The Slothful Queen

Chapter One - He, the devil

Every inch of her body shakes in pure terror as she kneels before some of the most powerful beings to exist. Twelve council members sit upon high thrones watching and observing with cold judgmental gazes. How wouldn't they, she is nothing but a pile of meat on bones in front of them. Never had she thought that she would ever see a Devil, especially ones this powerful.

The spirit to submit and beg for mercy is irresistible, but she knows far too well that no amount of sucking up or begging would influence their decisions in any way. People like them are already used to people grovelling at their feet.

"Raise your arm," a member says with a voice filled with power and authority. She can tell the, because she is used to being controlled by one with a lot of it.

Ann raises her arm up as she is told, revealing a snake-like dark vein crawling around her wrist. Part of the reason she's here.

A flawless dark-haired man gives an unsatisfied stare. She can't help but part her lips slightly, amazed by how extraordinary his features are. Almost surreal with exquisite and flawless skin… In fact , they are all stunning. Possessing high, elegant and powerful demeanor. Like gods.

The worst of it all; her life is in their hands.

A thought crosses her mind as a reminder of how weak she really is compared to either of them. In her bones, she can feel the overwhelming power oozing out of every single one of them.

So this is the power of Devils.

For so long, she had only ever fought demons.

"That is the mark of Arga. He's turning Shifters now?" A woman says with displeasure.

"Arga and his ways. He should have been disposed decades ago."

"Bulimius, is this, thing, the reason you summoned us here, much more in the middle of war!"

The blue-haired man tightens his fist as he straightens his back, showing off that devil pride. "Believe me, this little thing has done much more than kryptors have ever in the progression of battle victory."

Ann suddenly feels the gazes of everyone in the room, making her heart shiver. Anyone in her shoes would have cracked into a pit of fear and run by now, yet she fights through it all, forcing a brave appearance. After all, she has survived years being looked at in the same way.

"This really is why you called for a meeting! I hope you know what you have done."

"She was responsible for the attack and conquer of Ri 21. She fed us the information about the movements of Earth's army when they would be most vulnerable."

The whole hall fell into silence.

"What?"

"I introduce, Ann Grether wolf general of the East. A high ranked soldier of the queen's army."

"What nonsense, you bring the Queen's arm to us!"

"Guards!"

Two masked giants appear beside Ann and grab her by the arm.

"Giver her a chance," Bulimius yells. "I can vouch for her."

"Bulimius, you are Rusuk of the fighters. I am most disappointed. You will surely be punished for embarrassing us before the—"

"Please give me a chance!" Ann yells, "I left my realm for this. No one wants to stop the queen of Earth, more than I do. You're my only hope. I have abandoned my post, I do not serve the queen anymore and my blood is half-demon. I swear to be loyal to you, I can be useful, I know many things; how many soldiers she has, her weapons, anything."

"Tell me about the queen of Earth," a calm, deep voice cuts through. The entire hall falls into silence as the atmosphere turns cold and the level of fear in the room doubles.

The soldiers immediately halt their actions as Bulimius falls on his knee and bows.

Ann shifts her gaze towards the direction of Bulimius' bowing head, to find the source of the voice.

Suddenly, her heart begins to pound in her chest as she notices a man with hair as white as snow, and an aura darker than night, gazing upon her from his high throne. The highest throne in the room. His head is bent at an angle that reveals his sharp jawline as he rests on his knuckles with a bored expression. Hand coated with black leather gloves that matches his midnight black attire.

Her heart drops instantly.

"Kneel!" Bulimius orders with a whisper, and she does as ordered, getting on one knee.

She tries her hardest not to look back up, as neither Bulimius nor the giants dare to look anywhere else but down.

However, that one glimpse was more than enough to keep her mesmerized.

He was unlike anything she had ever seen, even compared to the other Devils in the hall. The fact that he was an otherworldly entity really showed.

His red eyes had strange black markings around the ring, which the others didn't have. Never had she seen eyes so hauntingly alluring. A shade of red so dark, it pulled you into a deep abyss of blood and burning red, nightmare. And his pure white hair, which curled at the tip near his shoulders, had little wild specks of silver strands that seemed to make his hair gleam.

Ann freezes unable to tame her beating heart, unsure if it was the most beautiful angelic creature she's ever seen, or the darkest sexually alluring Devil.

Yes.

A strange, ghoulish mix of both.

"Ann," Bulimius growls with a whisper.

"Th-The queen of Earth..." Ann starts with a stammer, feeling the domineering eyes directed at her.

To think he had been there watching the whole time and she had no clue. She occasionally did glance at that throne out of curiosity, but each time she found it empty.

Had he hidden himself with an illusion spell? Or was he too powerful for her mortal eyes to see. She did remember that some demons were impossible to be seen by bloodlings. They would only appear to those they wanted to see them. But they are very rare, even by Devil standards.

"M-my queen... what would you want to know about her?" Ann stutters, fear knotting her tongue.

"Everything. Earth has never had a unitary leader, but somehow she took control in less than a decade, I am curious about that." The white haired man answers. His voice is clear with a coldness that makes Ann's inner stomach giddy painfully.

Ann's hand falls to her chest unknowingly, unable to tame her charging heart. Partly from anger.

"The queen gained power by exploiting the pains and sufferings of nations at their weakest; war. She became sovereign of earth by murdering every single monarch, priest, chief, alive after forcing them to swear their lands and people to her. And strangely, people loved her for it, we idolized her, thinking she had our interest at heart.”

"But she didn't. She doesn't care about anyone or anything! She is a cruel, power hungry woman who seeks to cause chaos and destroy everything in her path!" Ann's nails bite into her palm as emotions consume from within. "Nothing but destruction matters to her. If I have to describe her in one word, it would be wicked."

The council stare blankly.

Information concerning this so called 'wicked queen' has been painfully scarce, so neither of them actually knows anything about her capabilities before the war. All they know is that she exists and thanks to her silly decision to oppose the Devils, it had led her realm to suffer constant torment and brutal attacks at the hands of Nether forces, for years.

Only recently did the Devils care to leave their realm to fight against the Earthan army.

As travel between the two realms is quite complicated, Demons and Devils can't survive long on earth, innately, and neither can bloodlings survive in the Nether. Only supply of fresh blood and flesh can be collected at the Gates. Of course, there are some powerful Devils and demons that run around earth for longer by wearing human souls to survive, but at the cost of their ability to stay in Nether.

That's where the problem began. Five years ago, shipments of blood suddenly stopped and so did all connection with demons outside earth. After some investigation, it was discovered that every, single demon outside Nether had mysteriously died, well, killed. Not a single trace of them was left behind, only the wallowing cries of their vanishing souls.

Something like that had never been seen before. Not of that scale. It greatly hindered the flow of blood and food supply entering into Nether, enough so, to gain the attention of the Devils and thus start a five-year bloody war.

So far, earth has been on the receiving end of the lash out, barely standing its ground. Nether is more powerful in terms of raw curse energy, weapons and individual might. A single demon would overpower any creature on earth easily. If not for the silly little protection of Archaia, bloodlings would be near extinct.

"You might see her as a mere Bloodling, but believe me, the queen of earth is the worst adversary anyone could ever have."

"Yet we have crushed her army time and time again in battle," a councilwoman laughs, and shortly the others laugh too. Except the white-haired man.

He simply observes.

"I-I, it is unclear to me why she hasn't done anything, but believe me when I say that the she is a direct threat to demon-kind. Your weapons and soldiers shouldn't be mainly targeted towards earthan army. Hatred for earth should be focused on the queen. Kill her and earth is free game."

"Well, of course we will kill the useless queen. Once, we crush her army and people, she won't have anything to rely on," says a council member.

Ann furrows her eyebrows. They still don't get it.

A small light flickers in his blood-red eyes. "I see." Says the king of evil. "Keep the girl alive."

The Giants at Ann's side bow. "As you wish, -Ihsa nia caliri-, Your Majesty."

They disappear without a trace.

That's when Ann realizes who he is.

The one responsible for Earth's torment.

The king of Devils himself.