Maou Shoujo Magical Chaos

Rolan Side

The battle between the demon queen and Chandra was a spectacle for the ages. No matter how I look at it, no human could ever reach their level, regardless of how long they train their bodies and minds. The only thing that could ever hope to stand toe to toe with their destructive powers would be large-scale magic, but since chanting takes time, mages would be hopelessly beaten down before they could fire off any spells. And just witnessing the two demons fighting leads me to believe that even a whole army of humans could not keep them away from these vulnerable mages.

"We're getting nowhere..." Even though I know that everything we try against this six-armed demon is shut down by the vast difference in physical strength, I refuse to give up. But without Kamii, I have to admit that we are weak. Her cursed arm was on an entirely different level compared to what humans can do without magic. If only Runa was here...

"Oh, ya givin' up?" Chandra asks with a grin, holding Gram in a headlock and deflecting a crossbow bolt aiming at her eyes almost casually. Sigurd's combat-shooting has visibly progressed over the past moon, and Gram has become even more steadfast. I am even aware of the fact that my footwork has improved vastly, compared to when I fought the thousand-eyed demon in the underground arena.

"Never!" I know she is taunting me, but it has the effect of giving me a second wind. I rush at her and wait for the last second before dodging sideways under her lowest arm aiming at my chest with a palm thrust. By doing so, I am putting her own arm between me her others, and stab into the lowermost armpit. It only pierces into her skin but does not even go deep enough to bury the entire tip into her body. Quickly drawing back, I take my distance once more.

"Not bad, ya gettin' better." Rubbing the small wound with one of her free hands, she points at me and praises my progress. Against a human opponent, the blade would have pierced into the heart or lungs, but her body is just too tough. Is it even made of flesh and bones? The most obvious weaknesses in her body would be her throat, mouth and eyes, but they are too high up for me to reach. Sigurd is trying his best to hit them, but she can easily intercept crossbow bolts with her impossibly fast reflexes. I know that she is just playing with me, since there is no way she could not block my attack; after all, I am clearly slower than a flying bolt.

"Hey boss, your husband's returned." A four-armed warrior with purple skin calls out to Chandra. She has shown to dislike it when people interrupt her during sparring matches, but the content of the message causes her to immediately let go of Gram and turn to the warrior.

"Really?" The pitch of her voice seems to have jumped up an octave, and she shows a love-struck expression. I never thought that she could make such a face; it must mean that she really loves this man. "How do I look?" She asks while redoing her ponytail, which has come slightly loose in our battle. She sounds like a pure young maiden who is about to be visited by her sweetheart.

"Fierce as ever, boss." The warrior replies with a grin, and she returns it with confidence.

"Good, then I'm ready to meet him." Chandra says while showing off her sharp canines. It seems I mistook her demeanor for shyness; in fact, it would appear that she wants to look powerful in front of her husband, rather than beautiful. I am now interested to see what kind of man could ever make this woman his wife.

Gram Side

Chandra told me the first day that she has a husband, even when she showed interest in my body. Apparently demons practice polygamy regardless of whether they're male or female, unlike in the Kingdom of Lares or the Mineva Republic, where monogamy is law, or the Empire of Terminus and the Khurut Sultanate, where only men are allowed to marry several women.

But then again, rather than ever becoming a husband, I'm just a plaything to her. Among the warriors, there are several others who lie with her from time to time, but when I asked them, they told me that none of them are actually married to her. Therefore, I'm really interested to see who the man is that has the honor of being called her husband among all the men she keeps for company.

"I have returned, my lovely wife!" The overbearing bass voice echoes up the cliff, and in the next moment the sound of the earth shattering can be heard from below. A figure jumps into the air and crashes down onto the butte on which the fortress stands, straightening his back and shouldering a large bag casually, despite having cracked the ground under his feet with the impact. "Where are you?!"

He's a man towering a head above me, topless and wearing a fur loincloth, with a muscular body putting even Chandra's to shame. His entire body is covered in silver markings that stand in contrast to his dark bronze skin, which he must have gained from constant exposure to the sun. A spiky mane of hair in the color of the leaves in spring extend downwards in thick sideburns that line his square jaw line down to the cleft chin. Lacking irises and pupils entirely, his completely white eyes seem to be glowing from the inside.

I can instinctively feel that he is an incredibly powerful existence. His appearance may be human to a certain extent, but he must be a demon.

"My dear husband!" Chandra walks towards the man, reminiscent of the time when Pelomyx visited. What happens next is as expected; she punches him with three fists at the same time, and he blocks them with one arm, as if it is the easiest thing to do. A fistfight of the highest magnitude follows, which I can only watch in silent awe. I'm once again shown the difference in the basic makeup between humans and demons, and I have to wonder why they haven't attacked and subjugated the human continents one after another with that overwhelming power, yet.

"Actually, I'm here for a specific reason." The giant man states when they conclude their fight. It seems that Chandra is satisfied with finding that her husband is still as strong as ever, or at least that's what I took away from their epic clash. "I was told to bring the humans with me." He points at us without actually looking, as if we don't even register with him.

"Who told ya to? Was it Pelomyx?" She looks at him with a skeptical expression, an eyebrow raised at his vague wording. "Didn't know ya had anythin' to do with her."

"I don't. It was my father. He told me those humans are needed or something. I'll just borrow them and bring them back afterwards, if you want me to." He responds casually under her scrutinizing gaze.

"Then ya know what ya gotta do to get 'em." Chandra states and cracks all her six sets of knuckles at the same time while taking her distance from her husband. Even though they only fought moments ago, they're ready to go for another round again. Responding with a toothy grin, the bronze man pumps up his muscles and stands at the ready with a powerful stance. From it, it's clear that he's the attack-oriented type, unlike me, who's better at defense.

"I know you, my lovely wife! That's how it should be!" With this, he rushes forward, at the same time as his significant other, and they collide in the middle of the courtyard, unleashing a blast of air that tugs at my beard. Even I can tell that this man is holding back, while Chandra is most likely going at full power. In other words, he is near the same level as the demon queen.

"Who is that?" I turn to Shugra, who's watching with a frown. The entire butte is shaking under the impact of their clash and he must be fearing for the structural integrity of the fortress.

"That's Oinos. He came to claim the boss as his wife when nobody else would, and he succeeded in doin' so." He responds, not looking away from the battle for one moment. Despite his reservations regarding the monumental battle and its effects on the fortress, he's still a member of the Ajura clan, so he loves to see a good battle. "I think ya humans call him the Walker of the Wild."

??? Side

"Will you not reunite with your brother?" A woman with shoulder-length straight black hair and a single, helical horn emerging from near her hairline on the forehead, asks with droopy, always tired looking eyes. She is holding a sickle-moon staff, facing a petite naked girl with long hair and skin as white as the cloud she is sitting cross-legged on. The latter's expression is one of irritation, as she regards the question with annoyance.

"I have no intention to ever speak with him again, Shelnir." She states decidedly, her eyes fixed on the woman's with a dauntless gaze, before turning away as if there is no more room for discussion. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"How long will you keep on sulking, Exla?" Shelnir interrupts her with a lazy smile. However, it somehow appears as if it is a sinister one, because of how she appears to look down on her opposite. "It has been nearly one thousand and six hundred cycles. Can you not see it in yourself to reconcile with your only kin?"

"If he wanted to reconcile with me, he wouldn't have sent you." With anger on her features, Exla turns around and replies in a low and threatening tone. "You, of all people. Don't think I don't know about what you've been doing behind the scenes for all this time." Shelnir's smile widens into a maliciously wide grin, as she leans on her staff and looks down on the petite girl with gleefully glowing red eyes. With a disgusted expression, the latter stands up and faces her down. "Careful, Shelnir. You're treading on dangerous ground."

In the next moment, Exla loses her form and turns into vapors, combining with the cloud they are standing on. It begins to move and Shelnir quickly levitates off of it, looking down as the massive cumulonimbus cloud moves away from her, as if being caught by a powerful storm.

"You will return one day, Exla!" The horned woman proclaims in a loud voice. "This, I prophesize as the Guide of Tomorrow!" At these words, she laughs with vicious joy. The cloud spins around and a massive pillar of vapors rushes towards Shelnir. She seemingly fades out of existence, just before it connects with her, but her mocking laughter lingers in the air for a while longer, resounding across the Dark Continent.

Chaos Side

"Soon, the future will be decided." Juzual's voice resounds in my mind during a break. It's one of the rare occasions where she actually lets her presence be known, and of course, she speaks of something cryptic. I'd appreciate it if she made things simpler from time to time.

"Please elaborate?" I ask and drop the gold nugget I transmuted onto the pile I've been succeeding in making for a while now. It's becoming second nature and honestly, it's boring to be doing this all day long. Then again, I don't know how many days have passed, since the moon doesn't circle the planet once a day, but rather at a different rate that I haven't been able to completely grasp, yet. Compounding onto that is the fact that neither I nor Aurelia need to sleep, so there's no sense of the passage of time.

"A battle is about to take place, one that will bring an end to many things." The Witch of the End responds, a hint of joy in her voice at the prospect to see something coming to an end. But I really want to know who's going to be involved in that battle, since it sounds important. It's entirely possible that maou-mama is one of the major players in that one.

"A battle between whom?" I don't like that I have to pry for more information like this, but I think Juzual is actually enjoying this. She likes to appear mysterious, and all I can think of is a certain chuunibyou girl who also wears a big witch hat and likes to destroy things with huge explosions. "You need to get a little more specific, or I won't know what you mean." I look at Aurelia, who is listening in on our conversation while examining the gold nuggets I created with a careful eye. She's the most suited for judging the purity of gold, considering her body is quite obviously made of it.

"Powerful beings that will shake the very world with their clash." Once again, it's vague. I mean, gathering from her story, all those sorcerers are powerful enough to shake the world on their own, so does it mean infighting is going to begin among them? "It shall be the moment to shape the next one thousand cycles of history."

"Shouldn't we... you know... be there? I mean, didn't you want me to fight and kill these sorcerers?" I just want to get off this boring rock already. While my relationship with Aurelia is good enough for some casual physical contact, I can't take it further as long as we're here on the moon. An environment without an atmosphere doesn't allow for a lot of the things I'd like to do to and with her.

"Looking at your progress, you are far from ready. I cannot have you die a worthless death after I invested so much into you ." Leave me alone, oi! Juzual's voice clearly takes on a mocking tone, but maybe it's just my imagination, since she sounds the same as always. And what did she invest into me? She didn't do anything for all this time, only speaking into our minds once in a while. Still, I hate to admit it, but she's right. I can transmute moon rocks into gold, but that doesn't do anything for me in a battle. "It is time to move on." She adds.

"Oh, then we're going to-" I start.

"No." Don't just interrupt me without an explanation and before I even get to the object of the sentence! "You shall learn about manipulation next." Huh, what does she mean by that?

"Like this." Noticing my questioning gaze, Aurelia picks up several of the gold nuggets I created and makes them float through what I can only perceive as the power of telekinesis. However, she goes a step further and the gold changes form, twisting and seemingly melting, merging together and soon taking on the shape of a dagger. Since she didn't use a lot at the same time, it's all she can create on the spot.

"That's like Magn-" I exclaim.

"Your turn." Juzual interrupts me once again. The golden girl makes the dagger float and spin around herself and then shoots it right at me. It pierces my chest and sinks into my body, down to the hilt. I pull it out and close the hole it leaves behind, no blood spewing forth as it would in a human being. I'll take that as Aurelia being playful, since no harm was done...

Now this seems like a useful power to have. If I can do this with anything, not just gold, then I could become invincible. I mean, I'd just make the staves or wands of mages fly out of their hands, or just take them apart from afar. Not for a moment do I think it's unfair to have such an overpowered ability, considering I've been fighting alone, while my enemies were always ganging up on me.

Alright, how do I even begin to visualize this? I close my eyes and just imagine the dagger in my hand changing into a simple ball. Rather than starting with something difficult like shaping gold nuggets into weapons or even making them float, I'll first try the simplest thing, which would be returning it to its previous appearance. When I open my eyes again, nothing happened. Of course not, it's not going to be so easy.

This is going to take a while...