[YUZUKI]
Yuzuki didn't look at anyone other than her targets.
She struck them down in ways that had the warriors themselves, who had been seasoned by war, step aside. And of those who stepped aside, only the Kurayami warriors lived.
The queen of Kurayami didn't settle for dialogues.
And by the time she was done with the warriors who had dared to come after her people, she stood right in the middle of the battlefield, covered in blood from head to toe and yet without so much as a scratch on her.
Her hair, which had been in a bun, fell freely down her shoulders with one touch from her, even as she stared at the mess she had made.
As if that wasn't enough, the enemy warriors who were alive realized they were left, one of every kingdom that had dared to invade Kurayami.
"Go back to your kings and queens, warriors. Make sure to tell them what happened to her. Tell them Kurayami is off limits as it has always been. No one should tempt me with murder.
"Tell them the Kurayami queen lives, and the next time someone tries to attack my people, it will be the last time the kingdom will stand. This is the first and last warning.
"If I catch either of you snooping around my borders, your homes will cease to exist. You won't have to worry about my army coming after you. I will annihilate you lot myself.
"You have thirty minutes to be out of here; if by the dinner bell you're still here, any Kurayami civilian will be authorized to kill you," Yuzuki said, her tone cold and chilling that the warriors stumbled to leave the moment that she was done.
Most of them made a run for the borders of Kurayami and beyond, not even caring that they didn't have their weapons. And it wasn't even a long stretch for them after all.
Because what use were their weapons in the face of the single monster that had flattened battalions like it was just another day for her?
What use were their weapons against the one woman who couldn't give a shot what they thought of her?
This was madness, but this was the kind of madness that no one would ever be able to forget. And as the warriors scampered for safety beyond Kurayami, Yuzuki let out a sigh of relief, the pride on her face showing.
This was the first time she had really been in battle since that day, and gods, it felt so good.
All the rage she had been holding back. All the anger she had been waiting patiently to simmer down had made it through. She had decided on a befitting way to let it all out. And she had masked it in Kurayami's defense.
"Your majesty," Rinko's voice hit her ears calmly.
Yuzuki sighed in relief, supporting herself with the sword she had been holding. She didn't know how long they had been at this, but she knew that there was no use for her to hide anymore.
Her people had been missing their queen, and they were seeing her now.
Her real face.
The queen, who had never been seen, finally revealed herself to her people and, in the most beautiful of ways, as their protector, as the woman who would always keep them safe.
"I guess it's time, huh?" Yuzuki said when she noticed the warriors and everyone else looking at her.
She was here.
She was real for them.
She had made them understand they were never alone, and now came the task that she had jumped into headfirst. But then, other than that, Yuzuki had a different motivation this time; she would not lose this home.
She would not be the reason Kurayami got stomped over, and more people died.
She would not be the reason life stopped making sense for these wolves, and she would make sure they remembered it so well that they never played around with that which pertained to matters of the city as a kingdom.
"Good evening, Kurayami," Yuzuki began, and the kingdom went silent.
It was as if they had been waiting for this moment, even those who were back home. Yuzuki didn't need to even ask to know that the entire kingdom had gone silent because most of the people had opened mind links.
Mind links that allowed their friends and families to listen to what the Queen was saying, of course, Yuzuki would have chosen to deny who she was, but she knew she needed someone to look up to.
Someone who stood up for them.
Someone who held their faith in power and life. And Yuzuki was that someone for them. She was choosing to trust them. No matter what risks she was dealing with and gods, was it really something?
"For three weeks, you held your ground, but after all the training you went through, I expected better. Go home to your loved ones, tend to your injured, and get back on the training fields.
"I need to trust that you can protect the borders for weeks and months on end without faltering. Nurse your excitement about seeing my face, but remember that no one must know what I look like outside of Kurayami.
"Not even a drawing of my face. If this is defied, it will be considered treason and the greatest betrayal to the crown. And I will have your heads. There will be a banquet for the next three days.
"Make merry," Yuzuki said, her tone stiff, like she was not the queen they had wanted.
But then she knew that interacting with the people would make them attached, that they would want to know more about her. That they would be curious, and that was the one thing that you couldn't afford.
She didn't intend to be a tyrant in Kurayami, but she was not going to be their favorite either, not until she found her Matsui.
Perhaps that was why she walked between her warriors and made her way to the palace, the one place that seemed like home for her; she was still holding onto the realization that Ayami was her Matsui.
The reminder that she had to be very careful with whatever she did because if she wasn't careful, she would lose Ayami in this life again. If that happened, she would never forgive herself.
Never.
"You're dismissed!" Rinko said, and the people of Kurayami just bowed as the queen walked past them.
At the borders, the warriors who succeeded knew the message they were given, but what they had not expected was that their emirates of the queen Kuramitsu's face were gone.
It was like they had been commanded by a ghost, only that this was the ghost that had fucked them over.
The ghost that had bested them while parading as a servant.
The ghost who had shown up in the time of need for her people was the one thing that many would always wonder how it had worked.
All except for Yuzuki.
Because this was her chance to regain control.
To get her power back.
The power that Kazuya had denied her when the king had taken her life because of wanting what wasn't even his. And she would make sure they remembered her.
If not for her face, then for the experience she gave them, for the horrors she was going to make them go through.
Kazuya would forever remember Yuzuki Fukada.
Oh, she would make certain of it.