The Former Demon Queen Has No Other Choice

"All right, girls. Please be careful!" Miss Eleanor called after them, just as Mary and the group, led by Lydia, rushed outside into the chaos of the night.

The sky was peppered with the blood-red wings of wild demons flying about, along with the occasional arrow, spear, and burst of magic launched by the townsfolk as they fought back against the invaders.

Every turn and every street corner seemed to bring them face-to-face with more demons scurrying about the area.

Mary and Lydia, serving as the group's ranged fighters, would immediately spring into action whenever they encountered a horde. Mary would use her speed to blitz past the creatures before they could even move, while Lydia tossed vials of holy oil at the monsters, causing the liquid to explode into a plume of fire upon contact.

"Whoa, wickedly cool combo, you guys!" Maria cheered from behind the group, after they had successfully dealt with another swarm.

"Maria, look out!" Lydia shouted, just as a larger wild demon dropped onto the cobblestone behind them, causing Maria to stumble.

Chanchan, who had been flying low with her lantern, quickly rushed to Maria's aid, swinging it in a brief arc and sending a burst of fire rushing forward, enveloping the creature's face.

The monster growled and staggered backward, giving Maria enough space to quickly get to her feet and tumble back into the safety of the group, right into Minimo's arms.

"Are you okay?" Snowpoppy asked the girl.

"Yeah, I think so. Dude almost crushed me, though," Maria said, her legs trembling from fear.

Mary looked over at the creature in front of them just as it shook off the fire that had initially enveloped its face. She balled her fists and planted her foot, ready to charge at the creature and take it down.

But then, something happened.

"Lady Vesperia, what are you doing with these humans?"

"...!"

The monster looked directly at Mary as he addressed her. As a result, Mary instantly froze in her tracks.

It had just called her by her real name in front of the girls.

It was an intelligent demon, and it had exposed her.

Following her momentary hesitation, the creature suddenly lunged forward in a short sprint, intending to bulldoze into the girls with its sheer body mass. Mary was still standing dazed in front of the group, unable to react in time. Most of the other girls were cowering in fear.

"Mary, look out!"

Lydia rushed forward from behind her, closing the distance as quickly as she could before hurling two more vials of holy oil at the creature. The slightly larger bottles shattered against its body, and the monster instantly burst into flames, causing it to shriek incessantly.

Some of the burning liquid splashed across Mary's cheek.

"Ah!"

She clutched her face in pain and flung herself to the side, tumbling onto the ground.

"Mary, are you okay?"

All of the girls scurried over to check on her.

Lydia was the closest, quickly helping Mary up and resting her head against her thighs.

"Are you hurt, Mary?"

Mary slowly turned her face to the other side, looking up at the elf.

The girls all gasped in shock and instinctively stepped back at the sight.

The left side of Mary's face was badly blackened from the flames that had engulfed the demon moments earlier.

"I'm so sorry!" Lydia cried, tears rolling down her eyes. "I didn't mean for the fire to hit you. I was trying to stop that thing before it reached everyone. I'm so sorry, Mary!"

"No, Miss Lydia," Mary groaned, fighting back the pain and trying her best to ignore it as she slowly got back to her feet.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's nothing a few healing potions won't fix later, right?"

Lydia nodded reluctantly.

Mary then dusted herself off and stood up straight. The girls thought she had simply been burned by the flames. In reality, Mary had been struck by the holy oil itself, which was fifty times more dangerous to her than any fire could ever be.

The other wild demons had combusted upon impact with the oil, a testament to how lethal the liquid was to demonkind. The only reason Mary was still alive was because she was a high-ranking demon. Even so, continuous or too much exposure could still kill her very quickly.

"Come on now, let's hurry!" Mary called out to the group, forcing a weak smile.

The girls seemed hesitant at first, but after hearing a nearby crash, they quickly regained their composure and sprang into action.

Leafy, especially, had been visibly more hesitant than the others, most likely concerned over the kind of injury Mary now sported on her face. But she eventually followed along as they rushed through the streets.

They began making their way to the houses where the families had reported their loved ones missing.

One by one, they found the people they were looking for and guided them toward temporary safe areas that had been established throughout the town, including the central plaza, fortified inns, and several other protected locations.

The plan, as Mary understood it, was to gather all of the civilians into controlled populations so a quick evacuation could be organized, but only when a knight from the town's guard reported that they could no longer hold the invasion back.

The guards were doing everything they could to push the demons out of the town entirely. They didn't want to send civilians running into the streets while the fighting was still going, only to be slaughtered in the chaos. But if the line broke, an exit point would be determined, and the entire population would be escorted out to safety. For now though, everybody was ordered to hunker down.

As soon as Mary and the rest of the girls returned to the Adventurers Guild, they would inform the families of the missing people that their loved ones were now safe in other locations. They couldn't be brought back directly because it was too dangerous to travel through the streets.

While running with the girls, Mary staggered, barely keeping pace. Her breathing grew heavier with every passing minute. The wound caused by the holy oil was still actively eating into her flesh, and the sting was only getting worse. Fortunately, they were mostly moving through the darkness, making it difficult for the girls to notice how much she was struggling, with the pain, with the wild demon inside her fighting to claw its way out, with all of it.

Mary silently endured it all. If she transformed into her full demonic self, her injuries would heal much faster than they could in her current human form. But she couldn't do that here. So she simply gritted her teeth and kept going.

Mary noticed Amelia still hovering above the town, continuously flanked by members of the Queen's Guard, gazing down at the chaos unfolding below.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, sister. Do you really want the people to continue to suffer?"

Mary ground her teeth in further frustration, glaring up at her half-sister.

"Come on!" Lydia shouted as they kept running. "We have just a few more homes to check, and then we'll be done."

Upon reaching the next turn, Mary suddenly lost her balance and fell toward the ground.

"Mary, are you okay?" the girls gasped, stopping in their tracks.

Mary simply couldn't go on any further, not without transforming into her full demonic form. The holy oil was still actively eating into her skin, the burning sensation growing worse with every passing second.

"Mary, your face..." Leafy gasped as she squatted in front of her friend.

Mary couldn't speak for a moment, simply hissing through her teeth as the sting intensified. It was as if the flesh on the side of her head was boiling, faint traces of black steam rising up from the wound.

"What kind of fire burn even behaves like that?" Maria said in horror, staring at Mary with a mixture of worry and fear.

Mary couldn't reply. The pain was too much.

"All right," Leafy said. "You guys keep going, Lydia. I will stay with Mary, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Lydia asked. "It's not safe for the two of you to stay alone. We need to stick together."

"Don't worry," Leafy replied. "Mary is powerful, you know? She's strong. She can protect herself and me at the same time. She just needs a second to catch her breath."

"Okay," Lydia replied. "Then you guys will need these."

She quickly dug her hand into her satchel and pulled out several vials of holy oil.

Mary's eyes widened. She immediately jumped back at the sight of them, hissing like a frightened cat as she backed into a corner.

The girls stared at her in horror.

"Mary, are you all right?" Lydia asked. "What's happening to you?"

Mary began coughing violently, scrambling backward as she tried to put some distance between herself and the girls. Her entire body was soon enveloped by the darkness of a nearby shop, hiding herself from their view.

She continued hissing and coughing uncontrollably.

She needed to transform now.

She needed to transform now.

She couldn't hold herself together much longer. If she wasted any more time, this fragile human body of hers would die.