An actress in our midst!

Jake grimaced as he watched his daughter’s back. She hadn’t spoken to him since they had left, and he hadn’t tried to talk to her either. What would he even say? 

‘I’m sorry!’? Or ‘I can explain!’? Maybe ‘You’re grounded, young lady!’?

No, definitely not the last one. The last one might end up with his head impaled on her spear.

Still, he was surprised that she had gone ahead with the trial after finding out about him rather than stomping off in anger. The Jessica he knew would have done that.

But this wasn’t the cheerful energetic brat full of optimism of a girl he had known. This was a demon general candidate through and through.

What had happened…?

Her mother, obviously. Jake wasn’t so dumb as not to realize it. He wasn’t the only one affected by her death. Jessica had clearly suffered because of it as well. And he had been too depressed himself to really look at his only daughter when it happened.

Jake chanced a glance at Jessica struggling to keep her pace with her tiny wings. The overseer lounging on top of her head probably didn’t help things either. It was kind of adorable, honestly.

Jake shook his head.

He had forgotten about his daughter. Left her behind. Sure, he had told himself that joining the demons and getting revenge on the magical girls was for the both of them.

A pathetic excuse, he knew.

Not that he had even asked Jessica if she wanted to avenge her mother. No, in fact, he had known that her little girl had always loved the magical girls. That was probably why he hadn’t talked to her about the whole demon business. She would object.

But then he’d met her here as the other demon general candidate. An enemy of the magical girls. What a massive punch in the gut.

Jake felt his stomach twist as he thought about it.

It felt as if he had not only lost his wife, but now, due to his neglect, lost his daughter as well. There probably wasn’t any way to salvage their relationship anymore. At least Jessica seemed to be content ignoring him and doing her own thing now.

He would have to get used to it then. They would just be… colleagues, fellow demon generals, rather than father and daughter. Yeah.

How sad was that?

He couldn’t help the grimace that found its way onto his face.

The journey lasted three days as predicted. They regularly stopped for breaks to eat and sleep, but otherwise kept going whenever they could. The only words exchanged between them were one-word phrases about landing somewhere and setting off again. Not even a good night or anything. Not that Jake expected her to wish him good night.

Even Aura became less chatty than usual. She could probably sense the atmosphere between them.

Finally, after three tense days, they made it to the place where the trial was supposed to take place. The spirit volcano.

It was a massive ashen hill lit up by patches of lava that looked deliberately placed to form a pattern.

The overseers guided them to the entrance and as they landed, Jake noticed there was already someone waiting for them.

The demon lord.

His first instinct was to bow and greet him, but it was interrupted by Jessica.

“The fuck are you doing here?”

Jake whipped his head at Jessica, his mouth agape. Had his daughter really just done that?

To his surprise, the demon lord ignored her crude greetings.

“... welcome, Jessica, Jake, to the trials of the ancestors,” his voice bellowed, making Jake straighten his posture on instinct. Jessica’s only reacted by crossing her arms.

“You are here to be evaluated to see whether you are worthy of being the new demon generals.” The demon lord gave a nod to each of them. “The trials will be difficult and taxing and you might die along the way.”

Jake could feel his hackles rising as he swallowed.

Jessica… rolled her eyes.

“Right. Super dramatic. Can we get on with it? You’re not here just to intimidate us, are you?”

Nomed let out a long-suffering sigh and Aura stared at her, uncomprehending.

“... No, I’m not,” the demon lord admitted, glossing over the utter disrespect shown to him. He turned to glance at the volcano’s entrance. “These trials have been a tradition for the royal family for hundreds of years. Way before the destruction of the demon realm.”

Jake frowned.

Destruction… of the demon realm?

“They were meant to help us connect with our ancestors and reaffirm who we are.” He shook his head. “Since the destruction, I had tried to continue the tradition, but it had been nothing but a farce, in reality.”

“What do you mean?” Jake found himself speaking up.

“Only those of the royal family are allowed to select the candidates. I am not of royal blood.”

Huh…?

“I have continued these trials to appease our ancestors. But it’s slowly becoming harder and harder to continue. The ancestors are close to finding out the truth and once they do, their backlash might lead to yet another calamity.”

There was a moment of pregnant silence as the two general hopefuls absorbed this information.

Jessica was the one to break the silence.

“They would be mad enough at you to destroy the entire demon realm…?”

She pinned her superior with an odd frown. More mature and thoughtful than Jake would have ever expected of his daughter.

The demon lord sighed.

“Worst case scenario, both the demon realm and the human world will be destroyed this time around.”

Jake stiffened at that.

“But why? Just because you aren’t a royal while pretending to be one?” Jessica kept inquiring. “Just that would be enough for them to literally destroy both worlds? That can’t be the whole reason.”

“No, it’s not… The main reason would be because I was the one who destroyed the demon realm, killed most of its inhabitants, and usurped the throne.”

Jake went pale now.

“What the hell?” Jessica snarled. “What do you mean by that? And why are you trying to prevent the apocalypse now after already causing one yourself?”

Once again, the demon lord breathed in and let out a sad sigh as his gaze fixated on the ground.

“The first calamity… hasn’t been intentional, believe it or not.” He lifted up his gaze again. “In fact, the entire conflict between the demons and the magical girls… is also just a farce. Us demons have never been trying to invade and destroy your world for real.”

That, Jake hadn’t expected. Sure, the tactics deployed by the demon army probably weren’t the most efficient, but…

“Then what is the point of all this?” She spread out her arms. “What is all the fighting for? Why are we here? What are the demon generals supposed to be? And why are you telling us now, just before we’re supposed to become generals?”

The demon lord went silent for a good while, as he stared at the ground, somehow looking utterly exhausted.

“Let me tell you everything from the very beginning,” he finally spoke, his voice was softer than Jake anticipated. Even Jessica widened her eyes upon hearing it. “A story about a foolish scientist, a group of girls from another world, dangerous experiments, and… falling in love.”

…

Love?!

BottledChaos Next time: "Coming out!" or "Mom? Mom? I'm actually..."