Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 135

*Important Note* May or may not update Micchi on 11/25, because I'll be going to a Thanksgiving dinner with family. Chances are, it will either update super late or on the following day.

Thank you for understanding.

Alt link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jjru__8aa-DGct-tYJyO5jyGHjj-LUY6ssln4uCMqM8/edit?usp=share_link

Chapter 135

The barrier was down when we got back to Roila's palace. Most of the fighting slowed down as word spread that we gutted the rebellion from the head. The rest of them either went into hiding or pretended nothing ever happened to avoid being captured.

Soldiers dressed in blue and silver formed a path through the courtyard, leading into the palace as if to make sure we didn't get lost. Lady Katrine was inside on her throne and smoothing out the creases of her robes. She flashed a fanged smile as we walked down the long red carpet, smudged up from boot prints and bloodstains from the fight earlier.

"Here's your councilor." I tossed the mangled and groaning body of Debaun in front of her.

Katrine flinched. She lifted her feet as he landed a few meters too close, bodily fluids quickly adding to the carpet stains.

"Oh, wow. Ew… You certainly spared no effort to punish him for his treachery." Katrine beckoned to the nearest guards. "Take him away before something else discharges from his body."

"Got the rest trapped at the temple. Wrapped 'em nice and warm in blocks of ice," Ririko said as she inspected her nails, probably checking if any of them got chipped or something.

Jouann moved forward apologetically. "I regret to inform you that someone might have destroyed the statue at the front out of unrestrained rage."

"Had to take it out on someone, alright? Back to why we're here. We did your laundry, time to air it out. You wanted to cozy up, but I still don't trust you or this place. So first, you can tell me all about Chika becoming the demon lord." When I made a step, the palace soldiers inched aggressively unlike with Jouann.

They backed down as soon as Katrine waved them off.

"T-To business already? Do you not perhaps want to feast or have fanfare played to celebrate your efforts?" Katrine asked awkwardly.

"What? No, bitch. I want my questions answered. You got 'em? Or do I gotta wring 'em outta you?" I asked.

Katrine let out a quivering sigh and turned white as a ghost.

"This was the demon lord before Chika?" Ririko leaned in to whisper.

"I said she was full of ambition, not that she was fearsome! If it's a fight you wanted, then that was King Garran," Lilim replied.

"Alright, fuck this." I stormed up to the throne. "You're gonna tell me what I wanna know, or you're going to end up like your councilor!"

By the time I reached Katrine, a dozen soldiers had thrown themselves onto me, grabbing my ankles, jacket, and pushing against me from the front. The lady of the house herself lifted her knees onto the seat and trembled, eyes watery and in fear of her life. She was nothing like I expected from someone once named 'demon lord'.

"Please, don't hurt Lady Katrine!"

"Take your anger out on us instead!"

The soldiers were making all sorts of pleas. It made no sense to me why they were so desperately protecting this wimp.

"What is this? What kind of boss can't fight her own battles?" I growled.

"All… All I ever wanted to do was read ancient grimoires and study magic!" Lady Katrine started ugly crying, and a few of her soldiers hovered protectively over their leader.

"Micchi, what the hell did you do?" Ririko asked with a finger plugging each ear.

"I didn't do shit yet!"

"I'll tell you everything…" the demoness finally said with a sniffle. "Just no violence, please."

Her guards backed away from me. Not that they were ever in my way to begin with. Katrine descended from the throne and opened a portal. On the other side was a backdrop of books. Floors upon floors of books.

Katrine went in first, and we followed in after her. Bookcases blanketed every inch of the wall. The only places they didn't cover was the floor and windows reaching up to the ceilings. Instead of armor and weapons, the demons here wore robes and wielded books. Tables were packed with beakers and contraptions like those in Mildred's workshop.

The heavy thuds of a demon giant approached. I grabbed Sacchan and turned around expecting to fight until I saw the hundred books in his enormous hands.

"Lady Katrine, where put these?" the lumbering giant asked.

Katrine took one glance and knew exactly what to say. "Sector 2-A. Be careful with those!"

Without so much as a look my way, the giant stomped out of sight around the bend.

"Where the hell is this?" I asked.

"The Repository," Katrine began. "Thousands of years of history, arcane knowledge, and technological advancements are stored in these very tomes. Here is where we also conduct and compile research. A long-lived demon can spend an entire lifetime here and there would still be plenty to read!"

"Ahhh, I get what's going on! To put it in layman's terms, Lady Katrine's a nerd," Ririko suddenly said.

"I do not understand what that word means, but it sounds like you used it derisively… I am first and foremost a scientist. The position of 'demon lord' was used out of spite as a way to reclaim ourselves. We 'demons' are a collective of many races shunned by surface-dwellers, each with their own unique rule and culture. For a time, we lived peacefully. Our resources up here were limited, but we made do. Until she came along."

"Chika," I said.

Katrine nodded. She opened the door to a bridge connecting to one of the floating towers. Jouann peered over the edge and recoiled, shuddering at how long the drop was. We entered the tower which turned out to be a smaller, cozier library or study. At the center of the room was a globe. She touched it, seeping magic in to split the sphere open into four even parts.

Everyone gasped when they saw what was inside. A finger-like crystal suspended in mid-air.

"Do you know what this is?" Katrine held it between her thumb and index finger.

"Primordial lifecrystal," I answered promptly. "Chika broke Sacchan to get the one inside it. Pinched a new one from a necro-fucker to fix 'er up."

"Necro… Do you mean necromancer?" Jouann looked at me funny.

Katrine's jaw hung open in shock. "Truly? If the demon lord knew two lifecrystals were here, she would raze this place to the ground for them."

"So what does Chika want with the salt licks?" Ririko butted in.

"Like the name implies," she continued, "it is a crystal full of primordial life energies. Necromancers make use of it by granting life to the dead or imbue a weapon with incredible strength, but those are primitive uses. Gathering enough of these in one place can alter realities. Open rifts in dimensions that would—"

"Let people through from other worlds," I finished her sentence.

Katrine nodded. "I believe someone or something dragged the current demon lord into this world, using them. Then she did the same for you. There must have been a mishap, or perhaps it was intentional, but I'm 95% sure their energies are what empowered you to such an extent."

"95%? What happened to the other 5%?"

"I'm a scientist. I make educated guesswork, not lowbrow conclusions!"

While Lilim and Jouann stared at the crystal curiously, Ririko eyed it like a hawk whose talons were ready to snatch up.

"So, I can go back to Japan and find Eri…" Ririko muttered to herself.

"You wanna go back to that shit hole? You can't even be sure where it takes you. The fuck are you gonna do if it sends you to bumfuck nowhere?" I asked.

"Just because you don't have someone waiting for you back home, doesn't mean the same for me. I'll take even the slimmest chance. How many lifecrystals is it going to take?" She whirled on Katrine for answers.

"I don't know! It's not like I've seen this happen before—"

Katrine flinched when Ririko reached for the lifecrystal, but I grabbed her wrist first.

"The fuck are you thinking?" I glared.

"Let go, Micchi. I'm taking those chicken tenders and going back to Eri," Ririko answered as she preemptively tensed her jaws. I'd been in enough fights to know someone did that when they're about to throw down.

"Then what? You take mine next and take Chika all by yourself, huh? Hahh?! If I gotta beat you a third and fourth time to make sure you stay down, then fucking come at me!"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Katrine exclaimed.

"What?!" Ririko and I snarled.

"If… If you two are going to fight, can you at least do it outside?" she asked timidly and opened another portal, this one leading back out onto the courtyard.

The both of us walked through it.

"You two can't be serious! We're on a diplomatic mission deep in demon territory, and you want to fight amongst yourselves? I don't even feel comfortable in a palace full of demons by myself!" Jouann cried, head poking partway out of the portal.

"Stay there and wait for us to finish," I said.

The dark elven man heaved a sigh and retreated back into the portal. As soon as it closed, Ririko threw the first punch.

I blocked it against my elbow bone. Ririko reeled back, shaking her hand and hissing.

"That all you got?" I goaded her and tossed Sacchan over my shoulder. "Don't need this to beat you. Come on!"

Ririko came at me with an uppercut. I backed away, caught the hook from her other hand, and slammed my forehead into her face. She staggered away, clutching her nose. Blood ran down her fingers and painted nails. The impact left it angled slightly to the right. She used both hands to crack it back into place.

"Fuck!" Ririko shouted, then a thumb to one nostril to blow out blood.

"Cool your jets yet?" I asked.

"Not until I get a hit off, you fucking delinquent!"

"Well, you ain't getting a hit in for free. You gotta earn it, so come at me!" I thumped my chest.

Ririko blitzed toward me. I lifted my arms to block, but they didn't go where I wanted them to. Looking down, I saw ice holding my arms and feet.

"You cheap fucking—"

A hard right hook sent me crashing from the ice and across the courtyard. My cheek stung, my eyes were spinning, and I tasted iron on my whole tongue.

"Yep… alright, that's more like it. If that's how you wanna fight, then two can play!" I ignited my fists with fire hot enough to set nearby brushes alight.

We stampeded into each other only for a bolt of lightning to crash down at the last second. The explosion hurled us across the courtyard, leaving a smoking crater that Yui climbed out of.

"I knew leaving you two alone was going to be a recipe for disaster. Aren't you supposed to be fighting demons and not each other?" Yui asked, dusting her school uniform off.

I threw my arms in the air." What happened to staying on the ship where it's warm?"

"Saw some big booms going off in the city and wanted to see what was going… go… ahh— choo!"

A sneeze interrupted her sentence. Snot dribbled down her nose. She shivered as the cold was finally setting in, pranced over to me and rubbed her nose against my chest.

"Are you serious? Get off, Yui! You're getting snot all over me!" I cried.

"Anego, gimme your jacket… it's cold!" She latched on tighter and wailed.

Ririko walked past me.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

"Back upstairs. We'll do it your way, Micchi. For now. I'll follow you to fight Chika, but you better be sure of one thing: I'm going home to Eri with or without you guys," Ririko said as she continued into the palace.