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“May I ask to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit.” The man wearing the face of Florian says, his legs lounging over the side of a chair as he picks up a bundle of grapes and eats one.
A demon woman who looks to be a slave is currently massaging his feet as he lounges away while his army prepares for war. This is the state the pair of them find him in as they are lead into his tent.
“Florian… it has been some time.” Medusa purs, giving the man a seductive look.
The body that he inhabits is pleasing to the eye. It is almost a shame the hero has been taken. Medusa would have taken great pleasure in seducing a real hero and turning him into one of her generals. Now, this was just some slug’s puppet.
“You didn’t make it easy…” Ursula complains, bending over and removing her foot from a sandal to rub it for a second. “Putting anti-magic barriers around an army of demons is insane. You’ve given this lord of Riun and his goblin army a distinct edge. When the barrier went up over my own army as well, I thought we were being attacked.”
Although Ursula is giving Florian a dirty look, he merely throws his head back and laughs. “You ladies should feel glad that I put up barriers over your armies. This… lord of Riun… is some kind of magical genius. He’d have flattened your armies instantly if I hadn’t saved you.”
“Clearly, you jest. A wizard with the power to flatten armies? Living as the lord of some backwater bordertown?” Ursula responds in disbelief.
“And yet, his power is unfathomable.” Florian shrugs. “But you deprive him of magic, and he’s suddenly a weakling.”
“I hardly think so. An antimagic barrier isn’t the same thing as an antimagic spell. Even inside your bubble, he could cast spells to augment his abilities. If he’s truly as powerful as you claim, he could still wipe you army out.”
Florian grins and kicks away the demon woman suddenly, sending her sprawling on the floor before turning and leaning towards the two women before him. “That he will. But he won’t be able to protect everyone. His army, our army… they will meet on this battlefield.”
“Florian, baby…” Medusa takes a step forward, her snake-like eyes looking at him intensely.
Florian was about to ask what she wanted, but suddenly his mouth hangs open and he stares at her, his face going slack.
Ursula knew all too well that Medusa’s eyes were dangerous to look at. She had an innate charm that would trigger a hypnotized state in anyway who looked long enough. This wasn’t something specifically magical, so it was an ability Florian wouldn’t have expected.
“Ah… Florian.” Medusa mews as she takes the steps forward towards the dizzy Florian. “What is it you seek here…”
“I… I seek power.”
“You wish to kill my sister Maleficant?” Medusa asks as she reaches out and grabs Florian’s hands, putting them on her hips while Ursula only rolls her eyes.
“If… Maleficant dies… I will become the Demon King.”
“Haha!” Medusa couldn’t help but laugh, even as she continued to make unblinking eye contact with Florian. “The Demon King? Is that what you seek? To become the demon king, it is said you must defeat all of the demon lords. One is hardly enough.”
That isn’t completely true. The stories say the Demon King could make the demon lords submit, but the demon lords mostly figured that meant they were going to be conquered and imprisoned by the so-called Demon King. That is… at least in a small part, why Medusa wants Grimhilde and Maleficant back and in her care. It isn’t the first time in the history of the demon realm that two demon lords had been captured or defeated, but as long as they could either kill them or bring them back, then the Demon King prophecy never come to be.
“Th-then… I’ll defeat all of you!” Florian declares proudly.
“Do… you want to conquer me first?” Medusa’s lips are only a few centimeters from Florian. “We don’t care if you kill this lord. Simply leave my sisters alive and return them to me. You can have all of me… and we will help you win.
Florian’s face broke into a dark smile. “Bitch… I’ve already won.”
“Huh?”
The knife goes into Medusa’s side instantly. Medusa lets out a cry as she grabs her side where blood is pouring out. Florian shoves her to the side and throws the knife at Ursula, striking the shocked woman in the throat, causing instant death. A second later, both women disappear in a puff of smoke.
“Tsk… puppets.”
In the place of the two women are two dolls which the women had used as a proxy. They managed to create the dolls to look and act like them. The dolls are powered internally, so it managed to circumvent the anti-magic barrier.
Florian shrugged. “No matter, they are going to die shortly anyway. It has begun.”
Medusa and Ursula turn and look at each other. It appears their dolls who visited Florian were killed. Because of the barrier, they didn’t know what was discussed. They only felt the doll’s death.
“I guess that went poorly.” Ursula sighs.
“No matter, we’ll try this lord of Riun next. I’d like to taste this man who thinks himself the next Demon King.”