Strolling towards the western exit of the city Promicarus had her gaze naturally wander where she saw a coyote father-son pair.

The father seemed to be finishing up for the day as few people would be buying street food at the gate during the evening while the child gazed listlessly out the mountains. A gentle blush was upon his cheeks as his tail flapped behind him - clearly his thoughts were distracted since it took him a few attempts to put a coin in his purse. Even the older (yet still quite young) man seemed somewhat dazed.

Fortunately it seemed he was a loyal man since he shook his head to continue packing up for the day while Promicarus couldn’t help stopping for a moment. She wasn’t skilled at reading people yet she at least knew what infatuation looked like, on top of that she knew exactly one person who could cause such infatuation, so she decided to approach the pair. There was no arrogance upon her face; just a chilling coldness

“Hast thou encountered a purple nine tailed fox whomst is an unparalleled venus with an unnaturally large bosom? This one wishes to meet up with said vixen in order to settle some long standing disputes between us - if thou art willing to give accurate information this one will make it worth. Momentarily that is.” <Promicarus>

Although she spoke in her usual manner there was an eerie chill from her words, none of her previous silliness was present, instead she gave off an intimidating aura. The type of intimidation the father felt was far different than that he felt from Eel though. Compared to the vixen was like a benevolent king to a tyrant.

Promicarus didn’t take notice of their fear, due to her innate aura as a demon lord candidate, as she just flashed a golden coin. Some surprise went through the man's eyes as he pulled the son behind himself once again while eying the gold coin - that was more money than people like them ever see. Knowing the girl in front of him was rich, the coyote presented a nervous smile while beginning to speak.

“We are just humble commoners who wouldn’t dare keep anything-” <Coyote-kin Father>

“D-dad…” <Coyote-kin Son>

As if to make that difference obvious the boy (who couldn’t look away from the cute Eel) was hardly able to control his trembling from Promicarus. Despite that he still managed to squeeze out his words under her oppressive aura - though even that came to an end as she gave him a single glance. Knowing the dangerous girls gaze fell on his son the father couldn’t control himself thus almost yelled out.

“We saw her head to the top of the first mountain straight west of the gate; later there were crimson red flashes that could be spotted shooting up to the top.” <Coyote-kin Father>

“Hmm…” <Promicarus>

Her head slowly turned while her eyes followed; head tilting upwards as she silently studied the face of the father. Sweat covered his back while he desperately clutched onto his son to keep him not only behind himself but silent. Fortunately the demon lord nodded her head softly while sauntering forward at a sedated pace making the two coyote’s scramble back against the hard stone wall only to hear a *clink* as she placed the coin down.

“Very well; thou art be on thine way.” <Promicarus>

She said nothing more before heading towards the gate with her arms crossed behind her back while looking up towards the mountain. Many thoughts rushed through her head at speeds she doubted even Sohn-Tocther could keep up with - yet all she did in return was close her eyes while letting out a long sigh. Soon she arrived at the gate where two guards looked down upon her thus approaching with smiles that weren’t quite smiles on their face.

“Missy, I don't think this is the right place for you.” <Guard 1>

“Perhaps if you come with us to our barracks we can help you out - for a little payment since we are honest men who got needs hehe~.” <Guard 2>

Those few still in the surroundings quickly grew concerned while angry murmuring could be heard while some larger more impressive men stepped up. They never got the chance to do anything though as Promicarus wasn’t the type to start random fights like Eel - in fact she preferred to resolve things far simpler. A single thought thus decided a quick ending to the situation before anyone could interrupt.

<If I’m going to be fighting I’ll need as much energy as I can get… Those in the surroundings should provide enough.>

Such a thought was all that was needed for her to lift up both her hands to point her palms towards the two guards who looked confused. At first there was the thought she may be a mage due to her actions - yet no mana gathered upon her palms while no magic circles formed. It made the two guards chuckle at overestimating the situation…

“[Solus].” <Promicarus>

That was until the pure black flames shout out engulfing the pair to leave not even ash.

Those flames, while black, weren’t the same nature as the abyssal magic she had inherited from her unlikely mother. Instead they swallowed up everything from the mans body to their minds and even the soul connecting the two before converting it all into energy - the gluttonous flame thus had far more in common with a certain beast they fought on the way. In fact it was just like a [Void Beast] who only knew to ‘consume’.

Feeling the energy from the two men enter her body Promicarus looked down on her two palms while her nose still held high in the air. Clutching them back and forth her brow furrowed a little as everyone else could only look on in sheer shock as two men became… Nothing in not even a second of time. Not a single part of them remained.

“Hmm… Surprisingly those two guards weren’t incompetent and could likely actually put up a fight against a D-rank beast for a couple bouts. They must have had experience in hunting strong beasts - perhaps those that wandered up to the gates gave enough for them to attain a rather decent power for a mere guard. Still I’m not sure if D-ranks are enough so I best gather some more energy while I make my way to her.” <Promicarus>

In many ways Eel & Promicarus weren’t so different yet the sheer callousness the demon lord showed to life certainly set them apart. With a flourish of her hand streams of gluttonous faux flames sprouted out into large plumes which washed over the area, quickly reducing many of the buildings as well as those inside to nothing but power for her. The most eerie thing of all was the lack of ‘roaring’ one would expect from a high intensity flame.

Instead of any sort of roaring it was more akin to a high pitched wail; as if all those she had consumed in order to get to where she wished to break free. Of course, those around finally snapped back, the people who weren’t already consumed screamed while charging back into the city while screaming for help. She wasn’t worried though since she had no plans to enter this city again nor could they demand anything from her.

These ants were just members of this very country she planned to level anyway.

“This is much better… Now it's time to head out before that old coot approaches.” <Promicarus>

Albeit she didn’t immediately charge forward as she generated two rifts upon which her hands dived into to pull out her beautifully ornate greatswords. Her physical body wasn’t that powerful yet it was easy to fix such matters - abyssal threads shot from her fingertips to weave into her faux muscles to enhance them with her puppetry. Allowing her to finally lift one of the swords to her eye level.

<Soon Bridget…>

Tears welled up in her eyes yet she closed them while shaking them away with a shake of her while clearing her throat. She knew it wasn’t the time to cry yet like a timid girl - she once was a shy girl and looked at where she had got her. On this mountain range fighting the one person she may even consider her greatest friend so that she can bring the one she loved back to life by bringing down this kingdom itself.

It was never a job she took pleasure in; perhaps that was why she hated ‘Jeeves’ who birthed her since he could so easily commit genocides like this. Yet now she could hardly accuse him as she was the exact same monster. Maybe she was closer to her ‘father/birth mother’ than she originally thought?

<Maybe just like me he has something he needs to do no matter how cruel it is…>

Such sympathy wasn’t enough to stop her from beginning her path up to the apex of the mountain; however it did indeed have an effect. Throughout her body she felt more conviction than she ever had before fueling her, making her feel a bigger change than when she absorbed the energy from those at the western gate. Because, at the end of the day, she had to do this for the girl she loved to return and punish her for being an idiot.

She would accept the hatred Emily would no doubt feel, scorn Lyada would silently give, the vengeance Fuka would likely enact and perhaps even the cruelty of Alexis. In fact she would welcome it as long as it was after she had completed her goal. A punishment was needed for what she was about to do after all.

Strolling towards the mountain peak she ended up going down the exact same path as Eel which resulted in her also going along the same route. This also meant Promicarus got to see the ruins of the golems which, exactly as Eel had assumed, she had developed in order to brute force the defences of the {Orrid Empire} through rushing with pure numbers. That wasn’t to say these golems were weak as each was at least capable of taking on a E-rank which was the usual strength of a soldier.

Yet here they were scattered in tiny pieces as if they were pieces of trash; she did consider them trash but they were her trash!

“Ah~! How much time did I spend designing these golems which self-replicate yet so many of them are scattered before even getting to use them - though I suppose it’s alright. The data gained from the hive mind should allow me to enhance them. Maybe I’ll even be able to push forward their teamwork to push them to become an S-rank worthy threat?” <Promicarus>

Letting out a sigh she just shook her head while continuing on up the path while dreaming of just holding up in her workshop - making some massive progress on her puppetry. Of course, not just puppetry but necromancy, summoning as well as golems like the ones all over… In multiple places as well as multiple pieces.

Thankfully, before she ended up breaking into tears over how long she’d need to wait to recoup her golem forces, Promicarus arrived at the top of the mountain. With light falling between the distant mountains falling upon Eel - the girl seemingly just silently gazing out across the vast range below - it didn’t even take a second for Promicarus to spot her. In fact she didn’t even try to hide since the area was essentially flat, containing a few rocks here and there.

Overall it could be said that Elizabeth Jr. Bloodleaf couldn’t be calmer as the demon lord quickly noticed she didn’t even have a weapon in hand. Instead she sat upon a rock, hands upon her thighs as she silently gazed outward, without so much as looking back. Anyone who knows Eel could tell there was no way she couldn’t sense Promicarus yet Promicarus also couldn’t sense any magic around like she may have expected from the tricky fox… Well except for in one place where she sensed light magic.

Promicarus’ gaze fell upon Eel’s butt yet for purer reasons than Emily likely would have since there was only one of the tails visible while 8 others seemed to be hidden with magic.

<Only one tail revealed - clearly she’ll aim to skewer me on her other eight when I let my guard down which certainly could be problematic…>

“Ara~ are you planning to hide over there the entire time - the view’s great fufufu~!” <Eel>

While shouting that the dragon lifted up the brandy bottle in the air, letting out her usual boutious laugh with a huge smug grin, turning her head to look at her nervous rival. In return the half-spirit could only snort with a frown. Stepping forward while pointing one of her greatswords towards the actual demon.

“Thou art to be more worried about thineself!” <Promicarus>

“Heh~ do you know all creatures within existence and even out of it have habits~?” <Eel>

As she began to articulate some kind of monologue the demon lord in training of course gave her time to finish. She was a little miffed that the hero couldn’t be more professional about it like she was - the girl actually took her time to take another swig of the bottle. Only to seemingly find no more alcohol thus resulting in her lifting it up the bottle and bringing it to her eye so she could look inside for another drop.

Viewing this sham of a display Promicarus stepped forward once more to challenge the hero whether she wanted it or not only for the hero to continue. Yet her first action wasn’t to speak yet stand up after throwing the bottle onto the ground - seeing her stand up Promicarus was cautious as she even raised the other sword to point both towards Eel. The hero quickly revealed she held no weapons as her hands fell to her waist in clear view.

“May be hard for someone who likes playing with dolls all day to understand; if you can understand all those habits you can lay down traps they never would have expected~!” <Eel>

Hearing that Promicarus instinctively began to look around yet she sensed no mana yet another thought came to mind - natural energy!

Yet that ended up being a blank as well…

“Fufufu~ you seem disappointed; well it should be expected since that is one of your habits to think in terms of magic. As a being whose whole life revolved around magic while now seeking to become what many consider the absolute peak of magical beings - Demon Lord. You also have become very arrogant and thus easy to trick with snares~!”<Eel>

Upon saying that she turned around with a big grin to proudly show off a vine held in her left which the faux-demon quickly tracked to see if it vanished under the gravel. It was only at that moment where Eel stepped back while pulling on the vine causing a snare to come up around her rival's feet. Dragging the unaware Promicarus to fly towards her while instinctively throwing her hands back to catch herself.

“T-thou has no weapons!” <Promicarus>

“Fool~ my body has always been my strongest weapon - we’re making the mother of all omelettes here Icky and you are the eggs~!” <Eel>

Stepping forward, clenching her first and rolling her hips made time around Eel seemingly slow down to a crawl for Promicarus who got to see first hand as that fist flew towards her. The girl held back nothing in her punch resulting in a *BOOM* as that fist slammed down on Promicarus’ face sending her catapulting backwards while the vine snapped. Rolling across the ground with no control only for Eel to charge forward - more accurately leaping forward into a somersault into an axe kick.

Colliding with the rolling Promicarus’ butt to send her head first into the dirt while ending her momentum; at which point Promicarus realised this was never going to be easy.