Princess of Lewderation

A courier swiftly breezed through the air on his illusory wings.

Drops of sweat were starting to form on his forehead as his breathing quickened.

That didn’t deter him. He made his way through mountains and valleys for days on end until he finally reached the Golden Capital, port-capital in the western part of the empire of Kreya.

He landed on the huge main palace’s shining exterior, his mana reserves almost completely dry.

Once he barged in, he immediately turned his attention towards one of the unoccupied noblemen and promptly bowed as a portal opened next to him, from which another guy emerged.

“Primary Main Gate, Tartaria, 20 kilometers from the Free City of Farenstrind!” the courier spoke.

“Confirmed.” His friend nodded.

Everyone around them stopped what they were doing, and the room quieted down quickly.

The stunned nobleman in front of them took a few seconds before finding the words to speak.

“Alert the Emperor King!”

Three heavily armored knights pushed through the crowd and hurried towards one of the many docked flying zeppelins, boarding it along with many Rangers and mages of all sorts.

The zeppelins flew much faster than any courier, powered by teams of mages.

By the time they arrived, the city of Farenstrind was almost fully destroyed, with many demons rushing back and forth between it and a huge gate, which had outlined itself.

It depicted a shimmering image in the middle, with demons of all sizes running and lining up to enter the human lands as more and more hordes kept pouring through.

Human fighters dropped from the zeppelins before the vessels had even landed. One of the Paladins shook the ground upon landing, immediately squashing multiple demons around him.

Rangers and other mages also followed, cutting down those trying to escape and providing suppressive fire and support.

They contained some of the creatures in jars and slew others, causing the dead ones to disintegrate on the ground.

It didn’t take much effort for the strong human fighters to push the demons back towards the gate, allowing the zeppelins to land on the grassy terrain.

The humans swiftly set up a perimeter around the portal, where strongholds and fortifications would be built, while some of them were assigned to check for survivors in the city.

Through the image, many of the demons were pointing at the humans, laughing and taunting them, even though they had also stopped rushing out through the gate.

As a Primary Main gate, this was one of the invasion’s most dangerous and highest-capacity portals.

The invasions came in ten-year cycles, with no more than five Primary Main gates opening during each one.

Meanwhile, somewhere out of sight, far from the Primary Main gate, two weak demons were running through a forest.

The forests in the Pit weren’t like the green and lush ones in the human lands. Instead, they had dry-looking trees with spider-silk-like membranes instead of leaves.

The ground was also dry and hot, as was most of the place, and there often were random atmospheric events which varied from mild to threatening.

The two demons, Brendt (0) and Lyennve (0), kept running through one of the forests.

Brendt was visibly panting, his lean, red-skinned chest heaving as he was trying to catch his breath while also holding a metallic gloveless glove and his daughter’s hand.

She wasn’t as fast as him, but unlike him, she wasn’t tired from all the running they had done.

“One last push, come on. They should have been deceived by the illusions already,” Brendt spoke, hyping himself up to keep running.

“Dad, we—we can slow down if you need to,” Lyennve also spoke.

She was hidden by a hood, but a few things remained noticeable, like the fact that she had a violet tail.

This was uncommon for civitas demons like the two of them.

Of course, both of them knew that she wasn’t a regular mage but instead a special class mage.

Lyenn was a naturally born Succubus.

Special classes could dye the user or even morph their bodies, as a Succubus did.

Her purple-pink gaze shifted under the hood, scanning the surroundings as she kept moving.

There wasn’t anything here she hadn’t seen before, either in her childhood or teens, and they were in a rush, so she didn’t linger on it.

“No need,” Brendt replied, ducking under a tree branch.

Because she was shorter than Brendt, she didn’t need to and kept running forward.

As they ran, they saw a small clearing up ahead.

There, just after the clearing, was another forest, and at the tree line in front of them, a figure (0) was waiting for them.

It was another demon just like them.

However, unlike Brendt, the other demon looked fearsome.

Brendt stopped and turned to his daughter, a saddened smile enveloping his face as his eyes trembled.

There was a strange gentleness to him that one could feel just by looking at his face.

It made even the small spikes on his shoulders and neck look harmless.

He lifted her hand and put the gloveless glove on it, along with a pouch of stones.

“Do you remember your uncle? Right there,” he spoke, visibly trying to contain his tears.

Lyennve nodded.

Her face wasn’t visible under the cloak, but Brendt knew how she was feeling.

“I love you so much. And I know your mother does too. Once you’re there, be careful and stick with your uncle, Trenunoc, as he knows these lands.”

“… Come with us too—you can come and hide!” she said, her voice trembling as well.

But Brendt shook his head.

“I’m a useless level 0, Lyenn. I’d only slow Trenunoc down if he had to carry me. He should only have to focus on getting you through and not protecting both of us. And if I’m killed in Gernilla, you’ll be revealed too. This is out of the question.”

Lyenn stood motionless and looked at him.

Brendt leaned in and hugged her, now unable to stop his eyes from watering.

“… Remember how you said that you are a scary demon who eats babies like the other ones? Now you can try it out.” He stroked the back of her head as his voice cracked.

Lyennve held the hug, but Brendt pushed her shoulders.

“Give me permission to issue one command to Flour Oil and Cream.”

Lyennve showed him the gloveless glove.

As he touched it, Brendt channeled some mana into the artifact.

The short, cloaked female figure in front of him morphed into a tall and ordinary-looking male demon, with nothing in particular drawing attention.

“Now go, my daughter. Sneak away into the human lands. Out of sight.”

“… I love you too. Dad, I will make every demon capable of love, and we won’t have to hide anymore!” she spoke while sniffling through tears.

Brendt kissed her forehead and wiped his eyes with a hand.

Lyenn turned around and ran towards her uncle.

Once she turned around to look at Brendt, he was already running away.

This saddened her even more; she couldn’t even wave at him again. However, the illusion around her showed nothing of the sort.

She met up with Trenunoc, wiping her eyes while looking upon his figure as he greeted her.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Trenunoc was very tall, much taller than an average human, with skin as dark as night and glowing, sharp, white eyes. There were two blades on his elbows, seemingly protruding from them, as well as spikes on the back of his head. His wiry upper body almost appeared like it was made out of flesh and blood, but its straw-like texture made it unsettling.

The demon’s incandescent lower body was instead a tornado of mist, which sometimes briefly shifted into two running, ghostly legs before transforming back.

The two ran through the woods until they reached another clearing.

From this one, many gates and demons could be seen in the distance.

They weren’t spotted, as the two were at a vantage point.

The better visibility over the area allowed Trenunoc to plan a path ahead before they started sneaking.

“We need to find any gate around Kreya,” he said, his mouth opening and then disappearing completely as if it weren’t there.

Lyennve didn’t utter a word and only nodded, following along.

They made their way through, with Trenunoc occasionally having to choke out some random demons so they wouldn’t be revealed.

All of the demons around seemed much weaker than he was.

It was better to only leave them unconscious because any sentry mages might be able to sense if a demon had died or if there was blood around.

Unlike Brendt, he had an easy time handling even the mages.

There were many small gates around, depicting pictures of various places, either roads or lush greenery.

Lyenn found them all really beautiful, yet they kept moving past them every time, so she only enjoyed the views briefly.

She really wanted to take Brendt so he could see the views too; alas, he had vehemently refused and didn’t let her argue.

Even though most demons didn’t appreciate nature, Lyenn did.

She had always wondered what it was like sitting on the green grass she was told about, or feeling a wind sweep through while soaking her feet in a lake without fear of the fish there.

There was wind in the Pit, as well as lakes, but the surrounding ambiance and environment weren’t much to look at in her opinion, with the surroundings mostly being dry trees, rocks, and dry ground.

The fish were also man-eating.

Although every creature there could eat the dirt as its primary food source, many had various preferences and extra food sources and wouldn’t stop themselves from eating other things either.

The two quickened their pace, as the trail of unconscious demons Trenunoc was leaving behind was sure to be noticed by stronger ones soon, despite him trying to hide them.

As Lyenn was way slower than him, he had to drag her around by the back of the neck or the hand, with her body swaying behind him from the wind.

They kept sneaking around, portal to portal, but he couldn’t find one with the coordinates they were looking for.

And the groups of demons were getting denser, making the path more crowded, as if they were aware of their presence.

With no point in being quiet anymore, Trenunoc rushed at full speed while holding his niece.

There wasn’t any time to linger about.

He had to get through a gate, or they would both be captured once stronger mages arrived.

All of the demons were preoccupied with the start of the invasion; that was why they hadn’t encountered anyone more significant.

After running for a few minutes, Trenunoc suddenly spotted something in the distance.

A suitable one.

It was a small gate, but it could accommodate both of them, and it showed a moving picture of a forest.

The gate was in a very open area, and they had already been spotted.

Trenunoc rushed forward. Only one straight stretch of ground separated them from Gernilla, the human continent.

Even if someone followed, they wouldn’t be of any significant strength.

And he estimated that they wouldn’t do so, so as not to strain the gate needlessly.

As he rushed, many demons intercepted him, but they were all struck down by his blades.

None of them seemed to have noticed Lyenn’s true identity beneath the disguise, as they kept trying to obstruct them however they could.

The gate was only a short distance away when they heard something enormous hurtling towards them.

Trenunoc twisted aside while gripping Lyennve before a massive weapon struck the earth between them and the portal with a deafening crash, splitting the ground and throwing red dirt into the air.

Then, all the surrounding demons who were previously interfering began backing away and forming a clearing.

Trenunoc quickly turned around as deep laughter resounded across the clearing.

At the end of the clearing, a huge, fat figure (0) lumbered into view, each step thudding against the ground.

“Bwahaha! Nightmare! Are you forgetting something?!” the demon shouted, making the ears of those around him ring with his loud voice.