I hurried to the command area to ensure everything was alright and assassin free. I saw quite a few wounded and some dead, but none of my maids had fallen. I quickly located Iris.

  "Iris, what is happening? I heard there were assassins." I asked.

  "Yes, my lady. They came from the shadows. Your detectors caught them but only just before they attacked. I am unsure what kind of demons they were but we do have a few corpses to study." Iris replied.

  "Ashema's assassins, most likely."

  I turned around and saw Lilith stare at a body on the ground.

  "Has she appeared herself?" I asked.

  Lilith shook her head. "Not as far as I can tell. Also, not every demon of the same type works for the same lord. While I am considered the Queen of Succubi, I do not rule all of them. Some work for other lords, or are living in the wilds. Hiring a shadow demon to make it look like Ashema is involved would not be unheard of. Sadly, her involvement is not unrealistic either, and we do not have any captives to question."

  I pondered that. "So Abaddon could have hired them to drag Ashema into the fight, or Ashema could have provided some assistance to ensure her access to the portal if they succeeded, while having plausible deniability if they failed."

  "Yes." Lilith confirmed.

  "I hate politics…" I muttered. "Oh, what about Meluza? Has anyone seen her?" I asked.

  Iris frowned. "Wasn't she at the front? I thought she was supporting Lucy."

  I scratched my head. "I did not see her with Lucy, I guess I will have to ask her. Maybe Meluza stayed behind on the field?"

  Iris shrugged. "She was not under my command. However, I can report on my troops. The traps were rather effective and disrupted the enemy formations. The city itself is in ruins, as expected, but it reduced our casualties significantly. We lost about 50 succubi and have about 100 in need of medical attention. The gate is secure…" She paused, looking towards it. "However the assassin's got dangerously close and it is possible that one slipped through. I haven't heard about any problems from the other side, nor did the detectors in Petunia go off, so we should be fine."

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Hm. Let's hope so. We will have to increase patrols for a while but with our victory it seems unlikely that any demon would try to challenge us." I replied. I was a bit worried but apparently my detectors had worked, so we should be reasonably safe. I did not have a large range detection spell, or any convenient ritual, so we had to just keep our eyes open and stay on alert for a bit.

  After getting a report from Iris I tracked down Lucy, who was in her fox form and chewing and a weird large octopus.

  "What is that?" I asked.

  "Some sort of demon but it tastes a lot like seafood." Lucy replied.

  "You should stop eating everything." I criticised. "It looks really chewy. Just give it to Lily and have her cook it."

  "Not a bad idea, actually." Lucy mused.

  "Anyway, have you seen Meluza?" I asked.

  "Nope." Lucy replied, while looking at the corpse. "You are right, it is a bit chewy, even if the taste is ok."

  "Nobody has seen Meluza since the battle began. I am starting to get concerned." I said.

  "She is a demon lord in the second aura stage, she should be fine." Lucy replied.

  "We saw some assassins who could have been working for Ashema. Maybe she was here and attacked Meluza?" I wondered.

  "I thought Pazuzu was after Meluza, not Ashema." Lucy replied.

  "He is not really the stealthy type. Could he have hired Ashema to abduct her?" I asked.

  "I really don't know enough about demon politics." Lucy replied.

  I did not know Meluza very well but she had joined us and we had promised to help her. Abducting a demon lord should be hard, but during the chaos it was not impossible, especially since the ancient lords were stronger than Meluza.

  I quickly tracked down Lilith, she was our expert concerning demon lords, and reported my findings.

  "That is troubling news." Lilith replied. "I have heard no reports of any abduction. Battle or not, someone should have noticed. A demon lord does not go quietly, usually. As much as I dislike mentioning it, there is a chance that she has betrayed us. However, unless there is evidence for that we should consider her an ally."

  "Should we pay Pazuzu a visit? Or Ashema?" I asked.

  "We need more information. Currently we don't know when and where she was last seen. I will immediately start an investigation. Right now we just don't know enough to do more. I have no way of tracking her." Lilith replied. "Furthermore, we are weakened after the battle. We can't afford to randomly charge after a demon lord who might have abducted her. I want to help her but we can't without knowing more."

  It was frustrating but she did have a point.

  "On the bright side, our overwhelming victory will provide her with some protection." Lilith said to cheer me up. "After that they will think twice about messing with us. If there is no further strike until tomorrow and we can recover our magic I doubt that violence will even be necessary."

  My eyes narrowed. "If Pazuzu has abducted one of us violence will be necessary. I haven't forgotten that he might have been behind the attack while we were out hunting with Haruka."

  "Nobody got injured during that hunt." Lilith pointed out.

  I crossed my arms. "Attacking Haruka is clearly a crime."

  Lilith smiled. "Should I fear for the world if you ever have a true child? Would you exterminate a forest if a branch caused some scratches?"

  I blushed and mumbled. "I am not that unreasonable…"

  "I will handle the investigation into Meluza's disappearance. Get some rest, you have earned it, Lady of Storms." Lilith said.