Tesmuth: City Hall, The Sarauta Kingdom, Realm of the Humans:
Lady Gina, 1st Princess of the kingdom, is addressing the unnerving news of the Trading Guild massacre.
"In wake of the devastating news, in place of his majesty, my newly-formed investigative faction and I are currently working hard to find the culprits behind this tragedy. Please come forward if you have any information regarding the incident, you will be rewarded accordingly." Gina spoke to her people, broadcasted on city-wide audio systems.
The surrounding area of the guild has been put on lockdown, only allowing authorised personnel to enter.
…
Gina returned home to the royal castle in the centre of the city, entering the quarters of the King. Bedridden, he slept, with a magic-conjured form of ventilator to assist his breathing. The King had been infected by a soon-to-be fatal illness, which is unbeknownst to the public, who believe that he is only sick. Alongside his old age, this makes the king's life practically over, with Gina being the only reason he is alive.
"I'm home, Your Majesty." Gina says, greeting the king by waking him up.
"Gina…" he says, through the magic ventilator, "How are you?… Where is Hiro?" He asks, referring to the prince.
"Im very well sir, Hirohiko has joined the ranks of an adventurer, remember?" Gina responds, holding the king's hand, "We should be expecting his return soon, however."
"Good…" The King utters, "Say, when he does, will i get to die?" He asks.
"No, Your Majesty, don't worry." Gina responds, "It's not your time yet." Just then, there was a knock on the door. It was a small, middle aged man:
"Your Majesty, Lady Gina," He addresses the King and Princess, "We have information on the incident."
"Who's there? Hiro?" The king asks, unable to see who's at the door.
"It's just Charles, I have to go now, Your Majesty." Gina responds, leaving the king and following the servant.
"What is it Charles? Do you know of the culprits?" Gina asks.
"No, unfortunately not." Charles responds, "However, we have just been informed that 2 of the victims were E Class, 40 of them were D+ Class and the other one… was a B+ Class Mage!" He reveals.
Gina looks at Charles with immense shock and slight confusion, "Multiple highly skilled men … and a Mage!?" She processes the information. "The people who did this aren't just a gang that strives in numbers… In reality, also considering the lack of surviving witnesses, it would be correct to assume that there are less than ten, no, less than five high class culprits responsible - each at least B+ Class." She deduces.
Charles stood in a cold sweat, fearful of the possible danger Lady Gina had just described. "Do you really think so, your highness?"
"Maybe… Probably, I think so. Tch, this is boring, just tell the faction what I said and have them deal with it, then get me the chess man again." Gina replies.
"The chess man?" Charles rightfully questions.
"Yes the chess man, the mage that's really good at chess for some reason, he's the only person I've played against that I haven't beaten yet."
Gina lost interest in the situation faster than someone of her authority should, but her theory wasn't far off - one is less than five, after all.
…
..
.
[Tesmuth Trading Guild, A day ago]:
"Restrain them." The boss told his men, emerging from behind them. "Don't even think about trying anything funny, I'm a Mage, if you recall that makes me B+ Class." He smirks, creating a flame In his hand to back up his claim.
"Oh… that's a bit disappointing" Shinji muttered to himself, as he, Kasumi and Aki were letting themselves get their hands tied and get pushed to the back wall.
"Huh? What was that you little shit? You think you're better than me?" The Mage responded after hearing Shinji, clearly annoyed. "I don't mind damaging the goods." he says, threatening to hurt Shinji, also revealing their intent to sell the trio in a "human" trafficking operation.
"I do think I'm better than you, I am better than you." Shinji responds, looking him in the eyes.
"So you think YOU'RE a big man, huh? You think you're strong? How about we test that with my Class-Scanner skill!" The Mage scoffs, trying to humiliate Shinji.
"Tch, the things broken, I didn't think s-skills could break." The Mage starts sweating after using the ability. "L-Let's try it again - w-what-why, ehehehe." He begins to tremble. "Y-you've done something haven't you!? You-your not actually an A Class!? C-come on!" He goes to use it on Aki, "N-N-N-N-NO! WH-WHAT IS GOING ON!?" The Mage starts to lose composure, almost seeing the reality of his current situation before finally scanning the now smirking Kasumi, "WHY-WHY ARE YOU SMILE-" The Mage gasps for air out of shock, "ehehe..hehehaha… HAHAHAHAHA!!!" I GET IT NOW! THIS IS A JOKE - A STING, NO, A SCARE!! How did you do it-" The Mage is cut off.
"I am A Class, he is A+ Class, She is S- Class. Do you understand my disappointment now, mr powerful Mage." Shinji Interrupts, mocking the Mage. The 40 other men in the room start to panic after seeing their boss breakdown and hearing Shinji's claims.
In a state of defeat and fear, the Mage kneels down and begins apologising profusely and in an exaggerated manner, frightened for his life.
"Tch, shut up." Shinji's manner of speech, mood and state of mind changes at the sight. "I fucking hate cocky bastards like you… OVERCONFIDENT, FAKE, USELESS LOWLIVES!!!" He snaps, breaking free from his shackles, leading Aki and Kasumi to free themselves as well - despite their newfound concern for their friend.
Shinji kicked the Mage in his face, causing him to recoil backwards across the room and into the dwarf man, breaking his and the dwarf's nose in the process.
"Y-Y-You're definitely n-not the Prince." The Mage mumbles, terrified of his opponent. The dwarf crawls out from behind the Mage and tries to run away up the stairs, but Shinji blasts him with a weaker version of dark beam pulse, black pulse, killing the dwarf on the stairs. The men, just like their boss, quiver in fear before they too try to escape the room, but Shinji signals at Kasumi who then uses dark magic on them.
"Shh." She says, activating deep sleep, an ability that can put lower class individuals to sleep for a short time, with the bigger the difference in strength determining how long it lasts.
"Shinji, what are you doing exactly?" Kasumi asks, causing Aki to look at him in conjunction.
"Having fun." Shinji looks and smiles sincerely at the two.
"Wh-Wh-What is going on… These are m-monsters!" The Mage mutters, as Shinji and Aki approach him, closely followed by Kasumi.
"Eh, close enough" Shinji says, "Now, Mr Scum, tell me about this Lady Gina person. EVERYTHING!"
With no other choice, the Mage told Shinji all about Gina, how she is the beloved princess of the kingdom, her accomplishments, her kindness and friendliness - all things that bore the demon.
"Is that it? She can't really just be that boring and… normal." Shinji responds, slightly annoyed.
"W-Well no, actually, she is extremely powerful, sh-she wouldn't disappoint you, Mr Demon, sir." The Mage reveals, addressing Shinji as such after coming to a realisation, despite the hidden aura.
"How strong." Shinji asks.
"I-I've heard that, since she isn't related to the king by blood, she is older than she looks! A-All because she is one of the Holy Celestial Mages!" The Mage finally gets to the point.
"Oh? Another one already?" Shinji rhetorically asks himself, "That was quicker than I expected!"
"A-And she's one of the strongest ones as well!", the Mage adds, "But that's everything I know, please, let me live!" He pleads.
"Though I am grateful for this information, I'm going to have to say… No!" Shinji fires black pulse through the skull of the Mage, killing him instantly, without any chance of retaliation.
"What now? Are you… satisfied?" Aki asks his friend.
"Satisfied? There's still 40 more obstacles to deal with!" Shinji responds, smiling at the thought, "This is what it takes to kill The Demon King, to become The Demon King, if you can't hack it, there's nothing stopping you from leaving!" Shinji conjures up dark beam pulse, facing towards some of the sleeping bodies.
"Is it though?" Aki mumbles, quiet enough for the murder-hungry Shinji not to hear.
"I didn't expect to start our journey with a massacre, but life is unpredictable." Shinji spreads his attack out across the room, reaching every single one of the sleeping men, brutally shattering their skulls, killing then all with dark beam pulses. This attracts the attention from the front desk woman on the guilds main floor, she comes downstairs out of concern only to witness a horrifying bloodbath of dead bodies. Before she could even comprehend what she saw, Shinji had slashed through her chest, murdered her, with claw of demon.
"43! That's a lot! I'm going to need a lot more weaklings to beat that score!" Shinji said to himself, before he had froze in place, having a complete change in mood.
"Shinji…" Kasumi asks, "Are you crying?"
"It's funny." Shinji comes to a damning realisation, as tears have begun to run down his cheek. "I sounded like her, just now." He says, "Just like that Celestial of Pacifism."
…
Home of Betelgeuse, Demon Lord Domain, Realm of the Demons:
"Oi, Betelgeuse," Diablo shouts, having teleported into Bete's house without any invitation, "I want a rematch!" There's no response. "OI, WHERE ARE YOU!" He shouts again, louder - but still to no response. "Eh? Is he not here?"
"Magic Mirror: find Betelgeuse!" Diablo uses an S+ Class ability to materialise a wide mirror that leads into darkness. The mirror then changes to convey the location of Betelgeuse, who instantly realised that Diablo was watching him.
"Why is he in disguise? Who's he playing against-" Diablo stops himself in shock, looking at Betelgeuse's opponent in the chess match, "He wouldn't… there's no way, that BASTARD!"
"Oops, busted!" Bete says to himself, on the other side of the mirror, realising he had been found out.
"What was that? Afraid that you're going to lose, Chess Man?" Gina says, taunting her opponent.
"Of course not, I wouldn't dream of it." Bete responds, as he continues to play chess with the enemy. Diablo stops using magic mirror, annoyed at his comrade.
"THAT IDIOT! WE BOTH AGREED THAT WE WEREN'T GOING TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE!"