The True Demon Lord

“Azrael!” The woman cries. “Why are you here? Are our forces failing?”

“Things aren’t looking good, my Lady,” the demon named Azrael says. “The humans have breached the Choral and the Pilarch Gate. We’re trying to seal the others, but we aren’t sure we’ll be able to hold for that long. We’ve already lost over fifty of our forces to their blessed iron.”

The woman stands there, shaking with rage and sadness. “This isn’t right,” she growls, tears falling. “I’ve tried everything, Azrael. Everything. They just won’t listen!” She turns her heels and stalks to the window, staring at the centre of the fortress. They just kept coming through, and it was all the demons could do to defend themselves from within the heart of their own country.

“Don’t they realize that I’m one of them?” She whispers, gripping the white stone windowsill. “That I’ve done all I could to make this work?”

“It is not your fault, my Lady,” Azrael says. “It is ours for being so reckless in our dealings with them.”

The woman stills, as if something has just clicked into place. Bowing her head slightly, she whispers, “You should be with your children, Azrael. This is a dark time for you. I won’t be able to protect you if it comes to saving this realm.”

“They will be fine, my Lady,” Azrael spits. “I do not want you interfering in the affairs of my family.”

“I will interfere if I deem it so!” The woman booms in outrage. “Long have I watched you treat your children like the scum of the earth. To think that you would punish them for a folly you made in the human realm is the height of irrationality!”

“I cannot be blamed for despising half-human demon spawn, and two more than I ever asked for!” Azrael shouts back. “And that a human would be able to enchant me into such an act is the greatest crime I can think of!”

“Then you will forgive me if I command you to go to the front lines and prostrate yourself before the humans,” the woman growls, “For I now know whom it is that has betrayed our realm. To think that you would stoop so low as to compromise everything I have built just to appease your bloodlust. You truly are despicable.”

Azrael’s smile sharpens into something sinister, and he grabs his blade. “I see there is no more hiding it from you.” He brings his blade up. “I have hated you since I first came under your servitude, Lady Ayumi. Your positivity in our relations with those excuses of walking dirt is sickening, and to think that you were once human as well makes me want to gouge my eyes out every time I look at you.”

He starts to laugh crazily. “To think, I, a Demon Lord, was ever defeated by you is insanity!” He slices downward at his left hand and yells in pain before searing his stump with his flaming blade. “I will reclaim my throne!”

“Arrogance will get you nowhere,” Ayumi whispers, and the blade makes it’s way toward her. With a thud, it crosses her chest and doesn’t leave a scratch. Azrael’s madness falters.

“What have you done?” Azrael growls. “Why does my sword fail me?!”

“That sword was smithed in the new forges here, wasn’t it?” Ayumi asks. “Such a powerful sword, imbued with the peak of enchantments.” She smiles sadly. “Will you give up?”

Azrael widens his eyes in realization before snarling and tossing the blade behind him. His remaining hand catches a sickly green fire, and he begins collecting mana. “You may have rendered my blade useless, but I will never give up to the likes of you!”

“Do not do this, Azrael,” Ayumi pleads. “I cannot stop what will happen if you do.”

“I will take any chance I can get to overthrow the false god!” Azrael cries. “I will have my revenge!”

Ayumi steps back herself, collecting her own mana as gale-force winds rush in and whip their clothes into a frenzy. “Then you leave me no choice. I will not allow you to taint this realm any further.”

“You will breathe your last here, witch!” Azrael growls.

“Papa?” A small voice cuts through the tension, and they both whip their heads toward the source of the noise. “Miss Ayumi?” At the doorway to the pavilion stands a small child with dark-purple hair, flicking her ears and wincing at the howling winds and raging flames of magic. “What’s going on?”

“Perfect!” Azrael laughs. “I can take two mistakes out of this world with me!”

“NO!” Ayumi booms, her magic amplifying her voice like a foghorn, but it’s too late. With a satisfied smirk, Azrael slams his flames into the ground.

“Hellflame Supernova!”

“GABRIELLE!” Ayumi yells, and throws her arms out. “Whirlwind Maximum Guard!” Little Gabrielle yells as she’s thrown back by the rush of wind, and shrieks as she feels intense hit lick her skin. Ayumi wails in pain as the cursed flames wash over her in full, and she struggles to clap her hands together. The action causes all the winds to gather the flames in one concentrated orb, and she collapses to a knee, glaring at Azrael with hatred and despair.

“Look how the mighty have fallen,” Azrael chuckles, motioning to her burnt skin and clothes and ignoring the fact that he himself was scorched black beyond repair. “Why so weak?”

“Unforgivable…”

“What was that?” Azrael wheezes painfully. “Something my adversary would like to say?”

“To target your child… you… are unforgivable!” And with that, Ayumi shrieks with all her might and pushes the cursed orb towards him. He widens his eyes and has enough time to meet her own before he is launched from the castle, his yells taking him all the way to the middle of the battlefield.

Gasping for air, Ayumi crawls over to the window and rests herself against its cool stone. She hisses as her burns touch the stone, tears begin to painfully fall as she considers her options.

Cursed hellflame was incurably deadly. On any normal being, one lick from it would make them lose that limb or patch of skin forever. And she had just breathed it in and taken it on in full. She clutches her once glowing hands tightly and weeps. “I’ll never be able to see it,” she whispers. “I’ll never be able to see this realm in harmony.” She smiles bitterly. “At least I tried.”

“M-Miss Ayumi? Miss Ayumi!”

Ayumi turns her eyes to see Little Gabrielle running towards her, and watches sorrowfully as she begins to cry over her. “Miss Ayumi, Miss Ayumi!”

“It’s alright, little one,” Ayumi coos, reaching up painfully to run her hand through Gabrielle’s hair. “You are safe. That is all that matters.”

Gabrielle begins to cry, trying to wipe her tears away as fast as they come. “It’s all m-my fault, Miss Ayumi. I didn’t know you were f-fighting Papa!”

Ayumi smiles sadly. “He may have been your father, but he was not a Papa to you, Gabrielle.”

“W-what does that mean?”

Ayumi laughs softly, the little action sending waves of pain all across her body. “You will understand one day, Little Gabrielle. One day indeed. Haaaah…”

She could feel her consciousness slipping. Her grip on reality was fading, and she could feel her magic begging to be used, to stop her from dying. Ayumi smiles. “It.. would seem my time is coming, Gabrielle.”

“N-no, Miss Ayumi, don’t say that!” Gabrielle cries. “You’re going to live and teach me how to make rockmouth cakes like you promised!”

Ayumi laughs again, the pain reminding her she is still alive. She grabs hold of that feeling tightly for as long as she can. “One day, in the future, I will…” She turns a mischievous eye to Gabrielle. “Or maybe, one day, you will teach me…”

“Huh?” Gabrielle asks, confusion muddying her tears.

Ayumi gently takes the crown from her head and motions for Gabrielle to come closer. As she does, Ayumi places it on her little head, and watches carefully as the crown resizes itself and fits snugly on her head.

“Miss Ayumi?” Gabrielle questions, tears still threatening to fall. “What are you doing?”

“You will take over in my absence… They will watch over you…” Ayumi says. She could feel her lungs failing with each breath. “And you can watch for my return… someday.”

“What do you mean?”

Breathing in as fully as she could, she lets all of her mana pour out of her body, washing the room in pure magic, before it began to focus on collect once more on Ayumi herself. With a sigh, she clenches her hands into fists, and her body feels lighter than it was even before she was burnt.

Gabrielle stares in awe at her magic. “Whoa!” She smiles with sparkles in her eyes instead of tears. “You’re all healed!”

Already, her body was fading, and yet Ayumi laughs as she stand up and stretches. Crouching down once more, she ruffles Gabrielle’s hair and smiles. “I will be, Gabrielle. One day, you will recognize me again. One day, we can have that rockmouth cake.” Her body starts sparkling, and it begins to go see through. Gabrielle begins to panic once more as she tries to grab ahold of Ayumi, but her hands fall right through.

“I am no longer living, Gabrielle,” Ayumi says. “But I will continue to live on in a different way. Remember me, okay? And tell everyone what happened here.” She smiles brightly one last time at Gabrielle, who starts crying once more. “Do you think you can do that for me?”

“Yes, Miss Ayumi, I will!” Gabrielle sobs. “I can do that!”

“This is a lot for a young teen to bear, but take care of your sister, okay?”

“O-okay!”

“Goodbye, Gabrielle. Maybe next time, you can protect me.”

Little Gabrielle watches as the one true Demon Lord and friend to all, fades from existence.

* * *

“Yuki!”

I blink out of my stupor, staring at the ceiling of the space we had cleared for sparring. The daydream I had is already fading away, but I can still feel the emotions that came with it. Sitting up, I hold my head in pain. “What…”

“Yuki, are you alright?” Gabi asks. “Does it hurt anywhere? Do you want me to heal you?”

I put my hand out and she pulls me up. I then shoo her away as I stumble towards a chair, remembering what we had been doing. We had started doing some spars in the meantime as we waited for some more information. “I’ll be fine,” I say. “I just had my brain scrambled a bit.”

“I’m sorry for any trouble I’ve caused!” Gabi bows repeatedly, panic clearly written on her face. “I hope you’ll be alright!”

Eri walks up to me and crouches, looking me in the eye. “That was a pretty hard-looking fall, Yuki. Maybe we should stop for now.”

“I think she’s fine,” Reiko says. Thank you, Reiko!

I nod. “Like Reiko said, I’m fine!” I lean forward and hold my head, trying to sort out my thoughts. “I just had a weird dream when I hit my head.”

“Oh, what about?” Reiko asks. “Something interesting, perhaps?”

Eri shushes Reiko and motions for me to continue. “I think it was about two people named Ayumi and Azrael.” I notice Gabi freeze at the latter name I had mentioned, and turn to her in full. “Do you think it has something to do with the Azrael that Miss Maki mentioned—?”

“Yes,” Gabi says primly, a glare crossing her face, though I can see the pain in her eyes. “And I truly wonder what memory you saw.”

“They were arguing,” I explain. “Azrael was behind the movement of some war, and Ayumi tried to cut him down…” I blink, looking at Gabi more closely. “Come to think of it, I saw you there, only younger. Ayumi told you—“

“Told me to protect myself and my sister, yes,” Gabi says bitterly, looking down to the side. “I failed my promise.”

Pausing for a moment, I bite my lip and decide to ask, “What happened?”

“A civil war,” Gabi says. “After Ayumi’s disappearance, all of Trenzani was in shock. They thought they had won the war, after all, with Azrael having been given as an offering to appease the humans. When they found out, however, that Ayumi was gone, and I was personally selected as her successor…” She clenches her hand and extinguishes the flames that had started crawling up her arm. “They came after me and Silvia.”

Eri picks up on the name, and asks “Silvia was your sister?” Gabi nods in response.

“What was she like?” Reiko questions. “Was she funny?”

Gabi’s lips twitch. “Yes. She was the sun in an otherwise dark and dreary world.” She smiles softly, and I can almost see the memories running across her mind.

My world, after he and Ayumi fought.” She tightens her fists even more, looking as if she were digging her nails into her hand, and I watch her lips twist into a snarl. “The confederates cut her down before my very eyes. It was because of my retainers that I escaped alive, but…”

We watch in silence as she brings her hands up and stares at them. “I held her. She was in my arms. She looked so tiny, I—“ She shuts her eyes and bows her head. “I know what it’s like to lose.” She opens her eyes again and looks at us. “I won’t let it happen again. Not to the people I love.”

Reiko starts clapping politely, smiling a sweeter, softer smile, one I’ve seen only a few times. “You’re an amazing being, Gabi,” Reiko says.

“You really are,” I say. “Experiencing that in my head was like experiencing it like I was there. I was so sad, but so happy to be able to protect you…” I blink as I realize what this means. “These memories… they’re from Ayumi herself, aren’t they?”

We all think on that. Gabi most of all, looks as if she’s really seeing me for the first time, and at that moment, I can’t help but think of how vulnerable she looks. I walk over to her, and with all the warmth I can muster, I hug her. She stands there for a moment, frozen in shock at my show of affection, but after she recovers, she begins to shake. I pull her in closer as she wraps her arms around me, and begins to cry.

“There, there,” I whisper, petting her hair. Her knees buckle as she collapses under her own waves of sorrow. “You’ve been strong for so long. Let your friends help you.” She whines and nods her head as I kneel with her. “I know I’m not Ayumi, but maybe you can teach me how to make rockmouth cakes instead of her.” I smile as I glance at Eri and Reiko, who are both watching our hug with faces that screamed So adorable!

Gabi nods and gives a warbled laugh. Pulling away, she wipes her tears and beams. “I will protect you with my life, Yuki. You have my word.”

“And I will always be your friend,” I tell Gabi. I pull her up with me as I stand.

After a moment of letting her recollect herself, Reiko asks, “So, do we know if Yuki will keep gaining Ayumi’s memories?”

“I mean, it would make sense,” Eri says. “She may not be Ayumi as a person, but her spirit and her magic seem like they’re all over the place.”

“W-wait, you can see peoples’ resonite?!” Gabi asks incredulously, still recovering from her breakdown. “But that’s—!”

“That sounds like a pretty crazy ability, huh?” Reiko asks.

I blink. “You can see my spirit?”

“You can’t?” Eri asks, confused. “Once you started teaching Yuki magic, I started seeing the way mana moves in your bodies. I thought it was pretty cool.”

“That’s not normal,” Gabi says. “As in, one-in-one-hundred-million beings possess that ability!”

“Well,” Eri says, starting to sweat nervously, “Considering Yuki’s luck, this is, well, it’s—“

Reiko nods. “It’s ridiculous.”

“But I’d say it balances our group out pretty well in terms of random abilities, right?” I say, with a laugh. “With everything that’s going on, it’s starting to get easier to believe.”

“You’re one to talk, Yuki,” sighs Eri. “Yours is the most unbelievable.”

“What can I say?” I shrug. “If I’m the one true Demon Lord, anything is possible, right?”