A mix of confused and panicked cries filled the colosseum as people were emptying their seats in an attempt to leave the arena as fast as possible. Mephisto had summoned two monsters to help her take back Alma Elma to the Monster Lord's castle. The first was Granberia, the dragonkin swordmaster, and the second was a huge, red and purple lamia with an imperious attitude that could only be Alipheese the Fifteenth, the current Monster Lord herself.

Luka gripped his sword more tightly. He had come to expect changes from his last experiences, but he didn't expect the Monster Lord to actually come here and expose Mephisto. The other members of his party were also shocked, save for Lucifina-chan who always had the same uncanny cheerful expression.

"It's only a projection." Freya had still her bow drawn but hadn't readied an arrow yet. "But with the Monster Lord's skill in magic, she'll still be able to fight and prove a challenge for a queen class monster."

Luka gulped loudly and looked around. If Alma Elma had been surprised, she already resumed her whimsical attitude. The enemy Mephisto, however, had a clearly confused expression and had dropped her wand, her eyes were fixated on the Monster Lord. The latter was looking at her with a compassionate smile.

"Thank you for your work. You served me well. You may return to your academy north of the town."

Is she deliberately setting up Mephisto to break everyone's trust in her?

"Now you…" Her gaze turned toward the succubus queen, and her eyes narrowed while her smile turned into a frown of anger. "You disobeyed direct orders. You betrayed your race. You will come back to the Monster Lord castle right now, by your own choice or by force."

Alma Elma chuckled lightly. "I did not swear loyalty to you, and I certainly wouldn't do anything for the Lilith Sisters." She winced in pain, making Luka realized that his team might have been heavy handed in its dealings with the succubus queen. "I only live for freedom and pleasure, not for murdering some random nobles."

The Monster Lord scoffed. "Were you always that shortsighted? I wonder what my daughter found in you that would make you worthy of being the lieutenant of a Monster Lord."

"Oh, you're about to find out…" She licked her lips in an exaggerated motion before looking at Luka. "You're the one who put me in this situation. I hope you will take responsibility, and then maybe I'll even make it worth your time…" Her voiced ended in a sultry whisper.

Luka and his party members casted a salvo of healing spells at the succubus queen as well as a few buffs. She shivered in delight. "Oohh, I didn't ask to be showered in that much love from you."

"Quit it, and go have fun with Granberia." Luka readied himself. He wasn't afraid. He already dealt with worse and couldn't afford to hesitate.

The dragonkin recoiled slightly in front of the sight of the more than eager succubus queen. She tried to keep her voice steady, but a hint of fear showed up. "My lord, while the opponent's strength is only roughly equal to us, they possess skills that specifically exploit our defensive weaknesses. I invite you to reconsider engaging the enemy in our current situation."

"If it is because you're afraid of what that flying obscenity can do to you, I invite you to consider what the Lilith Sisters will do to you should you fail us."

When Luka looked at Granberia at that precise moment, he had the impression of a terrified youngster, a far cry from the legendary Heavenly Knight of fire: Her hands were trembling, her whole body was shivering, and her eyes were darting around. She slowly exhaled for a second, and looked more focused. Even then, the hero's experience could tell him that she had the grim resolve of someone about to be executed rather than the fire of a warrior fighting with all her conviction.

"I will serve my lord." Granberia charged Alma Elma, who flew behind the party. Granberia ignored them and focused on her target.

"Good, now on you…" The Monster Lord turned toward Luka's party. "You know that we're fighting to save the world. Why do you stand on our way?" Her tone was the one of a mother shocked by her children's decision.

"Because your way of saving the world is too twisted for me to accept it. Because you rule by fear."

Alipheese's eyes narrowed. "It is only by sheer necessity that I use the stick rather than the carrot. I reward those who serve me as they should."

Luka tilted his head on the side with an unamused expression on his face. "And how did you reward the Lilith Sisters for the destruction of Finoa?"

"I offered them the right to feed on criminals or other alleged heroes that attacked monsters. The population at large doesn't have anything to fear…"

"WHAT?!"

It's only when she saw the expression of both monster queens she realized her mistake. She castigated herself for having fallen for that obvious bait, and she assumed a fighting stance, her tail waving menacingly behind her.

"Clever… I see how it is."

Everyone prepared for the inevitable fight.

"Can I take out my ring?"

"That won't be necessary."

"Muuuuh…"

Luka ignored the complaint from the small seraph and fully focused on the lamia in front of her. His past travelling experience with her daughter already gave him a good idea of what skills she possessed and what were her weak points. It was only a projection, so he could unleash his fury on her. Maybe Lucifina should remove her ring, after all…

Alipheese was the first to attack, and directly started the fight by sending a powerful wave of darkness toward the hero's party. The attack was mostly blocked by a shield summoned by the elf queen, and barely startled the party. Luka and Lucifina charged with their sword drawn, while Freya prepared an elemental arrow and Airy started charging a gust of wind.

The Monster Lord parried both swordsmen attack with darkness imbued fists before elegantly dodging the elf queen's shot in one smooth motion. However, she didn't manage to escape the storm created by Airy, and her movements became erratic. Luka and Lucifina-chan struck repeatedly with holy attacks, creating large gashes from which magic escaped. The projection fizzled for a second before disappearing without fanfare.

Luka slowly exhaled. "That was the Monster Lord? She was so weak…"

"Keep your feet on the ground. Even if she's a powerful spellcaster, her projection only had a shard of her actual power." Freya put away her bow on her back. "It would qualify for a queen class monster, but the Monster Lord herself is a league above that."

I was starting to think that was too good to be true.

"But we still beat her! Yay!" Lucifina-chan was jumping around happily. "We beat the Monster Lord in the colosseum!" She looked at the empty stadium and deflated. "Buuut, nobody has seen iiiiit…"

"Let's help Alma Elma finish Granberia."

Freya grimaced. "I don't think that will be necessary."

Indeed, Granberia was getting utterly dominated by Alma Elma, and was pushed against a wall by her opponent. The succubus queen had started with a few pleasure spells, and as soon as the dragonkin wavered, she directly pinned her and started practicing her Succubus Ceremony on the Heavenly Knight of fire. Granberia hadn't managed to land a single hit before she was reduced to a moaning mess by her opponent's skills. After a while, Alma Elma tired of playing and moved off her unfortunate victim who instantly teleported away.

The succubus queen emitted a displeased groan as Luka's party reached her. "I feel sorry for her. I don't think the Lilith Sisters are going to be as gentle as I was with her."

"She didn't teleport to the Monster Lord Castle."

"What? How do you know?"

Freya shrugged. "I'm more sensitive to…"

"What she said."

"Silence you harlot!" She calmed down. "As I said, I can feel the overall flow of magic at proximity, and the dragonkin teleported herself somewhere westward while the Monster Lord castle is located North West from her. As to where she went precisely… The most likely settlement is Grangold."

"Or the Gold Volcano." Luka scratched his chin, lost in thoughts "I fought her there in a past experience, and she has a strong relationship with Salamander. We can ask our own is she thinks if Granberia would indeed do that…" Luka sighed. "We got both the confirmation that the Lilith Sisters are responsible for Finoa, and she knows we know their end goal, so someone from our group indeed told them about us."

The group fell silent, until Lucifina decided she got bored.

"Sooo… What do we do now?"

"We take a break at the Pocket Castle and decide a new plan with everyone else. I don't want to make any mistake this time."

"But first…" Airy gestured to the guards that were pouring in from every direction, weapon at the ready. "We have to deal with that." She crossed her arms under her chest. "Any plan?"

"We talk this out. They have no reason to attack us."

"Fufufufu… It would be a shame if someone decided to have fun with them on the spot…"

"Please, stay silent."

Fortunately for everybody involved, Luka was instantly proven right. The guards were more than confused and less than willing to fight, or to even force them to do anything. They invited them to see the queen who told them that, unfortunately, they couldn't be considered the winners of the tournament. However, she offered the group her eternal gratitude for standing up to an assault from the Monster Lord. She gladly handed down the green orb when the group asked, and almost collapsed in relief when the only other favor the group asked was the right to visit Esta to examine the Tartarus there.

As soon as the party exited the castle, they found themselves almost mobbed by civilians, off duty guards and monsters that were eager to interview the heroes of the day. This required the common effort of both guard companies and their captain to properly scatter, and they took the opportunity to ask the hero for his support in dealing with issues growing in the region. Of course, Luka accepted, trying to refrain from telling them what he already knew and intended to solve them in the first place.

Amidst the confusion Alma Elma had managed to disappear, but Luka felt pretty confident that the succubus queen would manage to survive whatever the Monster Lord would send at her. Furthermore, as much as the latter expressed disdain of the knight, she couldn't afford to lose them. They were the most powerful agents besides the Lilith Sisters, and the trio of succubi was limited in its actions because of the risk of increasing chaosization because of cross world contact. The hero was certain he would see her sooner than he would like.

When all was said and done, night was starting to fall on the forests of Grand Noah, and the hero's party finally made their way back to the Pocket Castle.

Mephisto was stumbling through the empty halls of her academy, still in shock after the events of the colosseum. She knew that she wasn't considered a priority asset by the Monster Lord, but being discarded just like that after being her most loyal advisor for several decades did hurt her pride. But, most of all, she felt a certain anger at the sheer disrespect her old master showed to her values.

She took a break in her progression as she was in the middle of the stairs leading to the upper floor of the academy. She could feel a detestable signature in her office. Her worst fears had indeed come to pass. Mephisto sighed loudly, before reassuming her usual smirk. When she entered her personal sanctum, her eyes was greeted by the sight of Morrigan sitting on her chair, her feet crossed over her desk. She was pretending not to see the yoma, and was cleaning her nails with the tip of her oversized sword. As soon as Mephisto entered the room, the door closed and runes appeared on it, locking the place tightly.

"Oh, you're back, how was your day?" The succubus was smiling like a shark. The fake casualness of her tone made the yoma's stomach churn.

"Your sister couldn't stomach coming here to do it herself?"

Morrigan raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I know you're a old hag in need, but-"

"The Monster Lord violated our contract and made me break the one with Grand Noah as well. Her little stunt made me lose all the goodwill the population of Grand Noah had placed in me. My next actions should have been to report to Lilith and then evacuating to the Monster Lord castle, but I figured that if my lord kept me in the dark about her plan, it's because I have outlived my usefulness in her eyes."

"Oooh, look at you, figuring out things!" Morrigan shook her head side to side and faked a contrite expression. "Are you hurt that your friend kept this from you?"

In front of Mephisto's lack of answer, Morrigan repositioned herself and pushed her questioning forward. "Tell me. What is the most important between your loyalty and your principle? Because you see, we wouldn't have actually considered dealing with you like that if we didn't hear about rumors that you would switch side and help Grand Noah destroy Grangold's golem army."

Mephisto raised an eyebrow. "Where does that even come from? Besides, I would only be doing what I was told to do. Help Grand Noah at the best of my capacity until my contract with them expire."

"You're not even trying to deny it." The yoma remained silent in front of the accusation. "I would say I was saddened when I learned it, but the truth is, you're just a weak sightless pawn into this game, and one that could be dangerous to our plans."

Morrigan got up and swung her sword in the air, making an audible whistling noise. "Do you have any last words?"

Mephisto smirked. It wasn't her usual smug expression of confidence, but something sinister that made the succubus shiver. Furthermore, the yoma's eyes lit up with a glow of defiance she didn't expect.

"Just one question. Did you notice that the academy is empty from all students?"

Morrigan shrugged. "Pfff. Should I care?"

"Yes. It's because I made sure that my little students would find someone else -should I really say else?- who will teach them exactly as I always did. After all, an academy filled with dangerous products visited by whimsical and impulse-prone sex-crazed fiends isn't a good place to teach anyone. Furthermore, those extremely powerful monsters were eyeing me suspiciously in spite of everything I did to support them, so I searched, and found out that it was not because of something I did but because of something I was going to do. You look confused. Allow me to put it more simply. I. Know. Everything."

Morrigan's smirk started to falter. The yoma enjoyed that little moment, where the curiosity of the succubus held her hand back and allowed herself to fully spell her own perspective on this game.

"Now, for your answer about what is stronger between my loyalty and my principles… My loyalty is defined by my principles." She sighed, her expression turning sour as she looked down. "It saddens me that the great friend that was the Fifteenth trampled on them so hard, but I still hold a smidge of affection for her. I'll miss her." She then looked sternly at Morrigan. "But I won't miss those that made her break our relationship."

She proceeded to cast a salvo of thunderbolts in the general direction of the succubus. Several hit her targets, but most ended up hitting the shelves behind her. The succubus barely reacted at their contact and jumped at the yoma with her sword drawn, cutting her in half diagonally in one smooth motion before beheading her as well.

"Heh. So much defiance. So little strength. What's the point? You're dead, dead, deaaad…"

Morrigan laughed as she looked at the remains of the yoma. She didn't notice the whistling noises and the shattering sounds behind her as the reagents stacked on the shelves started to boil or move on their own.

The next instant, Mephisto's magical academy was torn apart by a cataclysmic explosion visible from Grangold.