Demonic flames hailed down from above, shattering the rough stone used as pavement in the Stronghold. Whenever a fireball came near a demon, they yawned and made a shield from their powers. The attack faded harmlessly against their arm. The whole city was acting like this was a daily occurrence.

Because it was. This was how demons usually spent their days. Casually defending against rival demon clans or beating up other demons for petty trifles. It was not an environment any normal mortal could survive.

With a pop a humanoid snake landed next to Lucille. He blinked, looked at the sky, then the city, and spun around. “Huh? Wha? Where am I? Who am I?” He squinted at the fresh wave of attacks falling over the city wall. “I feel like I’ve been here before- wait. Is this… Florida?”

Lucy ignored her bond’s stupid remarks to open up the Stage 17 page. “It seems you were teleported beside me so we can begin the seventeenth stage together. This’ll be useful to know if we continue completing our stages alongside each other.”

[S.T.A.G.E.S | Stage 17: Sieged City of Count Valdin]

The end is in sight! You have arrived at Demon Count Valdin’s Dominium. With his forces to protect you both, you will be safe and sound.... supposedly.

The Stronghold you arrived at is already under bombardment by Viscount Cressilin’s army. With the Stronghold under siege, the demons who can begin the reverse summoning are preoccupied. You must resolve the situation. But with the Count missing... how?

[Collapse]

Main Quest (Rank-2: Demon Realm) Overall Objective:

* Last two weeks while being pursued by forces so that the stolen treasure you carry can be placed on the summoning ritual along with yourselves.

Sub-Objectives – Stage 11:

Compulsory:

* Find the Count.

Optional:

* Discover the Countess’s motives.

* Discover Young Master Valdin’s motives.

[]

[Completion Rate: 60%]

“Chalice, human?”

Lucille and Scytale looked up when they heard the guttural voice speaking. In front of them was a bulky armoured demon with fangs protruding from his bottom lip. A mane of black fur for hair showed the demon’s strong beast lineage.

Lucy nodded, walking past him and ignoring his outstretched claw. She had just burst through the city gates before they left the stages. “Ah, yes. I have the item your lord needs for his deal with my human lord. Mighty demon, please take me to this Stronghold’s ruler.”

The demon gave her a wicked smile that showed his jagged teeth. “Address. This. Lord Berkza,” he growled, pointing at himself. He crossed his burly arms and tilted his chin up proudly.

Lucy, in all seriousness, was quite impressed by his Imperial Common. This was prior to the System, so there was no automatic translation. It was rare for an Intermediate Demon to come across a human for them to soul read and gain their knowledge.

She gave him a deep bow, pushing Scytale’s head down as well. It was more difficulty than it was worth trying to crush the ego of a meat head like the one in front of her, so a bit of flattery would go a long way. “I understand, Mighty Lord Berkza. May I humbly request to meet with the Stronghold’s ruler?”

The demon made a satisfied huff and turned around. “Follow,” he barked.

Scytale shot her a sour look which she ignored, and they followed the demon twice their height to the Stronghold fortress. The demon grunted as he ducked his head to enter and then stiffened up. Lucy and Scytale leaned around him to see what he was looking at.

A demoness with glossy black tresses and dark purple eyes sauntered up to Berkza.

“What do we have here, Berkza?” Her eyes glittered as she traced a circle on the fearful demon’s chest, then she reached up to turn his face to look at her. “Where might you be taking these two precious guests?”

He stammered out a syllable in the demonic tongue but Lucille walked forward to interject. “Lord Berkza? Would she be the ruler of the Stronghold you were taking me to?”

“Oh?” The demoness’s eyes narrowed coldly. “You were taking them to see the Stronghold’s ruler, ‘Lord’ Berkza?” She gave Lucy and Scytale a wide smile and spread her dress in a slight curtsy. “Well, you’ve finally found me.” She gave the demon guard a malicious smile. “I see now. You were taking them to see me, weren’t you?”

The demon trembled as she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Weren’t you?”

Berkza shakily nodded. She patted his arm with a satisfied smirk. “Good boy. Yes, I am the master of the Stronghold. None should forget that,” she purred. “Off you go now.”

The demon guard practically ran off to escape the demoness. She watched him with narrowed eyes then turned to Lucy and smiled pleasantly. “But where are my manners. I am Countess Amoria. My husband is... otherwise indisposed, so for the meantime I am in charge of this place.” She placed a hand on her cheek and tilted her head as her eyes glowed. “As you can see, we can’t afford you the comfort a Marquess’s delegates deserve right now, but may I at least offer you a respite from the journey?”

“That would be much appreciated,” Lucy said with a calm smile.

Amoria snapped her fingers. “Make yourselves comfortable while here. Young man, would you be willing to deliver that beautiful cup into my hands?”

Scytale opened his mouth and then the sclera of his eyes glazed over with a purple hue. “...sure, I guess. Why not?”

Lucille watched him expressionlessly as he took the chalice from her hands and walked over to the demoness. She picked up the chalice in her long-nailed pale hands and raised it up to inspect. “A miraculous treasure. I will be sure to keep this safe until my husband’s scholars return from the frontlines.” She casually waved them goodbye.

Lucy didn’t say anything as she and Scytale walked the hallways of the castle, and it was only when they entered her room that she sat down on the bed and crossed her arms.

“Yuck!” Scytale shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. “I can’t believe you told me to let her lust powers touch me like that! To even go as far as using my illusion abilities to change my eye colour?”

“I was being cautious. With our soul bond there’s no way you could be affected. But you know that’s not the problem right now.”

“Uh... yeah...” He hesitated. “Wasn’t the Demon Count supposed to be perfectly fine right now? I don’t remember Count Valdin being much of a plot point in the Stages at all...”

“I don’t know how your stages went, but...” Lucy held her chin. “At this current time, my sub objectives were related to sneaking through the Cressilin Army’s camp for reconnaissance.”

Her bond shrugged. “Mine was just to kill them all.” He paused to consider it for a moment and then grinned. “Hey, my only sub objective after this stage was to sabotage the army. Doesn’t that mean I can do it again?”

She gave him a flat look. “And how exactly are you planning to do that? Didn’t you trap the army in a ravine after they chased you the whole way in the mountain range and rolled boulders onto them last time?” She pointed out of the window, showing the flat fields of red grey waist-high grass surrounding them on all sides outside the city walls. “Point me to the nearest boulder and I will gladly accompany as your loyal partner in crime.”

He scowled. “Fine, I get your point.” He scratched his head. “So... what do we do?”

Lucille stood up walked over to the window. “You will stay here and do nothing. You’re supposed to be suffering the effects of Amoria’s Luxuria and be pining for her. As such, let me work out what these ‘factions’ are.”

Scytale followed her and raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to sneak past the guards the Countess placed in front of our door? How will you go undetected?”

Lucy pulled out a black jester mask and waved it. Scytale stared. “You brought that?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why not? It doesn’t only have uses in the real world.” She slipped it onto her face and dark mana spooled out to cloak her in Jinx’s outfit. “Something with a disassociation enchantment has many applications.”

A brief flash of gold appeared as she activated her Dramatourgos skill, deftly climbing onto balustrades and up gutters. Her mana senses were enough to detect nearby demons as none of them were being careful to hide their strength. As for detecting her... meh. None of the demons were on high alert for someone with her soul power so they likely wouldn’t pick up on her spiritual energy unless they were really focused for some reason. They could always restart the stage if there was a problem.

She found a balcony to slip in through that was far from any observers. Lucy didn’t want to risk any demons noticing too much mana usage, so as she cast an invisibility spell, she made sure her Field of Transmutational Mastery didn’t let a speck of mana escape past a few inches away from her skin.

It was very focus intensive, but for Lucille, it was barely noticeable. What was noticeable was how easily the mana cycled into and out of her body and mana pool. It was almost like the skill intended for the mana to work that way in the first place.

Marellen kept talking about the cycle of elemental harmony… I wonder whether my second primary skill can gain a strong passive effect if I add in this cyclic behaviour.

She had many paths she could take to advance that skill, but as for what she wanted… it needed to be the pinnacle mana manipulation skill. That was the only way what she wanted to cast would appear exactly as she intended.

That’s not too important right now, when I have to focus on what will be my third main skill.

And instead of building it up form the basics like her second main skill… she was going to go for the top and study the components from there. She wasn’t a user learning about Influence for the first time. With the Shard of Totality to analyse anything, it would be a waste for her not to strive for the best.

Her thinly spread spiritual energy to avoid demons detecting her located several presences in a room. There was a guard in front, but he had his eyes closed as he leant against the wall.

Lucille noticed a nearby door with a high chance of leading to the same room and took the different entrance. The small hallway opened up to the room, but... wide curtains seemed to shield it from view. That was for the best. She snuck alongside the wall behind the curtains and climbed onto the windowsill that the curtains presumably hid. Blending with the shadows, she could see over the curtain bracket.

Four demons sat on plush red couches, drinking wine and surrounded by scantily-dressed demonesses. Three of the demons were clearly treating the dark-haired one with greater respect.

“That worthless wench, Amoria...” The dark-haired demon spat off to the side and scoffed. “Does she truly believe the demons of my city will accept her as this Stronghold’s master just because she killed my mother to get the position?”

“They would never, Young Master Valdin,” a grey-haired demon flattered.

Lord Valdin rolled his eyes, aware of the tricks of his subordinates.

The other two exchanged glances and one placed down a wine glass. “Would it not be better for you to work with Counte-” He froze when faced with the dark-haired demon’s cold smile and hurriedly coughed. “...Lady Amoria for the time being? Count Valdin hasn’t left the crystal room nor responded to our messengers since he revealed he must urgently visit the Stronghold Core.”

“Never,” Lord Valdin spat.

The grey-haired demon who tried to butter up to him gave him a sneaky look. “Do you wish for revenge for your mother, my lord? If so, this humble Rexen shall-”

The sound of shattering and sudden screams filled the room. Rexen let out strangulated chokes, staring at his clawed hands once they came back dripping with fresh blood after he touched his neck – his blood. He raised his eyes to stare at the noble demon who flung a shard of a wine glass through his neck and then keeled over, dead, frightening the demoness beside him. His body disintegrated into red particles, quickly disappearing with a snap of Lord Valdin’s fingers.

“I am sure neither of you two are as idiotic as to imagine me having the pathetic, mortal emotion of familial affection towards my predecessors?” Lord Valdin said with a smile.

One of them quickly shook their head as the other, the one who had suggested that the young master work with Amoria, politely bowed. “Your loyal servants find themselves remarkably perplexed by your hostile attitude to the Count’s current wife, my lord.”

The dark-haired demon seemed to like that form of speech better and his smile widened. He held out a new wine glass to the demoness waiting on him and she refilled it for him. He lifted it to the light to admire. “When I slay my father and succeed him as a far more powerful Count, I’ll detest viewing the name of that feral Infernal in our lineage records as my ‘mother’. That self-serving vile vixen who believes us to be below her, even when she is barely capable of wielding the precious Flames of Lust... I want to see her beneath me before I become Count.”

Lucille found that this discussion solved a lot of her questions. It made sense that the level of factional conflict in the city wasn’t that in depth, because it wouldn’t be able to be resolved in only four more Stages.

At least I know I can use them against each other if I must... I’ll need to find an opportunity to greet this young master and get him to back me-

Her plans were cut short when Lord Valdin let out a bark of laughter. “My dearest father failed his duties as the Count of Valdin when he accepted that Infernal as his new wife. It only cemented my resolve to supplant him when he negotiated with lowly humans. When I find that mortal and her bond, I’ll force them to reveal the coordinates and order the scholars to create the transportation array.” He gained a bloodthirsty smirk. “My first achievement after becoming Count will be to conquer the so-called human ‘Marquess’s fief and take it for the County.”

[+4% Completion Rate]

[New! Completion Rate: 64%]

Ah... he’s a bigot. Time to give up that plan then.

She quickly ducked behind the curtains when someone knocked on the door opposite her. The demons all turned their eyes to the door when Lord Valdin ordered for them to come in.

Berkza came scrambling in a fell to the ground in front of Lord Valdin, trembling. “M-My lord. The two realm travellers have a-arrived in the Stronghold.”

Lord Valdin’s bloodthirsty smile widened and he stood up. “Perfect timing. The I shall play the role of a benevolent host for the time being. Lead me to them and-”

“P-Please forgive me, sire! C-Countess Amoria came upon them first.”

Lord Valdin kept smiling for a moment longer and then it faded. “...ah.”

A sickening wet slick sound sailed through the air and Berkza’s eyes glazed over as his head slid from his neck. Both head and body toppled over to become meandering demonic power.

The demonic aura of the young master of the Valdin County roiled with fury but had a keen, cool sharpness proving he hadn’t lost his rationale. The maidservants clutched their chests while their eyes bulged from the pressure. He straightened up his vest and marched out of the room.

...that would be my que to leave. I need to go find Scytale, but first I need to check on Amoria and see what she’s doing. Because if Berkza is over here, it means she’s doing something else.

Lucille left the room. The door slid shut without a sound. Expertly avoiding anyone, she found a staircase and ascended it, looking for where the typical placement of a demon Countess’s quarters would be. She slipped past the low-ranking maidservants and found herself in a luxurious boudoir with patterned wallpaper when she used a dumb waiter. But the demoness was nowhere in sight.

Scattered flecks of light shone from behind a velvet room separator and Lucy snuck behind it. She paused when the figure of Countess Amoria was there, kneeling in front of a small mounted mirror as she brushed her hair. Lucy returned to hiding behind a corner and waited.

“Yes, yes, I know. Not to worry, nobody will expect a thing,” Amoria demurely spoke to seemingly no one. “They can’t see you. Even if one of my servants entered, they would see me fixing my appearance. A mere servant wouldn’t dare question me.”

There was silence as whoever she was speaking to replied, and Amoria sighed. “Really, when will you begin to trust me?” There was silence and then she chuckled. “As I expected. But it would be foolish for you to believe my words at face value. Nonetheless, I speak the truth.”

Lucille strained to catch the Countess’s words as she lowered her voice.

“I could feel it! Every fibre of my body sang with euphoria when I felt her presence!” Amoria whispered with passion. “The Ancient Daemon of this Dominium has been unsealed! Everyone else remains unaware, but this Daemon... they were of the Infernalis lineage! Of course I could sense it!”

Lucy began to feel a strong sense of impending doom.

An exuberant laugh escaped from Amoria. “Yes! You felt it too! With their arrival, Infernals shall rule over all the lineages! Who could have ever imagined I’d find something so miraculous out here!” The maniacal tone faded from her voice as she regained normality. “But they can’t descend yet. The Count of Valdin has retreated to the Stronghold’s centre and is not responding. If I am to call the Ancient Daemon here, I must know their name and Epithet. And I must know why they have turned to observe the Demon Realm.”

[+3% Completion Rate]

[New! Completion Rate: 67%]

Amoria chuckled. “I believe it has everything to do with our two foreign guests. I only need to question them, and...” She went silent and her voice became louder. “This artifact from the human realm is reacting to the presence of mana you say? Aha, then it must be because of my little... guest.”

Lucy spun around as Amoria shoved the partition aside. The Infernal demoness smirked and gestured to Lucy, purple Luxuria drifting from her body. “Come here and remove your mask.”

The Luxuria touched Lucy, but... nothing happened. Lucille waited for the demoness to try something else but Amoria stared in shock.

Does... she not have any form of attack? Really? She inherited one of the Flames of Sin and yet she’s that useless?

Lucy tilted her head but shrugged and ran off. Amoria yelled for guards to catch Lucy but they lost track of her as she wove through the Stronghold’s chaotic structure. She climbed out a window and swung from a balcony railing to land in their room.

Scytale raised an eyebrow. “You look like you’re in a rush.”

“Look like? I am.” Lucy pocketed her mask and ran to the door. “No time to explain. We need to get out of here right now. We have to find the Count and leave the Stronghold.”

“Huh? Alright...” Scytale shattered the door with a kick and shoved into the guard, winding him. They dashed off, taking the most efficient route to the centre of the Stronghold and ignoring the surprised exclamations of the servants and guards.

The two of them screeched to a halt when they ran into Lord Valdin.

“Oh? Aren’t you...” He smiled and spread his arms. “The two realm travellers my father summoned? A pleasure to meet you, I am the Count’s heir. But why the rush? It appears as if you’re heading somew-”

Lucy ignored him and ran past. Scytale slammed his head into the floor and leapt over him to catch up to his bond.

“Still no time to explain?” the amphiptere asked, turning into his serpent form to fly alongside her.

“Neither Countess Amoria nor the young master can be our allies,” Lucy stated shortly. “The young master wants us dead because we’re too far ‘below’ him, and Amoria wants to call the Ancient Daemon here.”

“Uhuh.” Scytale flickered his tongue. “Why is calling the Ancient Daemon here a bad thing? Besides the exponentially much higher chance of us ending up dead, of course.”

“Amoria needs us because we’re the Ancient Daemon’s targets. We’re how she can control it. And...” Lucy stopped speaking to abruptly turn a corner. They halted in front of a massive door covered in demonic sigils. “If the Ancient Daemon descends, we can’t teleport out of this realm. The dimensional fabric will be too disturbed.”

“...got it.” Scytale flew to the ground. “How are we going to get inside?”

“We brute force it.” Lucille placed her left hand on the door and forced her mana through it, uncaring about their presences becoming homing beacons for the demons. “Primal Descendent, you need to back me up. I repel Ancient Daemon energies but without your Primal bloodline to create a breach, I can’t force it open.”

Scytale gave her a serpentine grin. His bestial aura released intense light as he activated his Primal Descendent subskill, tripling his size. He opened his mouth and roared, a beam of light and illusion mana shooting into the door.

The demonic metal rippled for a fraction of a second but it was enough. The door buckled beneath her hands and then swung open. Scytale and Lucy forced themselves in then slammed the door shut behind them.

“Right. The Count. Where... oh.”

Lucille turned around to see the blazing fire engulfing the Stronghold crystal. Or... what remained of it. It had shattered into a million shards and the humanoid figure behind the pedestal was screaming in agony, trying and failing to put out the flames. His skin was burning off, smoke was coming from his body and his clothes had long since disappeared, but he couldn’t die. The large crystal shard in his frozen-stiff hands regularly released brilliant red light that healed him, and then the flames charred his new body again.

Lucy frowned and raised Apophis. Controlling her strength, her Reward skill blast a beam of black demonic power which ripped the final largest remains of the crystal apart, including the Count’s shard. Finally, the flames could consume him fully and he crumbled into a pile of ash.

Scytale, in his human form, approached with a strange expression. “...ash?”

“Demons have strong mentalities because of their volatile energy, but not even they are immune to immense mental trauma.” Lucille crouched to look at the ashes as they faded. “Instead of losing part of his power, his entire True Body has been scattered to the four corners of the Demon Realm. He’ll only recover his True Demon ego when a demon beast that has inherited part of his True Body assimilates the power of all the other fragments of his True Body.”

“...isn’t the Demon Realm basically infinite though? That’s possible?”

Lucy just glanced at Scytale and it was enough to answer his question. She stood up and turned to the pedestal. “His Auctoritas was being rapidly consumed to protect him, but that same crystal his Auctoritas was manifested from was part of the Ancient Daemon’s vessel. It healed and cursed him at the same time.”

[+3% Completion Rate]

[New! Completion Rate: 70%]

Scytale crossed his arms. “I have no idea where the stages are going now. What do you think?”

Lucille went to say something but then the new arrival caught her eye.

Countess Amoria had entered the crystal room and was smiling from ear to ear.

[Stage 17 Complete. Transferring Users…]

“...I don’t know either, but I have a feeling it involves more Great Beings than I want to deal with,” Lucille replied.