LALATUA

The heat of raging flames seared at Lalatua's skin as she ran down the stairs of their burning house that her father built.

She and her father were holding each other's hands to support each other to escape the fire. As they ran outside their house, a burning wooden pillar that came from their neighbors' house fell above them.

Lalatua watched the pillar fall at both them, closing in, as her father pushed her to not let her be crushed by the pillar.

She fell down the ground as her father's scream rang at her pointed ears. And when she looked back, Lalatua saw her father, pinned down by the burning pillar as he screamed from agony.

"Father!", she screamed as she tries to help him but, it was no use. The wooden pillar's popped out burning blisters at her and she became scared to come close.

"Lala... forget about your father. Live... Live for me. I love you, Lala."

She heard her father's voice while suppressing his pain then it stopped as he took final breath.

"No... No, Father! Don't leave me!"

Lalatua hopelessly pleaded for her father to wake up while trembled in fear. She watched their wooden house, hanging at a big tree burn brightly just like the houses besides them.

Their village was raided because someone informed the empire that an elf with a demon blood mixed inside her was living with them.

The empire then took the initiative to burn the whole village to let no one alive.

The Regulus Empire has rules that prohibits elves, much worse, demons living inside the vicinity of their lands. That was at the time when Leopold Romanus de Regulus was cleaning any remnants of the Demon King's Army after he was crowned.

Lalatua escaped the massacre of her village located at the borders of the Regulus and Mirai, the empire in the east.

She traveled down to the south side of the continent, by running endlessly on the day and killing star beasts at night.

Her journey took to the south took her two years and by the time she reached the Desolate Zone, her star power is at the peak of [Heroic Rank] and was turning fifteen.

She waited for some merchants to pass by, hoping they would help her get to the western side of the continent, away from the empire.

Lalatua heard that the Western Empire, Europia was ruled by demi-humans that approves cohabitation with other races, except demons.

Her looks are similar to elves, her pointed ears resembled those children that was born with human blood mixed in them, her skin color is pale white and her face and body was still that of a ten year child.

She thought of living together with those at the Europia and hiding her demon blood will be an easy task to do.

But, she was wrong. When she waited three days for a merchant to pass by, a group of slave traders caught her hiding at the top of a tree.

Someone with a star core ability that can track demons in the vicinity detected her and she got caught with the cost of half of their guards.

The merchants were enraged by that because they were supposed to make a trade with someone that buys slaves in the middle ring of the Desolate Zone.

They tried to rape her but, a guard with a mustache said that she is still a child and that's a fact.

The slave traders never touched her when the mustached man said a thing at them. Lalatua thought that he was an important person at that group.

She was cuffed on all her limbs and her star power was sealed using a weird metal collar that they put on her.

When they reached the middle ring, a fat man they called the 'Merchant King' bought all of the slaves that has a demon's blood in them.

She thought that the fat man was a disgusting lecher that plays with young girls that has a demon's blood in them, but she was wrong again.

The fat man freed her and the other slaves and the man with the mustache seemed to be associated with him.

"How's the elf child? Is she alright?"

Lalatua heard someone talking behind their tent. By the shape of the man's shadow, it was the Merchant King.

"She's fine. The traders tried to molest her but, I stopped them when I said she was just a child. I never thought it would work but, it worked out fine."

Lalatua can't see where the other voice came from because of the wide shadow of the fat man but, she guessed it was the mustached man.

"Let's take her to the Leader. She seems to be at the [Heroic Rank], it will be a good idea to recommend her as a maid."

"I agree."

The fat man and the man in front of him exchanged words and left.

'Where are they taking me? Who is this 'Leader' that they mentioned?', Lalatua thought as she felt drowsy and slept due to tiredness.

Lalatua woke up when their convoy was fighting a star beast at their left. There, she saw the fat man fighting the beast together with the mustached man.

She heard the fat man click his tongue while he dodged a wild swing.

"Why is there a [Black Rank] beast close to the Sanctuary? I'm gonna complain to the Second Elder when we get back."

"Focus, Fourth Elder. This beast is a tough one."

The mustached man slashed the beast at it's left arm but, it seemed to be unscathed. The huge star beast, above fifteen feet had similarity with the gorillas that Lalatua saw back at their village.

The fight carried on for ten minutes, the ground around the star beast was full of deep holes as the two men fighting them looked a little exhausted.

"This [Stone Ape]... I think it's reaching the peak of [Black Rank]."

The fat man huffed profusely as he ate a pill to boost his strength a little.

"You're really saying that now? You should've said that before we fought it.", The mustached man complained.

Lalatua watched them attack the beast again when someone dropped a huge rock at the beast's head. Dust covered the beast for an instant.

And as the dust dissipated, they finally see the person who dropped the boulder on it's head. It was a huge man with yellow hair and beard wearing nothing but pants and a leather boots.

"Someone called for reinforcements?", He jumped down.

"About time you came, Second Elder.", the fat greeted him.

"Don't mention it, I was stretching my muscles as I saw you two struggling to fight a little monkey."

The Second Elder cracked his neck while dusting his buffed body.

"You call that a little monkey?", Lalatua asked loudly.

The Second Elder noticed her and approached the carriage she was in.

"Everything is little when you are big, little lady."

The Second Elder put his two arms on the carriage to lean on it.

"Let's go home first. We will talk about this later... Ah! Yes, Fourth Elder, the queen is looking for you.", The Second Elder pointed his finger at the fat man before vanishing at high speed, not leaving any dust.

The two men that accompanied Lalatua and the other slaves continued their journey quietly. And as they go forward to their destination, many corpses of star beasts were seen being collected by soldiers that weared armors.

They entered the Sanctuary peacefully and were greeted by many women and children happily laughing as they continued their everyday routine.

'Demons! They're all demons!', Lalatua thought to herself. She couldn't believe what she saw.

There's no information about the Sanctuary in the outside world. Even the Empire never knew about the village of high demons living deeper in the inner ring.

Lalatua and the other slaves were overwhelmed with mixed emotions as they were taken to the house of the 'Leader' of this village.

It when they finally saw it, the house that the Elders mentioned never looked like a house. It was a big mansion, located at the deepest part of the village.

'What a big house.', Lalatua thought in amazement.

They continued entering the mansion, and saw several maids cleaning the garden and sweeping the floors.

Lalatua looked around and saw many lavish decorations displayed in every hall they passed through.

'I bet the owner is a rich demon who wanted maids and have many wives surrounding him.', she thought.

But she was wrong... again.

Lalatua gasped in amazement as she stared at a beautiful woman that was sitting on a throne with her son on her lap.

"I believe this is the maid candidates that you mentioned, right, Fourth Elder?", The beautiful woman looked at her right and stared at the fat man.

"Yes, Leader. I believe they will be good candidates to be a maid.", The fat man bowed after he stood up.

"But, I never wanted to be a maid!", Lalatua raised her voice.

"Oh, then what do you want to be?", The woman flip her head and looked at her in amazement.

The Fourth Elder looked tensed as Lalatua rudely interrupted the queen.

"I wanted to be your guard. I am strong so, I can protect you at all times.", Lalatua answered her.

The queen pondered for a moment and then raised her fingers.

"Nora, come here please...", The queen called a maid, not even eighteen years old to come to the front.

Nora walked from behind the throne to the front. She then bowed at her.

"My queen...", Nora said.

"Go fight her, she said she wanted to be a guard just like you.", The queen said.

"As you command, my queen.", Nora bowed, then faced Lalatua.

Nora summoned her weapon soul and readied herself in a fighting stance.

Seeing that her opponent summoned her weapon soul, Lalatua also summoned hers. A white dagger appeared at her raised right hand.

"Don't go easy on me beca-", Lalatua tried to talk but, was suddenly attacked by Nora.

Her cheeks showed a red line that dropped blood immediately as she looked at it.

"You talk too much.", Nora said with a cold tone.

Lalatua got serious and activated her ability.

[FIRST STAR CORE - FLASH]

Lalatua's dagger shine brightly in an instant, surprising Nora and the Elders.

'Light Affinity, huh?', the queen thought, she wasn't fazed by the sudden flash of light.

Nora step backwards as she tried to recover fast but, Lalatua dashed low and swung her white dagger at her left cheek

'I got her..', Lalatua thought, but it was too late for her to guard herself from a sweeping kick, under her legs.

Lalatua was caught off balance as Nora kick her left leg while guarding her neck.

Lalatua stumbled on the cold floor and tried to stand up but, Nora's folded umbrella pinned her down on her throat, ending the fight.

Nora looked at her with a cold stare again as the queen stopped the fight with a clap.

"That was a great fight, Nora. You may go back now.", the queen ordered Nora while hold her son still.

"Mom, is that sister alright?", the prince asked his mother.

"Of course, Luke. Nora just stumbled her.", the queen answered.

Lalatua kneeled to them as she showed a devastating defeat. Her pride as an experienced hunter was shattered.

"Hey big sister, don't give up. You're still a baby, Nora is bigger than you, that's why you lost.", the prince encouraged her.

"She's not a baby anymore, Luke. She's a big sister now... Nora is just more experienced in fighting that's why lost.", the queen tickled her son before she turned her head to Lalatua.

"I'm sorry for my rudeness before, your majesty.", Lalatua bowed deeply, suppressing her tears by the truth that she heard.

She's experienced in killing beasts but, fighting a person never was a first experience for her.

"It's okay... You're still young, you will improve. Don't worry, I'll have Hela train you diligently."

The queen leaned to Lalatua while smiling in satisfaction, she had earned another queen's guard candidate.

"That means... I -"

"You're my guard now, congratulations.", The queen clapped lightly, Luke also clapped as he copied his mom.

After that, Lalatua was immediately sent into training. She met Hela, the leader of the queen's guards and the others too.

Hela trained her 'diligently' and boosted her levels. And when she turned seventeen, she breakthrough to [Level 41], making her a [Legend Rank] star master.

But, her training never stopped and continued to progress until the queen ordered them accompany her to infiltrate the Regulus Empire. That made Lalatua's spirit rise.

She finally had the chance to see the Empire that ruined her life, but they also given her the opportunity to live her life better.

A month passed when they infiltrated the Empire as gypsies. That one month made her a better person, in her assumption. The queen's guards were forced to suppress their feelings to the men that watched them dance. Even Hela, their leader, was also dancing as well as Nora.

Though, in Nora's case, the men who watched her was dance were all masochist. They were aroused by Nora's glares from the start to the end of her performance.

Their most watched member was Minerva. As her big breasts and perfect curves attracted most customers in the past month. Her blonde hair also added to her charms as a dancer.

As for Lalatua herself, not even a hundred men came to her performances in the past month. She then realized that human men were all fond of huge breasted girls and sadistic women, not like her, who had never shown any growth in the years she were with them.

Elven people have long lives but, the time it will take for their body to mature was long too. They will stop aging after their body becomes matured and continue to age in the last few hundred years of their lives.

The queen never told them what is the reason of infiltrating the Empire. At first, Lalatua made a guess that they will declare war to the Empire but, she was wrong... again. And instead, was forced to dance as a teenage gypsy at her early puberty.

Only the men with children fetish watched her dance. But, she endured the humiliation and then, came the two monarchs that made a commotion at their establishment.

The black man was rude to the queen and the drowsy man never even paid attention to them. But, thanks to the queen, the two men were suppressed and the night passed peacefully.

After that, the queen ordered them to pack their belongings until after and went to the 'Burbon's Cup'. There, the queen was met with another rude man again but that old rude man's mouth was shut when the prince made a hole at the barrier that he was proud of.

The meeting started after they calmed down and Lalatua saw all the influencial demon monarchs all over the continent gathered in a single room.

Lalatua memorized all their names in her mind.

Monarch of Death - Lilith Amrita

Monarch of Scorch - Normalogius Brandt

Monarch of Pestilence - Delkira Morsel Belphegor

Monarch of Destruction - Belial Karion

Monarch of Disasters - Selenea Demitri

Monarch of Sorrow - Miseria Harkin

Monarch of War - Apolonius Martell

Monarch of Frost - Lark Pardinel Asmodeus

As different as their titles were, their personalities varied in different ways also. But, there's one thing that they all agree in ~ They all hated the humans, specifically, the Regulus Family.

They explained their plans on how to make the Regulus Empire be reduced to ashes. One by one, the monarchs spoke different ways to defeat Regulus Empire together with their allied countries.

The meeting went on and they achieved to make a solid plan for destroying the human alliances in a single sweep. But, something unexpected happened.

Hela barged in the room saying the prince was attack by a fourth star core ability and they didn't know what to do.

The queen was furious, but she ordered Minerva to go with Hela downstairs. She didn't show her anger but, Lalatua definitely saw the queen trembling in rage as the meeting went on for a little while more.

"I thank you all for coming here at this meeting that I secretly prepared.", Modu bowed lightly, showing gratitude to the other monarchs that were in there, including the queen.

The old man approached the queen and patted her shoulder like an uncle comforting his niece.

"I'm sorry you have suffered more than you gained at this meeting.", he apologetically said.

She was still suppressing her anger but, for the of their alliance, she didn't do anything.

"Eh, not that I was disappointed but, is this all the monarchs I've heard of? They're not strong enough to compare to my wife."

Suddenly, the people in the room all heard a voice that echoed inside the room.

The others looked tense and readied their selves for a fight but, not the queen. Instead, she looked happy than tensed. It was like she knew who was speaking.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!", the monarch of war shouted. 'Damn, I can't even sense him. Who is this man?!', he thought.

"There's no need to be excited. I'm just here pick up my wife, she and my son suffered a lot today."

Lalatua immediately who the voice was referring to. So she and the two other queen's guards step forward to get closer to their queen.

"Luce... you're back?", the queen asked, tears forming at her eyes.

"I never left, Lily."

The voice answered her with a reassuring tone.

"Oh, right. Before we go, I'll just have some grudges to settle."

After the people heard what the voice said, the two guilty monarchs immediately tried to run but, it was for naught.

Belial and Norm slammed into a barrier that surrounded the room.

'Since when had this barrier been here? I never even felt the fluctuation of gracia.', Modu thought. He's an expert in barriers due to the continuous need of barriers in the northern part of the continent. They needed barriers to survive the harsh winters they faced.

Killing intent filled the room as a small figure appeared suddenly on the ceiling, looking down on the two guilty people.

"What are your sins? Confess!!"

The other monarchs were confused about what they saw. Their eyes became big at terror when the small child spoke in a man's voice.

"Luke?! But how?!", Norm loudly exclaimed.

He couldn't believe it. The small kid that greeted him happily was staring at him with cold glare.

"I... I tried to hurt your son... my lord. Just please my child's life if you plan to kill me here.", Belial begged on the floor, not daring to look up at the shining purple eyes of the kid.

"Red head... With fangs. Ah, you're the father of the boy who hurt my son downstairs."

Belial felt devastated when he heard what the figure said. He didn't expect that Bill will do such a thing.

"Don't be so scared, I'm not gonna eat you or anything. I don't quite like the taste of lizards... You on the other hand have greater sin than this worm here."

The figure floated down, enough to me match the gaze of Norm and pointed at Belial.

"B-but, you're Luke... You're not -", Norm tried to talk but, the figure touched his chin and smiled at him.

"Shh..."

It sent shivers down Norm's spine as he finally had a better look at the small figure in front of him.

'It's not Luke, he has red eyes and his hair have a purple tip.. This kid is not Luke at all!'

Norm stepped backward just to feel the barrier again. His emotions, overwhelming.

"Don't be so scared, man. I'm just trying to be a good father and a husband here. I'm redeeming myself by punishing you two."

The small kid landed at the floor, he's size was similar to a twelve years kid. His hair was pitch black and eyes purple.

He looked like the big brother of Luke, but with extremely different demeanor. He is wearing black clothes and an ominous aura surrounded him. It was a like a demon god descended and possessed this kid.

Lalatua watched him with awe as the kid approached them and the queen who was still crying.

"Why are you crying, Lily? I'm here now, don't worry anymore.", the kid said to the queen with a calming tone.

"Go protect the queen while I go finish things up here."

The boy ordered Lalatua and the other two then he snapped his fingers and they were suddenly teleported in an outpost in the middle ring. They looked around their surrounding, they made sure first that everyone were with them.

"Lala, are you okay?!"

Lalatua heard Hela's voice behind them while carrying the prince in her back. Minerva and Nora stood behind them as they looked worried about Luke.

"We are all fine. Some kid that knew the queen took us away. If it weren't for him arriving, the queen would have rampaged in there and someone might have surely died."

The queen's guards regrouped in a circle, Lilith was still crying while Luke slept in her lap. Lalatua looked at them both, they have experienced a lot due to this meeting, especially the prince.

'The queen must have been surprised. Who was that kid? Some lost son of the royal family?', Lalatua thought.

"Who was the kid that teleported us here?", Phecda, a fellow queen's guard let her voice out.

She had been quiet all this time because she and Magenta, the last queen's guard, lost a bet against Lalatua. They betted if Delkira and Norm that visited them the other night were both monarchs and they both betted no so, they lost.

"The question is, where did he teleported us?", Minerva said.

"We're in an outpost at the middle ring. This outpost were just used. Some group must have been here."

Hela answered MInerva's question as she stood up and rummage through a pile of ash, checking if it was still hot.

"So, what are we going to do now? The queen and the prince is with us. Should we just go home?"

Lalatua also stood up and asked her leader that was finding some clues on the area. She picked up a black fur and a used smoking pipe on the ground.

"We will stay here if the kid that helped us get here also teleport later. We don't know if he knows about the Sanctuary, but staying for a while is the best choice we have."

Hela stored the used smoking pipe in her ring. The object was sucked immediately as she put gracia on her ring.

"We should calm the queen down first. Minerva's abilities are for physical injuries, you go heal the two of them using your mental heal."

Hela ordered Lalatua as she went to tend to her daughter and Aidan who were both worried about the prince.

So, Lalatua did what she was ordered to do. She released all her six cores and weapon soul. The white dagger in her hands glimmered with different colors as she walked closely to the queen.

"Is it alright if I heal you, my queen?", she politely asked.

Even if the queen's feelings were not stable right now, she still had to do it. No one will not get angry if they got stabbed in the back by one of your comrades.

"Do it to Luke. I am gonna be fine. I was just crying in joy. We will finally get to be a whole family again."

The queen wiped her tears as she turned around to face Lalatua, Luke sleeping in her lap.

"You can tell me anything to calm yourself down, my queen."

Lalatua knelt so she can tend to the prince's body.

"We conversed in just a moment three years ago when Luke awakened his beast soul...", the queen talked with Lalatua like she was talking with her sister.

Lalatua's star cores shone as she swing her weapon soul in the air.

"He said he will come back later at that time. And just have too less energy to converse with me because of insufficient gracia."

[ATHOR'S PATH - VEIL OF LIGHT]

Lalatua's white dagger emitted a white aura that looke like a veil as she simultaneously activated her two black star cores. This combined activation made her soothe while also healing the patient's mind.

"This time, I was just too surprised in his entrance. He always liked to do a dramatic entrance and exit ever since we met...", the queen continued to talk, not minding the blinding light that Lalatua's dagger was emitting.

While hearing the queen speak, Lalatua continued her job and did not let herself be distracted. She then stabbed her weapon soul to Luke's chest.

Usually, stabbing someone with a dagger will cause them to bleed out but, with Lalatua's weapon soul ability, it will cause no damage to her patient at all.

When Lalatua discovered that her weapon soul was not for hurting someone, she studied about medicines and pills that will help healing patient easily.

Although her dagger's abilities are for healing, she can still fight with it, of course. She could use her abilities to heal herself in battle and that gave her a huge advantage against enemies that used their bodies to fight.

As Lalatua's dagger get deeper to Luke's chest, streams of light surged all over Luke's body. It was like her dagger purified all illnesses inside Luke's body.

"Ugh...", Luke groan as he regained his consciousness.

"How are you feeling, my prince?", the queen asked him.

"Umm.. Fuzzy?"

Luke sat up in his mother's lap. Lalatua watched the queen cry in joy as she hugged her son.

"Nothing can get better than this, right?", Lalatua said out loud.

She was exhausted in healing the prince. She had a hard time because something's blocking her ability to enter he's mind.

If it weren't for the prince's strong will reaching out to her instead, the remnants of the cracked illusions will never left his mind.

Lalatua's last sentence seemed to be the last time she will guess... again.