In the meeting hall, the elite demons sat bewildered...
A sigh escaped the one in the middle...
"Why? Why do I have to do this every day..." whispered Crown Prince Alexander Jowan in lament.
He took a sip of coffee—
looked rudely at those at the table,
arguing,
strutting,
or even sleeping.
He leaned on his hand—
"Hey... you empty-headed!!..." said Alexander quietly, threateningly, with sharp eyes of disappointment.
They stared at him—
looked down in shame.
Silence.
"Ahem—"
"Since everyone is listening now… shall we start planning our next move?" said a man with a dark aura and sleepy eyes.
"Isn’t planning your job? Being our strategist from Leviathon," said Val Topman, contemptuous with a raised eyebrow.
"As if I would leave an amateur to play my symphony," replied Don Leviathon in a sleepy voice.
Val furrowed his brows,
his assistant hurried closer,
"Sir… try to be respectful… his military rank surpasses even the Pillars of Fire..." she whispered in his ear.
Silence reigned for a few seconds…
The door opened with a sound of permission:
"Excuse me—"
"What is it now..."
"Your Majesty, we have bad news!!"
Alexander pointed with his finger for the informant to approach,
the informant opened a wrapped file—
"The human army from the Celia Empire, the Great Spirit, has been spotted heading towards the Black Spot, expected to arrive in a day and a half..."
"So we have 36 hours?"
Murmurs among the elite—
"Can you read the rest?" asked Silivsa Hask interrogatively.
"Yes, of course… ahem… the number of soldiers ranges from 30 to 40 thousand and they are led by a member of the hero’s team. This package comes with a file containing available details, from Tower 82."
Alexander raised the file—
*"Hmm…" he murmured, reading the enemy file…
"Since when has magic become this trivial?" said Alexander, crumpling the file.
Rio Tali, leader of the rescue squad, raised his hand—
"I think I’ve heard of this person. They say his magic is strange but strong for some reason… but paper is still paper…"
"Then Val—"
"My soldiers are tired, they’ve fought an entire week-long battle"
"...Yuri?"
*"Flirting with a girl in some continent…" said everyone in the hall.
Alexander covered his eyes with one hand—
and hit one of the soldiers as if it were a stray dog with the other,
"Alright, I understand… then send his sister… Tokichi"
Knocking sound—
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the door opened slowly,
its wooden echo bouncing in the pink-hued room—
"My lady… my lady… they are summoning you," whispered a young maid.
Silence fell…
"Ughhh…"
If not for the snore of one lying on the fluffy bed…
*"Hmm…" the maid prepared her hands.
And with a clap from a noble lady, the room jolted.
"What is happening!?! An attack!? Or..." screamed Tokichi, clinging to the ceiling from the jolt.
"No, it’s not an attack, and your brother hasn’t returned yet," the maid replied calmly and arrogantly.
Tokichi’s face relaxed from sleepiness,
she descended from the ceiling, spreading her wings,
sat on the bed, and gestured interrogatively.
"His Majesty wants to send his future wife to almost certain death," said the maid in one breath.
A look of indifference climbed onto Tokichi’s face as if this were a daily conversation.
Tokichi rubbed her eyelids,
reached out—
received a file from the maid.
At the breakfast table, she ate her luxurious meal,
while reading the file with serious eyes.
With a sip from a glass of milk,
"So… what should I do to this man again?" she asked quietly.
"Kill him, torture him, kidnap him, enslave him… all work…"
"Then do you want me to inform the soldiers?" the maid said slowly.
Tokichi stood and waved her hand in refusal,
"Do not let the men rest… we don’t need more losses."
She lifted her eyes from the file.
"I’ll do this myself," she said firmly.
She walked down the luxurious wooden palace corridor…
her footsteps echoed along the decorated Victorian hallway.
Sound of door opening—
"Sorry for the disturbance—"
but the room was empty,
her position marked by a fixed map.
"Father isn’t here… well, that makes my work easier"
She stood by the map table, staring at it—
tapped the floor with her feet,
and began floating above the map table.
*"As I recall… the humans are coming from this direction if…" murmured Tokichi while floating.
Tap—
Tap—
She tapped a few spots on the map—
an arrow of floating blue fire blocks was drawn pointing toward black fire.
"If this is the Black Spot then…"
She floated on her back in the air,
face thoughtful, murmuring…
*"I don’t think victory is possible… how foolish to think a teenager could do the impossible…" said her thoughts.
She played with one of her pink hair ties,
until an idea sparked in her eye,
She turned to the map below,
traced her finger along it,
revealing a wall of violet fire blocks.
"Well… this will be fun," she said with a smug smile.
Sounds of soldiers’ footsteps and horses echoed across the horizon,
gradually fading until only the birds’ song could be heard.
"What happened? Why did we stop?" asked one soldier.
"I’m not sure, but it seems… there’s an orc group on the road."
The soldier raised his eyebrow—
"Orc?" he said confusedly.
"O humans—grrr, how dare you step into our land," said the chief orc stammering.
The orcs struck the ground with their giant wooden clubs like war drums.
The human soldiers began to feel fear—
One knight struck his armor with his sword,
and all eyes turned to him.
"O orcs!! I beg you to stand aside, we are from the empire, not your enemies!!" shouted the knight adorned with badges from atop his horse.
"And you are not allies—ugh!!" shouted the chief orc.
The knight advanced on his horse—
raised his sword toward the chief orc.
"Never!! Will you defeat my army even if it rings a thousand times!!" he shouted firmly.
"Not you!! Nor us!! We want pointless losses!!" the knight’s firm shout mingled with subtle friendliness.
*"Hmmmm…"
The chief orc fell silent, staring at the sky,
lowered his eyes and stared at the knight,
"The strongest… versus the strongest…"
"The strongest versus the strongest, and the winner commands!" the knight replied respectfully.
Pleasure-filled chuckle—
All eyes from both sides looked to the middle of the ground,
to the pink color in the center,
both sides asked:
"What is this?"
"O humans, your strongest is ready, so where is yours?" said Tokichi with a mocking smile.
The humans prepared their weapons—
the orcs kneeled on one foot—
signaling their weapons toward her.
Tokichi’s gaze was empty,
she raised her hand to the sky—
The heat around her intensified—
she clenched her hand,
revealing a bow of pink fire mass between her slender fingers.
"I asked where your strongest is?" pointing with the bow and looking seriously into their eyes.
The human ranks were flustered:
"The commander isn’t here yet..."
"… There’s no escape…"
Sweat rolled down the knight’s forehead,
"I… I am their strongest," he said nervously.
Tokichi looked at him from below to above,
smiled arrogantly—
pulled back her bow to release a flaming arrow with giant tongues of fire from nowhere,
"Isn’t pretending to be a hero wonderful?" she said with a friendly smile.
The soldiers trembled and stiffened,
She released the arrow—
its speed didn’t even allow the knights to take a breath.
Explosion—
She set the bow aside—
and looked down,
"Consider this an honor," she whispered to herself.
Behind the explosion smoke, she glimpsed white color—
"What now?" she wondered.
Through the smoke appeared…
a metallic wall?
Not just a part of it,
the wall shifted from iron to paper.
"This is not human magic…"
The wall fell,
behind it a man covered in mummy wrappings…
raising his hand, stretching his legs,
the knights behind him untouched.
The mummy man turned to the knights.
He bowed, "I am sorry" in a voice that made the body shiver.
Tokichi’s face couldn’t express her astonishment… only one sentence came to her mind…
"What the hell was that"
