"You're going to rescue them? You still care about the Kingdom's affairs?"
Olesha, who had been listening in on everything crystal clear, never expected that this Lily would be so meddlesome—managing affairs from the Empire all the way to the Kingdom. It sounded like quite a significant relationship too.
"Absolutely! I can't allow my golden-haired little princess to be bullied!"
"Golden-haired little princess?"
Olesha raised an eyebrow, chuckling as if she'd heard something quite amusing.
Realizing this woman was teasing her again, Lily puffed out her cheeks, but immediately opened her summon panel anyway.
Now, she had decided to minimize transforming into those two unless absolutely necessary, especially Azicat. Although she had technically defeated her once, who knew when she might be overcome by that dark, underhanded other self.
The consequences need not be elaborated, so she now needed to choose a summon with high speed to rush over and help Funiya and the others.
"What's wrong with 'golden-haired little princess'?!"
"I remember seeing the Kingdom's royal family. Their hair color is golden. Don't tell me the princess you're referring to is...?"
"Heh, you guessed it. Surprise, surprise—I'm on very good terms with the Kingdom's princess! Maximum affection! All CGs unlocked!"
Hehe, just kidding. Actually haven't seen her in days. If this keeps up, we're probably going to trigger some bad ending. No!
"Sounds like you two have a good relationship. The Kingdom, huh? Heh, fine, I'm going too!"
Eh? Why did this woman suddenly decide to come along?
Lily scratched her head, somewhat puzzled.
"In my memory, the Kingdom's royal family has always been quite popular with the people. Being invaded by the Empire, they're fully justified in seeking revenge. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"Oh, I get what you mean."
Together? Sure, why not. Who could refuse the help of a black Dragon King? Now that she couldn't freely transform into those two, having an extra ally was naturally better.
"Alright then, let me show you my power."
"Your power? I'd like to see what kind of surprise a little girl can give me."
"Hehehe!"
Just you wait! My treasury of kings contains countless summons of all varieties!
Answer my call! Shadow of the abyss! Darkness that devours light!
Transform! Shadow Demon Amontis!
By the way, can this chuunibyou incantation be changed?
As Lily complained internally, her figure began to elongate. Her white dress started turning black—a very special kind of black. It wasn't black because of its color, but because it absorbed and devoured all light that touched it, thus appearing black.
Her hair began to lengthen into a jet-black ponytail, and a pair of antique, mature black-rimmed glasses covered Lily's face.
Shadow Demon Amontis, complete manifestation.
"What?! You actually...?!"
Sure enough, Olesha backed away as if she'd seen something incredibly unbelievable.
Seeing this, Lily's heart began to delight in secret.
Hahaha! Tremble, mortal! Quake before my mighty power!
"You! You can actually change size at will?!"
"What did you say?"
Lily's eyes widened, unable to believe what she'd just heard.
"This looks at least a size larger than before. Though still relatively flat, it's definitely not nothing anymore."
"Wait, with such a cool transformation, such an awesome transformation! That's all you noticed?!"
The shadow beneath Amontis shot out like a black python, instantly seizing Olesha's shadow.
"What? You... what did you do?"
Olesha struggled to speak. She found that her body couldn't move—not completely immobile, but even using tremendous force only allowed slight movement.
"Mortal, no need to understand. My power is not something you can withstand."
"Tch!"
Hehehehe, being chuunibyou occasionally is nice. Fortunately, Shadow Demon's influence on me is clearly not as strong as those two. The other summons should all be like this—only those two are particularly special.
"Shadow Binding, or Shadow Lock for short, is one of my current abilities."
Like a conductor in an orchestra, Amontis manipulated Olesha's limbs, making her perform a whole bunch of incredibly strange and awkward movements.
"Tch! Stop it! Stop playing around! Don't you have people to rescue?!"
Spreading her legs wide and placing one hand between them—such movements made Olesha's face flush red. She had the urge to blast this guy with a dragon's breath.
"I know, now, hold tight."
"What?"
Darkness immediately enveloped Olesha's vision. She could only see pitch black. In the darkness, she couldn't hear anything except her own heartbeat.
Honestly, that feeling was terrifying...
It was as if she'd been stripped from the world, left with only loneliness, only the endless time that would eventually sweep away her life and even all traces of her existence.
Remember you are but a mortal, remember you will die...
"Ahhhhh!"
"Huff—huff—huff—"
Seeing colors again, feeling the breeze, the decaying smell perhaps from weeds and dead trees—she gulped it all in.
"What... just happened?"
Olesha stroked a wall, as if still unable to believe she'd returned to this world.
"I can travel through shadows. When I know the exact location, there's no faster method than this."
After Olesha, Lily, transformed into Shadow Demon Amontis, rose from the shadow cast by a grove of trees. Those shadows now moved like some kind of black slime, making Olesha shudder with lingering fear.
"This is... your ability?"
"Yep, how was your first experience?"
Despite having a mature face with glasses that could even be called somewhat ice-queen-like, Olesha saw smugness written all over that face.
Of course, more than that—she saw trash!
"Still so despicable. Now I believe it's really you."
"What do you mean?! Am I that bad?!"
"You yourself seem fine! But you have no idea what I experienced in there! That feeling... so terrifying... so lonely..."
Olesha looked at Amontis with an expression that suddenly became tender and affectionate, giving Lily goosebumps all over.
"Hey, are you having a crush on me or something, looking at me like that?"
"Heh, you might not know it's already spring."
"What about spring?"
"Our mating season has arrived."
Mating season?!
Lily was shocked. The black-haired beauty raised an eyebrow and reflexively leaned back her upper body.
"Heh, just messing with you, dummy! Living a thousand years and still so gullible."
"Hey! Whatever, whatever. Since you've decided to help, keep up with me. This is the red-light district—don't accidentally sell your ass."
"Heh, I'll see if there's a chance to sell yours."
Uh...
Lily felt a chill. She suddenly remembered that dragons were also a rather lustful race.