The period in prison was shorter than expected.
Light emerged from the floor in the pattern of an ancient pentagram. The grooves in billions of dark channels remained lit, and the surroundings, walls and bars, shifted to a familiar place.
It was the Black Castle, the Demon King's domain!
Cwenburg raced across the spacious hall.
From the opposite direction came the sound of Edas's trotting.
The Marquis embraced her and spun the loli in the air.
Æthelflæd, Leofwynn, Godwyna, and Ǣg-berend observed the new windows, with rococo frames, beautiful and airy. They made their way to the dining hall, where a massive table with tall chairs received the visitors.
At the head, the Demon King looked satisfied. Edas had a gift, he had crafted all the furniture in the dining hall, as well as the great bed in the Castle suite.
Finally, furniture after all these years.
— He invited us to dinner, what an honor. He truly is a King, even if he's also a demon. — Æthelflæd concluded as she sat down after dragging her chair and settling at the corner of the table, right next to the Demon King. — Mere details. What's there to eat? I'm starving, did you know we were in prison?
— Prison? What did you do? — in response to the Demon King, the entire table turned to the human woman, who kept that huge smile. Ignoring her, the Demon King confessed. — Never mind. There's no easy way to say this. This era is nearing its end.
— A prophecy? — everyone remained intimidated by the Demon King's presence, except the alchemist. — Are you going to tell us a riddle? Cwenburg! — shouted Æthelflæd. — The Demon King is going to pose a riddle!
— Wait for me! — and holding Edas's hands, the Unicorn-Girl entered the dining hall and took the seat opposite the enormous being with horns pointing at the ceiling.
Edas sat beside her, and confessed:
— I'm not very good at riddles, but I'll do my best. I think we're all gathered.
Blith, passing by, looked at all the guests without recognizing them. The Demon King informed him they were his guests, and the old immortal, suspicious, left the room.
— There's no fucking riddle. We're being attacked. They were going to find you far from me, and little would remain of the three of you, so I brought you to my domain. Now they're coming here.
Leofwynn's eyes ignited with fire. She read the aura of extremely powerful beings. They were flying toward the Demon King's Castle.
— You can defeat them, right? — Leofwynn didn't look at the Demon King as she asked, her focus was on one presence in particular, something terrifying and unprecedented.
— I'll take the strongest enemy. Leofwynn, you take the one approaching from the south, it's someone important, a tentacular being. He's extremely intelligent; do not listen to him. No matter what he tells you, everything he is is a lie, and what he says and what he does are no different. — blushing, the Volcana nodded affirmatively, she liked that the Demon King knew her name.
— Cwenburg and Godwyna, you go north. I don't know that presence, good luck.
— Ǣg-berend, there's a Golden Dragon on my invaded lands, he is ancient. And since you're the fastest, go tell him that his presence is needed at this Castle. You may go now. — Ǣg-berend waited a few moments.
Everything was so sudden that she calculated the odds of this not being merely a joke. Since there was no reaction from anyone, she sensed the greatest number of people nearby, in a settlement, and trotted toward those souls.
Æthelflæd took a moment, but arrived at the obvious conclusion:
— It must be Yenno! My Master! I know this region, can I go with you, filly?
— No. — the Demon King expressed his plan again. — The Level 1s must stay here, at the Castle. Blith can protect them better than anyone. That's it.
The Demon King beat his wings, which tore through his back as they grew in size, and he flew outside.
The others also moved as ordered, and only Æthelflæd remained seated at the table, until Blith returned to the room.
— Who were you again? — the immortal examined the human up close but could not reach an answer.
In the sky, the muscular and powerful body of the Demon King cut through the air, and from the opposite direction came he, Sceadu Gestréon Ungemynd, or, as he was called on the Monster Continent, the One.
The impact of the two bodies sent the One's body upward into the stratosphere and beyond, outside the planet, crashing against the rocks of the asteroid ring.
Up there, that which once formed the ancient three moons preserved remnants of other eras, and a ruined temple, without name or memory, had its foundations destroyed when the Demon King kicked the One against the massive asteroid, which exploded into countless debris.
Luna Castle was hidden in the shadows of the rocks moving in collisions that distorted the previously clustered formations, and the One rose, arms wide, bathed in the light of the star, eclipsing the Demon King.