baraquiel

Avalia

---

TIME: Morning
LOCATION: Roshmi City
INTERACTIONS: Ayita @13org, Cadence @Helo

---

Sakura looked at how Ayita was acting like an excitedly oversized child. It was a wonder for the demoness on how the human wasn't even fazed about Aklenroth's announcement last night about hunting her kind. She should be terrified right now, hiding in the shadows and survive on insects and rats until their timely death, but here she was in plain sight and in one of the most populous cities of Avalia. Sakura even remembered about the two of her companions being so easily trusting to other people. Cade should definitely know Sakura was a demon and not all demons were to be trusted, yet he just hugged her yesterday and was even genuinely happy about having her on their side.

Suddenly, this world didn't make sense to Sakura anymore.

However, she was glad about seeing the familiar chaos of Roshmi City once again. "I have been here before, but I believe I hadn't explored the wholeness of this city yet," Sakura admitted to Cade. It was the truth: the only times Sakura had ever been here was when she was tasked by Aklenroth to assassinate someone, and she only did those as quickly and quietly as she could so this was her first time going to the city as a tourist.

Even with her umbrella opened to protect herself from the sun, she could see a handful of people throwing side-glances at her. There were lots of different kinds of races that come and go to this city, all of them have their own stories to tell from the unique adventures and types of lifestyles that they have. Sakura has yet to know what kind of secrets this bustling city had to offer.

"A weapon merchant's store? How barbaric, Cade. Everybody knows spells and hexes are far more superior than swords and whatever," Sakura scoffed with a smirk as she teased the demihuman while they walk. They said you'll get to know a person more once you know what makes them tick, and Sakura was very interested in how the large, burly cat and the strange, naive human will react to being angered. Finally, this day just got better for the demoness.

---

TIME: Morning
LOCATION: All over Avalia

---

Sakura's shades were scattered all over Avalia, each of them tasked on seeking a human and keeping an eye on them. The hard part was they were easily eradicated by light, especially sunlight, so some of them have no choice but to seek out shelter in the shadows. Thankfully, no one could ever see them unless that person was adept was sensing magic as these shikigami have a portion of Sakura's life energy inside them. They could go all night but they can't really do much in the morning. So they hid in dark corners and alleyways, sewages and even empty caves, waiting for the sun to return to its peaceful slumber again.

---

TIME: Morning
LOCATION: Sakura's house, somewhere in Daka Island

---

Click...
Click...
Click...

THE OUSAMA GAME | a Short-Term Horror

Risa was still sitting down on the ground, clutching the finger where she plucked her nail from to let the pain subside from even a little. On second thought, she really would've just used the nail on her coffin as an alternative for the King's order, but she was still unsure about everything that's going on that she decided to play it safe. Since this game was all about pain and suffering, she might as well go with the flow to win. However, it might not be that worth it when all her limbs were cut off so she had to think of a way to outsmart the King. Risa also observed the looks on everyone's faces when she acted and pried her nail off. From her perspective, it seemed that they did believe her to be nothing but a weak-hearted little girl, which meant everything was going to plan.

No matter how much fun Risa was having, her focus was still blurry from the pain brought by her finger. She saw something land next to her and realize it was a necktie. She looked up to the blond who motioned her to use it as a bandage, at which Risa replied with a grateful smile and nod. The blood stained through her red coat and she replaced it with Seven's necktie. Was this an alliance brewing or did he just feel pity for her? In any case, it definitely got her blushing a bit.

What she didn't realize was how One was so calm and collected throughout the entire process. Was she giving out an act like what Risa was doing? It definitely worked, and Risa thought of One as one bad-ass girl. Risa can't help but be excited to hear out how One will cry out in pain and agony as the game continued.

She turned her attention to Four, and Risa thought: Oh yay, looks like we have another scaredy-cat in our midst; of course, she didn't say that out loud. Then again, she doesn't blame him. Some of her 'playmates' back at her mansion were just like him: desperately trying to think of a way out, only to be met with the most excruciating way to die brought upon them by yours truly. Whoever's giving out these orders were definitely human, which meant they were kill-able.

What Seven said could also be true. If there was someone upstairs, no way would they be unarmed in any way. She looked up at the ceiling. It looked like it was so rundown and would collapse at anytime, but that might happen in a few years or so. Time was not something the group had.

She heard Seven sharing the idea of unlocking one of the doors using the key he had, which was quite questionable. "I-I want to go explore too", Risa said as she stood up and followed Seven. While he was walking towards the door, a girl with long black hair spoke up, suggesting that we try not to follow an order and that the punishment was just a bluff. Another interesting thought, but Risa didn't want to go beyond the line. After all, that's why she chose to pry her own nail off instead of getting the one on her coffin. She couldn't risk agitating the King and ordering her to take all of her fingernails out. However fun that may sound, the pain was still not worth it.

Just as Seven was inserting the key into the hole, the familiar sound of the dumbwaiter could be heard, descending from the second floor as it brought about another set of orders. The girl who spoke up was the one who approached the dumbwaiter to read the orders. Hope drained from her face while she was reading the card before she held it for everyone to see. Risa approached the girl and read the card aloud for everyone:

"Player #3, rip out all of Player #4's eyelashes. Player #6, consume the blood, tooth, nail, and lashes."

Risa's eyes lowered to look at the girl's bloodied hand and gasped, looking at her with pity. On the inside, she was bursting with laughter.

Avalia

---

TIME: Morning
LOCATION: Roshmi City
INTERACTIONS: Ayita @13org, Cadence @Helo

---

Week Summary

Sakura never really had any solid experience with talking to people. A demon's vocabulary was limited and always ranged around words 'kill', 'die', and 'death', while the dark elves were always lurking in the shadows and spoke so mysteriously that Sakura couldn't make heads or tails of what the heck they were talking about. So to have actual people with decent speaking skills to talk to were kind of surprising to the demoness, and she was even more surprised upon finding out she was enjoying her time with them. Not to mention that time when Cade hugged her. Sakura only heard of hugging in books but she never experienced it in real life until that moment. His fur was so soft, and she could actually feel his firm muscles underneath that soft fur of his. As the trio continued their adventure, Sakura would often times need to mentally stop herself from reaching out to feel Cade's fur again.

She always hated demihumans and light elves but due to that experience of Cade hugging Sakura, she couldn't wait for all of this to be finally over so she can bring Cade home to Daka Island as her personal pet.

In their journey to the forest, Ayita spoke of the world she came from where Sakura and Cade listened with utmost interest (moreso for Sakura as any information she will get was vital for her mission), and Cade relayed some of his knowledge about heroism and the various legends of Avalia. Sakura didn't really have any interesting things to share so she decided on teaching Ayita about how magic works in Avalia instead. Sakura was debating whether or not to teach Ayita how to use her magic, but she figured she had to for the sake of her mission. As time flied by, the trio continued their journey until they've reached Roshmi City. Things will only get more exciting from here.

---

Present

"Cade is right, Ayita. While the huge population of Roshmi City might look a bit scary, most if not all people will not care about what you do, what you are, and what you look like as long as it doesn't concern them," Sakura said as she and Cade help Ayita in putting on the fake elf ears against her human ones.

Sakura herself had also been to Roshmi City several times for her missions, either for intel gathering or for assassinations. She loved the diversity of the city, and it was always nice to have a nice change of scenery aside from the usual 'hellish fire and chaotic darkness' she always saw back at Daka Island. Though her hatred for elves and demihumans still ran deep, she couldn't help but be impressed in how they do things and how they lived their lives all this time, especially in how they delved into magic. Sakura always made sure to pick up a thing or two from the elves so she can also use it in casting her spells.

She smirked upon hearing Cade calling her 'she who faced down the dracolich'. "Ayita, you worry too much. Not all elves look as white as snow, though I'm not so certain if they discriminate against elves who're darker skinned...", Sakura said. She couldn't say the same about demons when one discriminated her when she doesn't look demonic enough. Sakura was kind enough to give that demon a swift and painless death.

The demoness finally sighed. "If you're concerned about fitting it, I can use a disguising spell on you to make you look and feel like an elf, though I would need a body part of an actual elf for that. Since we don't have that, we need to work with what we have." Sakura looked around and spotted a bush of blue berries. She gathered a couple and crushed them against a stone, then wiped their juices off the stone using her hands. As Sakura drew a magic symbol on Ayita's forehead using the crushed berries' juices, she chanted:

"We fear the light that bears all
Unveil our masks where pain befall
Fool the eyes that see within
Hide the truth from those not kin."

As Sakura finished her chanting and drawing of the symbol, it shined once into a pink light then turned back to its bluish color as a shimmery veil surrounded Ayita. "All done. To me and Cade, you look just like yourself. From the perspective of others, you look like a very normal light-skinned elf without the symbol on your forehead. Most magically inclined elves will notice the presence of my magic surrounding you but don't be afraid, magic is as natural as breathing for elves. Just don't wipe or wash that symbol off as it will undo my spell. I hope I helped end your doubts, Ayita the Elf," Sakura told Ayita with a reassuring smile.

THE OUSAMA GAME | a Short-Term Horror

Risa was just sitting back on her closed coffin as she watched from the sidelines. She wanted to know what kind of people she was with, and how they cope in stressful situations. She definitely keeping an eye out for the tall blond, but her attention was caught by more people emerging from their coffins. Her eyes lingered longer on the last one but it didn't open, making her think if the person in it was dead or was just too much of a scaredy cat to go out of its litter box.

Just then, she heard a creaking sound like the rest. It was a dumbwaiter that descended from the upper level, revealing two cards and shards of glass. The black-haired guy read the cards out loud. Basically, all they had to do was kill the King and rest will survive; the opposite will happen when only the King was left standing.

Risa's face stayed emotionless, but she was brimming with excitement on the inside. She has never even heard of this type of game before, but it gave her the impression that this was a psychological game as well, because all they needed to do to win was to find out the King.

Then the guy read the message on the other card, stating that either #2 or #7 should cut or bleed. A couple of moments passed and the blond guy walked past them with a grim look on his face. Risa managed to see the number on his hand - #7 - before he opened the coffin and began to cut what seemed to be #2. Two seemed to be so surprised and horrified by what just happened, it made him look like a confused puppy. Risa resisted the urge to laugh and sneer at him.

She turned her sights back at Seven, and her admiration of him grew tenfold. Risa bit her lip. She cannot wait until she can play with him and hear him scream.

Upon the completion of the order, they all heard the familiar sound of the dumbwaiter lowering again, only this time it sounded smoother than before. Seven walked to it and read the cards as he also said there was a nasty pair of pliers inside. Risa finally stood up and approached the dumbwaiter to read the message herself. Her lips quivered as she nervously raised her hand back to the group, revealing to them the #5 on her hand. With her other hand, she picked up the rusty pliers and looked up at the tall blond.

"I-I want to get this over with. I'm s-so scared, but... I wanna live", Risa said to Seven as she looked at him with sad, puppy eyes. She looked back down on the pliers on her hand and decided to remove the nail on her pinky on her non-dominant hand. Risa thought of outsmarting the King to remove the nail on her coffin instead, but where's the fun in that?

Risa removed her red coat and folded it before she bit on it. She knelt to the ground and stepped on her pinky finger to keep it from moving. She clasped the nail with the pliers and, taking deep breaths, channeled all her might into removing the nail. She filled the mansion with her muffled screams as tears started to fall from her eyes due to the pain. She bit down very hard on her coat so it would at least pacify the pain.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity of pain, the nail finally got off. She felt like she stuck her finger into a fire from all that pain she's experiencing. She tossed the pliers away from her in fright as she cradled her bloodied finger, still kneeling on the ground in pain and shock. She didn't realize she tossed the pliers in the direction of #1.

Beneath all that pain though, was Risa having the most fun she had in years.

THE OUSAMA GAME | a Short-Term Horror

A girl awoke because of the muffled voices she heard. It took her a second before she felt her whole body completely in pain, most particularly on her head and on her hand. She couldn't remember anything that happened prior to her being in pain and in a very dark and creepy place, but it was not remembering that sent her into panic mode. She listed out all the important information about her in her head just to be sure: her name was Risa Watanabe, 20 years old, and a student at a prestigious university. She was left at an orphanage at a very young age and was soon adopted by a filthy rich couple who couldn't have a child of their own.

Risa breathed out a sigh of relief. At least she remembered all the important things about her.

It was then that she started assessing the situation. It looked like she was in a foul-smelling box and right in front of her was the stuff of children's nightmares. It's a head of a play doll with its hair tied on the nail. Its eye sockets were hollow and its chin even looked like it was burned. It had a paperclip stuck on its mouth that said 'It's time for the naughty girl to play a different game.'

Risa's eyes widened. As far as she knew, no one but her and her 'playmates' knew her secret. She even made sure to never let her playmates tell her secret to anyone. Well, not that some of them can anyways. She wondered if its their headservant, her personal bodyguard, or even the new maid that knew it. If she ever got out of whatever situation Risa was right now, she will surely find whoever knew her secret.

She lifted her hand to try to push against the cover of the box when she realized why her hand was hurting so much. Someone carved the number 5 on her hand and it still looked fresh, judging from the amount of blood dripping on it. From the doll's head to her whole body aching, Risa groaned softly not only from pain but from excitement as well; it looked like the person who did this to her really knew how to push the right buttons. It only made her determined to meet that person and make them her next 'playmate'.

She felt a little weak because of the pain but she slowly and surely pushed through the covers of the box, supporting herself as she stood up and stepped out of it. Her hunch was right: it was a coffin, though it looked poorly made for her taste. She still couldn't walk that far but thankfully, she didn't have to. She was standing in a dimly lit foyer with a bunch of other people inside yet another poorly made mansion. Heck, it wasn't a mansion, it was termites holding hands. She could hear the rain and thunder outside the mansion yet she couldn't see outside since all the windows were barred. She saw some words on the wall that looked like were written in blood, stating the rules to a game.

"King? Orders? Punishment? Wha- Is this some kind of sick joke?", Risa exclaimed. She made it look like she was angry and horrified, but she was actually feeling very excited.

Risa turned her attention back to the people with her: a black haired guy, a long-haired girl, and a tall blond man. She thought the black haired guy was super cute, but the blond guy was a total hunk in her eyes. She also noticed three more closed coffins next to them. If the four of them got out of coffins, surely there were still others inside them who're still unconscious or maybe they're just already dead.

She bent down to close her coffin so she could sit on it, letting her ease up the pain she's feeling even for just a bit. "Ugh, my whole body's in pain. Why is my whole body in pain?", Risa said as she eventually laid on top of her coffin while trying to think of ways to escape. As much as she loved playing games, Risa was getting the feeling she wasn't going to love this.

Avalia

---

TIME: Morning
LOCATION: Forest near the Sun Elf Kingdom
INTERACTIONS: Ayita @13org, Cadence @Helo, Soruklithbaal @Alivefalling

---

Sakura giggled like an excited little girl as she ran away from Soruklithbaal with the human and demihuman. She feared that the dracolich would destroy her cloud shikigami since its only purposes were to distract the dragon and to keep the forest from being burned more, but she was glad it was just as distracted as she hoped it would be. She didn't know if the dracolich was smarter than what Sakura originally thought or if he was really that distracted by her shikigami. Whichever it was, it was sure helping her plan a lot.

She glanced back as her shikigami continued to do its job, so much that she could only see glimpses of the dracolich's bony body and wings. She also knew her father the Lich King can see everything through Soruklithbaal's eyes. 'Sorry big guy, sorry father, but a demon's got to do what a demon's got to do', Sakura slyly thought to herself.

As their trio ran, Sakura took notice on the human's movement. Were humans supposed to be this fast? Even the demihuman seemed to be having difficulty catching up to her. Sakura was also surprised to find out who fast the human was; she had to infuse her umbrella with her own magic and rode it just to keep up with the two.

Upon further concentrating, Sakura could sense the faintest essence of magic emanating from the dark-skinned female. Sakura's knowledge about humans was limited, but at least she knew they're the weakest race of all. Judging from the small amount of magic the human was using, it seemed like the human didn't even realize she was using her magic in the first place. Does that mean all the other humans who arrived in Avalia can also learn magic?

Sakura smiled. The demoness was always keen to acquire new knowledge. She couldn't wait to get one back home to Daka Island to... study them. For now however, she had to continue on with her mission.

Their group ran as far away from Soruklithbaal as possible, then she motioned to the two to stop. "We have been fleeing for quite a while now. I suggest we take this moment to stop and rest," Sakura said to the two of them. They could still the dracolich's roars from afar, but Sakura hoped the big dumb dragon would understand her plans and leave them alone for now. She got off her umbrella and absorbed the magic from it to regain her life force back. "So, the rumors are true then: humans have arrived in Avalia. I expected more but I never knew humans would look so... basic," Sakura said as she approached the human.

Then she stopped herself and laughed. "Oh dear, where are my manners?". The demoness held her skirt and curtsied in front of the two. "Greetings, you may call me Sakura. It is such a pleasure meeting the both of you", Sakura said as she gave the two her serene and bright smile.

THE OUSAMA GAME | a Short-Term Horror

#5

Name:
Risa Watanabe

Age:
21

Gender:
Female

Appearance:
Risa has long black hair, very fair skin, and reddish pink eyes. She is of average height, and she always likes to look presentable and wear pretty clothes whenever given the chance. She might seem ditzy or naive because of how she acts and speaks cutely, but deep beneath her cheerful exterior lies a girl full of malice. Her true nature will come up in certain situations but she really likes to act all girly as much as she can because she believes 'not acting girl enough' makes her less as pretty.

To the observer, Risa even looks like a character of purity and calmness as he always likes to look and feel clean. He's more of a silent type, though he won't hesitate to have conversations with other people so he could invite them to appear in his web show. He likes to think of himself as simple-looking though he did have a few admirers in the past. He doesn't like conflict that much as he prefers it if any misunderstanding can be cleared up with a simple talk, but that doesn't mean he can't defend himself.

Personality Traits:
Cheerful | People-Person | Sharp-Witted | Cunning | Sadist | Manipulative

Relevant Info:
She was left at an orphanage when she was just a baby. None of the nuns running the orphanage knew who they were and why they left her there, but the nuns gave Risa a necklace that they found on her. It had a gold chain and a blood-red oval crystal surrounded by a golden circlet. She held on to it after all these years as she misses them dearly every passing day. She couldn't wait until they could be one whole happy family again and show them just how much she missed them.

D A R K - S E C R E T:

Hider

Ever since growing up, Risa had always been different. She liked to play with dolls a lot but she took glee when she'd rip them apart piece by piece. That wasn't enough for her, and soon she moved on to small animals like birds and frogs. She would even rip apart a cat too, just to see what it looked like on the inside and how it would react. For some reason, Risa liked hearing their cries of pain but the problem was they die too soon.

The nuns at the orphanage began to worry about Risa's well-being and she just kept getting returned because her adoptive parents would always be horrified of her. Things turned worse when she stabbed another child with a dull pencil over and over again. The fear in their eyes, the pain in their voice, Risa thought of what she was doing as art. It was the nuns' turn to be horrified and they sent her to a mental hospital, in hopes that they would rehabilitate her and 'save her soul from damnation'.

After a long time, Risa finally came out of rehab as the sweetest and most cheerful girl you'd see. She was soon adopted by a very wealthy couple who didn't care about her medical background at all. They gave her everything she wanted growing up, including her own money to spend with whatever she wished. Mommy and daddy were always out on business trips, so they didn't know their little angel had her secret 'playroom' within their huge mansion, where all kinds of torture devices were there. None of their maids and bodyguards knew of her dirty little secret. But when they do, that's when Risa will have the chance to find a new playmate.

Avalia

---

TIME: Morning
LOCATION: Forest near the Sun Elf Kingdom
INTERACTIONS: Ayita @13org, Cadence @Helo, Soruklithbaal @Alivefalling

---

All the passengers of the Amora heard that familiar roar. They all rushed outside to the balcony of the Amora and there they saw Soruklithbaal the great dracolich, burning a portion of forest to ashes. They all cheered and hollered for it, as they knew no one could withstand its might and power.

"Oh dear, looks like I'm late to the party," Sakura said as she watched the dracolich unleash another torrent of flames. To the other demons and dark elves, it might seem that the dracolich was merely causing chaos and destruction, but the demoness knew that it had already found its target. While the situation did put a dent on Sakura's plans, it was nothing major from the demoness's perspective. She should simply just, as aquatic demihumans would say, 'go with the flow'.

While the others were too busy gawking in awe at Soruklithbaal, Sakura separated herself from the crowd, opened her umbrella, and flew upwards to the sky. She yelped in pain as the sun's rays touched her skin, but she withstood it and continued flying straight through and inside a huge mass of clouds. Within it, she held a blank talisman and chanted.

"From the skies of order and seas of strife
I the rule breaker, defiler of rife
Reveal the fatal flaw
My word forever law
Seek the insentient and grant them life"

As she chanted, she could feel a portion of her life energy flowing out of her body and pouring unto the blank talisman. She knew the shikigami she would be summoning would take much more of her energy than her past creations; hopefully, it would get its job done as quickly as it can before it continued to drain more of her life energy. The talisman now bore pink markings on it and it hummed with energy. "Come to me, fulfill your duty!," Sakura said. The cloud began swirling around her, gradually picking up the pace and protecting her from the sun.

The demons and dark elves noticed what was happening and were looking suspiciously at the swirling clouds, with some of them even drawing out their menacing weapons. Sakura only smiled and giggled as she controlled her new shikigami and made it fly straight towards the direction of Soruklithbaal.

It will look just like any other cloud for some people, but upon further observation, they will notice it had a talisman on its head, signifying that it was a shikigami, a creature brought to life by the magic of Sakura. It flew at high speeds until it crash-landed on the forest, dispersing its cloud body and killing the fires brought by the dracolich with its cold air and water vapor. Then it swirled around the dracolich to confuse it and block its sights.

"Hello", Sakura said behind the demihuman and its dark-skinned female human companion. Looked like her intel was true; just by sensing the forest, Sakura could tell the pair was alone. And for the pair, it might look like Sakura just appeared behind them out of nowhere, but the demoness actually just jumped in time as the cloud landed and she ran behind the pair. "While thinking about attacking the lich king's dracolich seems brave but moreso idiotic, I would like to offer you a choice instead: either we should run away as quickly as possible while it is still distracted, or you choose to stay and become Soruklithbaal's breakfast. What say you?"

Avalia

---

TIME: Late Morning
LOCATION: From Daka Island, en route to Sun Elf Kingdom
INTERACTIONS: None

---

Sakura thought of creating her own flying shikigami to ride so she could go to the Sun Elf Kingdom, but she figured riding an Amora would be much faster and would take less effort. As she walked towards the Amora and towards her seat, the demons and dark elves bowed their heads in respect to her. She sure did look very out of place: while the demons and dark elves were rough and dark-looking with their growling and menacing faces and rowdy behavior, Sakura was their total opposite. With her seimei umbrella opened, she walked with grace and a smile on her face, nodding her head back towards the demons and dark elves that showed respect to her.

However, a demon was having none of it. He stood in front of Sakura, crossing his arms as he blocked her way. He was about seven feet tall, with red skin and eyes, black horns and a long reptilian tail. When he sneered, it showed his rows upon rows of yellow razor-sharp teeth, and he looked at Sakura with seer loathing in his black eyes.

"Excuse me," Sakura politely said. When the red demon didn't budge, she tried to walk to his side but the demon quickly blocked her again.

"Walking up here like you own the place," the red demon said. "Why in the hell should we respect a pipsqueak demon like you? Ha! As if you even consider yourself to be a demon!". He bent down to get near Sakura's face in a menacing way, but the demoness just kept looking forward with a smile on her face. "You're a good-for-nothing woman, a mere spoiled brat. Why don't you go back to your precious daddy? This is no place for a little gir-"

Before the red demon finished his sentence, Sakura closed her umbrella, infusing it with her power, and quickly slashed upwards before walking past the demon. He stood in place for a few seconds before his head fell to the ground, his black blood gushing out from his severed neck. The other demons and dark elves only looked on in fear and awe but felt no remorse for the red demon; only a fool would anger Aklenroth's daughter.

Soon, Sakura was riding the Amora along with other demons and dark elves all the way to the Sun Elf Kingdom. According to her intel, Soruklithbaal should be flying towards the Sun Elf Kingdom, where a pair of human and demihuman was. If she were to become successful in fulfilling her mission, she should be there just in time to intervene with the Dracolich's hunting.

Sakura rubbed the area on her arm where Aklenroth painlessly burned a rune on her. She needed a reminder that, even though she was alone, she could always have someone to call to in times of need. It gave her a sense of relief and security, and she has never been prouder of being the lich king's daughter. Although, the seeds of doubts began to grew within her because of what she just found. Part of her didn't want to believe Aklenroth did that to protect her from the pain she will feel upon discovering the truth.

She shook her head. Whatever it was, she was sure her father had a very good reason on hiding the truth from her. She trusted his judgement ever since, and it will do her no good if she started having doubts about her loyalty to him.

The demoness was reminded of it when she saw the image of Aklenroth on the sky at dawn a while ago, hearing his voice in her head. She was afraid at first of being seen, but the undead king made no remarks of knowing about Sakura's whereabouts. For all he knew, she was already en route to 'playing nice' with the humans which was her main mission. As her father's image on the sky disappeared, she pondered. Since his forces were already on the lookout for these humans and since he gave out a bounty to whoever would turn a human in, she was sure no human would ever be safe on Avalia unless they were protected by those who oppose him.

She looked at the earth beneath her. The glasses of the Amora were made to block out the harsh sunlight, the bane of demons, while still being to show the environment outside perfectly. The landscapes gradually changed from the black charred lands of Daka Island to more and more greens of growing plantlife as the Amora journeyed away from the land of demons. Her face didn't show it, but she was brimming with excitement from having the chance to meet an actual human.

Sakura giggled. Her playground seemed to be growing bigger and bigger.

Avalia

---

TIME: Break of dawn (earlier today)
LOCATION: Somewhere in Daka Island
INTERACTIONS: None

---

Somewhere in Daka Island, Sakura stood standing against the edge of a portion a forest. Given that all the forests within the island were considerably dark, this was the only one that's heavily shrouded by fog. Usually one could hear the chirp of demonic birds or at least the screeches of a howling owl, but the forest got quieter the more she got closer to the fog. Just by bringing her hand against it, she could tell it was made with magic. She pointed her umbrella towards the fog, where a pink blot of energy formed at its tip. She waved her umbrella against the fog to disperse it, only for the fog to materialize again. She tried to use her shikigami to go through the fog so she could see it on the inside, but it's as if the fog got even thicker around the shikigami, making it more confused as it forced the creature to run back towards Sakura.

The demoness's usual friendly smile was replaced with an annoyed frown. She couldn't believe Aklenroth didn't tell anything about this place to her. Being raised under the wings of the king, she knew the fog was of her father's doing. What could he be hiding behind the fog that he wouldn't want anyone to know, even including his daughter?

She was risking so much just by being in this place. It took her decades upon decades of going behind her father's back to do her own digging. She wanted to know about her old clan, her own kindred, but she couldn't find anything through the castle's expansive library. Sakura didn't want to risk about having Aklenroth knowing about her wanting to investigate her past so asking any demon and dark elf was out of the question. She couldn't help but feel like she's literally stumbling through the dark with no clear direction at all.

Now that she felt she was so close on uncovering the truth, she couldn't back down now. On the other hand, she literally disappeared from Aklenroth's sights; she even ditched that demon general O'Ner. She's risking so much just so she could be here and she felt so angry that the only thing keeping her from moving forward was this stupid magical fog. Her grip on her umbrella handle tightened, and she exhaled after a few seconds. It's no use; she didn't think this far. Sakura will find a way to get through this fog. In the meantime, she will have to go back and resume her mission.

A mass of shadow shifted against a dead tree, but Sakura didn't react. She can sense if there were any living beings nearby through their chi, and she recognized her own instead as her shadow shikigami emerged from the darkness. It looked like a large, long worm made of pure darkness. A paper talisman imbued with her own chi was on its head, and hiding behind it was a large eye she got from the corpse of a hawk demihuman. There were many more like it scattered among the dark corners of Avalia, serving as her eyes to spy upon the other races. The only bad thing was they can only manifest in dark places and can be easily destroyed when a light shines on them.

It crawled towards Sakura and bowed its head with respect. It shifted its form once again to go in front of Sakura, its shadow body forming a pool that surrounds the eye. Within the pool, the shikigami showed the events it had witnessed to Sakura, like a black-and-white movie. It made no sound, but Sakura got the general gist of things just by observing the people's facial expressions and movements.

She raised her head to find out several more of her shadow shikigami have emerged from the shadows. The demoness sighed; it looked like she had a lot of catching up to do.