Mars walked towards the palace again, this time he didn"t come to talk, he came to kill after all they had tried to gas him and if not for 78 he would have been captured and maybe killed for real, as he neared the palace he grew out his claws and vermilion armor gradually formed around him before he gave a cold smile and activated [Half-awaken] just as one of the search parties spotted him and quickly confirmed he was the one they were searching for"Stop right there!"
Mars simple glanced at the soldiers before they fell over dead with a simple use of [Energy: temperature control], a slightly burnt smell spread out, he had cooked the inside of their heads killing them instantly before he continued walking towards the palace, to say the least Mars was in no mood for mercy today
"Now let"s see... to avoid the gas I"ll beter enter on my own terms and the room I enter vented while I am at it..."
Mars gave a nod as he looked up at the palaces walls before he jumped and began flying above the palace, looking down on the palace Mars quickly found what he a.s.sumed to be the audience room or at least somewhere of importance
"Well then let"s poke a nice ventilations hole..."
Mars flew down and touching the roof of the palace as he charged energy units in his hand before he unleashed them partially collapsing the roof of the palace, then he flew down into what looked like a throne room and looked around for a moment before he spotted a beastwoman sitting on a throne and next to her floated an avatar that looked at Mars with hate in its orange eyes before it yelled
"Energy!"
"Oh if it isn"t Sword..? I see things are starting to make sense now..."
"Guards!"
Mars ignored the beastwoman that called for the guards and put his focus on the avatar that glared at him with hatred and activated [Instant movement] before he reappeared right in front of it and grabbed it by the face and quickly discharged his stored energy units and so with a bang the avatar once again broke into tiny pieces as the formless pressure quickly escaped leaving behind Mars and the beatswoman that sat on the throne that looked at him in horror as she mumbled
"You are not an imposter..!"
"Well what did you expect? anyway you must be the beast empress"
The beast empress quickly dismissed the guards that had come running before he walked down from her thorne with shaking legs and then she kneeled down in front of Mars and spoke with a slightly trembling voice
"Please have mercy on my kingdom..!"
Mars thought for a moment before he spoke
"You ambushed me and my travel companion as we came here to help you end the war that is going on with the humans... we could have been friends and I could have left this continent quicker... But instead you listened to the one that seek to destroy you continent and ambush me..."
The beast empress got more and more pale as Mars spoke and lowered her head even deeper, right now she was mentally cursing Sword for telling her lies about Mars being a living G.o.d imposter that had to be killed, but after Mars destroyed the avatar she had no doubts of Mars" ident.i.ty
"Please forgive me my insolence lord Mars..!"
Mars gave a cold smile before he commanded
"Stand"
"But lord Mars I---"
"I said stand!"
"Y-Yes at once!"
The beast empress stood up, her legs were shaking like that of a newborn lamb, Mars walked over to her and put a hand on her cheek before he stroked it slightly to calm her down as he spoke
"Relax I won"t kill you..."
The beast empress suddenly looked very relieved right before she felt something was wrong as the strength rapidly left her body and was drained through the hand that stroked her cheek as she suddenly aged rapidly as the energy was drained out of her, when Mars pulled back his hand she looked like an old frail woman, Mars gave a smile and spoke
"Now we"re even... I left some luggage and a sword here, where might they be?"
The beast empress kneeled down again this time from exhaustion as she was too frail to keep standing but still she spoke to one of the guards that had watched the whole thing
"Find... Them... Now..."
"Yes!"
Mars waited a few minutes before the guard returned carrying his backpack and boardsword that still was warped in cloth, Mars quickly cheeked that they didn"t swap his broadsword with another less valuable one before he looked over at the beast empress and spoke
"Now then, I got what I came for, so I"ll see myself out... Enjoy the rest of you life, mortal"
Mars then flew out of the hole he had made in the roof and returned to the Inn but paused when he was about to open the door to his and 78"s room
"....What am I hesitating for?"
Mars shook his head and opened the door, but instead of being jumped by 78 as he expected he was met with silence, well not quite silence
*SNORE*
Mars felt his eye twitch a bit when he looked at 78 that laid across the double bed on her back snoring like an old man for a bit before he gave a sigh and decided to just go to sleep...
"Wake up Mars..."
Mars felt his body being shaken slightly and opened his eyes and blinked a few times before his eyes focused and saw 78 that was leaning over him, her long brown hair was tickling his face slightly as she showed a happy smile before her face closed in and their lips met, but instead of the long deep kiss Mars was half expecting 78 lifted her face up again relatively fast before she gave a cute giggle and showed sweet smile
"Good morning Mars"
"Yeah good morning 78..."
Mars also gave a smile, it was then that he finally realized that he considered 78 to be his and gave a sigh
"I don"t know if it"s my dragon blood or it"s just a basic nature as a man to be searching for as many partners as possible... oh well"
Mars got up and got dressed before they went down to eat downstairs, while they ate an unwelcome guest showed up, 78 ignored her and so did Mars until he was finished eating and so he gave his second sigh of the day before he asked
"What do you want Terra?"
Terra bowed down before she spoke
"I am here to apologize again and to give you this letter..."
Mars looked at the letter and saw it was addressed to the demon king Gregory before he gave a nod as Terra explained
"This letter should give you a meeting with the demon king... Please use it when you arrive at the capital of demons"
"Fine... Are you done eating 78?"
"Yeah"
"Then let"s go"
Mars picked up his luggage and walked out of the Inn before he picked up 78 in his arms and flew into the air, after gaining about 200 meters of alt.i.tude he took on his flight goggles and handed a pair to 78 before he flew west towards the demon lands...
After 8 days of relatively boring flight with a few breaks in between the two of them arrived at the capital of demons where they would hopefully get a more open welcome than the one at the beast empress palace, but first there was something more important to do
"Let"s get some food"
"Umm!"
Mars and 78 found themselves a nice restaurant with seats outside and ordered some food before they began eating and chatting, them not being demons attracted a lot of attention from the demon inhabitants of the capital but neither Mars nor 78 was worried about that as they spent time in their own little world while they ate, but soon something they were unable to ignore showed up, a total of 50 mounted knights that escorted a carriage that stopped right out on the road next to the restaurant where they were eating
"....here comes trouble, or at least something annoying"
Mars gave a sigh as he continued eating while keeping attention on the carriage out of the corner of his eye, soon an older demon man wearing ceremonial armor stepped out of the carriage and looked around for a moment before his eyes landed on Mars and 78 as a smile formed on his face, as he stepped down from the carriage he walked straight over towards Mars and 78 that still ignored his presence, the other demons around kneeled down when they saw him however, this caused Mars to be even more alert to him and soon he was standing next to the table and looked at Mars before he spoke
"You must be Mars..."