The streets of Grand Noah were crowded by people gossiping. The tournament was a hyped event in those troubled time, but, even then, everybody was more than hyped in front of the second half final poster. Two heroes would soon be clashing. One legend who came straight from a past tale facing a hero who was raising an army to defend the world. Everybody was eager to see their raw skill in the arena. The winner would face Alma Elma, the succubus queen, in a final, that, by her own words "would leave everyone but her begging for more".
In the castle, the Grand Noah queen was busy reading the latest series of reports. There apparently was a small chain of incidents involving gambles on the tournament's results, the mafia, and migration papers for Succubus Village. She'd have to talk to Grangold's king and Succubus about it. She suddenly heard some chuckling coming from Mephisto, who was looking outside through a window.
"Did something happen?"
"I apologize, your majesty, I was just wondering how funny it was that amidst a large population that would be ready to kill each other to get a taste of the succubus queen, her challenger is going to be someone that would definitely not look forward her attention."
The queen sighed. "I am more worried about the upcoming fight." She got up from her chair and pointed at the window. "What do you see outside?"
"I see a crowd of people taking a break from their daily lives, as they're enjoying the tournament. They're eager to see both heroes facing each other." Mephisto pulled out her wand as she guessed the train of thoughts of her queen. "A potential riot. If people are disappointed by the fight, they will raise hell."
The queen nodded. "Precisely. The poster is something straight out of a dream come true, and people are coming to expect a fight that will be on this level." She started walking around the throne room. "But we both know that the heroes respect each other too much to put all their effort in this. They might not even fight seriously."
Mephisto tapped her chin with her wand.
"If I may, we have an… opportunity to make the fight more interesting anyway, but that would require baiting one of the more… let's say… adventurous? Yes, one of the more adventurous monster currently wandering this world."
The queen raised an eyebrow and invited her advisor to continue.
"Getting her to show up will be quite easy, she's apparently supposed to remain concealed but she's not exactly obedient. Getting her to show up to wreck the fight will require a minimal amount of effort on our end, if the legends I read are correct." Mephisto grinned. "And imagine this. The two heroes barely fight each other, then an enemy that would require the effort of both to defeat suddenly appear in the arena. They fight as one and beat her down, showing everyone the strength of humanity's finest while entertaining the population."
"What are the best, most likely, and worst case scenario?"
"The best case scenario will result in a fight that will be remembered until the end of the world, the most likely will be an epic fight where we will have to openly tip the scales, and the worst…" Mephisto cringed. "We can say good bye to the coliseum. But I'm pretty sure that with all the monsters around, getting reinforcement in time will prevent reaching that point."
The room remained silent for a few seconds as the sovereign was thinking the situation over and over again in her head.
"It's still better than the whole city burning. Do it."
Mephisto bowed. "Thank you, your majesty, now, I only need to get a peach big enough. Maybe in Yamatai…"
-Coliseum wing-
Guards were busy patrolling the coliseum's wings. The security was tighter than usual with the tournament. They were actively looking for any intruder, while ignoring the two cloaked figures that were barely making any effort toward remaining unnoticed.
The two older Lilith sisters were currently infiltrating the arena's backstage. Astaroth apparently had a zero risk plan to make the fight between the heroes "more enjoyable for everyone, and easy to put into place". Lilith initially hesitated, as getting caught with so many powerful monsters around could be troublesome in a certain measure. However, nobody had apparently considered that they were enjoying the same show as everyone did in Grand Noah, and they weren't actively searched so far. They left monsters more experienced in dealing with administrative issues sort the mess left by the Monster Lord's death back at the castle, and even openly left some leeway for the rogue Tamamo to manage the situation while they were away.
Lilith closed her eyes and focused her supernatural senses. She could feel the life of every being in the coliseum. Humans, monsters, even an angel who was probably coming from the Pocket Castle were visible to her. All were patrolling around, and none had noticed the two sisters "helping" to prepare the fight.
Astaroth grabbed a small red flower from a pouch, and used its root to attach it right above the entrance to the arena. She also grabbed a purple hair that came from Luka, and used it to secure her spell. If he did pass here, a gust of wind would spray the flower's pollen on him. They did the same trick at the opposite entrance. As they were finishing, Lilith asked her sister.
"Where did you find those burst flowers?"
"Same place I found the scrying ball: Tamamo's bedroom. That fox has so much stuff hidden, it will take months to find and identify everything. From books to weapons and monster's parts… I think I saw some inert slime from Kanade in a jar and one of mother's ribbons."
"I wonder how she managed to keep that. Also why don't they use these flowers directly?"
"People prefer drinks. And the flowers give so much energy they can make the recipient a bit violent."
"How do you know? You tested it on your partner?"
Astaroth smirked. The sisters started making their way out. There was no reason for anyone to investigate what was happening, but dawdling would risk attracting attention and make their plan fail, and they were uncomfortable staying in a confined space for too long anyway. As she saw the angel passing, Lilith could feel a rising desire to jump her and pleasure her until her victim lost herself moaning in absolute bliss. She restrained herself, as it could ruin their current plan, and the duo left the coliseum's backstage without alerting or molesting anyone.
The succubi stretched themselves once out. They'd still have to wear their coat for now, but at least their set up was ready and they were less likely to be found out.
"What are we going to do until the match start?"
"Do you want to get something to eat? Seeing that angel so close made me quite hungry…"
"I noticed a few passed out people in the tavern…"
"No, drunkards taste worse than baptized heroes."
The succubi checked for people around them like a gourmet would look at a menu.
"Too young… too fat… Too old… Is currently fucking a harpy…" Lilith sighed. "I wish we were in our world, we'd just have to drop this cloak and people would line up, we'd just have to make my choice."
"Hunting for your own food also has its own charm. I am starting to think we became a bit lazy back there."
Lilith eventually noticed two adventurers discussing at a table about the coliseum. Their crass manner drove off most waitresses, but they didn't smell of alcohol and looked vigorous enough. She nodded in their direction and licked her lips.
"Lunch is served."
-Noah countryside-
A small army of monsters was camping in a clearing. From the ones that thought themselves wronged, to the radicals that wanted to keep fighting humankind against the order of their queen, without forgetting boundless rapists who were too extreme even by their kin's standard, none was happy with their place in the world. As they discussed, they realized most of them had made their way here after one too many defeat at the same hero's hand. A powerful looking arachne stepped on a natural platform.
"Free monsters from the entire world!" As her voice boomed, everyone fell silent. "We are now numerous! The marginals, the left over, and the pariahs, who've been mocked, muzzled, broken! But we will no longer be ill treated! Today mark the moment we will finally rise against those who oppress us!" Whispers of approval could be heard.
"Neither kings nor gods will tell us what to do! We are the only ones who will decide our own fate in this world! We won't bend the knee like this wretched elf queen or Spider Princess!" She spat these words out. "Instead, we will see how those that tried for so long to crush us under their boots will like suffering our wrath! And we will start by killing the fool that dared to attack us and corrupt our lords with his words, the damned hero Luka!"
A wooden doll wearing a red cape and carrying a wooden sword popped up behind her. She stroke it down successively with each of her eight legs, tearing it apart.
"And now, a faker taking the name of the legendary hero Heinrich joined him on his adventure!" Another doll like the first popped out before suffering the same treatment. Everyone cheered her. She gestured for everyone to calm down. "We will not be remembered by waiting for death to come for us, we will attack first!"
"And we found the opportunity to strike them both! Tomorrow, the coliseum holds a match between those two legendary heroes! We will take them for us and break them in front of everyone! Mark my words! When we will be done, they will beg us to be our slaves! Grand Noah! Will ! Be! Ours!"
Cheers exploded from the crowd once more.
As she stepped down, a vampire approached her. "Aren't you afraid our plan will fail? The fairy queen failed to conquer Grand Noah when backed up by the Monster Lord, and now we will do the same but with almost all the queens against us."
The arachne put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Their minds were clouded by doubt, which made their arms weak. We will have the advantage of surprise, and we're more numerous than them. We will beat them! Do you doubt my plan?"
"No! I am not! I am just concerned about the large number of enemies we will be facing!"
"Then rest, and prepare for our battle! Tomorrow, we will sleep in the queen's castle!"
The vampire nodded, she knew monsters there were motivated. She also guessed that Luka probably was just as motivated on his adventure to actually manage to convince several queen class monsters to join him. She also guessed that the monsters present in the tournament had trained a lot, and some losers would probably be eager to pass their nerves on anyone who would give them a reason.
By the time the sun rose, she had disappeared far away from the camp.