Second Chance in the Demon Kingdom

It had been a few days since Caro was captured by the Demon Prince and was sentenced for a public execution. During these past few days, Caro spent the time in her cell doing nothing, nothing but wondering what was the point in living, if she was going to face nothing but betrayals by the people she cared about.

“Still haven’t eaten a thing?” she heard. Caro tilled her head to the side and saw a demon patrol officer, an ogre, speaking to her guard, an orc.

“As you can clearly see,” the orc said to the ogre, gesturing to the untouched tray of food in her cell.


“Is she trying to starve herself before her big day?” the ogre questioned.


“Well, she is going up against our prince. We all know how strong he is. Besides, he never holds back on criminals. I can imagine the same will be said for the human.”

“No kidding.” The two demons shared laughs at the facts they pointed out.

Caro didn’t care if she was going to die that day. In fact, she couldn’t care less what happens to herself at this point. With so much pain she had experienced, so much betrayals, she didn’t feel like living any longer. If anything, she hoped that when she dies, she stays dead. No reincarnation, no rebirth, nothing. Just her, and peace.

“But man, have you heard what’s going on in that human kingdom?” asked the ogre. “I don’t know if they’ve gone nuts or if they’ve become gutsy.”

“I’m going with crazy,” the orc said. “It’s one thing the new king went and made slavery upon half-humans a new law, but declaring war on other kingdoms? Even if they do have that crazy strong half-human mage in their arsenal, they’re just asking for a death sentence.”

“I don’t know. I heard that mage took down a rebellion single-handedly when the king announced that slavery law. And not only that, but that half-human is named.”

“Wait, named?! You’re kidding!”

“Wish I was. That makes the mage even more dangerous. And if they plan on taking over Darkest Nights, she may give our prince a run for his money.”


Their conversation got Caro’s attention, and not in a good way. Being out in the wilderness for so long, she never heard a single word of what goes on in the other kingdoms outside, especially not Harlan. To hear something of her home kingdom, something surprising and at the same time not, was quite something for her.

“Are you stupid or something? Even if she is a named half-human, our prince won’t bow to her that easily! In fact, he’s been undefeated ever since he picked up a sword! Never letting a criminal out of his sight, and defeating all that stood in his way. No monsters or demons have a chance against him; there’s no way a half-human would.“

The ogre hesitated a little at the orc’s retort before responding, “Y-Yeah. Yeah, that’s true. Not once has he ever yielded to anyone. Plus, we demons are the most powerful race amongst all others. A half-blood, named or not, can’t do a thing on him.”

The orc then sighed. “But still though, a named half-human? If this one really is strong, makes me wonder what sort of name she was given. Names can be quite powerful after all. That’s why humans are the only ones with them, so they can be at least at a half-human’s level of strength.”

“I think I heard the name along the lines of the rumors. Starts with an ‘R’. Re-… Ri-… Oh yeah, Ruby,” the ogre said.

When he said the name, Caro turned to the guards in shock.

’Ruby’s… working with Greg?’ she wondered. A sad smile then formed on her face. ’What am I talking about? Sending me here, to the most dangerous place on the planet… It should be obvious…’

Caro looked down to the ring around her wrist, thinking back to the times when she was always there for Ruby, especially to protect her from Greg and his troupe. The many times her wolf half-human friend was bullied by them, she was always there to either protect her from it all or teach them some lessons. And the cause of the bullying besides her species? Ruby constantly speaking up whenever the bullies spoke bad about Caro.

Thinking back on those memories, it made Caro wonder. Why did Ruby betray her? Did Greg threaten her? Had she always been working with him? Did she… truly, ever cared about her? Or did she fake it all… like he did…?

“Anyway, why are you here, ogre?” the orc asked.

“Huh? Oh. It is time for a certain race’s execution,” the ogre said. Both he and the orc smirked and turned to face Caro.

Said girl knew herself that her time was going to end, as she was let out of her cell and followed the guards to her execution site.

******

After some time of walking, Caro was led to what seemed like a coliseum. The first thing she heard were cheers or jeers; the cheers were for her executioner of a prince, who was standing in the middle of the field with his huge broadsword in hand and over his shoulder, and the jeers were hers, in which she ignored as she silently walked the rest of the way to her opponent.

The Demon Prince raised a hand, causing the crowd to be silenced.

“Welcome one and all! To the public execution of the first human who dared enter our land in these thirty years!” he shouted. “Aside from entering our land, this human committed a crime of abducting a member of the Royal Family! The punishment for such a thing... is death!” Everyone went wild at the claim. “However! As this is the first human we have seen in years, I took it upon myself to make things interesting. For us, and the human herself. We will have a duel for her sentence!”

This confused everyone, including Caro. Said girl picked up her head at his words.

′A duel?′ she wondered.

“Rules are simple. She wins, her sentence will lighten. In fact, based on how she does, she may just leave without punishment,” The prince continued. “However, should she lose, it will be instant death!” The demon audience cheered at the condition. “Of course, one cannot have a duel without a sword.” From his hip, he took out a sword shorter than his own, and quite thin too, and tossed it by Caro’s feet.

Faint laughter was heard from the audience. The reason? The blade she was given, not only looked weak in comparison to her apparent opponent’s sword, but it is also a demon blade. As such, even if she did manage to be on par with the prince, if she were to use her Blade Bursts, she would tire out quicker and would still lose. It didn’t help that she hadn’t eaten a thing since she was brought to her cell.

“Now then, our duel will start when my father, the great Demon King, gives the signal!” the prince said.

The demons all stared at the said king himself. The man was sitting on his throne by a balcony, his head resting on his left knuckles as he looked down below at the two swordsmen.

Once he saw Caro picking up and inspecting her borrowed sword, he raised an arm and shouted, “Let the duel begin!”

Instantly, the prince charged at the human, ready to end this in one strike. The crowd all cheered, knowing how fast their prince would end this battle. Said demon went and swung his massive blade, knocking Caro off her feet and sending her flying into a wall.

Seeing this made everyone cheer for their prince, as he scoffed at how easy the fight was.

Unlike his son, however, the Demon King narrowed his now-glowing red eyes at what had occurred, raising a brow in confusion.

The Demon Prince looked up, anticipating his father to speak of the results, only to notice the serious look that remained on the older demon’s face. He turned to where Caro supposedly laid and saw nothing but rubble and dust blowing in the wind. The next thing that happened… shocked many to no end.

A figure shot out of the rubbles, heading straight to the prince and struck, forcing him back and into a wall. The crowd was silent when this happened, absolutely speechless at the mere fact that the prince was even forced away from his spot.

The Demon Prince slowly rose out from the new set of rubbles, rubbing his chest in slight pain as he looked up at the person responsible for injuring him.

Caro stood there, sword out and blade glowing via the Sonic Strike Blade Burst. The glow died down, as Caro got back into battle position. As her bangs were hiding her eyes, it was hard to tell what sort of expression she was making, but many people laughed. The reason? Very simple.

“Is that human okay in the head or something?”

“Surely she knows the cost of using a human skill with a demon blade.”

“Either that or the teachings of our kinds’ weapons have become lost to the outside world.”

“She’s trying to look tough, but we all know. Even the most simple of Blade Burst takes a lot out of a human using our weapon!”

As many demons in the audience were pointing out the main fault in Caro’s decision, the prince stood back up, being wary of her. Unlike the audience, he felt something off about the strike that was landed on him. Taking a good look at the human, he saw a determined look on her face past those bangs of hers, not at all showing any sign of exhaustion from that one Blade Burst she had used.

A smirk formed on the demon’s face as he saw his opponent still had some fight in her. “Oh? So you still have some fight in you after all. Interesting,” he stated. “Then I take it that I can go all out! Die, human!” The prince charged at Caro again, the girl looking on with a still-determined look.