Katherina, January 12th
Katherina Astraia was stupid. She was stupid enough to think she could take over four kingdoms without a hitch.
Takahiro told her it was a bad idea, but she was too stubborn to listen and refused assistance. Instead, she took her kunai and called someone else to teleport her to the northwest, disguised. She made sure to secure the palace perimeter before leaving.
She arrived in front of the palace, carved out of white ice. As Katherina shivered, she realized she had forgotten to bring warm clothes. But the teleporting fairy had already gone back to Fuschia. She never visited the white kingdom and didn’t know where to find a teleporter, so she forced herself to enter the palace.
Katherina shivered in the cold as she pressed upon the ice-cold door. Eventually, she was able to open the door and get inside. Katherina cursed herself for not having more fairy blood. With magic, she didn’t need someone to teleport her, and she could get that over with way quicker. But, alas. Her bloodline seems to have an affinity for humans, and her only fairy trait was her pink butterfly wing-shaped ears, which had no actual use. Her annoyance at herself stopped when a familiar face caught her eyes.
Paris. The King of The White kingdom.
“Hey-” Katherina exclaimed.
“Leave,” he simply said. Paris raised an arm in the air, and from the concrete floors rose a sharp pillar of ice that he flung in her direction. Katherina ran out of the way to dodge it. It crashed into a castle wall, making the walls start to shatter. Ice shards flew in the air. More and more ice pillars were thrown at her. Ice shards were everywhere. How nothing in the castle broke yet was a wonder. It was getting harder to dodge. Katherina became so exhausted out she couldn’t avoid them anymore. Finally, she was pinned against the wall by two smaller ice pillars. She tried to push them out of the way but was too weak. She only managed to get it slightly off her body so it wasn’t pressing her against the wall.
“I have a deal to make with you!” Katherina slurred, fighting against the pillars of ice.
“What’ll it be this time? My firstborn child?” Paris kept pressing the pillars against her more.
“No, your sister.”
“What?” Paris stopped using his ice magic
“I have your sister, and the rest of your family held hostage. Give me control of your kingdom, and I can free them.” Katherina grinned and finally gained the strength to push the pillar away from her, shooting back at Paris in his direction.
“That’s a lie!” He shouted, dodging the pillar as it crashed into the opposite side of the palace as began to collapse. Paris murmured no’s to himself as he tried to repair it quickly. Katherina crept over to him and drew a pink kunai she hid in her garter belt. One of the kunai that Takahiro gave her only a few days ago. Her old throwing knives were getting stale, so she intended to use them graciously. Instead, she smirked as she raced towards Paris, who turned while in the middle of trying to repair the castle and attempted to conjure up another ice object to throw at her. Still, Katherina had pinned him to the floor before he could try it. Katherina wanted to stab him, and slit his throat, but Paris managed to hold her arm away from his body.
Katherina backed away upon hearing voices calling Paris. She recognized them, Paris’s wife and son, running down the stairs. Paris’s wife froze when she made eye contact with Katherina. Katherina took one of her kunai and threw it in the direction of Paris’s wife and son, but just as soon as Katherina threw it, it stopped, and so did Katherina.
***
Katherina woke up swaddled in a warm blanket near a fire. She immediately recognized it as the Black Kingdom palace with all the paintings of Takahiro’s family. Still, she had no idea how she even ended up here.
The door slowly creaked open. Katherina saw Takahiro, who immediately called her name and raced over and hugged her.
“What happened?” Katherina asked.
“What’s-his-face’s wife froze you in ice. It took longer than normal to reach you, so I got concerned and went to the White Kingdom palace. You were frozen in ice, the palace was completely destroyed because I guess the white king didn’t think throwing ice around in his ice palace would be a bad idea.They were trying to put you in jail. So I called up some friends and favors. I took you home and had them throw the white kingdom royal family in my personal dungeon.” Takahiro explained.
“Damn, that’s crazy, but I could’ve probably saved myself though. But anyway, did we take over the white kingdom at least?”
“I mean we did, but that’s beside the point. Kathy. I know you like to be independent and rely only on yourself, but it’s okay to let your guard down and let others help you for once.”
“Yeah,” Katherina trailed off, “wait how did I get out of the ice?”
“We had to melt you out of it, but also break it? Also, I took you to the hospital earlier and they said you have hypothermia.”
“Why didn’t you start off with that?”
“Don’t know, but I should’ve, sorry,” Takahiro apologized. They both fell into a comfortable silence. Katherina furiously wanted to keep taking over other kingdoms for Takahiro, but she also knew Takahiro was right. Katherina and Takahiro finally found time to take a break from conquering and spend some time together for most of the day.
And they barely slept a wink.
***
The following day Takahiro and Katherina woke up still half asleep. Takahiro tried to convince Katherina that she might not be fully recovered and to rest for another day, but she wasn’t having any of it, just wanting to get the rest of Tempest conquered. They drafted their plans, but after coffee, they completely ditched their first plan, that was barely legible, and made a new one. First, they’d take the light grey kingdom, then lime, and lastly brown.
They headed to light grey, donning the proper clothes this time so they weren’t freezing. Since Takahiro had magic of his own, he was able to teleport them over themselves. They arrived at the front of the palace, which was made of snow. They walked around, noting any openings.
“Is there a way we can teleport in through a window or something and fly under the radar?” Katherina said. Takahiro pointed to a long string of windows on the lowest part of the castle, and they approached closer. They could see three people talking near a throne inside.
Katherina recognized them immediately as the light grey king, his wife, and their daughter.
“I may have an idea.” Katherina realized they had found another door. Katherina slowly opened it, finding themselves at the entrance. Katherina realized they were at an advantage.
“Hey, so I found these tranquilizer darts last night. No idea why they were even in your castle in the first place, but I don’t want to use a gun for obvious reasons,” Katherina whispered. “What if you used your magic to shoot them?”
Takahiro nodded. Darkness covered one of his hands and three darts, and he moved his hand, which made the darts follow, aiming at the family at the side of a pillar. Takahiro moved his arm back as if he were shooting an arrow and then moved his hand to point at the family, the darts flying forward. The family’s eyes all widened together as they dropped to the floor. Katherina and Takahiro silently cheered but stopped themselves when they remembered that it was likely that servants were roaming the castle.
“I’ll go throw them in the dungeon. You start making sure this place is empty.” Takahiro leaned down to pick up the light grey king and haul him over his shoulder. Katherina nodded, racing to the front and locking the entrance, where she found a map that she tore off the wall. She fished a pencil out of her bag, checking off rooms as she wandered the rest of the palace. It was also almost like a tour for her. Once Takahiro rejoined her, he came with some vials of amnesia potions he bought off from someone. Anyone they encountered, they would hit with a potion and throw them out the nearest window. Once they had checked the castle, they called in more of their associates to keep anyone out, and Takahiro laid a shadow barrier around it, his associates adding some unbreakable potions so only Takahiro could break the seal when it was time.
Two conquered, two down to go. They hoped to have Tempest by the afternoon, which seemed entirely possible. Takahiro and Katherina probably could conquer the rest of the smaller kingdoms with the same methods, assuming their citizens wouldn’t riot. If the citizens of Tempest were told it was the will of the time gods, most would be dumb enough to believe it wholeheartedly.
Takahiro and Katherina teleported south near the lime kingdom’s capital. Firstly, they looked for another door in the lime kingdom’s palace. Still, there was none, so they looked at all the windows and teleported to the one that looked the safest, but as their luck would have it, a servant saw them and leaped to tell the lime king. They immediately threw an amnesia potion on them. Still, they didn’t know other servants had heard the commotion and ran to tell the king. The two started to panic slightly but made their way to the throne room, where they assumed the lime king would be.
Of course, on their way there, the Lime King saw them. They could throw a potion at him, but other servants knew they were still there, and if they did anything, there would be guards sent to deal with them.
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“Katherina Astraia, I thought I explicitly told you that you weren’t welcome here.” He crossed his arms. Katherina immediately sought to throw a kunai at him, but he dodged it. Instead, he brought a hand to the mask covering his eyes.
“What’s he doing?” Takahiro whispered.
“The lime kingdoms’ royal family has the power to paralyze anyone that looks into their eyes, turn the other way!” Katherina frantically pulled Takahiro to face the other direction. Then, they took off, watching the servants become paralyzed.
“What do we do now?” Katherina shouted.
“Maybe throw something at him to slow him down?” Takahiro suggested. But before they could try anything else, a familiar girl with a fuschia ponytail stared down at Katherina.
Her daughter.
Crow, Satan’s youngest, also accompanied her.
‘Why was she here? Wasn’t she with Satan at the red kingdom palace in hell, with the other filthy demons,’ Katherina thought?
“We have you surrounded, Katherina Astraia and Takahiro Koizumi. If you give in, your charges will be less than they should be.” The Lime King’s voice boomed from around them.
They could teleport away, but someone would find them. Takahiro could use his shadow magic, but the Lime King would stop him. Katherina could throw a kunai at someone, but Crow will likely catch it with his blood magic. No plan they could think of would turn out well.
They had no idea how they’d get out of this tight situation.
“Mother.” Bree coldly greeted.
“Are you looking for a new mother or something? You’re not finding that here you know.” Katherina mocked.
“I heard on the news what was happening, you did a pretty shit job at trying to cover it up, you know,” Bree said, mimicking Katherina,
“Zeta, why is she here?” Katherina asked the lime king.
“I could’ve guessed from how you were conquering the rest of our former allies that I was next. She’s going to help me deal with you. Your strategies have gotten worse it seems.”
“My strategies are perfectly fine, thank you! Why are you so intent on helping demons like her?”
“Maybe because I know how you treat your family. And maybe you should try getting over your hate for demons, you’ve influenced your people in the worst way.” Zeta taunted. Katherina mistakenly turned around while Takahiro tried to stop her, but it was too late.
Leaning forward, Katherina was frozen in place, staring into Zeta’s eyes. They were fittingly lime, just as she remembered. He kept as much eye contact with Katherina as possible and put her hands in handcuffs. Katherina was forced to drop the kunai out of her hands. Takahiro discreetly used his black magic to take it in his grasp. She tried to protest the movements she could move but couldn’t finish a sentence.
“Crow, can you use your magic to help me, please?” Zeta asked. Crow nodded and transformed a small set of chains he had on his wrist into blood, but before he could try to use his magic to move anything, Takahiro used his. He grabbed Crow’s wrist and twisted it so he couldn’t control his magic, then held the kunai to Bree’s eye.
“Jail me, and I will hurt her.” Takahiro threatened. Zeta growled and tried to move in Takahiro’s direction, but he closed his eyes. Zeta sighed and attempted to grab Takahiro’s kunai but Takahiro used his shadow magic to pin Zeta against the wall with his eyes covered by shadows and freed Katherina.
He reopened his eyes and stared down a nervous Bree, who slowly moved away, then cut her eyelid.
And her eye.
Now staring with wide eyes, his hands trembled. He went too far. Bree tried to stop her sobs while covering her left eye. A young boy peered over the corner from the hallway, covering his mouth at the sight.
“Alpha, you shouldn’t be here!” Crow whisper-yelled.
“This is my kingdom too!” He protested.
“Alpha, is that you? You need to leave. Please.” Zeta said.
“But dad-”
“Go! Go with Crow and Bree! I’ll deal with them myself.”
In a flash, Crow teleported himself, Bree, and Alpha away. Katherina could only guess they were headed to the red kingdom palace. She’d make her way over there, too, if not for Takahiro’s hatred of hell. Of course, she could also go there herself, but the fight would be less satisfying without Takahiro by her side.
Turning around to face Takahiro, Katherina looked upon Zeta. They had him trapped. They could send him to their dungeon. They could be finished with him, no?
Not yet.
Zeta had some words.
“Before… whatever your planning, do you know what happened to my wife?” Zeta asked.
Katherina pondered, but if she was going to put him in a state of unconsciousness, maybe some last few moments of suffering could be fun to watch.
“I killed her.”
“What?” Zeta shouted, fighting against the shadows that hid his eyes and kept him trapped. Still, Katherina stopped him by throwing another potion she had on hand.
***
The palace gates creaked, making Satan, Nico and Arsene jump out of their focus on their book club meeting. Satan rose from his seat. He felt something terrible was about to happen or had already happened. Crow, Bree, and an unfamiliar black-haired boy appeared.
Nico’s stomach dropped. Bree covered her eye, hands caked in blood as it dripped down her arms. It was almost like experiencing the reunion all over again.
Nico threw his book down, racing to Bree. At the commotion, Araya revealed herself from her room and immediately went to help Bree with her bleeding eye. Crow, on the other hand, pulled Satan away from the commotion.
“What happened?” Satan said.
“Bree and I and a few of our friends were just hanging out like we said we were, but then Bree heard what her mom was doing. I told her it wasn’t a great idea so I came just to make sure it was safe- I knew exactly what she could be capable of! We went to the lime kingdom and talked to the lime king, we thought we’d be safe with him around. I didn’t expect Bree’s eye to be stabbed, and not by Katherina BUT by Takahiro!” Crow rambled on with worry.
“Takahiro did this?” Satan asked.
“Yes.”
Satan sighed, “You both know you should’ve gotten involved.
“I know-”
“It’s not for you two to deal with, I should be dealing with it.”
“What? What about the other rulers?”
“They don’t really understand. I’m going to end this, once and for all.” Satan countered. Before Crow could try to stop him, Satan was out the door, pitchfork in hand. He hoped he knew what he was doing.
***
By the time Satan finally caught up to Katherina and Takahiro, despite him leaving the palace almost immediately when Crow, Bree, and the other kid came home, Katherina and Takahiro had already arrived at the Brown kingdom and taken it. Satan searched the lime palace but to no avail, and he had checked the other palaces.
Satan opened the door, and Takahiro and Katherina stared at him.
“Fuck! He’s a blood magic master. We’re screwed in this fight!” Katherina whispered. Takahiro used his shadow magic to carry the king of the brown kingdom.. They ran out of the throne room into Satan, who formed himself out of the blood.
“This. Ends. Now.” Satan spoke, pointing his pitchfork at them. Takahiro teleported away while Katherina threw a knife at Satan. He dodged, allowing for her escape. Then, he chased her, turning his pitchfork back into blood, and surrounded her in it, turning it into metal. Katherina tried to escape the metal she was trapped in, but it was no use. The metal was not coming off Katherina.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Takahiro and chased after him.
“What the hell happened to you?” Satan yelled as he chased Takahiro.
“Nothing!” Takahiro yelled back. He slid against the floor and rounded the corner, opening a door into the library. Satan continued to chase him. To keep Katherina in the piece of metal, he had to keep maintaining it. He had no extra blood unless he cut himself or Takahiro, but he had to stay focused on running. Slowly, Satan realized that he was practically unable to do much against Takahiro but continued. He’ll figure out something, right?
Not Satan, but Takahiro did. Satan chased Takahiro inbetween library shelves, but Takahiro noticed how he was at a dead end. He mentally cursed at himself but accidentally made a shelf fall while being distracted. Satan focused on Takahiro so hard he didn’t realize the shelf. He cursed out while it hit him.
Takahiro stared in horror. Satan’s twigness did not help him lift the heavy shelves and books off himself. Takahiro sighed and stepped over Satan.
“Hey! Where are you going? Get back here.” Satan yelled.
“Bye.” Takahiro simply said, barely sparing him one last glance as he left the library. Satan yelled, a fist hitting the floor as he could feel the shift of his skin to red once again. Takahiro sprinted towards Katherina, pulling the piece of metal down.
“Is he on his way here again?” She asked.
“No, I was in the library, I accidentally made a shelf fall and it crushed Satan. He’s too weak to get it off him.”
“Ha! Always knew he was weak as hell. How does he count as a real man still? Oh, we should book it.” Katherina realized. Takahiro nodded, starting up his magic and quickly grabbing the brown king.