---

She awoke surrounded by broken carriages and blood. Breathing was hard and her body felt cold. She lay motionlessly on the wet ground as a metallic sword stuck through her abdomen. There were sounds of fighting rang all around loudly like the old battlefields she was so familiar with but definitely not.

She did not know what had happened to this body but she was dying. Unacceptable.

The heavy rain pouring down on her face didn’t help at all. If she let this continue, she would die. Again.

Her muddled eyes gazed weakly forward, to the clouded sky. A dark red something latched on the ground from her back. It snaked its way down like the roots of a forest, deeper and deeper still.

It felt like an eternity to her but eventually, she found what she wanted. Her body started to regain its color and her mind became clearer. The sword was still impaling her but that didn’t stop her from healing.

At that time, she noticed the fighting around her had stopped.

Trouble.

At the corner of her eye, she saw the rubbles of the carriage which had covered her from all the killing outside was pulled open. Under the wreckage there was also a corpse of a man she assumed was the owner of the sword pinning her down.

“Huh? Greg died? Oh well…”

A scars-covered man walked near and inspected the corpse but lost interest right away. The language was foreign to her but it didn’t matter. The voice of the soul needed no language.

The man looked at her and frowned.

“What the hell? We need to kidnap her, not to kill her! How are we going to get the ransom! That fucking Greg!”

“Boss, Greg is dead.”

“I know!”

He kicked the corpse angrily on the head. More people were coming over to her place as the noise increased. They were all obviously some kind of bandit. There was so much blood on the ground that they readily presumed she was dead. More convenient for her.

“What do we do, boss?”

“Take what you can, then we bail.”

“And the noble wench?”

He glared at her ‘corpse’, still angry that she ‘died’.

“Fuck it, eat it, do whatever you want. Just don’t drag it back to camp.”

“Hehe, thanks, boss.”

Hearing them talking about her made her want to sigh. She just wanted to pretend to be dead and got this over with. But she digressed. She had healed enough to restore her motor functions and these bandits were worse than a soldier. She didn’t know how they killed her supposed guards but weakling is a weakling still.

Two disfigured bandits with an ugly face ran toward her ‘corpse’.

I have always wondered why bandits are some of the ugliest creatures ever. Their faces can even compete with a goblin’s.

As mundane thoughts passed through her mind she gathered power to execute the bandits, all of them. Her eyes shone red and the air became heavy.

Her upper body sat up making the bandits who were busy taking off their pants froze. They hadn’t had the time to scream before their bodies dropped down and decomposed into mush.

She swept her Evil Eyes around the vicinity turning any bandit in her vision into a gooey paste. The scarred man was not in her sight, unfortunately. But she would amend that right away.

After breaking the sword in half she pulled it out from her back. No way she would let the dirt go inside her ‘new’ body. It had been uncomfortable the last time she pulled a sword forward.

She stood straight among the dead, her eyes deactivated as her new body did not have the capacity to hold much mana. The remaining amount would be more than enough to get rid of some irksome bandit though.

And she spotted him, standing still behind a carriage while holding a small chest of gold. He stared at her in shock, confusion, and then fear. Her ethereal black hair and red eyes made her an otherworldly beauty but charm could do naught to him right at the moment. There were a slight golden aura and red magical feathers falling slowly surrounding her to make it clearer that she was out of his league.

As she walked closer, he backed away hurriedly and fell over the corpse of a knight. Now the situation was reversed, she looked down at him while he was lying on his back. The only thing missing was a sword to pin him good into the ground.

“W-What are yo-”

“I am…”

Her eyes flashed red and he too decomposed into a mushy mess.

“... Demon King [Ika Uphahelm]. Hmm, no… I am now Elena De Heuser.”

Heavy rain still poured down the world masking the soul-jarring, eldritch name away. The truth about the ambushed noble lady will be buried in this forest forever.

---

It had been one whole day since the entourage of his dear daughter was supposed to arrive. But they did not.

Count Heuser had nearly torn his hair out multiple times as anxiety ate away at him. He had ordered all his knights to search the roads and all the forest on the way to the Duke household. The Duke had not been aware of the situation yet as there was no messenger capable of traveling that far in a day. Count Heuser didn’t want to wait for help either. His mind wasn’t sound at the time.

“Milord! We found Lady Elena Heuser!”

“Excellent! Bring me to my daughter!”

“Milord, please calm down. I am just a forerunner. Lady Elena Heuser is still being escorted back.”

The Count was too jumpy to stay still in his room so he called his wife and they all waited at the gate to their estate.

Finally, a few hours later a carriage with his knights riding around it arrived. The door opened and stepping out was his daughter with a forlorn face.

“My sweetie! You are back!”

“Elena! Oh no, your dress! Blood! Are you hurt? Where are you hurt? Call the doctor! Quick!”

The two parents ran wild at the sight of their daughter. Of course, they were. She was wearing a blood-soaked dress with cuts and tears everywhere. They brought her inside immediately with every servant and the knight also busied themself with activities.

It took them the whole evening to make sure nothing harmful had happened to their daughter. Heading the advice of the doctor, the Count and his wife finally let their daughter take a bath and rest.

Back in his office, Count Heuser listened to the report of the knight captain. His fury was on the verge of exploding.

“Milord, the Lady was walking unresponsively in the forest as we encountered her. She was in extreme shock but there was no curse or mind magic on her so safety was ensured.”

“What about the bastards who did this?”

“All the guards were dead and there was no sight of the attackers. The knights' bodies reeked of poisons. But the cause of death was mortal wounds. I suspect they were all poisoned at… that place before the ambush. It must be a skilled assassin to be able to poison our knights without them noticing. And I also think the ambush was most likely arranged by the same party too.”

“The Duke huh… No, he will not do this. He is the one who arranged the engagement of my daughter and his third son. He wants a bite of our silver mine. Investigate all his followers and everyone in that birthday party.”

“Milord, it will be very long before anything could come up.”

Count Heuser bit down his lips, hiding his face behind his fists.

“We have no other way. Just do it. As my daughter is still here with me. They have to do something eventually.”

“As your order.”

The knight captain retreated out of the office and quickly walked away to the barrack. The operation had to be quick before all things died down.

When there was no more sound coming from the hallway, the Count could no longer contain his anger. He slammed his fists hard on the table, cracking it.

“Damn you all!”

Count Heuser was not a good lord but he was better than many noblemen out there. He governed his territory diligently and it finally yielded back profit.

But the damn hyenas not only want his gold, but also his downfall. There were a lot of small attacks on his land’s business. It had been hard press on him lately as the economy of the county was at risk.

And now this incident. He didn’t know what he would do if something was to happen to his daughter. One thing he was sure of was that the whole kingdom would go down to the ground with him at all cost. But alas, his family was still there for him so he would preserve.

---

Elena was feeling good. There was no powerful entity in the area, the world was gentle. Father and mother were a bit annoying but she could take it. Adorning the guise of a traumatized daughter was a good calling on her part.

As powerful as she was, she still wasn’t invincible. The gods were always at a node higher than her. Even a mere mortal like the Hero had slain her in combat.

Elena still couldn’t comprehend how the Hero still had enough power to kill her after she had stabbed him in the heart, cut open the abdomen, chopped off his legs, and killed his companions.

As a Demon King, she was immortal and was the strongest thing that had ever lived. But now she was here. That spoke of something. So in this new world that she had escaped to, she wanted to chill out for a while. Fighting gods and heroes was hard and stressful work.

This world had gods too. But as long as she didn’t look at them, they wouldn’t see her. No matter how strong she was, her power would never attain a dim of divinity. That required worshipers and demon worshipers weren’t counted into that. Anyone who worshiped a Demon King was considered a demon worshiper no matter the race. She had tried that a few times so she knew.

But on the bright side, the gods were blind. They wouldn’t know anything she did in their world until an apostle tattled on her demonic nature. She would be a ‘good’ human so no hero would come her way.

That said, right at the moment, her body was a sorry excuse of a living thing. So weak. Not talking about fighting heroes, she didn’t know if she could even run a lap around this mansion or not.

Thus the first on the agenda was improving the body. Of course, training was out of the question. She was a Demon King, not a Hero! King don’t train!

Plus she was a high-class Lady now. She got parties to go to and a duty to uphold. Not that anyone forced her, she just wanted to fit into her shell.

Elena lay on her bed with a serene expression as her mind jumped from task to task and made a coherent list of objectives. Politics wasn't hard according to this body's memories. She just needed to go to a lot of tea parties and it would work out, or something.

Elena had a small mana pool, not even enough to be an apprentice wizard. Her look was good but the body's quality wasn't even par for doing housework. And for real, no talent or hidden potential at all.

The only good things about her were look and money. It's enough she must say. So she started on basic reinforcement first.

The little amount of mana in her body spread out and ran around her body. She needed the mana absorption rate of the cells to increase. After a minute she ran dry. Truly exceptionally frustrating.

She had to tap into the mana vein of the planet again. It hurt the living creature just to use that mana and this mansion was far away from any vein. The natural mana recovery rate of the human race in this world wasn't any different than her old one. Slow as a snail.

A tendril of dark red energy reached out from her back and into the ground through the bed. It wouldn't do to have a hole in the bed so she made her tendril small and thin. Her body couldn't take much mana anyway so a small stream of energy was satisfactory.

As time passed the mana in her body started to move once again. It stung a little but the pain was no more than a low-level lightning spell, which she could take all day like a bad massage.

Elena needed to sleep too. Human and all. So after midnight, she stopped the reinforcement and cast a sleeping spell on herself. It wasn’t much but it was still painful enough to keep her awake. Furthermore, she was not in a rush. And as a member of the nobility, she had all the time in the world.

The violent tension in the air that no one noticed had simmered down, and the night had truly become restful as it was supposed to be.

---

"Lady Elena De Heuser has been rescued. We failed."

"Still, she is a desirable gift to Duke Rakes. We should try again. The promised rewards are elixirs and connection with him."

"I still feel bad about betraying Duke Dovantine."

"She is just a doll for his third son to play with. There is nothing to feel bad about. Isn't it better to use her in a more meaningful way?"

The bunch of conniving noblemen was not at all feeling guilty about their deed.

"But gentlemen please be careful. If caught, we would be labeled with treason. Execution is just a breath away."

"The elixirs are worth the risk."

The fable elixir that only the best of the alchemists could dream of compounding. It couldn't bring immortality but the lifespan would be extended nearly as long as the elf.

“You have contact with the dark guild, please secure her before the next full moon. I will make a pathway between us and Duke Rakes.”

They all quickly divided work to each other and vacated the establishment. As expected of the noblemen, their secret hideout just had to be fancy as well. The building was a high-class inn in disguise.

There was no information about the failure in the forest to collect so the oblivious cunning men just continued their business as usual. Human desire was not inferior to that of a demon’s despite whatever they denied it with.

---

Morning arrived as Elena opened her eyes. The sleep spell stopped and the pain returned right away. Pain aside, the day had started so she needed to move around too. Even with the memories extracted from the body, she didn’t know what the mansion looked like at all.

The city was big so there was no need to trouble herself to know everything. She was a daughter of the Count, her escort would lead her to wherever she demanded. The life she had lived as a Demon King wasn’t anything like a human king. She had minions but no servants. Demons couldn’t serve. Like, at all.

She could order them to jump into a pit and fight to the death with each other but when she told a succubus to clean her room? They made it into their den! What was so hard about removing dust and rearranging her clothes in a room? In the end, she gave up and forgot about it after a few decades.

“Milady, breakfast is ready. The Lord and Lady are waiting in the dining hall.”

A maid knocked on the door to inform her. Being served was great, she may be addicted to this type of life.

With the help of the young maid, she was dressed up nicely in new clothes.

Hmm, human aristocrat always wears these type of complicated dresses. Well, I can just change things later and bring up the trauma as a shield.

The dress was a white one with a few layers of skirts. There were red silk lining and decors but she didn’t care. With everything done, she went to the dining hall and had a meal with her ‘family’.

She didn’t hate them, but she also didn’t love them either. Being in Elena’s body didn’t make her any less of a Demon King than [Ika Uphahelm]. The soul of Elena had been evicted when she descended into this world.

Elena was resonating with another soul in the void and both of them were tossed out by her. The two souls were weak and had some dark spots to them, just like any mortal human. Though, she suspected that the other soul was an outsider like herself and just happened to drift by this world. It was just a passing thought as it really didn’t matter. The two of them must have reincarnated by then. Or they were still drifting about together out there.

“Elena, please rest well today too. Your mother and I will be visiting some people. The knight captain will be stationed at home as well, for your safety.”

“I understand, father. Have a safe trip.”

She knew right away what he meant by visiting. Some heads will roll today. Must have been the Duke household. The servants would probably die in their master’s stead.

I will have the whole house to me then. Sweet.

Elena acted perfectly as a person who was still stuck in her own world with trauma. Her parents looked at her and a strong determination suddenly arose inside them.

She saw her parents off at the gate and then walked to the balcony. It was on the third floor facing the city surrounding the mansion. It was a shame to her that this wasn't a castle. It was on the hill after all.

Now, let me see if there is anything concerning in my new territory.

Her body was still not up to real fighters but her magical ability was already beyond human in a night. The mana pool was still quite small for her liking but the body's affinity with mana was wonderful. Thanks to her work the night before of course.

Elena leaned on the rail and focused her sight on the city. The farsight spell needed focus to be accurate, it wasn't good in a fight but there were many alternative ways. Like remaking the eyes to be godlike, which was her favorite method. Not possible at the moment but in the near future though.

After skimming through the city she was satisfied. Crime was abundant which was good for her activities. She had no interest in the timid normal citizens, or anyone at all really. Demon King only cared for themselves.

She marked a few locations in her mind and dispelled the magic. Someday when her body was ready she would go exploring around this world.

Now back to reinforcement. I need to expand my mana pool first before I can enhance my physical properties.

Sitting down on the nearby table she started to use the planet again. A maid immediately brought out tea and sweets.

Talk about the high life. I like it.

"I want to be alone for a while."

The maid bowed and left the room quickly. It seemed they were a bit scared of Elena. She noticed it too but she couldn't remember any of the servant's face or name so she would just let that be.

She didn't want to be discovered yet. But she wouldn't mind being found out either. Kill all the witnesses for example. There was always a way out. She learned that from the Hero.

After she had latched onto the mana vein of the planet, she reignited the flow inside her.

A person's mana pool wasn't actually a pool. Their whole fleshy body was the thing that held the mana. The amount was different from person to person because the quality of their body was different. There was no equal in birth. And Demon King [Ika Uphahelm] was the most unequal of all. Born in the abyss and mastered the essence of mana at birth, there really was nothing that could stand against her.

Her current body had poor quality, but by destroying the cells and healing it back while overloading the whole body with mana she renewed the affinity with mana to do all kinds of things. This method was only available to her, no wizard was capable of handling mana that ridiculous.

Pain? Elena had already numbed herself. She wasn't a masochist. The day before, she had to endure the pain because she didn't have enough power to safely control the nervous system.

Elena lay back on the chair comfortably and glowed slightly as mana being used and exiting her body continuously.

By her estimation, this operation would be done within twenty hours. If she was to be honest, this way of doing things wasn't efficient at all. Because she still needed to remake her body so all this altered flesh would be gone.

But she didn't have another option. To remake her flesh to the Demon King's level she needed to handle an enormous amount of mana at once.

If she just used the original mana pool, she would be as strong as a knight of this mansion. Then she had to repeat the process a bunch of times to reach the ideal body. That would take years.

So this was still better. And this time she intended to go even further beyond. The Hero last time was seriously scary.

As the flows of mana had become automatic she could leave them be until they were done.

She needed to stay in this place to keep connecting to the world mana though.

She looked at the sky. There were some emotions inside her that she wasn't used to. Perhaps it was the human flesh that made her feel this way.

She was longing for the Hero.

Was it hate? Was it resentment for an enemy? Could it be something else? She didn't know. But the image of the Hero was already engraved in her soul. She couldn't stop thinking about him. She had noticed how she kept comparing everything to him after he pierced her heart with the divine sword.

She bore a sad face. Not the mask she showed the others but the real her.

He wasn't the first Hero to fight her. There were thirty-two more before him.

But he was different. He was a local-born Hero while all the others were summoned. The burden they all bore was the same but the determination in him was on another scale. His will was as hard as Hell’s bedrock.

All the summoned Heroes were weak-willed, childish, selfish, and filled with lust more than justice. It was like they were following the script of the same story somehow. Did they learn how to Hero in school or something?

Speaking of school. I recalled Elena was fourteen and would need to attend the academy next year.

As the Demon King, she hadn't gone to any kind of school so this would be a new experience for her. It made her a bit excited.

Elena left her unknown feeling in the corner of her mind and returned to watch the scenery.

"Milady, lunch is ready."

There was a knock on the door and a male servant's voice was heard. She had been zoning out for too long.

"Bring it here. I want to stay in this place for a while longer."

The servant didn't take much time before pushing a cart through the door. He arranged the food on the table neatly and bowed to her before stepping back.

"You can-"

Elena wasn't able to finish her sentence. Blood spurted out from her neck ruining all the good food.

The male servant stood right behind her with one hand holding her chin up and the other hand holding a dagger cutting deep through her neck. He was clearly intending to take her head with him.

But the assassin stopped suddenly and dropped down on the spot. He wasn't dead.

Elena still sat with her back straight on the chair like nothing had happened. The assassin looked at her in horror. His body couldn't move, even his eyes. Because she was staring at him while her body was facing another direction. Her head was flopped back due to all of her neck being nearly sliced off.

She slowly stood up. Holding her head with two hands she refitted it to its true position. With a sweep of her hand around her own neck, the cut was gone.

"I must say I wasn't expecting that at all. Being killed in my own home."

She picked him up and yanked him out of the flexible dark red spike from the floor that pierced through him from the shin up.

"Although I want to interrogate you, I don't think I have time."

She took his dagger and casually stabbed him a few times in the head before casting a camouflage spell over his corpse.

She aimed at an alley in the slum and tossed him over there with a telekinesis spell.

With that done, she looked back at the table and her clothes.

"What a nuisance!"

---

End of chapter 1