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"ꜱᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ'ʟʟ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɪꜰ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴡɪʟᴅᴇꜱᴛ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍꜱ."
ᴛᴀʏʟᴏʀ ꜱᴡɪꜰᴛ
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The two of us are drowning and are trying our best to protect those we care about.
But I'm offering my hand to change that.
So, are you going to take it or not?
"Nicely done, (Y/n)," the deep voice of the Commandment of Selflessness draws me out of my conflicted thoughts. "It seems we have quite a number of Holy Knights under our control now."
"Hmm," I hum blankly in response as I stare at all of the Holy Knights who stand before us.
Because of the Commandment of Piety, they're all under our control right now and though most of the Commandments believe we'll use them to fight for us, I only used the Commandment of Piety to make sure that none of them fight back and get hurt. I just really don't want any more of these Humans to get hurt today.
After Zeldris had his say last night, he left immediately before I could even respond and once he was out of my sight, I was torn between slamming my head against the nearest tree and screaming at the top of my lungs. But in the end, I simply fell to my knees and blankly stared at the ground in front of me for a long time without saying or doing anything.
Because what the hell am I supposed to do now?
"Wh—Where are you going, (Y/n)?" Fraudrin stutters in shock when he sees me leaving his side and start heading off to the Liones castle.
"I want to make sure that none of the Sins are near the castle to protect the King of Liones," I inform him bluntly even though it's not entirely true and I keep my gaze focused on the path in front of me. "Go and help Grayroad wherever she is, Fraudrin. Make sure she doesn't overdo it."
"As you wish," the Commandment of Selflessness says as he heads off in a different direction.
As I make my way down the streets filled with Holy Knights and normal citizens, I hear hushed whispers and I try my best to not flinch when I hear each one of them.
"The day has finally come where the Demons will kill every single being in Britannia."
"They've started the Holy War again and this time, they're stronger than ever."
"Just look at the way she's walking; as if she owns us."
"That's her; that's the Demon who's killed over a hundred Humans already."
Whether it was directly or indirectly carried out by me, they're right; the blood of hundreds of Humans is on my hands. And nothing will ever change this.
Biting hard on the insides of my cheeks, I clench my hands into fists as I slowly climb up all of the rubble to the top where the castle of Liones is. Once I finally get to the top, I turn to look over all the houses that have Humans running out of them, screaming and begging for mercy.
"What is this?" I hear someone from behind me question weakly, frustration in their voice. "Our strength and powers have completely vanished, what's that blasted Demon done to us?"
Ah, I see. It seems some Holy Knights have found me but can't use their powers against me because of my other Commandment; the Commandment of Benevolence.
Sighing under my breath, I slowly turn around with my hands limp by my sides, my chest feeling so empty. With an emotionless face, I watch as all of the Holy Knights in front of me struggle to stay standing on their feet and move any part of their bodies.
"Anyone who stands before me with hatred in their heart loses the ability to cause pain in others," I explain with a quiet voice but loud enough for all of them to hear me. "And this is one of the two Commandments that I bear; the Commandment of Benevolence."
"Benevolence, huh?" an enraged voice snaps at me and I look over to see that it's the Fox Sin of Greed. "What a load of crap. You're the one who murdered the Captain! How dare you say that!"
My seven hearts clench at this statement but I stay firm on my spot, saying, "Ironic, isn't it?"
"What are we gonna do?" a pink-haired Human asks, anger written all over his face. "We can't grip our swords or clench our fists. We aren't even able to walk towards that smug bastard!"
"Smug bastard?" I repeat the two words, tilting my head to the side. "Do I really look that smug? Elizabeth may have been a good friend for you these past couple of years but she was the worst older sister to have during the Holy War 3,000 years ago. She never once thought about what her choices might do to those around her and in the end, it's because of that recklessness I lost two of my best friends. She took away everything from me, and now I'll do the same. There's nothing smug about this, Humans; I'm just getting the justice my two best friends deserve."
"(Y/n) please, don't do this!" I hear a voice that causes my seven hearts to drop to my stomach.
"Prince Zeldris of Liones," I breathe, my eyes widening slightly. "Why the hell are you here?"
"I'm helping heal everyone who's getting hurt but what the hell are you doing?" the Goddess immediately snaps, huffing as he stamps his foot in frustration.
"Stay out of this," I growl, raising my chin at him. "Like I said, I'll kill you if you get in my way."
"This isn't justice for your best friends!" he argues loudly, refusing to back down. "Do you really think that they would want you doing all of this? In the end, you're just staining your memories of them, (Y/n). Please just stop and think about what they would really want you to—"
"Enough, Princeling," the Fox Sin of Greed interrupts my best friend, his blood-red eyes blazing with hatred. "Clearly, this one ain't gonna listen to anything you have to say. You want justice, Demon? This definitely ain't the way to get it, you bastard. And if you think killing the Captain will make you feel any better of the losses you suffered from the past, you're dead wrong."
One of my eyebrows twitches as I say, "Listen here, I'm not in the mood to let you just—"
"You really are delusional if you think you can atone for killing the Captain," the immortal goes on stubbornly and I immediately let out a hoarse laugh at this statement.
"Atone?" I hiss madly as a smile takes over my lips. "I'm afraid I'm far past that, Human."
I let out a little shocked gasp when the ground suddenly starts to shake and tiny pieces of rubble fall off the ledges around me and I look up to see a massive ginger-haired man in yellow armour slowly walking towards me, a large axe in one hand while his sharp blue eyes focus only on me.
"How is this possible?" I breathe, my lips parted slightly, when I realise that the Commandment of Benevolence seems to have no effect on this particular Human. "What the hell are you?"
When the Human finally reaches me, he says, "Of course it doesn't. Why should I bear any hatred towards someone who's obviously weaker than myself? All I feel is pity."
Chuckling softly at this bold proclamation, I then snarl, "That's quite a prideful thing to say."
He takes one more step forward, breaking the stone ground in the process, and says, "That's exactly who I am. As of this moment, you're face to face with Escanor, the Lion Sin of Pride."
"Ah, so you're Escanor," I murmur and allow myself to examine the Sin standing before me. "I've heard several rumours that you're stronger than my older sister. Although I highly doubt this."
"I ask that you do not harbour any hatred towards me," he requests as he leans down slightly, looking down at me, and this immediately ticks me off. "If you were to be stricken by the effects of your own Commandment then I wouldn't have the fun of fighting you. However, I am quite curious to know how you weren't affected by the Commandment when you fought the Captain."
Because I was given a blessing of protection from a Goddess over 3,000 years ago.
"That's none of your concern," I tell him with a mocking smile. "Shall we get this party started?"
Before he can answer me, I throw a quick punch under his chin with one hand and then with the other hand throw another punch right across his pale face which sends him flying backwards. Just when the Sin is about to crash into the group of soldiers and Zeldris near the entrance of Liones castle, I kick Escanor right in the stomach to slam him down to the stone ground.
"Don't you dare look down on me, Lion Sin of Pride," I growl as I slowly walk over to him, gentle winds rushing through my hair. "Just because I'm shorter than you doesn't mean you get to underestimate me. As your captain, didn't my older sister teach you any manners?"
I stop moving when I sense an immense source of magic growing on my right so I quickly glance over to see a giant ball of bright fire just hovering in the air and doing nothing which means it's a trick. I quickly raise both my hands to block the side of my face as Escanor throws a swift punch.
"That was a cheap move," I grumble and then grunt in pain as I suddenly fall onto one knee.
"What's wrong?" the Sin questions coolly as I try to catch my breath and raise my head weakly. "Did you find something down there on the ground?"
"Show off, now what're you trying to do?" I hear the Fox Sin of Greed tease his comrade. "Give us all a heart attack?"
"Huh," I mumble as I stand to my feet and use my forearm to rub off some dust from my face. "Your power is really intriguing, I'll give you that. Though I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised; it's been 3,000 years so the current generations of Britannia must have really interesting mixes of powers. However, let's not get too carried away and hurt your little friends in the process."
Swiftly drawing out my dagger from my sheath, I strike at an area that appears to be vulnerable and immediately short spurts of red blood ooze out of the area I struck.
"Interesting," the Lion Sin of Pride comments as he lightly pats it. "Is this one of your magical abilities? Are you able to spot your enemy's vulnerable points?"
"No," I say simply and then grin at him. "Just a little trick I learned when I was younger."
"To show my respect to you for getting serious and not holding back, I will do you the courtesy of the same," the Human says as he summons a ball of fire in one gloved hand. "But don't think that your death will be an easy one."
"Escanor, I beg you. Don't hurt her!" Zeldris yells as Ban holds him back.
"Wait, we can't fight here," I say, slightly panicked. "You'll hurt everyone who's behind you."
Shock flashes in the blue eyes in front of me. "You care. How interesting. Ban, would you be so kind as to confirm that Lake Penace lies just in front of the South Gate?"
"Yeah," Ban responds loudly, still struggling to hold Zeldris back. "So what if it does? We're all about to get burned up out here!"
"Alright then," Escanor says and then raises his palm in my direction which immediately sends the ball of fire towards me.
"Damn it," I snarl when I go flying backwards, the sounds of Zeldris's cries disappearing.
"Thought I told you, your death wasn't going to be an easy one," the Lion Sin of Pride remarks as we both hover above a big blue lake. "Cruel Sun!"
"What the hell," I wheeze when the ball of fire slams into me, bringing me down to the lake.
"Followed by Pride Flare!" I hear Escanor yell before the fire burning into me explodes.
"Damn you, you've ruined my armour," I moan once I'm back on my feet and quickly use my dark magic to cover some of my body. "Now your powers are just infuriating me, Human."
"Apologies," Escanor says, coughing awkwardly behind his hand. "Your chest."
Frowning, I look down to see that the armour covering the top part of my chest is burned slightly and revealing a bit too much of my chest. Squeaking at this, I manoeuvre some of my dark magic to my chest and blush as I turn my attention back to the Sin.
"You could have at least had the decency to look away," I growl as I raise a hand towards the new ball of fire he's created in one of his gloved hands. "Blackout!"
My dark magic quickly engulfs the ball of fire but it then disappears in the next second as the Lion Sin of Pride says, "Your magic overpowering mine? Who decided that? Your darkness swallowing up my sun? Who decided that? And now, for Cruel Sun. I will be the one to decide."
Stumbling backwards in shock, I cross my arms in front of my face but this does nothing as the blazing fireball slams right into me, pushing me back and then lifting me up towards the skies. Screaming in pain, I try to fight back against the fire spreading all over my body.
Darkness starts to take over my mind and before I can come up with any kind of plan to get out of this awful mess, before I can do anything, past whispered words of my best friend fill my head entirely as I lose control over absolutely everything.
It's because I think you deserve to be saved, (Y/n).
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"Oh, my sweet (Y/n)," I hear a familiar, worried voice whisper near my ear as I feel my entire body being gently cradled by someone. "Oh, look at these dreadful wounds! You poor thing."
"Len—Lenora," I manage to choke out the name while my eyes refuse to open.
"I've got you, (Y/n)," she says with a wobbly voice and I feel cold tears fall onto various parts of my face; my eyelids, my nose, my lips. "I've got you now, don't worry. You're safe with me."
Soft sounds of movement fill my ears, I feel large arms easily pick me up from the hard ground and the side of my face leans against a warm, broad chest. Eyes still shut, I inhale and exhale short breaths as the pain all over my body starts to wake me up but also lulls me back to sleep.
"Rest, (Y/n)," Lenora murmurs softly. "We're taking you back to the Kingdom of Camelot."
And with that, I allow myself to fall into the pits of darkness again, the memories of my once happy past taking over my mind that simply wishes to sleep.
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"Two weeks?" I hiss in horror as I place both of my hands on the stone balcony railings that look over the entire Kingdom of Camelot. "I was unconscious for two damn weeks?"
"You were," my maid confirms quietly from behind me. "And by the looks of it, your wounds still haven't entirely healed. (Y/n), perhaps you should go back to the—"
"Enough," I tell her firmly, my grip on the railings tightening. "Two weeks is far too long. I'm the daughter of the Demon Queen, damn it. It shouldn't have taken me that long to heal."
"That power would have hurt any Demon," Lenora snaps impatiently. "That particular magical power belonged to the light and it was inevitable that it would have brought great damage to a Demon, a creature of darkness. You're lucky that you are still alive, (Y/n). I insist that you—"
"I feel fine," I snarl as I walk over to her and lean close to her face. "Now, stand down."
Blue eyes gleaming with anger, she huffs loudly and then says, "As you wish, Your Majesty."
I sigh deeply as Lenora storms out of the balcony and heads back inside to my room. Silently, I follow her and then stand awkwardly at the entrance of the balcony as she quickly tidies the bed I had been lying in for the past two weeks.
Once she's done with this, Lenora then makes her way over to the wooden cupboard on the other side of the room and pulls out an outfit. She carefully lays it down on the bed and then turns to me, dipping her head lightly as a sign for me to try it on.
"But what about my armour?" I question quietly, pouting slightly. "Can I not wear that?"
"It's still being repaired," Lenora responds. "So you're going to have to wear this for now."
Grumbling to myself, I sluggishly take off my current clothes and try on the new outfit.
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(𝗬/𝗻)'𝘀 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗳𝗶𝘁
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗔𝗔𝟮𝟵.
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Once I'm in front of the mirror, I spin around on the spot and then let out a tiny excited squeal when I see how simple and cute the outfit looks on me.
"I really like it when you're like this," Lenora remarks softly and I turn to shoot her a questioning look at this abrupt statement. "The young Demon before me is no longer the leader of the Ten Commandments or the daughter of the Demon Queen; she's just her normal self right now."
"You're being way too cheesy for me," I say as my cheeks start to heat up and I squeak when my maid suddenly throws her arms around my neck and pulls me in for a hug, her body shaking.
"I will always be here for you, (Y/n)," she whispers and I hesitantly wrap my arms around her slim waist, holding her close. "Always. Never, ever forget that. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you," I whisper back as my eyes fall shut. "Loud and clear, Lenora."
"Now, come on," she unexpectedly says as she pulls away and rushes over to the main door of the room. "Let's get going! There's a lot of work that has to be taken care of, my lady!"
My hearts painfully contort when I see tears pooling in her gorgeous eyes before she leaves the room so I quickly follow after her but stay behind her so that she doesn't feel embarrassed.
Before we even reach the main hall, I can hear a loud ruckus behind the massive wooden doors and Lenora immediately sighs when she hears this, muttering under her breath that she's happy she no longer needs to deal with these stupid Demon soldiers but I can instead.
As she opens the wooden doors, I quickly hold my clasped hands behind me and straighten my back, raising my chin slightly as I try to look presentable for the Demons on the other side.
"Princess (Y/n)," several of them breathe my name in shock and they all instantly stop shuffling and stay still as I walk through the doors and hear them shut behind me.
"What's all this fuss about?" I demand and then tilt my head to the side, my face emotionless. "At this rate, your loud bickering will awaken the damn Supreme Deity."
"There's some commotion because there's a Human at the entrance of the palace," one of the soldiers finally answers me and immediately nervous looks are shared amongst the group.
I raise an eyebrow at this. "And? What the hell is with all those pathetic looks on your faces?"
Another Demon speaks up, "Because the Human—"
For some reason, he swiftly closes his mouth shut and then looks at the other Demon soldiers for help but it seems that none of them are willing to help him.
Lip twitching in annoyance, I drawl, "Someone better give me an answer before I lose it—"
"The Human looks exactly like the youngest son of the Supreme Deity," someone else yells.
Everything within me freezes and I try my very best to control my breathing as everyone focuses their intense gazes on me, all of their eyes burning with curiosity but also great fear.
Clearing her throat, Lenora speaks up, "My lady, maybe we should just—"
"Bring him in," I order loudly as I head over to the throne at the end of the hall. "Right now."
I comfortably sit down on the throne, gracefully cross my legs and then place both of my hands on my knee, dipping my head slightly as I allow a deadpan expression to take over my face.
"(Y/n), what are you doing?" Lenora breathes from the bottom of the stairs of the throne.
"What I hope is the right move," I reply and then suck in a sharp breath when my best friend enters the throne room, his jade eyes not looking anywhere else as they concentrate on me.
"Lady (Y/n) of the Demon race, leader of the Ten Commandments," he says rather loudly as he slowly spreads his hands to his sides and comes to a stop once he reaches the bottom of the steps. "Do I now have your full attention?"
"What do you want, Princes Zeldris of Liones?" I question and lean back against the throne.
"My offer," he starts and lowers his hands. "Have you given any thought to it, my lady?"
"Ah, your offer," I say with a mocking tone and then shoot him a cruel smile. "Your foolish offer."
The Goddess says absolutely nothing and doesn't move at all as I slowly make my way down the stone steps and stand right in front of him, my smile only growing bigger.
This is the best thing that could have happened for me; if I can keep my best friend here by my side in the Kingdom of Camelot, I won't have to worry or fear about him getting hurt since he'll be under my protection and watch.
But how the hell did he escape from those who would never let him out of their sight?
"What happened to your friends, princeling?" I taunt him, smirking.
"None of them know that I left except for Elizabeth who let me come here," he responds quietly and this instantly gets loud, shocked gasps from the other Demons in this throne room.
"So my older sister is back," I mutter under my breath, unable to take my eyes off Zeldris's lips. "Well, this was probably the dumbest thing you could ever do, princeling. Now we can use you to find out what exact weaknesses Elizabeth and the others in the Kingdom of Liones have."
Just as he opens his mouth to say something, I swiftly use my dark magic to trap my best friend and it wraps itself around his ankles, hands, and neck. It's tight enough to stop him from doing anything but not tight enough for him to feel uncomfortable or any kind of pain.
"You silly Human," I say with pure delight as I roughly grab his chin and lean in closer, our faces just an inch away from one another, our warm breaths mixing. "I bet you didn't even think about the consequences of your actions before foolishly entering the den of your enemy. You should have known that a powerless mortal like you could never save a heartless monster like me. But in the end, lucky me because you're all mine now."
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