Finally, she halted, standing atop a mountain of demonic skulls she had casually piled high. Her body was slick with ichor and soot, her muscles screamed in exhausted protest, but the restless, aching void within her had been filled, for now, with the serene clarity of absolute power.
She had not just killed demons. She had annihilated her own doubts, her fears, her loneliness. She had proven to herself, and to any cosmic force that might be watching, that Gracier Alexandra Kael, the adopted sister, the newly-crowned princess, was a force to be reckoned with.
She lifted her head to the false sky and let out a long, resonant roar. It was not a cry of rage, but a declaration of sovereignty. A promise.
The Queen of Fire had arrived. And all the realms would soon learn to kneel.
°°°
