthusiastically of them all.

"What are you so happy about? He's your competitor," Viana grumbled.

"But that is amazing! He just made a dragon sculpture out of glass in such a short amount of time. That must have taken a lot of practice before he managed to perfect it," Morrigan gushed, her eyes glued to the little glass statuette.

"Oh, please. He's an infernal – melting sand into glass is no big deal for them. Their whole country survives from the glasswork," Viana retorted, not looking impressed in the slightest.

You really can't appreciate the finer things in life. I still think it was really impressive. Not sure if he beat Larissa's dance, but it certainly is a close call. Unfortunately, I don't think the majority of the crowd understands such complexities.

The next one to perform was the little deep gnome champion. He was holding an instrument which resembled bagpipes and looked really eager to play. However, as soon as he began blowing the instrument the whole gathered crowd, Morrigan included, covered their ears at the loud, screeching sound. It sounded like somebody grabbed a metallic pot and was grating the bottom of it with a fork and then added a trumpet into the mix.

"That is quite enough," Alphegor's voice boomed over the grating noise, making the deep gnome jump up in surprise and stare at the King with fear.

"Let us move on to the next performance," Azrael said awkwardly, shooing the deep gnome away from the stage, who ran off, his cheeks red from embarrassment. Morrigan expected the deep gnome diplomat to get mad at this, but instead, he looked relieved.

Even the diplomat didn't like it, so this is not something that deep gnomes would enjoy. But why send him to represent your race if you knew he couldn't perform well? Did they expect him to do something else?

But the question remained unanswered as the next participants took their turns on the stage. The demon nobles Viana had gone with in the maze both performed some sort of sword dance, displaying various sword techniques Morrigan knew nothing about. The audience appeared impressed enough by their display, so she had to accept that they did well enough.

Then it was Viana's turn to show her talent. The audience seemed to be leaning forward as they watched her walk onto the stage with her violet hair flowing behind her like a veil. One of the demon servants brought her a violin which she hoisted ontohere shoulder and then began playing without hesitation.

The song Viana performed was a well-known and loved tune that Morrigan had heard before. It was often played during large official parties and was associated with royalty and their strong rule. But despite Viana's play being completely perfect without a single missed note, Morrigan couldn't force herself to get moved by it. It was like the song was mechanically played by a robot rather than a live person.

Once Viana's song was done, the demons in the crowd went wild, cheering and praising their princess. Lady Viviana appeared especially satisfied, applauding at her daughter without reserve.

"Was I the only one who thought that something was missing?" Deziara whispered, leaning close to Morrigan.

"I don't think her heart was in it," Morrigan nodded in agreement.

"So odd. It was perfect and yet I couldn't bring myself to like it."

"Maybe it's just because we know how Viana really is," Morrigan shrugged.

"Maybe. Well, it's my turn next, so wish me luck," Deziara said and stood up from her seat.

"Good luck," Morrigan called and watched her walk towards the stage, meeting Viana halfway through. Viana appeared very smug and satisfied with her performance, giving Morrigan a condescending look as she sat down in her place.

"That is how one is supposed to perform," she said. Morrigan decided not to reply and instead concentrated on Deziara. She had a good feeling about what she'd do, it was a well-known fact that Deziara was an incredible dancer. But would her dance outperform Larissa's? The vampire woman had the mature allure that Deziara still lacked.

However, as soon as the music began playing and Deziara's body sprung into motion, Morrigan's doubts disappeared. Her fluid and agile movements exuded such confidence and strength that it felt that her body was the one that created the music rather than just moving along with its rhythm. Not to mention that some of Deziara's moves were nearly acrobatic in nature, as she moved her body in such angles that a normal demon definitely could not achieve.

Once her dance was over, the ovation from the crowd was no less than they were for Larissa. But the strongest praise of all was the proud smile on Alphegor's face as he applauded for Deziara. Her cheeks flushed a bit, and she curtsied for the audience, soaking in their cheers. Even Viana, who had not applauded for anyone before, clapped for Deziara. But only a few times.

"You did great!" Morrigan said as Deziara returned to her seat.

"Hehe, now we won't need to worry about that vampire woman," she snickered.

"Indeed, you did well," Viana admitted and both of the younger sisters stared at her in disbelief. "Close your mouths, you two. It is unsightly for a princess!"

The girls laughed happily and then turned their attention back to the stage where it was Galandir's time to perform.

I wonder what he could even do to impress the audience. As a young boy, he wouldn't have had the time to hone any talents like others did. Even I have an advantage over him since I've had time to hone my art skills in the human world. I just hope he doesn't fail like the gnome.

It was clear that nobody was expecting much from him, a large portion of the audience chattering among themselves instead of paying attention to him.

"Could you amplify my voice?" he asked Azrael.

"Sure thing, buddy," Azrael said and waved his hand. Judging by his snicker, the demon also wasn't expecting much from the boy. But then Galandir began singing and the whole crowd went completely silent.