Ch 241: Sakura is the Demon Lord?

"It really looks like a Demon Lord's Castle" nodded Medusa as they reached the massive black fortress at last. It seemed to be roughly shaped like a five-branches star or snowflake, and the gate at one of the points was surrounded by a massive skeleton jaw, as if you were going to be swallowed.

"Not really my taste, but beggars can't be choosers." shrugged Sakura.

"Halt! Who goes there!" came a shout when Sakura and Medusa were a hundred meters from the gate.

Sakura stopped and looked up, before shouting back.

"I am the Demon Lord Rin. I have come to take over this castle. Open the doors and give me a proper welcome, or I will tear them from their hinges!"

Sakura's words seemed to light a fire in the bellies of the demons lined up on the walls, as they erupted in roars of outrage and anger. Many more screams came from behind them.

Then they suddenly stopped as if someone had given them a signal, and the massive doors opened.

"Hopefully they'll send their commanders first. It would be a waste to slaughter their troops." muttered Medusa.

"Yes. In fact..." Sakura suddenly leaned to the side to avoid a javelin-sized arrow aimed at her throat and seized it with her right hand as it was about to pass her by. She squeezed her hand, snapping the arrow into two pieces, and let them fall to the ground.

Four individuals slowly exited the castle. The leftmost one was a beautiful elf with tanned skin, red eyes and long white hair, wearing one of those infamous bikini armors, exposing a lot of skin. She held a huge steel bow and was nocking another oversized arrow.

The second one was a man with fairly delicate features, handsome, and dressed as a butler. His black eyes stared at them from above thin half-moon glasses, and his semi-long black hair were tied above his nape with a ribbon.

The third person was, to Sakura, the most interesting. A busty blonde girl with golden eyes and a bobo of neck-length hair, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit. Two white feathered wings sprouted from her back, and she had a glowing halo. Only, this halo had a diameter of about one meter and floated around her waist. She also had an ahoge on her head forming the shape of a heart.

The rightmost one was a tall, muscled beastman with golden eyes, prominent canines, short red hair and cat ears wearing an open vest with a fur collar and dark gray pants. A fang necklace hung from his neck.

"How audacious, to present yourself in front of the Demon King's Castle and demand entry, much less claim ownership." said the butler with a cold voice while pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger.

"A Demon Lord such as myself should have a grand entrance, not skulk around like an undesirable vagrant." replied Sakura virtuously, lifting her nose a little.

She had to admit, she was having a lot of fun playing the Demon Lord so far.

"I introduced myself. It is unbecoming of you not to return the courtesy. Or is the standard so low in this domain?"

The butler cleared his throat in embarrassment. "You are correct about this. Our apologies. We should introduce ourselves properly before we bring shame to the name of Hell Shaft-sama." admitted the butler with a nod. He then made a deep bow, his closed right hand on his heart.

"I am Adora, one of the Hellzectors, general of the great Hell Shaft-sama, who is currently away. It is a pleasure to meet you. It will be a pleasure to kill you."

"Satanachia…" tersely said the… elf? dark elf? Sakura wasn't sure. "…Also one of the Hellzectors."

"Forneus is also an Hellzector and one Hell-sama's closest companions!" smiled the blonde angel. But that smile was full of killing intent. "Forneus decided you need to be punished for trying to claim the castle Hell-sama entrusted to us! Punished with death!"

"The name's Grasha!" grinned the beastman. "You look strong! It'll be fun to crush ya!"

Sakura nodded and took from the game's inventory her demonic sword. It had a black blade with red lines along its length, and its guard was decorated with a reptilian eye surrounded by bat wings.

"My companion here is Anna." said Sakura, and Medusa made a polite bow similar to Adora's. "But I do not intend for her to assist me while I test your mettle. Come at me, Hellzectors! Let me see if you are capable of stopping me from seizing this castle!"

"Yosh!" shouted Grasha, sprinting toward Sakura. As he ran, his right arm inflated to double its size and took a red color.

The other Hellzectors were also taking action. Satanachia trotted to the side, wanting to get into Sakura's blind spot. Adora's body turned invisible, and Forneus flew up.

Sakura changed her posture slightly to keep both the three visible enemies in her field of vision. As Grasha was about to reach her, Sakura struck the side of his right arm to deflect his fist, then made one of her shadow ribbons coil around his left ankle and lifted him off the ground. He made a shocked expression and a yelp as he suddenly found himself upside down, and Sakura threw him at Satanachia before she could loose another arrow.

"Gah!" exclaimed Grasha when he collided with Satanachia, bowling her over.

She felt a presence behind her back and jumped forward as she turned, easily evading the blade of a narrow rapier as Adora had tried to pierce her chest.

She retaliated by piercing his extended left thigh with her own demonic sword. Adora grunted in pain before abruptly jumping well away, and Sakura heard a humming noise coming from above. She looked up, seeing Forneus surrounded by a dozen glowing balls of light, and Sakura formed a dome with her shadow ribbons in time to block beams of light discharging from those light globes. The ground exploded all around her as the angel carpet-bombed Sakura's surroundings.

Sakura undid her globe and used the flames and dust all around her as cover to advance on Adora. She burst from the cloud of dust, her sword and shadow ribbons ready to strike. Adora parried her first sword strike, but it was obvious that Sakura possessed a significant advantage in raw strength. Sakura locked swords with him and pushed, exploiting his already injured leg to force him off balance, and planted a fist in his guts, sending him flying.

Using a shadow ribbon, she intercepted another arrow, the ribbon bending under the impact, and she saw Grasha rush toward her again, a determined expression on his face this time. Both of his arms were now enhanced by whatever he was doing.

Guessing that she wasn't going to win against Grasha in a raw strength contest, but also not needing to, Sakura evaded his blows, mentally thanking her grueling years of training with Scathach.

She slashed his arms twice in a blur of movements, taking care not to cut deep enough to damage the bones, and jumped on Satanachia's direction, her feet turning the jump into a sprint as soon as they contacted the ground. Satanachia's eyes widened as she drew her bow again, but Sakura was already forming a shield with her ribbons, and the huge arrow rebounded away harmlessly.

Satanachia didn't have time to draw another one before Sakura reached her, and she was yanked upward by a shadow ribbon around her right ankle. Before she could react, Sakura was already using another to wrap around her, pinning her arms and bow against her torso.

Forneus tried another carpet-bombing salvo that Sakura countered using the same method as previously, but this time, Forneus tried to use the explosions as cover herself by plunging on her, dagger in hand. She almost managed to pull it off, but found herself restrained by a shadow ribbon instead, and Sakura made certain to have the ribbon cover most of her face as well. If Forneus decided to lash out using her power, she would have to do it blindly.

"Should we continue?" smiled Sakura as she looked at Grasha. "Two of you are restrained, the other two are injured. You have already lost, and I must admit to being disappointed by your performance."

"We will never give up!" shouted Grasha, getting ready to charge her again.

She suddenly turned and punched Adora in the left cheek as he was about to bite her neck. Sakura noticed that his canines had turned into small fangs, and concluded that he must be a vampire. Adora's body rotated a full turn in the air before he fell, and before he could get up, Sakura was using a judo throw on Grasha to make him fall on him!

He glared at her as he picked up his glasses, but couldn't avoid additional shadow ribbons attacking from multiple sides, and was restrained as well.

Sakura lined up the four struggling Hellzectors in front of her.

"Is this really the strength of the top servants of Hell Shaft? You are weak."

"You!" spat Adora as they all glared daggers at her.

His looks could kill, Sakura would have suffered from extreme overkill.

The doors of the Castle had opened again, and a crowd of orcs, skeletons, elves and beastmen poured out of it.

"Yes, me. Order your soldiers to not get involved. No one has died so far, but if this become a battlefield, Anna and I will have no choice but to start a slaughter. They will die in vain."

"Kuh!" winced Satanachia, glaring at Sakura before shouting. "Soldiers! Stand down, this in an order!"

Most of the soldiers hesitated and stopped, but the undead didn't, and Forneus muffled something through the ribbon covering her eyes and mouth. Sakura unwound it partially, ready to pacify her again at any time.

"Stand down." shouted Forneus, and the skeletons halted as well.

"Do you admit defeat now?" asked Sakura.

"How vexing." muttered Adora, looking very vexed indeed.

"Who are you, and why did you attack us?" glared Satanachia.

"I am the Demon Lord Rin, as I told you, and I came to take over this castle. You will eventually be attacked by human heroes, and from what I've seen you will not be able to resist their attacks for very long. I came to make sure this doesn't happen."

"Human heroes?" frowned Adora.

"Humans summoned from another world and granted abnormal power. There should be over twenty of them."

"They will not defeat us! The Demon Race led by Hell Shaft-sama is the greatest." denied Grasha.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"And Hell Shaft isn't here. While the Heroes will gradually grow stronger, until they become able to face you. What will you do then, if Hell Shaft still isn't back?" asked Sakura.

"But Hell-sama entrusted the castle to us! Forneus can't admit defeat!"

"…Wait. There is room for a compromise." sighed Adora, and the three other Hellzectors stared at him as if he was betraying them.

"She claims to be a Demon Lord. But a Demon Lord is one rank lower than a Demon King like Hell Shaft-sama. That would make her a subordinate of Hell Shaft-sama like us, even though she would still be one rank above us Hellzectors. And remember Hell Shaft-sama's words when he left. Didn't he say that the strongest should take command in his absence? Though it vexes me so, she is stronger than us. So if Rin agrees to follow Hell Shaft-sama, we must obey her."

His words had a big impact on the other Hellzectors, as Sakura felt them stop trying to force their ways out of the shadow ribbons binding them, and they adopted contemplative expressions.

"My goal is to protect this place from the heroes." shrugged Sakura. "I do not intend to make any drastic changes, unless they are relevant to the castle's defense. When Hell Shaft returns, I can discuss my relationship with him then."

"Are you going to try to become Hell Shaft-sama's wife, then?" asked Satanachia, and Sakura could feel both her and Forneus bristling as they resumed their useless struggle.

"No. I prefer women. There is no way I would ever want Hell Shaft to invite me into his bed."

Forneus and Satanachia ceased their struggles, their relief so exaggerated Sakura had to stifle a laugh.

"You still haven't offered your surrender." pointed out Anna.

The four Hellzectors looked at each other, then reluctantly nodded. Sakura, feeling their sincerity, unsummoned her ribbons.

"We accept your authority. But to be clear, our loyalty is and will ever be to Hell Shaft-sama. Once he returns, if you rebel against him, we will fight by his side." said Adora.

"That is acceptable, and such loyalty is admirable." nodded Sakura with a small smile.

She walked to Grasha and touched his arm, and he gasped as his cuts healed in seconds. He grudgingly nodded in thanks, and she proceeded to do the same with Adora.

"Thank you very much." nodded Adora.

"Now, how about you give us a tour of the castle?"

"Yes." said Adora before starting to walk back toward the black fortress. "Please follow us."

"Oy! You guys can stand down and return to your tasks!" shouted Grasha at the watching troops, and they obediently trotted back inside the castle, dispersing and freeing a path for them. The skeletons required an additional command from Forneus before they retreated.

"How do you know about those heroes?" asked Satanachia as they walked.

"It's 'How do you know about those heroes, Rin-sama?'." firmly said Sakura. "You will not impugn my dignity as a Demon Lord, or I will make you regret it."

"…My apologies, Rin-sama." said Satanachia with a slight wince.

"Better. To answer your question, I know because Anna and I are humans from another world as well, and we were summoned along those who became Heroes. However, the teleportation didn't bring us all to the same place. Anna and I arrived in this valley, while the others are somewhere else."

The four Hellzectors froze in shock.

"But you… Why are you taking Hellandia's side, if you are human?" wondered Grasha.

"Hellandia is the name of your country, right? Race doesn't really matter to me." shrugged Sakura. "I received a prophecy telling me that I should stop the heroes from defeating you."

"A prophecy… Rin-sama?" asked Adora.

"Yes. I do not know why this is important, but I have complete trust in the being who gave it to me. Anna and I, as well as another Hero who is secretly an informant, will stop the others from defeating you guys and reaching the inside of this castle. Of course, I expect you all to do your part."

"…We will, Rin-sama." said Adora, his stare conveying his distrust. He would keep a close eye on her. Sakura didn't mind, as it was just a natural reaction.

…

The four Hellzectors gave Sakura a complete tour of the Demon King's castle. As she and Medusa had suspected, it had the general shape of a star, with a central tower at the center and five sections. The gate was the tip of the northern's section dedicated to general use. As they visited the other section in a clockwise direction, they entered the Undead Army block, full of skeletons and zombies.

Next was Beastmen Army block, where various kinds of beastmen, from orcs to catgirls, lived. Sakura was tempted to try to get a catgirl or three if she could but gave up on the idea. The quest reward suggested that only Forneus and Satanachia could be gained from that world.

They then visited the Dark Elf Army block, answering one of Sakura's questions, and finally the Vampire block, who held few actual vampires, but a lot of wolves and vampiric bats, and even a handful of succubi.

Seeing the Succubi, Sakura nodded to herself with a smile. It was like Lilith-sama, or maybe another deity, knew about the plan Sakura was currently fleshing out in her head, and had decided to give her the tools she needed for it. But she would first need to find a way to communique with Asuka and confirm a few of her assumptions.

It was when the Hellzectors visited the central tower, home of the Demon King, and when they came to the kitchen, that they heard someone screaming.

"…and you better do a better job sweeping the floors, you useless slave!" screamed an orc wearing a chef's hat. "We'll put you on auction if you cannot do your job!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll do better!" whimpered a young woman, kneeling on the floor in a perfect dogeza posture.

"Everyone, this is the Demon Lord Rin-sama. Her rank is just under Hell Shaft-sama and just above us Hellzectors, so show respect!" announced Adora as they entered the kitchen.

"Yes, Adora-sama!" shouted all the cooks and servants. bowing in their direction. All but one.

"Ah?" exclaimed the slave girl, looking up in astonishment, but immediately put her forehead back against the floor when the Chef and the Hellzectors stared coldly at her.

"…Stand up, slave. I want to take a good look at your face." quietly commanded Sakura.

The girl on the floor shivered, but she had no choice, and she slowly stood, staring nervously at Sakura.

Sakura nodded as she liked what she was seeing. Like every other slave she had seen in the demon king's castle, instead of a collar, this slave was wearing a simple black leather harness around her torso, doing an excellent job at highlighting the large curves of her breasts. A heavy steel ring was attached to the harness near her throat provided all the functionality a normal collar would.

The girl herself was extremely beautiful, with large golden eyes and long black hair tied into a ponytail by a yellow ribbon. Two neck-length bangs framed her attractive face. She looked like she was in her early twenties.

But what interested Sakura the most was the getup the girl was wearing under the harness. The shredded remnants of a white top, barely covering her breasts and revealing her midriff, and equally shredded remains of black pants. Her feet were naked.

Those clothes, destroyed as they were, didn't belong to this world. And the previous dogeza apology posture was something that, as far as she was aware, only Japanese people did.

"What is your name?" asked Sakura.

"I-I am S-Shuuko Aikawa, D-Demon Lord-sama." trembled Shuuko. "I know I messed up, but I will learn quickly! I swear it won't happen again!"

Sakura nodded, her suspicion confirmed, and smiled.

"I have taken a liking to you, Shuuko Aikawa. From now on, you will be my personal slave."

"I…" gasped Shuuko, looking at Sakura in alarm.

"Oy!" growled Grasha. "The Demon Lord honored you with a better position than that of a kitchen slave! Answer properly, slave!"

"Y-Yes!" flinched Shuuko, her spine going ramrod straight. "Thank you very much for the honor, Demon Lord-sama! I will work hard!"

"It would be improper for me to take the room of the Demon King." said Sakura as she turned to the Hellzectors. "But surely you have other nice rooms in the tower?"

"Yes." nodded Adora. "We have several rooms we keep for ambassadors or high-ranked hostages.

He pointed to Shuuko. "You, go prepare the first and second ambassadorial rooms, then wait in the first one."

"Y-Yes, Adora-sama! With your permission, Demon Lord-sama?" asked Shuuko.

Sakura nodded, and Shuuko passed by them to take the stairs, leaving so fast she almost ran up the steps.

"Your personal slave?" wondered Satanachia.

"I did mention I preferred girls, did I not? I also want to perform an experiment, and I need a reluctant human woman for that."

"I see. It will be her honor to be of use to you. Should we continue the tour?" shrugged Satanachia, not really caring about the girl. Rin could make the slave her pet or carve her into pieces as far as she was concerned.

Following the Hellzectors, Sakura and Medusa visited several more places, like the Hell Shrine in the basement, behind which stood a massive gate that was supposed to be the gate to Hell, and moved to the throne room. At the end of it stood a massive throne of gray stone, large enough that Britomart with her fortress armor on could easily sit and still have room to spare. The back of the throne was broken off at the top.

Sakura shrugged and sat on the throne.

"Rin-sama, you shouldn't sit there! This is the throne of the Hell Shaft-sama!" protested Adora.

"If you have a problem with it, you can challenge me to a duel and win." frowned Sakura. "Still, this throne isn't very comfortable to sit on, so if you can provide your Demon Lord with a smaller and more comfortable throne, I do not mind not sitting on this one anymore."

"I will be done as soon as possible, Rin-sama." sighed Adora.

"Good. Now, I need to show you four something." said Sakura. She removed her crown and veil, letting her hair return to their natural length and purple color.

The four Hellzectors stared in shock as Sakura nodded her head to Medusa, who removed her helmet as well.

"This is my real human appearance, and my real name is Sakura. Rin is actually my sister's name. I need to hide my identity from the Heroes. You will still call me Rin-sama. Understood?"

"My real name is Medusa." nodded Medusa on the side.

"Yes, Rin-sama." nodded Satanachia.

"Forneus doesn't understand why you hide your identity from them, Rin-sama."

"There are two reasons for this. The first is that the one who told me this prophecy also provided me with this way to change my appearance, so it must be important for some reason. The second is to protect my informant among the Heroes. We are close friends, so if it became known that Medusa and I are fighting for this side, she would immediately be suspected."

"Forneus understands…" nodded the blonde angel.

"Good. Now, I have a few missions for you." smiled Sakura as she put on the crown and veil again. "I first need a map of the region, and one of the the world is you have one, along with information about the various races and countries, and political relationships with each other and Hellandia. As I said, we came from another world, and we know little about this one."

"Yes, Rin-sama." nodded Adora.

"Second, I need information on Hellandia itself. How many soldiers can be mobilized if need be, how many civilians there are, the strengths and weaknesses of every species, information on trade and manufacture, everything that is useful to know to run the country efficiently. The Chief in the kitchen mentioned a slave auction. I want information on that as well, in particular on how many slaves there are and their species."

"Third, I want to examine the troops' training methods. Maybe they can be improved here and there using methods from my own world."

"Lastly, and most important, are there citizens of Hellandia who can credibly pass as humans or their allies?"

"Some of our vampires would be able to, Rin-sama." nodded Adora.

"I want you to send some of them to the human territories to collect rumors about the Heroes. I want to know their approximate location, and what they are doing. The vampires must not get close to the Heroes or kill human citizens if they can avoid it. That would alert the humans. When I know where the Heroes are, I will go over there and make contact with my informant."

"Understood, Rin-sama. I will give the orders."

"Very well. Thank you for your service, everyone. I know you have your doubts about me and Anna, but I will prove to you that I am worthy of your trust." said Sakura, standing.

"Anna, we're retiring to our quarters."

"Yes, Master." nodded Medusa, following her.

Once she was gone, Forneus, Satanachia, Grasha and Adora gathered closer and started walking in a low voice.

"What do you guys think? Can they be trusted?" asked Satanachia.

"Her orders make sense so far, if she wants to take over the defense of Infermia." said Adora, referring to the official name of the Demon King's Castle.

"Forneus doesn't think she would betray us. She could just kill us if she wanted."

"We don't have much of a choice anyway." shrugged Grasha. "We Hellanders follow strength, and now that she has been acknowledged and introduced by us, if we rebel against her, the troops will either hesitate or follow her. Unless we can defeat her ourselves."

"Until Hell Shaft-sama returns, we need to follow her." concluded Adora.

"I wonder when he will come back. I miss him so much." sighed Satanachia.

Their beloved leader, the Demon King Hell Shaft, had left two weeks ago, stating that he wanted to travel the world and challenge strong opponents to become even stronger, and entrusted them with the running of Infermia.

"Forneus thinks that at least, it won't be boring!" smiled the angel with a shrug.

With this, they parted ways. Adora's absolute priority was to visit some beastman artisans and get a throne crafted for the next day. He didn't want her to sit on Hell Shaft-sama's throne again.