Royal Princess of Blood

Whaaaat?! Are you fucking kidding? Oooof, what incredible bad luck Miyako has. Straight to hard mode.

Infernal fire spread out in the area, and Miyako held out her hand and cast out a barrier. Satomi did the same. The flames reached all the way to the throne, and to my surprise, Haru stepped forward and cast a shield to protect the lord. Huh, she seemed quite harmless, didn’t think she could do something like that. But then again, I was reminded what sort of place this was.

But fuuuuck, it had to be a winged demon, or to be precise, a winged imp. You know how hard it was to kill the last one?! It was hard! I almost died. But to be fair, I realized my blood was effective a bit late, but still, it was crazy. This one here, I wouldn’t know just how strong she was.

Dammit, and Taneva ain’t here yet. Where the fuck are those two?! You gotta be kidding me.

Things just became more complicated than I had hoped, way harder. I was not the one fighting, but still… Now I was a bit concerned whether I should intervene or not.

“Princess, should I join in to help?” Velar asked.

I pondered ‌it, but something told me he shouldn’t. Miyako wanted to prove to herself, and to others, that they could defeat a demon with their own power, without the help of outsiders. Having Velar ‌join this personal battle, an outsider, could be unproductive.

And thus, I shook my head. “Let them have this fight. If it becomes dire, let’s intervene.”

There was no way I would let Miyako die while I was here — it would make our stay here complicated if she died.

“... And I wouldn’t be able to help,” Nira quietly murmured. She just couldn’t cast any holy magic at all. I patted her head. Needless to say, she was extremely disappointed about it. The curse really cast them away from the divine.

The imp then expanded her wings. “It’s a waste of time fighting you.” She looked upwards.

She was trying to escape again. I waved my hand, and pieces of barriers flew towards the roof and quickly assembled. She bumped against my barriers, and she roared in annoyance.

“Why are you getting in my way?!”

I was not going to let her escape at all. It would be troublesome if she did.

Satomi leaped high into the air and attacked the imp, and the latter used her claws to parry the blades before quickly descending back to the ground. I narrowed my eyes, directing my gaze at a particular pair.

“Velar, bring the civilians to the throne. Especially Miyako’s assistants.”

“If I may ask, why?”

“I don’t want the demon to have leverage. Nira, assist him.”

I already had an idea of where this could be going — a hostage situation. Now we wouldn’t want that. That would just cause more headaches than necessary and would put things on hold. Best to keep focused on fighting.

If I were in her position, I would certainly find someone I could take as a hostage. Leverage. Force them to let me go.

As Velar and Nira went on the move, I headed for the throne while a battle ensued.

“You should leave, just to be safe,” I said to Miyako’s father.

Miyako’s father shifted his gaze to look at me. “My daughter is fighting a great foe, I must bear witness. And if things go wrong, I will not hesitate to intervene.”

“... Better not. That’s up to me.”

“Are you the one who taught my daughter about the blood art? To make it effective?”

“... She already knew how to cast it, so she just needed to learn how to properly do it.”

“... Will she be able to beat that monster?”

“We’ll see.”

***

Miyako panted as she maintained a safe distance between them. Ever since Isaki turned into this pure imp form, it had become more dangerous than ever before.

Is this how strong a winged imp is?

Estelia mentioned fighting one, and to think they were actually this strong. Miyako noticed Velar and Nira bringing her assistants to safety, and the moment Isaki saw it, she clicked her tongue, visibly irritated.

“Looks like I really just have to kill you, Lady Miyako. The only way to get out of here.”

Miyako glanced at Satomi, who was on the other side. At that, Satomi charged first. Isaki swung her claws, sending waves of infernal flames towards Satomi; the latter dodged and cast a shield to block one as she kept moving.

It didn’t matter who got to land a hit, all that mattered was that Isaki was hit by their blood-enchanted blades, gradually damaging her with holy magic. And thus, it would slow down her regeneration until they could finally kill her. Satomi had always been faster and stronger than Miyako, so at most, she would be directly confronting Isaki, while Miyako sneaks and lands an attack.

As Isaki was distracted, Miyako charged in from behind. However, before she got close, Isaki’s wing suddenly opened up and struck towards Miyako. Instantly, Miyako used the flat of her blade to block it; the sheer force from the impact repelled her, to her shock. To think that a wing would carry this much force.

“Two versus one, not fair!” She flapped her wings and charged towards Miyako, her blazing claws clashing against her blade.

Miyako could feel the heat emanating from her opponent, and she quickly parried off the claws while stepping to the side and swung her blade sideways. She scratched Isaki’s arm, but that was all, nothing significant. But that alone seemed to have disturbed Isaki.

There was something about imps that she learned from Estelia — they feared death the most. When they were faced with holy magic that could actually hurt them, they seemed to lose their composure. And that little scratch made Isaki enraged.

She slammed her claws onto Miyako’s blade, and the latter withdrew a little. But Isaki conjured a flaming whip and strung it around Miyako.

“Agh!”

“If I could just kill you, everyone would give up.” She swung the whip and slammed Miyako against the wall.

Satomi came in and severed the whip with a heavy downward swing, setting Miyako free. Immediately, she dashed towards Isaki. They exchanged attacks, two swords clashing against a couple ‌of blazing claws. A storm of slashes assaulted Isaki, but that was nothing new anymore. Isaki allowed those insignificant attacks to hit her and took a step forward, going on the offensive.

She parried both swords and thrust her claws at Satomi, and the latter dodged to the side. Miyako charged from behind, and Isaki snapped her fingers, spawning points of light which exploded around Miyako, driving her away.

Isaki deflected Satomi’s blades aggressively, and as she swung her claws, Satomi got scratched on her armor. Isaki then suddenly thrust her claws forward, and Satomi retracted her body backwards to evade it. However, Isaki was waiting for it. A bolt of fire shot out from her claws and crashed against Satomi’s chest, sending her flying and dragging on the floor.

Isaki charged towards Satomi, and the latter quickly regained her footing and blocked both her claws. But Isaki spun and violently kicked her on the side, causing a small boom as Satomi crashed against the wall. Satomi coughed out blood, her impacted armor crumpled. Everyone was flabbergasted by the sheer strength the demon possessed. The imp conjured her whip again and snatched her, pulling her in, then pointed her claws at the approaching Satomi. However, before the worst could happen, Miyako stepped in and shoved her sword between the claws and forcefully tilted them away from pointing at Satomi. This resulted in Satomi bumping into Isaki.

“Ah! You just have to get in the way!” She violently shoved Satomi to the floor and slammed her claws down at Miyako, causing loud metal clangings as they both clashed.

Miyako was pushed into a defensive position; the power behind every strike, the flames, the speed, it was overwhelming her. Eventually, the claws stabbed into the right side of her chest, and she quickly backed away before they could dig in deep. She grimaced in pain, she could feel the seared flesh within. She was lucky the wound didn’t go deep, or it would have been extremely painful.

But the strikes didn’t end there, the claws gradually struck and cut down her armor until eventually she was slashed on her left arm, leaving burned cuts.

“Hah! You’re weaker than me, Miyako! Give up!” At that, Satomi came in and slashed her wings, cutting off a good chunk of it. “Fuck!” Her wound sizzled as they shifted and regenerated. Enraged, Isaki waved her hand, unleashing a surge of infernal fire toward Satomi.

Considering the size and the close distance the fire was cast, she withdrew one hand and covered her face, while with the other she held out forward, casting a shield. However, the fire magic was too strong, and her shield shattered, sending her flying away.

“Satomi!”

Parts of Satomi’s armor were smoking as she lay on the ground. It was without a doubt that she had some terrible burns. She wheezed as she forced herself to stand up, suffering in pain.

Isaki waved her claws at Miyako, and the latter dodged quickly, but her mind was occupied with the wounded Satomi. And thus, she failed to react to the points of light before her in time. They exploded, and she was blown away, ricocheting on the floor. Parts of her armor were ruined, chipped away.

Miyako groaned in pain, wounds radiating from all over her body — legs, torso, arms. Damaged by the flames and the explosive shockwaves. With trembling limbs, she tried to stand up while keeping a tight grip on her sword.

Isaki grinned haughtily as she approached Miyako. “You just wasted your life, Lady Miyako.” She kicked Miyako in the face.

Miyako spat out blood as she dropped back to the floor. She panted heavily as she endured the pain.

“You were a bright star, Lady Miyako. One who lamented the state of her homeland, hoping it all would change.” She kicked Miyako in the stomach. “A nice sentiment. And now, don’t tell me you’re actually going to do something about it, after all this time.” She chuckled.

“... My b-battle starts with cleansing you demons from this island.” She gritted her teeth as she tried to stand up.

“You think we take our jobs seriously? You think we’re here because we want to control you for our own interests?” She briefly laughed. “No… No, no… Do you want to know why?”

Miyako directed a powerful and hateful glare towards Isaki, while the latter merely took it all ever so casually.

“It’s because we’re bored to hell.” She raised her claws. “But it was fun knowing ya, Lady Miyako.” And she struck down.

However, before her attack could land, several weapons suddenly struck into her body. Her eyes widened and looked around. At the same time, someone retrieved Miyako, moving her away from Isaki. Isaki stared at the swords and spears in her body and traced the ones behind them.

“You humans…!”

“Damned demon, do you think we’ll just let you kill her without a fight?”

“Your attacks are meaningless against me.” She pulled herself out of ‌their weapons and cast a wave of scorching flames at them.

Meanwhile, Miyako looked up to see one of the military officials cast a healing spell on her.

“You’re gonna be fine, Lady Miyako.”

Miyako shifted her gaze and saw them retrieve Satomi as well, healing her.

One of the old commanders walked up to Miyako and helped her to stand up. “Young lady, you really should put us to use. You have gathered the strongest in this city into this room.”

“‌B-But, your attacks are useless.”

The old man chuckled. “Your enemy is surprisingly a strong one. And our attacks, I wouldn’t say they would be completely useless. We will slow the demon down while you and Satomi land your strikes.”

“You might die.”

“Such is being a warrior and a servant of the island.”

Miyako lowered her gaze, closing her eyes for a moment. “Thank you. I will ask for your help then.”

Once Miyako was mostly healed, she took a deep breath and gripped her sword tightly. She glanced at Satomi, and they nodded at each other. The military officials had moved in and surrounded the demon.

Isaki had an annoyed expression on her face. “Aw, come on…”