I stopped running and held my knees, panting. I stood up and looked back and saw a girl walking up. A line of flames appeared in front of me and I swiped my hand then my sword appeared. I got ready to battle whoever was chasing me. The girl got closer and she was dressed in lolita fashion. She was fairly young and petite.
"Oh for how long have I waited to finally see your face." The girl said.
"See me? You've got the wrong person." I said.
"Nope I have the right person. You are a Demon Princess, Yufumi Zoko. I, too, am a Demon Princess. My name is Hinari Aki." Hinari said and smiled, with somewhat evil intent.
"Master, That is the girl who has my power." Mikoko said.
I looked at Mikoko and Hinari. Hinari smirked and looked at me. I lowered my sword. Hinari stepped back and snapped her fingers then her servant appeared. A man emerged up from a portal and I've gotta say...he was hella hot. He bowed towards Hinari.
"You summon me, Mistress?" He asked.
"Erin. I want you to partake in a game of Chess with high stakes." Hinari said.
"Against who, if I may ask." Erin looked up.
"Her." Hinari pointed at Mikoko. "If you win, I'll let you do whatever you want to my body for tonight. If you lose, she gets her powers back."
"It will be an unfair match. Chess is the game I play with your father on my free time. My level of intelligence will be far greater than any commoner who dares to challenge me." Erin said.
"Commoner..?" Mikoko got annoyed. "I'll show you a commoner pretty boy.."
Mikoko rolled up her sleeve and I stopped her. I had no clue what was going on, but it seems too important to make a bet for my servant's power or Hinari's virginity. Mikoko looked at me and I closed my eyes, thinking rationally.
"I will play against Erin. I will agree that Mikoko is too much of a brute and thinks with her fist than her actual brain, but she isn't dumb in the slightest. I will raise the stakes. If I lose.." I opened my eyes and looked at them. "I will surrender my power to you."
Hinari looked surprised and covered her mouth giggling. She held her cheeks and began laughing like a crazy person. Her blue eyes began glowing.
"You've made this an official Demon Princess Battle! Erin! Sit back! I will take on Yufumi! The stakes are incredibly high! I love this!" Hinari laughed and summoned a table with a chess board and the pieces perfectly placed on the board.
We sat down in the chair and the atmosphere became intense and tingly. Mikoko and Erin watched and Mikoko was nervous. I looked at Hinari and my eyes began glowing. The board began glowing and the area around us turned into a huge field and the chess pieces turned into actual people. I was standing on the Queen space. I looked at the other side of the field and saw Hinari in the same spot. Mikoko was in the pawn spot and Erin was in the left knight spot.
"This is my battlefield! Say hello to my game of Chess!" Hinari laughed. "In this game of chess, there are no boundaries. It is a game of all out war! A game about smart plays and critical thinking. In this Princess Battle, the one who loses will submit their Demon Powers!"
"She baited me into this battle by making an unfair match...dammit. I was not planning on this." I sighed.
"Let the game begin!" Hinari said. She pointed. "5th Pawn advance forward! Third Pawn advance as well, fourth pawn move only half a step behind them!"
The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Pawns moved in unison. They created a formation where if one of my pawns moved close to them, they would be able to kill off one of my pawns. I looked at my pieces.
"Knight to the right of me! Advance forward!" I commanded.
"Erin." Hinari said.
My knight and Erin advanced and Erin slashed, killing my knight instantly. I was shocked and looked at Erin.
"Erin is a very high rank compared to your old run-of-the-mill ranks. The only one who probably would have a chance is your commoner of a pawn named Mikoko." Hinari laughed with the back of her hand under her chin.
"Commoner?!" Mikoko scowled.
'What the fuck can I do in this situation..?! Now that Erin is on the move, I can't make any sudden moves. If I move any of my pawns closer to hers, they will be defeated and my Rook, Knight, and Bishop will be up for grabs.' I thought to myself.
"What's the matter Yufumi? Hesitation will get you nowhere! Pawns attack now!" Hinari said.
"Master!" Mikoko yelled.
"Pawns move out of my way." I said and the pawns moved. I dashed forward and slashed and released a blade beam, destroying the attacking pawns. "Bishop advance forward! Make sure a Mikoko makes it towards the end of the field! Rook! Do the castling technique!"
The Bishop advanced diagonally and protected Mikoko. The Rook and King traded places and the King was protected by my three pawns. Hinari glared and summoned her battle axe.
"Pawns out of the way! I will deal with her myself!" Hinari bellowed. "Her chances of winning are 13%! Against someone like me, she will never win, especially against a two against one!"
'The chances of Mikoko getting to the end of the field to rank up is 3% especially when she has all her pieces on hold.' I thought to myself. 'The only way she can get there is if her Bishop and Rook moves and because of that..'
Mikoko and the Bishop were standing still as they awaited my commands. I looked at Mikoko and she looked at me. I nodded and she dashed towards Erin.
"What the?" Erin was caught by surprise.
Mikoko dodged Erin swiftly and swept his horse off its feet with a kick. She rolled forward and punched the horse's side and Erin flew off the horse.
"If I can't rank Mikoko up normally I will force a rank up! Mikoko on the horse now!" I said.
Mikoko ran towards the horse as the horse got up and she managed to get on the horse and ranked up to a Knight.
"Now our chances of winning have increased to 43% but I'm gonna make that 99.9% with this one move!" I bellowed and yellow aura surged from my body and flames surged around my body and I dashed passed Hinari.
"What?! Bishops Move! Rooks Castle!" Hinari looked back and yelled.
'Perfect.' I smirked. "Mikoko get to the end of the field and jump off the horse!"
"Not on my watch!" Erin said and dashed towards Mikoko then one of my pawns sacrificed themselves for Mikoko, stopping Erin.
Mikoko made it towards the end of the field and jumped off her horse. Purple aura spiralled around her body. She looked up and ranked up into a Queen and landed on the ground. Hinari was shocked and looked at me.
"Our chances of winning are 98% and that's good enough for me. Now let's end this game! Pawns attack Erin!" I commanded. "Mikoko, you have free will!"
Mikoko nodded and the battlefield became hectic and Hinari and I watched our armies go into a full on battle. She looked around and saw her pieces disappearing one by one as my pieces vanished one by one as well. The only four pieces that were standing was me, Hinari, and our two Kings. Hinari looked down and her hair covered her eyes.
"I won't lose to a person like Yufumi who was kicked out the Underworld..! I won't lose to you!" Hinari held her head and her Violet Aura surged. She was releasing her true power and I glared and my yellow aura surged as well. "I don't know how you got so lucky to get this far, but it ends now!!"
Hinari tapped into her inner self and bellowed as her aura was manipulated into wings. She finished her transformation and I took a step back.
"God Mode..?" I said in disbelief.
"This is an Incomplete Version of God Mode.. which is lucky for you..but I will end this battle the same way I ended Mikoko." Hinari smirked.
"As if...I will not lose this battle!" I said.
Hinari and I dashed to each other and clashed blades. She easily able to overpower me, but I stood my ground. We clashed once more and a huge repulsive force of energy was released. Hinari bellowed and blew me away with her aura and appeared above me then kicked me down. I landed on the ground and coughed. Hinari laughed as she was hovering in the sky because of her wings. I stood up and growled lowly and my flames grew. I bellowed and jumped up. Hinari was shocked. Flames surrounded my sword and she held her hand out and used her Space Element abilities to try and trap me in a small field of space. I slashed and prevented her from using the technique. I grabbed her face and went crashing down towards the ground.
"Inferno Heat Crash!" I bellowed and we crashed to the ground and a massive explosion blew both Kings off the field and destroyed Hinari's first then mine.
Reality turned back to normal and we looked at the board and I noticed my King was the last one on the board. Hinari looked defeated and her hair covered her eyes.
"Father...forgive me for losing..." Hinari said, upset. "There was no way she should've won such a battle...but luck seemed to be on her side and...it seemed like she made it happen...Like she has some Miracle Manipulation. Now I lose my powers."
"You keep your powers." I stood up. "All I want it Mikoko's abilities back. Give everything back to her."
"What..? You don't want my powers?" She looked up.
"No. I may not remember anything..but we are technically kin to each other. I can not punish my kin." I said.
"We don't even come from the same house. We can not be kin.." Hinari sniffled.
"Mistress...Yufumi is a distant cousin. All seven houses come from the same Main House of Griffon. Your families all have the same ancestors, you all haven't known of one's existence until now." Erin said.
"My cousin..? I see." Hinari wiped her eyes. "Alright here are your powers."
Hinari held her hand out and orange aura surged into Mikoko's body. Mikoko's eyes glowed orange and she grunted a bit as she received her powers once more. Hinari stood up and looked back.
"I acknowledge you. I, Hinari from the house of Argral, accept you and will be back. Don't you go losing to any other Demon Princess until you've lost to me!" Hinari pointed then smiled a bit and walked off as Erin followed.
"Mikoko, what house did I belong to?" I asked.
"The House of Nessania. Your mother kicked you out for not being like the other six Demon Princesses, but you do have the potential like them. You're smarter than the 5% of demons who are extremely smart. You lack the Demon Code though. I don't blame you though. The Demon Code requires you to kill 100 Mortal Humans to awaken the true demon inside of you. Hinari has that Demon Code..the other Princesses does also..whether or not you received it is up to you, but without that Code...you can't return to your home." Mikoko said.
"I see..." I nodded. "Well I'm gonna get some rest..I am tired...even though we didn't move from our chairs we had an epic battle."
"Hinari has the ability to alter Reality and has Astral Projection. Whatever pain you felt in that reality you felt in real life. If you were to die in that reality, you would die in real life." Mikoko said.
"I get it now...Well I have to continue to work on getting stronger because..I don't want anything happening to my spirit or my physical body." I said.
"Mmm.." Mikoko nodded.