Dorian swallowed hard before knocking on Kristina’s door. Just an hour ago he was stressing out about what he should wear during the date and had only managed to decide on the black tuxedo due to Emma’s help. But now his long awaited date with Kristina would finally begin.

He had managed to organize an entire festival in less than a day, complete with show acts, all kinds of booths and a firework show. Thinking about the lengths he went to, just to go on a date with a girl, Dorian realized that he was either a hopeless romantic, or that he was head over heels in love with that woman.

“Either way, everything will have to be perfect tonight…” He mumbled to himself, right before Kristina opened the door.

…

“…Aren’t you going to say anything? Hello, Dorian?” Kristina worried about Dorian who hadn’t been able to say anything. “Calling her breath-taking would be an understatement” he thought as his head began spinning, looking for the right words to say.

Kristina’s ocean blue eyes contrasted with the amber coloured earrings, shining through her short hair, black as night. Her lips were cherry red, which revealed that she had spared no expenses and even put on makeup, something incredibly expensive in this world. She wore a gracefull, dark blue evening dress, glittering in the light as if she wore the night sky itself.

Calling her breath-taking would be an understatement… He repeated the sentence in his head once again, finally realizing that he had been silent for at least half a minute now.

“S-sorry for that, it’s just that… You look beautiful tonight and I was at a loss for words, please forgive me.” Dorian decided to go with the truth rather than find some weak excuse for the awkward silence. And he made the right call, because Kristina began blushing while looking on the ground, thanking him for his kind words.

“Shall we go then?” Dorian held out his hand and gently smiled at his date.

* * * * *

“Dorian, look at this!” Kristina’s eyes were sparkling as she pointed at a booth where you could win a plush toy of a dragon that suspiciously looked like Frave Codanth. All you had to do to win is hit down some empty bottles stacked on each other with a ball.

“Well then, let’s win you that toy. May I?” Dorian spoke with confidence as he grabbed the ball. He needed to make sure that Kristina would have fond memories of this evening, that was his goal. He was happy that the initial tension between them had faded the more they explored the festival, but to Dorian it still wasn’t enough.

He carefully aimed, thought about where the ball would have the most impact, threw it and- completely missed. Kristina tried to hold in her laughter but Dorian could still hear her chuckle behind him.

“Hey Dorian, listen. If you want to impress her then you should try to go for this bottle, it’s the one most likely to go down.” Lilly, the one responsible for this booth whispered to him. He gave her a secret thumbs up and grabbed another ball.

Alright, this time I’ll hit for sure, I have to impress her after all!

“Alright Kristina, watch this!” He aimed, thought about the impact, threw it and missed again, this time he was even more off than the last time. Dorian let his head hang in shame as Kristina couldn’t keep her laughter in anymore.

“Haha, a bit too confident, weren’t you?” Kristina hugged the blushing Dorian with tears in her eyes and he thought about how if she had fun, then who cared if he won the toy or not.

“Alright, alright, that was enough disgrace for one evening!” Kristina walked up to the booth, grabbed a ball and threw it with such precision that the whole bottle pyramid fell down with one fell swoop.

Both Dorian and Lilly were at a loss for words, Kristina had thrown the ball so fast that neither of them even saw it hit the bottles. Before they could react, Kristina had already grabbed herself a mini dragon and ran off with Dorian by the hand, laughing.

Well, she is an assassin after all…

And as Dorian looked at her running with him from booth to booth with a wonderful smile on her face, he realized how precious that feeling he got when he saw her happy like this was and he swore to himself that he would try to protect that smile for as long as he could.

“Thank you Dorian, I know that all of this was a lot to organize, so as a thank you I want to give you something.” Kristina had dragged him to the side of the festival, where no one could see them.

I-is this what I think it is?! Wait, no be rational, there’s no way she would kiss you out of the blue like this… But what if, just in theory, she would? I mean this would be my first kiss, how should I act, and what do I need to do? Should I-

“…Please close your eyes, it’s embarrassing.” Kristina blushed as she looked up into his eyes.

Oh my god, it really is what I think it is! There’s no going back now, you are Dorian, the one who protected this town on more than one occasion! You can do it!

He closed his eyes and waited for the sweet sensation of Kristina’s cherry lips, but the few second wait for it felt like an eternity to him. Then, finally his lips were kissed. It was a fuzzy sensation, and a lot of hairs were involved and-

“Pff, hey wait a minute!” Dorian spit out the hair of the plush Kristina had put against his mouth. Kristina began laughing out loud and after the initial shock Dorian also couldn’t help but join her.

The two laughed for so long, that they both began to fell down on the ground in the soft grass and began to calm down a bit.

“Hehe, you know that was my first kiss, way to ruin it.” Dorian said grasping for air. “You better take responsibility for it, after all this was your fault! You know this traumatized me, what if I will never be able to kiss someone because of this horrible experience!”

He was only teasing her but suddenly Kristina rolled over and got on top of him. Her big ocean blue eyes reflected his blushing face as she whispered into his ear. “Then I will just have to make the experience of your second kiss so good that you will simply forget your fist one.”

She came closer to his face and both of them closed their eyes and the moment her lips touched with his, Dorian knew that she had completely won him over.

“So, how was this?” Kristina said laying her head on his chest. “Judging from your heartbeat I would say you enjoyed it, didn’t you?” She smiled at him.

Dorian used his hand to cover his flushed face. “That isn’t fair, how am I supposed to react when you are being this irresistibly cute…” He mumbled and Kristina gave him another kiss.

“I would like to stay like this for a while, but then the others would probably start to worry. After all, knowing you, you probably have way more stuff planned for this evening, right?” She had read him like an open book, something that was usually his job.

“I guess you really do know me, don’t you? Alright then, follow me.” Dorian smiled as he knew that he would never forget this evening. It was hard work, from organizing the whole event, to getting everyone on board and making it big enough that travellers from the whole country came to enjoy it, it was a long and hard journey. But experiencing the result, he would never switch it out for anything in the world.

They walked back to the festival and once again looked at all the different kind of booths. This time however they were a lot more relaxed and enjoyed the booths a lot more than before. To Dorian it felt like an immense pressure was taken off of his shoulders and while he hadn’t thought of it before, it looked like Kristina felt the same way. As they walked through the streets, getting more crowded by the minute, they heard two familiar voices talking.

“…and then I needed to make sure the other wing would agree to it, so I added a sub section to the document, in which…”

“…while the power generated by it, I needed more electricity, thus I tried to reduce the resistance of the circuit, but I forgot that…”

As Dorian and Kristina approached the voices, they saw the President and Scan talk to each other, while completely ignoring the other and not talking to each other at all. While it was confusing to everyone else, for them it was something very common and had become some sort of ritual.

“Hey there!” Dorian called out to them and they both stopped the technical and political monologues. They were sitting next to each other on a table and were having a meal.

“Oh hey Dorian! I was just explaining to Scan how the newest legislative proposal was tweaked to fit into the other laws!” The President waved to him with a mug of beer in his hand.

“Yes and I was explaining how I managed to blow up my newest invention because someone sold me wrong parts. Want to join us?” He pointed to the two seats opposed to them.

“Ah, no sorry, we need to go, I want to watch the whole show with Kristina.” Dorian smiled like an idiot drunk on love and only then did the two friends notice that Kristina was clinging to Dorian’s arm.

“OHHHH, in that case please don’t be bothered by us.” The President cleared his throat before dedicating his attention back to the food in front of him, while Scan just gave him an acknowledging thumbs up.

“Alright then, see you later.” Kristina waved them goodbye and they disappeared back into the crowd.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect so many people to come, sorry about that Kristina.” Dorian thought that because it was on such short notice, not a lot of people would make it here in time, but it looked like his calculations were off. But luckily the spot he had reserved for them was unknown for outsiders so his plan could still work.

“Don’t sweat it, its fine for me, after all I got what I wanted from this evening…” Kristina said quietly, but Dorian had heard every word. He blushed and decided that she deserved, no, needed to observe the fireworks with him.

“Alright, cling to me and don’t let go.” He said with a serious expression to her. Kristina nodded, surprised by his serious tone of voice.

Dorian grabbed in his pockets and grabbed an invention he got as a gift from Scan. It was meant to enhance the users speed tenfold for ten seconds. He pressed the button and immediately an electric shock went through his body. He looked at Kristina, worrying she also got hit by it but she seemed fine. She was clinging onto his arm and had her eyes closed.

No, she’s going to be dragged along like this, I need to hold her for this to work…

With incredible speed, he grabbed Kristina and princess carried her. All that took less than a second and Kristina looked around in surprise, having no idea what was going on.

“Here goes nothing…” Dorian mumbled and within a few seconds they had reached the top of the hill he had scouted out to observe Diane’s performance.

“How was that?” He asked, putting Kristina down slowly.

“It was… please promise to never do it again…” She said a bit confused by the immense speed she had just experienced.

“Oh, I am sorry, I just thought that this way of holding you would give you more safety, I didn’t know it was uncomfortable to you…” Dorian sounded a bit disappointed.

Kristina rolled her eyes. For someone who was considered extremely smart, he sure could be oblivious sometimes. “No you dummy, I was talking about the speed, not the way you carried me, if you want you can- no, never mind.”

“What? What do you mean, what can I do? Kristina? Come on, don’t just laugh at me!”

But before he could get a clear answer the sound of Diane’s song interrupted the couple. The two of them smiled at each other and leaned on the oak tree behind them. Kristina locked arms him Dorian again and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Dorian, I think you outdid yourself this time.” She said, not taking her eyes of the stage.

“No, it was nothing, knowing who it was for made it easy.” Dorian tried to say it without blushing but he couldn’t do it.

“…idiot…” Kristina whispered and they enjoyed the slow love song Dorian had told Diane to sing tonight.

“THANK YOU FOR COMING TONIGHT, YOU ARE A GREAT AUDIENCE!” Diane smiled and Dorian began preparing himself mentally. He knew what would come next and he had mentally prepared for it.

“AND NOW FOR THE GREAT FINAL OF TONIGHT’S FESTIVAL, I PRESENT ‘FIREWORKS’!” She said and Kristina looked at Dorian with confusion.

“What are fireworks?” She asked him, but he didn’t answer, he just smiled at her, knowing the show would start any second now.

But for a while nothing happened and Kristina’s confusion grew bigger and bigger. “Dorian…?”

Then, finally a loud bang made her squeal and turn around just in time to watch the first firework explode.

Thank god it worked… Even though I hate you, I owe you for this…

“Kristina, I know this is going a bit fast, but I can’t keep this to myself anymore, I- I love you, will you go out with me?”

He had said it. It took all the courage he had but in the end he managed to do it. The seconds he waited for an answer felt painfully long until Kristina finally released him by- laughing?

“Are you serious? ‘Going a bit fast’? Most couples get together in the span of two days, not over months! Haha, your world must be really weird if this is ‘going a bit fast’ there!” She had a big smile on her face as she said it.

“S-so does this mean you will go out with me?” He asked, still a bit confused.

“Let me answer you this way.” She moved closer and gave him a passionate kiss. “Is this enough or do you want to hear a ‘yes’?”

“…I really do love you.” Dorian said as he returned her kiss.

While it didn’t go as planned, the evening was still the best one he had ever had. And Dorian had learned one thing: He couldn’t plan out what other people would do, but if these people are the right ones, it will still work out in the end, even if one would take a detour.

* * * * *

“What is a succubus doing in such a shady place?” The demon speaking to Wish was a big man, with red skin and huge bat-like wings. He was the owner of a bar known to serve the worst criminals the demon race had to offer. If Wish was allowed to only take ten demons with her to kill the heroes, then she would make sure to choose the most atrocious ones.

“That’s none of your business you fat rat. Be grateful I entered this shithole in the first place.” She looked at the barkeeper with disgust as she insulted him. Wish could clearly see his red skin turning dark grey, something unique to his kind of demon, the grey-bat demon, also known as the Berserker. Once enraged, their skin turned grey and their power increased exponential. The reason he could lead a bar visited by outlaws in the first place was the fact that no one dared to fight against a grey-bat demon because of their insane strength.

All eyes in the bar were directed at Wish who was dumb enough to insult a grey-bat and thus kill herself, or at least that’s what everyone thought. The succubus race was known for their way with words and their incredible charm, but everyone knew that they had next to no fighting strength. Often they were forced into prostration but in the demon world to survive.

Wish however wasn’t just a simple succubus and neither was she dumb enough to pick a fight she wouldn’t win. No, she had other plans. She planned for a fight to break out. This way she could choose the strongest fighters and just like that she had her ten demons who would help her murder the heroes.

“That should do the trick…” She smiled as she used her unique ability that made her able to combine with shadows. Her whole body turned into black goo and within a few seconds not a trace of her could be found. The bar owner, still enraged turned his rage against his customers.

“ARGHHHH!!!” His scream was terrifying and those who were fast enough immediately rushed out the door, fleeing the scene. However once a grey-bat demon turned berserk, there was way to stop him, sometimes the destruction would last weeks without any signs of slowing down.

The moment his subject of rage –Wish- had disappeared, everyone in the bar knew that they needed to join forces in order to stop the bar owner. Wish carefully observed as small groups formed. Whichever ones would succeed in killing a grey-bat demon would definitely be strong enough to hold their own in a fight against the heroes.

* * * * *

“After three hours no one was able to beat him… Maybe this was a mistake after all…” The whole bar was in shatters and some of the surrounding buildings could collapse any second now, due to the damage they had taken. Lots of demons had died, trying to stop the Berserker but only one group had managed to even scratch it.

Wish didn’t really feel sorry for those who had died because of her actions, after all they were all criminals who, if being caught would be sentenced to death anyways. She had made sure the bystanders and innocent demons were evacuated in time and now she was standing on the roof of a building, watching the fight with a bored expression.

After another group had been annihilated she finally began to stretch. “I guess that was a failure. Time to take care of this.” As she was about to jump down to kill the guy herself, a small group turned up out of nowhere. They were wearing camouflage coloured hooded capes and approached the bar owner with extreme confidence.

“Are they…?” Wish had heard of them. The Latis clan, they were once feared for their outstanding fighting ability. They were so good, that they served as Diablos personal assassination troupe but during the fight of the stone woods a few years ago, they had supposedly all died in an ambush by the church.

Wish counted eight of them, which meant that if they were as good as the rumours said, they would be a jackpot. The Berserker who had finished stomping on the body of his latest victim shifted his attention to the group approaching him.

Without a word, they began to move with extreme speed and precision and before Wish had realized it, wires had been attached from the surrounding buildings to the neck, legs and arms of the former bartender.

“Now.” Then, the limbs of the Berserker were cut through as if they were butter and blood began spilling everywhere. The demon’s head however had survived their sneak attack and the monster already began reforming its limbs. But the Latis clan members had a plan B and before even the first arm had regenerated, five explosions went off.

They had used the beat down surrounding buildings to bury their opponent alive, crushing his head and stopping its regenerating process. They were incredibly fast assassins as well as wise enough to use their surroundings to their advantage. Their teamwork was like an oiled machine and due to their race being one of the horned ones, their fighting strength alone was pretty impressive as well.

“Jackpot, no, this is more like a royal flush!” Wish was ecstatic. She couldn’t have had more luck than getting them as allies and because they once served under Diablo, they were very likely to help her.

Wish transformed back into a shadow and moved down the wall of the building she stood on. Then, in front of the leader of the Latis clan members, she transformed from black liquid back into her succubus form.

“Get lost whore, I am not interested.” The voice of the man was deep and rough and on closer inspection Wish could tell that he had seen a lot of things.

“Oh no silly, that’s not what I am here for!” Wish spoke in a seducing voice, due to her being a succubus that alone would be enough to make someone fall for her, but the man in front of her was different.

“And what is it you are here for?” Apparently something had grabbed the man’s interest, because usually Latis clan members would cold-bloodedly kill anyone wasting their time.

Wish smiled, knowing that she had already won. “Oh, I think you are going to like this. Actually, I have a proposal for you.”