As the Kingdom of Bright slowly approached the Demon Lord's castle, the officials inside it began to get increasingly worried. They began to hold strategy sessions every day in the war room. It was during one of these sessions that Pain burst in to talk to the Demon Lord.

"Charlotte, we have a problem!" he shouted.

The advisors, who all wore identical robes, looked in his direction while the Demon Lord put her hand to her forehead and shook her head.

"Oh, Dark Commander, have you finally decided to join us for the strategy meeting? We are discussing what to do now that Goblopolis has fallen to the Kingdom of Bright," an adviser said.

"I already told you, set up a radio tower and let the troops better coordinate."

"And we told you, that does not seem very practical. What we need now is a way to power up our troops to win the coming battles," another advisor said.

"Well, how about-" Pain began to say but was interrupted.

"Your 'Tanks' cannot be manufactured in such a short time, please if you wish to attend, we do need serious suggestions," the adviser that interrupted him said.

"Tch, this is why I stopped attending," Pain muttered, "Anyway, I need to talk to Charlotte... the Demon Lord right away!" The Demon Lord sighed.

"Everyone, we are dismissed for now. Pull back citizens from the front lines as we discussed and have some dragon scouts get information of what is happening in Goblopolis."

"Demon Lord, with all due respect, we do not have to end the meeting due to this human!" an advisor exclaimed.

"It's not like we were getting anywhere... I mean, we had a good discussion for today. Everyone, please brainstorm ways to power up our troops for tomorrow's meeting!"

The advisors all left the war room and the door shut behind them. Charlotte slumped down in her chair and groaned.

"Working hard, I see."

"Tell me what it is you want. I have to deal with losing a major city in Evuluss right now; this better is important."

"Well... I'm not sure if it is..."

"What?"

"You see, the old sage, Bill, just started yelling and calling for you."

"The Wise Sage! Hmm, he hasn't spoken in years," Charlotte said in a concerned tone. She ran out the door.

"Wait, years? Seriously?" Pain ran after her.

"We have to hurry; if he broke his oath of silence, he must have something important to say!" Charlotte shouted to Pain, who struggled to keep up with her.

"Alright, but you're going to have to tell me what that oath of silence was about!" Pain yelled back, "All this time, I thought he just didn't like me," he said to himself.

They ran down the castle's corridors until they reached the room where the Wise Sage resided. He was an odd troll that sat on a pillow with a long white beard draped down to the floor and a bald head.

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"Ah, Milady, thank you for coming," the old Sage said in a crackly voice.

"Sage, what is it? You vowed never to speak again!" Charlotte said while sitting down on her knees. Pain followed suit.

"Milady, I had a most disturbing vision. In a short time, the Hero of Bright will break down our castle doors."

"Oh no," the Demon Lord stood up. She began to pace around the room, "How much more time do we have?" she finally asked.

"Oh, about five maybe six seconds," the Sage casually answered.

Pain and Charlotte stared blankly at the old man for about 3 seconds. A loud explosion in the distance finally ended the silence.

"Oops, that was a bit short; I guess my future sight abilities aren't what they used to be," the old man said with a laugh.

"A bit short? Old man!" Pain yelled and jumped up.

"Dark Commander, please wait; we have more important things to do right now," Charlotte said as she cracked her knuckles and stepped toward the Wise Sage. Pain grabbed her shoulder and shook his head.

"Your right; we will have to deal with that later; right now, we need to take care of the hero."

The Demon Lord's shoulders slumped, and she sighed.

"I suppose your right," she agreed, "But you and I are going to talk about this later, Wise Sage," Charlotte said in a menacing voice as she walked out of the room.

The duo began running down the hallway to the gate. The bells in the castle's tower began to ring, signaling that the castle was under attack. Throughout the halls, they ran past various troops and castle residences running to or from the battle.

"We need to hurry and stop the hero. Otherwise, the castle will fall!" Charlotte cried. Her head was full of images of the castle crumbling to the hero's raw power. She had hoped this day would not come, or at least would wait until she had her full power restored from Pain's summoning.

"Hold on, Charlotte," Pain stopped and grabbed the Demon Lords' arm; she came to a sudden stop.

"Pain! What are you doing?" She yelled.

"Why are you running to the front lines?" Pain asked.

"I'm the Demon Lord; of course, I should be on the front lines!"

"Are you sure? I thought Demon Lords were supposed to be deep in the castle, and the hero fights them as the last boss?"

"What are you talking.... Maybe in your world, but here the Demon Lord fights on the front lines."

Pain scratched behind his ear.

"Alright, how about this? I will fight them first, and you hang back until I have weakened them, then you can jump in and deliver the finishing blow," Pain suggested. He was trying to keep Charlotte from the battle. He was fully aware of the timeline until her power was restored.

"Pain! The Demon Lord can't just hang back!"

"It will be okay if I show up as the Dark Commander; I can just say they weren't worth your time or something."

"Hmm, that does sound like something a Demon Lord would have her second in command say..."

"Exactly! Now you run-up to the balcony, and I will greet our foes in the courtyard!" Pain ran off before the Demon Lord could get out another word.

The Demon Lord was willing to go along with his plan, it made sense, and it would keep her out of the fray until she could deliver a decisive blow. Under normal circumstances, she would fend off the intruders, but she still had about a month before her power was fully recharged.

She started to run in the direction where she would oversee the battle; then, she could leap down and defeat the hero in one fell swoop. It would all happen after Pain weakened them. The Demon Lord began to run up the stairs when a thought got caught in the back of her mind.

If Pain were only going to weaken the hero, that would mean he would have to get defeated by the hero. Pain would defeat the hero. Otherwise, that would validate the excuse that the hero was not worth the Demon Lord's time. So, there was no reason for Pain not to try to win. Charlotte had two concerns. The first was the Pain knew he would not win and planned to fight until he fell in combat. The second was that Pain could win but would let himself lose at the right time so that she could swoop in to claim the victory. Either way, Pain would be injured or even die. The Demon Lord shook her head and began to run down the stairs. She had to stop him.

Meanwhile, Pain had considered none of those things. He just wanted to keep Charlotte out of the fight. He casually and nonchalantly strode onto the battlefield. The hero stood on the battlefield in brightly colored clothes and wielding a golden broadsword. He stood with his other party members, who were surrounded by the Dark Armies forces' full might.

"Hey, wassup," Pain greeted the Hero of Bright with a wave.