Coronation

Footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. The only light coming from the torches resting on the steel embedded within the walls.

Milandra’s heels clicked sharply as she made her way down, the sound of chains following suit as Malgron walked behind her. Shuna was a spectator to her own body, a body covered in armor and markings. Her face was grim, her eyes locked on the view in front of her. The empty hallway, a view she wanted to escape, yet her gaze unmoving as Milandra took control.

—--

A giant demon had a child 20 years ago. The child was a girl, born in Menak, the nation of demons and continent of demon-kind. Milandra was raised within the palace walls, confined to the building until she was of age to leave. She was a late bloomer, growing adept at magic only after her 16th birthday, where she blew up her venue out of sheer disgust for the candidates of marriage she was presented with. It was custom that only one child was to be born from the demon king, and that if that child were to be a girl, she would marry the strongest warrior, a warrior she would approve of.

What is this?

She left the castle with her father and went out to the frontlines, as was custom for generations in their royalty. The very western part of Menak, normally taking two months to travel by carriage, took only three weeks of non-stop running as they reinforced their bodies with magic.

These are hers right?

She saw the frontline for the first time, a bloodied beach with an unending war, the War of Kings. Red and grey bodies littered the floor, the merciless slaughter of her kind. She saw the furia of demons, giving up their bodies and minds to overpower the enemy, a skill only possible with demon blood. The enemy was just a three day trek off the shore of Menak, coming from the militarized port city, Jandra; both sides coming in waves, taking turns defending and attacking constantly. They grew accustomed to losing fighters in order to gain an edge in the war. The boundary, unchanged for over 500 years. Five-hundred years of endless fighting everyday. She watched as her father’s presence strengthened their side, and gave them a chance to push back. The minions of the humans pile atop her brothers and sisters, the casters on boats far off shore creating glowing circles of light and spawning more minions for their battle.

Milandra’s…memories.

She joined the battle, burning and destroying all who opposed her. Arrows flying and more minions coming out of the beach, she held her ground for weeks. Burning and cutting down many opponents during her stay, taking down two enemy caster ships all on her own, she learned how to kill humans and take charge along with her father.

A full month passed in that warzone and the King took his leave as the roles began to turn; the demons were now on the offensive. He chose to return with his daughter to the castle, resuming his national duties. The explosions and screams of death echoing through the wilderness, left Milandra with desire to kill all those stronger than her, the humans that slaughter her people for their selfish greed. The sight of those humans she killed, the laughter she heard as she had approached the ship, and the hatred in their voice once she boarded, it replayed in her head as she left the shore.

Damn, what a horrible way to live.

The princess showed potential on the excursion with her father, granting her the opportunity to remain unwed, only if she demonstrated sufficient power to lead. She promised success for her bloodline and trained her body and magical prowess constantly for the next few years, spending every waking moment improving upon herself.

Her blood, sweat, tears, vomit, muscles, bruises, scrapes, scars, were all gained for the sole purpose of her alone taking the throne. She grew distant from him, returning to the frontline frequently, she took the lives of many, and had many lose their lives for her. She learned what it meant to lead, and what it took to be stronger. Her magic improved drastically, becoming adept with the element of fire, as well as reinforcement magic. Her swordsmanship grew and her people began to acknowledge her.

—--

The day had come, the day her father gave up his crown and a new empress was to be born. It was the day that she would prove her worth, or succumb to the fate of the princesses before her. She did not hate man, rather she hated the thought of impurity, to give up her name and status for someone not of royal blood. Milandra had been born from a long line of greats, thus she grew a desire to be great, to rise from her weakness, and prove to herself that she is great, that she has what it takes to be rule.

Shuna arrived at a giant metal door, a sense of grief and sorrow flowing into her heart.

Milandra… are you…

{Shut it! The first thing after I… become King is finding a way to get rid of you!}

Milandra forced the door open, and cheers and yells flooded in through the doorway. Two bodies, three souls, left the castle and entered another dark hallway. The exit a few meters away from them brought gusts of wind carrying the celebrations of thousands of demons. The tall ceiling shook above them, the cheers growing louder as they approached the open exit.

Is this an arena?! Are we gonna fight??

{I! I am going to fight! You just shut up and don’t interfere!}

Milandra’s arms swayed, but her legs shut down.

No no no! I don’t want that! What if you get hit? Am I gonna feel it?! I don’t wanna fight! I don’t want to die!!

{You mongrel! Release my legs this instant!}

And you said you were gonna get rid of me after? NO I don’t wanna die again! I’m going back!

“Your highness?” Malgron looked at her perplexed as Milandra had frozen in place mid stride.

“I’m FINE.” she glared, her fury evident. “Go out and introduce me already.”

“Yes, your highness.”

{Listen you! This is MY body, you're living because of me! I don’t know how you ended up here, but I sure as hell want my body back!}

N-no! I don’t know how I got here b-but I know you’d kill me if you ever got the chance! I saw it!

Their face was torn and contorted, half scrunching up in fury, whilst the other looked fearful and worried. Milandra was running out of time, she could hear Malgron beginning to announce her arrival.

{Fine I won’t kill you when we figure out how to separate, I’ll let you live}

Shuna felt new emotions sprout inside her, anger and hatred toward herself. She felt like a nuisance, like she needed to lie, she felt like she was lying.

LIAR! I know you're lying to me!

Milandra could feel the fear, the worry of the unknown enter her heart. She hated the feeling. Their emotions leaving and entering, mixing within their souls. She realized that Shuna was not just a human, but human in her body, a demon’s body, her body. Shuna was an armed robber as well as the hostage. She could control her body just as much as herself, the frozen legs evident of her interference. Milandra needed to focus on her coronation, on what she needed to do.

{DAMMITTT!!!! FINE!!! I WONT KILL YOU ALRIGHT! We’ll find a way to separate, and I’ll smuggle you into the human kingdom!}

Shuna felt their rage, her disdain to her words, how much she hated allowing a human to live.

She was telling the truth.

…

Okay…

Please don’t kill us.

{I don’t plan on dying.}

Stepping into the light, they were met with crowds and crowds of demons. A grand square surrounded by levels upon levels of sitting for high-demons and low-demons. A giant the size of a small house sitting up upon a throne directly across them. It’s 4 horns the size of doors with well toned arms and legs sporting scraps and scars of battle. The giant had long locks that rested on both its shoulders, and fire burning behind him, right behind him. The face cold and domineering, looked at Milandra, her small well toned body reflecting upon his eyes. A slight movement of a muscle in his cheek, unnoticeable by anyone, anyone other than Milandra herself.

A warm sense of joy and sorrow clashed as Milandra looked at him, Shuna experiencing the emotions that she felt, sharing them with her, their feelings entwined. She felt memories flow into her mind, memories of a cold childhood, sneaky outings when she was small, going to visit the giant, sleeping in his grand arms. The giant grew distant as she grew, yet it never pushed her away, rather its actions were only led by its need to preserve its reputation as well as her own. Shuna felt an uneasy sense of dread; dread for what would happen next.

Milandra.

“I am Malgrith!!! King of Menak! King of Demons and all who reside within this here dirt!” His voice deep and raspy resounded through the arena walls as he stood up, his presence intimidating even the biggest of demons within the stands.

“Today my daughter will be crowned Queen of Menak and Ruler of Demons! She will receive the power, respect, and property that this crown preserves.”

The crowds went wild in the stands, the walls shaking as they stomped and cheered for the Demon King. Milandra stood tall, looking up at her father, ready to prove herself, her body preparing to strike.

“If anyone wishes to challenge her for the claim to the throne, you shall rise and show thyself at ONCE!”

Gusts of wind picked up, and pebbles flew away. Not a soul dared to breathe.

“I see. Now then…, Milandra, my only daughter, come and take this crown from me.” He smiled sinisterly and jumped forward into the air, his throne roughly 10 floors above where she was.

A giant thump was heard as he made a crater upon his landing, placing his hands on his knees as he regained his balance. A single mouse-sized ball of fire flew toward him, he was too slow to dodge leading to him facing it head on. The ball was a blur of light, a pebble that ignited on impact, pushing the giant back a few meters and leaving scorching marks on his arms. Smoke had been raised as a result of the explosion and Milandra jumped out of the cloud, heading for his left side.

Malgrith stood tall and punched Milandra before she could even react. His fist the size of her body, sent her straight into a wall. Shuna felt the impact, the rubble grabbing onto their back as a Milandra-sized crater was made.

She quickly pushed herself up and faced her father head on, attempting to beat him in speed and agility. She scurried around slashing away at his tough, scaly skin. Chipping away at him, Milandra smirked as Malgrith struggled to catch her like. Her strikes resounded through the stadium as her father stayed immobile.

Growing annoyed by the insect running around his eyes shifted from stoic and unfazed to an annoyed and pissed off twitch.

“Stop running around,” he raised both his arms high in the air, “like a DAMN RAT!” thrusting his arms to the ground, the floor cracked open. Losing her footing, Milandra left herself open for a swift punch from Malgrith. She bent her body almost instantaneously, managing to dodge the worst part of the impact, and was only pushed back a few yards. She gasped for air as she looked at the aftermath of his punch, a hole in the arena six cars deep, created through the sheer force in the punch and the air that was launched in that direction.

The punch coulda killed us!!!

{My father is not a fan of prolonged battles, he wishes for the strongest to fight with their strongest abilities. I am at fault for not using the full extent of my potential.}

Then use it! Why weren’t you using it?!

{...tch}

Milandra sheathed her great sword and held it in place. A warm sensation grew on their backs, getting hotter and hotter the longer she held on. The warm feeling turned to heat, and heat turned to an actual painful burn.

Malgrith brought his fist and palm together and rotated them. He hummed with his eyes closed before opening them and giving birth to greater flames, his eyelids leaking with fire. His muscles tightened and the fire on his back grew brighter. He was using furia against his daughter. A skill that was only used once or twice in a demon’s life.

Milandra unsheathed her sword, which was now lit in a bright, blood red flame. Her red-orange eyes glimmering with the sword’s light.

In an instant, Malgrith had launched himself to Milandra, appearing right in front of her, gearing up for a giant stomp from his foot, the size of a small car. His landing shattered the ground further, leaving him with a slight opening right under his left shoulder; an opening that Milandra took advantage of and slashed right into her father, making a slit deep enough to actually be felt by him.

A roar filled the arena as her fathers flames grew and the ground around him began melting into lava. Milandra had dashed to his right and slashed his popliteal artery, bringing him down to one knee. He bellowed again, launching a wave of lava toward her in a rage. The sheer temperature of the wave was enough to begin to burn half her face as she dodged to the left.

She was met with a knuckle punch to her jaw, Malgrith’s middle knuckle being the point of contact, knocking Milandra down and making her lose control of herself. Malgrith’s knee was dripping with pitch black blood as he stood before her, his smile remaining.

Their brains ached and their vision was blurry, but Shuna was slightly less affected than Milandra. Her vision returned and she saw a blur where Malgrith’s right arm should be. In a movement only done by sheer survival instinct, she yanked the greatsword to her left side, where not a millisecond later, a great force pressed against it, pushing the sword into the side of her ribs and left kidney.

She cried out in pain as their body flew through the air and another dent was made into the arena walls.

This time, both Milandra and Shuna felt the impact as the reinforcement magic cast on their body was weakening. Malgrith was now at his peak in terms of strength, sparing them no breaks before launching one of the protruding pieces of the floor to Milandra. Shuna narrowly dodged, only scraping Milandra’s legs as she had bolted out of the crater in the wall.

GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING IN YOUR FIGHT?!!

{DAMMMMMMIIIITTTT!!}

HOLY SH-

Malgrith moved so fast it was as if he’d teleported right next to Milandra. He brought both his fists down in an instant, and shattered the ground in front of him, raising the floor and turning it into lava right as it fell down. Milandra was gone, having avoided the attack, she was hunched over, fire now leaking from her eyelids.

Shuna felt an intense burning pain in her head, her brain felt like it was on literal fire.

What’s…happening??

{I’ll die if I don’t give it my all. I need to show my worth.}

Milandra’s flames grew darker and darker, until a pitch black fire consumed her greatsword and her back sprouted black flames as wings. Her muscles tightened within her skin, and her fangs grew larger.

Black balls separated from her wings and flew toward Malgrith at intense speeds. Malgrith raised his arms to block and was met with power comparable to his own punches as the balls hit their mark and ignited into great black explosions. Malgrith raised a wall of lava to protect himself but Milandra slashed right through, flying past him and taking one of his arms with her.

The crowd cheered and Malgrith released a thunderous shout as he chased the winged Milandra about the arena, catching her leg and slamming her to the ground. He continued to raise her body and slam it around, ultimately throwing her to the arena walls once more. However, this time Milandra caught herself mid air and raised both her hands giving birth to a ring of fire right in front of them. Malgrith, pushing his body to its full extent, appeared right beside her, throwing another jab at her.

She managed to fly just slightly off the point of impact and watched as the arena wall blew apart from the force of the punch. She took aim and shrank the ring of black fire into a soccer-ball sized sphere that instantly spewed a hose of black flames at her father. The flames were so hot that even the demons watching the fight began to run and evacuate as their skins were beginning to burn as they lit on fire. Malgrith could do nothing but block and create continuous walls of lava as Milandra kept tearing them down.

Blocking with only one arm, left his defense at only half its strength, leading to his arm beginning to burn away from the heat of her flames.

Milandra ceased her unending attack of black fire and instantaneously moved directly behind Malgrith, slashing his ankles and his other arm off with ease as her greatsword moved swiftly in her arms.

Malgrith bellowed in pain and charged up a ball of light, gathering the lava he had created. Milandra flew before him, right in front of his attack. Both having eyes burning with white hot fire, they readied their attacks.

Wait wait what are you doing? He can’t fight anymore!

{I’m being crowned.}

He doesn’t even have arms anymore!

Why isn’t he stopping?!

{It’s because… }

The fire was beginning to turn the arena into a pool of lava. Milandra’s two-handed greatsword growing bigger in the wake of the flames.

{I’m taking…the crown.}

{A crown that can only be taken…}

She brought her sword down and split Malgrith in half, the fire tearing through his tough scaly skin and shooting through to the other side of his body, interrupting his final attack; the ball of light dripping down onto the ground.

{...off the corpse of the King.}