"Princess Viana! We are under attack! You must get to safety," one the guards called out, rousing Viana out of her thoughts. She and everyone else already knew that this would happen. But even so, the moment was nerve-wracking. If it had been up to her, then she would have teleported back to the Demon Castle, had the demon soldiers deal with the enemy and then resume the Princess Tour afterwards.

  But it was up to Morrigan to decide their course of action. She had warned her little sister repeatedly against the possible dangers, but the little demon seemed to have something up her sleeve. Perhaps, she just intended to take the enemies head-on – with her power it wouldn't actually be such a bad idea. Morrigan could easily defeat a whole army with her fire magic alone.

  But they were in a farmhouse right now, which wasn't the best place for a destructive magic battle. There were many crops growing in the fields, and losing those would be quite a devastating blow to the local economy. However, there was nothing to be done about it now, so the best thing Viana could do was support her little, stubborn sister.

  "Get everyone ready! Where is Morrigan?" Viana asked the guard.

  "She and Lord Azrael are currently engaged with the enemy," he replied nervously.

  "Already? Quickly – lead me to them!" Viana said and followed the guard through the farmhouse. She expected to hear a lot of noise from the battle, but everything was quiet. Eerily so. The guard led her outside where she saw two sides standing at a stalemate.

  Or to be precise, their attackers were forced into a stalemate as angry blue flames hovered in the air, ready to fly at them at a moment's notice. Haku the dragon was growling, his mouth filled with flames while an army of intruders stood beyond the farm borders, nobody daring to engage.

  "Bring out your leader!" Morrigan bellowed, not a single shred of fear in her face.

  "W-We have the whole city surrounded, Princess Morrigan. Cooperate or–"

  "I said to bring out your leader, you worm! Or do you have trouble with your hearing?" the demon girl cut him off without hesitation. Viana's breath hitched as she looked at her little sister. Such power exuded from her, something she had not seen in her before. At that moment Morrigan without a doubt stood with the same strength as the Demon King. Unyielding and unforgiving – like the strongest hellflame.

  "W-We have this place–" the cloaked soldier tried to speak again, but one of the blue flames flew at him striking the ground right in front of him. He yelped and jumped back, no doubt feeling the heat of Morrigan's flames.

  "Bring out your leader!" She demanded, and the soldier ran away, his tail literally tucked in between his legs. The opposing army of enemies, all of whom wore masks to cover their faces, looked at Morrigan, who stood tall and proud, not at all bothered by the overwhelming numbers in front of her.

  After several tense minutes, a large drow with dark blue skin, white hair and red eyes stepped out in front of the mass. Unlike the rest of the soldiers, his face was exposed and he was sneering down at Morrigan.

  "So the little princess hopes to intimidate with her display of magic. How cute!" the drow snickered. "Gather your wits, you fools. She is just one little girl. We're going to capture her and put an end to this little charade!"

  He laughed, his soldiers laughing along with him, finally gathering their courage. But much to their surprise, Morrigan also laughed alongside them.

  "How cute! He thinks he's going to capture me. Me! The Crown Princess of Demon Kingdom," she retorted, the amount of blue flames hovering above increasing twofold, forcing the enemy to take a step back. The drow however did not seem intimidated.

  "Oh, yes. Flaunt your blue flame, but how long would you be able to keep attacking us? Those flames of yours consume a lot of magic, but our numbers are limitless. We'll keep coming until you have no magic left. So be reasonable. The people of this town needn't suffer – just come with us peacefully and they get to continue their peaceful lives."

  "You really think I'm just going to give myself up? What do you even want with me?" Morrigan retorts, and Haku lets out an angry growl from behind her, forcing the enemy soldiers in the first rows to take a step back.

  "You'll find out if you come with us," the drow said with a sickly sort of smile.

  "Fine, don't tell me. I'll have my father find out for me," Morrigan said with a smile.

  "Nice try, little princess. But your father won't save you now," the drow said, filled with confidence. "I don't know if you remember, but we have this place surrounded. You do not stand a chance."

  "Oh, yes, that's all you've been yappering. Big numbers, surrounded, yadda, yadda. But are you sure about that? Because if my eyes are not deceiving me, there seems to be something coming from right over there," Morrigan said and pointed towards the outskirts of the city. Everyone turned their heads to look. Initially, Viana could see nothing, but then she noticed light emanating from the outskirts.

  "Nice bluff. But light from your little elven friend isn't enough to scare us," the drow retorted. But just as he said that screams came from the direction of the light and the enemy soldiers grew visibly tense.

  "Is it me you're talking about? Because I am right here. Not there," Galandir spoke up, appearing right next to the dragon, smiling smugly from ear to ear. Viana felt confused. She had thought that the light coming from the outskirts was indeed something Galandir had done. Morrigan had sent him there before, however there was no way he could be attacking the soldiers garrisoned outside the city from here.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The screams suddenly grew louder, as did the light and Viana heard a steady clatter of weapons from far away, and a loud voice echoing throughout the whole Underworld. She could recognize this strong voice anywhere.

  "We give no quarter! No mercy towards those who came to capture my daughter," Alphegor's voice boomed over the town like thunder, sending deep trembles down into Viana's core. Had he come here with a whole army in tow?

  "Is that…?" The drow suddenly looked much paler.

  "Sir! The Demon King has come together with a whole army!" One of the soldiers suddenly screamed. Panic rose among the enemy ranks which Morrigan instantly took advantage of.

  "Capture the drow!" She yelled out and before anyone had any time to react, Azrael was already next to the drow, thick dark vines wrapped around him. The soldiers scattered in every direction, running for their lives. The blue flames rained down after them while Haku began chasing against the panicked soldiers who ran as quickly as their feet allowed them.

  Before long all of the enemies had run away, leaving Morrigan and her retinue standing undamaged and unbothered. Viana looked at the little sister in awe. Not only had she sent her enemies running, but she had done so without causing any bloodshed or damage to the surrounding area.

  ***

  "I can't believe that actually worked!" Morrigan said with a deep sigh, melting down onto the couch next to her father. Her plan waged heavily on intimidating the enemy and luckily for her – it had worked.

  Their numbers had been overwhelming – several thousand drow, duergar, demons and even vampires. They had been separated into battalions of sorts, each one led by one general like the drow that Azrael captured.

  "I can't believe you could be so reckless!" Viana grumbled, wagging an angry finger. "Several thousand enemies and you act as if you were dealing with merely a few children!"

  "But that was quite a plan! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the phantom army you created," Alphegor roared in laughter, affectionately patting Morrigan's hair.

  "Phantom army?" Deziara cocked her head curiously.

  "I anticipated that we might get attacked soon, so I created a little something to help us out," Morrigan said and pulled the disk that she had given to Galandir before. The King had retrieved it once he had captured the remaining generals and a large number of soldiers which had already been transported to the Demon Castle dungeons.

  "What's that?" Deziara asked. Morrigan pulled a little switch out of her dress pocket and pressed the little button. At the same moment, the room became filled with demon soldiers, all wearing the Demon Kingdom coat of arms, swords held in their hands.

  Viana and Deziara tried to avoid the mass of soldiers, only to realize that they all just went through them. Deziara waved her hand through one demon only to watch as it passed through.

  "Wha–?" Viana exclaimed as Morrigan pressed the button again and the soldiers disappeared.

  "It's something I created with my paint magic. A phantom demon army. Whenever I press the button, the image comes out of this device and shows demon soldiers. I hoped to scare our enemy away with this by making them believe that our numbers are larger than they actually are," Morrigan shrugged her shoulders.

  "You can create things like this?" Viana asked in genuine shock.

  "It took a lot of tinkering to get the thing right. Initially, it would show the projection right away and some soldiers were half-solid," Morrigan said.

  "Half-solid?" Deziara asked in horror.

  "Yeah. They were like slimes, sort of. It was gross," Morrigan shuddered as she remembered how the slimy soldiers had filled her carriage. It was only thanks to Azrael's magic that she was able to continue her experiments in peace. "It took like seven attempts to make the projection work like I wanted it."

  "Projection? So it works like a projection crystal only it is showing what you want it to show?" Viana asked.

  "Yeah, pretty much," Morrigan nodded.

  "Your Highness, I am sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I believe it is crucial that His Majesty returns to the Demon Castle as soon as possible," Melanos suddenly spoke up. Everyone was surprised by his sudden words, and had it been somebody else, the King no doubt would have gotten mad. But if the spymaster spoke then it must have been for a good reason.

  "Why do you believe that?" Alphegor said.

  "I believe the ploy to capture the princess was only half of the enemy's plan. It is too simple and too predictable for that to have been it. I believe it was more like a distraction," Melanos said grimly.

  Now when he mentions it – he's right. Their plan was basically just to overwhelm me with numbers and capture me. But there are so many ways that plan could have been foiled. My magical power alone is something they should have considered a lot more. Could it really have been just a distraction?

  "Yeah, it is likely. But if they wanted to distract me from something then it is likely they have already succeeded. Nonetheless, I shall return to the capital," Alphegor said and rose up from his seat. "Stay safe, my daughters!"

  And within the next moment, the King had disappeared into the shadows. Everyone looked at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to say or do next.

  "Anybody want any cookies?" Melinda suddenly spoke up, her daughter shivering like a leaf right next to her while Gunther looked like he was about to pass out.

  "I'm so sorry you had to see all that," Morrigan apologized to the fire demons.

  "No, no! It's not like you wanted to get… attacked," Melinda stammered out, and Morrigan couldn't help but frown.

  If only it wouldn't involve civilians. If any real fighting would have broken out then how many people would have suffered. But at least we've captured the general so perhaps, we'll be one step closer to understanding who it is that is trying to capture me so badly.

  "I believe it's time we continued on our journey. Viana, have our supplies been restocked?" Morrigan asked her still dumbfounded sister. She blinked slowly, then she shook her head as if coming out of a trance.

  "Yes. We have everything we need," the eldest princess replied.

  "Then let's keep going before we cause any more trouble," she said, doing her best to suppress a yawn.

  "Won't you rest for the night?" Melinda asked.

  "As much as I'd like to – we do not have any time to waste. We need to disappear before our enemy realizes where we have gone," Morrigan said, and everyone nodded in agreement. Part of her wished to go home and leave this whole mess behind.

  But I am not going to give up now. I will complete this tour and prove myself worthy. And also find out who is out to get me.