"I'm here to deliver a message to the emperor," said a man upon showing a small white envelope to the knights guarding the gates of the empire's palace. He was clad in blue armor, bearing a crest with a shield that had six sword handles pointing in six directions.
"The emperor is not present at the moment, but you can relay it to us, and we will do our utmost best to report this to him," one of the knights stated.
"I am told that this is an urgent matter and that it needs to be heard by the emperor as soon as possible," the man replied.
"Can I request an audience with the empress?" he added.
But the knight shook his head upon hearing his words.
"Unfortunately, even the empress left along with his Majesty," the knight answered. "But the young lady is here."
Then the man's eyes lit up as soon as she heard who was there at the moment. It was the emperor's treasured daughter.
Augustus Embercrown had twelve children: eleven sons and a single daughter. Almost every man of the same age inside the empire dreamed of the empire's princess hands, but they couldn't express their admiration due to the fear of the wrath of the old man.
"Is it possible to have a talk with her?" The man asked while concealing the joy he felt deep inside him.
"Yes, follow me, but please don't do anything stupid," the knight replied.
Then they walked inside the palace and searched for someone who could bring them to the princess.
"Come with me; she's been in the garden since sunset," one of the butlers said.
They headed into the back of the palace, where a lot of plants with different kinds of flowers were growing. There were roses and even lilies, but the most attractive of them all were the purple sunflowers.
It was the middle of the night, and the moonlight was the only thing that gave brilliance to the surroundings.
At the center of it all, a large tree stood tall; its thick leaves were enough to cover half of the whole garden. Then, there was a woman sitting on a bench not far from the tree while silently staring at the moon above the sky.
"Princess," said the butler before walking toward her.
The knights didn't follow him soon; they waited for him to call, and just after a few seconds, the butler signaled to them to come.
As soon as they stepped closer, the man felt enchanted upon seeing the empire's princess standing in front of them. Her black hair was long enough to reach her hips. Her jade-like skin captivated the man's eyes.
'It's not an exaggeration to call her the most gorgeous woman in the whole Plain of Fantasies,' he thought as he stared at the princess' monolid eyes.
Her overall appearance was enough to stun the man and take his breath away.
'How can a human be so beautiful like this?' He asked deep inside his mind.
"Greetings, young lady," he said, which caused the woman to smile at him and nod.
"What brings a knight from the Kingdom of Weapons here despite having their festival? Is it about my brother?" She asked. Her voice had a lighthearted melody that was pleasant to hear.
"N-no, i-it's not about your brother. It's just something horrible happened before the festival started," the man explained.
Then he extended his hand to deliver the letter containing the king's seal. And the princess opened and read the piece of paper as soon as she took it from the man's hand.
Her expression turned sour as she realized the contents of it and asked. "How sure are you that it was the Enchantress of Time?"
The princess' question caught the man off guard, yet he still managed to answer the lady's query.
"We didn't see her, but we're sure about it. It was her domain that appeared in our kingdom's capital," he said.
"The emperor needs to learn about this," the princess replied, her maple-colored eyes having a little melancholy.
Then the wind blew, and petals along with dried leaves rose up in the air. Even some of the lady's hair flew all the way to her front. She combed her disaligned hair before she started to speak once more.
"I'm a little bit puzzled; why is she being active again? Maybe I need to inform Ave Gayle regarding her actions," she said while staring at the contents of the letter.
The man didn't manage to reply because of something that caught his attention—it was a bracelet on the princess' right wrist.
'Is having that item a trend?' The man thought as he remembered the man who used a similar object as an earring upon seeing a white dice as part of the princess' accessory.
The dice had a black star-shape pattern as its numbers; however, there was a surface that had a single sun, and its color was different from the others—a red-colored sun.
"I won't forgive you if this thing melts because of your stare." The princess chuckled upon noticing that the knight from the Herish Kingdom was staring at her bracelet.
"Yes, it's quite old, but I'm fond of its pendant," she added.
The man recovered from his trance and smiled at the princess while scratching the back of his head.
"It just reminds me of something; I'm sorry, young lady," he said while doing his best not to blush in front of the woman smiling at him.
"My mission is already done; it's time for me to get back." He bid his farewell before bowing, and he went out of the garden with the empire's knight along with the butler.
The princess was left there, standing alone while staring at their backs. Then she looked at her hand and touched the thing on her wrist.
'Maybe someday I can figure out what it really is,' she thought, fidgeting with the small white object hanging on her bracelet.
. . . . .
A series of loud bangs reverberated in the area where the demons were having a meeting. The cause of it all was the orc who approached Zeno; he couldn't control himself not to throw an attack as soon as Zeno insulted him.
The halberd in his hand produced a massive shockwave of electricity before he hurled it at the silver-haired demon, who was evading his attacks while smiling at him.
The moment his weapon struck the ground, a heavy explosion occurred. The place was burned, and small craters appeared on the scorched land.
Yet no one intervened in the fight; they just watched the battle happening before them. After all, demons are prideful creatures; receiving help to fight a single enemy was considered a disgrace for them.
However, the orc was slowly getting irritated due to Zeno's simple yet precise evasion. He dodged the halberd with minimal movement, and he did it while his hands were inside his pocket.
"Hmnn, now I know why you guys lost in the war," Zeno said.
Then the orc's brows knitted upon hearing his opponent's words.
"Keep your mouth shut if you have nothing good to say," he replied before he slashed the man from above, aiming for his head.
But then, Zeno didn't move from his place; instead, he pulled out his right hand and stopped the attack with his palm. Then the halberd's blade had been crushed as soon as Zeno clenched his fist.
"You guys fell out so weak," he said while staring at the orc's eyes, which couldn't hide his shock upon seeing his weapon shattered in that instance.
Then Zeno stretched his hand and grabbed the orc's face before slamming him down, which caused his head to splat on the ground.
Afterward, the silver-haired demon turned his eyes to the crowd watching him and spoke.
"We demons are supposed to be at the top of the food chain, but look where you are now? Hiding! And cowering in fear just because that bastard died," he said.
His voice echoed in the atmosphere, and some of the demons lowered their heads. They acknowledged that what the man said was the entire truth.
They were so aggressive before, knowing that their king and generals would back them up. However, they couldn't handle the strength of the allied forces, which killed their comrades during the war.
They realized how weak they were before. They even thought to prepare a strategy and plan for revenge. They wanted to imitate the human nature that let them taste defeat.
Then, the man with the scar on the middle of his right eye stepped forward and spoke to Zeno.
"How can we keep our heads up high? When we almost get annihilated from the surface of Exgreia. Our home got destroyed to smithereens. Then other races keep on invading our land, and their forces are not that simple to be reckoned with," he said.
Then a small bead of water began to drop from his eyes, but it ended there; tears didn't continue to fall.
"While the leaders who guided us were turned into parts of history, now tell us how?" He asked, his calm voice from before now shaking from emotion.
Zeno leaped from his position in the man's direction.
"The thing here is not about your losses; I'm talking about how feeble you guys have turned. Since the day I woke up, I have only found a handful of demons, while there are a lot of entertaining humans," he stated.
"The most feared faction were reduced to these puny little ones who couldn't even make a scratch on me," he added.
His words brought fury to all the demons around the place. They started to release their energy and prepared themselves to attack Zeno.
However, the man with the scar warned them.
"Those who want to suffer a terrible death like that orc, feel free to charge at him," he said, which stopped the crowd in their tracks.
Zeno smiled and laughed upon hearing the man. Then he shook his head and turned around to leave.
However, after several steps, he stopped and spoke.
"Cinhard's daughter, she's here. I'm going to meet her, though; she's not that appropriate to be a leader, but I think she can manage," he said before he continued walking.
"Then lead us! You're powerful enough to guide us. You can be our next king," said the man, and the other demons couldn't help but widen their eyes.
"I'm too lazy to take that role; besides, I've lost my animosity towards the other races a long time ago," he replied while not looking back.
'Since that day,' he added to his thoughts, and then a certain memory appeared inside his mind.
The other demons were left there staring at his back, while the man with a scar didn't speak any further and watched Zeno disappear from a distance.
'I respect your decision, General,' he thought before bowing to the direction where the silver-haired demon was headed.
. . . . .