The core resting within Frey's hands glowed with a soft azure light.
Every few moments, faint wisps of violet luminescence drifted from its surface before dissolving quietly into the air, giving the small sphere an almost ethereal beauty that felt strangely at odds with what it truly contained.
Behind her, Angelus collapsed onto the ruined earth.
The remnants of his Archangel body began to crumble away, flakes of white breaking loose with every passing second as the divine vessel finally rejected the soul it had been forced to house.
At nearly the same moment, the great barrier surrounding the battlefield dissolved into countless green particles, exposing the devastated landscape once more.
"Daddy!"
Sumire stumbled across the broken ground as quickly as she could, dropping to her knees beside the dying king. Tears streamed freely down her face as she reached out with trembling hands.
"Why...?" Her voice cracked beneath the weight of everything that had happened. "Why did you do this?"
Frey paid the scene little attention.
Whatever final exchange passed between father and daughter no longer concerned her. Whether Angelus sought forgiveness, justification, or merely silence in his final moments, it changed nothing.
The dead would not return because of regret. Nor would the crimes committed within this nation disappear alongside the man responsible for them.
A familiar presence approached from behind.
"I knew you could do it." Kaede smiled warmly before wrapping both arms around the Harpy Queen without the slightest hesitation.
Frey stiffened almost imperceptibly.
It lasted only the span of a single breath before her posture relaxed once more, though the faint twitch of one wing betrayed that the unexpected embrace had caught her entirely off guard.
Behind them came an exaggerated clearing of the throat.
"Ahem." Claire stood with her arms folded neatly beneath her chest, wearing an expression that was only barely disguising her amusement.
"Mother."
Frey glanced toward her daughter.
"What shall we do now?"
For several quiet moments, Frey offered no answer. Instead, her attention settled upon the small core resting within her palms.
Beneath its gentle glow lay countless souls.
The souls of the priests.
The researchers.
Otherworlders.
The sacrifices.
...Her Harpies.
The innocent victims whose lives had been offered to revive nothing more than a remnant left behind by the Tenma War.
Her fingers closed ever so slightly around the glowing sphere. "...What," she murmured almost to herself, "am I to do with something like this?"
[xxx]
Frey silently looked through the reports that had been handed to her by the white-haired Majin serving beneath Kaede.
This was Charlotte, the woman Kaede had spoken so highly of.
Frey found that she could barely perceive the woman's magicules at all, the faint presence she did detect so thoroughly concealed that it only served to confirm her suspicion. Charlotte was almost certainly suppressing the vast majority of her true strength.
Turning her attention back to the documents, Frey's expression gradually soured.
The reports detailing Angelus' various projects were far worse than she had anticipated.
Far more harpies had fallen into the nation's grasp than she had originally believed.
Her brow furrowed.
How had she allowed something like this to happen? Harpies had simply disappeared without so much as a single report reaching her. Their race had never been particularly numerous to begin with, their entire population only barely surpassing one million.
Every life lost was a noticeable loss to Fulbrosia.
Then there was the most obvious and dangerous discovery of all.
The preservation of a remnant from the Tenma War.
Not only had they somehow managed to acquire the corpse of an Archangel, they had spent years conducting experiments upon it without anyone beyond their borders noticing.
Slowly lowering the final report, Frey's gaze drifted away from the papers.
She sat upon a hastily assembled throne erected in the centre of what had once been Angelus' capital, looking down upon the human girl kneeling quietly before her.
At her right stood Claire, calm and attentive as always.
At her left, Kaede wore the same easy grin she always seemed to carry.
The young human girl's eyes were still red from mourning her father. Angelus had died only moments after the battle had ended.
That had been nearly three hours ago. For a human, it was nowhere near enough time to grieve.
Unfortunately, Frey could not afford to delay matters simply because of one girl's loss.
"All of the citizens have been gathered." She finally lowered the reports onto the armrest of the hastily assembled throne.
"Not a single one managed to escape." Her golden eyes settled upon Sumire. "Although many among your people worshipped your father, the overwhelming majority were ignorant of his true ambitions. They knew nothing of his experiments, nor of the atrocities committed beneath this nation."
"They therefore fall into the category of innocents." A brief pause followed. "They were also not among those who attempted to flee."
Frey folded one leg neatly over the other. "Those who did attempt to escape have already been dealt with."
"Our forces have also begun retrieving everyone who has ever left this nation, regardless of when they departed."
Sumire slowly looked up. "...What?"
"You understand what that entails, do you not?" Frey rested her chin lightly upon her curled fist.
Her expression remained perfectly composed.
"That includes the Otherworlders whom you assisted in escaping."
The color drained slightly from Sumire's face. Her lips parted, clearly intending to protest.
Frey continued regardless. "Once every individual has been accounted for, a complete census will be conducted."
"Only then shall I determine what value, if any, you are capable of offering."
"U-Um... excuse me..." This time, Sumire interrupted.
A low growl immediately escaped Claire's throat.
The young Harpy's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, causing Sumire to flinch, though she forced herself to continue anyway. "...What do you mean?"
"And... why are you telling me all of this?"
Frey regarded the girl for several quiet moments. There was unmistakable disappointment within her gaze. "Because Angelus no longer possesses a legitimate ruler."
Her voice remained calm. "And after everything that has transpired here, this nation cannot be permitted to govern itself."
"Therefore, Angelus now falls beneath my authority."
"You will serve as its appointed governor."
Sumire's eyes widened. She shook her head so quickly that several loose strands of hair fell across her face. "W-What?"
"No... I can't be the governor. I'm just... I'm just a girl from..." The words caught in her throat. "And my father... I still have to..."
"You have remarkably little choice in the matter." Frey spoke over her without raising her voice. "Once every citizen has been accounted for..." She leaned back slightly against the throne. "...I shall erase Angelus entirely."
The words struck Sumire harder than any physical blow could have. Her mouth opened, and closed again, but no sound emerged.
Only raw, unrestrained fear spread across her face.
Frey looked down upon her from the throne. "That..." She allowed the silence to linger for a heartbeat. "...or Angelus survives as a client state beneath Fulbrosia, with you serving as its governor."
Her fingers rested lightly against the armrest. "The choice rests entirely upon you."
Sumire struggled to even find her voice.
What could she possibly say in a situation like this? What argument remained? What plea could she make before a being who had already decided the fate of the entire nation?
If someone were to ask whether she truly cared for the people of Angelus... She wasn't even certain she could answer yes.
The people of Angelus had never treated her poorly. They had been kind to her. Welcoming. Patient.
Yet they had always felt... strange.
Every single one of them worshipped her father as though he truly were a god descended from the heavens.
The absolute certainty in their eyes whenever they spoke of him. It had always unsettled her. If anything, they frightened her more than they comforted her.
And now... Now every one of them stood upon the edge of annihilation.
Not because of anything they had personally done. But because of her father's ambitions. Ambitions that had ultimately failed in the most spectacular and humiliating way imaginable.
She looked up toward the throne where the Sky Queen and ruler of the Harpies, Demon Lord Frey, sat regarding her with that same unwavering patience.
[Overcomer] pinged within her then, sharper than it had all day, and a new sensation settled into place, as though a missing piece had quietly attached itself to her Unique Skill.
Instinctively, she understood. A new subskill had been acquired.
Her already wide eyes began to tremble as the world around her dissolved into countless shades of drifting grey smoke.
Only two figures remained truly visible.
Demon Lord Frey.
Lady Kaede.
Through those newly awakened eyes, they no longer appeared as women.
They were... They were things her mind struggled to comprehend.
Around Demon Lord Frey, endless currents of wind coiled together into a colossal silhouette that stretched far beyond the limits of her vision, each movement carrying the crushing weight of a sovereign that ruled the skies themselves.
Beside her, Lady Kaede appeared no less impossible.
Shadows folded endlessly into one another around her body, layer upon layer, so deep and immeasurable that merely looking at them made Sumire feel as though she were staring into an abyss with no end.
Neither of them resembled living creatures. They were calamities wearing the shape of women.
Suddenly she felt impossibly insignificant before them. Her life meant nothing in the grand scheme of whatever they actually were.
What had she even been thinking, stumbling into this world by pure accident the way she had? What had her father thought, declaring himself a god in front of beings like these?
They were all so achingly small in the end, every single one of them, scrambling for whatever scraps of power they could carve out of something so much larger than themselves.
"I... accept."
[xxx]
"Did your wings grow bigger?"
Frey raised a brow, turning toward Kaede, who had leaned in far closer than was strictly necessary and was now studying her wings with remarkable concentration. "What do you mean?"
"I'm certain they've grown by a few inches." Kaede nodded to herself with an unusually serious expression, her eyes carefully tracing the length of each feather. "You really don't feel anything?"
Frey gave a small shake of her head. "No. Nothing that I can perceive."
Kaede clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Damn." She folded her arms with an exaggerated sigh. "I thought you were about to evolve."
Her shoulders slumped. "Then you'd finally become a true Demon Lord."
A faint, amused huff escaped Frey's lips.
"From defeating Angelus and his delusions of grandeur?" She gave the ruined capital a brief glance before looking back at Kaede. "Hardly. That scarcely feels like an accomplishment worthy of qualifying me for the status of a True Demon Lord."
Kaede sighed again, looking thoroughly dejected.
"Well... I was hoping you'd get something out of it at least." She pouted. "Come on, throw me a bone here. Even awakening a Demon Lord Seed would've been cool."
Frey paused mid-step. She turned her head toward Kaede, a hint of curiosity appearing within her expression. "I already possess a Demon Lord Seed."
"I have for several decades now."
Kaede froze. Her jaw slowly dropped open before an utterly undignified sound escaped her. "...Bwaaah?"
For a brief moment, Frey found herself suppressing the urge to coo.
The expression looked entirely too adorable on someone who was supposed to be a Demon Lord.
"W-What?" Kaede finally managed. "What do you mean you've had a Demon Lord Seed for decades?"
Frey gave a light shrug.
"I mean precisely what I said." She continued walking at an unhurried pace. "I cannot say exactly how one acquires a Demon Lord Seed."
"My understanding of the process is rather limited."
"However, I obtained mine at some point after the Tenma War."
Kaede hurried after her, her confusion only deepening. "Then why aren't you already a True Demon Lord?"
Frey's expression remained composed. "Because I have little interest in starting a war I have no chance of winning."
She continued toward the entrance of Angelus, now little more than Fulbrosia's newest client state. "How else would I obtain such an absurd number of human souls?"
"I could give them to you."
The answer came so quickly that Frey stopped walking altogether. She slowly turned back.
Kaede beamed the instant she realized she had her full attention. Without the slightest hesitation, she skipped over, slipped her arm through Frey's, and happily hugged it against herself.
"So..." Kaede looked up at her with an eager grin.
"Do you want them?" Her smile widened just a little more. "Wanna become a True Demon Lord?"