Amatricina's fleet had been on return from their mission to liberate the planet Styx of demonic influence when they stumbled upon the mysterious planet. Long range scanners had picked up activity on a previously unpopulated planet, and much to the demoness' agitation the Kabochan Confederacy made a point to chart habitated worlds and their populaces for their star charts. Not willing to incur Carambolis' wrath upon a breach in protocol, but otherwise reluctant to have any delay in her return trip to earth, the fire demon obliged her officers and had the fleet divert course slightly to investigate their unknown world. What they found was a large planet, not entirely unlike the earth. Bright blue skies, lush forests and teeming jungles, and vast oceans dotted the world's surface. Her cartographers seemed ever eager to chart the planet, but Amatricina sensed a familiar presence down upon the planet as her ships hung in low orbit.

The energy was unmistakable, a molten kind of ki not entirely unlike her own. The demon groaned, letting out a long sigh as she whispered 'Sir' under her breath. Was the universe truly so small she had stumbled upon the Knight of Manus again? Curiosity got the best of the demon, and she had her crew open a communication frequency to the planet's surface. A group known as the 'Knight of Cordis' has replied, and despite some initial reluctance upon her telling them her name the group had 'allowed' the demon permission to come planet side for formal diplomacy. This was a mere formality to Amatricina though, she held no respect for the authority of such an underdeveloped planet of mortals. Though she obliged, out of a misplaced sense of gratitude for the Knight of Manus. Leaving her fleet in orbit, and refusing to take an accompanying compliment of soldiers and officers the demon had made her way planet side. Her kind could survive the harsh vigor of space with their dark magics, and Amatricina hurtled towards the unknown world like a meteor of malice before slamming into the ground like a comet.

The resulting crater was large enough it would form a decent lake come the rainy season, and she smirked at her charred surroundings. The nearby treeline had been leveled like matchsticks from the shock wave created by her impact. She did so revel in destruction, even if it was of such a petty nature. Amatricina had spent too long on Earth, hiding in the guise of a mortal. It felt good to stretch her proverbial legs again, letting her true form be seen and her power level flare to its fullest strength. Taking off into the air the demon flew headed towards the location of Sir Gallius. It seemed the oaf still didn't know how to suppress his power level, or perhaps he didn't bother to on this world. Regardless, he was easy to track. She landed at the steps of his seat of government, and could tell immediately the structure was new. Or at least, new enough the elements had not yet begun to wear down the marble with wind and rain.

Amatricina had quickly met up with Sir Gallius, immediately shaking her head upon seeing him in more casual attire. She was used to seeing the knight dressed head to toe in his suit of shining plate mail. At least this way his face wasn't perpetually obscured by his helmet. The demoness walked alongside the knight, her wide feminine hips sashaying to and fro with every graceful step. A hypnotic motion that made the loins of lesser men strain with lust. "Hmm... It has been quite a while since last we saw each other." Amatricina said, eyes fixated on the craftsmanship of the structure they walked within. "Truthfully you were the last person I expected, in the last place I expected. Fate seems to continue to deal me a strange hand." She said with a smirk, shaking her head at the audacity of running into the knight. Her attention quickly fixated on the knight's ruby eye, its glow was not entirely unlike her own. A wide smile crept upon the demon's porcelain face.

"And what... is this?" She said, leaning in close to examine the eye up close. Amatricina reached out, feeling the emotions that dwelt within the knight, the black stains of sin that wrapped around his heart like tendrils. She smiled wider, letting out a briefer titter at what she saw. "Sir... this is certainly a change, one I must say I did not expect." The demoness licked her lips, reaching a metal gauntlet out to gently caress the warrior's face on the side with his tainted eye. "What have you gotten yourself into? When last we met your soul was pure as your flame. And now... I see the shadow of darkness lurking in your heart." Amatricina withdrew her hand as she paced around the knight, inspecting his form. He seemed more tired, weary even, since last they had met. "You absolutely must tell me what you've done to yourself. Or was this my doing?" She added that last line with a laugh, thinking back on when the demoness had healed the knight during their battle. She had used her demonic ki after all, but that alone would not have caused such a darkening of the soul. No, this was a cause stemming from much deeper roots.

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Amatricina raised an eyebrow as the knight spoke. Since she had met him again he had been... at odds with himself. Now she understood, as he argued aloud against a silent voice in his head she could not hear. The demon laughed, shaking her head. "Some friend this Feranis was... oh, you meant fiend. Well, that does seem more appropriate." The humor was almost too much to appreciate. The once pious and virtuous knight now wrestled with his own, literal, inner demons. She did so enjoy watching it though, the way he seemed to squirm in his own skin like he hated the thing he had become. The suffering and the self loathing made the fire demon's mouth practically water, as did the darkening of the warrior's heart before her very eyes.

She gave the knight a quizzical look as he spoke, rambling on further about the voices in his head. "'It' wishes to speak with me, how exactly does it plan to do that? Or are you some kind of telepath I'm not aware of?" Gallius laughed, his demeanor changing in an instant as his other eye began to burn crimson. Amatricina's smile grew ever wider, elation building within her as she watched the knight's transformation. A veritable yin and yang, light and shadow. She leaned in close, wrapping her arms around him and whispering into the man's ear. "So you took my advise to heart Sir, every flame does cast a shadow. No matter how bright." When the warrior spoke again his entire tone had changed. Gone was his strange, archaic manner of speaking, his words now well enunciated and clear. It was refreshing, to say the least.

Amatricina chuckled when the knight referred to himself as a butcher. "Gallius is stubborn as he is dull, though I suspect if you are a part of him... then you are little better." The fire demon pulled herself away from the man, sashaying around him as she spoke with a haughty sense of self assurance. "The pleasure I'm afraid, is all yours. Why should I call you anything but Gallius? You inhabit one body, share one brain, even if you are not of one mind. Unless you are some spirit that has possessed the man, you are but a fractured portion of his consciousness. You are less than whole, and that makes you half of nothing to me."

The demon scoffed, shaking her head. The bells and rings that adorned her horns chiming as they rattled. "You claim to be a fan of my work, and yet you have never seen the depths of what I can do. The rivers of blood I have carved from my foes, the hundreds of thousands of lives I've snuffed out in battle. How many billion have perished by my hand, through my deeds and by my commands? I seldom pause to think, but I suppose the devil's in the details, isn't it?" Amatricina crossed her arms as well, leaning against a stone pillar as she smirked to herself. Eyeing the transformed knight from head to toe. The darkness surrounding his heart had grown, temporarily snuffing out most of the light. It was a corruption, though she was slightly saddened it was not one of her own doing.

"I'll humor you though, because I have an avarice for many things. One of them being knowledge. How did you come into being? What is this world, and why are you upon it? And lastly, how long until your better half is back in control? I prefer my fires to have shadows, not my shadows to puppet fires." Her eyes narrowed, and the demoness began to radiate a sickening heat from her body. Her body had become more accustomed to the mortal realm since her original summoning. She could summon forth her full demonic might these days, and she let her aura silently flare and crackle with demonic ki. Though not her full power, she wished for this 'void' to know what he was truly dealing with. He addressed a Demon Lord, not some rank and file fiend that crawled out of the abyss.

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Amatricina scoffed, unamused by the voice's attempt at sarcastic humor. "Perhaps I will." She said dryly, thus far unimpressed by the dark mirror to the knight. It was all style, and no substance. Theaters that failed to entertain, a shadow in more ways than one. "Gallius' soul is tinged by darkness, as almost all mortal's are. Much of that darkness is your doing, but it is false malice. If you have come into being in the way you claimed, I would suspect you are not as in control as you believe." The demoness leaned in close, placing a finger on Gallius' chin and lifting it up so his eyes met her own gaze. "Watch your back shadow, for you might have been forced into creation by a subconsciousness that does not want your existence. Like a body draining infection through a puss filled wound."

The demon withdrew, resuming her haughty stance. "So the Knight of Manus seeks a world free of conflict, what a noble and admirable goal." Amatricina chuckled to herself at his naivety. "Wherever there are thinking living beings, there will be conflict. Darkness lurks in all mortal minds, great or small. The only way this planet will ever truly be free is if it is cleansed of life." The demoness formed a ruby orb of ki in her hand, a wicked smile painted across her face. "A shame there is nothing of value on this wretched little ball of water and dirt. For now anyways." The energy dissipated from the demon's hand and she gave a dismissive look. She could sense only nominal amounts of souls on the planet. It seemed to be mostly uninhabited wilderness, save for a few pockets of civilization scattered across the continents.

When the voice spoke of tempting Gallius to kill and conquer, Amatricina's interest piqued, this was more her appetite. The senseless violence, the rage and the loss, taking from those who could not defend themselves. This more readily appealed to her, and she gave a sinister smile. "I may do the same, and in the meantime, you should focus on poisoning the dear knight's mind further. Taint every orifice of his soul, it is the least you can do." With that she watched as the warrior collapsed to the ground, when he arose she was quick to note the return of his golden eye. "If he attacked me, you would be feeling the effects of the merciless beating you received." The fire demon said dryly, smiling at the knight with wicked intent. He did not know her body was growing ever more accustomed to the mortal realm with each passing day. Her full strength was within her grasp, and soon her power would grow beyond even that.

"The devil you know is better than the devil you don't." Amatricina said tenderly, helping the knight to his feet. "You'd do much better striking a bargain with me, than that voice in your head. After all..." Her eyes glowed with fiery demonic energy as her tone darkened. "You can trust me, and my powers are far more real than his." The demon reluctantly complied when the knight asked about showing her to some council. She was beholden to no authority on this world, but did so out of simple curiosity for what kind of government Gallius has cooked up on this 'charity world' of his. "So be it then," She said simply, placing a hand at her hip. "Lead the way..."

The pair arrived in the so called council chambers. Within was a motley crew of aliens, some she recognized the species, others she did not. Amatricina smiled when the elder xeno finished his brief inquiry. What had the knight told them exactly she wondered? Amatricina cleared her throat, addressing the council in her haughty and authoritative tone. "Whatever Gallius has told you is but the barest sliver of the larger truth, though I presume it is sufficient nonetheless. My fleet is composed of ten Crusher Corps warships on loan from the Kabochan Confederacy for a mission with which I have already completed. One battleship, two cruisers, three frigates, and four destroyers in total. They are crewed by a mixed crew of Confederacy races and auxiliary forces from the Corps. We took in supplies from the Kabochan flagship, Omnipotence, and are en route to return to the planet Earth to regroup with the bulk of the fleet. Lastly, while I appreciate the offer of hospitality, time is of the essence for me." Amatricina pointed skyward, to the unseen flotilla of warships hovering in orbit as they spoke. "My fleet chronicles this world even as we speak. It is the reason for our arrival, much to my chagrin. The Kabochan's have a habit of adding populated worlds to their star charts. Once I return, we will again embark for earth in the north quadrant." Amatricina folded her arms across her ample chest, she had said all she felt on the elder's inquiry, and no awaited eagerly their response.

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Andrew C. Creed

The demon gave a casual shrug to the green skinned councilman. "I will keep the Emperor informed on your behalf. He does so love his 'trade' and 'goodwill.' More so than I can say for myself." She thought back the Emperor's grandiose arrival on Earth. Thousands of merchant ships disembarking his flagship to spread trade and good tidings to the people of East City. It had earned him considerable goodwill among the earthling populace, and the Emperor did like to see himself as the consummate politician. He'd probably assign a trade convoy to this world or establish a star port in orbit, who was to say. Amatricina did not care, but she would pass on the word if only to gain further favor with her liege. She curtsied politely as the council finished their summons, before making her way back to the Knight of Manus.

"I can make a good impression when I chose to, my mother was the politician, my father was the general. I am the sum of their whole." The fire demon said with a confident smirk. "I hold no love for the Kabochan, or any of the mortal races. But the Confederacy is a worthwhile means to an end, so for the time being I am in their services. Should the situation change to one that does not favor me, I will no longer count myself among their ranks. It is as simple as that." Amatricina narrowed her gaze though, thinking on the might of her so called Emperor. "I have seen the full strength of the Kabochan Emperor in battle. I have bore the brunt of his strongest attack, and his is a power to be feared as it is respected. I foolishly thought I could match his strength. I was humbled for my hubris." The demon clenched a fist so hard it sent a pressure wave of air throughout the room. "Now though, now my full strength has returned to me. And I grow stronger by the day, soon I will be able to match Carambolis. Then I plan to challenge him and restore what has taken from me."

The demon's eyes glowed with a sinister light. The fires within her burned bright, abounding with endless fury. "I suppose I should you Gallius, you were the one who first summoned me to this accursed realm. And in many ways, you were the one who opened my eyes to the truths I had been blind to for millennia. And for that, I will help you remove this foul tempered doppelganger that plagues your throats. Even if I have to reach in and claw it out myself." The demoness smiled, tapping a finger softly to the knight's forehead. Her brow furrowed, as she sensed the lingering darkness entwined around the man's heart. "Hmm... I see it fears me. Good. That is the appropriate response."

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Word Count: 487
Total Word Count: 2,933
Andrew C. Creed

Amatricina groaned, she could sense the knight's reluctance. He was having second thoughts, no doubt the cancerous voice whispering in his ear was goading him to reconsider. Whatever his choice, the demon largely did not care. While his own inner demons were a vexing concern, they were hardly the end of the world. She tolerated the knight and his troubles, because he had inadvertently set her down a course for power she had never dreamed of in her realm. But more so because she likely would not have survived without him. That said, if Gallius refused her generous offer then so be it. The demoness folded her arms across her enormous chest, shaking her head slowly. The myriad of bells and jewelry that hung from her black horns chiming as she did. "Whatever you say, it makes little difference to me. Talk to it as much as you like, it will only tell you anything it needs to in order to maintain its own survival. Every imp in the Demon Realm will do the same, insects always plead for their lives before they are snuffed out by the flame." The demon sighed, looking out a window to the skies above. There awaited her small fleet, and with it her duties to Carambolis.

"I cannot promise I will even be on Earth in a week's time, but so be it. There is a small island in the southern oceans with a large volcano on its eastern shores. It is uninhabited, and far from human civilization. It is something of my recluse, and I can typically be found there when I am not among the Emperor's fleet, as I am now." Amatricina chuckled when the knight threatened violence against the Kabochans. "Then you will throw your lives away Gallius. I was powerless against Carambolis, and you would be especially powerless. His strength is beyond ours... for now." She flexed her grip, thinking how far her own power had come, growing by an order of magnitude in only a brief while. Soon, if she kept up her training, she would surpass the Kabochan Emperor and challenge him to a rematch. She lived for the simple chance to wipe his cocky grin from his face, and several teeth in the process.

"Rest assured though, the Emperor's eyes are cast upon much bigger prizes than one mostly uninhabited world. His dreams of conquest extend to the earth, and I intend to deliver upon him the earthling king. The man is a coward, a craven at that, but mostly, he is a weakling. I detest nothing more than weak rulers who lack the strength to enforce their rule. And for that, he must perish." Amatricina mused over the knight's offer of hospitality. She was loath to decline gifts, her avarice great as her vanity. But, she was on a tight schedule, and wished not to incur any ill will with the Emperor. And so, she simply shook her head. "I will stay until sundown, but no later. I will not forfeit my plans for idle chit chat. My captains already stir in their seats, I can practically feel it. They watch my back with concerned looks, eager to be rid of me. Only loyalty to their Emperor and fear of my wrath keeps them in line."

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Word Count: 560
Total Word Count: 3,493
Andrew C. Creed

"Every chat is idle when you are on as tight a schedule as I, but so be it." Amatricina said in response to the knight, following at his side as he led her through his compound. He spoke in an unknown tongue, invoking some petty spell as he opened a door. Within she saw a vast array of unknown races sat about the long hall tables feasting and drinking. It actually reminded the demon of the way her soldiers feasted in their barracks mess halls. The demoness rubbed her, thinking on the nature of mortal food. "Well... the earthlings do have reasonable cuisine... for mortals anyways." She followed the knight and took a seat besides him at the table. Amatricina disliked the circular nature of it, in her realm all tables were rectangular, so that the strongest may sit at the heads of the table and their subordinates could look up upon them. Here, she sat as an equal among the strange companions the knight of Manus had gathered. As Amatricina lowered herself into her seat, her great crown of black horns gave her a much wider profile than her hips did. The xenos seated next to her had to scoot over a foot in order to not risk being jabbed in the eye by one of her pointed horns.

Amatricina scoffed at the knight's comment. "I assure you Sir, there is no drink on this world strong enough for me. Gluttony is after all, one of the seven sins. And I could drink any of my siblings under the table save for a precious few." When the serving wench arrived, the demoness snatched up her mug, giving it a sniff as if to taste its quality. It smelled earthy, with a hint of citrus and a brilliant aroma. She took a sip, which quickly devolved into a chug. The demon relaxed her throat, letting the liquid simply pour down her throat as she drank. After downing the mug in one drink, Amatricina slammed it down on the table. "That was fairly good. Another." She said, before turning to speak with her unlikely companion. Her smile grew darker, and the demoness summoned an orb of fiery red ki in her free hand. "If you insist. Allow me to demonstrate. The mind is just an extension of the soul, which we have here." She gestured to the orb in hand, it bobbed and wafted gently as it floated in her grip. "Thoughts, desires, memories, sins. All my exist in the brain, but they come from the soul. Without a soul, a living being is just a husk, a zombie. But that is dark magic for another day. The brain is just a way of extending the soul's nature to its body. A conduit for the spirit's thoughts, if you will." The demon began to spin threads of demonic, black ki around the red orb as she spoke. Twisting them round it with her other hand. "Every soul is tinged by imperfections, it is what makes mortals... mortal. Black marks on their soul left by the sins and negative emotions within their being. I can read these latticework of sin as easily as I can sense kind. It is one of my kinds' many great gifts."

The demoness tapped a finger to the orb, and a bulbous violet pustule of ki bulged from one side. She grinned and pointed to it. "This spot is akin to the imperfection you face. It is an abnormality within the soul, a second consciousness of the spirit. Like a parasitic twin, it shares the soul but cannot use the body naturally, only doing so by claiming the mind by force. I hope it is listening, because I look forward to cutting it out. I plan to bottle it up and toss it into my archives like a trinket." Amatricina grinned wickedly, though her eyes betrayed how deadly serious she was. "I do not know what caused this defection, but I have my hunches. Regardless, it was not me. What I do this this..." Amatricina tapped the orb of ruby ki again with her finger, poking it in one of the veins of dark energy that twisted around its form. The vein swelled, tightening its grip around the soul, constructing it like a python with its prey. Amatricina took a finger, gingerly wrapping a tendril of black energy around the glowing pustule. The vein grew tighter, and tighter, until it pinched off the boil before resettling as if nothing had even occurred. The disembodied nodule quickly flickered out of existence, wafting away as idle energy. Amatricina's grin was wide and toothy, fanged canines gleaming in the room's light.

She crushed the orb of ki between her fingers, drawing its energy back into herself. "It is like excising a tumor, only instead of performing surgery on the body. I get to poke and prod at the darkness that grips your soul. It could cause..." She licked her lips, running her forked tongue over her fanged teeth. "Irreversible damage, corruption, and even death." It was an idle fantasy of hers to pick apart a soul, one she had never found a willing applicant, most screamed and struggled against the process, and it only expedited their deaths. She wanted her prey live, conscious and alert to feel every agonizing touch of her hellish darkness against their soul. She would help this Sir Gallius rid himself of this parasitic doppelganger,but only to satisfy her own dark curiosities and see if the will of a mortal could withstand intentional damage to their spirit.

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Word Count: 941
Total Word Count: 4,334
Andrew C. Creed

Amatricina thought the knight of Manus too deep in his cups. His words were harder to understand than normal, but she managed. "I have heard many a mortal say they do fear death. It is as ancient a lie as that the Kais are benevolent. In the true face of death all beings know some fear, whether they belief it now or not. One cannot be brave without fear, one does not exist without the other." The demon was not here to discuss philosophy with a drunkard, but if Gallius did not care if he died, so be it. She'd have clear conscious regardless of the outcome. It mattered little to her so long as she got to practice her nightmarish experimentation on a willing subject. She scoffed at the mortal's question, it was rather naive. "This voice within you, it is a cancer of the soul. A vestigial consciousness born of your mind's own doing. Its body is yours, and unless you have a fresh corpse lying around you wish me to stuff it into, I have no such vessel to house it." That got Amatricina thinking, she could put the voice somewhere actually, that did not necessarily need to be flesh and blood.

"Actually, I take that back. I could find it to an object of magical origin. A crystal ball or arcane orb is the most likely, but a mystic item of any kind would do. The fragment of your broken soul would be trapped within it until the item was broken or it was otherwise freed." She smiled a wicked smile, already thinking of the possibilities. The thought of leaving it imprisoned in a crystal ball, forced to sit collecting dust in her archives for all eternity was rather appealing. Or if Gallius wished to keep it as a pet, so be it. She cared little, it was to be a mere bauble regardless of the outcome. When the serving wench came Amatricina blew the girl a kiss as she refilled her glass. Again the demon downed its contents in a single long gulp. "All outcomes sound exceptable to me, dear Gallius. So long as I get to drag my claws across your soul, and carve out that which plagues you with a searing talon." She raised an armored gauntlet, it glowed with hellish light as if the gilded crimson metal was a molten temperate. The sizzling heat soon faded, and the demon's gauntlet returned to as it was. "It will be like plunging a thousand burning needles straight into your heart. I will enjoy every agonizing second of it."

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Word Count: 444
Total Word Count: 4,778
Andrew C. Creed

Amatricina nodded along in agreement, listening to the knight ramble on about how he didn't care about pain, and how he had seen his entire world burn around him. "You have endured a lot, Gallius, but your suffering has only just begun." She replied cryptically, giving the knight a wry smile. "Though it seems you have made of your mind. Or rather... half your mind." With that the demoness cackled to herself, the sound of her laughter filling nearby patrons with a lingering sense of dread. When the laughter subsided the demon grew more somber, turning to address the knight. "So be it, you wish to protect your comrades, even I find that an admirable goal. There is nothing I would not do for my clan, which is why I have done all that I have."

The demon smiled when her host mentioned finding her a suitable vessel to house his twisted fragmented soul. "Good, anything of sufficient magical nature will do. It can be as simple as a dagger or a mirror or as elaborate as armor or a ship. It matters little for me, I am adept at sealing rituals." Though not quite as adept as some of her siblings. While Amatricina was a powerful sorceress in her own right, it was actually her younger sister Arissa who was the most adept of Tartaros' brood at wielding black magics. She nodded in agreement at the knight's request to speak with the Emperor, it seemed she would be acting as an ambassador after all in this endeavor. "Acceptable, I will notify the Emperor myself of your planet, your order, and your people. We can arrange a meeting when you make your pilgrimage to the Earth, I believe his fleet should still be lingering in orbit. Carambolis has big plans for the Earth, and seems to think himself a consummate politician. He wishes allies through cooperation, not force. I am sure he would love the chance to bring yet another world under his banner, no matter how insignificant it may seem."

What the demon did not say is she say Gallius and his little band of knights as another stepping stone, a way to gain further favor with the Emperor of the Confederacy. Though she had already retaken Styx, and promised the Kabochan the Earth, she was sure Carambolis would not be opposed to Ferusalem also joining the fold. Three worlds, one bargain, she felt the terms more than favorable. The bar wench returned, and refused to make eye contact with the demoness. Amatricina scoffed, turning to look at the girl and cupping her massive bust. "Something wrong darling? You don't find me... intimidating do you?" She teased, bouncing her considerable endowments within their devilishly revealing metal brassiere. The woman's face turned red, and she quickly made herself scarce. "Envy... that one reeks of it. Lust too." Amatricina said sinfully, uncupping her bust and letting her expansive chest jiggle back to idle.

The demoness raised an eyebrow as the armored knights walked into the hall, did these fools thing they could stop her if they wanted to? "So be it..." Amatricina said simply as she rose to her feet, unphased by the sheer volume of alcohol she'd consumed in short order. "I too grow tired of sitting idle. I have reports to be made, and a fleet to return to. The Emperor's plans are ever in motion, much to my chagrin." The fire demon rolled her neck slightly, it gave a loud pop as she shook loose the stiffness of sitting for so long. "Lead the way, good Sir Knight." She said teasingly, sinister grin crossing her ruby lips.

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Word Count: 619
Total Word Count: 5,397
Andrew C. Creed

"Be as clear as you like, it matters little to me." Amatricina retorted, having little patience in mincing words. "Carambolis can control what he wants, including the world. He has the strength to do so, you have but a handful of knights... and the good graces of a Demon Warlord. The latter, few possess, so do not squander my continued generosity." The demoness felt that made her point abundantly clear as she walked alongside the armored procession of knights. She alone could take this world herself, with no men, no ships, and no patience. The demon Gallius spoke to was not the same one he had on Konats. She had acclimated herself to a realm without Dark Energy, and could perform here with every ounce of strength she possessed in the Demon Realm. "I will get you this meeting, what becomes of it however, will be your doing." She deigned to speak further on the matter.

Amatricina listened to the knight as he somberly reflected on his position, his purpose, the places his actions had led him to in life. She could not sympathize with his plight. From the day Amatricina had been pushed from her mother's womb she had groomed by her parents to rule. Upon her father's death she ascended to his Obsidian Throne, the mantle of Fire Demon Warlord passed down anew from one generation to the next. A new link forged in an endless chain. "The burden of ruling, Gallius, is proof it is a task only the strong can bear." Amatricina said with arms crossed, looking up at the snowfall. No snowflake made it within feet of her visage, the fire demon radiated a constant heat from her body. "All rulers make sacrifices, all rulers do what they must to protect their subjects and their demesne. Even in the Demon Realm, the Demon Clans will do almost anything to protect their own kind. Those that do not, do not remain clans for very long..."

The demoness turned her head slightly, side eyeing the knight with a ruby eye as he leaned on the railing. Amatricina snorted, two small jets of fire puffing from her nostrils as she did. "I have taken an interest in the Mortal Realm because I seek two things above all else. The first, is ever more power. I will never be sated in my thirst for strength. It is through strength, and strength alone that I rule my clan. I must become ever stronger than my enemies and rivals, for the day I am not they will look upon my clan with eyes hungry for conquest and domination. This is the same oath all Demon Warlords abide. It is the very nature of our kind. We seek conquest, submission, bloodshed above all other things. I killed so many demons in my life, their memories begin to fade together. All I truly remember is the rage, the bloodlust, the ecstasy of combat." A shiver coursed down the fire demon's spine and her lips quivered as the memories flooded through her.

"The second thing I seek, is a means to an end to it all. A way to free my kind from our ancient curse. To tear down the seal that binds to our realm. So we are no longer prisoners trapped in a prison of our own creation." Amatricina gritted her teeth, fangs bared as she thought of the hated memory of the Kais who had sealed her ancient progenitors in a void at the bottom of the universe. "Demons do not forget our grudges. Our patience is boundless as our sin. One day, we will have vengeance. And the mortal realm will look up to the heavens as we tear them from the very skies to answer for their crimes." Crimson lightning crackled around the demon as she spoke, as her temper flared so too did her power level. As she finished her speak Amatricina exhaled sharply, breathing out a plume of inky black smoke as she allowed her wrath to simmer. She had her father's temper, but her mother's focus.

Amatricina turned to Gallius, reaching a hand into her vast cleavage and pulling out her scouter. It had been a gift from Carambolis, a petty token granted to her so she could keep in contact with him following her humiliating defeat. It had served her dutifully since, though she had little reason to wear it. A taloned finger tapped the button at the side, and the red visor extended to augment the earpiece. She handed the device over to Gallius, smiling as she did. "Wear, or simply watch. I do not care which. These Kabochan Scouters... Carambolis is very fond of them. They record everything in battle, feeding into the computers of his ship so he may latter study his opponents and their tactics." Amatricina tapped several buttons on the side, pulling up a video of her time on the Planet Styx. It showed Amatricina summoning a great portal of darkness, through which her eldest siblings emerged at the head of a full demonic legion. Tears in her eyes as she set looked upon her kin, her voice proud and authoritative as she gave command to her loyal subjects. When the video was over and the demonics began to spill out over the world to plunder and gather slaves to drag back to Monsigneus, Amatricina clicked off the video and stowed the scouter against safely buried between her breasts.

"I can return home when I choose. But I have left my clan in capable hands. Unlike you, I am far from alone in this life. That is the greatest difference between us, the reason you struggle with the burden of ruling, whereas I was born for it. I am bound, by birthright, to lead my clan until the day I last draw breath. My clan is more than just my kin. Every demon under my rule is kin, a mouth a must feed, a head I must shelter, a soldier I must protect. It is this that drives me, my clan is my reason for being. I would not have it any other way." With that Amatricina opened a hand, taking a finger and carving a small circle in the air as if drawing on a frosted window. The outline she traced hung in the air, a perfectly black ring floating suspended before her. Her palm began to glow with crimson light, and the demon pressed her hand to the space within the ring. The demonic energy she summoned coursed out, filling out the ring into a flat plane of ki. When her hand pulled away the surface of the circle rippled like water, before displaying in crystal view the sight of Amatricina's molten homeworld, as if looking at it through a mirror. "Behold. Monsigneus." She said softly, eyes welling with tears at the sight of her world from afar. "My home..."

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Word Count: 1,163
Total Word Count: 6,560
Andrew C. Creed