The Former Demon Queen Who Punishes Her Little Sister

"Stop this madness, Emilia! You can't beat me!"

The two demon sisters remained locked in combat, hovering fifty feet above the ground as they pummeled each other, their swords constantly clashing as each tried to land a decisive strike, though one more than the other.

In the roughly three minutes they had spent battling, Mary had counted no less than thirty different moments when she could have ended the fight with a single kick, a stab, or a well-placed punch. But she wasn't trying to kill. Emilia, however, was doing the exact opposite.

After successfully pushing the blonde girl back with the flat of her sword, Emilia rushed forward and launched another attack. This time, she executed a complex series of swift strikes aimed at Mary's neck, arms, and legs, all of which the former Demon Queen successfully parried.

Still, Emilia quickly spotted another opening. Mary was adjusting her sword arm, and in the split second when her guard was lowered, Emilia saw her chance. At least, so she thought.

She immediately rushed forward, swinging her sword with the intent of gutting her sister. The tip of the blade came dangerously close to its intended destination, only managing to graze the front of Mary's armor. But the former Demon Queen had twisted her body at the last second, narrowly avoiding the blow before striking her sister in the face with the side of her arm. The impact forced Emilia backward, putting some distance between the two sisters.

"Why won't you fight me?" Emilia shouted, sweat slowly beginning to form on her forehead as she spat a wad of blood to the side.

"Huh? Am I not enough? You know, I trained every day before coming here, ever since we last met. I've gotten stronger and faster, and you still want to hold back?"

Emilia lunged forward with another swing, but her movements were beginning to get sloppy.

Mary brought her knee up and slammed it into her sister's abdomen.

As Emilia doubled over, Mary followed up with another swift strike to the back of her head, sending the girl crashing headfirst into the ground.

In all of those moments, Mary could have easily gone for a decisive blow, decapitating her sister or plunging her sword straight into her back.

But she didn't.

Just as the stubborn girl had said, Mary was indeed holding back.

"I see you're still as weak as ever," Emilia said as Mary flew down low, hovering just above the crater where the girl lay.

The blonde girl tried to get back up but struggled to steady herself. She coughed up more blood and spat it to the side.

"I'm warning you, Emilia," Mary said, genuinely concerned for her sister. "You should stop fighting me. You should stop all of this. Yield and go back home."

"I will never," the girl whispered.

She slowly raised her head.

"I will never yield. Not until I beat you. Not until I prove that I'm stronger than you. Not until I prove that I don't need you!"

The girl screamed before suddenly launching herself back into the air, sword in hand.

Prove that she was stronger than me? Prove that she didn't need me? What was the girl babbling on about?

Mary was briefly lost in thought. By the time she looked up, Emilia was already upon her.

Mary quickly spun aside, caught Emilia's sword arm, and redirected her momentum before slamming her back into the same crater.

"Prove what to who, Emilia?" Mary scolded her sister. "When will you let go of this notion that you have to be better than me? There was never a competition between us. Why are you like this? Where did this even come from? Stop being childish, Emilia. You're better than this."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Emilia barked.

She once again launched herself from the crater, rushing toward Mary with her sword raised.

But yet again, her movements were sloppy.

Mary simply reached out and caught her sister by the arm. Before Emilia could react, Mary shoved her arm aside and drove her head forward, headbutting the girl and sending her crashing back into the crater.

Emilia groaned as the pain from the impact began to settle in. If any ordinary demon had taken a strike like that from Mary, their skull would have simply cracked open. But the blonde girl shared the same royal demonic bloodline as Mary. They were far more resilient than ordinary demons, possessing bodies that could withstand attacks that would easily crush the skulls of normal humans or monsters.

Even against one another, they were nearly invulnerable to each other's blows and attacks. If her little half-sister had possessed even a basic understanding of magic and spell manipulation, she probably would have had a much better chance against Mary in this fight. But just like Mary herself, Emilia had also chosen the path of a brawler rather than becoming a magic user, unlike some of the other demon candidates in the Demon Realm.

Yet another flaw in her attempts to be just like me is going to get her killed, Mary thought.

Mary flew down low and settled inside the crater, standing over her sister's battered body. The Queen's Guard still hovered above them, waiting for the decisive moment. If Mary killed Emilia, they would attack her immediately. And if Emilia gave the order, they would intervene as well.

For now, though, it seemed Emilia had no intention of calling upon them for assistance.

"Listen, Emilia," Mary said. "You should yield right now. Your body can't take much more of this. You should go back home and get healed up. Your senseless campaign against me is putting innocent people in danger."

Mary paused for a moment.

"So please, stop fighting."

"My senseless campaign," Emilia scoffed, grimacing through the pain. "Innocent people? I see you're still that little drone, repeating the propaganda your turncoat of a mother taught you."

Mary's expression immediately turned sour. Without hesitation, she raised her boot and slammed it against Emilia's chest. Emilia instantly buckled under the impact, her head lifting slightly as a weak cough escaped her lips before she rested her head back against the ground.

"Don't you dare speak about my mother like that."

There was a brief flash in Emilia's eyes, almost as if she felt she had stepped too far and now regretted what she said. But her scowl soon came back.

"I am simply carrying out my duty as General of the East," she said, her tone noticeably softer than before, but still just as cold. "Eradicating the pests known as humans and the other races. Taking you down alongside them is just a little bonus."

Sighing, Mary lowered her gaze in disappointment.

"Your mind has been poisoned, sister," she said. "By our uncle, by our society, by our entire way of living, by your mother. It's not your fault. It's simply the nature of the upbringing and indoctrination you received."

Mary's expression softened slightly.

"I apologize for what I'm about to do to you, but you're giving me no other choice. I need you to yield. And if you're not going to do that yourself, I'll have to do it for you."

Mary's ultimate goal had always been to make Emilia forfeit their duel and retreat. There were countless ways she could have achieved that. She could have knocked her sister unconscious. She could have restrained her. She could even have inflicted enough damage to leave Emilia completely unable to continue fighting.

But none of those options would solve the real problem. Emilia would simply recover and come after her again. If Mary defeated the army, Emilia could return to the Demon Realm and bring another one. And if Mary killed her outright, or even incapacitated her, the Queen's Guard would retaliate with or without their general's command. They were far more powerful than Mary in her current state, and their response could mean the destruction of everyone still living in the town.

No.

Mary needed Emilia to willingly back down. She needed her sister to yield of her own accord. And if Emilia refused to do that, then Mary would have to beat the ever-living daylight out of her, until she had no choice but to surrender.

It was something Mary had never wanted to do to her sister. But the stubborn girl had given her no other choice.

With that thought, Mary lifted her boot off her sister's chest. Then she reached down, grabbed Emilia by the neck, and held her firmly in place.

"Please forgive me," she whispered.

With that, Mary proceeded to unleash a barrage of heavy punches against Emilia's face, each strike so powerful, cracks began to form in the ground beneath them with every blow.

After that, Mary took off, flying low across the landscape while dragging Emilia's body along the ground, watching as her sister's back scraped against rocks, dirt, and jagged, rough patches of stone. Emilia's head repeatedly smashed into boulders as Mary continued speeding forward, dragging her along.

Then Mary flung her sister forward with all her might, sending her crashing into a thicket of forest, snapping branches, scattering leaves, cracking trunks, and breaking roots.

For the final move, Mary flew over and picked up her sister, who was groaning in pain. She carried Emilia as high into the sky as she could, before releasing her into a free fall.

But that wasn't the end of it.

Mary immediately followed, driving her foot downward in a powerful stomp that struck Emilia's stomach, sending both of them plummeting faster until they slammed back into the earth. Dirt exploded all around them. The impact formed a crater far larger and deeper than the previous one, raining sand and stone in every direction.

After the dust settled, Mary lifted her foot from her sister and waited.

All of Mary's attacks had been carefully controlled. She wasn't trying to kill Emilia. She was trying to inflict enough pain and damage to force her stoneheaded sister to finally beg for mercy. It was a ruthless tactic they had been taught during their military training: how to subdue an exceptionally stubborn enemy without killing them.

Now, Mary could only wait and see whether it had finally worked. However, what she saw, and heard, caused her to freeze in confusion.

Emilia, her sister, was crying.

"...!"

Tears were pouring down the sides of her bloodied face, while snot flowed freely from her broken nose.

"...!"

The sight suddenly snapped something within Mary.

When was the last time she saw her little sister cry?

Suddenly, she found herself recalling a moment from the past, when the two of them were just kids.

...

The memory took Mary back to when they were no older than six. Even then, she had already begun her lessons. She remembered one particular day, running around the castle courtyard at sonic speeds under the orders of her commander. She had been instructed to complete a thousand laps before she was allowed to stop. Emilia hadn't been told to do any of it, yet she had willingly joined Mary.

Mary was dressed in her training uniform, while Emilia wore a little pink dress as she ran alongside her.

"Come on, Vesperia! We can do this! I'll help you!"

Mary continued running at a steady pace, trying to maintain her speed. Emilia followed beside her, struggling to keep up.

"Ugh, not this again... Emilia. You should go sit down. I'm practicing. You might get hurt."

"No, Vesperia. I want to stay with you. I want to help you. I don't want to sit down alone."

"All right, suit yourself."

Mary kept running, and Emilia continued following her. Then, as they rounded a corner for the three hundredth time, Emilia's mother suddenly appeared, flying after them.

"Emilia, stop this at once!" Lady Valakora shouted, but the little girl only shook her head.

"No! I want to stay with my big sister!"

She kept running alongside Mary, ignoring the wishes of her Queen mother. Until suddenly, her foot caught against a loose boulder.

Emilia stumbled and slammed her face against the ground. The girl instantly burst out sobbing. Mary immediately stopped and looked back.

Emilia's mother rushed over.

"Emilia. Are you all right? Stubborn girl, look at what you have done to yourself."

Mary walked over to stand above them.

"See? I told you. If you keep trying to be like me and do everything I do, you're only going to get yourself hurt."

"N-no, big sister," Emilia cried. "But I want to be like you."

She hurriedly wiped away the tears and snot from her face, then quickly looked up at Mary, trying to show that she was tough.

"I want to go wherever you go and do whatever you're doing, so we can always be together."

Mary stared at her sister in confusion.

"Why? Why do you want to do all of this?" she asked the girl back then.

In response, Emilia simply sniffled, waited for her mother to clean her nose for her, then turned and looked up at her.

"Silly," the girl said, smiling through her tear-streaked cheeks. "It's because we're family. It's because you're my sister."

The little girl paused.

"It's because I love you."

...

After she was flooded by the sudden rush of memories, reminding her of that critical moment from their childhood, Mary snapped back to the present. Though she did not stay long. Kokomeen's warning from a few days ago also came rushing back to her, ringing in her head.

"I think my lady Emilia feels betrayed by you, and that's why she wants revenge. When you left for the human realm with Lady Malacora, she felt like you had abandoned her. My lady Emilia is angry. Very angry because of it."

Mary was suddenly filled with an overwhelming wave of guilt. Still lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize that Emilia had gotten back to her feet.

The girl's eyes were red now, glowing with the unmistakable sign that the wild demon within her had taken over. Her body was rapidly repairing itself, the demonic power surging through her, providing an extra boost to her regeneration.

"Hey, sister."

The single word caused Mary to blink back into focus, only to find Emilia standing right in front of her, hands clenched into fists.

"Emilia, I'm sorr..." Mary began, but was instantly cut off from finishing her statement.

Emilia had thrust her fist forward, a bone-crushing uppercut that caught Mary completely off guard and sent the former Demon Queen flying twenty feet toward the sky.

The girl was on the hunt now. And Mary, overwhelmed by the realization of what she had done to her half-sister, had all but given up.

She had been so focused on her mother and their shared goals that she completely neglected the rest of her family.

How could I have been so blind?

This monster, I created it. Not the demon realm. Not her mother. Not even our uncle.

Me.

It was all me.