More than a week past in the castle of Lamenia, the assault from the emperor's troops on all other fronts had already started to take effect. Holding immunity to war because of the deal by Margarette, only the Lamenian borders hadn't tasted demon blood for a while. Trapping themselves in the most secluded room in the Curatos castle, Haruki's companions were growing desperate to see him finally wake up.
"Moriyana, Greta's been complaining to me about the tension at Dolatia, why can't you just talk to her with the demon spy you have?!" Her feet tapping against the ground anxiously, Athena has had enough of the wallowing red-headed beauty.
Like an idol of stone, Moriyana ignored Athena once again and continued on painting her nails by the dressing table. Too tired to even argue, Athena just let out a disgruntled grunt and looked away from her in disgust.
"You two fight like a couple," her hand pressed against her temples, Margarette muttered out loud.
And although the two heard it clearly, neither of them had the energy to retort. Turning to Asuka who'd just fallen asleep after taking care of Haruki all night, Margarette shook her head defeated and noticed her eyes opening up to the commission between quarreling two.
"Wh-what? Did I fall asleep?" Covering her mouth in shock, she pulled herself off of the stool.
"Asuka sit down…No, you know what, you should lay down and get some sleep, we're gonna keep watch over Master for the day," Margarette offered.
"Was someone fighting? I heard someone yelling, I think?" Looking at everyone, Asuka got no reply, instead, she noticed something else entirely. "Is Riley still not back yet?"
Shifting her attention back to Margarette, the one keeping things moving outside the single room, Asuka earnestly waited for an answer.
"Not yet, she's compensating for Moriyana's job, and to some degree mine even so it's really a surprise to be hones-" Hearing a light groan coming from Haruki's end of the bed, Margarette got off of the edge of the bed and quickly turned around.
The others jumped to their feet as well and quickly gathered around their master. Upon looking closer, they noticed movement in not only Haruki's body but Asmodia's as well. Slowly stretching their limbs about, their eyes cracked open to the sight of a group of demons staring them down with big glowing violet eyes.
"I thought angels don't end up in hell when they die," joking around, Asmodia flipped to the other side of the bed and shut her eyes once more. "Wake me up later, I'm not ready for an earful yet."
Her demand fueled their hatred toward her, but ignoring her for the moment, they focused on Haruki instead. His eyes wide open, Haruki held his hand up to be helped up and sit down. Taking hold of his arm, Asuka quickly did as he gestured. Sitting in silence for a moment, he turned to Asmodia still sleeping right next to him, and although he wanted to kill her that instant, he held himself back since there was a lot more than needed to be done at the moment.
"How did everything go? Did we take over Lamenia?" He asked, looking right at Margarette.
Overcome with emotions, her eyes had teared up just like the rest of Haruki's crew, but wiping them off quickly, she enthusiastically nodded.
"Yes! We have! In fact, we have Marquis and Dolatia in control as well! The emperor's armies are trying to push us away, but nothing drastic has happened to that end," bombarding him with information, Margarette clutched onto his hands to feel the warmth of his body while he was still awake.
After briefly looking down at his hand, Haruki turned to Moriyana who still seemed to be in a bitter mood. At first, he thought of asking her outright as to what she was upset about but then deciding against it, he used his ability hive mind instead.
'Is something wrong?' He asked telepathically.
'Your maid and spy brought a demon lord in Atl-Atlas, and you still need to ask?' Even though saying Atlas's name hurt her in the head, she powered through and finished what she had to say.
'We can talk about that later.' He replied before letting out a tired sigh.
Drawing his hand away from Margarette, Haruki moved to the side and got up on his feet. Feeling a bit wobbly after standing up after so long, he almost fell down but managed to keep himself up by holding onto Asuka's body.
"Fuck, my body, it's-"
"Weaker? I know," Asmodia mumbled from the other end of the bed. "We had our souls merged together until they were driven to exhaustion, remember? It's still making my body ache all over since I took most of the toll for the merger."
"Oh shut up you bitch," Haruki replied, not giving a damn about what she thought of him anymore.
A bit annoyed, Asmodia flipped over to the other side of the bed and glared right at Haruki's back.
"I could've taken care of him myself, but you would've been dead, so be thankful!" She grunted, a deep frown emerging on her eyebrows.
"And he could've killed you had you not been merged to a human soul, so shut up!" Gripping tight on Asuka's shoulders, Haruki turned around to face her head on.
"As if a demi-god could-" Stopping herself, Asmodia realized that Haruki wasn't wrong. "You're gonna kill me soon anyways so who cares? Why would I listen to you if you're not going to keep your promise to maintain the natural order?!"
Watching it all unfold while having little clue about what the two were talking about, everyone was shocked not simply because of the topic of conversation, but by seeing a demon lord acting like a child.
"Majesty?" A voice calling for Margarette from the other end of the door broke the tense moment. "Some demons, NO! I'm sorry! Some nobilities who're claiming to be demon lords want to meet up with you!"
The news brought by the stuttering voice of the female servant baffled everyone. In utter disbelief, at first, they thought of it to be a joke, but then as Asmodia suddenly disappeared from the bed and reappeared by the door, they all began to wonder if this too was one of her tricks. Opening the door, she peeked out at the maid standing outside with a stamped letter.
"Wh-who are you?!" She asked, terrified by the unfamiliar face. "Where's her majesty?!"
Pressing her finger against the maid's lips, Asmodia quickly shut her up. Taking the letter from her other hand, she beamed a gentle smile at the human servant.
"Your queen is fine, as for your first question, you're better off not knowing," holding the letter pitched between her fingers, she got the girl's attention so she could flick her in the forehead with the other hand. "Keep them waiting for a while, I'll be there in a minute I'm sure."
The small touch from her nail infused the maid's mind with arcane magic and took hold of her entire consciousness. With her eyes now glowing a violet tint, she would easily be recognized as a messenger of Asmodia so that the Demon lord would wait a bit longer instead of causing any trouble.
"Now go," shutting the door with those words, Asmodia turned around to the sight of every demon in the room looking right at her.
"As if you being here wasn't bad enough, now you have the other demon lords here too?!" The most furious of all, Moriyana stepped up to her mother. Grabbing her by the arm, she let her freshly painted nail dig as deep into her as they could. "I hope that bastard demi-god had killed you!"
Astounded by the last few words, Asmodia's eyes widened in rage. Pointing a single finger at her daughter, she gently bopped her on the nose, but that seemingly innocent act sent Moriyana flying onto the bed.
"Next time you talk to me like that, I won't let you off so lightly," her eyes twitching in either hurt from being yelled at by her daughter, or just pure rage towards being disrespected, Asmodia glared right into Moriyana's eyes.
"You know what? I'm glad they brought you here because now I can watch when Haruki finally kills you!" Not backing down an inch, Moriyana hurled another insult.
"Enough! I'm not in the most forgiving mood so both of you just shut up!" Butting into the quarrel, Haruki straggled in between the two. Standing before the mistress, Haruki snatched the letter off of her hands.
"Hey! That's for me!" She complained.
"I thought you could see the future, then why not see what's written inside this?" He retorted while breaking the seal off and opening it.
"If only it worked like that," Asmodia whispered, but with their keen senses, everyone managed to listen.
"What the hell do you mean?" Haruki asked, looking right back up at her.
"As a spirit detached from my body I could travel into the library of heroes and look up anything I wanted in those records there, but now, that I'm a mortal, I can no longer do the same," Asmodia's explanation of the situation flooded Haruki's mind with question, but with the letter still in his hands, he decided to deal with problems one at a time.
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