The demons’ lands sit close to this forest, like a dark shoreline shadowing the trees. But their reach dwarfs the woods like sea to pond. We’ve already slipped past the elves’ border, a leaf on a crosswind. We’re likely in troll territory now, rough as boulders under moss. The Demon King’s palace is still far off, a star beyond the ridge.

The demon realms run as the Demon God Federation, a patchwork banner stitched by several demigod-tier lords. All because the current Demon King is lazy as a cat in sun. She could’ve welded the map into one blade. She didn’t. She beat every demon god into kneeling, pinned on the title “Demon King” like a brooch, held a coronation, and wandered off. Since then, she lets her lieutenants dam the river of paperwork while she drifts like smoke.

What kind of federation is that? More like lacquer on a wooden sign, all gloss, little spine.

Demon King Jiuqi… she’s one of the few true gods left on this plane, a lone lantern in thinning fog. The older true gods bolted years ago, meteors leaving the sky. They refused to wait for death in this world. Most who remain climbed to true god only in the last few millennia, saplings forced into trees.

Take little Jiuqi for one. She only broke through a decade-some ago, fresh steel from the forge. But she carries a great demon’s blood and a line near the first succubus. Jiuqi stands at the continent’s ceiling, the highest beam under heaven.

Her mother named her. Jiuqi is the ninety-seventh generation from one of the original seven demon gods. So her mother just called her “Jiuqi,” Nine-Seven, clean and sharp as a seal.

Honestly, it sounds pretty.

When I first met Jiuqi, she was a child, soft as spring shoots. No one thought she’d wear a crown. When the Demon God Federation rose, my adventuring party and I swung our weight like oars in a flood. We helped.

Some of them must be officials in the Federation now, roots sunk into palace stone.

Guilt hits first, a stone in my belly. I don’t even dare face my own teammates. Forget teammates—I don’t even dare tell my own sister.

I steal a guilty glance at Xuewei, eyes like frost on a lake.

She doesn’t notice. Her gaze stays fixed ahead, an arrow nocked and waiting.

Later in the flight, Kaleya sped up, wind biting like knives. We crossed a country in less than seconds, a shadow flicking across a map. Thank the heavens she kept the wards wrapped around us. Without them, I doubt I’d reach the Demon King’s palace in one piece.

Soon, we arrived, like a boat sliding into a moonlit harbor.

A colossal palace filled our view, brilliance piled like glaciers. The buildings rose mountain-tall, carved in pure demon style, jagged and grand. Size alone dwarfed the palace I saw under the sea by tenfold, a whale to a carp. Even towering Kaleya could drop freely into the plaza outside, a hawk landing on open stone.

My mouth fell open like a dropped pearl. “Gods, this is ridiculously lavish.”

Xuewei only murmured, cool as mist, “It’s fine.”

When Ling Xuewei sought to break into the quasi-divine realm, she came to consult Jiuqi. She stayed here for dozens of days, a guest under crimson eaves.

There’s a reason this palace sprawls like a city. The Demon God Federation holds a nationwide festival every month, a tide named and justified by the Demon King’s mood. Every demon god must come, a storm of banners and horns. Most demons’ original forms are huge, boulder and beast. So the palace had to be built vast enough to hold them all.

But Jiuqi’s own quarters are small, a quiet pond behind the falls. Someone once mocked her original form as too strange. Since then, she’s never shown it. For ten years, she’s appeared only in human shape. In that shape, Jiuqi looks about fourteen, small and razor-bright. She inherited her mother’s kingdom-toppling beauty and a waterfall of pink hair. From her father, she took the temper—no mercy for outsiders, thunder wrapped in silk.

Jiuqi is half demon, half succubus. Unlike other succubi, she doesn’t feed on others’ vital essence to live. She eats like the rest of us, steam and spice rising from a proper meal.

Two demon maids had been waiting, posture neat as bamboo. When Kaleya touched down, they hurried up and bowed. “Miss Kaleya, welcome back~”

“Miss Kaleya, are these on you the guests this time?” The short-haired, one-eyed maid tilted her curious gaze to me, a bright cat watching a droplet.

“Don’t stare, little sis. Mind your manners.” The older one turned, then lowered her voice. “Miss Kaleya, Her Majesty bids you go see her the moment you return. Her Majesty—mmph!”

“You dumb big sis, we weren’t told to say the rest!” The younger popped up with a grin. “Oh, oh—little miss, I’m Saya—waa!”

Her sister flipped her with a clean hip throw, a wave crashing over a pebble, then grabbed her and retreated in a hurry. “Ahaha, sorry, sorry. My sister gets too excited. Miss Kaleya—and you, little miss—please don’t forget to go see the Demon King!”

My courage shrank like a turtle into its shell. The more you say it like that, the less I want to go…

Judging by those two, could little Jiuqi… have already recognized me?

No way. Absolutely not. Little Jiuqi’s an airhead bigger than me. If even Xuewei hasn’t noticed, she won’t either. Even if she did, it wouldn’t be a big deal… But with Xuewei here, I don’t want to get caught red-handed.

“Then, Miss Xuewei, let’s go~” Kaleya, human again, walked ahead with a faint smile, calm as a tea surface. Xuewei waited for my guard to slip. Then she scooped me up from behind in a princess carry.

“Hey, hey! Are you addicted to carrying me?”

I puffed my cheeks and shot Xuewei a glare, a sparrow pecking at a tiger.

“Her Majesty’s bedchamber is close,” Kaleya said, voice light as rain. “We’ll get there in a few minutes. Miss Xuewei, Her Majesty really wants—”

She never finished. A pink figure, sealed in a sphere of water, blasted backward through the air, a rose caught in a wave.

“Your Majesty!” Kaleya felt her liege’s aura and forgot everything else. She surged toward that falling star.

“This…” Xuewei stared at a sight she least believed possible. The Mad Thunder Demon God, Jiuqi, famed as the continent’s strongest—was knocked flying inside a water bubble?!

Outside, rumors painted that little brat as grievously injured and in seclusion. Anyone in the Federation knew it was a trick for toddlers, sugar on a pill. No idiot ever tried to test it.

A true god who could erase half a plane had been sent flying. It felt like dreaming with eyes open.

Xuewei froze for a heartbeat, then bolted after Kaleya, wind tearing at her sleeves. An enemy dared invade the Demon God Federation—and pick a fight with the Demon King. She never saw that coming.

Wait. Water?

Xuewei snapped her head around, pulse cold as icewater. A blue-haired woman had appeared at her side, smiling at her, calm as a lake at dawn.