Magnus slouched on his throne, one leg flopped over the armrest, and staring up at the ceiling with almost no interest.
Bob, his butler (from now on), who stood nearby polishing a teacup, gave him a blank look. "Is there a problem, my lord?"
"Yeah, there was one. Thankfully, it's resolved."
"…Probably." Magnus sighed.
Suddenly, the door slammed open with the force of a meteor, and Marianne, the nun-turned-maid, entered the throne room in slight hurry. "My lord. There seems to be a guest for you outside. She says that she is your relative."
Magnus blinked. "Relative? In this world? Does my father have dimensional crossing balls or what?"
Bob coughed softly and turned his face away.
"Who is it? Just let them enter," Magnus waved lazily.
The door creaked open, and in stepped—
A woman.
She wore a long black—or rather, violet dress. Reaching from her neck down to her knee. It didn't have much accessories, but the cuts on her sleeves to make It look like leaf petals were giving her extra looks. She wore black ethnic flats, whereas on her face, she wore a pair of round, shiny, pebble-shaped earrings. Her raven hair almost covered a small part of her face, as the rest behind was set free.
Magnus squinted. "uhhh..."
The woman looked up slightly, revealing dazzling violet eyes and red glossy lips curled in a faint smile. "Sloth, my little brother. You have grown even lazier."
Bob dropped the teacup. Marianne's mouth fell open. Magnus's brain screeched to a halt.
"L-little… brother…?" Marianne repeated.
Magnus lazily scratched his head. "Uh… sorry, have we met? Why are you calling me your brother. I don't know you."
The woman let out a soft, musical laugh. "I am Lilith Vespera, Demon Queen of Lust."
Marianne once again repeated. "L-Lust? The Queen of Lust?!"
She disappeared and reappeared behind magnus' throne.
"Well, aren't you a funny one, sloth? Having a nun as a slave."
"Servant, you misspelled."
Lilith smiled slyly. "Servant, slave — it's all the same in the eyes of us transcendent, dear sloth."
Magnus raised a hand lazily, as if objecting her claim. "No seriously. She signed up herself because we offered... Whatever was written, I forgot."
Lilith chuckled softly, tapping her chin. "Mm, tempting… but let's get to business, shall we? You, dear little brother, owe me."
Magnus squinted at her. "Little brother? Listen, lady — I dropped into this world like two months ago. You're not fooling anyone."
Lilith's smile twitched, her eye giving a little tic. "…Ah. Don't you understand? Us demon kings automatically become siblings. So, of course I would call you my. Dear. Little. Brother."
"That's some bullshit" Magnus leaned over slightly, his amber eyes staring right at the not-very-nice-looking lady.
Lilith sighed, but then straightened, her aura pulsing faintly. "Yeah, Yeah.. how about we leave this talk and you simply hand over your throne?"
Magnus scratched his head. "You want this place? Have you seen the holes in the ceiling?"
At that exact moment, a loose brick clattered from the ceiling and narrowly missed Bob, who casually sidestepped without looking.
Lilith huffed, stepping forward. "It's not the castle itself. It's the title, the power, the control. Don't play dumb."
Magnus grinned sleepily. "I'm not playing dumb. I am simply refusing."
Marianne peeked nervously from behind the throne. "Hey, wait. I did not sign up for this."
Magnus stretched, yawning so wide his jaw popped. Then, he put his hands on his chin. "Let's see, I will give you the power, fine. However, you have to survive one attack from me. if not, you become my subordinate. Simple enough, no?"
Lilith once again laughed, amused by the ridiculously simple duel. "That's quite smart. Let's have a sacred duel, so that no one is able to back off on their claims."
Bob and Marianne gulped in sync and Magnus lazily swatted his hand. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever"
At that moment, Lilith was overly confident. "What an idiot! Demon kings cannot harm each other without the Ajaa Stone. As I thought, he's too foolish! After I easily tank his attack, I will trample over him and become the sole demon lord of two sins! Even brother Lucian won't be able to harm me!"
With that unmoving confidence, she slowly walked ahead, waiting for Magnus to foolishly attack him. However, that never happened.
All of a sudden, she felt an extremely sharp pain on her head, right before falling on to the ground. Her vision began to fade into darkness as a single thought emerged in her mind. "H-How?"
Well, Lilith, I will explain how.
The castle was old, rundown and on the verge of breaking. Right where Lilith was standing, there was a brick that was placed at such an angle that with some force it would have fallen down.
"Wait then! How did It fall?" Renaya, who had watched everything from behind door couldn't hold her interest and queried. Meanwhile, Marianne rushed to check up on the fallen so-called-queen.
Renaya, do you remember the scene where Lilith just tried to show her power to aura farm.
"umm.. yeah. Wait, what's an aurafarm?"
So that sudden turbulence is what shook the brick and it fell right on her.
"Wait wait, you are not answering the right question. What's an aurafarm? The fuck?"
Bob clapped politely. "Well-timed, my lord."
Magnus was himself confused. "I don't think that was me."
"No, the fuck? Why are y'all ignoring me?!" Renaya tried to gain attention. It was not effective.
Lilith was lying on the ground unconscious.
"Is this queen really this weak?" Marianne tapped on Lilith's head, fortunately, or unfortunately, she was not bleeding.
"Well, physically. I guess." Bob replied.
"Does being a nun mean you're obligated to worry about your everyone?" Magnus muttered, rubbing his temple.
Marianne knelt beside Lilith, still patting her head. "She's still a person! Or… a demon queen! Or… something! We can't just leave her like this!"
Bob calmly handed Marianne a small fan. "Here. You can wave this over her until she wakes up."
Magnus tilted his head, staring down at the unconscious Lilith, her perfect hair now frizzed slightly from the falling brick. "Huh… I always thought Lust-types were, you know, better at dodging."
Bob thoughtfully tapped his bony chin. "Perhaps, my lord, her real strength lies not in physical endurance, but in… something? I dunno."
Magnus snorted. "Then don't speak, you shameless mutt."
Suddenly, Lilith twitched.
Marianne gasped. "She's waking up!"
Lilith's fingers dug into the cracked floor, her body trembling as she slowly pushed herself up. A faint, dangerous glow ignited in her violet eyes.
She stared right up at Marianne, who was still fanning her for some reason.
She got up with a blank expression, or rather looking up-close it was a sad one. She had lost the duel, easily so, and now she was to become the subordinate of the same person she thought to eradicate. She wanted to refuse, but a sacred duel would simply not let her.
Regretting her decision of making the duel a sacred one, she had no choice but to swallow her pride and bow down to Magnus.
"I lost. It was due to my incompetency of not being able to take in account that you may have the Ajaa stone. From today onwards, I am your subordinate."
Magnus blinked. "what's an Ajaa stone?"
"What do mean? Didn't you just use it to harm me? Demon kings can't harm other demon kings without the Ajaa stone"
Magnus gasped. "Ah. But I didn't attack you though? A brick fell on top of your head and you just fainted."
Lilith's eyes widened, and with those violet eyes she glanced at Marianne, as if she would refuse his claim and say something about it. She didn't.
Marianne nodded.