“I hate this, I hate this, I really, absolutely, positively, hate this.” Lillithvin growled as she paced through the halls of the Demon Lord’s castle.

  The fiendish entity that was inhabiting her lord’s body had escaped a week ago, and she was no closer to apprehending the wrong doer today than she was when he’d first escaped.

  “Is everything quite alright m’lady?” Butler Jared asked, the mustard skinned demon with a bald head and spikey scalp strode along beside the succubus.

  “No, no it isn’t Butler Jared. I’ve been filing the reports of 3 people for the last month and haven’t got a proper night's sleep in weeks!” Lillithvin moaned as she clenched the armful of paper tightly as she kept marching towards her office in the upper wings of the Demon Lord’s Castle.

  “I see m’lady, well if there’s anything I can do just-” Butler Jared began before being punched to the ground by a very angry Lillithvin.

  “If you were wanted I would’ve requested you, begone!” Lillithvin screamed without ceasing her march.

  Lillithvin was having a no good day.

  It’d started with reports of raids by the Dragon Emperor on their territory that she needed to address.

  Now she had to verify which of the Demon Army general’s battle plans would be selected for the upcoming push on Sexsussy, which unfortunately required her contacting the Arch-Daemon Bozo for permission.

  Arch-Daemon’s were not known for being easy to negotiate with and even by those standards Bozo was a bastard.

  Entering her office, it was a simple meeting room with a private summoning portal and scrying mirror, Lillithvin threw her stack of documents onto her desk and arranged the stones on the scrying mirror to summon Bozo.

  Naturally Lillithvin had memorized every Arch-Daemon’s scrying number, as second in command of the Demon Army it was very much her duty to arrange these minor meetings for her lord, the true Demon Lord.

  Unfortunately that position had also meant she was burdened with the sheer administrative duty left behind by the Demon Lord’s absence.

  Sitting in her chair she saw the scrying mirror transmogrify into the blurry face of Bozo the Arch-Daemon.

  “Oh ho ho ho! Do what do I owe this absolute PLEASURE~? Perhaps my domains are being raided once more? Doth the Demon Lord require my services? Perhaps a… personal call~~~?” Bozo asked in a sickly singsong style.

  “Shut up Bozo. You already know why I’m calling.” Lillithvin scowled as she threw her generals' battle plans across the table so Bozo could see them better.

  “Maybe I did, Maybe I didn’t, who’s to say!” Bozo laughed, the face of the deranged demon slowly coming into focus. Snow white skin, emerald green eyes, blood red hair, a ruby nose and topaz yellow teeth that warped into a crooked grin.

  He was an Arch-Daemon, a powerful demon from the time before humans, a demon that could almost threaten God herself.

  Almost.

  “Cut the act Bozo, Sexsussy is your domain, we’ve been making moves for 2 years. You know what our plans are and you’ve been actively supporting the Sexsussy monarchy to prevent further incursions.” Lillithvin laid out clearly and confidently.

  Dealing with the Arch-Daemons for her lord was child’s play for Lillithvin.

  “My, my, why so serious. We’re just tryna have a little fun here right~~?” Bozo mocked with a sickening cackle as his face morphed into a thousand grotesque grins all at once.

  “I’m not. Tell me, why are you supporting this Earthly Realm Kingdom? 1984 years ago you pledged allegiance to the Demon Lord, this is a direct violation of the non-interference pledge.” Lillithvin explained clearly and angrily.

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  “Oh ho ho? That old thing? Maybe I’ve gotten a little big for my britches, these humans have been feeding me so well after you left me oh so hungry in this accursed pit of hell! Besides, I’ve heard that the Demon Lord has gone… buh bye, so guess I’ll follow suit and go BUH BYEEEE!” Bozo shouted before severing the connection. Lillithvin let out a scowl before quickly grabbing the papers required to officially get Bozo removed from the Demon Armies record of subordinates.

  Every day they’d been bleeding powerful allies and subordinates as word spread of the Demon Lord’s death permeated the three realms of Regaila. Lillithvin did some quick calculations as she wrote the decree to inform the rest of the Demon Army to regard Bozo and his allies as enemies from henceforth.

  “7% of all of our allies have defected in the first week. With Bozo gone that’s 85% of the surviving Arch-Daemons gone rogue, with nearly all of those being the ones who have set up successful cults in the Earthly Realm. Our human allies and tributaries have remained steadfast but they’re ignorant of most information from the Hero’s Guild. Should they learn of the Demon Lord’s supposed defeat and we be unable to convince them that he’s still alive, we’ll lose another 30% of our remaining allies. My only reliable allies are going to be the Devil Knights and their respective allies by proxy. Even then Hitop has been snooping around behind my back…” Lillithvin thought as she grabbed the decree and threw it towards the skeletal hand sticking out of her desk.

  The hand delicately grasped the letter and handed it down a chain of skeletal hands that led into a pipe, which led to a lower administrative office where orders could be appropriately disseminated.

  Standing up Lillithvin left her office, kicking the door down to be met with the unfortunate face of Butler Jared.

  “M’lady may I-”

  “Throw yourself off the railing and scoop your remains into the garbage disposal.” Lillithvin snapped. Butler Jared simply bowed and jumped off the nearby railing into the abyssal pit of the Demon Lord’s castle.

  “People don’t just do what I need them to do anymore ARUGHHHH!” Lillithvin whined as she jumped off the balcony and flew up to a higher level of the Demon Lord’s Castle, glancing down to see the splatter of Butler Jared drag itself to the garbage disposal.

  “Of course they don’t, we’re weak, we’re scrambling and without our Lord we don’t have the ability to repress any plans factions of traitors have been plotting.” Lillithvin thought to herself as she entered Nuhade’s training room.

  It was a large room styled like a moss garden with chains hanging from the ceiling that connected to massive columns for Nuhades to use as weights. Several splatters of blood dotted along the walls revealed how he trained for combat.

  The demon was putting on his dragonbone armour just as Lillithvin entered, looking back over his shoulder his glowing red eyes pulsed as he stared at the succubus.

  “Priority?” He asked simply.

  “High, Bozo has openly declared his insubordination.” Lillithvin groaned as she sat on a boulder.

  “Hmpth, give me some men and I’ll have him dead within the month.”

  “We don’t HAVE TIME! I need you focusing on keeping our forces in the Demon Realm from revolting. Bozo’s been building a cult in Sexsussy like Drackura’s intel suggested, we can deal with him when we-”

  “I fail to see why you bring this to me now.” Nuhades interrupted sternly.

  “Urgh, Nuhades I am at my limit here. I physically cannot do everything our Lord did.” Lillithvin explained.

  “Hmpth. Of course you can’t. None of us can.”

  “But you could! You just need to take Leepers deal and-”

  “Absolutely not. I will not compromise my strength.” Nuhades declared, standing up and grabbing his sword.

  “Where are you going? Your training isn’t scheduled to finish for another 12 minutes?”

  “To quash some rebellious brats.”

  “If you’re talking about the case in the southern Demon Realm then please don’t kill them, it'll only make my job harder.”

  “Unfortunately for you, I don’t care for this Demon Army. My cooperation starts and ends with me killing the Demon Lord myself.” Nuhades scowled as he left Lillithvin alone.

  Lillithvin’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as she collapsed backwards on the boulder she was sitting on.

  ‘My lord, why did you build an army from fear instead of the love only I could give? I know I said I wouldn't be happy with more high ranking succubi in your harem but you should’ve put me in my place!” Lillithvin thought tearfully, until her allotted daily tears ran out and she rushed back into work.

  Today was a bad day for Lillithvin.

  And everyday was only going to get much worse for her.