Sparring

Dah looked sharply at Raphael, "What are their intentions?"

The minister could only shrug. The village was unaffiliated with the kingdom and so it was unlikely that there would be any concern with its demise.

"Have them watched and report to me if anything unusual happens."

Raphael bowed saying, "Consider it done."

...

Princess Mai gagged as she surveyed the scene. The villagers in various stages of rot and decay had been slaughtered in an indecent manner. Although barely recognizable the scene that had made her gag was the priest Mikkel's fearsome wound through his chest. Anger flooded her typically calm mind as memories of him teaching her about the gods and how to use magic at a young age settled upon her.

To kill Mikkel, to kill all of these villagers. It must have been a small army she had eventually decided. After all Mikkel was no pushover, and even if these were just simple villagers its not as if they were unarmed.

Mai examining the corpses suddenly vomited unable to contain it anymore. Wiping her mouth as if to stave off the sudden nausea she felt she looked around and noticed she wasn't the only one unable to hold in the contents of their stomach. Her company consisted of twenty men, most of whom have seen many battles. Although there were a few up and comers as well. Including her, there was 9 rank one mages and 12 skilled swordsmen. It was quite a large number of mages but they were in the Demon Lords Domain so it was only right to be prepared.

"Split up and look for survivors" she grimly commanded.

The men nodding split up and started going through the houses one by one. Only Saul, her second in command stood by her. A younger warrior from a nobles family she had no doubt her father had chosen him in hopes that she would fall for him. Not that there was any chance that she would fall for a soldier under her command. While Saul did have a good looking, rugged exterior he wasn't necessarily the brightest. But he was a hard worker and his calloused hands proved that he didn't rely on his family's good name.

After an hour of searching the last house had been declared empty.

'No survivors'

Remembering her fathers instructions she gave her next order, "We are headed to the Demon Lord's castle. Brace yourselves for the evils we will find within."

...

Dah arrived early at his sparring session this afternoon. Since he had submitted all the souls in his realm he was needing to spend less and less time on that each day. Instead focusing more on spell casting and his physical abilities. Arriving to the courtyard where he normally sparred he stopped and watched as Sora was sparring with Catera. With a brief pang of guilt he realized he had not been checking up on her as he should.

Examining her closely he could sense that the weak girl that was being held down and pummeled in the woods was gone. Never again would she allow herself to be in that situation. Her body moved lithely and gracefully as her and Catera moved side to side swinging their swords and testing each others defenses. Sora was dressed in lightweight exotic clothing as if to display her demihuman qualities. As she moved, Dah could see the muscles rippling through her feminine arms.

'She has become much stronger'

Catera to her credit still clearly the stronger opponent was matching her blow for blow. Sensing as much as seeing Dah's watching she paused the fight. Sora looking over and seeing Dah blushed slightly although it was her ears that gave her away the most. As her eyes had landed upon Dah they had begun wriggling with excitement. Dah couldn't tell as she was facing him but he was fairly sure her tail was moving also.

"I didn't realize you were training" he stated finally.

"I wanted to become stronger to serve you better." Sora replied her heart skipping a beat.

"I see you have succeeded" he replied praising her. Indeed her efforts were plain to see.

'I wonder how much of this power she received when I accepted her soul, and how much was always there to begin with' Dah thinking to himself debated.

With a tempting smile Sora asked, "Care to spar?"

With surprise at her request, Dah thought only briefly before accepting. After all it would be interesting to see how much stronger she had gotten.

Assuming their starting positions Sora was the first to strike back, not as quick as Lucius but quicker then most. With surprise he parried her sword and struck forward with his own only to have it dodged. Watching her eyes for clues to her next strike, he saw the telltale signs of an attack first from her ears wriggling ever so slightly. Sure enough Sora lunged just moments later stabbing the sword at him.

With a laugh Dah twirled away avoiding the tip and moving swiftly set the blade of his sword near her neck, before he pulled it back and placed it back in the sheath.

Sora bowed deeply, "As to be expected from the great Demon Lord."

Dah stepped in closer and whispered to her just breaths away, "Your ears give you away."

Smirking in satisfaction at the response he got from the deeply blushing Sora a voice called his attention away.

"Picking on girls again?" It was Lucius here for their sparring session.

"Only the cute ones."

His response caused Sora's face to blush even more crimson. Although try as she might she could not prevent her ears from wriggling at his words.

Suddenly feeling bolstered Dah turned and faced Lucius, beginning their sparring match.

...