Demon Queened

[PrincessKay]

Lucy

"Are you sure she's coming?" Eff - or rather Feyra, since we were in public and all - asked.

She'd actually asked me that a few times already, but I really didn't mind. She was speaking to me in public, after all! And I was about to introduce my friend to her! In public! I mean, sure, Feyra still didn't want everyone to know we were friends, but we were being seen together! Publicly! Like friends! Or at least like guild mates who didn't have to pretend to have never seen one another before!

"Heroine?"

"H-huh?" What did she ask again…? Right! "Yes, I'm sure! We didn't really set a specific time, but she'll definitely come! Eena would never stand me up!"

Feyra flinched. Maybe because I'd said Eena's full name? But we were in public, so I was pretty sure it would stand out more if I didn't.

"Lucy!" a familiar voice called out to me, causing my head to snap around so quickly that I think it might have even generated a breeze! My hair definitely went flying, anyway. But that didn't matter, because I could see a familiar figure walking down the street towards me!

"Eena!" I called back, launching myself at her. Like before, I basically tackled her - and, like before, she absorbed the impact, only needing to take a single step back. It was actually really impressive! I mean, I was wearing armor and everything! If anyone could handle me at full speed, though, it was Eena!

And maybe other demons, too? Something I'd have to consider… a different time! Right now, I was hugging Eena. Who actually relaxed into it, this time, and put her arms around me! It was so warm!

Not that I could really feel it, through the armor, but the sentiment definitely got through. The knowledge that she cared, and was making an effort for me, even though she wasn't used to this. Just knowing that my affection was getting through to her made me feel all warm and tingly inside!

"My apologies for the wait," she said. "There was… an unexpected obstacle."

The way she said that, there was totally something she didn't want to tell me. "That's fine! You're here now, aren't you? And I knew you would be!"

"Of course I am," she said, putting a hand on her chest. "I swore I'd return, did I not?"

I wondered if Eena knew how dramatic that sounded. Probably not? She seemed to have a pretty big blind spot with that stuff! "I never doubted it for an instant, I'm just excited to be reunited again! Even though it's only been a short while… I guess that's what happens when there's someone you like being with all the time?"

Was this what it felt like to fall for someone? Feyra called it a 'crush,' - not love, but something that sort of mimicked it - and she was probably right. I didn't think that was a bad thing, though! Maybe it was just infatuation right now, but that didn't mean it would stay that way! With the passage of time, and the nurturing nature of her caring presence, I was sure it would blossom into something wonderful!

"I think it's a bit early to make comments like that," Eena replied. "You do realize you've hardly spent any time with me at all, in the grand scheme of things?"

"I know. But that just means we need to spend more time together, right?"

No matter what my feelings were rightly called, I knew the feeling in my heart right then was happiness! I mean, I know she was sort of trying to shut me down, but that was definitely Eena's way of worrying about me, right? Even though she needed something from me, she didn't want to take advantage of me. And not just because she was worried about sinning against the Heroine, either!

Of course, it did hurt to think about how she probably thought my feelings would turn to hatred, but time would surely change that as well!

"Oh right! I went to the guild to look for quests while you were gone, and I think I found something? Something I really want to do, and which I hope you'll do with me! It would help a lot of people, while also proving your strength to everyone in the guild, and maybe even helping someone else find their place! But before I get into that, did you take care of everything you needed to do?"

"Did you seriously just present me with a crusade of justice and friendship as if it were a casual aside?" Eena asked me. She sounded exasperated, but I saw the little smile tugging at the corner of her lips! "You can't possibly think it's okay to simply turn the subject to my business after that, can you?"

"Of course it's okay!" I replied, putting one hand on my hip and pointing a finger at her with the other. It was the same sort of thing Father Tuffel did when he wanted me to take something seriously. "Listen, Eena! The importance of my mission doesn't take away from the importance of yours! I can't ask you to listen to my requests without at least checking to see if you need more time for yours!"

"...I wish I could say that you're overestimating the matters I had to deal with, but I suppose I'll settle for a 'thank you' for the consideration. Still, if this request is so important to you, I'd rather discuss it in full. Especially if it has something to do with why that girl - Feyra, I believe? - has gone from staring at us with wide eyes to staring into the void with the deadened gaze of one who has lost her soul. I originally assumed she was simply shocked to realize I knew you, but the shift in her condition has given rise to some concern."

"You know Feyra?" I asked, turning back to look at my not-technically-a-friend. She really did look kinda bad! Maybe she used her Magic Sight to see how strong my adventuring companion was? I didn't know for sure how much magic power Eena had, but the simple fact that she'd spent three days unconscious after running through her capacity told me she had a lot! More than should be possible for a human, surely. If Feyra had already realized that Eena was probably a demon as a result, then I'd definitely need to have a discussion with her about keeping that to herself!

"She was the guide I mentioned to you when we were at Wilhoon's stall," Eena explained. "The one I paid in saints."

Really!? I totally wanted to tell Eena she was also the one who introduced me to Wilhoon's stand, in the first place! Too bad I still wasn't supposed to tell anyone how well me and Feyra knew each other. Also, she liked to keep her connection to Wilhoon quiet. Since her cousin's bloodline curse hadn't manifested like hers had, he was able to live a pretty normal life as long as she stayed away. Which was pretty messed up, actually, but this wasn't the time to be thinking about that!

"Feyra?" I called out. "Are you okay? Do you need some water? I can conjure some!"

"I-I'm fine," Feyra said, shaking her head from side to side so fast I was actually sort of worried her neck might snap! "S-so this is the one you want to g-go off into the woods with? Alone?"

"Well, I did want to bring you for the first mission," I reminded her. Though traveling alone with Eena, knowing there was nobody around for miles to hear us, did sound pretty nice. There was no way I could do this mission without Feyra, though! And helping people came before sexy times!

Also, Feyra already knew we were sleeping together, so I'd just need to make sure I found a tent big enough for two people to fit in it!

"Right… Me… And her… In close proximity…"

"Do you perhaps have issues with highborn?" Eena asked, frowning. "I'm told my appearance and choice of words gives off a certain impression that some might find… off-putting." She smiled at that, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was weak, and sad, and full of pain. A smile that said that things were wrong and that the wrongness was okay. Probably because she thought it was only wrong for her.

"Let me have a quick talk with her," I said, instead of answering, before reaching out to grab Eena's hand. "Whatever issues she has, I'll go over them with her. And if she doesn't want to come with us at the end of it, then we'll figure out a way to do this without her, okay?"

"I wouldn't want you to-"

"I do want to, though!" I interrupted. It was rude, but I didn't want her to say more terrible things about herself. "You're important to me, Eena. So please, don't tell me that I shouldn't do things for the sake of being with you!"

She nodded, slowly, like she wasn't convinced but was going along with what I wanted anyway. I was actually pretty used to things like that, though most people did better at hiding it. Usually it was upsetting, but I knew that this was about Eena not trusting herself, rather than just wanting to please me. Which was still upsetting, but in a different way. Again, this wasn't the time for that, though!

"Can we talk, Feyra? In private?" I let go of Eena's hand, and held mine out to her instead. She knew about my privacy spell, of course, so I was sure she was smart enough to figure out what I wanted! And, sure enough, she did reach for my hand after a moment of hesitation.

I was holding hands with Feyra! In public!

Oh, but I still needed to cast the privacy spell! "Veroon, Bellooosa mador!"

"Can she hear us?" Feyra whispered, glancing at Eena.

"Nobody can!" I promised her. "Not unless I'm touching them. Though I don't think you really need to worry about it in Eena's case."

"Don't need to - of course I need to worry!" Feyra protested. "Look, I know you like her, but there's something you need to know! She's-"

"I know!" I interrupted, before Feyra could finish. I doubted she knew more than me, but I didn't want to hear anything from anyone who wasn't Eena herself! "Or at least I think I do? I've seen how powerful she is first hand, and she's definitely way stronger than me! Physically, probably, and magically for sure. I'm pretty sure we both know what she is…or at least what she isn't… but that doesn't matter to me!"

"You wouldn't say that if you could see what I do! She's-"

"A good person!" I interrupted, again. "Someone who saved a village for root vegetables, and drove herself to collapse in the process. Someone who saw a girl in need, and helped her, without asking anything in return. Someone I've chosen to trust!"

"Because she bedded you?!" Feyra demanded.

"Because she deserves it! Because everyone deserves a chance! Don't you wish people would give you one, rather than just judging you based on your bloodline?"

"That's…" Feyra opened her mouth, then closed it, and stared at me in silence. After a moment or two, she all but deflated. "Don't blame me if you end up dead to that monster."

"She's not a monster," I replied. "And neither are you. "

"Fuck! I should be saying screw you, you know?" Feyra muttered, closing her eyes. "I should tell you to go do this damn mission on your own if you want to throw your life away."

"But?" I prompted, hope rising in my chest. Was she going to say what I thought she'd say?

"But there's no way in hell I'd be able to live a normal life in this city if I just sent you off with that monster and you never made it back. You do realize people have seen us together, right? They're totally going to assume I had something to do with it if word gets out!"

I couldn't help myself: I hugged her! "I'm pretty sure they wouldn't! But I'm also pretty sure that's just an excuse for saying you want to come along!"

"Want has nothing to do with it!" Feyra protested, squirming a little in my grip. "I just don't need any sleepless nights wondering what the fuck is going on with you and that girl!"

"Also, please don't tell Eena I know about her probably not being human, okay? I want her to tell me on her own when she's ready!" I gave Feyra one last squeeze before parting, a bright smile on my face.

Although Feyra didn't seem that happy about my request, she still gave me a nod. She obviously didn't trust Eena at all… But that was fine! The trip to Daroom Woods would likely take us a few days, after all, and there'd be plenty of time to bond during the trials of blood that would comprise our crusade!

Or at least that's how Eena would put it. Personally, I just hoped the blood would be limited to monsters!

Spoiler: Author's Notes

This was the first chapter from Lucy's perspective where she actually interacted with other people, and it was an interesting experience to write. She's very much the other side of Devilla's coin - just as verbose, often as dramatic, and much more focused on other people's needs than her own. It's just that she's full of bubbly happiness instead of self-doubt!

Thanks as always go to FallingLeaf for proofreading, and Lulla for beta reading and listening to my babble.

PS: Chapter 28 is running a little late, but chapter 27 is already up on Patreon.

 

[PrincessKay]

Content warning: Dehumanizing use of "it." (Very short lived, but present.)

Feyra

I eyed the monster-who-may-or-may-not-have-been-the-Demon-Queen for a moment, before activating my curse to get another look at her magic power. It was basically the same as before - pants-shitting-ly terrifying. I was pretty sure she had enough magic in her to fry the entire city from where she was standing - Heroine included - without breaking a sweat!

"I don't suppose you could at least clarify the reason for your distaste?" it questioned, arching an eyebrow. "I'd appreciate the chance to address it, at the very least."

"It's nothing," I said, forcing myself to give it a weak smile. "I'm just not good with people I don't know."

"Meaning that you know Lucy well?"

"Everyone knows the Heroine. Not well enough to call her by name, though."

Shit. I had to fight the urge to flinch at my own words. Was I trying to pick a fight with the thing? Trying to get myself fucking killed? I was just glad the Heroine was still here, because otherwise-

"Well, I'm going to get some supplies!" said Heroine announced, with a big bright smile that stood in total contrast to the fucking doom she was hurling my way with every word out of her mouth. "Why don't you help Feyra get her stuff ready, Eena? I'm sure it would be a great opportunity for you two to get to know each other!"

"Wait, you can't seriously be planning to leave me alone with that…" I glanced at the creature in question, before settling on, "person?"

"I must admit that I'm not entirely satisfied with the idea of being left with someone who needs to think so hard on my classification, either," the monster added. "One would think personhood to be at least somewhat guaranteed…"

"Wait. Are you seriously offended?" I asked. I was ready to follow that up with a scoff, but the glare it… she gave me froze me in place. Not because she looked murderous or furious, or anything - because she didn't. She looked irritated.

"Is the concept so shocking?" she demanded. "Would you enjoy being treated as an object? Or a monster? I know not what bothers you about me, but I hope you realize that it's only for Lucy's sake that I'm not already turning down this proposal of hers."

Anger I'd call fake. Hurt? An obvious play at sympathy. But irritation? It was weirdly…human. As stupidly irrational as that might sound.

"...The same Lucy who has decided to put action to words and leave us alone, I might add," the brunette continued, after a moment. "Honestly, that girl… What sort of person just throws her friends together in a room and leaves?"

"We're not friends," I replied, woodenly. "And we're not in a room."

I couldn't believe the Heroine had left me alone with her.

I couldn't believe I was arguing with her. Shouldn't I have been… I don't know… Groveling for my life, or something? Trying desperately to appease her?

Except that I had no idea what she wanted in the first place.

"She didn't even specify when or where we're to meet back up," the dear-Goddess-just-let-her-be-a-dragon-or-something grumbled. "Seriously, that girl is so sloppy sometimes…"

Agreed. Except for some reason the definitely-Demon-Queen-with-my-luck was smiling when she said it.

Though it turned into a heart stoppingly terrifying scowl when she turned her attention back to me. "And if you're not friends, then why is she so determined to make us get along?"

"Because your girlfriend's a complete and total busybody, maybe?"

And also the Heroine.

I was badmouthing the Heroine.

In public.

What was wrong with me?

"We're not dating," the demon muttered, looking away from me. Was she… blushing? "In truth, I'm barely qualified to be her friend, regardless of what she thinks on the matter. She hardly even knows me…"

"Since when has that stopped her?" I asked, because apparently I had a fucking death wish. Or maybe it was just that I had no fucking clue what magical words would make her not want to kill me, anyway, so it was probably better to risk going out with a bang than hold back and die with a whimper. "That girl would befriend a literal monster if they let her, and you're over here calling her by name."

Or maybe I was just a fucking idiot who didn't know how to hold her tongue.

"You and her both keep referring to that as if it's some great and amazing thing," the disaster-on-two-legs said with a sigh, "but to me, calling one as they wish to be called seems to only be polite… Rather than acting as if I'm doing everything possible to be close to her, perhaps you should consider why everyone else is so determined to keep away from her."

"Because she's the Heroine. She's-"

"A person," the bane-of-all-existence interrupted, narrowing her eyes at me. "One who deserves to be seen as the lonely girl she is, and not just the symbol you all want her to be."

"...Whatever," I muttered. Because what the hell was I supposed to even say to that? How was I meant to explain to the maybe-embodiment-of-sin that most people didn't like hanging around someone who had the right to judge them for their sins? "I've got a few things I need to handle if we're going on a trip. Some of which require me to go outside the walls. Feel free to just hang out here, though - I'll tell the Heroine we tried to get along, if you do."

"Tempting," she replied, before shaking her head. "But I promised Lucy that I would not lie to her. If you're going beyond the walls to take care of your business, then I see no choice but to follow."

"Of course…" Okay. Smile at the maybe-source-of-all-evil, me. Smile and pretend that everything is okay.

"Besides," the living-embodiment-of-terror added, "you've already made up your mind to join us, have you not? So we might as well make a sincere attempt at getting along."

…Fuck. I had made up my mind, hadn't I? I mean, I couldn't exactly let the Heroine walk away with the Demon Queen, never to return. Not after everyone had seen me with them!

Not that I'd be able to do much more than die at 'Eena's' hand if I tried to get in the way… Hell, if she really was the fucking Demon Queen, then maybe she'd even make use of my cursed blood and turn me into one of her servants for real. Turn all those rumors about me into fact… But hey, better a life under the evil queen than a death from being torn apart by a mob of angry city folk who wanted to know what the fuck happened to their beloved Heroine!

It wasn't like I'd be able to sleep soundly knowing I sent said Heroine off to her doom, either, so…

"Though speaking of that request," the new-bane-of-my-existence added, "I'm afraid Lucy failed to fill me in on the details. Perhaps you could regale me with information along the way?"

"...Fuck it. Follow me." I gestured for the all-powerful-being-that-could-crush-me-like-a-bug to follow. She did - walking just a little to the side of me, where I couldn't help but catch sight of her in the corner of my eye. Like she was actively trying to give me a heart attack.

"First off," I explained, "what do you know about the Monster Movement?"

"Nothing," the probable-mother-of-all-monsters replied, shaking her head. "Though if I had to guess, I would say it had something to do with the movement of monsters?"

I snorted. She was being a smartass! The nightmare-of-all-nightmares was cracking jokes! And smiling, when she saw my reaction… Almost like she was happy to amuse me.

Was she even capable of feeling positive emotions like that? Or was she just trying to lull me into a false sense of security? I could always ask… if I wanted to die a horrible death at her hands. Or worse - get a well meaning lecture from the Heroine.

"Something like that," I said, instead. "More specifically, something happens inside Daroom Woods every three years or so- nobody has a clue what, but it makes the local monsters wig out and start moving out of the depths. Which makes the monsters that live near the edges move, and… basically just fucks up everything for everyone. But the important bit for us is that it makes the healberries in Daroom Woods harder to get, which jacks up the price of healing potions to the point where no commoner can afford them."

"Really?" the monster-in-human-skin asked, arching an eyebrow. "I would think that bit about it 'fucking up everything for everyone' would have just as much to do with us - that is why Lucy wants us to solve the root problem, is it not?"

"Yeah, well… she's the Heroine," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "It's her job to worry about stuff like that. We'll get first your rookie request taken care of as long as we can get the healberries, though. There's a standing request for them at the guild."

"If it were anyone but Lucy at the helm, I'd say my request was more of an excuse than a reason," the brunette-monstrosity said. "But with Lucy being Lucy, she probably truly does view both as equally important… She'd likely say that it was divine providence that we could try and take care of both issues in one go. Especially when she thinks that your reputation and mine could be improved through the use of this request…"

"Your reputation, maybe." Not that I knew what was wrong with said reputation, to begin with. "Me? I'll just be seen as the Heroine's pet rehab project. I'll probably get twice as much scorn from our guildmates, just for failing to live up to whatever the fuck they think that means, expectation wise."

Aaand now I was complaining about the Heroine's 'generosity' in public, where anyone could hear me. Fuck. My. Life.

"And yet you're agreeing to come anyway," the demon remarked, stating the obvious like it was supposed to mean something to me. "Was it a matter of feeling like you couldn't refuse? Or perhaps a sense of camaraderie, deeper than you'd have me believe?"

Was she… teasing me? "I'm coming because neither of you have the expertise to tell healberries from normal redberries."

"And you're the foremost expert on it?" the… evil-woman? Fuck the creative titles. Eena asked. "So good that Lucy could ask you, and you alone?"

"With my curse?" I replied. "I'm the best around."

"Your… curse?" Eena asked, arching an eyebrow. Did she not know? No. No way. Not if she was really the Demon Queen, anyway… But shouldn't a dragon (or whatever) at least be able to smell the Demon Queen's stench on me? Unless she was just faking ignorance.

"My bloodline curse," I said, instead of asking any of that and getting myself smooshed for my trouble. "It lets me see magical power."

"I wasn't aware that was something humans could do…" she replied. Which… I mean… 'Humans'? Seriously?! Was she even fucking trying to fake being one of us? "Wait… Is that why you were so scared of me when we first met?"

"...No." Yes!

"You're still scared, aren't you?" she accused me, crossing her arms and glaring at me. "You're just hiding it better."

"Why? Because you could squash me and everyone else like a bunch of bugs?" Or because my self-preservation instincts were apparently broken? But, again, what was I supposed to do here? Keep insisting that she didn't bother me, when she could already tell otherwise? I was pretty sure the only reason me and Lucy had been left alone so far was that Eena liked playing with her food!

Though, if so, I had to rethink my stance on her acting skills. The pained look in her eyes looked way too fucking real.

"I see…" she murmured, lowering her head. "So that's the view you hold of me…" And then, to my surprise, a small, sad looking smile flickered across her features. "I suppose Lucy would say that I simply need to change your mind, any way I can. Perhaps through civil conversation, for whatever good it will do? Starting with this curse of yours - I've never heard anything like it."

The pain in her voice? The forced optimism? It almost made me feel bad for her. At least until she asked about my fucking curse. Then I knew she had to be playing with me. There was no way the Demon Queen - or a demon, or a monster, or anything else that had to do with that bundle of sins! - wouldn't know. But I could still hear the Heroine's voice, telling me to give her a chance. And I knew she'd take Eena's side, so…

"It's a curse put on my family by the Demon Queen. It shows up in the bloodline at random - I was the first person to get it in three generations, or something…" My parents weren't exactly thrilled about it, either.

"The Demon Queen cursed your family to have… powers?" Eena asked, arching an eyebrow. Her words sounded almost mocking. Her intent was definitely mocking. It had to be. But her voice sounded confused. "That hardly seems like something she'd inflict upon her enemies."

"The power to know how screwed we are when we're faced with beings like you?" Not demons. I didn't say demons, or monsters, and the Heroine couldn't claim otherwise!

"The power to know what you can and can't fight is hardly disadvantageous," Eena countered. "Not to mention the auxiliary effects - the power to identify healberries, for example."

"Yeah, well… maybe she didn't think that through all the way… Or maybe the rumors about me turning into a demon after I die are true, and the powers are just a side effect."

Eena didn't reply to that. She just gave me this… look. Not one of pity, like I was used to getting about my bloodline, or distrust, or anger. Just… frustration. Was it because I'd figured out her game? It had to be… The other option - that she actually thought my powers were a blessing - was too ridiculous to even consider.

I decided not to ask what was going through her head, though. Something told me I wouldn't like the answer.

Spoiler: Author's Notes

So, good news and bad news. Good news: we're getting back to Devilla next update! For a 3,000 word chapter, too. Bad news: there's a good chance I won't be posting an update next week. I had serious writer's block, and chapter 28 only went up on Patreon yesterday. Since I want to get at least chapter 29 - and preferably chapter 30 - done before I go public with it... Well, it'll depend on how long it takes me to write, but I'm not planning to risk burn out by pushing myself too hard. I am sorry for the delay, though - I promise to try and make the next update worth waiting for.

Thanks as always go to my proofreader FallingLeaf and my betareader Lulla.

 

[PrincessKay]

Devilla

For the second time in as many days, I found myself following Feyra down the street. Yet where once she had seemed skittish and scared, now she stomped upon the ground and scowled at the air as if the world itself had personally wronged her. An expression quite similar to one I'd seen Abigail make recently - a thought that might have tempted me to laugh, if I wasn't fully aware that I was the shared source of such feelings. Though Abigail, at least, would never put it that way.

Perhaps this was the difference between being paid to show me around for an hour or two, and being forced to reside within my presence for extended periods. Something I could understand - or would understand, had Feyra been one of the people forced to live under my incompetent rule. Then, at least, she'd have reason to despise me. As it was? The girl hardly knew me! She acted this way out of fear for my power - she was terrified of being around me, but forced to remain within my presence by Lucy's request, and so she lashed out without regard for self-preservation. Not that I was going to do anything to her for it, beyond frowning at the back of her head.

At least I was getting some useful information out of this whole ordeal. Two things in particular seemed quite worthy of my attention. The first, related to the Monster Movement, was admittedly more a matter of curiosity than importance - I simply wondered if it was connected to the pack of horned wolves that Bailey had been part of. If so, I was almost grateful that it hadn't been solved quite yet… as twisted and selfish a thought as that might be. Otherwise, I would never have met Lucy, let alone rescued Bailey from her abusive home.

The second thing of import was Feyra's so-called 'curse.' She seemed to believe that it stemmed from one of my ancestors, but I personally found that rather hard to believe. What sort of Demon Queen would give their enemy such a useful power? Let alone let it be inherited, potentially creating a multi-generational advantage for humanity… Not to mention the fact that I'd never even heard of any ancestors of mine directly interacting with humans, as an enemy or otherwise. They'd mostly restricted themselves to dealing with the Heroine, negating the influence of my aunts in heaven, but otherwise disturbing the balance of human affairs as little as possible.

Besides which, I wasn't entirely convinced cursing a bloodline was possible for us. We lacked the ability to even enchant items, let alone people - the Empty Bag and Indestructible Sword were so valuable for that precise reason!

At the same time, however, I had no alternate suggestion as to the origins of Feyra's powers. The ability to see magical energy was more in line with what I'd expect from a demon than a human - in fact, I was fairly sure some race or another had that exact ability! I wanted to say… tiger girls? Or lions? Or maybe just basic catgirls…? Some sort of feline, anyway!

I probably should have paid more attention during my classes…

"Is there a reason you're staring at me like that?" Feyra demanded, glancing back at me before turning down an alleyway. "Because it's really creeping me out."

"Apologies," I replied, wincing. While Feyra's attitude towards me didn't exactly beget fondness on my part, I still had no desire for her discomfort. "My mind was simply dwelling on the nature of your curse."

"Really? Because usually that comes with a lot more glaring."

"People judge you for it?" I asked, unable to stop a frown. "For something you were born with?"

"Pretty sure it's normal to judge someone for having evil running through their veins."

"What makes you so certain that it's evil?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes at her. "Does it cause you pain? Affect your judgment? Alter your behavior, or otherwise affect the lives of those around you?"

"Could you maybe not be all blasphemous in public?" Feyra asked, lowering her voice to a whisper. I have no clue why she thought I'd be able to hear her - something to ask her about later, considering how easily I could. "It's a curse because it came from the Demon Queen. Who the fuck knows what sort of strings come with it?"

"I hardly think asking questions is blasphemous," I grumbled in return. Still, despite my grousing, I acquiesced to her request. In truth, I lacked the heart to go against her in light of the clear distress painted across her features. Even if it was upsetting for her to label her power as a curse, while defending the people who made her see it that way… Not to mention the bit where she insulted my ancestors.

Of course, that isn't to say that I remained eternally locked in silence. "Aren't we nearing the Ruby Shop?" I asked, noting increasing familiarity with the area. "Don't tell me you have business with Gerard?"

"His daughter, actually," Feyra replied, coming to a stop outside the familiar two story building. Rather than walking through the front door, however, she began to circle around it towards the back. "Amessa makes my meds."

"Meds?" I questioned. I did seem to recall her saying something about that, when first we'd met - and the blonde girl that had been chasing her down had responded with something about… "Potions?"

The glare Feyra gave me was fierce enough to make me flinch. "So what if they are? You going to fucking join the parade of people waiting to judge me for them?"

"I don't even know what you're taking them for," I pointed out, trying not to return the girl's glare in kind. The way Feyra treated me was growing more tiresome by the moment, but something told me that this particular reaction had little to do with me. "Nor am I so conceited as to believe it is any business of mine. Though I am curious as to why one might need a dedicated alchemist - can you not simply consume the raw materials to receive their effects?"

From the way Feyra narrowed her eyes at me, I got the distinct impression that she didn't believe a word coming from my mouth. A shame, seeing as how I had neither a method nor desire to prove myself to her.

Nevertheless, after a moment of tense silence, she looked away with a huff. "Amessa's potions are just a little different, alright? You'll see soon enough." Saying so, she all but stomped her way towards the back of the shop, rapping her knuckles fiercely against the wooden door.

The response was near immediate - the door swung inwards, and a girl's head poked out. She looked almost a match with Feyra, at first glance, with her green hair and brown eyes. A closer look, however, showed the similarities to be rather shallow. Where Feyra was rather tall, at five foot nine, this girl barely came up to my own natural height, at five foot four. Where Feyra's skin was pasty white, this girl boasted a dark complexion. And where Feyra's hair was dark green, this girl's hair had a bright vibrancy about it, giving off the impression that it was mere moments from springing to life.

"Feyfey!" she called out, in a high pitched voice, a manic grin upon her lips. "You're just in time - the mirror lilies are done growing, so I just need to mash them, smash them, and make them into… what did you want this time? Pills? Paste? Soup? I bet I could make a great potion soup! Need you to take a look at them, first, though - let me know what the magic levels are like!"

"Whatever's quickest," Feyra replied, scowling. "And can you maybe not spill the beans on my meds in front of strangers?"

"Strangers…?" The girl's eyes locked on mine. "Oh! Feyfey made a friend? How rare!"

"We're not friends," Feyra interceded, before I could reply. "We're temporary party members for an important request."

"Hmmm… Hmmm…" The girl nodded, slowly, looking me up and down in the process. I couldn't help but notice that she paused for a moment whenever her eyes landed upon my chest. "Soooooooooooooo, you're totally secret besties and you don't want anyone to know? Got it! My name's Amessa, but a gorgeous girl like you can call me anything, so long as it's complimentary! Now get inside, so I can powder Feyfey's order for travel!" Saying so, her head disappeared back into the building, a hand taking its place a mere moment later to gesture at us to come in.

"Is it just me, or does your friend have rather selective hearing?" I questioned, moving to follow after the girl. While under normal circumstances the trait likely would have irritated me, I had to admit that her cheery acceptance was a wonderful break from Feyra's foul treatment of me.

"More like delusional hearing," Feyra rebutted, moving quickly to stay ahead of me and enter the girl's abode. I allowed it, seeing little reason to do otherwise. We would both be entering the same domicile, regardless.

In fact, I decided to go a little further, and stop moving for the moment. The better to take a deep breath, and enjoy the momentary respite from Feyra's presence after she'd passed indoors. It wouldn't last long - couldn't last long, as I didn't really want to know what nonsense she'd be filling Amessa's head with if I tarried - but truthfully, I needed a moment to myself.

The way Feyra looked at me… Like I was a step away from ending her, at any moment… If it wasn't clear to me that she meant something to Lucy, I would have abandoned all hope of getting along with her already. As it was, we were going to have to have a talk, and soon. Because as it stood, I had to admit I wasn't sure I could tolerate traveling with the girl.

A decision for the future. For now, it was time to enter the alchemist's lair. A lair which… to be honest… wasn't quite what I'd expected. Not that I quite knew myself what those expectations were, or how they had managed to form in the brief period I'd known about her. Yet I could say with certainty that they had been betrayed.

I suppose it came down to the term "alchemist" - it made me think of boiling cauldrons, bottles of liquids, and exotic ingredients. None of which this room had. Instead of potions lining the shelves, there were pots of dirt, with plants in various stages of growth. Instead of a cauldron atop a fire, there was what looked to be a small kitchen, featuring a stove and a pot atop it. And instead of exotic ingredients, there were… socks? And skirts, and shirts, all littered across the floor. In short, it felt less like an alchemist's atelier, and more like a messy studio apartment. It even had a shabby looking mattress shoved into one corner.

"Heeeeeey!" the alchemist in question called out to me, waving happily, as a far less chipper Feyra unleashed a long sigh. "Wanna see a neat trick? Feyfey told me she needs some extra meds, so I'm about to do a thing!"

"I said it would be nice to have more meds," Feyra corrected, groaning. "Not that I could afford it."

"Awww… I wanted to show off to the pretty lady…" Amessa's cheeks puffed up into a pout - for about half a second, before a new idea brightened her expression. "Maaaaybe we could do a trade? You get me some interesting plants, I throw in an extra dose or two of your meds?"

"I don't have time for a fucking side quest, Amessa. I'm going on a trip. Hence the whole damn reason I wanted extra meds."

"If it's materials you're after, I might have a thing or two to give," I remarked. "Assuming you're willing to take monster parts, as well as plants?"

"Like hell she is!" Feyra snapped. "Nobody's stupid enough to taint their soul with that sort of crap."

I paused, caught off guard by her vehement refusal. Though perhaps I shouldn't have been - I did recall Lucy saying something about people not consuming monster meat, now that she mentioned it. A shame, since plant based potions were by far the weakest variety, but I suppose most people didn't know what they were missing.

"Speak for yourself, Cursecurse!" Amessa declared, sticking her tongue out in Feyra's direction. "Maybe you can't risk that sorta thing, but I'm blessed, remember? I can totally handle a monster or two!"

"Don't call me that!" Feyra all but growled, crossing her arms. "And don't take her materials, either. I don't care if you're fucking blessed by the goddess herself, you shouldn't be fucking around with sins like that."

"Goddess above, you're more of a worrywart than pops," Amessa complained, shaking her head. "It's my body, and I'll do what I want with it! Up to and including putting… Uh…. What sort of monster materials did you have on you, anyway?"

"Horned wolves," I replied, thankful for the excuse to interject into their conversation. "Specifically their horns. What do you mean by 'blessed,' though?"

"I mean I'm from a blessed bloodline, of course! On my mother's side."

"Her ancestor was blessed by the angels," Feyra helpfully explained, no doubt noting my furrowed brow. "Just like mine was cursed by the Demon Queen. It's usually a highborn thing."

"Great gram gram was totally from a noble line… Or something? Pops gets all mad when I ask him questions about it! I get the feeling there's a dark and scary-"

"She was a bastard child," Feyra interjected. "It's a miracle that the blessing actually showed in her descendant. Why the heavens would choose someone like Amessa for it, I have no fucking clue…"

"Rude!" Amessa protested, puffing up her cheeks. "True, but rude! And it totally ruins the mysterious family background I was trying to spin, too! Rude rude rude!"

"Uh-huh…"

Feyra looked rather tired from the shenanigans - a sentiment I could well understand, though my own ire was directed at the church. The clear source of this blessed bloodline versus cursed bloodline nonsense. Nonsense I might have believed, had they restricted themselves to only the blessed - I could certainly see my human-loving aunts in heaven handing out powers, if they had the means. But the supposed nature of the 'cursed' bloodlines threw everything into doubt. As did the fact that the rich and powerful just so happened to be blessed, while common folk with Feyra were inflicted with a 'curse.' Something fishy was at play, here, and I…

Well, I had no idea what I wanted to do about it, or if I should be doing anything at all. Human politics didn't really concern me. It wasn't my job to sort out their prejudices. My involvement began and ended with irritation at their use of my family as a pawn in their games…

Still, if Lucy wished to counter this prejudice, through Feyra, I could at least try and swallow my distaste for the girl's behavior, so that I wouldn't interfere.

"Sooo about those horny horns I'm totally putting in my body, no matter what Feyfey has to say on the matter?" Amessa prodded, a grin upon her features that said she knew exactly what sort of pained facial expression Feyra was making behind her. "What do they do, exactly?"

"Horned wolves have two abilities," I informed her, deciding to ignore the way she'd chosen to word things. "One is destructive in nature - that which they pierce with their horns will crumble to ash. I must admit that I'm not entirely sure how it works without a horn - perhaps poking something with a fingernail will do?"

"Ooooooooooh, ash horns! I wonder what would happen if I used it on potion ingredients?" she murmured, eyeing one of her potted plants.

"I couldn't say," I confessed. "I don't know if the ash is edible, or if it would retain its power-giving capabilities. But I do hope for your sake that it proves beneficial - especially seeing as how the second property might not be of any use at all…"

"The second property?" Amessa asked.

I nodded, reaching into the stuffed bag at my side, and then further entering the Empty Bag within it, to find one of the wolves. I was careful to snap off its horn while it was still in the bag, muffling the sound with a bit of localized magic that stilled the air around it, before pulling out the pointy red shaft. "The wolves utilized telepathy, on a closed loop system. Only those who have imbibed the material would be able to participate - and only with permission. A problematic property, if nobody else is willing to consume the material."

"I dunno…" Amessa murmured, frowning. "Me and you equals two, doesn't it?"

My surprise must have shown on my face, for once again Feyra provided an answer.

"You wouldn't know what it fucking does if you weren't willing to take it. It's like you're not even trying to hide things!"

"Perhaps I simply see no shame in it," I replied, pushing through the embarrassment that surely showed itself upon my cheeks. "Monsters, to me, are but animals with magic - not the walking sins you seem to believe them to be."

"We can be no-shame buddies, then!" Amessa declared, grinning from ear to ear. "But later, 'kay? Right now, I wanna work on Feyfey's stuff! And show you a magic trick. Which the horn will totally cover - especially if you promise to come back again, at some point!"

"I didn't agree to this!" Feyra protested.

"But you'll still take the meds~!" Amessa replied. "We both know you get all grumpy without your potions, Feyfey, and this way I can give them to you without you feeling all 'Oh no, I owe you a favor!'"

"...Just don't come crying to me when you lose your blessing, or whatever," Feyra replied, looking away from the girl.

Somehow, I doubted she was at risk of that.

"So! Magic trick time!" The girl declared, running over towards the wall and pulling down a potted plant. How she knew what was what, in the absence of any labels, or so much as a leaf coming from the pot's barely grown occupant, I could not say. Though I did begin to get an inkling of an idea when her hair began to glow, and the sprout began to grow.

The girl was using dryad magic.

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Fun fact: this chapter used to be half as long. I wasn't really satisfied, so I kinda just doubled it? I'm a bit happier with it now. (The first half took me ages to write, due to writer's block, while the second flowed so smoothly it was like my writer's block was a lie. And then the writer's block came back again for half the next chapter, too! Annoying, but at least I got it done. And chapter 30 went smoothly, at least!)

On another note, Amessa is…. interesting to write. I'm not sure why she ended up like this, to be honest. Maybe her name influenced me a bit? She's kinda childish, extremely stubborn, and maybe bit horny. A definite mess.

Other than that? I just want to give a quick thanks to FallingLeaf for proofreading and Lulla for beta reading~!

PS: I've written up to chapter 30, with it and chapter 29 both currently up on Patreon - though they aren't proofread yet. This means I'll be posting as normal for the next couple weeks.

 

[PrincessKay]

Devilla

I watched as the plant grew in real time, the stalk and leaves forming quickly, followed by the rapidly budding and then blossoming flower - a multicolored thing, with white petals tinged by blue at their tips, and pink filaments and stamen protruding from its center. The combination of colors seemed oddly familiar to me, though I couldn't quite place where I'd seen it before… But then, my mind was somewhat preoccupied with the matter of Amessa's dryad powers.

Could they truly have been a gift from the heavens? Maybe. I certainly wouldn't have put it past my aunts to copy demonic abilities and pass them off as blessed ones. However, between her glowing green hair, a trait she had in common with many dryads, and the suspicious notion of 'cursed' bloodlines, I suspected there was actual monster girl blood running through her and Feyra's veins.

I wondered just how far back it went. Humans and demons had been in an extinction war for two thousand years, after all. Hardly ideal circumstances to form a romance. Add in the fact that her 'blessing' was apparently known to run through a noble family line… There was most definitely a story there, but I didn't have anywhere close to enough information to even try and piece it together. There was one kernel of info that stood out in my mind, though - when demons had children, their species would match the one who birthed them. Usually, that included both their form and wild magic. But if the birth mother was a human, with no wild magic to speak of… Well, who knew what would happen?

"Impressive, right?" Amessa asked, drawing my attention back to her and her bright smile. "Tooootally worthy of staring at. And the creator of it all? Heehee, definitely worth a second look, riiiiight? And that's when she's clothed! Can't you just imagine what she'd look like naked? Bet she'd be pretty hot, right?! Why don't you give it a try?"

"Why are you like this?" Feyra complained, putting her head in her hands. To look at her, you'd think the heavens themselves had abandoned her. "For the last time, we're going on a quest, okay? We don't have time for you to fuck around."

"Perhaps this is a thread better tugged upon our return?" I suggested, hoping to play peacekeeper between the two of them. The girl was certainly pretty enough to bed - with a prominent and what looked to be a rather full rear - but at the same time, Feyra was right about us being on a mission.

For some reason, however, my proposition garnered a glare from Feyra. "Is something the matter?"

"No," she all but snarled, before turning her attention back to Amessa. "How quickly can you finish? The fucking Heroine is waiting for us."
"I think you're overestimating the speed with which Lucy will conduct her business," I remarked, frowning a little at Feyra's suddenly increased aggression. I didn't understand what was going through the girl's mind - for someone who feared me, she seemed oddly eager to pick a fight. "She's liable to chat with anyone she has dealings with. Surely we can give your alchemist a little time to complete her potion making?"

"Well, if the Heroine's waiting…" Amessa murmured, glancing between Feyra and the flower. "I mean, I do have a toooon of questions! Like why the heck is the Heroine waiting for you Feyfey? And is your hot friend seriously on a first name basis with her? Buuuuut I guess it can wait… I just need you to tell me how well my growing worked - I tried to concentrate as much magical power in the flower head as possible this time!"

Feyra glared at the flower, her pupils elongating as her eyes narrowed. "It's fine. I think. Kinda hard to fucking tell when someone's radiating so much damn magic."

"Is that a request for me to leave?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. "Because I actually had a few questions of my own. Starting with the matter of concentrating magic power, and its effect on potion making." Not that it was more than an idle curiosity on my part. It was just intriguing to find there might be more to potion making than I'd realized.

"Do whatever the fuck you want," Feyra replied, shooting me another scowl before stomping towards the door. "I need a breath of fresh air."

I stared after the girl for a moment, before turning my gaze towards Amessa. "Is she always like this?"

"Nooooo?" Amessa replied, tilting her head to the side and tapping a finger to her chin. "I mean, usually she's only, uh… half as bitchy? Sorta looks like you stress her out, though."

"I was afraid of that." I sighed, shaking my head. "Considering the fact that I'm about to be embarking upon a journey with her… Well, I suppose it's time we had a little chat." About why, exactly, she was so scared of me - and about what, precisely, could be done about it.

Feyra

I was fucked. Really fucked. I mean, I talked back to the fucking Demon Queen! I stormed out on the Demon Queen! And why? Because she was maybe planning to cheat on the Heroine? They weren't even officially together! And also, polyamory was a fucking thing! Though going after one girl right when you started dating another was still a little fucked up, so far as I was concerned.

Also, the embodiment of sin wanting to fuck all my… not friends… was a thing in and of itself. I mean, sure, one of them was literally the Heroine, and the other had blessed blood running through her veins, but… if eating monster material was bad for your soul - something Amessa had already been tempted into - then who knew what the fuck eating one out would do to you?

Confronting Eena wasn't going to spare them, though. If anything, it would get me and them killed. Though I guess our souls would at least be free to move onto heaven? As fucking poor a consolation as that was.

"Feyra?"

I flinched. Which probably wasn't the best fucking move, considering how displeased the speaker looked over it. Displeased and hurt. Or at least she was acting hurt, anyway… It had to be acting. In what fucking world did monsters care what people thought of them?

"We need to talk," Eena said, after a tense moment. "About the way you've been acting towards me."

"Yeah?" I asked, trying not to tense up even more. Running wasn't going to do me any fucking good. Not against someone strong enough to wipe out the city from where she stood. "What's there to say? You're powerful, I'm weak and terrified. I'd think you'd be used to it." Didn't monsters and demons all cower before their mistress?

I felt a tingle, as magic washed over me. It didn't do anything to me, though, at least as far as I could tell. A quick toggling of my sight told me that it hadn't fucking disappeared either, though. It had, instead, formed a bubble around us. Probably some discount version of the Heroine's privacy spell.

"I've stilled the air around us," Eena explained. "So that we can talk without fear of anyone hearing us."

"Why? So you can threaten me into behaving?"

Shit. Why did I say that? What the fuck had happened to my surival instincts? Was I fucking tired of living? Except… I didn't feel afraid, as I said it. More like resigned.

I wasn't going to be able to keep on my toes the whole trip. I was going to slip up, and say something I shouldn't, and piss her off. And when I did, the Heroine was going to suffer alongside me. And then humanity was going to suffer, because there'd be no fucking Heroine… I wasn't exactly the self-sacrificing sort, but maybe it was better if it was just me who died horribly.

Though I couldn't help but notice there was an awful lack of me 'dying horribly.' Eena didn't even look mad at me. Just… frustrated?

"I don't understand why you keep assuming the worst of me," she said. "I know that I'm powerful, but surely you've come across others with enough strength to cause you harm."

"Powerful?" I laughed. I couldn't help it. The sound just tore itself out of my fucking throat. "Powerful doesn't even fucking begin to describe it! You make the damn Heroine look like a fucking ant. Just looking at you almost makes me lose hope for humanity! I mean, how the fuck is she supposed to even beat you if you can just smash her flat the moment you get tired of playing with her?!"

…Fuck. I said it. I fucking said it. I… shit. I… was going to die. I was going to fucking die. Or worse. I was going to die, or worse, and it was all because I couldn't keep my damn mouth shut, and… Oh. I was on the ground. On my knees. When had that happened? It didn't even fucking register. A second ago I was standing, and now I was on my knees, staring at the fucking Demon Queen as she got ready to… stare at me?

"Isn't this the bit where you kill me?" I asked. Because fuck it. I was done. I was done pussyfooting around the most powerful being in the mortal world. I was going to fucking die, and she was going to kill me, but before that I was going to say whatever the fuck was on my mind.

Except for some reason, she still wasn't killing me. She was just sort of… staring at me? With this… not quite sad. More… distant than that. And more familiar. She looked resigned. "You are really determined to see the worst in me, aren't you?"

"Am I wrong?" I asked. "Because trust me, I'd love to not fucking die. But you're too strong to be anyone but the Demon Queen. Or maybe a dragon in disguise, here to fuck around, but that probably ends about the same for me now that I've spilled the fucking beans, so…"

"Half wrong," she replied. There was… something to her voice. A lightness that didn't fit. I think she was trying to make it a joke, or something, but it mostly just sounded out of place. "I am the Demon Queen, yes, but… as unbelievable as this may sound to you, I have no intention of killing you."

"Why not?" I asked. Which was a pretty fucking reasonable question, if you ask me, even if it was a bit like glaring at a gift horse's mouth. There was no way in hell I was going to believe she'd just spare me, though. If she wasn't going to kill me, it was for a reason. And she'd probably do something worse. "Don't wanna give away your little game to the Heroine? Afraid she'll get suspicious if I up and disappear?"

"It's my chance at brokering peace that would disappear, actually. Alongside the trust Lucy put in me when she paired us up."

"....Peace?"

"That's right," the Demon Queen - the fucking embodiment of evil - said, with a nod of her head. "Peace. I want Lucy's help to end the war between our peoples… and before you ask, the look you're giving me right now is, in fact, the exact reason why I haven't gone to her directly. I want her to know me as a person, before she knows me to be the Demon Queen. That way she'll hopefully believe my wish to be sincere."

Once again, I couldn't fucking stop the laughter from bubbling up inside of me. This time, though, I didn't even spare a single fucking thought to stopping it. "You want to prove you're sincere by lying to her?"

Eena's cheeks flushed at that. But she also smiled, for some reason. "If it were anyone but Lucy, I'd concede the point. But Lucy… she already knows I'm keeping secrets. In fact, she explicitly granted me permission to do so, so long as I don't outright lie to her. Something that actually almost tempted me to admit the truth, strange as that might be. But I don't know enough about how she sees me. How the world sees me. So I need to make sure that when the truth comes out, she still sees me."

I was pretty damn sure I could answer both those questions. Starting with the fact that Lucy saw 'Eena' as the one who fucking killed her mom. Like hell I was going to give away information, though! If Eena didn't know Lucy knew, then it was better to keep it that way.

"So what? You just want me to keep quiet, and let you plot your little plot? Act like nothing's wrong?"

"I want you to give me a chance," Eena replied, frowning. "Look, you're going to be traveling with us, are you not?"

"...That's the plan." Assuming she didn't just kill me.

"And, in your mind, I have the power to kill you instantly, yes? I'm just stringing you along for some sort of game?"

"...Pretty much…" Where the fuck was she going with this?

"Then let the game continue."

"...Huh?"

The Demon Queen smiled. Big, and bright, and absolutely fucking terrifying. "Then let me keep playing the game, as you see it. Let me get close to Lucy. Talk with her. Convince her of my sincerity. And, while I'm at it, I'll also try to convince you."

"And why the fuck would I do that?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes at her, utterly ignoring the part of my brain screaming at me about self-preservation.

"Because, so far as you're concerned, the alternative is me getting bored and killing you and Lucy. A misconception on your part, I assure you, but… by your own words, you have nothing to lose."

I opened my mouth. Then I fucking shut it again, and started actually thinking with my head for what might have been the first time of the night. Because… she was sort of …right? I mean, as little as I enjoyed the idea of being this fucking monster's entertainment… life gave us a chance. Playing the game gave us a chance. A chance to figure out some way out of this situation. A chance to escape…

Not much of a chance, mind you. Like, basically nil. But if I had to choose between dying now, and dooming the Heroine in the process, or maybe finding a way for us both to survive down the line… or to at least fucking warn her…

"Fine," I said, at last, barely believing the words coming out of my fucking mouth. "But if you're going to play the game, do it right - stop fucking flirting with girls when you're already dating the Heroine."

Was it a stupid stipulation? Probably. The Heroine was already going to get her heart broken. And I didn't really expect the Demon Queen to follow it, anyway. But if I could spare her a little bit of pain… not to mention the bit where the Heroine finding out the hard way and confronting Eena would probably end the fucking game with our deaths, anyway…

"I think that's a matter between me and Lucy," Eena replied, brushing aside my good deed. Figures. "Though you're right that I should talk to Lucy about it. I didn't even consider that she might want exclusivity…"

The way she looked, when she said that… the way her lips thinned, and her eyes shot down towards the ground? The way she fidgeted, nervously, as if she were a little scared of the result. If I didn't know this was all a game to her, I might have actually thought she was taking things seriously.

As it was? There was one thing that bugged me. When the fuck did she turn into such a good actress?

Spoiler: Author's Notes

So, I know some people already had a solid idea of what Feyra's potions were for - feel free to give yourself a cookie, if you're one of them! (Same if you didn't! And if you still have no idea… Well, just look up the color combo for those flowers.) I swear there's an in-universe explanation for the colors, though! It's not just me wanting to clue everyone but Devilla in… Not that I can tell you what the reason is… Just that it definitely exists!

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I wasn't fond of splitting up the perspective like this... but the first half felt like it needed to be from Devilla's perspective, and the second half felt like it needed to be from Freya's. Devilla had information to share, and Freya... I wanted people to see what was going through her head, y'know? Though I also wrote it partly from Devilla's perspective, which helped with getting her lines right.

All else aside, I had some fun with figuring out the ending to this one. So far, Devilla's managed to convince everyone she's met to give her a chance. From Lissera, who chose to put her faith in the savior of her village, to Lucy who chose to trust despite lacking information... But Feyra isn't going to be so easily swayed from her opinion. Devilla's going to have to work hard on her....

Next chapter we'll be back with Lucy, and things should lighten up a bit! In the meantime, I just want to give a quick thanks to FallingLeaf for proofreading, and Lulla for beta reading! And to all of you for reading, leaving favorites, commenting, and just being here in general~!) Chapters 30 and 31 have already been written and put up on Patreon - though they're still awaiting proofreading - which means the next two weeks of updates remain secure!

 

[PrincessKay]

Devilla

I wish I could say that my deal with Feyra brought me joy. That I felt pride in the proposal I'd made, in order to give myself more time. In truth, however, it made me feel a little like a coward. Risking everything, because I couldn't trust Lucy with my secrets… Not to mention the fact that I was basically bullying Feyra into keeping quiet. Even if I managed to convince her that I meant no harm to her or Lucy, nothing could change the fact that she was currently being forced to live in terror of me. At the same time, however, her fear - and my inability to work around it - was the very reason that I hesitated to tell Lucy the truth.

The simple fact was that I had been lucky in my travels so far. Lissera had overlooked my identity because I was the savior of her village. Lucy was willing to let me keep it secret because she wanted me to feel comfortable revealing it. And yet the moment I had to actually convince someone that I wasn't so horrible a monster as the church made me out to be, I'd failed to find even the slightest argument in my favor. What's more, I'd literally spent all my time insisting to Lucy that I was a worse person than she thought!

On the other hand, one could argue that Feyra was a blessing in disguise. If I could convince her, someone completely set against me, that I was actually sincere in my desire for peace… Well, surely I could convince Lucy of the same? Though how I was going to go about convincing either of them was beyond me…
It was with such dark thoughts weighing me down that I returned, in silence, to the guild. Feyra, besides me, was glowering at nothing, clearly displeased with the arrangement. Something that did nothing for my mood. Though, really, I couldn't imagine anything capable of improving-

"Eena!"

"Lucy!" I… smiled? I smiled. Why was I smiling? One minute, I was brooding, and the next… Well, the next moment, I was more concerned with the Heroine throwing herself into my arms. The Heroine, and the horse trailing behind her. "...I assume there's a reason for the horse?"

"She's here for Feyra!" Lucy explained, parting from me after a brief squeeze. "So she can keep up with us!"

"Of fucking course she is," Feyra replied, following the statement up with a tired sigh. "You do know I have no clue how to ride a horse, right?"

"I'll teach you!" Lucy promised. "I used to ride all the time, back before I was strong enough to just walk everywhere!"

"I wasn't aware you could outpace a horse," I remarked, raising an eyebrow. It sounded rather impressive for a human, Heroine or no.

"Well, I wouldn't say I can go faster," Lucy corrected me. "But I can keep up with one easily enough! And I'm pretty sure you could, too. But I don't think Feyra would be able to keep up with either of us, endurance wise."

"Understandable, I suppose. Though I do have to wonder if there's a reason you didn't go for three horses? We'd likely have an easier time keeping in lock step, that way." And I'd have an easier time of it, in general, for that matter. Not that I couldn't keep up with a horse - I was fairly certain I could outpace it, and Lucy, both - but walking in heels on the uneven forest floor sounded like a nightmare.

"Well, I was sort of hoping we could walk hand in hand?" Lucy admitted, cheeks red, but eyes trained on me. Unflinching, even as she bared her ulterior motives.

"...I suppose I could manage a walk, if it means keeping you in my grasp," I conceded, my own cheeks striving to match hers in coloration, even as my gaze slid to the side, failing to equal her straightforward courage.

"Fucking hell," Feyra grumbled, from behind me. "Why do I have to get stuck with the only two lovebirds I can't even tell to get a room?"

"Well, I don't know about a room, but I did get one big tent for the two of us!" Lucy admitted. "And a smaller one for you, too, Feyra!"

"Appreciated," I murmured, with a smile.

A mere hour ago, I would have actually considered that to be an issue. I had plans to visit the tower during the night, after all. Plans to teleport, from the safety of a private tent. Plans that were all but ruined, with Feyra traveling alongside us. She'd be able to tell if I disappeared, in all likelihood, and who knew what she'd do during my away time?

No. Sharing a tent with Lucy was the best arrangement I could hope for, under these circumstances. Both for the sake of keeping Feyra's mouth shut, and growing closer to Lucy herself. Hopefully Abigail would understand and be content with me teleporting written communication in and out for a while.

Just how selfish was I, though, that some part of me actually hoped that she would miss me?

Abigail

"The things I do for Devilla," I grumbled, looking up and down the street outside my house. I'd set up a time to meet Nivera, via Chloe - something that was shockingly easy to do, because apparently Chloe knew everyone. No less than five of my coworkers had shared drinks with her, and I was pretty sure at least two of them had slept with her at some point. They actually fought over who got to pass the message along.

Honestly, I wasn't sure who I was looking forward to meeting less. Chloe, the popular whirlwind of a fox I had zero clue what to make of, or-

"Abigail."

I spun, caught off guard by Nivera as she came slithering out of the alleyway. Also known as the one direction I hadn't been looking towards… unlike Bailey, I guess, because her expression was amused.

"Nivera," I said, silently deciding that I was going to have a talk with that wolf later. What sorta bodyguard let their charge get caught off guard like that? "Where's Chloe?"

"I asked her to get me something I 'forgot' at home, then ran off without her," Nivera said. "I wanted to talk to you alone."

"...You ditched your fiancee?"

Nivera snorted. "Like I could trick her with a lie that obvious. No, it was basically code for 'give me a few minutes.' She's around somewhere - ready to jump in the moment I make an ass of myself."

"...Right…" When. Not if. At least she was self-aware, I guess?

"Look. Chloe gave me an earful when I told her how things went with you. Said I was even more of a bitch than she expected, and that I needed to apologize."

"...So you're here to say you're sorry?" I asked.

"...Maybe," she muttered, looking away from me. "Maybe I took some of my… issues out on you. But to be honest, I think it was warranted."

"Funny," I said, looking around. "I thought Chloe was going to come out when you started making an ass of yourself?"

"Look…" Nivera ran a hand through her hair. "I… I gave up on Devilla getting better, you know?"

"Huh?" I asked, glancing at Bailey. She… didn't look at me. Her eyes were solely trained on Nivera.

"I wrote her off, thinking she was a lost cause. A casualty of the fucked up system we bloodliners are raised in. And it wasn't like I was alright with it, but… Then you came along, and suddenly she's not acting like a brat anymore! She's getting salt for the tower. Pulling back on her spying. Acting nice… All because of you."

"And that's why you think it was alright for you to bitch?" I asked, incredulously. The fact that I wasn't the reason for all that aside… "This has to be the worst apology I've ever heard."

"No! I mean, yeah, maybe some part of me hated you for doing what I couldn't. For making me own up to the fact that maybe I could have done more. But I could get over that. Until you went and got the bloodliners involved. Accidentally, I know - but I didn't know that when we met. I figured you were either the biggest fucking idiot I'd ever met, or you were using Devilla for your own ends. And I honestly didn't care which. All I could think about was the fact that you were going to break her all over again."

I wanted to say 'fuck you.' I wanted to tell her that a nice story didn't excuse her for treating me like shit. That she could have given me the benefit of the doubt. I probably would have, too, if it wasn't for how lost she looked.

Which wasn't to say that I was going to forgive her or anything. I mean, sure, maybe I felt a little sorry for her, but mostly I just wanted to know something. "Why do you care so much? Devilla figured you'd hate her. Didn't she ruin your life, or something?"

"Is that how she put it?" For a moment, Nivera's face was blank. Then she let out a bitter little laugh, and wiped a tear from her eye. "She really is back to how she used to be, isn't she?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, glancing at Bailey. Who, again, kept her eyes trained on Nivera. I guess she wanted to absorb as much of this as she could.

"Do you know why Devilla befriended me?" she asked, instead of answering.

I hesitated a moment, wavering between telling her to fuck off with the whole 'telling a story instead of answering a damn question' thing, or playing along. You'd think it would be an easy decision, considering I literally came there to hear more about Devilla, but it was honestly a close one. "No."

"Because she was told to." Nivera laughed again. "She was such a perfect little puppet back then. So fucking desperate for approval. For affection. So when the generals introduced her to a bunch of their children, and told her to get along, of course she tried her best. And of course all the children were more than willing to play along."

"Okay?"

"But then there was me," Nivera continued. "The only brat who wasn't willing to play nice just because her parents told her to. I don't even remember why. Maybe I was just being a spoiled brat. Or maybe I didn't like the look in her eyes. But Devilla… she saw me as the only obstacle between her and a job well done. So you know what she did?"

"I don't know… tried to kick you out of the group or something?" I could imagine Devilla doing that. Or at least Devilla as she used to be.

Nivera shook her head though. "I wish… No. She took it on herself to make me happy. To make me her friend. Even to the point where she ignored the others - I mean, they were all pretending to be her friend, no matter what, anyway… But me? I made her work for it… I made her get me stuff. Do stuff. Even had her issue orders to my parents, once or twice, to make them pay me more attention, or buy me stuff… Next thing I knew, she'd gone from wanting to please the generals to trying to appease her one and only 'friend.'"

"You used her." There wasn't any accusation in my voice. Not over something she did when she was six. I was just stating a fact.

That didn't keep Nivera from flinching, though. "Yeah. I did. And the worst thing is? I started feeling good about it. I mean, the generals were making her do boring shit. She was having fun with me, at least. We'd play games together - and sometimes I'd even let her win. We'd talk. Or I'd talk, anyway, she mostly listened… She treated me like a sister… and then my parents forbid me from spending time with her."

"Which is when everything went wrong."

"She somehow got it in her head that firing my dam would solve something… or more like someone put the idea in her head, but that's a story for later. The important bit is that my parents got mad at me, which got me mad at her, and caused our friendship to split. My parents, meanwhile, all but disowned me - I went from being their precious daughter to the disappointment they wanted nothing to do with. They made sure my basic needs were met, but… well, they only ever talked to me to tell me what a disappointment I was to the family."

"And the point of this whole story?" I asked. "Because as nice as it is to hear about Devilla's past, I don't really get what it has to do with you caring about her."

"The point is what happened to us after. On my side? I hated Devilla. For a long time. Eventually though, Aunt Sallina helped me realize something - namely, parents who'd disown their kid like that? Over losing a fucking job? Shouldn't be parents. I mean, we both know how fucked up I am. Imagine how much worse it would be if they'd kept raising me. If Devilla hadn't exposed them for what they were? If Sallina never took me in? I don't even want to imagine what would happen."

"And Queen?" Bailey asked, leaning in a little closer.

I didn't say anything, but I was curious too. Almost despite myself, but still.

"Devilla had it worse. She'd been used by the generals, and abandoned by me. She tried running things… She tried making decisions for herself, and passing laws, but she was a kid, so of course it ended in disaster. She tried reshuffling the tower hierarchy - which sorta worked, with Sylvanna taking charge, but it mostly just made her more enemies. I'm pretty sure she almost caused a civil war at one point…"

"So what?" I asked. "You blame yourself for her turning into a bad ruler?"

"I don't blame myself for shit," Nivera replied, crossing her arms. "It was the generals that fucked us both up, but I was able to get out thanks to her, even if it was unintentional. Devilla, on the other hand… gave up."

"On ruling? Or on you and the generals?"

Nivera shook her head. "On herself."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

First things first, I just want to assure everyone that we're not leaving Devilla behind for the next few chapters. I'm planning to split the upcoming chapters between her and Abigail - the two events are happening more or less simultaneously (give or take a few hours) and... well, I know the tower stuff can drag on sometimes, so I'm experimenting a little and taking a reader's suggestion to see if I can keep up with both. Future chapters will likely have a more even split, or maybe even lean towards more Devilla. This chapter is a bit of an exception, due to their being a brief time lapse between Devilla and Lucy's cute reunion and the next Big Thing I have planned. (Or at least that was the intent when I wrote it.)

In terms of the chapter itself... Well, I must admit that I'm curious what people will think of Nivera after this chapter. She's a lot more relaxed, now that she's out of General Yara's office. She's still a bit bitchy, and completely unable to give a straightforward answer for the life of her, but she's not nearly as antagonistic. In fact, she's actively trying to help Abigail understand Devilla better - but good luck getting her to admit it...
Also, Lucy and Devilla are so adorable together. I absolutely loved writing them - Devilla is completely defenseless against Lucy's straightforward attacks!

Finally, I just want to thank my proofreader FallingLeaf and my beta reader Lulla - their help makes this story better, and I'm so glad to have them. (Also want to give thanks to all you readers - your views, favorites and comments are all fuel for the fire! I'm already up to chapter 32 on Patreon - at least in terms of preproofread rough drafts.)

 

[PrincessKay]

Devilla

I remembered there being a joke, of sorts, back on Earth. One that declared handholding to be one of the lewdest things imaginable. Depictions of intertwined fingers would be pixelated, and the mere thought of grabbing a crush's hands might lead to reddened cheeks or even scandalized gasps. It was a bit of humor I often laughed at as Jacob.

Walking down the street with Lucy, her fingers intertwined with mine, my ever accelerating heartbeat made it increasingly difficult to remember why I'd ever found that joke so funny.

"Are you sure you're okay, Eena? Your face is really red!"

"I'm fine," I promised her. It wasn't a lie. I was fine - even if my heart was beating a mile a minute and my face was on fire. Even if it felt like everyone we passed was staring and whispering. I was fine. And I would continue to be fine so long as Lucy continued to sport that goofy smile.

"I don't even want to think about the rumors that are going to spread from this," Feyra complained from astride her mount. "The Heroine traveling with a cursed girl, while grinning and holding hands with a highborn whose face is so red you'd think she was walking down the street naked, or something."

"I'd like to see you keep your calm under the eyes of every passerby," I retorted. The fact that I'd be significantly less embarrassed to walk around unclothed was likely better left unsaid.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Lucy replied. "I'm sure everyone's just curious about what I'm up to! Especially since I don't usually travel with people…"

"At least we're near the gates," Feyra remarked, placing a hand above her eyes to shield them from the midday sun. "Not having to deal with too many people on the road is the one good thing about the Monster Movement, so far as I'm concerned."

"It's really bad for the smaller villages, though," Lucy pointed out. "I've asked around, while traveling, and apparently merchants just completely stop visiting some places! And their costs go up everywhere they do go. It's one of the reasons I want to find the cause and put a stop to it!"

"Really?" I asked. "I would have expected your reasoning to be more along the lines of wanting people free to explore the world the goddess gifted them, or some such."

"Well, of course I want that!" Lucy affirmed. "But traveling is always going to be dangerous. So long as there are monsters, there's danger! Not to mention the harm people can do to one another, when they get desperate or greedy… but that doesn't mean we can't make things better! If the Monster Movements stop, then the monsters will stick to their territories, and the merchants will be able to figure out the right routes to take. They'll be able to visit the smaller villages, and sell things at reasonable rates! And people will be able to get healberries at the normal prices, too!"

"That's… rather practical of you," I remarked, eyeing Lucy. I'd thought her the sort to tackle the world's problems without a second thought. To fight for a better tomorrow, in any and every way she can. And I still did believe that to be true - we were talking about the same Lucy who'd tried to single-handedly end a two thousand year war in Tower Conquest after all. But perhaps there was more than blind optimism guiding her movements. "This wasn't a spur of the moment quest for you, was it?"

"Not at all!" Lucy confirmed. "I've wanted to do it ever since I became an adventurer! But the last monster movement ended right before I joined the guild."

"Did you ever try to take a more proactive approach?" I questioned. "To put an end to the movements before the next had a chance to begin?"

Lucy hesitated a moment, before replying. "Once. But I wasn't allowed to go into the forest… The churches near Daroom Woods double as outposts, and the guards that work there try to keep people from going too deep when there isn't a Monster Movement. It's to stop people from triggering one early… But if it's already happening, then there shouldn't be an issue!"

"Shouldn't be an issue?" Feyra questioned, narrowing her eyes from atop her horse. "Heroine. You did run mission by someone, didn't you?"

"Don't worry!" Lucy replied with a bright smile. "The outposts empty out for the Monster Movements, so there shouldn't be anyone to stop us!"

…Of course, the whole reason her attempt at ending the war was 'single-handed' was because she'd gone against the church to do it in the first place…

"I am so going to hell," Feyra whispered.

"Come on!" Lucy called out, picking up her pace a little. "We're almost out the gates!"

"Is there something special about that?" I questioned her, arching an eyebrow even as I picked up my pace. A feat made slightly more difficult by my choice in footwear. Still manageable, though, if only because I was using small amounts of magical energy to flatten the ground whenever it grew too bumpy.

The things I did for the sake of Lucy's smile…

"It'll be the first steps of our adventure!" the girl in question replied, the aforementioned smile still firmly affixed upon her face. "I mean, I think some people count it from the time you leave the guild until the time you come back home? But to me, this whole city is basically my home! That's why the adventure can't truly start until we've walked through the gates!"

"The adventure, hmm?" I questioned her, unable to resist a smile of my own. "I'd have thought such a thing would become rather mundane to you, by this point. You've been an adventurer for quite a while, have you not?"

"Ever since I turned eighteen!" Lucy confirmed. "It's always exciting to go out again, though! To help people! To show everyone that the Goddess is watching, and that she cares… that their Heroine is willing to fight for their happiness! It's always meaningful to me…"

For a moment, as I listened, it felt like I wasn't talking to Lucy anymore. That it was the Heroine who's hand I held, and who was pulling me towards a mission to help her people. But then she turned to me, her eyes sparkling and her smile somehow growing even wider. "But this time's special, even aside from that, because it's our first time going on an adventure together!"

I laughed. Mostly at myself, for having forgotten something vital - that Lucy was the Heroine. That the girl who wished to save the world was the very same one who took such joy simply from existing within it. To see her as a symbol, while ignoring the girl underneath, was a sin, in my opinion. But by the same token, ignoring the symbol she strove to represent would mean ignoring her passion, and heartfelt desire to lead the world into a better tomorrow.

"Then let's take the first step together," I declared, slowing to a stop as we neared the threshold. When she gave me a curious glance, I smiled. "On the count of three?"

"One!" Lucy declared by way of response.

"Two," I replied, a small smile on my lips.

""Three!""

It was sappy, I knew. I could literally hear Feyra groaning about it, too. But so what? When the day inevitably came that Lucy saw me for who I was, I'd be happy for a 'sappy' memory or two to cherish.

Abigail

"What do you mean, 'she gave up on herself'?" That definitely wasn't the impression I'd gotten, back before the Rite of Insight. If anything, she seemed pretty full of herself - always talking herself up, and putting everyone else down.

"I meant what I said," Nivera replied, narrowing her eyes. "Or did you never think it weird that the supposedly selfish brat was planning to fight to the death for all of us? That she never ran away? Or even pass a bunch of selfish laws?"

"She literally made it illegal to say your name around her."

"...Okay, so she passed a selfish law… But she could have done way worse! She could have made it illegal to badmouth her. She could have executed anyone and everyone who looked at her funny. She could have turned into a tyrant! But what did she do instead?"

"Yelled at her maids for getting her toast cut wrong, and threw people in the dungeon for saying they were prettier than her?"

"For, like, a day or two at a time!"

"I think what she's trying to say," came a voice from up above our heads, "is that Illa only acted that way because she'd given up on herself. Y'know, the whole 'it's fine if nobody loves me, because I don't need anyone anyway' mindset people sometimes get into when they're super depressed? Or like a kid who gets into an argument with her friend and then pretends they were never really that great a friend anyway, because facing up to her problems would mean dealing with a ton of emotions she isn't equipped to handle. Except kids usually have parents, or guardians, or at least other friends to help them through it, while Illa had nobody. And I'm pretty sure nobody ever taught her the tools to actually deal with her problems."

I didn't reply right away. Mostly because I was too busy gawking at the kitsune sitting on the brothel's rooftop. "How long have you been up there?"

"Hmmm…." Chloe frowned, tapping her chin and pretending to think. "Since before Nivera called you over? She was doing pretty good until now, though, so I didn't really see the need to interfere. Super proud of you for that, by the way!"

"I was still doing fine!" Nivera protested.

"You were getting worked up and shutting conversation down," Chloe replied, before casually leaping off of the rooftop. This time I actually got to see her shift into a fox - though there wasn't much to see, with an instantaneous transformation. One second she was a girl, the next she was a fox, landing atop Nivera's head before bouncing off and landing on the ground, back in her demonoid form all over again. "You know you need to keep your temper in check if you want to communicate."

Nivera didn't so much respond as grump, pulling her lips into a pout and looking away from the two of us.

"And you are being too hard on your friend," Chloe continued, pointing a finger towards me. "Illa might have had a lot of problems, but you of all people know how she's been struggling to change. Do you think that could have happened if she was really as heartless and selfish as everyone paints her out to be?"

My first instinct was 'yes.' I mean, she'd only changed because of the Rite! Because of her past life memories! But there was one thing bothering me about all that… "I still don't get what you meant about her being back to the way she used to be."

"I mean that she's always blamed herself when things go wrong," Nivera replied, turning back towards me. Her voice was calm, but I couldn't help but notice the way her tail was curling and uncurling, like when she'd gotten mad at Yara. Thankfully she didn't seem to be reaching for anything, this time. "Some random bitch didn't want to be her friend? She must have done something wrong. Someone asked her to get something, but was super vague about it? Her fault for not getting clarification before acting. Maybe that really did change for a bit, when she went all bratty, but I'd be willing to bet she was just trying to protect herself from all the self-recrimination. That she wanted to believe she didn't have anyone because she didn't need anyone, rather than because she couldn't have them. Because the moment she started caring about people again? She's already back to viewing herself as the one who fucked everything up, isn't she?"

"That's…" I hesitated. Was she right? Had Devilla really been suffering the whole time?

"She's mostly just speculating," Chloe added. "I mean, they haven't talked in forever, y'know? And she's totally definitely biased in Illa's favor, too! But… I think it says something that Illa changed the moment she got a friend, don't you?"

Except it wasn't getting a friend that changed her… but she had needed one. Desperately. To the point where she'd basically been willing to do pretty much anything to keep me around. Even telling me all her secrets… I wasn't going to say that Nivera was right about everything. Not when she was missing so many pieces of the puzzle. And I definitely wasn't going to pretend that Devilla being pitiful made up for everything she'd done. But… maybe Devilla's whole self-hatred thing wasn't exactly new, after all?

"Oh, but we should probably get to the point about why we brought you out here," Chloe added, drawing my attention back to the present. "Because you know that whole thing about how someone put the idea of firing Niv's dam into Illa's head? As of about…. an hour ago? That just became a whole lot more relevant."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

I... was not originally intending to write the scene we got from Devilla, here. I was planning to shift directly to the group being beyond the gate and maybe running into trouble of some sort. But then the bit about handholding being lewd occurred to me, and everything sorta flowed from there? No regrets, in the end. It was cute, and fun, and just a little bit painful (because it wouldn't be Devilla if she didn't try and ruin everything for herself.)


Abigail's scene is actually of a similar nature. Except I didn't really have concrete plans for it? I was mostly trying to figure out a way to get towards that last line in a way that would feel natural, and it ended up taking the whole damn chapter.


I'm not sure how satisfied I am with Chloe's bad metaphor in this chapter - it's not really bad enough - but I had to give her one because she's Chloe... Actually, I went back and looked over some of Chloe's last chapter to try and get her voice right. Hopefully I did alright? It wasn't as easy to get her whirlwind energy in this time, since she's playing mediator. (Communication is actually really important to Chloe, so she's taking the role seriously! It's a whole thing with her. Even if that communication sometimes happens in a non-standard way when it's with Nivera.)


I'm still working on chapter 33 right now - new antidepressant/ADHD meds have led to some trouble, though I'm still hoping to get the rough draft up today or tomorrow - but chapter 32's is already up on Patreon!


Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for proofreading and Lulla for beta reading!

 

[PrincessKay]

Devilla

The momentous nature of our first steps aside, there really wasn't anything that impressive immediately outside the town walls. The most noteworthy thing was the ever present line of people waiting to enter the city. Though I did notice a few things that had previously escaped me - namely the fact that almost everyone was clumped together in groups of at least two or more. There was also a tension to the travelers, easily detectable from the way people's eyes darted about with every noise.

A result of the Monster Movement, perhaps? If Lucy and Feyra were to be believed, it made the world outside considerably less safe… if it could even be called safe to begin with. It was likely that only the desperate or the foolhardy would dare to travel alone, in such cond-

"GAH!"

"...Did anyone else hear a scream?" I questioned, glancing first to Lucy, and then to Feyra. The latter merely shrugged her shoulders, while the former shook her head. That shake was quickly followed by a question, however.

"Do you know where it came from? Could you lead us there?"

"Lead us where?" Feyra interjected. "I didn't even hear anything!"

"Me neither, but I trust Eena's sense of hearing at least as much as my own! If she heard someone scream, then we should check it out!"

"It could have been nothing," I warned her, even as I tugged at her hand. It wasn't a lie, or a false assurance. While I'd certainly heard a scream, it could easily have been someone reacting to a spider, or - Fallen forbid - a rat. There hadn't been any follow up, after all, nor had the initial scream come with any form of context… But if it did signal genuine danger, and we ignored it, the result would doubtlessly haunt Lucy. I wouldn't be exactly untroubled by it, either.

Besides which, the voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Fuck!" came the cry again, closer this time. It was paired with the noise of metal clashing on… something hard? Not metal, I was fairly certain. It was more akin to when Lucy had blocked the spiked bear's claws with her sword - though not quite that, either.

It didn't matter. A few more steps through the woods, and I'd have my answer.

"I think I heard something this time!" Lucy declared, relinquishing my hand in order to grab at the hilt of her sword, while picking up her pace.

I hesitated a moment, eyeing the bumpy forest floor with its carpeting of roots, leaves, and twigs. Tripping hazards for a girl in heels. I could potentially levitate myself? It would certainly be a fast mode of travel. It would also gobble up far more magic than simply flying with my wings, and prevent me from utilizing any other form of magic… Maybe I could bounce between the trees, then? Or…

I fought with myself. Long enough for Feyra to pass me on her horse. Long enough for Lucy to pass through the trees before me, drawing her sword from its sheath. Long enough for me to curse myself for being a fool, who would put vanity before the safety of one she cared about. Then I gathered up my courage, undid the straps of my shoes with a bit of magical manipulation, and stepped barefoot onto the forest floor.

Freed of my footwear, which I'd quickly stowed in my pack, it was trivial to outpace Feyra's horse and catch up with Lucy. I chose not to look in her direction, though, not wanting to see the expression she might make, at seeing my reduced height. I doubted she'd be disappointed by my diminutive appearance, but… it was best to keep my eyes upon the trouble ahead.

Trouble that came in the form of a familiar blonde figure, facing against what looked to be a massive spider made of stone.

"Is that Kalice?" Feyra called from behind me.

"Cute… I mean, who's Kalice?" Lucy asked.

"Someone who caused trouble for Feyra in the recent past," I explained, frowning at the blonde debt collector as she warded off one of the spider's legs by punching it with a steel clad fist. "And I suppose she is attractive enough, yes - though it hardly seems the time to mention it?"

To be honest, she seemed more 'hot' than cute to me, clad as she was in leather armor that clung closely to her curves. With her blonde hair swept back into a ponytail, and her orange eyes burning with determination as she deflected strike after strike from the spider with her gauntlets, there was a certain fierceness I could see attracting someone. Indeed, it might have drawn me if not for her previous behavior rather tainting my opinion of her…

"You're probably right about the timing," Lucy confirmed, with a nod as she strode forward. "But I was actually talking about you!"

"M-me?!" I sputtered. "F-for the last time, I'm not… just because I took off my heels, doesn't mean I'm… For Fall…. By all that is good in this world, can we please focus on the girl in trouble?!"

"I am focused on her!" Lucy protested. "But it's usually considered bad manners to interfere with a monster fight unless you're asked. Can you step in while I heal her if things go wrong, though?"

"Could you please shut up and let me concentrate?!" Kalice shouted, jumping back as one of the spider's legs crashed into the ground, where she'd been standing a moment prior. "This thing is hard enough to beat without an audience!"

"Sounds like she's fine, to me" Feyra remarked, pulling her horse to a stop next to us. "If anything, we're getting in the way by being here…"

"I guess," Lucy admitted, frowning, before lowering her voice. "Maybe we could just hide out of sight? That way we can leave if everything goes well, and interfere if it doesn't. I can heal any injuries that don't kill her instantly, so long as Eena buys me time!"

"Easy enough," I confirmed, turning to walk back through the trees. "Though, regardless of the results, I think I'd like to have a word with her when this is done… She made some vague threats, when last we met, and I'd honestly rather tie up such a messy loose end."

"She threatened you?" Lucy questioned, following after me as we put a few trees between us and the fight. A tingle in the air alerted me to Lucy's use of magic - likely preparations to distract or block the spider in a hurry, if need be.

"Uh. Am I the only one worried about the super fucking ominous thing Eena just said?" Feyra asked, drawing a frown from me.

"Did Lucy put you up to saying that? Because I really don't see what's so problematic about wanting to put a preemptive end to any trouble she might cause us in the future."

"Don't worry," Lucy interceded. "Eena's just bad at phrasing things! I'm sure she isn't planning to kill her or anything like that!"

"Kill… I know you don't think much of me, Feyra, but I'm hardly going to kill someone for an inconvenience they may or may not be intending to one day inflict upon me! I simply hope to use Lucy's status as the Heroine to make her think twice about future entanglements… assuming you don't mind, that is?"

"I don't!" Lucy confirmed. "Though I also don't think you should get mad at Feyra, when she's only reacting to your phrasing. And I'm still kind of curious about what's going on? It sounds like she caused a lot of trouble for you and Feyra, but Feyra never mentioned any of it to me!"

I bit back my instinctive protest at Lucy's words, choosing to instead think back on what I had previously said. I… still didn't see anything wrong with my initial word choice. Yes, I suppose it could be misconstrued as a threat of sorts, but I was hardly the sort to maim or kill just to 'tie up loose ends' - even at my brattiest, there were always lines I would not cross. Feyra didn't know that, though. In fact, she quite obviously thought the opposite. Something that irritated me… but was that really an excuse to get mad at her, in the here and now? Or was I simply being too sensitive, when it came to her opinion of me? I hadn't gotten mad at Lucy when she reacted that way before, after all. And even if I did have a right to be annoyed at Feyra in general, snapping at her wasn't exactly productive to winning her over.

"I apologize," I said at last, nodding my head towards Feyra before turning my attention towards Lucy. "Though as for sating your curiosity, I do believe the duty belongs to Feyra. Assuming she's willing to share?"

"There's nothing to share," Feyra grumbled, rolling her eyes - whether at my apology, Lucy's curiosity, or both, I could not say. "I borrowed money. She came to collect. Eena interfered."

"Is that why you said you paid your last guide in saints?" Lucy asked, smiling at me. "You were paying off her debt, weren't you?"

"...It was as much to extricate myself from trouble as anything," I informed her, not entirely happy with the look Lucy was giving me. One that seemed to promise praise and hugs, if I wasn't careful. Not that I'd have minded the latter, but… "It was my fault that they caught Feyra to begin with, besides. She was hiding just fine until I gave her away with my gaze."

"Hiding from problems doesn't solve them," Lucy pointed out. "You did that. And you did it by paying Feyra for her services, too - which meant she got to keep her pride, and got helped! By someone who could have easily left on her own, if she wasn't a better person than she gives herself credit for!"

"I'm not the hero you think I am, Lucy," I protested. "If not for the guilt I felt, I might not have interceded at all."

"But you did help!" Lucy insisted. "Maybe you felt like you had to, but you still did it! Plus, you could have just beaten up the people chasing her, but you helped her deal with the root problem instead!"

A faint flush touched my cheeks. Partially because of Lucy's compliments, but mostly… "I did fight them, actually…"

"If you could call that a fight," Feyra scoffed. "She basically played with them - blocked their punches, pushed them into each other, made them sprawl in the mud… I don't think she even threw a single punch."

"I did throw one of them into the other," I reminded her. "But no. I didn't trust myself to calculate the right force - too much and they might have been permanently injured, too little and they'd have thought me weak."

"So… You saved Feyra without hurting anyone too badly and paid off her debt?" Lucy asked, eyes sparkling.

"I threw about a couple ruffians too weak to harm me, and then paid someone for her services so that we could all move on with our lives. And even so, I apparently embarrassed the blonde - Kalice? - enough to swear vengeance upon me. Hardly the story of a hero."

"I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I would have done, though? Including the part where they're weaker than me! I mean, assuming they would even be willing to try and fight me, anyway - people don't really like doing that, for the most part…"

"That's because even if they won, anyone who found out would beat their fucking asses for you," Feyra interjected. "I mean, you're the fucking Heroine! The savior of humanity? Doing anything that even has a chance of putting your life at risk would basically make them a traitor to our whole species."

The loud crack interrupted our conversation, and drew our attention back to the fight happening a scant few feet away from us. Kalice had apparently managed to land herself upon the stone spider's back at some point, and was now engaged in viciously punching it.

"...You know, it occurs to me that we're talking rather loudly, considering our proximity."

"Don't worry!" Lucy reassured me. "I'm doing something to the air around us, to keep her from hearing us! It's sort of like my privacy spell, but it uses arcane magic instead of holy magic."

"I see…" Something to do with sound waves, perhaps? I was fairly sure simply stilling the air immediately between us and her would be enough to keep our voices from reaching. "Well, I suppose there's little for us to do but wait until she's finished pounding it into submission."

"Or we could talk about how you're totally a better person than you give yourself credit for, while we wait?" Lucy suggested.

"Or how the public is going to react to the Heroine going all lovey dovey around some unknown highborn," Feyra muttered.

…Was it too much to hope that Kalice ended her adversary quickly?

Abigail

"What are you talking about?" Nivera demanded, narrowing her eyes at Chloe. "How did it 'become relevant'?"

"Well, I've been looking over some reports while looking at you," Chloe declared, holding up a piece of paper which… I was pretty sure she hadn't been holding a moment before. "I'll circle the relevant bit."

"Where that come from?" Bailey asked, eyes locked on a pen that Chloe definitely hadn't been holding a second ago. "Wild magic?"

"Sorta. It's a partial activation," Chloe explained, with a grin. "You know how my clothes disappear and reappear when I transform? It's basically that, but harder."

"Harder is an understatement… Isn't that supposed to be insanely difficult?" Partial activation of wild magic basically meant complete mastery over it! It took a ton of training. From what I'd been told, anyway. I hadn't exactly ever tried to learn, since it was kinda useless for succubi - I mean, what was I going to do with it? Learn to fly without using my wings? Maybe try to taste lust without eating it?

"It's like needing to sneeze, starting to sneeze, and then just… stopping your sneeze?" Chloe explained. "Without using your hands. Except to do stuff like this!" Her fingers morphed into claws - claws which probably looked pretty small and cute when she was a fox, but which looked pretty damn vicious when sized up. "Oh, and not to brag, but it's way harder with storage spaces. I mean, it's meant to store all my stuff when I transform, and stop storing it when I turn back, so when I want to put something in or take something out I basically have to keep track of everything I don't want it to suck in or spit out."

"Can we please focus on the report?" Nivera interrupted.

"Right…" The absolutely ridiculous level of control Chloe had over her wild magic had thrown me for a bit of a loop, but… "What the hell's all this about someone putting the idea of firing your dam into Devilla's head? And how's it relevant now?"

"Alira Aleesendra," Nivera told me, all but growling the name. Even Bailey was looking at her weird for that one!

"She used to be the general of the ninetieth floor," Chloe told me, lowering her voice to a whisper as she handed over the report. "She was in charge of internal affairs and royal prestige. Which basically meant keeping an eye on how people are doing in the tower - y'know, making sure they're all distracted by their day to day lives, and not panicking about the inevitable demise of our species, or plotting a rebellion. Which… she's still sorta doing? Even though Illa kicked her out of office, and stripped her entire bloodline of any and all right to hold government positions. Revenge for the whole 'you should totally fire Niv's dam' thing - which, to be fair, Alira suggested purely because the two of them had a serious rivalry going on? So it wasn't like Illa wasn't right to be mad. She might have gone a little bit too far by physically throwing Alira out of her office, though. And down a bunch of stairs. She uh… kinda broke a couple bones on the way down…"

"Don't feel bad for her," Nivera snarled, through gritted teeth. "She was also in charge of maintaining Devilla's public image. Another thing she's still doing, by the way - unless you think it's a coincidence that every single mistake Devilla makes somehow ends up being common knowledge? That everyone in the tower knows how she treats her maids, for example. Or that she skips supposedly 'important' meetings where absolutely nothing gets done, because nothing can get done, because we're all fucking trapped in a tower - but obviously the real reason nothing gets done is because the queen who was never actually taught how to rule wasn't there! And everyone thinks she should just go out there and reclaim our lands, nevermind all the issues with doing so! You know, like the fact that there's a giant wasteland stretching in every direction, all around us? But why not just pile all the blame on Devilla? The generals get a fucking lightning rod for the public's hatred, Alira gets her fucking revenge on a child who threw a tantrum, and the only one who has to suffer is the girl who's going to die for everyone's sake, anyway, because she cares too much to abandon us all to our fates! And now her own fucking spymaster is meeting with Alira, for some Fallen forsaken reason, and we're probably going to see a whole new round of terrible rumors, right when Devilla's getting back on her feet!"

"Niv has…. feelings on the matter," Chloe added.

Yeah… That was kinda obvious. Not that I could blame her. I'd kinda always taken it for granted that Devilla was an incompetent brat who wouldn't know how to lead someone down a one-way hallway, but… Now? I was starting to question where exactly that idea had come from. Not because it wasn't true - Devilla still didn't strike me as a leader, even with all her other improvements - but… well, it wasn't really her fault, from the sound of it? She'd been raised as a puppet, not a queen, but she was still the one getting all the blame. For everything.

There was something a bit more immediately concerning, though.

"Spymaster?" Bailey questioned, tilting her head to the side. Trust her to cut right to the heart of things.

"General Araina," Nivera grumbled. "From floor twenty. Though she's really more like Devilla's gossip hound. The girl has an unhealthy obsession with what people think of her…"

"Had," I said. "She told Araina to stop with that a couple days ago." Which was probably for the best, considering what people tended to say. I'd heard the rumors about Devilla spying on her populace, long before I'd even become her maid. People were actually pretty split on whether they believed it, mostly because there weren't heads flying in every direction, despite all the crap people said. Personally? Knowing it was true? And taking into account everything Nivera had told me… Well, I was starting to realize that maybe I hadn't put enough thought into what that actually meant. What listening to everyone must have done to her, all these years… "These self esteem issues really aren't new, are they?"

"No," Nivera confirmed. "They're not. And if we don't stop Araina from doing… whatever the fuck she's trying to do? They're going to get a whole lot worse."

"Well, then…" Chloe grinned. "It's a good thing I know Araina's dinner plans, isn't it?"

Spoiler: Author's Notes

For those who have forgotten, Kalice was last seen in chapter 12, while Araina is from chapter 11.

I think my favorite part of this chapter is actually the bit where Lucy tells Devilla not to get mad at Feyra. Mostly because of how it shows off the dynamic between the two of them - that Lucy isn't the sort to show favoritism when it comes to enacting her ideals, no matter how she feels about "Eena," and that Devilla is willing to listen to Lucy even when she doesn't really want to. And she kinda has a reason not to? Feyra's been pretty bitchy to her, and Devilla's reaction here was more or less the result of a standing issue! But Lucy doesn't know that, and since Devilla wasn't willing to share that fact… she responded as reasonably as she could.

For Abigail's half, partial activation of wild magic is something I've been planning to introduce for a while now. Like Abigail says, it's meant to be a difficult technique that takes a lot of practice and concentration to get right - and depending on the wild magic at your disposal, it can be either incredibly useful or almost completely useless. (Devilla would love to know about that flying without wings trick, though!)

And then there's Alira. Another plot wrinkle I've been planning for a while. You might remember Devilla mentioning that bloodline she stripped of power? Well, trust her to only focus on the bits she did wrong…

This is the last big reveal about Devilla's past I've got planned, by the way. At least in terms of adding context to her past behavior? From here on, we'll be focusing more on fixing stuff in the present, and maybe seeing some of what she actually did do wrong in the past. (My goal so far hasn't been to excuse any of her actions, but rather to add more depth to her character. I also wanted to make it clear that Devilla's changes aren't a result of her being overwritten by her past life memories, but rather her growing as a person thanks to new information.)

I might have to skip next week's update. I've only written up to chapter 33, and I'm really trying to keep at least 2 chapters in my Patreon buffer. It basically comes down to whether I can finish writing chapter 34 today, and still get chapter 35 done by next week. It's... possible? But I'm really trying not to push myself too hard, because I don't want to burn myself out. Depression keeps getting in the way, as it stands...

Regardless, I want to thank you all for reading, with a special shout out for all of you who've left likes or even comments! Also a special thanks to FallingLeaf for proofreading, and Lulla for beta reading, while I'm at it!

 

[PrincessKay]

Devilla

Kalice's enemy did not meet its end swiftly, or quietly. Instead, it ended after what must have been a hundred blows, with a loud crack, and a squelch as her armored fist broke through its armor and smashed through its flesh, bringing it to an ignoble end.

I barely noticed, however, more preoccupied with the dreadful words that had most recently slipped from Lucy's mouth.

"So why didn't you want me to see you outside of heels, anyway?"

"That's…" I hesitated, not quite able to look Lucy in the eyes, even as she squeezed my arm against her armored chest.

Partially because I hadn't put my heels back on yet, and would have had to look slightly upward to do so.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want," she assured me, her voice filled with an odd mixture of innocence and determination - as if she were readying herself to keep me safe from whatever unknown foe might try and drag the answer from my lips.

"It's fine," I assured her, still attempting to figure out how best to phrase things. How to tell her that I simply didn't like the fact that she was taller than me. In the end, there really weren't any clever phrases I could use to work around it. Not if I wanted to be upfront with her. "I simply… dislike being seen as small. It's ridiculous, I know, but-"

"It's not ridiculous!" Lucy protested, squeezing my hand. "I might not get it, but if it bothers you, then it bothers you, right? It doesn't matter if there's a huge reason, or a tiny one! Just that it's important to you!"

"Not to interrupt," Feyra interrupted, "but has anyone noticed the lack of crashing or cursing over the last couple seconds? Because I think the battle's over, one way or another."

"We'll discuss this later, alright?" I promised, honestly rather thankful for an excuse to put things off, if only because I didn't know what to say. It wasn't as if there was some grand reason for my distaste of being short. I suppose if one were to try and analyze me, they might claim it was a physical representation of my inability to measure up to my mother, or ancestors in general… but that was likely assigning too much depth to a simple issue of vanity.

Regardless, it was best to think about that later. For now, I was eager to slip back into the comforting embrace of my heels, withdrawing them from my pack and utilizing my magic to buckle them without bending down. The restoration of my height was perhaps a little more assuring than I wanted to think about, in the moment - and the warm and caring gaze that Lucy was sending my way certainly wasn't helping. All it did was remind me that I was making her worry over nothing, just because I couldn't come out and admit to my flaws. I did my best to ignore all of the above, though, as I walked past the limits of Lucy's sound seal and towards the assumedly victorious Kalice.

"Ugh," came her voice. "You interlopers still haven't left yet? If you were hoping to pick off a weakened enemy, you're too late for the spider, and far too early for… " Kalice trailed off, crossing her arms and looking me over. Despite knowing that she couldn't hurt me, the blue ichor leaking from her gauntlets did add a certain element of intimidation to her look. "You."

"You remember me, then," I confirmed, arching an eyebrow at her cold reception. "I do hope you aren't planning to use this as an opportunity to make good on your threat to get back at me?"

She scoffed. "As if I'd waste my time on petty revenge. What money's there to be made in that? I just said that in order to save some face in front of the goons. What about you? Here to humiliate me some more? Or did you only do that to impress that lumbering potion addict?"

"I'm not an addict!" Feyra protested, emerging from the forest behind me. Sans horse, I noted. "I just… need them. To feel like myself, alright?"

"...So she's here, too, hmmm?" Kalice asked, keeping her attention on me. "Let me guess - you enjoy playing her knight in shining armor? Careful she doesn't drain your wallet dry - anyone who'd borrow from a loan shark to get something that makes them feel good is an addict, no matter what they say."

"We're going on a mission together, if you must know," I informed her, narrowing my eyes. While I didn't entirely disagree with her words, I got the impression that Feyra was 'addicted' in much the same way a person might be 'addicted' to their antidepressants. Her friends obviously condoned her medicinal use of the potions, after all… Though, by that same token, I did believe Feyra had a problem of sorts - specifically with her pride, which was severely detrimental to her wellbeing, considering she went so far as to go to a loan shark when her actual potion supplier was obviously more than willing to help her out. "I imagine she'll be able to pay for her own potions, without my input, when all is said and done."

"If you're going on a mission, then why are you here?" Kalice demanded.

"To ensure an ideal ending to your fight," I answered honestly. Not that I was entirely sure why I cared, at this point. "And to tie up loose ends, in regards to your ill intentions towards me."

Kalice flinched at my words, before scowling. "Is that some sort of threat?"

"I believe you're the one who threatened me," I reminded her, rolling my eyes at her dramatics. "I simply wished to see if you'd keep to it. If you're unwilling to act upon your hostilities, though, then I don't suppose they matter much in the end."

"So, in other words, you've got no business with me?"

"...I suppose not," I confirmed, glancing at Feyra. I considered suggesting that an apology was in order, but feared that it would come across as an attempt to ingratiate myself, or some such. Perhaps rightly - it wasn't as if I had a reason to care about whether the girl's honor was insulted. Even if Kalice's attitude did rub me the wrong way.

"Then maybe shoo?" Kalice proposed, waving me away with one hand. "I need to dismantle this thing for parts before any predators come in."

"Happily," Feyra interrupted, glaring at me when I opened my mouth to reply.

"Couldn't you be a bit nicer?" came Lucy's voice, preempting my somewhat reluctant agreement. "I know Eena didn't phrase it very well, but she was really worried about your well being, you know? She's the one who heard what sounded like trouble - and even though she had a bad time with you before, she wouldn't have even hesitated to lend a hand if things had gone wrong in your battle!"

"Oh, great," Kalice muttered, directing her attention past me and towards Lucy, who was pushing her way through the branches of a tree. "Ano…ther…. Heroine?!"

"That's me," Lucy confirmed. "And you're Kalice, right?"

"Y-yes, Heroine!" Kalice replied, giving Lucy a nervous smile. She looked deathly pale. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you were there, or-"

"Or you would have treated my traveling companions nicer?" Lucy interrupted. "You shouldn't be so mean to people who want to help you, whether I'm there or not!"

"I understand, Heroine," Kalice said, bowing her head. "I was in the wrong. Would a donation to the church help to make amends for my mistake? I'll gladly donate all my proceeds from this request, if so. Or even if not so! I'll do it! I mean, it's the least I can do to thank the Heroine for watching over me as I fought. I'm sure your presence brought the Goddess's benevolence down on me, just as your own forbearance has kept her judgment of my errors at bay."

Lucy nodded. Not that anyone but me saw it. Kalice's head was bowed so low I doubted she could see much past the obstacle that was her chest, while Feyra had her head in her hands and seemed to be muttering a prayer for the Goddess's mercy.

It wasn't just Lucy's nod they missed, though. It was the sad look in her eyes, and the forced smile on her face as she said, "I'm sure you'll do better in the future! Just remember that the Goddess is always watching, even when I'm not, okay? And try to do your best!"

"Yes, Heroine! I promise, Heroine! I'll do my best, Heroine!" Kalice declared, her head still lowered.

Lucy nodded again. To an audience of one, yet again. "Come on Eena, Feyra. We've got a journey to get back to! And a horse, which I probably shouldn't have left alone!"

"...Did you seriously leave our only mount in a forest of deadly monsters?" I asked, exasperation laced through my tone. Not that I really had the heart to be upset with Lucy, in the moment, but I thought I understood now why she so treasured my willingness to go against her. Far be it from me to deny her that bit of normality.

"I'll hurry back!"

I let out a sigh, before narrowing my eyes at Kalice and Feyra alike. I had quite a bit I wanted to say to them both. It could wait, though. For now, I needed to talk to Lucy about what just happened - and maybe work at restoring her real smile, while I was at it.

Moving after Lucy, I copied Lucy's sound seal as soon as I was out of Kalice's sight - a wall of magic, which saturated the air and refuted the progression of sound waves from our side of it. My understanding of the physics involved was sub-par, so it was surely taking more energy to maintain than if I could properly dictate my wants, but the cost was ultimately negligible regardless. Saturating the air itself took more out of me than any active effect thereafter, and I could easily afford that a thousand times over.

More important than the details of my magic was the expression on Lucy's face when I found her, holding the horse's reins. Her sad smile had fallen by the wayside, the mask of joy discarded in favor of downcast eyes and furrowed brow.

"Is it always like that?" I asked, before I could stop myself. "So blinded by your title that they can't see the girl who simply wishes to help?"

"Except with you," Lucy confirmed. "And Feyra, I guess? But it's different with her…"

"She treats you as the Heroine," I remarked, even as I felt Feyra stepping through my magical field.

"That's because she is the Heroine. Chosen of the Goddess? Heroine of humanity? The most important human on the face of the planet!"

"But still just a human, all the same," I pointed out. "One who grows lonely. One who wishes for companionship - friendship. And who doesn't deserve to be treated like an… outsider."

"It's fine, Eena," Lucy tried to assure me with a smile. But it was the same downcast smile that I had seen before.

"Aren't you the one who told me not to lie?" I protested. "How can it be fine when you're alienated?"

"I have you," she pointed out.

"And you'll continue to have me, for as long as you wish," I promised. "But that does not change the fact that you deserve more. You deserve to be acknowledged as an individual."

"It's… I won't say it's fine," Lucy replied, shaking her head. "Or that I don't hate it. But you're more than I ever had before? And that makes me really happy! It gives me hope that I'll find even more people who will accept me some day! And that's good enough for now… Though…" She glanced at Feyra.

"Like I don't have enough trouble without being known as the Heroine's cursed pity project," Feyra groaned. "I don't need everyone looking my way whenever you make a blasphemous comment in public, alright? I have enough problems surviving already, without people thinking I'm corrupting their precious Heroine."

"And yet you're here," I pointed out. "Being seen on a mission with her. Because you care about her wellbeing."

"Only because it'll be even worse if she goes off and dies in some hairbrained scheme, and people find out that I didn't do anything to prevent it!"

"I don't think anyone knows we spend time together, though," Lucy pointed out. "I mean, I even avoid defending you, just because I know you don't like it."

"Is that why you never mentioned her name during the confrontation with Kalice?" I questioned. "I didn't have much time to think of it at the time, but it was rather odd that you didn't protest Feyra being called an addict…"

"Well, Feyra would have gotten annoyed at me…"

"And I suppose you take it as a win that Feyra's even willing to express that annoyance at you?" I questioned, before sighing when Lucy gave a nod. "Well, I suppose I can't blame you for taking victories where you can get them… but do note that I refuse to be satisfied with such. You deserve to be seen, Lucy, not just as the Heroine, but as the charming, kind, generous, and pure soul that you are."

"I'm not sure that's really possible…" Lucy confessed. "But I'd be happy to work towards it with you! Especially since it goes well with my own goal!"

"Your own goal?" I questioned. Feyra, too, looked curious, arching an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh!" Lucy gave me a grin - an honest, happy one that lifted my spirits - before stepping forward to take my hand. "To help my friend Eena see herself as the beautiful, charming, sweet, and generous soul that she is!"

"...I think you're going to have your work cut out for you with that one," I remarked.

"Seriously…" Feyra agreed.

"That's alright," Lucy responded. "I mean, I'm already expected to defeat the Demon Queen and end the war - I'm sure beating back the hatred in your heart can't be any more difficult than that! I'll help you conquer those bad feelings of yours, team up with you, and end the threat that faces this world all in one go!"

…I knew, intellectually, that she was essentially promising to work towards my death. Alongside me, at that. I knew that. What I didn't - couldn't - understand was how in the world she managed to make it sound so endearing.

Abigail

I closed the door to my apartment with a sigh, grateful for what little alone time I could get my hands on while Chloe went out to 'case' the restaurant, and Nivera did… something or another? The girl wasn't exactly great at communicating.

"Something on Maid's mind."

…Well, relatively alone time. Bailey still had it in her head that she needed to guard me. "Lots. And I really need to sort it out, so if you could maybe be quiet for-"

"Honey?" a voice called. "Is that you?"

"...Yeah, Mom, it's me."

"Back from work already?" Mom asked, walking into the main living space of our apartment, to greet me. "I thought Queen Devilla was running you ragged, of late?"

"I never said that!" I protested, crossing my arms.

"I have eyes, Abigail," Mom replied. She probably rolled them at me, too. Not that I could prove it, with her stupid pitch black succubus eyes. "You've been exhausted, lately, for reasons you won't even speak of. She isn't pressuring you to do anything untoward, is she?"

"She wouldn't," I replied quickly, glancing at Bailey. I half expected the wolf girl to start growling at mom for the accusation, but she just stood there, back ramrod straight. Even her tail was still!

Then again, she didn't seem to really like going against Mom, anyway. Something about it being her territory… Which…. Crap. Meant I had to be the one to growl at her, huh? Metaphorically, anyway. "Devilla wouldn't make me do anything I'm not comfortable with. Hell, I'm pretty sure she'd be happier if I stopped pushing myself for her sake."

"Really?" Mom asked, raising a brow at me. "That doesn't sound like the queen I know."

"Well, maybe that's because you don't know her like I do!" I… snapped. Shit. That wasn't good. Mom was totally going to do the whole hands on her hips, 'now you listen to me, young lady' thing, wasn't she? That's what she'd normally do. Except… for some reason, she was only raising one of her eyebrows?

"It seems like you have pretty strong feelings on the matter," she remarked, instead of giving me the lecture I expected. "You know, I have noticed that you can't stop talking about her, lately. Even if it is mostly complaints…"

"I guess?" I agreed, not really sure what her point was. It was probably better not to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. Mom had a way of making me feel like a little kid again when she got mad at me. "I just think she's trying harder than anyone gives her credit for. And maybe… maybe there's a reason she wasn't trying, before, I guess? Maybe it's just because nobody ever gave her a chance."

"Before you?"

"That's not what I… I mean, she's just… I've just been learning a lot about her, alright? And I don't think things are as simple as everyone makes them out to be."

"Very little in the world ever is," Mom agreed. Or at least I thought she agreed? The look she was giving me seemed to imply there was something more to it. Something I was missing. "I'll try to keep an open mind about Devilla, dear. She was different than I expected when we met, after all. But make sure you keep your eyes open, alright? Just because she treats you differently doesn't mean she's actually changed."

"She has changed," I insisted, stomping my foot. Which… wow, childish much? But Mom always brought that out in me.

…I probably needed to see about getting my own place, didn't I?

"Of course, dear," Mom said, in that tone of voice that said she was humoring me as much as anything.

"Wait. You didn't use her title? Why didn't you use her title? You always use her title."

"Just… getting used to it, I suppose," Mom replied. "Just in case…"

"In case of what?" I asked. Mom just laughed and turned towards the kitchen.

"How about I make us breakfast for dinner, hmm? Maybe some of the same dishes you taught Devilla to make? And you can tell me all the ways she's different than I think while we eat."

"...Okay?" I replied, staring at her back in confusion as she walked away from me. "What was that about?"

Bailey met my question with a blank stare. I thought that was all I was going to get out of her. I kinda wish that I was all I got out of her, because when she finally did speak it only confused me more. "Said nobody knows what Maid thinks of Queen. Starting to think Maid doesn't know, either…"

What the hell?

Spoiler: Author's Notes

And we're back! Writer's block - and depression - really kicked my ass on this chapter. Specifically during part of Devilla's section, where Lucy came out to defend her - our poor Heroine was put in a really awkward situation, which resulted in the writing feeling awkward, if that makes any sense? (She wants to stand up for Feyra, but Feyra will get really mad if Lucy fights for her, but she can't just stay silent, but when she tries to interfere it ends up like this and she hates it.) It took me several days to push through just that small section.

Abigail's section, by contrast, took me maybe two hours. It also feels a bit odd to me, but more because talking with her mom brings out a different side of Abigail than what I'm used to. It was a lot simpler to write, regardless - and a lot more fun~!

I'm a bit worried that the story's pace may have slowed down too much, of late, between Devilla's side largely focusing on cute interactions and Abigail's being all about exposition. I'm not sure if it's a concern anyone else shares, but I'm happy to say that we'll be moving into actual plot progression territory going forward.

Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for proofreading and Lulla for beta reading! And to all of you for reading, while I'm at it.

PS: Depression is a bit better, and I've written up to chapter 35 on Patreon! Which, one, means you can read ahead for as little as a dollar, but also two, means that the next two weeks of updates will be released at the usual time!

 

[PrincessKay]

Author's Note: So, fun fact: I actually wrote two versions of this chapter! The events and dialogue are pretty much identical - but one version is from Chloe's perspective and the other is from Abigail's. My patrons voted to make Chloe's the Official One, but I've decided to make Abigail's (slightly less polished) version available to the public, as well. Some people find Chloe a little too chaotic, after all! So you can read it here~!

Chloe

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Abigail asked for the third time.

"I'm sure," I replied, keeping my voice nice and patient. I mean, I could hardly blame her for the whole disbelief thing! We were on one of the nature floors, after all. Great for relaxing outside the city floors, not so great for eating fancy dinners. Especially this one, seeing as how it was forest-based.

"Don't doubt Chloe's information network," Nivera grumbled, glaring at Abigail. "She's never wrong."

"Almost never," I corrected her. Because sweetness is sweet, but getting carried away was just going to set false expectations! "There was that one time with the juggler! And yep, I know, you still think that she was up to something - your trust in me is really sweet. We did clear her, though… My intel's pretty solid this time, though, either way. A friend of a friend overheard another friend talking to her friend about how Araina got invited out to a sunset picnic by this girl in a super expensive dress. Also, I just straight up asked Araina what her dinner plans were while you two were busy. She got super flustered. It was the cutest thing!"

Seriously - she'd turned so red! And her adorable little feet started tapping away at the ground as she backed up, then shuffled forward, then went back again… No need to bring all that up, though! I mean, sure, communication is important, but I wasn't trying to make Nivera jealous! Especially about the feet. She always pouted when I said anything about someone having cute feet. I think she worried I might have a foot fetish, or something.

Anyway, Nivera looked like she had enough things she wanted to say already. Like 'why were you flirting with the enemy,' and 'why would you risk alerting our enemy by flirting with them,' and 'are you sure you didn't just want to flirt with a cute spider girl?' But all she actually said was, "Okay."

Which… No. Communication is too important to let her get away with that taciturn nonsense! Especially since I knew why she was doing it.

"Awww, look at my cutie Niv, acting like she trusts me completely!" I cooed. "Not that you don't, but you also really don't need to try and put up a 'united front' in front of Abigail and Bailey, y'know? We're allies. And I know you've got wasps in your stomach, wondering whether Araina's likely to change her plans, or contact the Aleesendra family. The answer is no, by the way! She has terrible social anxiety - really sucky stuff - so there's pretty much no way she's going to contact them an hour before the meeting just to tell them that she told some random girl where the meeting's going to be. Especially since I was all sneaky about it - y'know, went in asking her out on a date, then segued into teasing her about maybe already having one, and taking an interest in where? Even if she thinks it's suspicious, she'll second guess herself right up until the actual meeting time."

"Wait," Abigail said. "You asked her out on a date? Isn't she going to be a bit mad when she finds out you were trying to trick her? I mean, the plan is to get her on our side, right?"

"Who said I was tricking her?" I asked, tilting my head a little to the side. Mostly because I knew Nivera found it adorable when I did that, even if she'd never ever admit it in front of anyone. "I'm poly, she's cute, and I'm pretty sure she'd actually be into the whole 'bound up interrogation' thing Nivera's already plotting in the back of her brain. Though, maybe save the binding for after we've gotten to know her a bit better? And the interrogation for after I've gotten more of a chance to talk to her. Speaking of which, I'd really appreciate it if you could sit this one out, Niv. The poor thing's skittish enough already."

Oops, looks like it's 'Nivera Doesn't Want to Say the Thing she Wants to Say Take Two!' This time with a dash of suspicion! This time, I was going to take her "Alright" at face value, though. I had my reasons! And she knew I had reasons. And she knew I knew she knew about those reasons! And usually I'd say screw all that and demand that we actually explain our reasons, but this time… well, I had reasons!

"Come on, you two!" I called out to Bailey and Abigail. "We're gonna need to scamper like a set of squirrel girls on bitterbean if we want to make it there on time." Then I grabbed hold of both their wrists, and took off running like a… Well, like a squirrel girl on bitterbean, I guess! Partially because we really were running out of time, but also because Abigail looked like she wanted to ask a few questions in Nivera's place. Which, again, would normally be welcome, but - again - I had my reasons not to! So I was just going to have to keep them busy dodging tree roots while we ran for a bit.

"Fox up to something," Bailey grumbled from behind me. Which was maybe a bit of a problem, since it meant that she was good enough at keeping up to grumble, which in turn meant she might have the spare breath to ask questions I couldn't have her asking… but, thankfully, she wasn't the sort to talk much.

"I'm always up to something!" I agreed, because there's no deflection like a truth-based deflection! "I'm a trickster, y'know? I trick, tease, trap, and sometimes even bamboozle! But I also look out for my friends, so trust me, alright?"

"You know, most people would at least pretend to be trustworthy before telling people to trust them," Abigail pointed out. Which was totally true! And definitely the easier route to take. But…

"You say that like it's a good thing! If I acted like I'm always on the straight and narrow, I'd lose all credibility the moment you found out about my true nature. I'd rather be upfront on what you can and can't trust me with - speaking of which, it might be a good time to mention that I never lie, so if you want to mislead Araina through half-truths, you're on your own. But if you leave it to me, I'll be sure we get through this with all the sureness of a mouse sniffing her way through a maze! Which is to say that there's probably going to be a lot of backtracking, but we'll make it in the end."

"Wait. So you're a trickster who doesn't lie?" Abigail asked. I guess she was getting used to root-dodging, too. "How does that even work?"

"Pretty well, actually," I called back - or more like threw back! A little trick I knew, to make it seem like my voice was coming from behind her. It worked extra great when I paired it with an illusion. Of course, then I had to actually take the lead in guiding Abigail past obstacles, to ensure that she wouldn't stumble when her head snapped back towards my illusion. But that was fine! She'd probably only be looking for a second, anyway, so long as I made the fake image do a dramatic fade away. "Between the fun things I can do with my voice, the amazing things I can get up to with illusions, and absolutely crazy things I can do with my body - some of which you might see first hand, one day, if you're lucky - it's not actually that hard to get away without lying. And by never lying, I make sure people will take me seriously when it matters most! Communication's pretty important to me, after all."

"...Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit of a mess?" Abigail asked me, shaking her head. Bailey nodded, meanwhile, which… Okay, I wasn't going to say that didn't hurt - the girl was such an innocent sweetheart, I couldn't help wanting her to like me, but… Well, I had a mission to get back to!

"A very hot mess! Now come on, Araina's waiting right through those trees!"

Trees we passed through just half a second later. The arachne of the hour was standing by the opposite side of the treeline, nervously tapping her fingers together, shifting her legs about and occasionally glancing up at the sky to try and check the time.

"Hey Araina!" I called out, as soon as she was in sight. "How're you doing?"

"Ch-Chloe?!" she called out, jumping about a foot in the air. "And… aren't you… Queen Devilla's maid?"

"Fox popular," Bailey said. She sounded a bit impressed with me, which was nice, but… Well, I think she was impressed with the wrong thing. Araina knowing my name wasn't anything special!

"I mean, it would have been impolite to ask her out on a date without at least introducing myself, right? Also, hi Araina! Good to see you again so soon. Seriously. But also, I might have left out a couple tiny details about my entirely sincere interest in asking you out? Like the fact that I'm engaged to a fiancee who doesn't exactly mind me dating but does sorta have trust issues that can be difficult to work around? And also the fact that I'm Devilla's cousin. And she's Devilla's childhood friend. And that me, Devilla's friendly maid, and Devilla's… Bailey? All really really need to talk to you about your upcoming dinner with a member of the Aleesendra family."

"I-I'm not…" Araina swallowed and backed up a step, moving towards the trees. That wasn't good. She was definitely feeling skittish, but it could have been worse. She wasn't running away yet, at least. "I'm not in trouble, am I? It's just… I-I mean, Mellany reached out to me. S-she said she could help me with m-my image problem. I don't even… I wasn't going to give her a-any… I mean, I don't even have anything on Q-Queen Devilla, other than maybe a few rumors anyone could hear, s-so-"

"Relax," I interrupted, holding up my hands with my palm out. I needed to keep her from making any mistakes here, or Nivera might end up assuming the worst and doing something we couldn't take back. "I'm not here to make any accusations, alright? I just want to make sure nobody makes any mistakes they'll regret."

"Speaking of regrets," came a very familiar voice from behind me. I didn't even need to turn around to know that it was Nivera coming out of the woods behind me, with her arms crossed and her lips pulled down into an adorable frown. "I think we need to have a talk, Chloe. I have some new information that might change how you handle this."

"I'm sure you do," I replied, following through on the 'not needing to turn around' thing by… well, not turning around. "And I'll get to you as soon as I'm done reassuring our skittish General, alright?"

There was a moment of silence - shocked silence, if I had to guess, where everyone wondered what the heck was going through my brilliant mind as I completely ignored my fiancee. I ignored that, too!

"Araina," I continued, instead. "I'm going to have a talk with Mellany and get this all sorted out, alright? And I promise, whatever happens, I'll be speaking up for you. I know you don't mean harm. You're probably just scared because everything's changing, right? And you don't know where that leaves you?"

"I…" Araina hesitated a moment, before nodding. "Yes?"

"Well, we'll figure it out together," Chloe promised. "In a second. First…" I spun towards 'Nivera.' "Mellany! I stole your date. How about we make it up with that totally private chat you wanted?"

"Mellany?"

"Mellany?!"

"...Enemy?"

Abigail, Araina, and Bailey asked, pretty much in tandem, but not at all synced! Weird how that worked out.

'Nivera' meanwhile, blinked once, opened her mouth, closed it, and then let out a sharp laugh that sounded way too raspy to be coming out of my wonderful fiancee's throat. It was actually kinda creepy. "What gave me away?"

"Let's see…" I started, tapping my foot on the grass. "Excluding the fact that I recognized your name and knew you were a mimic girl - you really should have tried to interrupt before Araina said it, by the way - there's your hair and scales, which are both a few shades off. Also the fact that Nivera would never come in unannounced without using at least three hidden code words in the first sentence. And maybe some tail or hand signals, to be safe. Especially after I asked her to stay out of this. But also I asked her to stay out explicitly to bait you, since, y'know, Araina told me who she was meeting with earlier? Something I know you know, because there's no way you would have invited Araina to such an accessible place, in public, if you weren't trying to bait me out in turn. Right?"

"Actually, I was planning to ask for Araina's help getting in touch with Devilla," she claimed. "Meeting you was a surprise. Are you sure you aren't spending too much time with Nivera? It's warping your thought processes."

"Uh-huh." I rolled my eyes. "Because she totally got that way out of nowhere, and not, y'know, thanks to the same kind of upbringing you had? Now can we stop with the misleads and just get to the point? After you change, I mean. Kinda awkward interrogating my fiancee, y'know?"

Mellany let out another one of those creepy (from Nivera) laughs, and shook her head a little. At the same time, though, her body started to shift. Her tail curled up on itself, the scales melding together to form a solid lump beneath her demonoid half, which then stretched up and out in order to form a chest shape, one that came complete with hinges and a curved lid. The colors shifted from green to brown, and the scales became wooden grain.

The rest of her changes were a little less dramatic, but just as impressive. Her demonoid half, which was now protruding from the chest, became a touch less toned - though she kept the abs - while her arms grew just a little longer, and her nails extended, turning black alongside her fingertips. Her teeth, too, became long and pointed, meshing with one another to fill her mouth with a shark-like grin. Her hair, meanwhile, shifted from long wavy brown locks to a bright blonde bob that fanned out on either side of her head before coming to pointed ends. Her face became a bit more angular, meanwhile, while her green eyes shifted to two different tones - silver on the right, gold on the left. Finally, the black band that had surrounded 'Nivera's' chest sank into her flesh, revealing a perky pair of melons.

"Satisfied?" Mellany asked, baring her teeth in what might have maybe been a grin? If I was feeling charitable. Which I wasn't.

"Mostly!" I replied, with an actual grin. "I mean, there's still the whole underlying threat that comes with using Nivera's form - y'know, the bit that I know you can fuck up our lives, and you know that I know that, but neither of us are supposed to say it because unspoken threats are totally the best threats? Which is why I'm not even going to bother spelling out what I'll do to you if you ever actually follow through on that threat you totally didn't make. Instead, I'm going to invite you to come sit down and eat! I brought chamomile tea. And ham sandwiches!"

Mellany shivered. Which would normally make me feel bad, but for once I was pretty sure a heavy hand was warranted! Even if seeing her sharp toothed smile all strained was a bit of a downer. But she still tried to do the whole nonchalant thing, waving her pointy nailed hand in the air and going, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. No need for dramatics, alright? Copying her form was just the best way to separate you from Araina for a bit."

"Which you wanted to do, because…?" Abigail prompted. I think she mostly just wanted to feel included in the conversation, which was fair! She'd been sort of sidelined for all this.

"Because I wanted to work out a better deal for myself, of course," Mellany replied. "I mean, come on, that's why we're all here, isn't it? You want to make sure your new sugar mama stays safe. Chloe wants to keep her fiancee from having a mental breakdown when Queen Devilla inevitably returns to her old ways. Araina wants to… well, currently I'm pretty sure she wants to run away like a scared little bitch, but she's not doing that because she's also hoping to get everyone to stop hating on her, right?"

"Devilla is not my-" Abigail started

"Th-that's not-" Araina protested.

I clapped. "Yay! Communication! I like it. I mean, your views are totally tainted and twisted, and I kinda hate your guts already, but first impressions can be worked on! What's important is that you're actually saying what you mean out loud."

"I mean, you made it pretty clear that you want all cards on the table," Mellany said, with a shrug. "So let's do this. With Araina around, mind you, since you were going to tell her everything that happened anyway, right?"

I could tell from her smirk that she thought she was pulling one over on me with that. Most likely she didn't believe that I really wanted everything out in the open. I knew from dealing with my lovely - but uncommunicative - Nivera that it was a difficult thing for most bloodliners to wrap their heads around… but I actually did want everything out in the open, so, "Okay!"

Mellany blinked, which I kinda expected. Then she scowled, which I'd also more or less expected, and glared at Araina which… I wish I could say I hadn't expected. But, hey, in the end she went, "Ugh, fine!" Soooo… win?

"Let me make this simple for you," she continued. "I don't care about Araina. I don't care about her troubles, her woes, or whatever juicy rumors she might be able to share about Devilla. As far as I'm concerned, Granny Alira's an old hag who's obsession is just a waste of family resources that could be better spent on pursuing actual business opportunities. I asked Araina to meet with me, and put out false info about Granny taking an interest in her, explicitly so that I could try and lure you out - because I know you and your fiancee are two of the only people in this entire Goddess forsaken tower with both a hatred of bloodline politics and a willingness to actually do something about it."

"Uh-huh…" I gave her a nod, all serious like, hummed like I was actually giving it some thought, and then frowned like something had just occurred to me. "And what do you want for yourself?"

"A cushy government job," she answered immediately. "Paired with the rescinding of Devilla's ban on my family from entering political jobs. Excluding Granny, that is."

"You want your stock in the family to rise." Fallen from grace or not, it seemed like bloodliners were still bloodliners. The more someone accomplished, in a family like that, the more respect she'd be given and the more free reign she'd have to follow her own interests. It was a meritocracy, through and through - which sounded great, if you didn't know that they were all raised to be cutthroat bitches out to undo one another. Anything was fine, as long as their infighting never actually hurt the family's bottom line. Something for me to keep in mind, if I was going to be working with Mellany. She'd be a great ally, so long as it was in her best interest, but she'd as soon stab me in the back as pat me on it if it led her to a better deal.

"Um…" Araina raised her hand. "I just… want to keep my job? It's all I have left. Since everyone just sees me as Devilla's spy, anyway… And it's um. It sounds like Mellany doesn't really have any interest in helping me?"

I nodded, hummed, and fought the urge to run up to Araina and give her a big hug. Instead, I turned to Abigail.

"I think we're going to need Devilla."

Spoiler: Author's Notes

Thanks, as always, to FallingLeaf for proofreading and Lulla for beta reading! I don't have a ton to say on this one, so I'll see you in chapter 35. (Said chapter will bring us back to Devilla, by the way! It's a little short, clocking in at around 2,000 words in terms of word count, but chapter 36 should more than make up for that at nearly 6.5k. I'm really looking forward to releasing that one!

Of course, both are already available on my patreon, for as little as a dollar~! Though the latter's still going through proofreading, due to its size.)

 

[PrincessKay]

So, my friend Lulla got a bit inspired by Mellany, and drew a picture of her. (In fact, she's responsible for a good bit of her physical design.) This isn't her true form, but rather her default form if she wants to go full demonoid, or full monster.

Fun fact: Mimics in this setting are arguably a subspecies of arachne, what with being spider monsters. Trust me when I say that you do not want to see what a monster mimic looks like inside their chest! And you definitely do not want to get caught by one... *Shudders.* (Of course, they can shapeshift as well, but they're limited to inanimate objects. Usually ones that open up.)

Spoiler: Art

And for the terminally curious who actually want to know how monster mimics work (since it's unlikely to show up in the story...) Well...

Spoiler: Don't say I didn't warn you...

Like I said, they're spider monsters. The inside of their chests is largely just a pair of chelicerae and a bunch of spinnerets. They web you up good and tight, and dissolve you in stomach acid, so that they can suck you up in much the same way as an ordinary spider might... If you're lucky, the chelicerae might end you. If you're lucky.

If you have a way to deal with the webbing, though, they're actually pretty damn vulnerable from the inside. The chest is their main protection....