At the dead of night, Fremund sat on the chair of his office. A slight hint of wariness appeared on his face. On the side of his desk was a stack of papers, all signed by him.

He had taken precautions, so the information of the breakout didn’t fall into the hands of the media. The Grand Sorcerers were tracking down the remaining escapees. But those were not the source of his worry.

"S ranks," He thought. "Why, out of all the ranks, did the S rank have to be the only rank where all of them escaped?" Fremund sighed. "And then, there's that person... If only the one that saved the personnel wasn't him, this would be so much easier."

Fremund moved himself to sit straight on his chair. He opened his hand in front of him, and a yellow magic circle manifested right atop of it.

On the man's hand was a magic circle; its purpose was to let people communicate across long distances. It used ley lines as a mana transmitter across other ley lines.

The man took a deep breath, "Elves ley line, Reina Fleur," He uttered. Immediately, the magic circle shined and spun atop his hand, spinning faster and faster until it stopped.

"Darling!" A cheery and energetic voice emitted from the circle. "It's been so long since you called after I went to help out the Elves."

Fremund lowered his shoulders, "Sorry about that Reina, I was quite busy with things," he explained.

"Hmmph, no fun. You didn't even bother calling me, Honey," She pouted.

"Sorry again, I'm quite stressed about stuff. I hope everything is well on your side."

"Yeah, it's fine. My work with the Elves is going smoothly, but..." Reina's voice turned serious, "That's not the topic you want to talk about, right?"

Fremund chuckled, "You got me there."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?"

"Good one, of course!" Said Reina brightly.

"As expected from you," Fremund took a deep breath, "Our daughter, Harmonia… awakened her magic."

"Aww, that's great! She's all grown up now," She said in a higher pitch.

"She's seventeen, you know, well eighteen in a few months," Fremund interjected.

"Yeah, but still..." Reina frowned.

"Let's move on from that. Now, for the bad news...."

"Yes?" The woman wondered.

"Our daughter made a deal with S number nine."

Reina giggled, "Good joke, darling. You almost made me worried there." She shook her head, "You can tell me the real bad news now."

"I'm telling the truth," Fremund said shortly.

"Eh?"

"I'm telling you the truth." He reaffirmed.

"Eh!?" She gasped. "H-how!?" She said in a panic as her cheery attitude disappeared, "How did they even meet?"

Fremund began explaining the events that happened on the same day, answering each of Reina's questions until she fully understood.

"T-that is... quite hard to believe," said Reina.

"I couldn't believe the chains of coincidences that happened as well, but what's important now is that he didn't request her soul in the deal."

Reina let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness at that part. What did Harmonia ask for?"

"She hasn't asked for anything, which means we can manipulate her side of the deal to have no loophole that S number nine can exploit."

"True… What I'm going to suggest might sound a bit out there for you, darling, but how about he trains Harmonia?"

Fremund was dazed by Reina's statement, "What? But why?" He wondered.

"Hear me out first," Reina's tone changed to a more stern one, "Harmonia, in terms of learning her magic, is late seventeen years. Add that with the fact that her first magic is creation, and our daughter needs all the help she can get to master it."

Fremund laid back on his chair, "I can see where you're coming from, but is it worth him being free?"

"Well, do you have any other suggestions?"

"Hmm," Fremund put his hand on his chin and moved to sit straight up his chair again. "Capturing... all of the escaped prisoners."

"Huh, that's a good suggestion, yeah. That'll work."

"That settles it then, I'll talk to Harmonia about it tomorrow morning."

"Alright, I'll get back to my work now," said Reina. The yellow magic circle atop Fremund's hand started to flicker, "Ah right, darling. I'll be back right before Harmonia's birthday. See you then," said Reina, her cheery tone seemingly had returned.

"See you," said Fremund as he moved up from his seat. The man let out a sigh of relief as he stared into the night sky.

 

---

 

Across the ocean, through countless forests and mountains that reached to the skies, and in between ruins covered in trees that had stood there since ancient times, a woman, known as Reina Fleur, stood under the sun.

Reina's blue eyes stared at the flickering yellow magic circle in front of her as it dissipated. Her soft wavy blonde hair that reached to her waist was fluently blown by the wind. She looked younger than her age implied, but her posture told another story. For she was standing still with steel armor covering her entire body. Except for her head with a silver sword scabbard on her hip. The plate of armor was clear of any symbols, except for the sheath. It etched a flower symbol, covering every part of it.

When the magic circle in front of her disappeared, an Elf jumped from one of the trees. Landing in their two feet, then fixing their stance to stand in front of Reina, "Are you done?"

Before Reina, at a little distance from her, stood a slim female elf, with an oval face, and a kind expression. Her pale green hair swept to the side, and her eyes were clear yellow. The Elf's clothing was lighter than Reina's, leather clothes garnished with green fabric and a belt buckle going from her back up to her waist, holding three small knives. An out of place cape covered her left hand.

Reina turned her head to the Elf, "Oh, Melara. Of course, I'm done." Reina smiled.

"Again," The Elf frowned. "You can just call me Lara, you know. You've been here for a few weeks now if we're using the human calendar."

"Ah, right. I got used to calling you Melara," Reina mildly chuckled.

The Elf sighed, "It's fine, Reina."

As they began to talk, another Elf jumped off from a tree near them, landing behind Melara, kneeling on the ground.

"Your Majesty," an Elf called while bowing.

"Hmm?" Melara turned, "Is there something wrong with the wildlife?" She asked.

"No, Your Majesty. It is done; the wildlife around the area has been cleared off."

"Well done," Melara turned her head to Reina, "You can do your job now."

"Alright," said Reina sternly. She grabbed the hilt of the sword and unsheathed it from the sheath on her belt.

The woman in armor raised her sword, pointing the edge of the claymore toward the ruin. Red mana manifested around the blade, spinning around it as the entire sword is enveloped in mana.

The mana grew more intense and spun around the blade even faster as time went on until the mana started to spark and crackle. Reina took a deep breath, and with all of her might, she shouted.

"Grand... FLEUR!"

In an instant, the crackling mana of the sword blasted toward the ruin, growing more massive than the original size of the blade. Deteriorating the rubble as it hit it. The blast crackled and shone as it covered the entire ruin.

The mana started to flicker until it slowly dissipated. Revealing a large crater without any trace of the ruin left. Reina kneeled down, out of breath, "I-its... been a while since I used that much mana," she turned to Melara.

"Good job. One out of many Devil ruins left," Melara smiled. "We could get it all done right around your schedule if we destroy around three a day."

Reina had sat down on the ground, gazing at the clear blue sky. "Nice, that's around the limit of how much I can do the blast in a day."

"Perfect, let's get going to the next one, shall we?" Melara glanced at Reina.

"Yeah, right." Reina pushed herself from the ground, brushing off the dirt off her armor. But as she turned to look at Melara, the Elf was staring at the crater with a frown covering her face. "What's wrong?" Reina asked.

"Ironic, isn't it? Devils went extinct thousands of years ago, yet signs of their existence can be found everywhere."

"Huh, now that I think about it, why did you need help destroying the ruins?"

Melara's frown turned upside down, "Ah yes, about that. I guess I wasn't clear about our intention back then." The Elf coughed to clear her mouth, "You see, we Elves don't have much in terms of large scale destruction magic."

"Yeah, I know that part," said Reina.

"The other reason is..." Melara looked down. "A few months ago, using the human calendar, the ruins started to absorb mana from the world and sent it off somewhere. We don't know where exactly, but we know it'll be better if we just destroy them. I know it's reckless, but considering history, anything related to them is better off destroyed."

Reina placed his hand on the Elf's shoulder, "Don't worry about it. We'll just destroy all of it," The woman said with a bright smile on her face, but inside her head, Reina was in a panic. "I'm so sorry, Lara. I think I know where the mana is going, but I really can't tell you," she thought.

"Thanks, Reina." She looked up, "Let's get going to the next one, shall we?"

Both of them started walking to the forest as the Elf from before jumped ahead to the trees. But a mana signature stopped them on their tracks.

"Huh, this is..." Reina mumbled. "Two mana signatures clashing." She turned her head to the Elf.

Melara merely looked down, "Those two idiots are at it again," she sighed, "Continue walking. I'll explain on the way."

 

---

 

On a barren land far away from where the Elves reside, stood a vast kingdom. A kingdom of Demons, with a castle surrounded by medieval buildings. Inside the throne room right across the gate into the palace, the demon lord sat on the throne with a female secretary standing next to him.

The demon lord dawned a black winter cape with a fur collar, wearing leather armor, with his own intention to make himself more vulnerable. His dark red hair was messy with a resemblance of bangs being swept to the side, and two jagged horns that pointed upward jutted from both sides of his head. His amber eyes were seemingly unamused by the main hall in front of him. The unamused individual was known as Morz.

"How boring," He grumbled, tapping his finger on the armrest of the chair.

"W-whats wrong, my lord?" The secretary right beside him said in a panic.

"Nothing, it's just that I missed heroes coming from those gates with the intent of killing the current demon lord." He sighed.

"You've said that many times, my lord."

"I know."

The demon lord stood up from his throne to his secretary's wonder. "Where are you going, my lord?"

"Nowhere, I'm just going to look around the halls," said the demon lord as he stepped down the small stairs leading to the halls. But before he was able to, a large man barged into the halls of the throne room.

The man raised his hand to wave at Morz. "Yo, Morz. How are you doing?" said the man without any explanation. 

Morz put his hands on his waist as he sighed, "Isn't your race still in their hibernation period, Brutus? Why are you all pumped up without any sign of being tired at all?"

The man called Brutus had a round face and wore a simple black gi, his skin tanned by the sun. His black hair was let loose with two ears similar to that of a wolf atop his head.

The man rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, the Beastkin," He chuckled, "Well, you see, we're nearing the end of the hibernation period, and it just so happens that I woke up earlier than the rest."

The Demon put up his palm to his forehead, "Shouldn't you be there when they wake up? Aren't you their chieftain?

"Eh, they'll survive." The man said casually.

"Y-you!?" Morz looked down and let down a hard sigh, "Your ruling ways differ a lot from mine."

"That's a given. Now, you know what I came here for, right?"

"Of course I know, we do it annually. But before that, where's Charlotte?" The demon lord asked. "Lara said she's not with her."

"Charlotte? She went off on her own to the human side of the world a few years ago. She's different from the normal beastkin. I bet she's doing fine."

"That's good," Morz said shortly.

"And," Brutus black eyes glanced at Morz' secretary.

Chills ran down her spine as she pushed her body to stand up straight, "Y-yes? Is there something wrong?" said the lady.

"Who's this Demon?" Brutus asked, "I didn't see her here last year. Is she your lover or something?" he wondered.

The secretary's cheeks blushed, "Not that!" She shouted.

"Oh, Ritz. You remember the Demon's tradition?"

"The challenge one? Where a Demon can challenge another Demon for their position?"

"Huh, you aren't that dumb, I see," Morz nodded, "Yes, she challeng—"

Ritz shrieked in a panic, turning to the demon lord, "My lord, please don't."

"Hmm, you weren't that jumpy when you challenged me, were you?" Morz grinned, "Where did that cocky attitude of yours go?" He chuckled.

"B-but, my lord..."

"If that's the case, I'll pull back my question," said Brutus.

"A-ah," Ritz bowed, "T-thank you, Beastkin's Chieftain!"

"Tch, no fun." The Demon crossed his hand, "Fine, let's get to that thing you want." He sighed.

Morz took off his cape, giving it to Ritz. "Just put it on the throne."

"Yes, my lord."

"And... you should know about the annual fight between me and him, right?" He asked.

"Yes, of course. I'll go ahead and tell the people about the event in a few." She nodded.

"Good," Morz walked down the small set of stairs until he stood in front of Brutus. "The usual crater? and what's the score again, I forgot."

"Yes, the usual crater, and I think it's about forty-nine wins for me and forty-nine wins for you as well." Brutus tried to count.

In quick succession, Morz grabbed Brutus' collar, "Let the fight begin!" He shouted as he spun the beastkin around him, and threw him through the gate, toward the sky.

As the chieftain flew off, the demon lord lowered his stance into a kneeling state, "I'll make sure to beat you into a pulp this time." Then, with all of his might, he propelled himself into the air following Brutus.

Ritz put down Morz' cape on the throne as she sighed, "Now to tell the people, should be easy enough," she murmured.