Mayume’s violet eyes gleamed, her expression a mixture of satisfaction and intrigue as she loomed above me. Her fingers still tingled with the trace of my blood, a new discovery burning in her mind.
I could see it in her face.
She wasn’t going to let me go.
Not now.
Not after this.
I could still feel the sting where she had drawn my blood, the faint warmth trickling beneath my torn clothes. My breath came shallow and uneven, my mind racing, my options dwindling.
And in that moment—I knew what I had to do.
My fingers curled around the bck gem in my pocket, feeling its cool, smooth surface press against my palm.
Mayume’s eyes flickered toward my hand, her lips curving slightly.
"What’s this?" she murmured, her tone almost amused.
She had no idea.
I clenched my jaw.
Then—I crushed it.
The gemstone cracked like ice, dissolving into a swirl of pure darkness, an eruption of energy so powerful it sent a shockwave rippling through the room.
The air shifted violently, the very space around us bending as something ancient and vast was pulled into existence.
Mayume’s smirk vanished.
For the first time, I saw it—a flicker of realization in her gaze.
A flicker of uncertainty.
And then—the entire pace trembled.
The Arrival of the Demon Queen
A pulse of bck-and-gold energy erupted from nowhere, distorting reality itself. The floating nterns shattered, the silk banners twisted and burned, the very air becoming heavy with an overwhelming presence.
And then—she arrived.
A shadow stretched across the chamber.
A towering, impossibly divine figure stepped forward, her bare foot pressing into the obsidian floor, cracking it beneath her weight.
Reika.
25 meters tall, draped in her bck silk kimono embroidered with flowing gold, its hem brushing against the ruined pace floor. Her long, leather-cd legs shifted as she moved, the sheer force of her presence alone making the very air quiver.
She didn’t need to announce herself.
Her mere existence demanded acknowledgment.
The moment she stepped through the colpsing barrier of Mayume’s throne room, the Oni and Majo within the pace immediately fell silent.
Some trembled.
Some dared not even breathe.
Because they knew.
Because they remembered.
The Demon Queen had arrived.
And she was not pleased.
Her amethyst gaze flickered downward, settling immediately on me—a moment of recognition, her brow furrowing just slightly before her gaze lifted to the throne above me.
Where Mayume still sat.
And for the first time since I had met her—
Mayume looked mildly annoyed.
"Well," Mayume finally muttered, stretching her fingers idly against her throne’s armrest. "That was sooner than expected."
Reika tilted her head slightly, her expression unreadable.
Then—she took another step forward.
The entire room groaned, the walls trembling, the foundations shifting as if they could not bear her presence.
And for the first time, I saw it.
The difference between them.
Mayume was powerful.
But Reika was absolute.
And she was looking directly at her.
"Expin yourself," Reika murmured, her voice low, commanding, filled with quiet danger.
Mayume sighed.
Then—she smiled.
A slow, deliberate curl of her lips, as if this were nothing more than an unexpected inconvenience.
"Ah, Reika," she purred, finally rising from her throne, her own towering form stretching gracefully, but still smaller than Reika’s.
"You always had a way of making an entrance."
She stepped forward, her robes flowing like liquid shadows, her movements measured, deceptively casual.
"Tell me," Mayume continued, her gaze flickering briefly to me before settling back on Reika. "Did my little human pet summon you?"
Reika’s expression didn’t change.
But the room darkened.
A subtle shift, a flicker of gold-bck energy curling around her long, elegant fingers.
A warning.
A promise of destruction.
"Release him," Reika said, her tone devoid of warmth.
Mayume arched a delicate brow.
"And if I don’t?"
The moment stretched.
The silence pressed heavily against the room.
And then—Reika moved.
One second, she was standing there, watching.
The next—her hand shot forward.
Her bck energy tendrils shed outward, cracking through the air like whips, tearing through the pilrs of the throne room, shattering the foundations of the pace itself.
Mayume dodged, barely, stepping back onto her throne’s ptform, her robes billowing in the wake of the impact.
Her smile widened.
"Oh," she whispered, her violet gaze gleaming. "So that’s how this is going to be."
Reika straightened, her form towering, her expression unreadable, absolute, unshaken.
"Did you expect otherwise?"
Mayume exhaled through her nose, rolling her shoulders.
Then—she lifted a single, delicate hand.
A pulse of violet energy fred around her, the floor beneath her fracturing, shadows rising at her command.
"I suppose not."
And the battle began.