“Watch out! An Elf!”

Those dreadful words ring out in the air as Jen covers her knife in a sharpened gust of wind.

A clean mithril edged blade rockets past my vision as I crank my perception to the max.

I can see the trajectory, it is heading straight for Alice’s head.

Shink!

The blade stops in place as it embeds itself in an instant.

I’ll kill her. Today is the day Jen dies.

She should be thankful that I will give her a quick death. If I had not managed to reshape Alice’s golem armor in time she really might have died.

The blade of wind is deeply embedded in a shield of wood that had quickly formed around Alice’s body.

I can see it still trying to push in further. I can see that bitch already readying a follow-up attack.

“Stop.”

The words quietly and forcefully slip from my mouth, and everything goes dark.

All the light in the area freezes in place under my command.

Without any light to reach their eyes, the adventurers are blinded and begin to panic.

Only I can still see anything. The whole area under my control.

I rush over towards Jen and reform my armor into a spiked gauntlet.

Slam! Crunch.

I put my full force behind the attack and drive it right into Jen’s stomach.

Her body goes flying and slams into the tree behind her.

She slumps from the crater the impact created in the tree, falling to the ground face first.

She is still alive.

I can tell better now after killing my father. The mana in one's body really puts in a lot of effort to keep one alive.

The System lends a hand, as it is remiss to lose a powerful fighter.

I will flatten her skull.

Nothing but rage fills my mind.

She dared! She dared to try and kill Alice!

She has no right to live anymore.

Just as I am approaching her, a small white message appears in my vision.

[Lua, stop.]

Alice realized what I was doing and sent me those words through the messaging system I devised.

[Why? She tried to kill you!]

I really don’t understand why she would tell me to stop. My vision may be red right now, but Jen deserves to die, I am sure of that.

I can feel the energies pulsing through my body in place of my blood, threatening to burst out and devour everything.

[Because they will know it was you. And you are already in enough danger with your Titles as it is.]

“Shit.”

I know she is right.

Killing Jen now will only increase the chances of people finding out about my Demon Lord Title. I doubt they would be willing to let a revenge murder go, even if I tell them I am the Hero.

Alice looks like an elf too.

Everything is in a really bad position and killing Jen here would be extremely risky…

But I just can’t let her off easy for what she did.

“None of you fucking move! That was not an Elf. That was Alice.” My words, dripping with hate fill the forest as I let out my mana in a crushing wave of pressure. “If any of you dare to try and attack her again, I will kill you. Are we clear?”

That is a promise.

My words take a moment to register in their minds, but eventually they all drop their defensive positions and calm down their mana.

I can see a fearful and remorseful look on Rose’s face. Likely thinking that she can’t believe she would mistake a Fairy for an Elf. Horrified that Jen had attacked someone she believes to be a benevolent Fairy.

I doubt she would have such a look on her face if Alice was really an Elf though.

It takes everything I have to hold in my anger.

The veil drops, and the light is free to move once again.

“Jen!”

Rose shrieks as she rushes over to Jen’s collapsed body.

Tears fill her eyes as she tries to pour a small vial of green liquid down the broken woman’s throat.

As the wounds on Jen’s body start to slowly repair themselves, Rose looks up at me with many emotions clashing across her face.

Anger, Fear, Confusion, Remorse.

I can’t be bothered to care.

I turn and head back to Alice as quickly as I can and drop the shield around her so I can hug her myself.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I want to start crying into her arms, but I can’t.

Letting my guard down when these humans are so close would be a terrible idea.

If only I could just kill them all, I could be alone with Alice.

I feel my anger flair again, but then Alice starts to run her fingers through my hair.

My emotions are like a storm right now, I need to think rationally.

I want them dead.

Fuck!

I send a message to Prim.

[Can you use Mind Magic to calm everyone down. Myself included.]

[Of course my lord.]

She responds instantly, already used to the system I had designed.

A pulse of mana flows out of her and everyone slows down under the influence.

Damn… I forgot I was immune to mental magic… Ugh!

My emotions are still running hot.

I will have to calm myself down.

----------------------------------------

Rose cradles her wife’s broken body as it heals, blood still pooling along the ground, staining the forest floor a deep red.

She knows Jen did something stupid. Attacking someone without provocation or even verifying who they are.

The young noble shadow mage looks up and sees Lua clinging on to Alice, checking her over and over to make sure she is ok.

She can understand the feeling.

“Lua, I am sorry that Jen-”

Rose speaks up, trying to calm things down, but Lua is not having it at all.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it.”

Rose feels her voice catch in her throat.

Jen has a bad habit of acting without thinking.

And even worse is her habit of discriminating against demi-humans.

Rose herself actually disagrees with the public opinion on demi-humans, but sadly she can’t speak openly about her views and has been having trouble correcting her wife’s attitude.

The way Jen sneers at the slaves on the streets always breaks her heart.

Still, despite the logic she tries to rationalize, seeing Jen in such a horrifying state as a result causes Rose to glare at Lua.

A glare that is quickly silenced when Lua’s aura puts her in her place.

She can tell…

Lua wants to finish what she started.

Rose wants to be angry, but the whole situation is so chaotic. And she understands Lua’s feelings all too well.

The look in Lua’s eyes are those of someone who nearly lost her whole world.

She clearly loves Alice very much.

A tense silence settles over the area, until finally, Lua seems to calm down enough to talk.

The now slightly taller blue haired girl, fit in wood and plant based armor, turns towards Helimos, completely ignoring the bloody couple.

“Why are you even here? Come to force me back to the city like last time?”

Lua’s voice is still dripping with venom and sarcasm as she glares in the golden boy’s direction.

Helimos flinches at that.

That is more or less what they were planning on doing after all.

Helimos goes on to explain that the Demon Lord had been divined to be somewhere nearby in the forest.

That a search team has been sent out to find and protect Lua.

However, Helimos seems hesitant to explain the full details under the girl’s withering glare.

His faltering speech leaving out the reason they were after her specifically.

This only serves to anger Lua more as she starts to lose the little patience she has.

“And why would you bother to chase after someone like me when this Demon Lord is supposedly in the forest?”

“Because everyone believed you were the Hero. And it seems they were right.”

And with that remark, Lua’s patience drops to zero.

“Oh piss off.”

Rose can feel the tension rising once again as Lua tightens her grip on her blood stained spear.

“I neither want nor need your help. You can all go fuck yourselves.”

The normally overconfident man can’t help but cower at the aura being emitted by the young girl’s anger.

He wants to speak but all he manages to get out is a stutter.

“B-But the Demon-”

Before he even has the chance to finish, mana fills the space between the two parties and the area warps behind a simmering heat haze.

Everyone goes on guard at the strange magic before a group of people begin to exit the haze.

A tall muscular man with earthy hair, glowing brown eyes, and rocks littering his skin walks out alongside a shorter, more refined gentleman, a dark red suit over his scaled body and two horns poking out of his short crimson hair.

“G-G-Guildmaster?!”

Rose recognizes the powerful earth mage as the master of the Carrion City’s Adventurer’s guild.

A Class 5 who by all right could have a kingdom of his own considering his age and strength.

Beside the Guildmaster the red scaled man turns towards Helimos and speaks with a calm but powerful voice.

“I do believe that is enough Mr Helimos.”

Unable to withstand the silent pressure, Helimos simply stops any further attempts to speak.

In Rose’s arms, Jen stirs.

“Ah, Jen! Are you ok?!”

Glassy eyed and in pain, the short wind mage looks up in a daze before snapping back to reality.

“Ugh… What happ- Ah! The Elf!”

Rose can feel Lua’s glare harden and a dangerous pressure once again assault her as Jen attempts to ready herself for combat once again.

“Silence!”

However, this time an even more terrifying pressure washes over the whole area.

The man in red glares down at Jen and Rose, his voice filled with mana as he breathes them.

“I think you have caused enough trouble as it is.”

He motions towards the soldiers dressed in shining red armor by his side.

“Guards.”

Instantly Rose finds Jen removed from her arms and shackled with mana suppressing cuffs as well as a collar that restricts access to her Mana Core.

“What? Why are you doing this?!”

Jen, not understanding the situation, can’t figure out why she is being restrained and begins lashing out.

Her struggles are meaningless before the might of this crimson clad group of knights however.

The soldier's leader looks over the girls with cold disappointment.

A look that matches the one on the face of the Guildmaster.

“Ms. Jeniveve, you are under arrest for attempted murder. You are hereby stripped of your guild membership and will remain in the castle jail until your hearing.”

Rose just barely breaks out of her shock to shout at the Guildmaster.

“Sir, what is going on?!”

Rose tries to move towards her wife but is stopped by the crimson knights.

“Ms. Ashfort, I suggest you keep silent before you make matters worse.”

The Guildmaster barely spares her a second look as he passes down his orders.

“Return to the city at once. You have strained relations with the Hero more than enough already.”

Filled with worry and gritting her teeth, Rose lowers her head and follows the soldiers through the haze as they take Jeniveve away.

As the last of the interlopers file into the portal, the haze vanishes, leaving only Lua, Alice, Prim, The Guildmaster, and the strange red clad man.

Silence fills the air.

Lua is still incredibly wary of the two powerful figures before her and her stance with her weapons shows that.

The scaled man raises an eyebrow before chuckling and bowing his head a bit.

“Ah, apologies. I suppose I should introduce myself.”

He takes a step forward and places a hand across his chest.

“I am the Dragon Emperor, Draskall Art Esmaladia. A pleasure to meet you, Hero.”