(Mujika's backstory hurts me an unreasonable amount.

Anyway,, moving on-

Hehe. This was 3,000+ words (barely). And I edited it while eating vanilla birthday cake, watching anime, and in only one sitting, so I was... mildly... distracted, lol- so once again, Idk about quality.

Anyhow, this one has a little less humour...hopefully...? I mean it's supposed to be a more serious chapter,,, so,,,,... yeah, I'll shut up now..

C u when you finish!!)

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"But-" The demon queen suddenly spoke and in the flash of an eye she was in front of me, her face covered in grotesque mouth and eyes, my eyes widening in shock. "I'm going to eat you all anyway-!! Right here, and right now!!" Her mouth widened and she grabbed onto my face with her long clawed hand, bringing my head towards her open jaw as the world seemed to move in slow motion.

"Y/N-!!!"

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I stared the demon queen in the face- if you can call it that, my loud heartbeat racking in my ears as time crept forward slowly, not even sure whether I was still drawing breath as I stared in shock.

"Y/N-!!" Ray, Emma, and Norman exclaimed, turning to me as my life flashed before my eyes.

"Will you shoot?" The queen asked, her multiple eyeless face not leaving my wide blue eyes as my entire body froze, the queen's mouth changing it's position from prepared to eat my face off to a twisted smile. "81194? 63194?"

"Good kids." She spoke in amusement, her attention turning back to me. 'I'm scared.' I thought, my face completely still as the queen's jaws widened once again, her face reaching towards me, her claws pressing into my cheek. 'I don't... I don't want to die- If I die, the promise becomes void- and Ray or Emma will have to make it... I can't let that happen'-!!' Alas, I continued staring blankly, internally screaming at my body to move-

The queen was suddenly thrown back as he was hit by several spears from the side, her hand pulling away from my face in an instant in order to twist her body to avoid being hit in her second core, narrowly missing slicing my head off with her claws, instead, the claw merely grazing my cheek. I collapsed back onto my butt as soon as the threat of her eating me whole was gone, turning my head slightly to catch sight of my saviours, Sonju and Mujika, from the corner of my eye. 'Oh, thank god, I managed to draw her attention for long enough to keep anyone else from being injured.'

"Sorry for the wait." Sonju proclaimed, sending me a nod as he quickly jumped down from the windowsill. I nodded my head weakly and stood to my feet, brushing my knees of absent-mindedly as my mind wandered after my second...? near-death life experience.

"Are you okay?" Mujika asked, walking towards me quickly. "Ah!" She exclaimed in worry. "You're bleeding!"

I hummed, bringing my hand to my cheek where the queen's...claws...? had caused a long, shallow, cut, feeling a warm but small trail of blood slowly trickle off my chin. "Oh," I smiled. "It's just a scratch-"

"What in the hell was that-?!" Ray interrupted, grabbing me on the shoulders. "Even for you, that so-called "plan" was way too reckless!!" He irked, shaking me back and forth like a ragdoll.

I blinked."But you even helped me with it-"

"Only because if I didn't you'd die!!" He roared. I smiled back nervously as he continued angrily. "Who in their right mind would walk towards, let alone calmly, a demon- and a hostile one-and intent on eating their brain, at that?!"

"Uhhhhh..." I raised my eyebrows and glanced and puffed out my cheeks, before blowing out a stream of air and glancing left and right before looking back into his grey-green eye. "...me...?"

"THAT'S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM!!"

I smiled sweetly, pointing towards the queen as she was righting herself onto her feet, a suitable distraction. "She's still alive, by the way."

Ray then, properly distracted by my ploy, whipped around to face the queen, while I turned to Norman as he stared wide-eyed at Mujika as the demon girl smiled at him sweetly, no sense of hostility in her eyes despite everything he'd done- or tried to do- to her.

"So you've finally turned into a monster, inside and out." Sonju spoke towards the other demon, readying his weapon to strike. "Y/N, Emma, Ray, it won't work." He spoke to the side, his eyes not leaving his older sister's. "Negotiating with her is impossible."

"Oh, I know." I shrugged simply.

"Then why'd you try...?" Emma's nose crinkled in confusion as she cringed.

"It was a ploy." Norman answered, looking to the ginger nearby him. "To stall for time. And a clever one,-"

"Albeit also extremely stupid and reckless." Ray retorted, Norman nodding along.

"I see..." Emma hummed in realization. "So... in short, if Y/N was the only one able to make a plan on the spot, even if it is reckless, and it works, even without severe injury... then what does that make us, people who couldn't even think of a plan...?"

Ray and Norman blinked for a moment before their expressions turned serious, both of them covering their mouths as they stared, their eyes wide in both terror and thought. "I didn't think about that..." The ravenhead murmured quietly through his hand.

"Me neither..." Norman agreed, his voice filled with dread.

Emma and I shared a suppressed grin, my shoulders shaking as I tried not to laugh.

"I didn't think I'd see you, Sonju." The queen's bone chilling voice sliced through the light atmosphere of the room like a knife. "So you're aiding the humans... I wonder what the circumstances are this time. Well, whatever. In one single day I get to settle dealing with the cursed blood and recapturing the escapees. What a lucky day!"

Sonju sighed, his face downcast, albeit his voice steady and unwavering. "Yeah, it is." He turned to Mujika as the small demon girl walked up besides him. "We've come to settle things with you too." I was certain that if I could see the demon girl's eyes they'd be filled with a similar bright and determined light to Emma, despite being a demon.

"Let's end this." Mujika spoke, her small voice reverberating throughout the entire room, although she didn't seem to be raising her voice at all.

Sonju stepped back, preparing his spear as he stood protectively in front of his smaller companion. "I'm going to kill you right here, right now, queen."

"Kill?" The queen let out an amused chuckle. "You? Kill me?" She dragged her hands out in front of her, her nails extending to sharp claws, one of which still dripping blood from my face. "You really are foolish, my little brother." Silence dragged out in the room, the tension between Sonju in the queen so thick it could be cut with a knife, while Ray and the others blinked in shock at the unexpected turn of events.

"Y/N..." Norman murmured darkly. "Don't tell me... you knew about this as well...?"

I hummed but said nothing, Emma cringing worriedly. "Y/N, not even I will be able to help you if this continues..."

I laughed nervously. 'Oh, if only you knew, just how many more plot twists there are in store for you in the future.'

"I don't like what that laugh implies." Ray raised an eyebrow, grumbling.

"And I don't like what your tone implies. Now hush, and listen to the bony meat sack speak." I gestured towards the queen and he thankfully shut up while I listened to the queen speak, despite already knowing her words.

"The baby brother really is the most foolish." The still-faceless demon was sighing. "You're saying you'll kill me? Ever since you were born, you were taken prisoner by that ancient faith and rebelled against the royal family. The traitor who took the cursed blood and escaped."

Mujika's lips pursed while Sonju's jaw clenched. "The only traitors were you people! All I was doing was protecting the order or things. That damned "Promise" corrupted everything. Me taking the "cursed blood" was so you couldn't monopolize it." He snarled angrily. "You really do make me sick."

"Fine." The queen stated, unconcerned. "Nothing you do will be able to concern me, though."

"Y/N, Emma, Ray, Norman." Sonju spoke, waving his hand behind him. "You should step back a bit immediately with your companions." He murmured, taking a balance stance.

"Mind explaining what, exactly, is going on, Y/N?" Ray inquired with a hint of annoyance as we backed away from Sonju's fight. I sighed with a disinterested shrug.

"The woman has two cores. The first one was broken by Zazie, the second one, iN HER STOMACH, BY THE WAY, SONJU- is still keeping her alive." I turned to Mujika for a moment, asking her to explain the parts I didn't remember fully with my eyes.

Mujika smiled in response, nodding her head. "It's a secret hereditary trait that was passed down by the royal family, from the founding king to the next generation and so on. I don't know much about it, but... for a child like that to be born into the royal family is extremely rare."

I shrugged. "Before you ask, Sonju doesn't have the double core. The only other royal with two cores, that I know of, is Leuvis- Sh*t, oops-!!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands over my mouth while Emma, Norman and Ray turned to me in surprise once again.

"Then L-le-le-le-le-Leuvis is still alive?!" Emma stuttered out in shock, her memories about the demon flooding back, the top hat-wearing dude forever imprinted in her mind, despite the little time she spent with him.

"The demon who nearly killed you?!" Ray asked, his eyes wide.

I blinked. "Urm... yeah... But he's on our side now- k i n d a- so it should be okay-"

"Kinda-?!" Norman exclaimed. "You're betting on kinda?!!" He glanced between Emma and Ray, expecting a similar reaction to his own, but finding none. "Is that normal-??"

Ray groaned. "For her? Unfortunately, yes." He pinched the bridge of his nose with a pained sigh. I blew a raspberry at him until I was interrupted by the albino once again.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait-" Norman cut in, raising his hands, trying to pause the conversation before we diverted from the initial topic. "Did you say other royal?!"

I cringed nervously, speaking in a groan. "Sh*tIthoughtyoumissedthat-"

"Other Royal?!" Emma and Ray yelled, once again praying they heard wrong.

I blinked. "I don't suppose there's a way to worm out of this one?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't even need to hear a response from the other's, as the look in their eyes was easy to read. "He's... the queen's other brother..." I exhaled quickly, Ray facepalming with an extended groan while Emma just looked confused. Norman seemed to completely give up on logic, his biggest life force, and simply passed away on his feet.

The fight between the queen and Sonju was occurring in the background of our conversation, and we finally turned our attention to it. It was quite a one-sided fight, any of Sonju's attempted attacks rendered meaningless as his older sister easily dodged all of them with ease. The queen suddenly utilized the adhesive ability she received from absorbing Giran to steal Sonju's spear from his grasp. and b*tch slap him so hard he was sent flying backwards.

"Tch." Sonju muttered after he righted himself, staring down at his weaponless hands.

"Don't you worry." The queen spoke in amusement, twirling Sonju's massive spear as if it was a toothpick. "I'll give it back." Sonju recoiled back in shock as the queen launched the spear towards her younger brother. I winced as the spear sliced right through his left arm, my throat catching in worry despite already knowing the outcome of this interaction.

"Sonju!!" Ray yelled in worry for his friend who lay disabled on the ground, unmoving.

"It is certainly true that my second core is in my stomach. But so what?" The queen laughed loudly, stalking towards her brother slowly. "Knowing that information doesn't change anything. You can't do anything. You will be the end of the royal family. You can join the others." The queen spread her arms, letting out a loud laugh. "This is power!! Absolute, overwhelming power!!" You'll never understand, Sonju!! With such an amazing gift I can't help but laugh!! It's not that I was revived, I was reborn!! I'm overflowing with power! Chills are running throughout my entire body!" Ray, Emma, and Norman were all standing, shock white, their eyes all flicking to mine. I gave them all a grin and a subtle thumbs up and their expressions relaxed a little, although their shoulders were still tensed. "Be it memories, strength, or anything else. I can draw out every single bit of what I eat. You just don't get it. I've reached the highest state of being!! This is what it means...to be someone chosen by the world!"

I snorted to myself. 'Yeah, keep on doing your creepy-*ss final villain speech. You'll be dying from your own stupidity soon too, anyway.' "Everything in this world is mine-!!" The demon woman shrieked in laughter. "All life is nourishment for me. My retainers, my citizens. My traitorous enemies, and human livestock. My parents, siblings, everything!!" She threw her head back, her arms spreading back as if embracing the world she knew- or thought, was hers.

Mujika's shoulders brushed with mine as she walked slowly but swiftly towards the queen, who whipped around to her, her jaw opening wide to eat the evil blooded "GET BACK, MUJIKA-!!" Sonju yelled, lunging towards her from the ground, his left arm regenerating as the queen's hand of long claws reaching towards the still demon-girl's face, for everyone, the world seemed to stand still once again.

"What's with that look?" The queen asked Mujika quietly, her claws mere millimetres from severing the other girl's head.
"Why do you not retreat?"

"You poor thing." Mujika's voice sighed throughout the entirety of the room. "Why..." She asked, her tone pitying and her expression solemn. "Why are you so hungry?" The queen stood frozen as she was once again bombarded by something so... atrocious, in her mind, something incomprehensible. "You poor thing." Mujika sighed sadly. "How come you are... so terribly starved? You who are richer than anyone, who can have anything you want... " Sonju reacted then, using his spear to slice the queen's hand away, putting the distance between the small, inhostile, and kind, evil-blooded, who he likely viewed more as a family than his hostile biological sister who stood before him.

"It's all fine Sonju, thank you." Mujika reassured, completely levelheaded, her voice as refreshing as a cool breeze on a blistering hot summer day.

"And here I was expecting sense from you." The queen hummed in amusement, her voice still quivering as she overcame her initial shock. "Me... starving? Are you speaking seriously?"

"Yes." Mujika stated simply. "You are indeed in starvation. No matter how much you eat, how far you get, how far you climb... you can never be satisfied. It's heartbreaking. I'm so sad for you. What was it you really desired?" She asked, her face turning up to make eye contact with the colossal woman before her. "What is it that you fear so much? If only you could ever feel satisfaction... Your future would've been so much different. But you were a prisoner to your insatiable desires. You forgot how to respect god... you overindulged in taking life. And you haven't even noticed that all you managed in the end was to provoke your own ruin."

"Ludicrous."  The queen scoffed, beginning to to walk towards the smaller demon girl, her heels clacking softly on the floor, her hips swaying as if the world was her catwalk. "Desire is the greatest value. It is what moves all to strike on. It is the value that animates anything. So insatiable desire only means boundless power. Respect god? Life? I bow to no one. From the time I was born, I knew I was different. I am truly different. There is nothing in this world that I fear!" The queen scoffed in amusement. "And you think I will ruin myself? You make me laugh."

"You have already ruined yourself." Mujika replied without pause. "See...? You are already dead."

"Enough of this babble-!!" A void of teeth opened in the queen's face as she lunged toward Mujika with a screech." You can whine in your death-!!"

"Mujika!!" Sonju yelled, reaching towards his companion, his spear levelling at the queen's chest, as all of a sudden, the demon woman exploded from the back, faces and limbs of countless humans and demons clamouring together.

"You ate too much." Mujika spoke her earlier observation. "Your body cells are long past their limit. In the end, a second core didn't give you any special powers. You ingested a mass amount of corpses and toxins... It was too much to process in one go." She explained, the queen beginning to feel the effects of such as the demon girl spoke. "And, when you lost your first core, you were thrown into a frenetic state of near death... When you expelled your food whole from yourself, it meant that your body was already unable to consume it fully."

Voices began spilling out from the queen's body- or the bodies of hundreds upon hundreds of demons and humans. "Damn you, queen..." "It hurts! Help!" "Mama...!" "Your highness, I beg your mercy!" "Help! I don't want to die!" "I'm afraid!" "Mother!" "Lord Giran!"

"I was born to change the humans." Mujika's voice rang out even above the countless screams and calls for mercy and help, a refreshing stream running above the chaos of cries. "And now is the time we change the demon world."

"AHHHHHHHHH!!" The queen cried, gripping both sides of her head as it split apart from the countless identities that screamed inside her. "STOPP!! AHHHHHHH!"

"I'm Krone!" A voice spoke clearly as the sister's head popped out of the mass of faces, becoming one of the first distinct face as more and more lumps morphed into recognizable humans and demons alike, rejecting their consumption as both one and many individuals. "I'm Michelle!" "I'm Giran!" "I'm Dozza." "I'm Bayon."

"I am-..." The queen murmured, grabbing hold of her face, an eye popping out from her head as she stared blankly, no longer any light of hunger behind her eyes. "...who?"

"The lives you ate are now devouring you." Mujika spoke once again, watching with a sad and regretful expression as the queen began painfully disintegrating into nothing. "Goodbye, your majesty, queen Legravalima."

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(I hope you enjoyed, and see you tomorrow-!!)