~ Chapter 161: The hidden side of her mother ~

[Akardia’s point of view]

An Empress or a Queen, to the demonkind, this was merely a title granted to the demoness who ruled above them all. If I would have been a demon, then I would have been called an Emperor or a King... Maybe even having my own species’ name as a Demon Queen rather than a Demon was just a cruel joke played upon me by the gods?

For centuries I’ve wondered whether or not my role on this wasteland planet was nothing more than that of a ruler, a shepherd for the tormented demons and demonesses who lived on this vast continent?

My first husband thought so, but he got too eager to rise in power, too eager to be a King that he forgot about the strength required to become one.

On the other hand, I never did. The battles I knew I could win, I won. The battles meant to be lost were avoided until I could turn the outcome around.

To never fight those more powerful than myself when I knew I had no chance of defeating them; this had always been my creed, my one rule that kept me safe... and sane.

But one day, I met a strange man, someone who looked like a demon but wasn’t. Someone who was as powerful as a demon or even more so but didn’t enjoy showing off his might. That man was a Godlike Dungeon and also my future husband, Graymore.

He blessed me with many children. Among the boys, Mondrak was the first, he was feisty but wise. Solstraker was the second, proud and cunning. Fashom was the third, handsome and elusive. The youngest one was Eventel, a skilled diplomat and a bit too emotional at times. As for my precious little girls, Entupia was the first, a Brave at heart with adventure running through her veins. Nanya was the second, a pranking little darling who always melted my heart with her playful mood, but who unfortunately was born as the weakest among them all. My youngest daughter, Sunsun, was still a child who loved flying around me and sticking like glue to her father.

I loved all of my children even if I never showed it. I felt regret towards not being able to properly raise my children I had from my previous marriage, but with time, I came to accept it.

That was why, when I saw how weak Nanya was, how much she struggled with even the weakest of monsters, I felt great worry towards her. Graymore was the same. He was so worried that he even made her a special sword with which she could protect herself, but I feared that because of our inability to express our emotions properly, my little sweet girl may have understood our intentions in the wrong way.

This Demon Continent was the home of the Demon species. The borders were kept under lock and key in order to protect the outside world from our power that on many occasions was misunderstood, and at the same time, it was also meant to protect us from those who might want to exploit us for their own greedy benefit.

I was the keeper of that key, the one who could give the order to open the Gates of Hell or not.

And it was because of this role of mine and the vast experience of the many centuries I lived through that I knew that my little Nanya might not be able to live her life happily here, among the demons. She was too weak, she was too naive, she was too playful.... She had no place here.

However, when she decided to leave this land. When she asked me to let her flee from this Demon Continent, I felt as though my heart shattered into a million pieces.

How could I be so weak as to not even be able to grant happiness to my little girl? was what I thought “A weakling like you has no place among us.” was what I said.

When she left, I followed her like a worrywart until she passed the border. There were so many monsters that tried to attack her, and I even used Graymore as a club to finish off some of them. He wasn’t too happy about it, but he too ended up beating to a bloody pulp several demons who thought about catching our cute little girl and do horrible things to her. I happily buried all of them alive afterwards.

There was only one parting gift I offered Nanya before she set sail for the sealed continents, where the weakest species of them all lived, an enchanted ribbon. It could seal off her appearance to make her look more like one of the people there. It would hide some of her demonic instincts and even suppress a lot of her sexual appeal. If there was a man out there who could love her in that sealed form, then he could love her in her unsealed form as well.

Of course, I made sure to let her know not to use that seal too much when she was wandering about the continents. It also hid away a vast portion of her strength and allowed her to grow in strength faster than a regular demoness. If she had used it on the Demon Continent, it would have been pure suicide, but over there, this little thing was a very useful tool.

The ribbon also had a vital sign tracking enchantment, which meant that if anything unfortunate were to befall my little girl, I would be the first one to know, such as the act of releasing the seal by force.

My little girl went through many perilous moments during the next century, but... that one moment that made me drop on my knees and start crying was on the evening of certain day when I received that one response I never wished to receive from the ribbon. The seal was broken off by force... and the side effects of doing so would certainly lead to her death.

On that day, with tears in my eyes and clenching my fists, I flew towards the barrier surrounding the sealed continents and tried to get past it. I smacked my fists into it, I attacked it with my most powerful spells, but I could barely put a dent into it. In the end, Nanya’s life signs vanished and felt as though I had lost a part of myself.

Graymore picked me up the next day and brought me back to Akardia. Everyone was worried about my mental state, but I didn’t let anyone get in the way of my year of mourning.

At that time, I thought and truly believed that my little girl was dead... Graymore thought the same, although he still felt as though his sword was still intact, somewhere, out there. Although it was powerful even in its simple state, only Nanya could unleash its true self.

Then... many years later, the official receptionist of the Queen approached my throne and told me:

“Your Majesty, a demoness claiming to be Nanya Demonarkiar the 2nd Deus requested an audience with you. So does a High Demio by the name of Dragmator Avarice.”

I felt as though my heart was grasped by a metal claw when I heard the name of my little girl, but the name of ‘Deus’ was completely unfamiliar to me. As for Dragmator, he was a very powerful demon even my husband warned me not to fight with. In my current state of health, I couldn’t even dare to... I would certainly lose.

“Send her in, as for the other one, tell him to return in... six months.” I ordered.

“Yes, your Majesty!” the demon bowed his head and then quickly left the room.

Who dares to steal the name of someone so precious to me? I wondered and clenched my fist.

This charlatan would not live to see another day once I caught sight of her.

Thus, I laid in my throne and waited with a calm and strength befitting a Queen. Not even a horde of assassins could make me flinch right now, and my body was tense, ready to pounce to attack the demoness who dared take up a name that was not hers to take.

However, when she entered the room... at a calm step, with a gaze that seemed to bathe in the memories of a long-forgotten past, I felt my heart being squeezed by so many powerful emotions: happiness, joy, curiosity, and unease.

She has the same eyes... the same smile... the same body as my little girl... No, even her armor and presence are the same. As a mother, I can tell. As a mother, I know it’s her, but how? How did she survive that? How is she standing here before me? Why? my mind raged with thoughts of happiness and confusion, which all locked my face into the same emotionless state I showed to her so many years ago when she left my Palace.

The demoness stopped in front of my throne, and I could feel my heart beating faster. I wanted to jump off my throne and embrace her, but I couldn’t.... A Queen had to be strong, she had to be cold and calculated not emotional.

“Mother, it’s nice to see you.” she said with a smile on her face.

That voice... it’s the same... she really... she really is Nanya! I thought and desperately held back my tears, which only led to me keeping a stiff face.

“Nanya, my daughter, you have grown.” I told her, but deep inside I was just happy to see her alive.

What mother wouldn’t be alive to see her own flesh and blood standing before her after thinking she had died so many years ago?

“Yes, mother. I am far more powerful than I once was.” she nodded and then showed me a smile.

“Is that so? Then are you here to challenge me?” I asked and then released my presence.

It wasn’t a threat; it was a test. The old her would have crumbled to her knees but seeing her stand there as though nothing happened made me so proud and happy for her. Indeed, she had grown so much, and she was even more beautiful now that I looked better. The aura she emitted wasn’t that of her old prankster self but that of a more mature demoness, someone who had seen the world and was at least powerful enough to survive on this Demon Continent.

“No.” she replied and shook her head “I have my own little corner in the world which I need to watch over. Besides, I always believed this throne suited you the best, you were always beautiful when you sat in it like the true Queen that you are, mother.” she told me.

So, she managed to carve out her own little space in this world? That’s wonderful! I thought and released that overwhelming presence I sent towards her. My guards could also let out a sigh of relief with this occasion. 

“You shouldn’t have come back here.” I told her, but what I thought was This place is too savage for you, my little girl. You should have stayed there with your new friends and family, far away from this Dayuk eat Dayuk world, where only monsters can survive!

“Do you believe there’s no place for me here?” she asked me and looked straight into my eyes.

I would have wanted to show her an expression of compassion, but a habit ingrained in me for centuries was tough to get rid of.

“Unlike your siblings, you never really fit in the landscape of the Demon Continent. You were weak and feeble, scared and far too playful. You were more like a pet than a vicious demoness ready to fight for her own place here.” I told her, but what I wanted to say was that she was very weak last time I saw her. She couldn’t even hold a candle to the weakest demon children in Akardia. Anyone and everything was a potential danger to her.

Just remembering the shock I received so many years ago when I learned of this fact made me worry about each and every little step she took from then on. I feared she could even stumble on her own feet and hurt herself.

“Maybe, but I survived in the end.” she told me.

She was courageous and strong at heart. No matter how many times people looked down on her and told her that she wouldn’t be able to amount to much, my little girl always did her best to survive to increase her own power. This was why both I and her father had faith and prayed for her to succeed on the sealed continents.

So, I told her “Only because your father was foolish enough to try to train you. None of your other siblings even had need of something like that. Just how weak could you have been?”

My tone of voice may have sounded harsh, but it was the truth. Everyone pitied her for her weakness, and no one except us wanted to help her.

“It appears as though everyone thinks of me like that... a weak and foolish demoness.”

When she said these words, she looked in pain, but that was not true, not true at all! She may have been silly and may have pranked people a lot. She may have been stubborn beyond redemption, but this was what made her so wonderful and unique. Weakness was only a temporary setback.

“That was the truth, the fact from a century ago.” I declared, and this was indeed the truth.

Nanya was not as weak as she was back then.

But it was now when a most grieving annoyance dared to disturb my mother-daughter moment. The foolish High Demio I ordered to return in six months decided to ignore my request and just burst in through the main doors. This in itself was an insult spat right in my face. If my husband was here, he would have raised a wall and smacked it right in his annoying face!

“Your Majesty, my name is Dragmator Avarice! I came here today all the way from the far corners of this feeble empire to declare that I wish to...”

I couldn’t bear to hear his voice anymore, so I roared in anger “SILENCE! How dare you step into my throne room like this! To be so rude as to disturb your Queen during her important audience with someone else, this is an unspeakable insult! I could have your entire family skinned alive and tossed to the Dayuks for this!”

“Important audience, your Majesty? Hah! What is there to speak with this daughter of yours you cast away and who is known to be the weakest among all demons! Even a slime could defeat her! No, it would be an insult to the slime to have one fight against her! A practice dummy should be enough!” he laughed out loud.

“You dare!” I shouted and from the anger of hearing him insult my daughter like this, I smacked my fist into my throne. A shock wave was sent throughout the entire room, but only a few cracks appeared in the floor as a result of it.

I didn’t expect to be this weak... I thought.

“Yes, I dared, your Majesty! I am here to challenge you to a duel for the throne of Akardia and that of this whole damned Demonarkiar Empire!” he declared while pointing at me right before he released his powerful presence.

This High Demio was indeed powerful, just as Graymore said, but was he more powerful than I was? This I didn’t know, and I honestly didn’t want to find out.

“Mother?” Nanya asked looking at me with a worried gaze. My poor little girl probably did not know why I was hesitant about this matter when usually I wouldn’t care who stood before me and just sent them flying into the wall next to me.

“What is it going to be, your Majesty?” the demon asked.

I clenched my fist, but I had no answer to give. It was difficult and grueling to think of one because there was so much more at stake for me than this throne of mine. Nanya was also probably thinking that her own mother had turned from a strong and powerful demoness to a coward who ran away from a fight with her tail between her legs.

“Are you afraid, your Majesty?” the demon smirked.

Does he know? I wondered, and I wanted to ask him, but I stopped myself before I revealed this secret of mine.

It would have been beyond foolish. Was my current state of health making me weak and far more emotional than I should have been? I wanted to kick him out, to decline his offer, but I didn’t know how... By right, I had to accept it now or he could dare to initiate a coup.

But just then, Nanya stepped between the two of us and declared ”High Demio Dragmator Avarice, it seems that your insults have went a bit too far.”

“What? How dare you speak, you worthless Impure?” he asked, but my daughter didn’t react to his taunt.

“Oh, my, it seems that this High Demio is set upon insulting me further. Well, this appears to be a challenge towards my dignity and reputation. I cannot just back away now, can I? High Demio Dragmator Avarice, as per your request to challenge me to a duel through insults and mockery before challenging my mother, I accept.” she declared and made a small bow before him.

What is this daughter of mine doing? I wondered.

“What?” the demon was probably just as confused as I was right now.

“This Esteemed High Demio seems to be confused. Allow me to clarify. You insulted me, esteemed Demio, you did so before challenging my mother. In terms of a duel’s laws, I am allowed to accept this insult as a form of addressing a duel towards myself, which I have accepted. However, fighting here would destroy the castle, so I wish to relocate to a more convenient place, like the Arena? There will be plenty of demons and demonesses to spectate your glorious defeat, esteemed High Demio... or are you afraid this weak Impure is going to be far too powerful for you?” Nanya asked with a mocking tone of voice.

Since when was my little girl so smart? The sealed continents must have changed her a lot... Has she grown strong in more areas than I thought? I wondered.

“Very well, you Impure! I will meet you there in three days! If you don’t show up, then I demand that you never set foot in this Demonarkiar Empire ever again, least you wish to be known as a cowardly Impure who is not worth even the spit on the ground!” he declared.

“See you in three days then! Oh, the exit is right behind you.” she pointed at the door.

“Hmph!” he scoffed and turned around.

My gaze fell on the floor, I felt relieved that I didn’t have to fight him, but at the same time, I was flooded with the worry for my little daughter who was going to face off against that mongrel in an official duel on the Proving Grounds. That was the only Arena on this entire continent that could be used by someone like him. Anything smaller would have been crushed by his spells.

“Mother, you’ll see in three days just how much I have grown.” she told me.

My heart ached when I looked back at her ”That... I would love to, but... can you really take him on?” I asked her, and I didn’t want to hear that it could be a tough fight for her, I didn’t want to see my little girl get hurt by him, if she was a boy, however, she could have handled a few hits, it could have toughened her up... but she... she was the weakest of my brood.

“Mother, don’t worry! I may have once been your weakest daughter, but right now, I am quite certain there is no one on this continent who can defeat me in fair combat!” she told me with a bright smile, the same one I remembered from over a century ago.

Seeing it, shattered my facade, and I showed her a soft smile.

Even so, to accept the challenge of a High Demio to a duel was not something anyone could do without having the strength to back it up. Actually, any duel was considered more or less sacred the moment the two individuals agreed to meet in the ring.

When my daughter told him that they should fight in the Arena, she was referring to the place known as the Proving Grounds, an area of complete wasteland where big battles between Dukes of Chaos took place. There was no one on this continent who did not know this, however, it seemed as though Nanya was an exception.

The moment the High Demio left, she turned towards me and asked “Mother, where exactly does that demon think we are going to fight?”

The puzzled expression on her face was so cute, she was a splitting image of little Sunsun when she went around asking me all sort of things!

Still, this was a bit worrying, so I asked her “Where do you think you requested to fight him, oh foolish daughter of mine?”

My voice was as cold as ice, my gaze piercing as an [Ice Lance], but mommy did not mean to sound cold and superior like that, Nanya!

“Erm, at the training arena behind the palace? The one used by your knights?” she asked tilting her head to the left.

It was not me, but the guards here in this room who so rudely slapped their foreheads when they heard her. They caused a startled and cute reaction in my daughter. Her tail waved in the air and her ears twitched as she looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. The same playful daughter I remembered was still there, so for this rude reaction, I forgave them all.

“The Arena is the other name for the Proving Grounds, the area beyond the Spikeback Ridge Mountains, East of the Entupia Port City. It is the gray lifeless area on the map found on the opposite side of the Plains of Fire. If you have forgotten, my foolish daughter, that place is where the Dukes of Chaos fight in order to lay claim to one another’s territory. It’s a place where many demons and demonesses will gather in order to see whether you will win or fail miserably in this upcoming duel. No doubt, he will spread the news far and wide in order to show the world a most embarrassing battle for you.” I explained, but I feared that I may have gone a bit overboard with the explanation.

Just saying that it was also called the Proving Grounds should have been enough. She was no fool to have forgotten about that place since I also took her there when she was little to see my victorious self in a duel. Unfortunately, I might have ended up scaring her a bit at that time.

I knew I should not have walked up to her all drenched in blood and dragging behind me the ripped off hand of my foe. I thought.

“I will have your old room prepared for you while you wait for the day of the duel. Your father is, unfortunately, on a personal errand on the Dungeon Continent. The Esteemed Emperor TARTAROS II has summoned him. If you win this duel, you might have a chance of meeting him when he returns. Right now, your only siblings present at the capital are Sunsun, who is still a child, Lucianus and Krimarea, who are a pair of lazy demons that need to get married off quick before I lose my patience and send them off to be married to some random Demio.” I expressed my desire with a more commanding tone of voice than I would have liked, but on the inside, I was happy to know that I would get to spend some time with my lovely daughter.

Nanya may have been the weakest of them all when she was young, but she never took her rank for granted, she never abused her title or status, and she was always honest towards me and her father.

“I understand mother. I will be on my way then.” she replied with an elegant bow befitting of a respectful demoness.

Then as I watched her turn around and walk towards the door, I parted my lips and decided to say those words I never thought I would ever get the chance to say them.

“Nanya...”

“Yes, mother?” she asked turning around, looking straight at me.

“I...” my voice stopped in my throat, and I looked down. Clenching my fists, I then gathered my strength and looked back at her “I-I’m happy you are alive, you foolish daughter of mine.”

In that moment, a smile formed on my lips and a pair of tears flowed down Nanya’s cheeks.

“Thank you...” she replied to my honest confession with a bright smile.