Conquest stepped inside the Junei Hotel, where Kamui stood waiting for her. It appeared he had a set of clothes hung over his forearm and they were sealed in a plastic cover.
Kamui thrust the clothes toward her, his head cranked so far to the side it looked ready to snap off. While, his face burned bright red.
"Take this…" Kamui said.
Conquest stared at him, confusion crossing her face. Something was definitely off about him. She couldn't quite understand why he kept avoiding eye contact.
What the hell is wrong with him? He's acting very weird.
Kamui's eyes stayed glued to the wall, his whole body stiff as a board.
Then, without thinking, his gaze dropped right to her chest. He caught himself and snapped back to the wall, sweat sliding down his temple.
"Damn it, take it already. Aren't you cold?" Kamui shoved the clothes closer without looking at her, his voice cracking on the last word.
Curious about what held his attention, she looked down at herself.
What she found was her hospital gown hanging in shreds, torn open from Leviathan's tentacle, her breasts exposed to the cold lobby air.
Conquest raised an eyebrow. She was a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Modesty meant nothing to her.
But watching this grown man, reduced to a fumbling mess over a little exposed skin, was at least almost worth the humiliation of crawling back to the Yakuza.
She couldn't help but grin at the sight of him squirming.
For once, she had the upper hand. After all, he had called her weak back in the hospital, and she wanted nothing more than to get her revenge by flustering him.
She leaned close until only inches separated their faces.
"What's the matter with you? You've never seen a woman's body before?"
Kamui turned away again, his face burning red.
"Shut up!!"
Conquest let out a laugh at how flustered he'd become before finally lifting off the clothes from his arm.
"Interesting. So this is all it takes to rattle you."
A grin curled at her lips.
"You've caught my attention, Kamui Hoshigiri. I'll be sure to dig up every last weakness you have as we get to know each other better."
Kamui gritted his teeth before tilting his head toward the far end of the lobby.
"Bathroom's over there. Make it quick, Granny Chiyo has been waiting for you."
Waiting for me?
So the old woman really had predicted her return. And the fact that Kamui stood in the lobby with a fresh set of clothes made it crystal clear she definitely knew the future.
Whoever this old woman was, her claim of knowing Conquest four hundred and fifty years ago might actually be true.
However, how true, she couldn't say. But if the old woman really did carry a piece of Conquest's past, then there was a chance she knew how to get her strength back. At least, she hoped so.
She stopped in front of the bathroom mirror, admiring the black crown that rested on her head. But having it sit there while she showered just didn't feel right. After all, her crown was a celestial weapon, the very thing that granted her telekinesis.
She could just take it off and set it next to the sink. It would have been easy. But leaving a celestial weapon next to a dirty sink was beneath a ruler. So instead, she ran through her crown's capabilities, searching for a better option.
She raised one finger. No one could remove her crown from her head, no matter how strong they were.
A second finger went up. She was the only one who could physically take it off without losing her crown's abilities. Of course, as long as she stayed near it.
A third finger. If she ever left her crown somewhere out of reach, she could summon it back to herself.
Conquest stared at her three raised fingers and frowned. There was a fourth one she was sure of it. But the memory refused to surface. The last time she used her crown to its fullest extent was her fight with Sasaki, and even that felt like a lifetime ago.
Uhm... What was the fourth thing? It must have been something to do with vanishing my crown to a different plane of existence. I'm sure of it now but how did it go again?
She clapped her hands together once, and her eyes lit up.
"That's right! I remember now."
She raised her right hand and tapped the crown twice, and just like that it vanished from her head. Soon after, a burning sensation flared through her chest, sharp enough to make her wince.
Ngh... it had been so long since I last stored my crown within myself that I had forgotten how much it burned. Such an awful feeling.
Conquest stepped inside the shower. The hot water cascaded over her skin, drumming against her shoulders and loosening the dried blood with every pulse. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back.
...Ah. So this is what peace feels like.
Once she was done, she heard Kamui's voice muffled through the bathroom door.
"Almost forgot. Liu Han figured you'd need some boots, so he had some picked up for you. They're in the cabinet below the sink."
"Really? How thoughtful…"
Conquest pulled the cabinet open and found a pair of black heeled ankle boots sat inside, tucked next to a folded towel.
How convenient…
She grabbed both of them and dried herself off with the towel.
With that done, she tore open the plastic cover and pulled the clothes free.
To her surprise, inside the bag was a high-collared thin black jacket that fit snug against her body. It also had an emblem stitched into the left side of the jacket, bearing the image of a seven-toothed sword pointing downwards.
It reminded her of the Sorcerer King's unique weapon, which raised a few questions.
Why hadn't Kamui called on his own father to deal with these demons? Daigo Hoshigiri was the most famous and powerful sorcerer alive. A man like that should have been the first name on his lips.
While her mind was preoccupied with that question. She found a beautiful black dress tucked within the plastic cover, and even before she held it up, she could tell it was well made. It wasn't something she ever wore, especially since four hundred and fifty years ago, her thin white armor had been the only clothing she ever needed.
The dress hung mid-length with uneven cuts that fell shorter at the front and longer at the sides, and a corset of buckled straps came with it to hold everything tight at the waist.
The outfit was perfect for combating the cold while still being comfortable enough to fight in without tripping over her own dress.
This was exactly what a ruler like myself should be wearing.
"By the way Kamui. Where is the Sorcerer King? A man of his strength should be here," she called out.
"Don't you know? Oh, that's right…"
"What? Say it already."
"He's been killed by a demon."
The Sorcerer King was dead. Killed by a demon. Her hand couldn't even hold the washcloth properly as it slipped from her fingers and dropped on the floor with a wet slap.
How is that even possible?
Conquest pressed herself close to the bathroom door and called out to Kamui.
"Which demon did it?"
Kamui went quiet for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
"Remember back at the hospital? I told you there was a demon I was looking for."
He paused.
"Well, that demon was the reason I started working with Liu Han and his group. The news had said the Hoshigiri mansion burned down, and that they'd found my father's remains buried in the woods. Ever since then, I've been hunting lower tier demons one after another, trying to find who did it. But none of them knew a thing."
His voice dropped low.
"But that changed when Liu Han introduced me to Granny Chiyo. She knew things no human should know. And that knowledge led me straight to the demon I've been looking for this entire time. The one I'll cut down until there's nothing left to bury."
At that moment, Conquest remembered what he had told her back at the hospital.
The name left her lips before he could say it himself.
"Azazel. The Demon Sin of Wrath."