I sat on the former Demon King's throne, tapping my finger impatiently. Turns out, being all-powerful was boring.

Sure, I could leave anytime I felt like it and destroy a village or two—and I had. But these scrubs were hardly worth tormenting. I thought the looks of fear would have satiated my desire for revenge.

Nothing. My loathing still burned hot. I wanted them gone.

Where are you, Lina? My leg started bouncing in rhythm to my tapping. There was a slight twinge in my chest from misplacing her. She was the jewel of the set. A rare find indeed.

I couldn't imagine being without any of the others, but I would tolerate their loss if I had to. Without Lina, there was no future for them or me. The others had no idea how critical she was. They only wanted to find her so I could "pick between them."

I smirked at that. At least their minds were changing on that idea. They would all be mine soon enough.

"I see you've been making good use of your time as the new Demon King."

The woman's voice made me nearly jump out of my skin. I stood and pulled my Great Buster Blade from its sheath. "Who said that!" My eyes searched for the source of the voice. The throne room was awash in shadows, which gave the speaker plenty of hiding places. But with my perception stat at its max of 9,999, detecting her should have been simple. Yet she still evaded me. "Show yourself!"

"I'm already beside you."

Her voice was right by my ear. I lashed out with my blade and stopped before it cut into the woman's flesh.

However, she did not look frightened or startled. Her red eyes were stern from behind wire-frame glasses as she gave me an icy smile. "As skittish as ever. Ultimate power has hardly changed your personality. That's good to know." She adjusted her glasses, which flashed white as she looked down at a clipboard and proceeded to scribble something on it with a pen.

I stared at her in disbelief. This woman looked out of place from anyone I'd seen before in this world. Her business attire was modern, and her long, black hair was folded and pinned in a neat bun on the top of her head. She reminded me of a receptionist or an OL.

She had a cold beauty about her as she concentrated on her writing. Then she stopped and looked up at me. "Tell me, how is your desire to destroy the world coming along?"

That caught me off guard, and I reinforced the grip on my blade. The edge was millimeters from her neck. "Are you here to stop me?"

She gave me another smile. "Of course not. By all means, destroy the world. I only want to know how you're managing as the new Demon King."

"You keep calling me that. But I've already killed him."

"Oh, I'm aware," she said, "And so, you've taken his place. That's how it works." Her smile faded, and her eyes became stern. "Though you managed to destroy the avatar beyond repair, so the change wasn't as dramatic. In fact—" She peered at me over her glasses, "—I don't see any change in you. Physically or otherwise. Interesting." She began to write on her clipboard again.

I stared at her for a moment. "Who…are you?" The woman did not pose a threat, at least for the moment. However, she had avoided my detection, which was concerning. But I chose to trust my intuition and sheath my sword.

She spared a glance as she said, "That's better. My name is Ingrid. I am here to survey your progress as the Demon King to ensure the balance of this world is maintained."

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"Balance of this world?" That's what the goddess who originally recruited me from my world had said.

"You must work as a force for good to bring balance to the world."

I had thought that she meant to bring peace to the world—not that I cared about that—but it was clear now that she meant the opposite. I folded my arms, "Let me guess, you work for Goddess What's-Her-Name?"

Ingrid smiled at that, "You mean Iliana? Not at all. I consider myself more impartial than her."

"Is that right? Then who do you work for?"

"Who's to say?" Her smile grew slightly playful. "Maybe I'm a free agent."

I felt my cheeks flushing at the sight of that smile. So, she has her cute side, too. I thought I had completed my collection with all the PriCure colors. But there had been one prize I'd forgotten to consider. What was PriCure without its villain, Fantima?

I smiled back at her for the first time, "I wonder what your boss would say if you decided to change jobs."

I leaned forward only to be met with the end of a huge hammer popping up between us. Another female voice, this one younger than Ingrid's, piped up, "Miss Ingrid is here on business only. No fraternizing!"

My eyes traced the hammer to its handle, held by a small hand in an oversized leather glove. The person attached to the hand was even stranger than Ingrid. She appeared to be a little girl—adorned in armor and a cape—about the same size as the head of her hammer. A shock of pink hair spilled from beneath her spiked battle helmet. Her eyes—also pink—stared up at me with a ferocity that reminded me of an angry chihuahua.

Ingrid's hand appeared atop the hammer and pushed it down with ease. "Down, Astrid. Everything's under control." Her eyes glanced beside me. "You, too, Liesl."

I looked to my left, where a dagger point hovered by my ear. It was held by a person in a dark hood. I could not make out their faces, but judging from the height and shape of this person, it was another woman. She also lowered her weapon.

Despite these two also flying under my radar, I did not feel threatened by them. I could see that their levels were far below mine. I doubted their weapons would do much damage.

Ingrid pushed past the little one, "Forgive them, Demon King. These two are just here as a formality." She fixed Astrid and Liesl with hard stares, and they seemed to understand her silent orders, with Liesl melting back into the shadows and Astrid shouldering her hammer with a loud "Hmph!" and walking away.

I watched her hop down the stairs, noting the ease with which she carried the hammer that was twice as long as her. Had it been Astrid lowering her hammer when Ingrid had pushed it down? Or did Ingrid also possess immense strength? It was probably both. It reminded me of Gertrude and how deceptively strong she was.

Ingrid's eyes also followed Astrid as the little girl set her hammer down with a thunk and sat on the head, watching me with small-dog rage.

I looked back at Ingrid, "Are you someone who needs protecting?"

She returned my gaze, "It depends on the danger."

"Yeah?" I said, "Am I considered dangerous?"

Ingrid chuckled, though her eyes remained cold. "We'll see." She turned from me and began a slow descent down the stairs. "I think I have enough to start my report for now. But I'll be back."

I watched her go as I sank back onto my throne.

Before she reached the bottom step, Ingrid turned her head slightly. "Oh. And don't think for a second that you can wile me with that 8,540 charisma. I won't fall for you as easily as the others. Never forget who gave you those powers in the first place."

If she thought mentioning my stats would shake me, she was dead wrong. It only served to make my desire to have her grow all the more. Her threat sounded more like a challenge to me. And one that I was more than excited to meet.

And I would have that Liesl, too, for good measure. Both had a certain mystique that I could not help but want.

As for Astrid… She was too young for me. But I couldn't say no to having the whole trio. I would have Fantima and her lackeys. Besides, Astrid's hidden strength would probably be useful in some way.

Maybe she would be better served as a guard dog.

I watched as Ingrid, flanked by her two retainers, walked toward a particularly deep shadow. She gave me one last look before vanishing into the darkness.