Chapter 1: Summer Vacation for All!
"Oh, Laharl-sama~ it's the first day of summer and I'm not letting you stay inside all day~" Flonne said in a sing-song voice as she skipped merrily down the hallway to Laharl's room.
"Flonne? What are you so happy about?" Etna asked as Flonne passed her, Flonne had to stop on account of good manners- it's rude to just skip right by someone when they're talking to you, after all.
"It's the first day of summer in the HUMAN WORLD, here in the netherworld the weather is always the same year-round." Etna seemed all to eager to ruin Flonne's bright mood, but Flonne was unmoved by her pessimism.
"The weather doesn't matter, it's the principle of the season, Etna!" Flonne replied brightly, her one-fallen angel parade would NOT be rained on any time soon.
"Principle of the season? Did you hit your head getting out of bed today, or is this just more of your usual light-headedness?" Etna asked, persistant as always to ruin Flonne's mood.
"Summer is about getting active and going outside with friends to have fun! Being cooped up in a castle all day is for winter!" Flonne said, still ever full of joy- even Etna admitted she couldn't damped Flonne's mood at this point. Etna waved Flonne off with a smile, though she knew in the back of her head that Laharl would still never go outside- he had too much pride to be ordered around by Flonne, and Etna wanted to see her get blown off by Laharl, it would have much greater effect on dampening her mood than Etna would ever manage alone, so Etna followed Flonne to Laharl's room to see the events unfold.
Flonne merrily skipped through the throne room, stopping every so often to wave to the various demons that loitered about there and the prinny servants that were shuffling about to get everything ready for Laharl's eventual awakening. After finally saying hello to every single demon present, Flonne finally knocked on Laharl's door politely; after waiting for a minute with no response, Flonne felt it was fair to simply barge in and wake him up- it WAS afternoon, after all.
"Oh, Laharl~ let's go outside and have a- pic-...nic...?" Flonne said cheerfully as she opened the door to Laharl's room, though she was abruptly stopped short by a most... grisly sight.
Furniture-wise, Laharl's room was just the same as it was when Flonne first arrived at the castle just a few months ago, though now there was a new, most unwelcome addition right in the center of the room.
Laharl was propped against his coffin-bed in a sitting position, his favored sword was shattered with metal shards all over the floor around him and some were even stuck in his bare chest; a bloody mess all over his forehead which trickled down his face- which was permanently stuck in an expression of surprise- and finally it dripped down to the floor between his legs, forming a small pool of blood that was still warm to the touch. Hardly more than an inch above the fallen overlord's right eye was a bullet hole that was the obvious source of the overlord's demise. On the far wall apart from the door in crisp, yet drippy and messy sanguine lettering that was very hastily done, it was difficult to read at first glance, coupled with the room's poor lighting- it was almost certainly Laharl's own, written by the assailant as a message to justify their murder... or some other unknown reason, perhaps.
"L-Laharl..? Why...? How...? Who...?" Flonne couldn't articulate a full sentence through all the grief and sorrow she was feeling, she simply did as she felt she should and rushed over to his lifeless body and felt for a pulse in his neck, just to make sure this wasn't a cruel joke- it wasn't, there was nothing. Flonne burted into tears and pulled Laharl's body close, drenching the back of her dress with blood as she did so, but she was way beyond caring.
"Flonne? What's going-" Etna called as she took her first look into the room. Etna's reaction was... much less of overwhelming grief and more of fury that someone managed to get through the castle's defenses and kill the overlord, and then proceed on their merry way away from danger.
"He's- *sniff* he's dead, Etna... *sob* *sniff* Someone killed him... *sob*." Flonne stated the obvious among deep breaths and quickly-flowing tears, not releasing her close embrace of Laharl's lifeless body.
"Who the HELL did this? And how..?" Ever the pragmatic thinker, Etna looked about the room for clues as to who the assassin was and how they pulled it off.
Obviously a gun-user... Maybe in connection to today being the first day of summer, but why would that matter..? Hmmm... No, probably not... Etna walked to the other side of the room and examined the window just to the left of the blood-writing.
This window's not damaged in the least... and neither is the other one... and there's been guards posted at the door all day and night, so how did they get in?.. Wait... why do I care? I'm sure it won't be too hard to convince the late overlord's subjects that he named me his successor, since he basically DID, so why am I wasting my time here? Oh, duh! If I don't catch the killer, they'll probably get me next! So let's see... maybe I should question the prinny guards outside... Etna mentally planned, then she quickly exited the room and left Flonne to her mourning.
Outside there was already a small crowd of subjects wanting to get a look inside the room, but the dragon that always stood in the throne room kept them back.
"No one will enter this room! I suggest you all just get lost!" The dragon growled, slightly deterring any further attempts to enter the room- but only slightly.
"Dragon." Etna said to get it's attention, also stomping on it's tail for extra precaution.
The dragon swung around and slapped a few bystanders away with its tail whipping around at such high speed- Etna was smart enough not to stay on its tail, since she would've probably been knocked on the ground if she did; add to it, Etna was much higher than the dragon, so she knew it wouldn't try to get her back.
"Demon lord- how may I be of service?" The dragon asked, a slight undertone of irritation in its voice.
"You were outside in the throne room all night- did you see anyone enter the prince's room?" Etna asked the obvious question, then she mentally slapped herself at how stupid that must've sounded- of course the dragon didn't see anyone, or else they would've been stopped.
"No, not even a prinny entered the prince's room all night, up until you and miss Flonne entered just now, and no one has entered or exited SINCE then either- although early in the morning at about 3 the door to the prince's room slammed shut, though I don't recall hearing it open. I took a peek into the prince's room and he was still sleeping soundly in his coffin, and there was no one else in the room that I could see, so I just figured it was nothing." The dragon stated everything pertinent to Etna's inquiry, making things go SO much faster.
"Alright." Etna blinked at such honesty from a demon, then she quickly regained her composure.
Etna went back into Laharl's room and the dragon back to stopping would-be intruders. Inside the room, Flonne had finally let go of Laharl's body and laid it on the floor next to his coffin-bed, and she herself was kneeled next to him, still crying.
"Did- *sniff* did you find anything?" Flonne asked between sobs.
"A little..." Etna said as she looked around the room with a suspiscious eye- something just didn't feel right; now that Etna was over the shock of the prince's death, coupled with her newfound caution at dealing with an obviously well-trained assassin, she could now feel... something about the room, something that just shouldn't be there.
If no one entered or exited since me or Flonne... then... how did the killer escape..?
Then something hit Etna- figuratively, of course- what if the killer was still there? What if the killer was in the room right now, watching all of this? Etna didn't take such a belittling idea lightly, and like a tiger who just sniffed out her prey, she wildly looked about the room for something out of place- tragically she couldn't find anything, the poor lighting of the room made it impossible to see into the dark corners of the room.
"Flonne, wait outside for a moment; I need to... check something." Etna said in a cautious tone- she had a plan, but she couldn't say it out loud in case the assassin was still in the room.
"O-ok... *sniff*" Flonne stood up and dragged her heels to the door, still crying as she did so.
"Oh, and lock the door behind you." Etna whispered as Flonne passed by- such an odd request made Flonne pause, the reason why Etna was whispering was lost on Flonne.
"But... but why?" Flonne asked at normal volume, that being like screaming to what Etna would've preferred, but she didn't reveal anything of importance, so Etna didn't really care.
"Just do it!" Etna whispered through her teeth, Flonne nodded quickly and did exactly as she said- locking the door behind her.
"Alright then, let's see where you're hiding... SEXY BEAM!" Etna used her favorite special attack of all to draw a shining heart on the ceiling to illuminate the room as if the sun itself just materialized in it- poor lighting aside and with such wild determination of her slighted pride, it didn't take her long to spot her target.
In the top-right corner of the room relative to the blood writing was a figure in all black cloth clothing, the figure's hands were dug deep into the stone wall cracks for support, and the lighting in that area was previously... well, zero, so it was quite impossible to have spotted the assassin nestled so comfortably in the corner of the room, watching everything happen.
"So, you're the one who killed the prince..." Etna said, her words practically oozing with sadistic anticipation- she simply couldn't WAIT to begin the excruciatingly painful torture on the killer for humiliating her so... oh, and for killing Laharl.
The assassin dropped from their hiding place and tore of their mask and black stealth clothing dramatically- not much use since they've been spotted.
"You're- You're... wait... who ARE you?" Etna asked, slightly disappointed that this wasn't some kind of high-profile killer that she'd get a bounty for getting rid of- oh well, revenge is nice, too.
The assassin was obviously female, with just past shoulder-length black hair accesorized with some white clips and wearing- as Etna's first impression was- an open tacky fur-lined white coat and a skin-tight black leather tanktop and matching short-shorts, with very tall high heels covering most of her legs.
"You don't see it, do you? Who am I? WHO AM I? THAT'S the problem! My game... HE stole MY GAME, so no one knows who I am! Asagi Asagiri? who is that? I haven't played that game- oh, that's right, BECAUSE THERE IS NONE!" The assassin cried quite loudly- evidently this assassin's supposed skill from Etna's first impression was GREATLY exaggerated- she was just a overemotional nutcase who got lucky, apparantly.
"Ummm... ok... so, Asagi Asagiri, I guess your name is, so let's just get on with your impending killing." Etna shrugged after hearing such... strange ramblings.
"N-no! I... I can't kill you... you aren't my one of my targets..." Asagi clutched her head as if she had a migrane and shook around a bit, Etna was simply stunned after seeing such madness.
"NOT a target..?" One would think that would bring comfort and relief to Etna, but it had quite the opposite effect- she was INFURIATED that she was apparantly not important enough to be considered a target and Laharl was.
"I, ETNA THE GREAT DEMON LORD, AM NOT A TARGET? WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Etna screamed in anger at Asagi, who stopped clutching her head and looked at Etna with a hunter's focus and zero inhibitions.
"Etna? You- you had an entire game mode just for yourself... and you were a main character in the sequel to the first... but... I got nothing..." Asagi started to cry, but her focused face remained fixed on Etna.
"What the hell are you talking about? You know what, nevermind; I'm just going to accept the fact that you're a totally insane mid-boss in the game of life and I'll just proceed with killing you." Etna shrugged, readying her spear and charging toward Asagi.
"NO! It's not fair! How come I'm not even a sub-character when you're a part of TWO games? NOT! FAIR!" Asagi continued to cry as Etna charged. As Etna struck at Asagi with ehr spear in a stabbhing motion, Asagi kicked the blade right off of Etna's favorite spear and produced a gun that was tucked under her belt, and pulled the trigger before Etna could even register that her strike missed.
Bang!
"Yes, YES! I'm more than just a Mid-Boss! I DESERVE to be a main character!" Asagi squealed with joy, then with a renewed determination she shot a hole into and escaped through the window to the left of the bloody writing she had made, gleefully crying the only words that calmed her, since they were the only words she was remembered by.
"Summer Greetings!"
"Etna? What's going on in there..?"