Fantastical Advance!

Several hours had passed since Laken had locked Mizuki's party underneath the palace. Mizuki glanced at the cell bars for a while, then she suddenly sighed. "Ugh… So, um. Are we going to break out or what?"

Noboru blinked for a moment. "...You DO realize that if we were to break out, we would become criminals. Right?"

"...I'm guessing that's a no." She looked up at the roof. "This is not what I had in mind when I wanted to become an adventurer… Why can't we break out yet!?" The others shrugged briefly.

"Saturn's story earlier was really enlightening though… I think we could help Laken if he would just trust us."

"Mizuki…" Sli-Mai sighed.

Meanwhile…

Another explosion was heard across the entire kingdom. The guards looked up. "...Hey wait. Isn't the barrier that protects our kingdom from monsters, cracking?" One of them said. "No way, man… That isn't possible, not without the power of a demon-"

BOOM!

Without so much as a warning, an even louder explosion occurred. The barrier fell apart in an instant as something came flying into the kingdom. "H-HUH!? H-How did that just… Wait, there's something coming at us. R-Run!-" It took no more than a second for them to be torn to shreds as a demon came crashing down onto the cement. It got up afterward and looked around.

"Hmm… This isn't where I was trying to go, the civilian area is over there…" He briefly laughed. "...Time to go cause a massacre! Nothing beats human flesh for lunch." Moments later, he began flying toward Hashima's Library as he had sensed a lot of humans inside.

Laken paced around the throne room seemingly panicking. "I-If Saturn would just learn how to use Excalibur already, this wouldn't have happened…!" Laken's wife, Satsuma approached him with a concerned look. "What's wrong, Laken…?" She asked worriedly.

He looked at her before sighing as an attempt to calm down. "Those explosions. There is a really high possibility that they are being caused by Demons…"

"D-Demons…? But why? Don't they live on the other side of the continent?" She replied.

"...There was a tale regarding Excalibur, apparently it was used to seal the king of demons a very long time ago. Ever since then, the demons have lived peacefully on the other side of the continent where only adventurers dare to go. However, they might have been alerted the moment someone pulled Excalibur out from that cave…"

"How could they know that we took it out of the cave?" Laken shrugged momentarily. "Maybe it released a lot of magic at once, we didn't have any mages with us at the time. So, we might not have been able to sense the magic flowing out when we pulled it out from the stone-" Suddenly, they heard a loud bang coming from down underneath the palace.

"W-What now!? Wasn't that coming from the dungeon?!"

Mizuki blasted the cell open using "Explosive Blast!", she looked annoyed. "I'm tired of standing in this cell…! Who cares if we become criminals!? We didn't do anything anyway!"

"...Is she always like this?" Toshiko asked Sli-Mai. She shrugged in response. "I-I've only known her for a week, so I am not entirely sure…"

"Well… Guess we are becoming criminals then? I don't mind, but how are we going to get out of here?" Yoshiro questioned.

"That's easy! We just walk right out-" Mizuki paused as she heard guards running toward them. "Look! The adventurers from earlier are trying to break out!" One of them yelled out as they surrounded them.

"God… Damn it!" She pointed her staff at the guards. "I apologize for what I'm about to do in advance. Slithering Flames!" A snake made out of fire flew at the guards "H-Hot! I-It's too hot!!!" In an instant, the guards ran away.

Her party members' mouths dropped in astonishment. "N-Note to self, don't get on Mizuki's bad side." Noburo told himself.

Yoshiro laughed. "You did good, Mizuki! Now let's get out of here before they bring even more guards here." The others nodded and they ran around the dungeon, once they found the exit they proceeded to leave and exit the palace.

"All's well that ends well, right?" Mizuki laughed before someone ran toward her. "H-Hey, didn't you hear the news!? It's dangerous to be outside right now, a demon managed to break the monster-protection barrier!"

She tilted her head out of confusion. "...A Demon? I've heard stories of demons, but aren't they on the other side of our continent? Ashikel is really huge isn't it?"

"I-I don't know, just find a place to hide quickly!" The civilian ran off seemingly going home. "Um… Mizuki, how did a demon get inside the kingdom? And more importantly, why?" Sli-Mai asked.

"I don't know…! Maybe the king managed to piss off a demon or two somehow?-"

CRASH

Mizuki gasped in shock as a demon crashed onto the floor in front of them, they momentarily coughed as the smoke cleared. Revealing the demon's appearance, they had almost pitch black skin and an intimidating presence. Their sharp hands as well as their horns very clearly indicated that they were looking at an actual demon.

"Kekeh… Look what I found, some puny adventurers that will serve as a tasty snack!" He laughed maniacally. Mizuki observed him with her eyes wide and disturbed. "W-What do you want!? And why did you crash onto the ground instead of flying down slowly?!"

The demon stared at her briefly, with a look of questioning. "...I want to eat you, I want to cause ABSOLUTE TERROR to everyone in this kingdom. I want to SLAUGHTER people's families in front of them. Is that not what demons do!?" He laughed.

"As for why I crashed onto the ground, it has to do with our plan… Not that telling you said plan would do any good, since you're about to become lifeless meat!"

"But if you must know… We are launching demons all throughout the kingdom as of this very moment, by using a cannon!"He snickered before noticing a child hiding behind a fence. "Would you look at THAT!"

Mizuki turned to face the child and panicked. "N-NO!" She rushed toward the demon. "M-Mizuki, wait!" Toshiko warned, but it was too late. The demon laughed as sharp tentacle-like parts flew out of his body, Mizuki managed to jump back however it went through her arm slightly.

Moments afterward, the demon tore through the child's body. "Haha…! I killed him AND I got to injure you, puny adventurer!" Mizuki faced the floor, feeling the air turn colder around her as the guilt of not being able to save a child ran through her body.

"D-DAMN IT…!" She ran toward the demon again while shouting, this time she used "Towering Wind Slice!". As if Mizuki was slicing the air itself, the demon didn't react fast enough which caused his arm to get torn off. "A-AGHHH…! Y-You human…! H-How dare you!?" He quickly used a teleportation spell to flee.

Mizuki punched the ground repeatedly in frustration causing her hands to start bleeding. "I-I couldn't save him…!"

Sli-Mai slowly went up to her and patted her back. "I-In all honesty, Mizuki… The fact you were able to stand up against THAT was more than anything we could've done… I-I don't think you should blame yourself."

Toshiko nodded. "Sli-Mai is right… We felt paralyzed by fear because of how terrifying that demon looked." She tried to reassure her.

Mizuki sobbed momentarily before facing Toshiko. "Y-You're right. I… Wish we had been stronger."

Suddenly, they noticed a familiar face running toward them. "M-Mizuki! A-are you okay?! T-There's so much going on around the kingdom-" Saturn immediately paused as he saw the child dead on the floor, he fell to the ground and threw up. "O-Oh god…"