The summoned hero, Nobuyuki Sora, stands quietly beside the saintess, Isabel. She's shaken, just like everyone else who watched the Murican video. But Sora's expression is different—tight, anxious, knots forming in his stomach.
What is happening…?
Why are demons using earth technology?
No—why are the demons not being the bad guy here?
Will this make me not needed as a hero anymore?
Will I become useless?
…Fuck.
Before the spiral can continue—
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
"SILENCE! SILENCE!"
Cardinal Corvus slams his staff on the marble floor. The hall falls quiet. No one dares disrespect the man whose authority often eclipses the emperor's.
His white-and-blue robes gleam under torchlight. Rows of Holy Knights stand behind him like statues.
"I understand this… 'visual record' is unprecedented," Corvus begins. "But do not forget—this was presented to us by demons themselves. Do not be swayed so easily by their lies."
A court official cautiously raises his voice. "B-But Cardinal, our spies did report events similar to what the video showed. The events match."
Another murmur washed over the court.
THUMP.
"SILENCE!" Corvus roars. "Yes, there may be some truth mixed in. That is what makes a lie powerful. The demons—spawn of deception—know this well. I trust His Majesty shares my concern."
The emperor nervously nods. "Y-Yes… we must not simply trust the demons."
Corvus turns, eyes sharp as blades.
"And what is your opinion, O otherworlder hero?"
Sora straightens, caught off guard, but oddly relieved someone voiced doubt about the demons.
"I don't know about demons in this world," Sora says firmly, "but where I come from, demons twist the truth to serve their evil desires."
Corvus smiles thinly.
"And so our hero has spoken. And our king agrees. That is enough."
He snaps his fingers. A Holy Knight approaches, lifts the iPod from its pedestal, and walks out—without waiting for approval from either court officials or the emperor.
"I will bring this demonic tool to the basilica for containment," Corvus declares. "We do not know what corruptive effect it may have."
He turns to leave, but pauses before Sora.
"And hero… remember: demons have now tasted human blood. They will crave more. Raise your strength, and quickly."
Vandoria Capital, City of Vans
"Eewwww! They drink the blood and eat the flesh raw? Gross! Bleekh."
"I know, right? This is why I would never date any of those grunts."
Two succubi lie prone inside a church tower overlooking the city square. Megan—short hair, binoculars—scans her targets. Janet—long hair, MK22 sniper rifle—keeps watch.
Below, the capital of Vandoria spreads out like a 19th-century Paris remake: ornate buildings, lavish fashion, and aristocrats with far too much lipstick. Today, though, a sea of citizens crowds the city square, gathered around freshly built gallows and guillotines.
"My friend says the CDC is in an uproar. He had to work overtime these past weeks because of that outbreak," Megan yawns. "Ugh, I miss home. I can't wait until this assignment is over."
"Don't worry, Megan," Janet says, glancing through her scope. "After today we're going back home, and no more dudes wearing more makeup than we do."
Megan suddenly stiffens. "Oh, Janet! Here they come!"
Across from the gallows, a scaffold has been built for the royal family. King Alphonse and Queen Colette take their seats, followed by Crown Prince Beau and the noble faction leader Duke Louis.
"Where are Prince Adrien and Prince Alan?" the king asks.
The butler bows apologetically. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, the second prince and the third prince have still not arrived."
"Tch, I bet they partied too hard again last night." The crown prince mutters.
After the royalty are seated, the announcer and the death rows are walking towards the gallows. It's a line of a woman, a young man, and a young boy.
"GOOD CITIZENS OF VANDORIA, BY THE ORDER OF THE KING, THESE CRIMINALS ARE THE FAMILY OF DUKE PIERRE," the announcer yelled. "WHO IS GUILTY OF RECKLESSLY AND WITHOUT THE KING'S PERMISSION, ABUSING HIS POWER TO ILLEGALLY ATTACK A NEIGHBORING COUNTRY IN ORDER TO PLUNDER! AMASS WEALTH! FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY! AND SATISFY HIS FAMILY'S GREED!"
The crowd erupts in boos.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOO"
Duke Pierre's family tries to deny the accusations, but their voices are being swallowed by the citizens' jeers.
"Hmm, do you think the demons will be satisfied with this?" The king whispers to Duke Louis.
"Well, we can only try," the duke replies. "They said they are a diplomatic nation, so we will give them no choice other than being diplomatic and giving us the time we need to strengthen our military… and recover our reputation."
"Tch… I still can't believe other countries can say that we are the bad guys. We were fighting demons! And now I must abdicate my throne for it?" The king growls.
"That's… really an unforeseen event, my king."
"Don't worry, Father," Beau says proudly. "I will continue building a greater army to enslave the Ravendawns and the demons."
"You better be, son... you better be…"
Duke Pierre's family was then being pushed to kneel to the guillotine by the executioner. Meanwhile, on the church tower, the succubi are recording the events with a camera.
"Overwatch, we're sending you visuals. Do you receive? Copy?"
"This is Overwatch. The visual is clear. Proceed with the mission, over," replies the comm.
"Copy that, Overwatch."
Janet adjusts her rifle. "Hey, so what did you do with the third prince last night?"
"Well, just some old-school succubus wet dream combined with a dose of Rohypnol, kekeke," Megan smirks. "No waking up anytime soon for him, you?"
"Me? No wet dream for the second prince. I only spiked his drink in a bar last night."
THWAAACK
YEAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
The guillotine drops. The crowd roars.
"Oh, it's about to start," Megan says. "Standby."
Janet cocking her rifle. "Got it."
The crown prince then raises himself from his seat and bows to the king.
"Well, Father, I'm going to announce about the succession now."
"Yeah yeah, whatever," the king replies while shooing the crown prince.
The crown prince walks toward the scaffolding where the citizens can see him clearly.
"Here comes…" Megan whispers.
"CITIZENS OF VANDORIA! TODAY I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!" The crown prince shouts to gather the attention of the people in the square.
He gave a pause to make sure the crowds were paying attention, but suddenly a commotion could be heard nearby.
"STOP HIM!"
A cloaked beastman sprints toward the royal stage. He manages to pass the line of guards, but then another guard on stage intercepts him.
PSSSHT
Until a silenced bullet pierces the guard's skull.
The beastmen don't understand what happened to the guard, but he didn't hesitate to run over his dead body.
Reaching the stage, he flings open his robe, revealing hundreds of magical scrolls strapped to his body, neck to toes.
"DEATH TO TYRANTS!! FREEDOM TO OSPELIA!"
BOOOOOOMMMM
A colossal explosion engulfs the city square. Instantly vaporize the Vandorian royal family, guards, and some unlucky civilians.
Shockwaves send the rest of the civilians flying and shatter surrounding windows—including those in the church tower. Megan and Janet shield their faces.
"Holy shit!" Janet coughs. "I didn't expect it to be that big."
"Well duh, we never tested that many fire scrolls." Megan shrugs.
The two succubi rushingly pack up their stuff, leaving no traces behind.
"Overwatch, mission complete. Heading to the evac point now."
"Copy that. Sir Asmodeus sends his thanks. Overwatch out."
The two succubi transform into human nuns and walk down the church tower, leaving the capital without being noticed.
Later investigations found that the assassin is from Ospelia, one of Vandoria's colonies, and also found secret correspondence between the assassin and his collaborator, an unidentified Vandorian prince.
Ravendawn, City of Dawn
Ravendawn banners are now being hoisted on the city wall. Soldiers and civilians work side-by-side to clean the mess from the fights between the Ravendawn and the Vandorian city guard.
It was a quick fight, since the Dawn citizens helped fight the guards and open the gate for the Ravendawn forces.
Liberated citizens cheer as a royal carriage enters the streets.
"It seems the people here still love you, your highness." Levi notes.
"… I have abandoned them before," the king murmurs. "I don't think I deserve their love anymore."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. After this they need someone to lead them to rebuild."
"But it won't be me, it's for the best… Mr. Minister, what makes you believe that the Vandorians won't rebuild their forces and come back here?"
"Let's just say… They are too busy with family matters," Levi smiles knowingly. "Oh, look at that, Prince Luxius has been waiting for you."
On the castle steps, Prince Luxius waits, eyes bright. As his father steps down from the carriage, tears glisten.
"Oh, my son."
"My King, I present to you the castle of Dawn. By this day, the Ravendawn Kingdom is whole once more."
"This castle… the place where you were born. I never thought I would see it again…" the king whispers. "I gratefully accept your gift, my son."
"It's my honor, my King." Luxius replies with a smile.
"This beautiful castle… this beautiful city… I remember your late mother always loved to see the sunset while holding you in her arm." Said the king with a sincere smile, "But son, I met Duke Pierre when we were passing the city gate. Can you please get rid of him? I think we have had enough of having his presence dirtying this beautiful city."
"Yes, Father, I will order my men to remove his head from the pike right away."
"Thank you. Now shall we go inside?" said the king to Prince Luxius and Levi. "We still have so much to discuss about this new era… a democratic era."
Levi smiles. "After you, Your Majesty, Your Highness."
Somewhere near the Ravendawn-Vandoria Border
A long, miserable line of Vandorian refugees trudges toward their homeland—soldiers, merchants, and their slaves. Ravendawn lets them pass to escape the wrath of the citizens looking for payback… but confiscates their ships.
A joint Ravendawn-Murica patrol oversees the crossing.
"Why aren't we rescuing the slaves?" a Ravendawn captain asks.
Captain Irving of the Murica's Rangers lights a cigarette and passes one over.
"Too many of them, feeding that many people would collapse your economy. Better for them to be Vandoria's problem than ours."
The Ravendawn captain puffed the cigarettes, impressed. "More practical than pipe. And… tasty."
"Don't worry, soon you'll be able to buy it in your city. Real trades are coming between our country."
He's warmed to the demon soldiers. The cultural exchange between the military has been lively: Ravendawn shares fresh meat and vegetables, the Muricans share cigarettes, beers, and entertainment.
"Ehm, although…" the captain coughs, embarrassed. "I must complain about my men being too occupied with those entertainment stuffs called… adult magazines…"
"Ah… sorry about that… That is also considered contraband in our military. But you just can't stop the boys from sneaking it," Irving said—while being the one who sells them for his pocket money.
Nearby, PFC Bella and Ivy sit by a mobile camera station. A ranger pans over the refugees, screening them one by one while Ivy keeps watch on the monitor.
Bella hands her a cup. "Here, coffee with no sugar."
She sipped it. "Thanks."
"Are you sure you don't want to try the sweet drinks like Coke? Or hot chocolate?"
"No, thank you. I was raised not allowed to have expensive things like sugar, so I'm not used to it."
Bella nods sympathetically.
"Hmmm… I still don't understand why you humans like to enslave each other." She sips her chocolate. "They teach me in school that it's horribly inefficient to employ so many people who are not motivated with their jobs."
"Heheh, we have so many differences in our education then."
"You're rare though. A slave as educated as you. Totally different than the other slaves that I saw back in the DMZ village."
"My mother taught me. She wasn't a slave… not until the Vandorian came."
Bella's expression softens. "Do you think she's still alive?"
"…not likely," Ivy frowns.
"Oh! Did I make you sad? I'm sorryyy, I'm still learning about human emotions like empathy and other stuff. Sorry…"
"Heheh, no worries. It's funny, though, to see that the demons are trying hard to understand other races."
"Yeah… our government decided that it's better for every Murican to learn about other races after we open our border. Not every demon is born with innate abilities to understand emotions like the succubus, you know. I mean, I'm a vampire, and we are the second best at detecting emotions, but it's just that I'm kind of different from the rest of the vampires. That's why I totally failed the test for the intelligence bureau and joined the ranger instead, and you know what—"
Ivy smiles faintly, letting Bella ramble—her chatter strangely comforting these past few days.
Then Ivy freezes. Something on the monitor catches Ivy's attention.
"Uh, excuse me, can you show me the carriage from before?" said Ivy to the camera operator, cutting Bella's blabber short.
The camera pans to a luxurious carriage bearing a family crest carved on its door.
"That crest… I'll never forget that crest."
Bella stands up, weapon ready. "Is that the one
"Yes."
Bella whistles sharply. The patrol teams snap to attention.
Target acquired.