Trophies at the Castle Gates

In the conquered realm, the plaza before the Demon King's castle had turned into a true garden of despair and humiliation—a macabre stage carved by the very beauties who were once humanity's ultimate hope.

"—We believe in you, Princess!!"

"—Bring us victory!!"

"—Long live the Royal Bloodline!!"

Despite the overwhelming evidence of failure, the realm and its inhabitants, driven by blind motivation, stubbornly refused to surrender.

"Oh... I am so deeply sorry... Your Majesty, the Demon King..."

And paying no mind to the dismal rows of living "tombstones" filling the square, the nobility and the common folk unconsciously prepared to dispatch their next victims to the slaughter.

"My ignorance... my foolish arrogance... Please, I beg of you, forgive me!"

Yet, beyond the clamor of the distant crowd, the first thing one heard upon stepping into the castle plaza was not a deathly silence...

"As you can see, I bow my head to the ground and swear eternal obedience...!!"

...but rather an incessant, heartbreaking chorus of "apologies" repeated over and over, forming a symphony of total submission sung by hundreds of magic-swordswomen filling the cold paved streets, forced to beg for forgiveness eternally for their disloyalty and powerlessness.

(Don't look... Please, I don't want anyone to see me in this pathetic state...)

Stripped of their former glory and every trace of pride, those once-glorious warriors had been transformed into broken beings who could only beg for the Demon King's mercy.

(But my body... my heart... They no longer obey. I can only think of begging the Demon King for forgiveness...)

In the front row, the Sacred Knight Katalina, once acclaimed as the "Strongest Shield of the Realm," continued to murmur in a trembling voice as she felt the immense weight of her unyielding resolve crumble entirely after just a few days of being forced to kneel upon the cold stone.

(Am I going to spend the rest of my life apologizing in this place...?)

Due to her forced, hunched posture, her large, voluptuous breasts remained trapped and misshapen against the ground and her own body, squished with nowhere to go under the weight of her subjugation.

(I... a heroine of the realm... and here I am... crawling on the ground, with my chest crushed between my knees and the dirt...)

Experiencing such intense humiliation after being utterly crushed by the Demon King's absolute power, Katalina was forced to realize with every passing second a harsh truth...

"...Ahaha."

...She was no longer an invincible warrior, but merely a completely defeated woman.

"No...! I don't want to! I can't take this anymore!"

Beside her, Lilibell, a child prodigy who had graduated early from the Royal Magic Academy, was sobbing uncontrollably like the young girl she truly was.

"Someone help me! Father! Mother! I'm sorry, Demon King! I'm so sorry for speaking to you with such disrespect!"

Having been chosen as a magic-swordswoman at the tender age of fifteen, Lilibell had taken immense pride in the divine talent she possessed.

"—...So please... release me from this position!"

However, after suffering defeat at the hands of the invincible conqueror, the Demon King executed her parents before her helpless eyes as punishment for her arrogance.

"...Ah, ah...! Demon King... Lilibell was a bad girl..."

And after witnessing the horror, the young girl was forced into the same posture of submission, sniffling and desperately rubbing her forehead against the muddy cobblestones.

"...I was a foolish woman who doubted your immense strength... Please, please stop punishing me... I will never challenge you again, Demon King...!"

As a result, shame, suffocating guilt, resentment, and boundless terror intertwined within her fragile mind, dragging the final remnants of her sanity to the very brink of total collapse.

(I never imagined it would be so terrifying for my body to be completely frozen by magic...! I can't escape... I can't even die...)

In parallel, a short distance away, Sharon—once feared as a deadly, silent spy of the realm—stood on the very edge of absolute despair, biting her lip until it bled.

(Everyone will keep watching me wet myself and apologize in such a shameful state...!)

Since the exact moment of her capture, Sharon had tried with all her strength to resist the cruel curse the Demon King had inflicted upon her and the other captives.

"—Damn it..."

She had attempted to hold back the words and suppress the agonizing urge to speak...

"P-please forgive me... Your Majesty, the Demon King... I am a vile assassin who attempted to take your life... This pathetic state is the just punishment I deserve... Ah, my mouth is moving on its own! I don't want to say this, I don't want to say this!"

But in the end, it proved to be a lost battle; the dark magic binding her mind and body forced her to utter her own humiliation against her will.

(Kill me... just kill me...!)

Unable to stop herself, her voice echoed through the plaza once more, spewing submissive praise toward the conqueror and hurling insults at herself while begging for forgiveness publicly on her knees upon the cold stone.

(Why am I still alive? Why do I have to be so fully conscious of all this? The sound of the monsters' footsteps behind me is terrifying... I can hear them laughing at my pathetic state. I, who was once the kingdom's invisible fang, am now nothing more than a motionless, humiliated ornament...)

That plaza was filled with the silent laments and broken prayers of every warrior who had ever dared to stand against the Demon King.

"Oh, I'm not even hungry, but my heart, my soul, they are emptying... The ground is so cold. Is this cold the only proof that I am still alive...?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

"Lord Demon King, please, look at me. Look at my face, stained with humiliation, and laugh. If you do that, perhaps you might forgive me, even if only a little..."

Hearing the broken apologies of the others at their sides and catching glimpses of their pathetic figures brought no comfort; on the contrary, despair intensified in a painful chain reaction.

"Hey... you're just like me... Your hair, which used to be so beautiful... is now completely covered in mud... Haha, isn't it funny? We were so full of confidence when we crossed the castle gates..."

Knowing they were not alone in that misery only deepened the shame burning within them.

"Don't talk to me...! Please, leave me alone... Right now, the only thing I can do is apologize to the Demon King... Oh, Demon King! I was only talking to myself! My heart belongs solely to you!"

In the deepest recesses of their minds, they rejected every single word with utmost rage, yet all that escaped their lips were servile praises and piteous pleas.

(How much longer will we remain like this...?)

That grotesque contradiction between their inner thoughts and spoken words continuously eroded their spirits, mercilessly eating away at the last remnants of their self-worth.

(Tomorrow...? The day after tomorrow...? In ten years...? In a hundred years...? Will I stay like this forever, staring at the dirt endlessly, repeating "I'm sorry" until the end of time...?)

The beautiful magic-swordswomen filling the plaza no longer had the strength to resist.

(That... that is no longer human...)

And unknowingly, their souls were forced to adopt the very shape of their prostration, transforming slowly but inexorably into empty vessels made solely for submission.

In that state, with their faces flushed with shame, their eyes overflowing with tears, and drool dripping uncontrollably, the warriors endlessly begged for forgiveness toward the castle.

"Humph..."

Meanwhile, watching such a spectacle through his clairvoyance while seated upon his throne, the Demon King let out a snort of pure disdain.

"...It is only a matter of time before it is revealed."

To him, that sight of absolute ruin was the ultimate reward of dominance he could bestow upon the realm of Terramyr.

"...That weapon... The Calamities... Eventually, I shall reign supreme over everything..."

Yet in that moment, as the Demon King quietly closed his eyes...

"Oh, it seems you will soon have company..."

He suddenly sensed a presence advancing with firm, resolute steps through the plaza.

"...I wonder how she will react upon seeing you."

Amused, the Demon King focused his gaze further outside the palace gates.

"...."

Where, beyond the cloying scent of perfume that stood so incongruous against the surrounding filth and despair, the first princess of the realm, stripped bare and forced into a deep bow, remained in total silence—a permanent trophy at the entrance of the fortress.