The King is Dead

The King's quarters, Tesmuth: Castle, Realm of the Humans:

"Who's there? Is that you Hirohi-"

"It's me." Gina interrupts the king, who lay in his bed, physically worse off than before. "But i brought him with me." She reveals.

"F-Father? Is that you?" The shaken prince asks, having not seen his father at all during his 'illness'.

"Hiro! My sweet boy, welcome home." The king says with joy, before he coughs up a storm. "You must tell your father of these f-fantastic adventures you've had!" He continued.

"A-Adventures? What do you… what has she done to-" Hirohiko's eyes quickly glance at Gina's, whose eyes were deadened with menace. "… To keep you looking so well d-d-during your sickness?" The prince swiftly changed the direction of his words out of fear and intimidation.

"Hiro, my beautiful son," The King pauses to take some breathes, "Lady Gina has been defying the laws of nature to keep me alive… Just to see you one last time." He pauses once more, "Come here son, let me get a good look at you."

Hirohiko, with his restraints removed, went over to his father, clearly looking rough, dirty and sleepless.

"Good heavens Hiro…. What happened to you?" The king asks in shock of the sight of his son.

"I've done some terrible things father, things i… don't regret." Hirohiko peeks back at Gina, who returns an approving gaze. Hiro hands his dying father a newspaper that headlined the main suspect of the Trading Guild Massacre

"Son… what is this." The king struggles to comprehend what he was reading, "THIS IS A-" The King chokes from his anger, "A DISGRACE TO OUR FAMILY!" At this point half the castle staff had rushed to the kings quarters to see what was wrong.

"GINA, PLEASE, DISABLE YOUR MAGIC!" The King pleads, "I DON'T WANT TO LIVE ANYMORE!" He coughs, "NOT IN A WORLD… WHERE MY OWN SON IS SO EVIL!"

Gina puts on a performance of fear and confusion of the situation, giving Hirohiko his queue.

"D-DON'T SAY THAT TO ME F-FATHER!" Hiro reluctantly shouts, "Y-YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" He conjures up a light magic attack.

"DO IT! KILL ME PLEASE!" The King pleads in anger, whilst also finally seeing a way out.

"Y-You… YOU ASKED FOR IT!" Hirohiko strikes his father's chest with Piercing Light Beam, disintegrating his internal organs and killing him rather brutally. Hiro let's out a tear as the onlookers scream and rush towards him and the King. Gina puts magic-reducing restraints on Hiro as he screams just as he was commanded to." T-THE KING IS DEAD! I AM THE RIGHTFUL HEIR TO THE THRONE!" He peeks at Gina for her minor approval, which he receives in the form of a smirk.

To seal the deal, Gina puts Hirohiko unconscious and calls for help from the staff.

"Prince Hirohiko, he killed those people at the Trading Guild… He killed His Majesty!" She yells, seemingly distressed.

Gina's secret coup was fully in motion.

…

..

.

[Adventurers Guild Entrance: Earlier that day]:

"This is it you two, the adventurers guild." Kasumi says, as she dissolved her universal map.

"I mean it does say 'ADVENTURERS GUILD' right there Kasumi, you didn't have to tell us that." Aki says, jokingly. Kasumi just looks at him, clearly unimpressed.

"Remember our goal Shinji, don't lose your head this time" Aki says, ignoring Kasumi's gaze.

"…" Shinji doesn't respond

-I don't want to be like them, Master-

"You won't be, you will be both better and stronger than those humans, Shinji…"

-That's not what i mean-

-That Celestial mage i killed when i was filled with rage-

-She was just… evil-

-I don't want to catch myself sounding like her ever again-

-That's not me-

"Your journey is long, you're bound to experience personality changes along the way, it's a part of existence, especially as an immortal…"

-That… doesn't really help me, Master, but thank you anyways-

-I think?-

…

"It won't be like last time. I'll make sure of it." Shinji reassures his friends. Kasumi smiles, still worried.

As the trio walk into the lobby of the guild building, they are greeted with a congregation of different races spread across the room in different groups, sat at tables. There were mainly humans, but some dwarves, elves and demi-humans, filled the space too. With ease, Shinji took charge in signing the trio up to be an adventurer, giving them the default copper lll rank.

"How do we increase our ranks? I'm sure we're deserving of a higher rank than this!" Shinji asks the man behind the counter.

"You're going to have to get yourselves power scaled, here, i'll book you in for one tomorrow, 10am sharp." The man says. Kasumi thanks the man on Shinji's behalf and the trio head towards the exit.

Just as they are about the leave to explore the city for the rest of the day, one of the adventures calls out towards them.

"Hey, Newbie!" She shouts. Shinji, Kasumi and Aki all turn around, on guard but confused.

"You, the one with the hair tie." She says, aimed towards Aki. "Where'd ya get that sword?"

"Who are you? What do you want?" Aki answers the question with two questions.

"Name's Sena, and i want to know where you got that sword from 'cus it's really cool!" Sena exclaims.

"You can only see the handle, why are you so interested in it?" Aki begins to regret his decision to keep his Crimson Rapier released.

"Oh no i can see it, x-ray magic, you know how it is!" Sena says, shamelessly.

"Tch… I forged it myself." Aki makes something up on the spot, hoping the girl would leave him alone, although it wasn't a complete lie, since demon primary weapons are 'forged' by the soul.

"Ahh cool! So you're, what, a blacksmith? Could you make me one?" Sena asks, awaiting Aki's response.

"No."

"I'll take that as a yes then! I'll be here tomorrow!" With that, she starts walking away.

"Aki, i think you just got hit on by a… human child?" Kasumi says.

"I'M 19!" Sena shouts as she continues waking away, hearing Kasumi's remark.

"I don't want anything to do with cocky humans like her." Aki says, after scanning her, seeing she's E Class. "Then again, i wouldn't want anything to do with any humans if i had the choice."

Shinji smirks at Aki as they continue onwards, exploring the city - This time, they put a hat on Shinji, just in case.

…

The King is dead. The public is not to know at this point in time, but the residents of the castle all know. The King is dead and his son, The prince, Hirohiko killed him after leading the Trading Guild massacre. He is to be sentenced to death by guillotine for his crimes once the murder of his majesty is announced.

Everything was playing into Gina's hands, her goal of ruling the Kingdom was just a mere days away. Whilst the rest of the castle staff were busy dealing with the situation, with Charles in on the plot, Gina lay on her bed in pyjamas smiling, thinking of her accomplishment.

"All that's left to do is eliminate the doppelgänger, and then all will be as it should be." Gina says to herself.

"Yo, Gina." Karma, Celestial of Repose says, seemingly out of nowhere.

"K-Karma!?" Gina gets slightly startled, "I didn't sense your arrival, it's been a while!"

"You didn't? Thats great, and it really has!" Karma replies, "But i'm not here to show off my stealth skills, although i would rather be!"

Gina sits up and changes her clothes to something more akin to a celestial, using her light magic.

"If you hadn't blocked your celestial connection, you would have known that in about an hour there will be a celestial conference, an important one at that." Karma explains.

"Ugh, one of those," Gina sighs, "Just hold it without me, besides i'm in the middle of something-"

"Kin, Tone and Nebula are dead." Karma interrupts Gina.

"…" Gina pauses to comprehend. "I see, that is important and devastating news."

Karma nods, "The Celestial of Selflessness is expected to make an appearance… C'mon, just go?" Karma asks.

"I suppose i should…" Gina unblocks her celestial connection and in doing so, receives notification on the conference that Esme sent her and every other celestial. "I've unblocked the connection for future purposes, now then, shall we get going?" Gina had a change of pace.

"I knew you'd come around!" Karma smiles.

"I am low on sleep though, i might have to have a nap after the conference." Gina says, half-jokingly.

"Pffft, imagine needing sleep, couldn't be me!" Karma mocks Gina for being tired.

"Imagine not being able to sleep, ever." Gina replies, with slight hostility.

"Nah trust me Gina, never getting tired is great!"

After a short travel, using celestial magic, Gina and Karma arrived at The Celestial Palace, ready for the upcoming Conference. The rest of the Celestials sat around the oval table, waiting for them.