The trio landed on the steps leading up to the grand castle of the demons. They had shifted forms while in the sky and then dropped to the ground. Of course, their sturdy bodies were unharmed.

The castle fit in with the rest of Tartarus. Its gates were created out of tall spears with heads jammed on the tips. The heads must’ve been recently placed, as the blood still oozed out.

The staircase leading up to the castle were made out of onyx. The rest of the building had a skeletal-like structure. If it wasn’t for the black windows that blocked the light, it would be possible to see right inside of the castle.

Azure instantly started walking, throwing open the doors to the castle. “Hello!” she called out. “Where, oh, where are you~”

What’s with her? Massath pondered. Azure had been acting strange this entire time. She normally would be quiet, just watching the events unfold. But when the three had been sent out by Rolut, she changed.

Could it be that Erebus had rubbed off on her? With that hidden sadistic personality of his.

Water did take the form of the container it was in, after all.

What an annoying personality, he thought. What would it be called? A social chameleon?

Or was this her true behavior?

He wasn’t really sure, though.

Massath watched as she quickly dispatched the guards that came running towards them, weapons ready to pierce their bodies. She was using her water affinity to surround their heads with bubbles of water. Soon enough, the guards would suffocate from the lack of air to breathe. When they fell to the ground, the bubbles would burst.

Because she did this, the ground became slippery very rapidly. Not that they cared, though.

It didn’t fare to well for the guards that came running, they would slip on the water from when the bubbles had burst, and then fall onto their bums. Azure would waste no time with surrounding their heads with the deadly spheres.

The way she was using her magic was efficient. Though, it wouldn’t work on the seafolk who lived in the ocean.

Erebus, Massath, and Azure continued to walk through the halls of the demon castle. Azure yawned dramatically as she drowned five more guards that came sprinting at the trio.

Azure sighed then said, “I hope their Queen is stronger than this...”

“Queen?” Erebus tilted his head as he stepped over a corpse daintily.

“Mmhm~ didn’t you know their ruler was female?” Azure answered, giving him a look of surprise.

“I never cared enough to find out.”

“I’m not surprised,” Massath joked.

“Huh? Are you trying to say something about me?”

“Your personality already speaks volumes.”

“Like you can talk, this is the longest you’ve been awake for centuries.”

“So?”

“Shut up, you two.” Azure glared at the pair. “You’re disrupting my concentration.”

Despite the fact that Azure’s magic was being cast so quickly, it took a lot of her concentration to form the bubble around their heads and keep it from bursting. Her magic was more fragile than Erebus’ and Massath who had sheer destructive power.

“Sorry,” the duo chirped. They both chuckled a little under their breath, their ‘bickering’ was a play.

“Is this where the Queen is?” Azure asked after they arrived in front of double doors that reached all the way up to the ceiling. The knockers were made out of the bones of some animal.

“I don’t know,” Erebus answered.

The dragons, at the time, didn’t have a lot of buildings. And they definitely didn’t have any castles. They were truly ignorant on the layout. They had just been taking random turns.

“Shall we find out?” Massath questioned.

“Allow me the honors,” Azure said with another curtsey. She pushed open the doors with a strength that a child-like body shouldn’t have. The doors normally took two, fully grown demons to push open.

They stepped inside with Azure in the lead. Within in an instant of the entering, a blaze of fire engulfed Azure.

Massath and Erebus instantly drew back, but Azure wasn’t as lucky, seeing as she was a couple steps ahead.

The fire was created of a magic that would be ranked between Myth and Lost strength.

Azure was screaming in agony. In the blaze, you could see her figure drop to the floor while clutching her head.

A woman who was standing in front of the throne smiled. She had wavy blonde hair that fell to her ankles. Her face was perfectly shaped, her lips painted with a shade of mulberry were twisted into a smirk. She had three eyes, all of them completely black. Two crooked horns jutted out of the sides of her head. Two small black wings were visible, it seemed that they were attached to her lower back.

In her hand, she held a staff with three mana stones placed on top of each other.

She was the Demon Queen, Laufeia. “I’ve been waiting for you three ever since you entered. It’s a pity I was only able to catch one of you with my magic.”

“You damned bitch!” Azure roared when the fire finally faded. Burns covered her entire body, but they were healing rapidly. Smoke rose off of her burnt skin.

If Azure had been in her dragon form, the damage would have barely been enough to cause her pain. But in this form, she did not have the fire-resistant scales coating her entire body.

Erebus sighed and turned to Massath. “It seemed we won’t be finished fast enough to catch the army. Go deal with them now, you may use your true strength. It’ll be quicker that way.”

Massath nodded at Erebus and left.

Azure launched herself at Laufeia, the two woman collided and broke through the stone walls of the castle, they kept going until they reached the outside, they were now in the courtyard.

The ground shook violently as the two exchanged blows.

Erebus couldn’t help but let out another sigh. He climbed through the now destroyed castle at a leisurely pace.

Azure had gotten the toughest opponent of them all. One reason was because Laufeia knew that they were coming. The second being that Laufeia was powerful enough to rule over nearly the entire demonic race.

She wasn’t a small fry like the others had been.

Though, I wasn’t expecting her to be powerful enough to do that much damage to Azure, Erebus thought when he finally reached them.

Laufeia was rapidly firing off magic that would be later classified as Myth rank towards Azure.

Azure dodged the bolts with amazing speed while using her own magic to attack Laufeia.

She was going all out.

It seems we’ve underestimated the leaders a little bit too much, Erebus realized as he continued to watch the two exchange blows.

Laufeia was proving to be a difficult opponent for Azure. He was sure that Azure could ultimately beat Laufeia but it would take awhile.

Azure sent blades of pressurized water towards Laufeia. The Demon Queen would block some of the blades with her staff, but a few got past and sliced her skin like it was butter, blood splurted out of the injuries.

Laufeia’s skin was not weak. She had been able to receive hits from the sharpest of blades and only receive a scratch.

Whatever this woman was, Laufeia thought, was certainly dangerous. If she hadn’t been prepared to battle, she would have died a long time ago.

If she managed to defeat this one, there would still be two more. She tossed a quick glance over at Erebus. He was sitting with his legs stretched out and arms crossed behind his back as he leaned against the castle’s walls.

Oh no, where had the other man gone? Laufeia despaired.

In her moment of distraction, Azure landed a drop kick on Laufeia’s head. The impact sent Laufeia, who had been floating in the air, to the ground.

Laufeia hacked up blue blood as she rolled off of her back. She had to get out of the cavity that had formed when she hit the earth.

But Azure wasn’t letting her get back up. She dropped out of the sky and landed on Laufeia’s back.

Laufeia made a bloodcurdling inhuman screech. She bucked violently under Azure, until she was able to knock the dragon off.

She wasted no time on firing more bolts at Azure, who was working on standing back up. They hit Azure, they did a decent amount of damage but that would be healed shortly.

Laufeia’s aim, however, was not to injure Azure, but rather to climb out of the cavity.

She dragged herself onto even ground, breathing heavily. Undoubtedly, Azure had fractured Laufeia’s spine when she fell onto her back.

Laufeia used her staff as support as she stood up shakily. Blue blood trickled from the corners of her mouth and the multiple gouges she had received from Azure’s attacks.

Azure walked out of the cavity, a sweet smile on her face. The wounds Laufeia had given here were nearly completely healed.

“Is that all you’re capable of, Demon Queen Laufeia?” Azure spread out her arms. “Because that was just our warm-up.”

“Pft,” Erebus laughed silently. “She sure talks a lot of smack for someone who was struggling a couple minutes ago.”