"My life belongs to you—?"
Lysandra didn't even give him time to breathe.
Her fist sank into his torso with a sound like flesh hitting stone. The impact folded him around her arm, air exploding from his lungs so violently his vision blackened.
Then—
WHIP—
The world titled sideways as Joshua was sent flying through the air, pain shooting through his ribs like lightning.
Demons gasped.
Lysandra smirked.
The demon king didn't blink.
Of course he didn't.
"So, this is the path you wish to take my daughter."
His voice was colder than the obsidian pillars surrounding them.
CRASH—
Joshua slammed into the far wall hard enough that stone dust erupted around him in a cloud. His back screamed. His head rang. He slid down the cracked surface, knees hitting the floor with a dull thud.
He staggered up, coughing blood into his palm.
"Was that… your way of saying hello?" he forced out, though it came out thin, ragged—already losing its bravado.
The pain wasn't what scared him. It was how familiar the helplessness felt. The last time he felt this powerless was when the council chose him. Not his brothers. Not any general or hero. Him. The expendable one.
Of course she would treat me like this. That's the only role I ever get cast in.
Lysandra's expression didn't change. She moved again faster than he could track. Her body was a blur of terrifying and effortless speed.
One instant she stood several paces away.
The next—
Her heel tore into his shoulder with enough force to spin him as if he was a rag doll, sending him skidding across the obsidian floor. Sparks trailed beneath him as stone scraped his armor
She moved like her body forgot what "holding back" meant centuries ago.
Demons leaned forward, the hunger in their eyes unmistakable. They wanted a death. A spectacle. A human tragedy laid bare.
"Stand." Her voice bellowed commanding.
His arms shook as he pushed himself upright. His vision doubled, then tripled, but the room remained blurry.
Then—
Another strike.
A sweeping kick from nowhere.
He crashed through a pillar, stone exploding outward in a thunderous avalanche. Debris rained over him like the sky collapsing.
Demons whispered from the audience.
"A human should've been paste after the first hit."
"Is he deaf? Blind? Why is he still trying to stand?"
"That one… he doesn't break easily. Why is that?"
Another demon, armored in spiked obsidian, clicked his tongue. "It makes him interesting. A human who doesn't beg. That's a first."
Farther back, a demon noble leaned forward, fingers steepled. "Look at his eyes. Fear, yes, but something else. Resolve. He's clinging to it similar to a starving beast."
One demon scoffed, "Resolve will not save him."
"True," another replied. "But surviving this long? Even for a demonling, that would be… impressive."
A ripple of uneasy laughter followed.
Some demons watched with amusement. Others felt pity.
And a few felt hungry to see the prince finally perish.
None of them expected him to survive.
One demoness, her voice a soft hiss, whispered, "The princess is testing him. But also she's annoyed. Why send her a prince who refuses to die?"
Even the guards gripping their halberds exchanged glances.
"This is either bravery or the highest form of stupidity a human has ever displayed."
Joshua pushed off from the rubble, dust falling from his hair. Every breath burned, but he lifted his chin anyway.
Not letting them see me crawl. This is my responsibility to see through. To protect my kingdom. To not show humans as weak creatures that pose no threat. Even if I'm completely outmatched here, I won't give up before my body does.
Suddenly her forehead pressed against his, her breath ghosting across his cheek, her arm drawn back for another killing strike.
"You're still standing," she whispered. "What a good little human you are."
"Why are you doing this?" he croaked.
Her smile widened as sharp as a blade.
The uppercut launched him off his feet like his body weighed nothing. He arced through the air, slamming through a decorative archway, shattering the glass window behind it—
—and suddenly there was nothing beneath him.
Open air swallowed him whole.
Wind roared in his ears as the palace shrank below him. His stomach lurched into his throat. The air tore tears from the corners of his eyes.
Did she just launch me out of the castle—?!
A sharp blue glow ignited, a holographic screen building itself pixel by pixel, until it manifested fully in front of him.
[SYSTEM - ACTIVE]
His stomach dropped.
[QUEST: SURVIVE THE DEMON PRINCESS' ONSLAUGHT]
[REWARD - 600XP + TITLE SELECTION]
"What is this—?!"
A hand caught his collar with relentless force.
Lysandra.
She floated beside him as effortlessly as a leaf on still water. Her long crimson hair whipped wildly in the wind, framing a face carved with hunger and amusement. Her red eyes glowed brighter than the sun behind her.
She pulled him close until their noses almost grazed.
"Tell me something, human prince," she murmured. "Do you regret coming here? Or did you know that you would die?" Her grip loosened. "What a fool you are…human."
Then she released him, dropping the man like a stone.
The world screamed around him. Air roared past his ears. The wind cut as sharp as knives stabbing through his clothes. The training grounds below rushed toward him—jagged rocks, shattered terrain, weapons racks, iron spikes, and nowhere soft to land.
The screen appeared again before his thoughts could even form.
[BONUS OBJECTIVE ACTIVATED]
[SURVIVE IMPACT - +200XP]
His clothes snapped liked flags. His skin stung as the air tore across it.
For one impossible moment, he spun.
The palace twisted above him—massive towers and jagged structures shrinking as he plummeted. Lanterns blurred into streaks of gold. The sun split into three pale smears across his vision.
His limbs pinwheeled wildly.
If I die, then let it be fighting.
The sound of the wind shifted—changing pitch, a deep violent whine that made his ribs rattle. His eyes watered.
The training yard expanded below him, every detail sharpening with horrifying clarity:
The jagged stone tiles. The cracked dummies. The rusted weapon racks. The discarded spears aimed upward waiting for him.
"Move…" His voice was strangled by the wind. "Move! MOVE—!"
His body didn't obey.
Gravity did.
And somewhere far above him, Lysandra watched—expression unreadable, hair whipping like a crimson banner caught in the storm.