Amatricina had quite taken a liking to island she now considered her home away from home. Originally chosen because of its distance far away from earthling civilization, with the added bonus of an active volcano. It gave the demoness some small reprieve from the otherwise frail and mortal trappings of the Earth. Its waters clear and blue, its skies free from toxic plumes of ash and maelstroms of acid rain. Its lands covered in lush green forests and grasses, not the molten hellscape of her own homeworld, Monsigneus. Amatricina had originally thought the planet detestable, a weak world that bred soft mortals too accustomed to their idyllic home. She maintained that sentiment even to this day.

The Demon Lord had settled into a comfortable routine. When not at the behest of Emperor Carambolis and his fleet that loomed over the system, Amatricina resided on Bunbuku Island, mediating and training to improving her mastery of her demonic ki in a realm absent of her own's Dark Energy. She slumbered within the volcano, and the island's native populace of beasts and teeming jungle provided ample sustenance. It was a less grandiose lifestyle than the opulent fortress of her world's capital, the ancestral keep from which all Fire Demon Warlords ruled. Her brother Raigu kept the Obsidian Throne warm in her stead, Amatricina's ambitions were turned elsewhere at present.

What had truly come to fascinate Amatricina about the island was born of sheer coincidence. She sensed it not long after her arrival, a lingering malevolence of which she could not place her finger at first. The isle had once been home to a powerful Tuffle Destron Gas Machine, a villainous creation meant smother the earth in a crippling storm of darkness. Though damaged beyond repair, the device's wreckage littered the island, buried under the soil by centuries of tropical storms. The lingering effects of its hellish gas corrupting the local flora and fauna slowly into more wrathful, malevolent versions of their typical selves. Dr. Lychee's legacy, the 'Power of Hate' still weaving malice into the earth even after the galaxy had long forgotten its creator's name.

This knowledge was far from Amatricina's mind, such mortal history was lost to her, and considered trivial regardless. All she knew is she liked the isle, and the lingering wrath that emanated from it. At present the demoness was hauling her morning quarry back to her lair for her morning feast. She knew not the name of the creature she drug along the ground by the tail. But it was close to fifteen feet long, weighing just over a ton. Its hide was a deep green, covered in armored scales, and it had four powerful but stubby legs and a long snout filled with dagger like teeth. The crocodile had died to a single well placed smack to its cranium, and its meat had a particular taste that reminded the demoness of the fire drakes and wyverns of her home world. She drug the corpse by its tail with one hand, the other holding its severed front right leg as a succulent treat. Amatricina slowly flambéd the drumstick with her fire breath, searing it to a perfect temperature before taking meaty bites of the cooked flesh.

The demon paused, sensing something off about her home. She recognized the power instantly, it was not the ki of a martial artist. She sensed magic, a much more sophisticated power, and one she had seen precious little mastery of among the mortal realms' races. Amatricina changed course, content to trudge towards the source of the magic rather than simply return to her volcanic lair. What she came across was a curiosity of sorts, jungle predators magically entombed in unmelting ice. Amatricina raised an eyebrow at the sight, but deigned not to release the cryogenically frozen beasts with her own magical fire. They were not worth the minimal effort such a feat took. The demoness wandered the trail of victims, coming closer to the epicenter of the disturbance.

As the strongest being on the island, the animals had come to understand Amatricina was the apex predator. Even the largest dinosaurs balked at her approach, dipping their head and tucking their tails as they forfeited their presence to her. A flock of birds took to the skies, spooked by the malevolent presence the demon radiated at all times. Amatricina spied her culprit, a human girl, barely better than a child, crouched besides a flower patch lost in her thoughts. Amatricina's armored heels made heavy footfalls, as did the dragging sound of the reptilian corpse she intended to gorge herself on. She came to stand only a only a few feet behind the girl, casting a cold glare down at her as the demoness gazed over the slope of her considerable bust. "Explain yourself mortal, for what reason do you intrude uninvited on my isle? Pray it is a good explanation, or I will relish your agonizing death." Her words dripped with malice like venom from a viper's fangs. There was little kindness in the Fire Demon's heart, and almost none of it was directed towards the mortal realm.

---

Word Count: 861
Lilith Nevermore

A single vein throbbed at Amatricina's temple, and her rage manifested in the form of intense radiant heat. Insects burst into flames in the vicinity, as if they had flown into a light bulb, and grass and plant life began to wilt. The demoness crushed the reptilian leg in her free hand, it burst into flames and quickly smoldered into charred lumps as it hit the ground. "What did you just call me, Mortal?" The demon lunged forward, grabbing the girl by the collar and hoisting her into the air with one hand. Amatricina already towered over the girl, her stature almost amazonian compared to earthling women, even though male fire demons more than doubled her height when they finally stopped growing. She shook the child slightly in her grip, ruby eyes locked on the child's own crimson gaze.

"I am no cow you insolent child!" The demoness declared angrily, the jiggle in her immense bust as she listed the girl up spoke to the contrary. The Demon Lord's gaze narrowed on the girl, her pride a deeper sin than the oceans that surrounded this isle. "Have you never laid eyes on a demon before? Much less a fire demon?" She asked, holding back the urge to see if this child could survive being thrown through a volcanic mountain. "I am Amatricina the Avaricious. Eldest Daughter of the late Lord Tartaros. Warlord of the Fire Demon Clan. I was born when your race still killed each other with clubs and spears. I will yet live long after your bones are returned to dust." Her words help a kind of boundless, haughty arrogance only such a demon could possess. Amatricina didn't just see her kind as superior to mortals, she knew it to be true. The insolence of this child should have warranted immediate and lethal display of her considerable power. But pride had bested wrath in their ancient contest within the demoness' soul, she wanted this child to truly know the extent of her greatness before she committed to sending the girl screaming into the oblivion of death.

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Word Count: 357
Total Word Count: 1,218
Lilith Nevermore

Amatricina scoffed as frigid magic protected the mortal girl from the radiant effects of the Fire Demon's presence. Her forte appeared to be in ice magics, whereas Amatricina's namesake and mastery lied within the application of hellfire. When the girl shifted into her ethereal form, slipping out of the demoness' clutches, the fire demon's brow simply furrowed in a mixture of bemusement and curiosity. To master a technique that transformed the physical body into an incorporeal form took great feats of concentration and skill. She did not think it was possible for a mortal earthling to master such a technique. This piqued Amatricina's curiosity, which caused her volatile wrath to simmer slightly as she watched the display.

When Lilith rematerialized Amatricina scoffed, opening her mouth to speak. "Impressive display, for a novice." She said in a haughty, backhanded compliment. "But it is a paltry attempt. Behold my Dark Miasma." With that command the fire demon's eyes flashed with burning demonic light, and a thick black smoke began to radiate out from beneath her long great cloak. In a moment the Dark Miasma of impenetrable darkness enveloped her body, which burned away in a flurry of ashen cinders as Amatricina shifted into her own ethereal form. Her own variant of the technique was expectedly demonic in nature, the growing cloud of inky black smoke crackled with ruby lightning like a miniature thunderstorm composed of shadows. It radiated a corrupting presence, that turned grass sickly and brown, caused flowers to wilt, and filled the air with noxious volcanic gases that smelled of sulfur and brimstone. The miasma enveloped the child for a moment, suffocating her within its darkness before it began to coalesce back into a voluptuous female form. The demonic smoke reconstituted itself into Amatricina, pooling into a molten state that hardened into her porcelain skin and ostentatious ruby and gold armor.

The demon stood there, leaning forward to meet Lilith at eye level as she placed a pointer finger beneath the girl's chin, tilting her head upwards to meet the demon at eye level. "That, my dear, is a proper immaterial form." Amatricina pulled away slowly, the pointed talon of her claw dangerously close to breaking skin, but did not so much as leave a bruise when the demoness withdrew her hand. Amatricina scoffed at the girl's next comment, shaking her head slowly. "All of my race can speak, mortal. We are an elevated, and prestigious bloodline of demons. We are not some bestial creatures that know only bloodshed and death." She flashed a fanged smile, sharp canines glittering against the midday sun. "Those sorts of creatures serve in my legions. They are little better than beasts of war, cannon fodder to be thrown against the enemy as shock infantry. Content to kill or be killed in the fetid heat of battle. Their brutal simplicity is admirable, in its own perverse way." The demon's words held a sinister tone, inttending the strike some fear into the child at the horrors of her own demonic home.

Amatricina upturned her nose at the comment of her height, letting out an audible huff. "The males of my clan are significantly taller. My own dread father was nearly three times my height in his prime. My eldest brother is fast approaching that milestone. I myself am above average stature for a female of my race, one of many fel gifts I am thankful of my parents for." The Demon Lord's eyes turned on the girl, she was one to speak. Short even for an earthling woman, her petite frame almost tomboyish in comparison to the demoness' voluptuous figure. Amatricina's temper flared again as the girl had the audacity to call her ignorant. She quickly addressed this in a markedly more ill tempered tone. "You are a child, Mortal. I can smell the youth on your very soul, do not think me completely ignorant of your race. You are an adolescent at best, not even fit to bare the word 'adult.'" A now familiar vein throbbed at the demon's temple, and she slowly clenched a fist in anger. "I was mastering dark magics when your distant ancestors were not even seeds planted in their mother's wombs. I have fought a thousand battles in a hundred wars, learned hundreds of demonic tongues over the centuries." She paused for a moment, to let her words sink in.

"Your own ignorance is beyond pathetic, petulant child. Can you tear open dimensional rifts to claw your way between the demonic and the mortal realms? Can you wield the chaotic and ruinous power that dwells in my home realm, Dark Energy?" She paused for dramatic effect, harsh gaze cast upon the diminutive girl in black. "No, you cannot. Some powers are simply beyond lesser beings, no matter how talented they think themselves to be." As Lilith puffed out her chest proudly, Amatricina did much the same. coming to stand uncomfortable close to the girl, her imposing bust line bobbing inches from the girl's face as the demoness sneered down over her lush valley of cleavage. The fire demoness was nearly a foot taller than the witch, counting up to the tip of her head. Several feet, if one included her grim black horns added length into the tally. "Furthermore, child, I was already markedly taller than you at your age, and considerably more developed. Don't worry, maybe you'll fill out in the next century or so." Amatricina chortled to herself, amused by her own comment. Her wanton, voluptuous figure only stoked the fires of her great vanity, a lustful subset of her immense demonic pride. She did so enjoy flaunting her considerable endowments over less 'generously ample' women. The girl had called her a cow, then let her bask before the demon's udders.

"You too would do well to watch your tongue when you address a Demon Lord." Amatricina said through venomed words. "You are an arrogant little mortal child, Lilith of Clan Nevermore. But you are a curiosity that vexes me, so consider it a mercy I have not slain you for your callous words. Tell me then, Heir of Clan Nevermore. What wars has your clan won? What battles have you cleaved rivers of blood from your slain enemies in the name of your clan's honor? What worlds have burned before your legions as they marched forth in the name of conquest? What accolades should the rest of your realm hear of, and tremble before the Nevermore?" The demon's tone was both boastful and mocking, her own demon clan had nearly seventy five million years of history under its blood soaked belt. What infantile achievements did this mortal clan of magically gifted earthlings hope to have that compared? What constituted as a 'great achievement' before their feeble race?

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Word Count: 1,140
Total Word Count: 2,358
Lilith Nevermore

"It is so. We demons are as varied as the mortal races, despite the ever present ignorance of our kind in this realm." Amatricina replied coldly to the girl's skepticism. She looked back at the charred corpse, she still intended to eat it when this was finished. "That would be my lunch, child. Its death came swift, of that I assure you. I just like to savor my meals." The demon was fast growing tired of this idle conversation, it was going nowhere fast. At least the two held some small common ground over the matter of the Saiyans. "Pffft. Saiyans..." The demon nodded in acknowledgement. "They are detestable brutes, they see everything as a nail, and think themselves hammers. I have yet to meet a Saiyan with any appreciation for strategy or wisdom." Her thoughts drifted to Carambolis' bodyguard, the brute known as Duria. When she'd first met her body was weakened significantly from being cut off from the Dark Energy of her realm. But now that she was in her full strength, the ape had lost all his bravado when dealing with the demon. He was a leashed dog, not a muzzled war hound he had originally acted.

Amatricina scoffed aloud when Lilith said her figure was a status symbol. The demon leaned in close and pushing a finger against her tome. "Is it now, little one? That would explain so much about these earthlings. They value frailty in their women then? Their sexual desires are as laughable as their power levels. What kind of lowly race values weakness in their women? I can't so much as picture you siring one child, much less a brood of dozens as I will." The fire demon's gloating was cut short by the girl's very snide comment. Amatricina clenched a fist in angry at the insult, but steadied herself and merely exhaled sharply instead. Two jets of black smoke poured from her nostrils as she did, which did little to refute the witch's point. "Are by chance referring to these?" The voluptuous demon asked lustfully, feigning ignorance as she playfully cupped her massive chest. "No need to make your envy so obvious, I understand no mortal can compare to my demonic beauty. Unlike you frail earthlings, my race prides itself on strength above all else. Our women must have femininity and raw might in spades." The demoness placed one hand on one of her wide, childbearing hips as the other clutched her bust. "I am expected, and desire to find a suitable mate some day that will help me sire a brood of powerful offspring. These hips will birth scores of demons over the centuries, and I will nurse each of them at my breast." It was a variety Amatricina got to bring up this aspect of her vanity, her high standing as a prospective mate made her highly desirable as a spouse among her race. However her ruthless ambitions was a brick wall for prospective suitors, she had yet to find a spouse worthy of her attentions.

Lilith's apathy to the demon's history irritated her greatly, Amatricina greatly enjoyed regaling any who listened with the tales of her clan's numerous exploits in battle. "My clan was bred for war and conquest, dominion is our birthright. There is no sweeter taste than victory, to see an enemy driven before you." She turned her nostalgiac gaze back to the petite witch. "Whatever 'secrets' your clan has uncovered, I highly doubt they are beyond my comprehension. My entire realm is beyond the grasp of the weak willed, it drives them to the brink of madness from prolonged exposure." The demon found it adorable that the girl thought there were horrors out there that would make the fire demon balk in fear. "No." She stated simply in response to the comment on fear. "Your own kind was weak then, to shudder before your newfound knowledge. Just as your clan was weak not to use this knowledge to strike down your enemies. My clan values strength, honor, and kinship. Revolts are dealt with swiftly, and blood is thicker than water. Kinship is one of the oldest laws we fire demons follow. Unlike your kind it would seem?"

Lilith's continued insults did little to phase Amatricina, she had grown numb to her childish remarks. "I am hiding from precisely nothing. However, I happen to quite enjoy this island, I presume for the same reasons as you. There is an intoxicating malice that corrupts the local wildlife, the source of which I have not been able to located. Moreover, that volcano reminds me of my home." The demoness pointed to the towering summit of PocoPoco mountain, slowly belching thick plumes of black smoke. "I rule this isle because I have claimed it as my own. No mortal authority has contested this decision. But if you must know, stand aside Nevermore."

Amatricina stepped past the witch, her armored gauntlet's talons glowing white hot as the demon focused her demonic energy into the bladed talons. She reached a hand out, her fingers pressing into time space itself. The demoness' aura flared, crimson energy crackling with grim lightning as the demon tore open a rending wound in reality itself. Slicing open a hole in the empty air as she carved through the unseen barriers between dimensions. Pulling apart the rift like drawing back curtains of reality, Amatricina's dimensional rift soon stabilized into a shimmering portal of malevolent demonic energy. Through it could be seen a massive planet, a molten world with several large planetary rings. Fleets of warships casually drifted in orbit going about their patrols, and a black moon of pure obsidian orbited the world, black even against the void of space. "Behold Child, Monsigneus. The ancestral homeworld of all Fire Demons, the seat of my rule." The rift was like a one way mirror, its surface shimmering as if made of fluid but did not draw in their surroundings into the void of space beyond. "You are welcome to step through and chance yourself in the void." Amatricina teased, she had long since learned earthlings could not survive in space. Though perhaps this witch could with one of the spells she boasted of.

The demon turned to face Lilith, looking smugly as she flaunted her portal. "Our glories are remembered forever in our records. My fortress is bedecked in the spoils of tens of millions of years of endless strife. My kind venerate our ancestor, rather than slay our kin. Though again, you are not entirely incorrect on one matter. Knowledge is invaluable, and eternal. Each generation preserving the knowledge of their ancestors, building on it, adding their own discoveries to the body of works. It is how any society should march forward. Ignorance is weakness, knowledge is strength." Amatricina crossed her arms, then her legs, content to hover in midair in a meditative position as he cloak hung down to the ground. "Go on Lilith of Clan Nevermore. She me this grand deciphering technique of yours. Replicate my dimensional rift, open a portal to the Demon Realm." The demoness' eyes glowed again with fiery light, and her own portal shimmered and collapsed, sealing shut once more as Amatricina cut off the flow of energy needed to maintain it. The Demon Lord believed she had caught the child in a web of her own lying boasts. No creature could master the dimensional rift technique in only one viewing, it took phenomenal power both magical and physical to wield the energies needed to cleave between realms. Such a small petite girl surely lacked the raw might for such an undertaking, Amatricina reckoned to herself as a devilish grin crossed her face.

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Word Count: 1,293
Total Word Count: 3,651
Lilith Nevermore

"Oh, of course. My apologies Lady Nevermore." The demoness said in a false tone of mocking, her words soothing in spite of the demoness' irritation with this mortal child. This girl was better than most, there was at least fire in her heart, and magic in her veins. It was a marked improvement from the plethora of charlatans she had killed or devoured in her quest to find the mystical Dragonballs scattered across this world. Lilith Nevermore, a genuine magic user in spite of her mortal birth. Amatricina held some small respect for the girl for in her own small way overcoming the limitations of her feeble race. The demon smiled, a wicked sinful smile that betrayed her thoughts. She knew, this child was all smoke and no fire. Even to her supposed greatness, some things were beyond even the 'mighty prodigy herself.'

Amatricina tittered when the girl rebuked her offer to demonstrate her technique, she slowly rose back to her feet, slowly shaking her head. Bells and rings that adorned her great crowned horn chiming as she did. "So first you boast you've flawlessly copied my Dark Miasma with only a single viewing, and you can do so with any magic you encounter. But you don't replicate a simple dimensional rift for me? Perhaps your prodigal powers aren't quite as eldritch and fearsome as you first made them out to be?" Amatricina walked slowly back towards the witch, a sensuous, nearly obscene sashay to her wide feminine hips as she moved with demonic grace. She tapped a finger to her chin, musing out loud to herself for the girl to hear. Pretending to be piecing through this great mystery. "No, no. I'm sure its as you say. The proud Lady Neveremore, far too proud and important to deign herself to humoring a salacious fire demon temptress. Yes, surely that must be the reason. How could I have been so ignorant and boorish as to think anything else." As the demon stepped close she threw back her head and let out a haughty chortle, amused by herself and the young witch before her.

The demon shook her head again, placing a hand at her wide hip as her other reached out, fist clenching as it crackled with energy. Her dimensional rift closed with a hissing sound is the magic that sustained it was expunged. "You are such a naive, petite little thing. Lady Lilith of the Clan Nevermore. I do so hope you grow out of it someday, since I've lost my desire to tear your black little heart out through your chest. You have the gall to call my aspirations old and outdated. I call them ancient and venerable, my clan has existed for seventy five million years, a blazing inferno compared to the tiny ember yours has been. We endure because of our ancient ways, venerating our ancestors and instilling our knowledge into the next generation so it can aspire to greater heights than our forebears could."

The demoness withdrew her hand, idly cupping a massive breast with her armored gauntlet in a licentious display of feminine sexuality. "No desire for children either. Such a shame, you'll grow to understand the folly of that thought too. What is the point of research without children to pass that knowledge down to? My dear mother spent fifteen hundred years raising me, an ever consummate teacher, always aspiring for her beloved children to surpass her own teachings. Not one day goes by I do not miss her. Do you miss your family Lady Lilith? Even a Demon Lord is not without Love. Love is the final extension of the great sin of Lust, and I am full of lust." The demoness spoke in a surprisingly soft, calm manner compared to before. Her smile sultry, gleaming white teeth visible between full luscious lips. "Someday you'll be mature enough to understand. The desire, the longing. The urge to have a lover sire your progeny inside you. To feel your womb grow tumescent with your beloved children to be. Your breasts engorged with milk to nourish your little ones as they suckle at your teat." Amatricina was almost glossy eyed, briefly lost in her debaucherous display of reproductive desires. She was of that age among her kind, the urge to be bred and sire a brood of little embers burned deep in her molten heart. Though she had yet to find a suitor worthy of her affections, the yearning urges still pulsed within her, normally kept distant in the back of her thoughts.

Amatricina shook her head once more, before sashaying in slow steady steps around the girl. Bumping her playfully with a hip and gently running the armored talons of her free hand through the uppity witch's flowing mauve hair. "It is hardly sullying your body to find a mate who's seed is worth caring in your womb. You'll come to understand that. They are only an unworthy mongrel if you fail to find a proper lover. Unless no man will ever truly match your expectations I suppose... your criteria too lofty for even a mighty Demon Lord to relate to. Your bed and your womb forever empty, the pleasure of maternity forever lost to you. One more great undertaking in womanhood you fail to complete." Amatricina trailed off, removing her hand from her bust and slowly slipping back into her normal haughty state. Her words quickly turning malicious and sinister once more. "Though I can admire your goal of Immortality. It is something my kind have long hungered for. Sadly, I can assure you the secrets cannot be found in the Demon Realm, if they could we would have done so eons ago. I like the thought though, being an ageless symbol of my clan's glory. I could sire brood after brood of children, taking endless mates over the eons. My progeny spreading out to the stars as the flames of my clan let the galaxy burn around them. My teeming brood endlessly serving their undying mother and Queen." The demon's smile grew ear to ear, flashing fanged canines as she briefly lost herself in her prospective day dreaming. Her aura of power flaring as her lapse in concentration caused more of her power to spill forth unsupressed. Her power level soon surging to the point it was quadrupled Lilith's strength and still bounding upward until at last Amatricina regained a modicum of focus and suppressed herself down to match the witch's much more feeble strength.

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Word Count: 1,094
Total Word Count: 4,745
Lilith Nevermore

Amatricina chortled at the girl's attempt at an insult. If that was the best nerve she could strike at, she had nothing left to give. "Seventy five million years and I have figured out exactly how to dress and behave properly." The demon grinned, taking a step back and shrouding herself once more in her Dark Miasma. It flowed like an uncorked wine bottle out from under her cloak, writhing until it enveloped her form and shielded her from sight. When the demoness emerged, her physical appearance had changed markedly. Gone was her grim crown of black horns, replaced by a wide brimmed witch's hat. Her mane of fiery crimson hair flowed now with a mauve color instead. Her complexion changed from a lustrous glow to deathly pale like she balked from the sun. Her revealing, figure hugging attire replaced by far more modest albeit very svelte black robes. She wore a red sash belt, with a matching band of red along her hat. Gone was her armored gauntlets and heels, replaced by unseen stiletto heels beneath her robed dress and her delicate hands and long, black painted nails revealed. Amatricina's stature had not diminished in the least, or her figure for that matter.

The demoness smiled coyly, inspecting her now witchy attire before drawing back in her Dark Miasma underneath her robe back into her form. "There, perhaps you would prefer this attire instead?" She said mockingly, even her voice imitating an older, more developed variant of the witch's voice. "I do so love my magic glamours, they say mimicry is the highest form of flattery, is it not?" The demon witch let out a haughty cackle, holding a hand to her chest as she threw back her head in laughter. "I can see why you wear these robes, they are rather soft. But I like showing a bit more skin, beauty was not meant to be hidden away. But to be flaunted for what it is."

Still inspecting her mirrored attire, the demoness began to idly walk about the area, circling Lilith with her telltale swaying walk. She shook her head slowly as the girl denied missing her family. Such a shame, even Amatricina was aware she had been blessed by her upbringing. Few demons got to cremate their parents from death by old age. Many of her kind perished on the battlefield in their venerable years, many more in their prime. She shrugged her slender shoulders, apathetic to the girl's response. "A great shame then, all beings should know the warmth of a parent's love, and mourn them in death. My clan holds the bonds of kin closer than yours does I suppose. I submit Lady Lilith, remorseless heir of Clan Nevermore, you are even more malevolent than I on this matter." Once more her tone was mocking, the demon simply trying to strike at nerves. Amatricina snapped her fingers, and with a flourish she was wrapped in a pyre of demonic hellfire. Only the glow of her fiery eyes visible, brighter by a half than the fires around them. The plume of demonic magic lasted only a moment, when it faded Amatricina stood once more donned in her full demonic attire. Her visage restored to full glory, horns proudly displayed and her robes burned away in cinders that were reabsorbed into her blazing ruby aura.

She turned to the girl anew, placing a hand on a wide hip and casually inspecting the ruby inset in her gauntlet on the other hand. "Ah... so much better. Add that little trick to your spell book Lady Lilith, if you haven't already devised a 'completely superior mortal variation of your own.'" Her mocking tone did not cease, not yet at least. She furrowed her brow, cold gaze cast once more upon the girl. Two sets of crimson eyes meeting each other as the demon spoke. "Immortality is a worthy goal. I will acknowledge that at least. With your mortal lifespan, I suggest you continue your search ceaselessly. You do not have millennia for this quest, as I do. I must say little girl, you are perhaps my favorite earthling at this point. Your young heart holds so much darkness, so much malice within you. I see through your facade, and I like what I see. You have my blessing to continue your studies of my isle free from reproach. It is little more than a personal retreat to me anyways, I care little what becomes of it. Though should you uncover what exactly is causing the corruption of the local life forms, I would be quite keen to know. It has eluded me since I first arrived, though I haven't placed much thought into covering the secret." Amatricina's tone for once lost its mocking edge, flickering with a brief flicker of respect. She detested the witch, to be sure, but she detested all mortals to varying degrees. This one however, was a fair shade darker than the rest, and so her disdain for Lilith Nevermore was a fair shade lighter than the rest of her race.

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Word Count: 857
Total Word Count: 5,602
Lilith Nevermore

Amatricina smiled, placing an armored hand on the slender girl's slim shoulders. "Ah but you are a little girl, Lady Nevermore. A very ambitious, very malicious little mortal girl. And that is why I'm growing found on you, in spite of your little outbursts and that snotty attitude of yours. I can find no fault with such boundless ambition, should you truly accomplish in a decade what I have not in nearly two millennia then I submit to the superiority of your being." The demon flashed a smile, blowing the young witch a fiery kiss. It was literal, and wafted towards her before dissipating before it struck her cheek. "However, I have my doubts." What she said was true, mostly. In spite of her constant contention with the demoness, Amatricina quite liked Lilith Nevermore more than most mortals, she was fast tracking her way from loathsome to tolerable. Given time, she may even approach appreciated status.

The demoness smiled and watched as the young witch positively lit up at another chance to prove her 'obvious' superiority to a Demon Lord. "Well... how fortuitous of me then." Amatricina cooed soothingly, the mortals were so easy to manipulate. Making them dance to the strings of her voice. "Gladly." The demon said, stepping aside and crossing her legs, hovering midair as she watched the crystal ball. "A fine relic, my mother had a similar one. We made ours of onyx quartz or obsidian though." The demon commented as she observed the witch's work. So the girl knew divination, how apt. Her grasp of magic was rather impressive, for a mortal. Leagues ahead of the other noteworthy mortals Amatricina had encountered in her travels. Though even mighty warriors like Kamui and Carambolis had mastery of ki, they held little practical knowledge of the arcane. It seemed this time, good things came in small packages.

The illusion of certainty seemed to falter, and Lilith soon became troubled by her results. Perhaps the divinations were more fickle than they seemed. Amatricina suppressed the urge to laugh, it was likely painful enough for the child. The girl readjusted her focus though, seeking alternative avenues for her answers. What could not be explained by magic was revealed an act of science. The demon's smile grew wider. "Destron Gas..." She whispered aloud, taking in the words. "I like the sound of that. This ancient weapon, I will need seek it out. Incorporate it into my being. I foresee great uses for such a potent substance." As she spoke Amatricina rose to her feet, sashaying slowly towards her darling Lilith. The demon scooped the girl up with her arms, she was light as a feather for a being that could likely push the moon out of orbit with raw strength alone. "Little Lady Lilith, the ambitious Heir of Clan Nevermore..." Amatricina said soothingly, almost sweetly with just a hint of malevolence. She pulled the girl close embracing her in a smotheringly tight hug. The witch's porcelain face smashed between two huge mounds of warm flesh, buried in a deep valley of luscious cleavage as the fire demon held her close against her squirming attempts to escape.

"You're a bright girl, but not as bright as you think." Amatricina said as she slowly ran one hand through the child's mauve hair, it was soft as silk even to her armored touch. "So eager to impress, so proud." The demoness purred, holding the child close. "And so tantalizingly easy to manipulate. Did you even stop to think, perhaps I'm using you to do a task so I won't have to myself? That perhaps your blind attempts to impress might instead be unwittingly serving another's grander desires?" Her gaze narrowed, and the demon planted a tender kiss on the girl's forehead before relaxing her grip enough Lilith could surface from the demon's bust for air. "You're lucky I've grown fond of you child. I could break your spine in a second, just one good flex of my muscles. Your strongest spell and your mightiest attack would merely give me pause. If you truly seek immortality, you would do well to better safeguard your brief, mortal life." Amatricina looked down at the witch squirming in her arms, relaxing her grip and letting her go. "Now, repeat what you've learned of this chance encounter. If I don't like what I hear... I'll level this whole island chain with you on it." With that thread the Fire Demon raised her right hand nonchalantly, summoning a small orb of Dark Energy in her hand. It crackled and pulsed with raw chaotic power, being slowly fed demonic ki as it grew at a rate of inches with each passing second. This was a lesson for the child, one Amatricina's mother Bonara had given all her children. Most succeeded, though a few had failed. Luckily Fire Demons were quite fertile, and could afford to separate the wheat from the chaff.

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Word Count: 831
Total Word Count: 6,433
Lilith Nevermore

Amatricina smiled wryly, she had seen enough. The Dark Energy sphere she held aloft condensed down quickly, rather than continue to expand outwards. As it did it coalesced, forming a perfectly smooth, flawless black jewel roughly the size of a bowling ball. An onyx gemstone, one that crackled and pulsated with demonic power. The orb contained a hellish crimson light, an ethereal flame burning bright within it. The gem slowly lowered thanks to the demoness' telekinesis, coming to land it the hand she held high above her head. Amatricina lowered the extended arm, presenting the gem to the young witch who just moments ago had stood so defiantly against the prospect of certain death. Amatricina flashed a fiendish smile, and extended the jewel in offering to the mortal child. "And with that young Lilith, you have passed my test." Amatricina spoke in her usual haughty tone, brimming with pride and ambition. Though just this once, there was a lingering hint of motherly affections.

"The lesson was indeed on manipulation and mortality. You very much do need to work on those two things if you truly wish to have a chance at your ambitions. But the test, was how you'd react to the prospect of certain death." The demon saw that flash of confusion in the witch's eyes, and the blush that quickly faded from her cheeks as they instead flared with her typical anger. "My mother presented each and every child of her brood with an ultimatum when we were barely old enough to fly. Face our deaths bravely, or perish. Most of us chose the wiser option, and the few that did not were trimmed like unseemly vines from the branches of our family tree. Neither mourned, nor missed. For you see child, to Die Standing is among the oldest covenant of my clan. It means to face death boldly, dying with your feet planted and your eyes locked on your enemy. There is no room for cowardice in my culture." The demoness let go of the gemstone, and the orb of malevolent creation hovered before the witch for her to take at her leisure.

"And so, with your last uppity little act of defiance, you have passed my test. Your life is safe from my wrath, so long as you do not lose that ambitious flame in your heart." Amatricina smiled, letting out a rather content sigh. "You remind me so much of myself at that age, so defiant, so proud, so much potential. The universe was nothing more than hurtles to overcome, challenges to rise to. Everyone who wasn't on my side was a rival or an enemy. If you're as much like myself as you appear, you won't really grow out of it. But you'll temper that ambitious with wisdom, and a vicious cunning." The demoness blew the witch a kiss, a much more modest act than the second smothering hug she briefly considered. The kiss formed a burned heart of flame, that puffed away in black smoke as it neared young Lilith's cheek.

Amatricina's power level began to grow, her crimson aura flaring as she summoned her demonic energies. "That gem is yours to keep, consider it my gift. It is as I said, similar to the one my mother possessed, which sits on my nightstand to remind me of her to this very day. There is no way an unloving mother could produce a daughter half as capable as yourself, think of that when you are alone and looking for guidance. I presume she was more than wise enough to teach her darling heiress to never forsake the boon of a Demon Lord. So think of her, for me, when you gaze into my gem. You will find it markedly more potent for channeling dark magic than your own." The Fire Demon looked skyward, she had an Emperor to speak with on this Destron Gas, and this chance encounter was over. Her maternal flame had been sated, for the first time since her body began to ache for a child to love. Amatricina found herself surrounding herself with surrogate children, first the cyborg warrior Kamui, now the young witch Lilith. She could not shake the thoughts from her head, perhaps she did not want to. In either event, Amatricina turned her gaze upon the witch one last time. "Farewell Lady Lilith, Heir of Clan Nevermore. We will meet again soon, of that I promise you." Her sentence finished the demon rocketed skyward, the ground beneath where she had stood moments ago splintering from the force of her take off. She was headed for low orbit, and the Kabochan war fleet that waited there as it surveyed the Earth.

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Word Count: 794
Total Word Count: 7,227
Lilith Nevermore