Chapter 5 — Reclaiming a Ghost Throne

I prepared a melody in my head while tapping my feet against the floor.

Then I took a deep breath, turned to Exe, and asked, "Are you ready?"

Exe looked at me, still catching his breath, while Tenka sat plopped on his head.

"Yeah… let's do this."

I spun toward the door and rested both hands on the obsidian panels.

I clacked my heels against the floor.

Then I pushed the doors open.

The undead Hero stood from the throne.

"Finally," he said, while the rabbits swarmed his men. "I'm ready for a fight."

He pushed off the throne.

I dashed toward two undead adventurers, cutting them down, then met his lunge in time.

As the undead Hero and I traded blows, he said, "You fight elegantly."

After two clashes, we held each other's strikes.

While he tested my strength, he said, "You are not the only one who can battle dance, little lady."

He looked at me with a wrong kind of grin.

Then he pushed me back, sending me toward a few rabbits that broke my fall.

I stood up.

He started moving with his sword in motion, then charged at me while I tried to get my flow back.

Our exchanges were fast and lethal.

It felt as if I didn't change something soon, I would be in danger.

During our fight, I asked him, "What is your name?"

I clashed with him, dashed past, and held my pose with one hand on my hip.

He grabbed a crude skeleton sword from the ground.

"My name used to be…"

He charged while my back was turned.

But I had already brought out my second moon blade.

We exchanged blows as he finished answering me.

"My name used to be Sam."

Then he kicked me in the stomach, sending me flying into a pillar.

He charged again.

I heard Exe call out to me, waking me up in time.

"LUNA!"

Before I could get up and defend myself, Sam was already close.

For a second, I thought I was about to die.

Then a rabbit took the strike for me.

It died on his blade.

I didn't get the chance to mourn it.

That rabbit had given me a chance to strike.

Sam was busy pulling the rabbit off his sword.

"Filthy creature."

Before he knew it, I teleported behind him in my Eclipse: Silent Requiem form.

Before he could protect himself with his other sword, two rabbits grabbed onto the blade and forced it down.

While my furry friends held him in place, Sam yelled—

"There are too many!"

I stabbed him in the chest three times, driving my knees into his shoulders.

He fell while the other rabbits dragged their dead friend into the walls.

I kept stabbing him.

Sam tried to push me off, but the rabbits held his arms and legs down while I drove my blades into him again and again.

His chest and neck were filled with holes.

Then he stopped moving.

Before I could land the final strike, his body released a violent pulse.

It sent the rabbits flying across the room, and me.

We broke our fall, then all looked back at Sam.

He was growing bigger.

Purple.

Grotesque.

Deformed.

Exe's channel broke.

The rabbits started acting on their own.

Exe called out to me from the door.

"RUN!"

I got up and ran toward him as he held his hand out.

Sam exploded.

His body released a blast of miasma and flames.

Ren, Fubuki, and Tenka formed an extended chain from Exe's arm, giving me enough distance to jump and grab Tenka's paws.

As I grabbed her, Exe turned around and held Ren in his hands like a football player.

Ren held onto Fubuki's lower half.

Fubuki clung to Tenka for dear life.

Exe took off in a full sprint, pulling me out of the room.

Before the explosion could escape, my moon blades slammed the door shut behind us.

A loud boom shook the room.

Exe had too much momentum.

All of us crashed into the wall together.

Exe got up slowly, groaning from the pain. Blood ran from his forehead.

Ren helped me up while I tried to shake off the dizziness from being thrown around and nearly dying.

Exe looked at me, touching his forehead.

"Are you alive?"

I rubbed my lower back and stretched.

"For the most part."

The rabbits in the wall stared at Exe like they were waiting for him.

Exe looked at me, then started wiping blood from his forehead with a cloth Tenka had given him from his jumper.

I watched as he prepared the cloth and knelt in front of the rabbits.

From the wall, they carried out the dead rabbit that had protected me.

Exe was about to squeeze the bloodied cloth onto it.

"Wait," I said. "Let me do it."

Exe looked at me.

"Do you know what's going to happen if that rabbit takes your blood?"

I walked toward him and the rabbits while rubbing the back of my head.

When I pulled my hand away, I saw blood.

The back of my head was burning from the miasma flames.

So I used my own blood and let it drip onto the rabbit.

As my blood touched it, a black sigil formed underneath.

Black flames swallowed the rabbit.

Exe looked at me while it burned.

"You know you're going to have to take responsibility for it… right?"

He looked at me with serious eyes.

"Yeah, that's fine," I said. "I've wanted a pet anyway."

The dead rabbit jumped from the black flames and landed on my shoulder.

Its fur was now pitch black.

Its eyes looked like rubies.

I petted its chin.

"I shall name you… Aries."

The rabbits from the walls gathered around me, raised their noses, and squeaked as if they recognized their fallen comrade had returned.

Exe stood up and smiled.

"Alright. Let's get outta here."

Exe and I, along with my new companion Aries, went through the throne room again.

We opened the door.

The aftermath of the explosion was catastrophic.

The room had become a wasteland.

No throne.

No pillars.

Just a door in the wall across from us.

Exe pointed.

"Look. There's a sign saying exit."

I walked up and threw my moon blade above the sign over the door.

Then I grabbed Exe's hand, and we went through.

I understood why Exe didn't protest when I dragged him.

Above where I threw my moon blade was a painting of Drago smiling.

The doors closed behind us as we came back out into the Demon Empire.

We walked to the intersection.

"He already bought out the servants," I said.

Exe looked around while I let go of his hand.

He noticed two carriages pulling up from down the road.

I didn't notice at first.

I was too frustrated that Drago had planned all of this.

And I had been the fool who went along with it.

I looked the other way.

"Exe, how are we going to get home?"

Exe pulled on my dress.

Ren, Fubuki, and Tenka were all looking the other way.

I turned around to see what had made him go silent.

Then I saw my maid, Serenity, holding the straps to a carriage with another one being pulled behind her.

She stepped down like she was preparing to say goodbye.

"Princess Luna," Serenity said. "The castle is under siege."

I hugged Serenity.

I was more worried about her than my parents because she was a non-combatant.

She continued speaking while we embraced.

"You need to go. Your parents need you."

Exe hopped into the driver's seat.

Ren opened the carriage door from the outside and hopped in.

Fubuki sat on Exe's lap.

Tenka climbed onto the roof.

I looked at Serenity as she climbed into the second carriage with her husband and children.

Her husband pulled up beside us and said, "Thank you for taking care of my wife while I was looking for work."

I grabbed his hand.

"You better take care of her. I'm trusting you with her."

We let go.

He cracked the whip, and their carriage took off.

As I watched them leave, her two children opened the back door and held up a purple dress between them.

Exe smiled.

"They made sure to protect that, huh."

I jumped onto our carriage as Exe cracked the whip, making our horses follow.

The children let the dress go.

Exe cracked the whip again, forcing a sharp turn.

The dress flew straight toward me.

It hit me mid-motion.

Exe cracked the whip once more, and the demon horses surged forward.

I began to dance on top of the carriage.

The purple dress wrapped itself around me as it formed, dripping miasma.

The carriage changed with it—faster, darker, more aggressive.

Exe tightened his grip on the reins.

"Hold on, girls! We're going faster!"

I pushed harder with my steps, forcing more speed out of the carriage.

Inside, Ren clung to the seat for dear life.

Fubuki jumped into Exe's jumper.

Tenka slipped into my dress where it was safest.

Exe leaned forward, gripping the reins tighter.

"I'm finally going to get to fight you, Drago."

Fubuki popped out halfway and put on goggles.

"It may be on your terms… but you're going down."

We finally reached the Demon Empire.

My dress turned white.

The carriage returned to normal.

Tenka peeked out from my dress and looked up at me, half her body still tucked inside.

Aries popped out and immediately started fighting Tenka on the roof, like she had taken his spot.

I rolled my eyes, grabbed the edge of the roof, and jumped inside the carriage through the window.

While Tenka and Aries kept their playful fight above us, I looked at Exe.

"Are you hungry? I can't fight without nourishment."

Fubuki peeked out of Exe's jumper and looked at him.

Exe's face tightened.

His stomach growled.

"Yeah… I can eat."

Exe waved to the diner owners cleaning outside their shops.

One by one, they looked at him…

Then rushed inside and slammed their doors shut.

I looked out the window, grabbed Aries and Tenka before they fell from the roof, and pulled them inside.

"Why are they—"

Exe cut me off.

"I don't blame them. Looks like something happened."

An old demon woman waved us over from a small diner.

Exe pulled the carriage to a stop.

She looked around nervously.

"Just take it and don't ask questions."

Her husband and sons came out carrying bags of food—enough for me, Exe, and all the rabbits.

Ren opened the carriage door.

They quickly stuffed everything inside.

Then they all looked at Exe at once.

"Leave now… please!"

Ren shut the door with her teeth.

Exe cracked the whip.

The horses surged forward.