Demon Queened

Devilla

Watching Lucy disappear from the teleportation pad was honestly a little jarring. One moment she was present, the next she was gone - off to the tower, beyond my immediate protection where who knew what could happen to her... Yet that was a risk she'd willingly chosen to take. She wanted to get to know Abigail outside my presence. My people, too, for that matter - she wanted to know what they were like when not under my gaze. Something I could accept no matter how much it worried me.

That didn't mean I could simply stop worrying, though. Not only for her physical safety, but for our relationship. What if she overheard people talking about me in the tower? Spreading rumors, true or false... I'd informed Lucy that I was hated by my own people, but would seeing it for herself cause her to start doubting me? Would knowing everything I'd done turn her affection into hate?

I knew it was unlikely - Lucy wasn't the sort to take rumors as fact. She'd ask me, first and foremost, and likely accept whatever I'd done besides... but still, my mind was roiling with worry.

As such, it was something of a relief when a distraction appeared in the form of a loud knock at my door.

"Eena!" called a familiar voice. "Heroine! You in there? I thought we could finally have that arm wrestling competition!"

"Funny," I remarked, opening the door. "I don't recall agreeing to any such event."

"Aw, come on!" Grell whined, even as the door swung open to reveal the pouting noble standing at the door with her arms crossed. "This is my one chance to arm wrestle the Heroine while Dyona's too busy to scold me!"

"Where

is

your shadow, anyways?" I asked. "I would have thought her all but glued to your side from the way you talk."

"Scouting! For food stuff, I mean. Mapping out all the most popular places to hit and searching for any hidden gems. She, uh, said it wouldn't do to feed me something that didn't meet my taste, so she said it was best she went by herself... I think she might just be enjoying some alone time, though... But that's exactly why this is the perfect time to arm wrestle with you and the Heroine!"

"You know, she might be more tempted to agree if you'd just use her given name," I pointed out.

"No way!" Grell objected immediately. "I might be a failure of a duke's daughter, but even

I

know better than to act so familiar with the Heroine!"

"You're also apparently a failure at keeping secrets," I teased. "Or did you intend to tell me your social position?"

"I mean, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours! It was mostly the Heroine I was hiding from anyway."

"Mine?" I asked, feigning innocence with a hand to my chest. "I'm just a traveler."

"Like

anyone

would believe that! You're probably, like, a foreign princess on the run or something, right? Or maybe you're traveling incognito so that it doesn't look like the Heroine is favoring a specific kingdom?"

"If I

was

hiding my identity for such a reason then I hardly see why I would stop just because you asked about it."

"Oh come on!" Grell pleaded, clutching her hands together. "I'll tell you my background! I'm Duke Darrington's seventh daughter! The theoretically chronically ill girl nobody ever gets to meet, Agrellissa!"

"You..." I had a sudden flash of empathy for Abigail. Was this what she felt like around

me?

I resisted the urge to slap my own forehead in exasperation and simply shook my head instead. "You do realize that simply telling me of your own accord does nothing to move me, yes? In the first place, you're the one who one-sidedly declared I'd have to tell you if you told me - a change in rules I had not and

will not

accept. Not to mention the way you revealed your secret so casually - it hardly garners trust on my end!"

"...Will you at least arm wrestle me, then?" Grell asked, giving me puppy dog eyes. They were inferior to Lucy's, but...

"If you wish to be crushed, then fine," I agreed with a sigh. "But only until Dyona comes back from her errand... Assuming you don't mind me joining you on your trip through the stalls?"

"Nope! I'd love to have a pretty girl with me! Though I guess you're sort of taken, what with dating the Heroine and all...? Ahhh, if anything you might scare off other hot babes! Unless... one of them comes up to challenge you to an arm wrestling contest, after noticing how hot you are... Hmmm..."

"Do you want to arm wrestle me or not?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I do! I definitely do! It's just... You know... Ah! What about the Heroine?"

"Lucy is busy," I replied with a small wince that I hopefully went unnoticed. I'd hoped she'd remain distracted from the topic for at least a little while.

"Really? I didn't notice her leaving the inn..."

"She's busy

sleeping,"

I amended, lying through my teeth. Thankfully, Dyona wasn't present - I was sure I had at least a hundred tells she could pick up on.

"Wait... Then wouldn't it just be me and you arm wrestling?"

"If you can't beat me, then how can you hope to beat

her?"

I asked, arching an eyebrow. I knew that no matter how strong Grell thought me to be I couldn't possibly compare to 'the Heroine' in her mind.

Grell sucked air through her teeth at that, before biting her lip and rocking back and forth on her heels. "I guess that's true," she muttered eventually. "But I really did want to arm wrestle the Heroine..."

"That sounds like a bad idea at the best of times," a new voice declared, causing Grell to jump. "Speaking of which - have neither of you noticed the dragon?"

"...The what now?" I asked.

"The dragon. There's one descending down the mountain. It seems to be headed towards the city as we speak. People are already evacuating."

"A dragon is attacking?," I asked again, my voice flat. "And everyone's just... evacuating? You speak of it as if it were a routine event..."

"Despite a lack of recorded dragon attacks in recent times, the people of Gour nevertheless boast surprisingly robust evacuation procedures as a precaution before each festival. Grell always called the practice stupid."

"Well, they're preparing to run away!" Grell pointed out. "Why isn't anyone preparing to

fight

it instead?"

"Because

most

people are not stupid enough to try fighting a dragon," Dyona replied, shaking her head. "Speaking of which, if you intend to go punch this dragon you will need to go through me."

"Wh-what do you mean, Dyona!?" Grell demanded.

"I mean exactly what I said," Dyona answered, lifting her chin. "If you wish to throw your life away then so be it, but I will

not

stand by and idly watch."

"I told you I was going to fight it from the start, didn't I? I've always said I'd love to fight a dragon!"

"And I never thought you'd actually find one!" Dyona replied through gritted teeth. "An oversight on my part. One I intend to rectify, here and now."

"Ahem?" I feigned a cough, causing both women to swivel their heads towards me. Their combined glares almost made me take a step back, but I didn't falter. I couldn't wait for them to sort things out at their own pace. "Apologies for interrupting your fight, but I really need to get past you and make my way towards the door."

"...Of course..." Dyona said. Her smile was bright, but I sensed an edge of danger to it. I'd likely be paying for my interference later.

...Well, assuming she still wanted anything to do with me after all was said and done, that is.

"I'm sorry," I said, pushing between the two of them so that I could move down the hallway, towards the front door of the inn.

"You said that already," Dyona pointed out even as she fell into step behind me. "If you're truly sorry, then help escort us to safety."

"I'm afraid that won't be a possibility," I replied, pushing open the inn's doors. The streets outside weren't quite empty as of yet, but there were certainly much fewer people than there'd been just an hour ago. "This dragon... appearing

now

of all times... Should I thank it for coming too late to ruin Lucy's fun? Or hate it for the position it's placed me in?"

"What are you talking about?" Grell asked. "I thought Lucy was sleeping?"

I made no reply, choosing instead to glance up at the skies. I couldn't see anything at first. Then I saw a dot, which shifted into a blur the moment I locked onto it, before finally settling into the iconic image of a dragon as I focused on it. A four legged beast with dark red scales and a triangular head set on a sinuous neck.

"It's still quite a distance away..."

"You can see it?!" Dyona asked with surprise. "I'm told the person who spotted it was using a spyglass."

"Yes, well, my senses are quite a bit better than most," I replied, drawing an odd look from Dyona. I ignored it for the time being.

"...Sorry," I repeated.

"Again?" Dyona asked. "Isn't that the third time?"

"I once apologized a hundred times to get Dyona to forgive me for something!" Grell piped up.

"The first apology was for interrupting," I told her, ignoring Grell for the moment. "The second was for pushing you aside. But the third is for something different." I took a deep breath then let out a sigh, running a hand through my dyed brown locks. For a moment, I considered removing the false coloring and showing myself in all my glory, but it would be a waste of magic just for vanity's sake. Against a dragon I'd probably need every drop I could spare.

"You wanted to know who I was," I said, finally focusing on Grell. "My identity. I'll tell you when this is all over and done with - assuming I survive and you actually still want anything to do with me... Tell Lucy I'm sorry, too. I'm probably not coming back. I'll be waiting at the site of the fight, though - I'm sure it'll be easy enough to find the place by the time we're through."

"What are you...?" Dyona started, only to trail off as pitch black wings sprouted from my back. Thankfully, my current outfit was backless.

"Once again, I

am

sorry," I repeated, beating my wings and bringing my magic to bear. A moment later I was floating five feet in the air. "But I really must take care of this..."

Another beat of my wings and I was gone.

***

Grell

***

I stared at the speck that used to be Eena, watching until she passed out of sight completely before turning to Dyona in confusion.

"I'm dumb. Explain what just happened to me?"

"Our savior - your most recent target of affection - just revealed herself to be a demon," Dyona replied. "She also apologized. Profusely."

"Right..." I muttered. Profusely meant a lot, right? I was pretty sure it did. "Why was she saying sorry so much, again?"

"Because of the difficult position this will put us in politically if anyone learns of our involvement, I imagine," Dyona replied.

She used big words, some of which I only sort of understood, but I nodded along anyways. Dyona might be feisty and prone to biting the hand that fed her, but she knew her stuff. I trusted her. "So... what do we do now?"

"That depends on how you want to handle this," Dyona replied. "This is likely your one and only opportunity to separate yourself from what's about to happen."

"What? No! Why would I do that?" I asked, confused. "I want to help them! I mean, the Heroine is probably gonna be in trouble, too, right? I don't really get why she'd be with a demon - maybe she doesn't know? - but even if she did... we traveled together. We laughed at awful jokes together. We complained together!"

"And you still haven't gotten to challenge either of them to an arm wrestling competition."

"That too! And they're

both

really hot! How am I supposed to just walk away from all that?!" I demanded, shaking my head. "So... what do we need to do to help?"

Dyona didn't say anything for a moment before sighing loudly. "I knew you'd say that, my Lady, which is why I've already thought about the best way forward. We need to stop any new messenger birds from being sent out. Some were likely already released on account of the dragon and that's fine, but we don't need word going out of Eena's involvement.

Especially

not if anyone connects her to the Heroine."

"Alright," I agreed. "Go do that, then. You know where I keep the family medallion. That should give you enough backing to stall, at least. And check on the Heroine whenever you can, too!"

"What about you?" Dyona asked with a frown.

I grinned back, surprised she hadn't already guessed my response. "I'm going to go punch a dragon!"

***

Devilla

***

It didn't take long to reach my target. No matter how far it had seemed initially, the sheer speed at which we

both

were flying ultimately made the distance quickly close.

The dragon must have noticed my approach at some point, but it made no attempt at slowing down. Instead, it met me head on with a roar that forced me to cover my ears and fly in place for a moment. It then swung at me, its claw raking through the air. There was no time to dodge horizontally, but vertically was another matter - it was simply a matter of halting my flight and falling towards the ground for a bit as the dragon's claws swiped through the space I'd been.

I flew up again, drawing my hand back so that I could punch the dragon in the side as hard as I possibly could. I expected my fist to bounce off or be stopped cold by the dragon's hard scales, but instead I pierced through them without any resistance, getting my entire arm stuck in the dragon's side up to my shoulder. The dragon roared in pain, thrashing wildly in the air to throw me off, and a moment later I was spinning through the sky. A few beats of my wings had me right side up again, though, hovering over the sea of trees.

As for the wound I'd delivered to the dragon... well, I doubted it was anything more than a nuisance. My arm was covered in surprisingly little blood considering it had been stuck in the dragon's side up to the shoulder. There was a detail about the dragon I hadn't really had the time to process yet, or perhaps it was better to say that I didn't really

want

to process it: the fact that this dragon was larger than a house and my punches, no matter how vicious or surprisingly piercing they were, were little more than flea bites to it.

Its claws were longer than I was tall, for goodness sake! A single

fang

was as large as my entire body! Against something this huge I feared I was little more than a gnat.

I shook the thought off, trying to focus on the battle again, but it was too late. The dragon was upon me again, its mouth open wide as if to swallow me whole. I flew up and over its head, allowing it to pass under me.

Perhaps it was a mistake - even if I was too small to attack its outsides, maybe I could wreak havoc from inside it. Yet, no matter how easily I'd punched through its scales, I was a little worried about the hardiness of its organs. What if it had a literal iron stomach? Or perhaps the acid in its stomach was so strong I'd dissolve in an instant?

Supposedly, even late term Heroines - the ones strong enough to fight and kill Demon Queens like me - had an extremely difficult time fighting a dragon like this one. There had to be a reason for that, and since it clearly wasn't the creatures's exterior defense I had to question everything else.

For now I chose to study it, weaving through its attacks in mid-air, harassing it without ever actually attacking. I was looking for a weakness - something,

anything

I could exploit. So far the only idea I could come up with was grabbing it by the tail and spinning around to throw it back towards the mountains, from whence it came - a ridiculous, cartoonish notion that was unlikely to work, but... well, I was running out of ideas!

I was considering what spells I knew that could turn the tide when it happened - the dragon suddenly changed its attack pattern once more. Where before it had been swiping wildly at me, now it was

falling

towards me

.

It had folded up its wings, allowing its weight to come crashing down on my head, roaring all the while as if challenging me to get out of

this.

I spun towards the ground before it could collide with me, beating my wings and flying down with all my might. Crossing my arms in front of my face, I broke through foliage and tore my way through branches, hurtling towards the ground only to dart out to the side at the last second, and barely - just

barely

- clearing the space beneath it as it slammed into the ground.

The earth shook upon the dragon's impact, birds squawking as they took flight, animals running in all directions, and even a tree or two toppling over. Then there was silence. I was catching breath I didn't need off to the side while the creature was laying flat and still upon the earth. For a moment, I thought perhaps it had been hurt in the fall - that the trees it crushed beneath its weight might have perhaps managed to puncture something - but a moment later the beast let out a loud snort, and began to move. It shook itself off as it pushed its way up onto its feet, turning its head towards me.

I cursed, spreading my wings with the intent of taking to the sky once more. The dragon, meanwhile, spun with surprising speed, slamming its tail

through

the nearby trees and towards me, moving too fast to dodge, angling upwards even as I flew towards the sky. It smacked me in the stomach, sending me flying until I slammed into something hard. I heard

something

crack, but there was no time to process it. The tail had slammed me forward towards its head, which was now coming towards me, maw agape.

It wasn't trying to swallow me this time, though. It was trying to

roast

me, roiling flames bubbling up from its throat. Before I could even take stock of my current injuries, its fiery breath came jetting out towards me, bathing me in heat beyond anything I'd ever known. The air itself seemed to be on fire, every breath I drew into my lungs tinged with flames. I stopped breathing as soon as I realized, of course, but... surely, it was too late, with that superheated air already inside me.

I realized, in that moment, that I was going to die. Right there, right then, in a fight I hadn't even thought through before picking. I'd tried to play the hero on a whim and now I was never going to see Lucy, Abigail, or anyone else again.

Except... Why didn't I feel pain, then? Had the fire flash seared my nerves? No... I could still feel the flames blasting away. I knew exactly how hot they were, but... it didn't hurt. Even the discomfort I felt was more psychological in nature, stemming more from a dislike of the temperature than any actual physiological response.

When the torrent of flames at last ceased its flow I realized something. A

few

'something's, in fact. For one, it wasn't

my

body that had broken, but the tree I'd slammed into. For another, I was nude, my body covered in nothing but ash. In fact, even my hair was coated in the stuff - though it was already flaking off, revealing gray tinged locks. Not a hint of brown dye, though - it had likely burnt off in the flames. Much like my clothes and the blood that had been on my arm. And everything else I had on me, spare the Empty Bag which had fallen to the floor by my feet. Nice to see that it was dragonfire proof, I suppose.

The dragon blinked at me in surprise, clearly as shocked as I that I'd survived its flames. Then it brought up a paw and slammed it down on me as if to crush me, but I merely lifted a single hand to catch it. The weight of it came down, but I myself did not move, and when its unstoppable force met my unmoving opposition

I won.