Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Disgaea: Gehenna's Holy Queen ❯ Chapter 1: Sweet Plans ( Chapter 1 )

Disgaea: Gehenna's Holy Queen

Chapter 1: Sweet Plans

And so, a few days passed.

Konoka didn't want to think about Mahora too hard—it'd make her horribly homesick. Instead, she reasoned, it was best that she figured out how the Netherworld worked, and what her new position entailed. After all, the further she extended her hand into the Netherworld, the easier it would be for her to make it a brighter and better place.

Question was, where could she start?

The Gehenna Queen flicked her white tail in mild annoyance—she found herself at a figurative impasse, and not a clue on the best way to cross it. The prinnies were helpful, but they lacked the experience and connections she would need. Giving a wistful sigh, she almost regretted not joining the Go club back at home, or at least paying more attention at Eva-chan's lessons. “This might be even harder than I thought, and I wasn't even expecting a cakewalk. But who could I turn to for something like this...?”

She longed for the simpler days back at Mahora, the ones she knew wouldn't come anymore.

Deciding that brooding would do no good, she leapt into the air and sailed into another part of the castle...

xxx

“Hmph! My inventions should be sound! They're sturdier and stronger! So how come I can't kill that Konoka brat?!” Lunzard raged to the heavens. “Sure she's got the powers of light and a crazy streak that rivals Zegnant in a completely different fashion. She should still be easy prey!”

“Maybe she's just that good?” A prinny suggested.

“Or maybe you don't have it in you to kill her anymore?” Another one added.

Those, despite being the truth, were the exact things Lunzard didn't want to hear. “SILENCE!” He roared, pressing a button. From out of nowhere, two massive pistons crushed the prinnies, also making them explode. “I'm not taking any lip from either of you!” He went back to his architecture board and began penciling the plans on some yet-unnamed machine.

“What are you doing?” A voice popped up.

“Drafting my next machine, of course!” Lunzard replied without thinking, still hard at work on his next magnum opus. However, it took a moment for him to put two and two together, and recognizing that the voice was NOT a Prinny, he whirled to the side to see somebody vaguely unfamiliar eyeing him curiously. “Wh-what?!” On instinct he pressed a button on his overcoat.

Lasers descended from the nigh invisible ceiling, firing at the intruder immediately. “Eep!” Lunzard heard and saw a shape shoot into the air with one massive leap, unfortunately avoiding a fate of burnt bacon.

However, upon landing down on top of one of his machines, Lunzard finally saw that it was merely the presiding Overlord. “YOU?!”

Konoka puffed her cheeks in anger from her crouching position atop a hulking suit of armor. “Yes, me! An Overlord should check on her subjects from time to time, right? But if you're gonna be a jerk like this...” Her tail flicked in annoyance.

“Don't you have manners?! You're supposed to knock before entering!” The angry scientist complained.

“I did!” Konoka insisted petulantly. “And the prinnies answered!”

Note to self: get new prinnies, the demon man mentally hissed. He snarled to the new Overlord, “Next time my machines might be faster on the draw, so if you interrupt me again, I can't guarantee your safety.”

“Fine! Be that way!” Konoka retorted, sticking out her tongue. “I'll just send all your funding to the Blue Hedgehog Foundation!”

“How did you know I hate that foundation?!” The man exclaimed in surprise and fury. “And how do you even know about it?!”

“Because you just told~ me~,” Konoka wagged her finger.

The man shook from rage. This girl was outsmarting him?! “Eugh! You little—it's not like you can actually FIND the funds, girlie!”

Konoka smiled and produced a small envelope. “Does this look like anything to you?”

“WHAT.” The mustached demon was slowly finding himself even more stunned by this girl's actions. Where the hell did this even come from?!

“I managed to dig around the castle for some interesting things, namely where you hide our monetary expenses. Shame you didn't keep it closer...” She waved it around. When she saw his hand move suspiciously, she suddenly stood up. “Uh-uh-uh! If you make any sudden movements, I can't guarantee the safety of this stuff~!”

Snarling, he slowly relented. Testing out his Torque Snatcher would have to wait another day. “What do you want?”

“A bit of guidance, and for you not to interfere with my wishes,” The girl stated up front, her face serious. “That's all I really want from you.”

“...those are shockingly low demands from you, girlie,” Lunzard stated after a bit. “Although I will say that 'not interfering with your wishes' sounds somewhat suspicious. I suppose we have a deal, provided that you don't cut into my funding... in such a fashion that I notice.”

“Fair enough,” Konoka nodded.

“In any case, I'll give you something right off the bat: you know you're going to be attracting the attention of several other Overlords, considering that you're the new girl on the block. And if you're weak, they won't hesitate to pick on you. If I were you, I'd establish that you aren't to be messed with... immediately. Preferably before they show up on your doorstep.” Lunzard went back to his drafting. “The easiest thing for you to do is to start up an army.”

“An army, huh...” Konoka began thinking.

“If you prove yourself competent, I might be able to build you some robots,” Lunzard gave her a particularly menacing grin. “No evil Overlord should be without them, in my opinion.”

“Hmmm... I guess as an evil Overlord, I'll take what could be useful,” Konoka tapped her mouth with her finger. “Where should I start looking?”

“Ask the prinnies! PRINNIES!” Lunzard called.

There was a bit of scuttling before two of those strange penguins came dashing from the halls into the lab. “Sir Lunzard dood?”

“Take your master... shopping. FOR GENERICS! And don't come back without a dimensional guide, either!”

“Sir yes sir!” The prinnies saluted. Konoka had to hold back some giggles.

“Um... Sir Lunzard dood?”

“What is it?”

“What was with the delivery of that first line, dood?”

“I'm not in acting school!” Lunzard waved off his complaint. “Now get lost already!” He slammed the ground, causing both Konoka and the prinnies to jump, and the latter to scurry away like panicked mice. Konoka however, was much calmer and simply sauntered off.

xxx

The sky was the limit—that is, if you can fly.

Luckily, Konoka could, albeit shakily. With her two guide prinnies tucked under her arms, the girl easily coasted past Gehenna's wastelands and into a nearby land. The sky was cool, and felt good on her feathers. Yet, that feeling was also familiar. Surely this was the first time she flied, so what was with this feeling...?

Alas, something bad happened—Konoka's stomach rumbled.

“I'm hungry...” The angelic demoness lamented.

“Dood, don't worry!” One prinny tried to console her. “The casino is just a bit further ahead! You can get something to eat there!”

“But why a casino?” Konoka asked. “I-I mean, why should I go to a casino to recruit people?”

“It's a surprisingly a good place, dood!” The other prinny answered. “The casino's got a lot of activity going on, dood! You can like, post recruitment ads and stuff!”

“Hmmm...” Konoka pouted.

Fate decreed that the casino sucked, and it had a better idea. A powerful, sweet-smelling aroma reached Konoka's nose. And it smelled like... “Cake!” It was like life was breathed back into the demon girl.

“W-what?!” The prinnies nearly thrashed in confusion. But sure enough, even they smelled the wonderful dessert. “Oh, that does smell good, dood!”

“W-wait a minute,” One of the prinnies looked down at the distant earth below. Rolling black sand stared back, followed by the odd encampment of demons, with the majority of them being maroon-skinned pig-like soldiers. He shook fearfully and then looked further in the distance. There, in the middle of this strange desert-like area, stood a massive castle, surrounded by decaying hands reaching for its pinnacle. “This is...”

“Whoa, dood! Turn back! Turn BAAAAAACK!” The other screamed.

“No way!” Konoka cheered happily, completely uncaring about the possibility of the castle ahead being a death trap. “That food smells like heaven, and I'm definitely getting some.”

“Y-y-you don't understand! This is Sweet Castle! They're going to eat us!” The prinnies chorused as if their lives depended on it.

Konoka puffed her cheeks angrily. “All the more reason to go in! I won't let them eat prinnies if they make cake this good without them! Onward~!” With a bit of effort on her part, she flapped her wings hard and nearly nosedived towards the castle, giggling madly on the way.

“DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!” The prinnies cried as they were dragged to their supposed doom.

xxx

“All right, all right! Is everyone here yet?” A hulking gray demon, boar-like in appearance, smacked a roll of papers. “Sir Sweet's gonna be closing the doors pretty soon.” Unlike most of his peers, his voice was smooth, so without even needing to repeat himself or answer to jeers about pigs, he already managed to quiet down the chitchat. Yeah, this boar was that badass.

He stood opposite of a slew of various humanoid demons. Unlike the pigs outside, they had a larger variety of talents between them. There were several sword wielders, a few magicians wielding staffs (hey wait, is one of those mages carrying an AXE?!), a few hulking monster-like demons in all sorts of dark colors, and there was even one childish boy who looked no older than ten, yet he was bearing a sharp spear twice his size.

The huge boar smirked. He recognized quite a few of these people—they had been here before. A few years ago, there was a massive squabble over a legendary delicatessen known as the Ultra Dessert. A squad of prinnies, of all things, managed to actually successfully build the rare dessert—that was, until Sir Sweet, the legendary Overlord of Sweets, stole it in a ploy to lure them into a trap. When word got out that he managed to pull this off, a good number of the people here waged war in this very castle—himself, and even Sir Sweet included—only to get their collective asses handed to them by the prinnies. When he later learned that the normally weak Prinnies belonged to none other than the Demon Lord Etna, things made sense, so he let it slide. These other losers must be trying to get their reputation back up.

“This is it! Turmeric of the Phoenix clan always climaxes at his victory!” A brazen man crowed, waving his sword like a circus freak. Yep, definitely reputation seekers. “I'll show the world that I mean business, by way of passion! Damn those prinnies and their passion thievery!”

This comment got stares from all the nearby demons.

“What?”

There was an arrogant flap of wings “Get lost, you half-hero asswipe,” a sneering demon showing off his imposing wingspan sneered. “True demons have no need for the likes of you.” His vile goat face was already in a perpetual sneer, so making a harder one almost took no effort.

“Yeah,” A second demon, far more human in appearance, but with added massive girth, also commented. “We don't need your type!”

Turmeric easily whirled around. “Ha! Like I need any insults from compensation types!”
“I don't think you can back up your insult, chump.” The first arrogant demon rose, apparently ready to challenge this lowly hero type. He snarled menacingly to accentuate his point. The fat demon quickly stuffed a donut into his mouth before rising with his friend.

By now, most of the onlookers were looking on with varying degrees of interest, but most of all was a hulking green monstrosity, sitting alone towards the back. It too was an anomaly among demons—unlike the pure monster demons like the snide winged monster or the more-human-like Turmeric, it was somewhere in between. It calmly began to gnaw on its cigar, regarding the brewing fight with vacant eyes. That was, until—

“Sir! Sir Morgan!” A maroon pig soldier snorted in, dashing towards the gray boar demon. And like a incompetent intern in a science lab accidentally activating a giant magnet for attention, all eyes fell on it.

“Yeah?” Morgan, apparently their leader, answered.

“Intruders! We have intruders! Possibly a Celestial!” The pig bellowed. “We're trying to take them down, but their leader is too swift and powerful!”

“A Celestial?” Morgan blinked. “Those don't come around here that often. Probably some butthurt Celestial trying to achieve Fallen status. Where is she headed?”

“She's aiming straight for Sir Sweet's kitchen!” The pig reported desperately.

Shit. This could end badly, especially with the Moab army's varying competency. “Dammit... If she gets there—” And suddenly, an idea struck his mind like a surprise ninja attack. “Oh, I've got it. Hey, losers over there.”

“I won't say it again, trash... get lost,” The vicious winged-goat demon leered down at Tumeric, also curling his wings menacingly for added effect. The brazen warrior stared right back, not intimidated in the slightest. However, Morgan's call for attention stopped him, and he, along with most everyone else, turned to the huge boar. “What do you want, Morgan?!” He snapped. He hoped actually working for Sir Sweet didn't involve so much crappy waiting and middlemen. He'd kick Morgan's ass too as soon as he's not looking!

“We've got an intruder we have to deal with, and I hear she's too fast for my squad. First person to bring her to me in one piece, alive or dead, gets in." Morgan sneered, waiting for the expected reaction.

Without hesitation, nearly all of them scrambled out the room, cries of bloodthirst (or what sounded like it, at least) filling the air. The boar laughed—hired hands were all too easy to manipulate. But of course, he wasn't about to be left out of the fun—he hopped up a tall pillar before walking through a secret passageway, not knowing (or caring) that he wasn't even the first to take it.

xxx

“Yay~!” Konoka merrily skipped through the halls, completely ignoring any Moab that wasn't directly attacking her. She was following her nose towards that delicious cake much like a colorful toucan would follow the smell of cereal.

Her prinnies, on the other hand, had their hands full, slicing at any Moab that dare approach their overlord with hostile intent. One shouted backwards, “Umm, Master Konoka, dood?! Could you slow down a bit? We're fighting for our lives here!” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one maroon pig charging towards him with a trident. “Eep!” He jumped away, narrowly evading explodey death by a hair.

“Err... sorry!” She noticed the plight of her soldiers. With a speed she nearly surprised herself with, she scooped up her two prinnies as a few Moabs geared up for an attack.

“CHARGE!” One of the Moab commanders shouted. And thus, five little piggies dashed forward with tridents to defeat an overlord.

Konoka was far too fast for that. She deftly spun around, and her white tail smashed into four of them at once. Four little piggies got sent into the stratosphere.

The commander, horrified at the thorough owning of his troops with just one attack, lost his resolve. “Whoooa-ho-hold ooooon!” He tried to skid to a stop, but the Gehenna Queen's tail was already snaking towards him, smashing him into the sky as well. That was definitely one little piggy that went “Wee wee wee wee!” all the way home.

Any Moab dumb (or in this case smart) enough not to attack merely stared in awe.

Seeing as they were intimidated enough, Konoka let go of her prinny servants and happily skipped to the source of the delightful smell.

At last... she arrived at what appeared to be a giant kitchen. Konoka was reminded heavily of a more lavish and homely version of those kitchens she might see in the back of a restaurant. There all sorts of cooking utensils hung upon the wall. The stove itself looked massive, ornate, and somewhat creepy. Perhaps this is what hell's kitchen would be like if someone from heaven gave it a makeover. Konoka deeply considered consulting the overlord of this castle for some design pointers for her own castle.

The Gehenna queen sniffed around, looking for what would hopefully not be a lie... or a trap.

The Prinnies also scanned their surroundings. Aside from one unassuming cook barely visible from the kitchen, nobody was around. “Think it's all clear, dood!”

“Okay!” Konoka headed towards the kitchen, but...

“STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!”

Konoka froze as if she had been caught with her hands in the cookie jar.

She turned to see a demonic youth in red pants blaze right in, his finger pointed brazenly in her direction. “I, Turmeric of the Phoenix Clan, shall serve justice platter today!” He skidded to a stop. “As soon as I beat you, Sir Sweet—GRAUUU!”

With a perfect flying kick, that brute goat-like demon sent him flying into the wall. Sneering, the demon landed, letting his wings flap. “Why hello there, intruder. Shame you're such a pretty face, otherwise wiping the floor with you would be too easy!”

“Ooh, ooh!” Mr. Fatso demon fluttered in on tiny wings, looking over at Konoka's direction. “She's pretty? Maaaan I'd tap that ass!”

Konoka just stared.

The prinnies shrugged. “What jerks, dood!” One said.

“I'm first in line, now!” The massive goat demon crowed. “I'll crush you!” He aimed a fist.

Konoka decided that the prinnies were right, this guy really was a jerk! “If you really want to crush me...” The boastful goat demon crashed a fist... where Konoka was half a second ago. “You should wait your turn!” Oh snap, that voice came from above! By the time he decided to look up, Konoka's feet had already sailed in and smashed his skull to the ground.

Fatso stared in shock, seeing his friend go down in one hit, before snarling. “Why you...!”

He... began inhaling rapidly, like a demented vacuum cleaner on the fritz. Not even Konoka could resist his power. But well, she didn't need to. With an exasperated huff, Konoka twirled and swatted his face in. And that little piggy crashed with the stock market.

Just as the dust settled down, a cat scampered from the background, dodging the fallen bodies of the demons around it before finally setting at a safe distance, where it eyed Konoka with a weary gaze.

Konoka, not noticing the cat, let out a heavy sigh. “Geez, so many people without manners.” The irony of the situation was lost on her. Now that she was no longer cursed by constant attackers, she decided to check on the first hero that stopped by, largely out of pity. “Are you okay?” She stared at him curiously, leaning in slightly.

“I... have had better days... but I'm still alive!” Turmeric wobbled weakly.

“That's good,” Konoka smiled. “Hold still. I'm gonna see if I can remember my healing abilities. Not sure if it's gonna work, though...”

“Not sure?!” Turmeric whined from his pathetic state. “Don't make it worse!”

The cat mewled in what sounded like amusement.

“Oh, but I think it's just punishment for trying to attack me in the first place!” Konoka gently chided. She extended her wings, letting them glisten with holy power. Luckily for the fallen man, the light was gentle, not judgment, and he felt his injuries melt away. As the brazen man calmly checked his improved health, the Gehenna Queen asked, “Feel better?”

“Yes!” He pumped his fist while an imaginary victory fanfare played.

“Whoa, so cool!” A young voice shot in. Konoka nearly jumped as a shape sailed over her and landed right in front. She saw a young boy with white hair, cloaked in a roughshod school outfit and a strange hat that looked more like a pair of shorts. “Massive holy power... you're an overlord, aren't you? Your title says so, anyway.”

“My... title?” Konoka blinked.

“Yep!” The boy answered.

Konoka gazed at the demon boy. Somehow, her memories were bubbling up again.

“Konoka-san, your cooking tastes great! You'd make a great wife one day!”

That reminded her... oh, it reminded her of— “Oh Negi-kun!” The Gehenna Queen immediately smothered the poor boy with a powerful hug. “How I missed you!”

“Umm... my name is Lucas,” The white-haired boy gave a muffled response between her breasts.

Realizing her mistake, she let him go. “Oh, I'm sorry!” She straightened him out much like a mother would her child. “It's just that you reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago...”

The spear boy, Lucas, simply chuckled after backing safely away. “You sure are different. Your title fits you.” But on the inside, he found himself glowing—this woman before him was pleasant... worth sacrificing free sweets for.

Konoka checked her title—how, nobody outside of this story could ever figure it out. Indeed, Konoka's title read “Gehenna's Infant Overlord”. “Infant?!” Konoka huffed angrily. “I'm 18!”

“That's infancy in demon years, even if you're an ex-human!” Tumeric pointed out, somehow obtaining the logic skill during his previous level up.

“I guess you used to be human then. But still...” Lucas paced around Konoka, as if examining her. “I think your jumping skills are cool! I'm gonna perfect mine one day and put Spear-wielders back on the map!”

“Hmmm...” Konoka seemed to like the sudden friendly atmosphere, but... “It's true that I'm an Overlord. I'm actually looking for underlings that would help me out. But aren't you guys hired hands for the resident Overlord of this castle? Why are you not attacking me?”

“We're just being tested as hired hands, really,” Lucas said.

“That's right!” Turmeric, filled with energy, leapt up and made an epic pose on the table. “As soon as I get my chance, I will claim revenge against Sir Sweet—GAAAUU!” Whoops, someone landed on him again.

“Geez, you should be more subtle if you're going to stab someone in the back,” Konoka looked to see Morgan, our favorite classy badass boar demon, had used Turmeric as a landing pad. As par the course for any antagonist who's signing himself up for a boss fight, Morgan dramatically flipped his cape before leering the girl. “So you're an overlord, huh? No wonder the other Moabs couldn't bring you down. You're still pretty weak though, or at least in theory.” From his backside he procured a massive axe, twirling it around threateningly. “Looks like you other guys fail.”

“That's just fine,” Lucas hissed, grabbing his weapon and dropping to a fighting stance. “I'm switching sides, anyway.”

“Obligatory boss fight already?!” Konoka dropped her mouth in awe. “Are all of you this trigger happy?!”

“Welcome to the Netherworld, dood!” Her two prinnies shrugged before pulling out their dual knives. “If you wanna reach the top, better grind like no tomorrow, dood!”

The cat scampered back to safety... for now.

“You too?” Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Still, I'd be a fool to come without backup!” He whistled, and within seconds, swarms of Moabs appeared, armed to the teeth with tridents and cheap guns. “I hope you're ready.”

“Maaan...” Konoka realized just how much of a battle-happy warrior she wasn't—or at least she hadn't been. One thing she distinctly remembered now was that she healed a lot, and always needed to be protected.

Protected? But by who, her memories refused to say.

But still... whoever that was, that person was no longer here. Still, she still couldn't really say that she wanted to run away... no. She was powerful now, and with that physical power, this was an opportunity to test it. Was this new feeling a part of her demonhood?

“CHAAARRRGE!” A Moab yelled (for the second time), and several little piggies swarmed in with weapons poking (and a few firing).

Lucas didn't even bother. He leapt into the air, disappearing from their sight and nearly halting their fierce advance. Konoka's faithful prinnies, on the other hand, had no such jumping skills and only had dual swords to fend for themselves. “Dooood!” They complained as they twirled their swords to keep the numerous pigs at bay.

Meanwhile, Morgan galloped forward, raising his axe. Konoka squealed and flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding a free axe appendage. Without even losing stride, Morgan flowed into a second axe attack, missing Konoka by an inch again and slamming the ground with his might. “Not used to offense, are ya?”

“No!” Konoka answered shakily. “But...!” When Morgan pulled off a fast one with his axe, however, her tail deflected the attack, whipping forward with enough force to parry the blow. Following that up, she actually flipped, letting her tail crash into Morgan's snout and send him stumbling backwards.

Morgan quickly recovered... and laughed. Konoka tilted her head in confusion. “Man, if you weren't so skittish, you'd be a joke right now. Or rather, you'd be an easily killed joke. Like your prinnies.”

Speaking of said prinnies, they were fighting the Moabs... and losing. Those spears outdistanced their swords, and the gunners kept interrupting their air barrages. “Can't keep this up, dood!” One cried, sponging a nasty spear attack to his side. One more hit like that, and...

“Why are you so mean?!” Konoka finally whined to Morgan, and with that she leapt into the air...

...just as a spear crashed down on the waves of Moabs, killing a large amount of them instantly. Lucas fell just a moment later, quickly picking up his weapon again. “Haha, how's that?!”

“You coulda came down faster, dood!” One of Konoka's prinnies complained.

“It's a work in progress! Gimme a break!” More endless Moab fodder dashed in, readying their weapons. “Aw, man!” And thusly, Lucas and the prinnies were back to taking out more weaklings.

Seeing that Konoka has adapted a similar move, Morgan merely gave the spear-toting Lucas a sideways glance. “Oh, I see why she inspires you, kid.” And with that, he simply bounded into the air to meet her. The girl flinched in shock as he continued. “But... she just ain't good.” He heaved his axe and chucked it at her, the weapon whirling like a buzzsaw. Konoka shrieked and twirled to dodge it. Easy counterattack time, right?

Nope. Konoka attacked with her tail, and missed. The girl was forced to land, all the while Morgan was still floating. Wait, floating? And where's that axe—

Yikes! Instinct kicked in as Konoka back-flipped from an attack from behind. The ax was moving on its own?! The renegade weapon suddenly arced around a corner and began chasing her again! At once, the girl scrambled under the table, trying to slow down that psychotic weapon moving on its own. “Aiyaaaahhh!” She squealed.

“Never heard of telekinesis?” Morgan offered, still floating in the air. His fingers moved like snakes, suggesting that he was controlling something. “I can send that weapons anywhere I like without touching it! Cool, isn't it?”

“Not when I'm on the business end!” Konoka squealed. She ran again, tripped over a cat. Whirled to recover quickly so she wouldn't be axe jerky, and—

“You dare summon an AXE on an innocent cat?!” The cat was no more—instead, there was a very angry pink-haired girl in a long black dress. She had apparently deflected the renegade axe... with her own. “I was just fine watching on the sidelines, but NOOOO you just had to summon the friggin' axe, didn't you?!”

“That wasn't me!” Konoka protested. Morgan landed down from the air, jerking his axe from the embedding it made on the floor. Konoka of course, frantically pointed her finger in his direction. “It was his fault!”

“Really?” Angry mage girl no longer sounded very angry at all.

“Yep... oh no, he's doing it again!”

“Let's just beat him to death then~!” The way-too-easily-convinced pink-haired demon lass put away her axe and whipped out her staff. Whirling it around a bit, she gathered magic power. A rune flashed into existence over her head, opening wider as Morgan and his telekinetic weapon flew in closer. Then she slammed the weapon down, and a powerful burst of purple energy shot through, knocking the axe away.

Morgan, however, was nowhere near the blast. Instead, he sailed from the air, slamming the ground. Magnificent and powerful ice stalagmites shot from the ground (making magic scientists everywhere cry from the impossibility), and managed to nick poor Konoka in the head. The other girl didn't get hit, but by now had reverted back into a cat and had scrambled for dear life.

The dizzy overlord staggered backwards as Morgan stomped forward. “You really are something. But it's gotta end here. Sir Sweet will lose it if anyone finds his new cook! So don't take this personal, huh?” With no regard to his previous statement, Morgan pulled out a massive chaingun. “Rrraauuggh!”

The cat became a girl again. “Oh no! Get out of the way!”

Konoka could not get the hell out of dodge like the mage could... With only enough cognition, she curled her wings to protect her body as several bullets flew towards her at a rate of two hundred per minute. Just as quickly as the assault had begun, Morgan's death machine ran out of bullets.

Konoka's body remained unscathed, which was good. Her wings, however were riddled with bullets, and that was bad. And it hurt, it truly hurt! Oh god that was worse! The pain, it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts— “EEEEYYYAAAAUUUHGGGH!” Konoka let a blood-curdling scream, stopping everyone in the room.

“No way, is she—?!” Morgan began.

Konoka pressed her hands to the ground, as if her upper body needed more support. The pain was getting to her... again? Dark memories of pain and taunting welled up, and it was too strong. Far too strong. She just wanted all of it to go away, clear out that darkness...

Her wings began to shimmer with light. The bullets locked inside began to fall freely, just like the endless shells Morgan launched earlier. The shimmering became more and more intense until bursts of chaotic light shot from her wings. All of them spun around like drunken flies on speed until they suddenly affixed themselves on Morgan, and crashed into him like the fist of an angry god. The power of the attack sent the boar demon crashing into the wall so strongly he made a wall crater.

For a moment, time stood still, as those who were still standing simply stared at the young queen.

“Dood?” A prinny ventured.

Then Konoka stood. Though shaky from the pain, the girl smiled. “I win! Now I can finally...” Her body betrayed her, and she sank to the ground. Lucas and her prinnies immediately dashed to her side to help her up.

“Miss?! Are you okay?” Lucas asked the obvious question.

“...urk. I'm too hungry,” Konoka moaned. “Where did my strength go?”

“Exhausting your magic like that...” The mage stepped back in, her face showing a combination of worry and pent up anger. “ARE YOU A MORON?! Even the most powerful of demons can kill themselves if they don't manage magic properly!”

Konoka pouted.

“Lay off the yelling, Anise,” Lucas pointed two fingers in her direction. “I think she's learned her lesson.”

“Well,” The girl known as Anise far-too-easily reverted back to a sweet voice. “I guess she's still alive, so you have a point.”

“I'm still alive too!” Turmeric lifted a hand from the ground he was plastered in. “Don't I get any points?”

“Nope!” Both demon kids responded.

“Arrrrggghhh...”

Somehow, a gentle but powerful aroma brought them to silence. Konoka, sniffing it, rose up, and fought her body to move towards the source—wonderful cake. Fresh, warm chocolate-vanilla cake stood atop a counter. Konoka moved towards it slowly, almost not even recognizing the fact that the person who put it there was still standing right behind it until she reached out for it...

She stopped. For the first time, she wondered if she was recklessly taking something away from someone else. Even though she was supposed to be an evil Overlord (blowing up all the residents here was... surprisingly fun in a strange way. She'd have never thought about this as a human.), something about taking something that didn't belong to her, especially something like this delicious cake, proved to be something that even in her evilest state she could not do.

“Go on and take it, Konoe-san,” A voice said. “It's what you came here for, I take it?”

“Really?” Konoka looked up to see the pleasant face of the cook. The brunette woman smiled gently at her. “Thank you!” And with that, she took a fork and had her first taste.

“This is good... truly good,” The Holy Overlord was moved to tears. Not only was it good—it brought back memories of Mahora again. Back when she lived there, there was but one person who could surpass her cooking. That person was often seen with those crazy geniuses she remembered having to help Negi fight against last time they were together... For someone in the Netherworld to have this passion... no, she couldn't even bear to savor it alone! “Lucas-han, Anise-han! You should have some! You too, Turmeric-han!”

Both of the younger-looking demons raised their eyebrows. “Really?”

“Free cake?!” No points for guessing who.

“Yeah, it's good!” Konoka cheered. “The taste, the texture, everything!”

The two demon children walked up to the sweet. This strange woman... wanted to share? Demons sharing?! It wasn't impossible or unheard of, but for someone to be freely generous was a rare thing to see. They too, had a piece. “Whoa... really good!” Lucas added. “I see why Sir Sweet hired you now.” Anise simply hummed her approval.

“Hired? I can't say I was given much choice in this employment,” The cook tittered nervously, but easily gained back her cool. “Then again, I wasn't expecting to see Konoe-san here either.”

“Huh?” Konoka blinked, peering at the woman. “How do you know my name?”

“It's been a long time, Konoe-san.” That voice from the cook was something like a vague calling in the wind—so far away from her mind, yet so familiar. The dark brown, almost crimson hair, the pleasant face, the slightly pudgy body... Wait. Was this... No way! Her face was too thin! She was too tall!

But there was no denying it. The person in front of her was... “Wha... Satsuki Yotsuba-chan?!”

It seemed that the universe was smaller than she thought.

xxx

With Etna doing her own thing (as usual) and Flonne already departed to go visit the new person on the block, Laharl was largely alone, minus his lower vassals and various prinnies running about.

And my god, why was it so goddamn boring!? Having a starring role should be more exciting! “Dammit, as a main character, I demand that something exciting happen in the next five minutes!”

Every vassal in the room at that time stared at Laharl.

Then they kept right on with their busywork.

Four minutes and fifty seconds passed. “I'm WAITING!”

“So Prince, I thought main characters went out and, you know, did things,” A decaying zombie answered kindly to his angry rants. “Waiting for things to happen usually led to bad ends.”

The small overlord began to think about that one. True, main characters always did go out and discover things... but usually that information somehow came to those characters, and they acted on them. Still, being ignorant would solve nothing. Laharl was a stubborn mofo, and proud of it. But he wasn't going to be an ignorant stubborn mofo! “Guess you've got a point, Zommie,” Laharl murmured. “But I'm an overlord now.”

“Glad to be of service, Prince,” Zommie ignored this demand, because “Prince” was so awesome as to still be fitting. He went back to bobbing his head uselessly, unafraid of the fact that it could very well fall off if he kept it up.

So what type of information could he act on? As an overlord, he knew it was important to have scouts, planted politicians and informants of all kinds in and out of his land—it was a great safety measure to make sure nothing caught him by surprise. He never would've found that brutal overlord Baal in that school if it weren't for that. But lately, they haven't even been picking up on much interesting.

But... one thing did nag him.

If the rumors were correct, the new overlord Flonne was off to see was in fact, an ex-human. And lately, there have been a lot of ex-humans running around—that is, humans that directly become demons, rather than have their souls reincarnate. He even had a few in his ranks, like—

“Sire,” A somewhat restrained and yet curt voice requested his attention. Laharl looked down to see a female scout giving him full attention. She looked suspiciously important. “There appears to be a link to the human world nearby here.”

“Oh really?” Laharl sneered. “So why's that important, even though entryways to the human world are rare?”

“Ah, but lest we forget, there's not one but two human worlds connected to this one,” The woman answered. “One is the ordinary world, the one where most holes like this lead to. The other, which is unprecedented for dimensional holes like this, lead to Mundus Magica.”

“Mundus Magica?” Laharl scratched his head.

“A world where magic is freely wielded,” This suspiciously important scout looked somewhat wistful. “Most demons migrate to the Netherworld from Mundus Vetus, but...”

“Well, then let's GO THERE!” Laharl boomed. “Nothing like seeing some new places to take over!”

“You won't succeed so easily...” The scout warned. Laharl could practically hear the I'd like to see you try from this woman's words, but he could tell she had enough restraint and class to not voice that out loud... it seemed like her current job may have been a demotion. He'd have to consider THAT when he got another chance later. “...the magic guard on many of these places is viciously strong. Even someone like you could be worn down by their sheer numbers and expertise.”

“Huh, you act like I'd just march in there and act like I own the place,” Laharl retorted. However, the knowing glances everyone shot him apparently meant he'd do exactly that if he could get away with it. “Damn, so maybe you all know me too well.”

“You haven't changed a bit, Prince~” Etna, for all of her glory, waltzed back in. “Maybe you should rethink this 'recklessly taking over any place that's new' idea you might be fostering.”

“Geh...” This was getting nowhere, and Laharl was not liking it. “Still, maybe something in that world might be bringing about all those ex-humans, like that new overlord. The more I know about that freak overlord before Flonne does, the better!”

“Awww, you miss Flonne already, Prince?” Etna taunted, seeing right through his reasoning.

“Dammit, don't read into that!” Laharl shot back. “Anyway, I'm going to that place to see it, whether you chumps like it or not! Who's with me?!”

“Sire, I'll travel with you,” This suspiciously important scout answered. “After all, I once called that place home.”

xxx

Once again adjusting some small machine, the great dean of Evil Academy was hard at work, concocting some devilish device. The books made by the great Lunzard Torque had recently proliferated his school, and they turned out to be awesome for building and working with diabolical machinery. Furthermore, they were easy enough to create for a genius like himself.

Nevermind the fact that he had flubbed a few key parts several times. He wound that one screw a little too hard—oh look, he broke something again.

“Urrghghhg! DAMMIT!” Mao bellowed, slamming his fists in frustration. “I can't think straight!” Trying to keep calm, the overlord hissed before taking deep breaths. When he was no longer filled with intense rage, he tried to organize his thoughts. So that new overlord is prancing around, and Beryl is going out to go fangirl over her, so now he's free to create his Dual Death Laser, but Beryl might not come back to witness his awesome genius if that overlord's good, and...

Yeah, that might be the problem.

“What's the matter?” A fiery and yet collected voice rolled in. “You look like you just realized that you put too much spice in the curry!”

Mao turned around to see a tall man stride in. His red clothing suggested Chinese ancestry, though his shock of blond hair might have simply suggested he has a thing for simply appearing like fire. Striding calmly behind him was a young-looking demon with dark skin, contrasted by a purely white suit.

Mao ignored the younger demon for now. “Mr. Champloo! What are you doing here?!”

“Checking up on you, of course!” Champloo returned a warm grin, not even bothered by Mao's dangerously dropping temper. “A good cook keeps a careful eye on everything! Boom!”

“Oh that's terrible, am I that incompetent?” Mao cleverly masked his happiness to see the legendary cook.

“This place is as good a kitchen as any, so I'd say not really,” Champloo saw right through it, as most of Mao's closest vassals did.

“Anyway, I'm trying to make my new Dual Death Laser, and it's not working out! This should be easy, too, since I've built similar things for experimentation, but noooo! That damn Beryl keeps showing up in my mind! She's disappeared before, so why is she invading my mental space now?!” Mao continued to rant in a mad scientist-like manner.

“Hmm? You're worried about Beryl?” Champloo asked, trying his hardest to keep the obvious grin from stretching his face.

“WHAT?! NEVER!” Mao screamed.

“So the dean's a male tsundere?” The new boy on the block asked, neon orange eyes alight with mirth and confusion. “Never thought I'd see that.”

“You shut up,” Mao glared back at this newcomer that dare insult the dean of the school. “Who the hell are you, anyway? Mr. Champloo, did you bring him here?”

“My name is Cygnus,” The demon swept a low bow. “And yes, Mr. Champloo brought me here.”

“Indeed, I brought him here, since he's the ideal student to help with our current situation,” Champloo explained. “He's something of an honor student, though he's been accused of delinquency as well... actually quite the blend of both you and Beryl, like a perfect smoothie! Boom!”

“Oh... I think I've heard of you,” Mao rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Your cruelty to other demons who pick on the defenseless is legendary. And you seem to have a network of people who tell you news of the Netherworld.”

“What can I say?” Cygnus crowed, giving a feral grin. “I don't like having competition or drowning in ignorance.”

“So what about that time I saw you helping delinquents with their homework?” Champloo asked.

“What?!” Cygnus roared, making Mao quirk his eyebrow. “I was obviously extorting them!”

“Or how about that time I saw you open the door for a girl?”

“She got in the way! Not that I like her...”

“Guess I'm not alone in that 'male tsundere' business, hmm?” Mao hid a devilish grin. Before the younger demon could object, he continued. “So you've heard of this new overlord, then?”

“O-of course,” Cygnus answered. “As far as being an Overlord goes, she is most definitely a neophyte—she's not even 19. You'd think someone like that would be ineffective, even an infant, but considering her ability against one of her more powerful vassals, she may be stronger than she looks. And if my source is correct... her puny age is attributed to the fact that she is ex-human.”

“Ex-human?!” Mao gasped. “How could an ex-human get power that fast?!”

“Bad luck...” Cygnus's smile—no, his face fell, as if recalling a terrible memory. “...and good fortune.” He quickly composed himself. “Allow me to continue some research about this girl. If we look into her past as a human, we might find something interesting. Extra credit is always nice.”

“Consider yourself hired, then!” Mao bellowed. “...but don't let Beryl find out. Gooo and find her human hometown and get me links there IMMEDIATELY!”

Cygnus grinned before shrouding himself in darkness and disappearing. Mao smirked. “Mwa ha ha ha! I'll know all about this new Overlord before Beryl even steps foot at her front door! How's that for not being worried?!”

“Whatever helps you bring home the bacon!” Champloo smirked. However, his grin fell. “Beware of having too many cooks controlling the spices. This one seems to have his own agenda.”

“I'm aware of that,” Mao crossed his arms while looking at his confidant. “I just want to see how good he is.”

-x-x-

(And there we have it... The real first chapter! Read, review, and if your interested, follow my website link for more detailed author's notes!)