Imperial Knight Morpheus had other problems.

  He made a full recovery from his injuries, but what he was about to experience would make him tear his eyes and eardrums out with a rusted knife.

  A while back, he had relocated Marco Bennett back to her hometown for allegorical reasons. Much blatant favoritism had come back to haunt him, literally.

  His team, which was led by his daughter, had failed in their mission to discover multiple disappearances of their own kind. Primarily, which led to the Crux uncovering a huge network of sex trafficking and political bribery that spanned over a dozen countries and counting.

  That could have been their positive moment, but Susanoo sandbagged the investigation. To make matters worse, she and her team murdered Father Brutus in broad daylight with witnesses and without proper clearance.

  Morpheus' regime as the Imperial Knight has been under high scrutiny ever since the Third Revelation started doing terrorist attacks last year. Most roundtables were dead set against idly standing by doing nothing or denying protection for the Order of the Black Wing.

  It made him look like a hypocrite since Morpheus, too, belongs to the Order of the Black Wing as a Daemon Archduke. It was obviously a political play on his part to lead both the Stygian Society and the Order of the Black Wing while making him the de facto Daemon Emperor.

  His plan failed.

  Now, he is in a far worse position than before; he is being quietly ex-communicated by the majority of both factions.

  He really thought he was going to be under review, but he would wish he was…

  His former subordinate, Marco Bennett, was summoned to make a statement about what happened to her back home.

  He wasn’t alone…

  In that same room, he was flanked by a female Dragon Kemonomimi named Noah Owens. She was about the same height as Marco, with very long golden blonde hair and big golden eyes. She looked like she was in her 20s, but she carried herself with maturity as she was a lot older. As a Dragon Kemonomimi, she had blue horns, a pair of blue Dragon wings, and a scaly blue tail.

  She sat beside a Japanese man named Hiroyuki Sakai, a Daemon Samurai who works in a special division of the Stygian Society. He had short black hair and had brown eyes. He looked like he was and is in his mid-30s with a 5 o'clock shadow. Both were dressed in their uniforms as two other leaders sat next to him.

  One was Hikari Stryker, a tall, busty woman with long honey-brown hair and green eyes. She was also wearing a blue kimono with white floral patterns. Even though he is not active in the field anymore, she works as an administrative director in her own roundtable.

  She was with her husband and the leader of their roundtable, Leon Stryker.

  Even at his age, he is still active and doing combat missions with his own roundtable while his wife is working on the administrative side of things.

  Still in good shape with charcoal grey hair and dark eyes, Leon had a medium build to him, being six and a half feet tall, jokingly the same height as his son. Despite his being a ruthless Daemon Knight, he clearly portrays a jovial side to him that is infectious and welcoming, unlike her cynical but loveable wife.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Canny, the four have one thing in common, they all hate Marcus and everything about him.

  Marco was even invited back to the Stygian Society Headquarters in London. Not by him but by Hikari, which made it even more disrespectful. Even now, she didn't acknowledge him as the Imperial Knight, but one of her young boys would make her a sandwich.

  The five in attendance knew Marco for her frigid nature, and they were taken aback by her flirty and over-confident nature. Along with her state of dress—A grey and black gothic lace off shoulder ball gown dress with women's velvet steampunk renaissance short sleeves with matching stockings.

  The five of them listened to Marco's statement about what happened months ago as she spoke, "So after the Imperial Knight Morpheus-sent me away to Lancashire on a ‘special assignment’ my best friend was gunned down right in front of me when I was visiting her three days after I arrived at my new post. I was apprehended and taken to the nearest demon meat market, where I saw the Four Horsemen of the Third Revelation.”

  But Noah wasn’t deterred by this, “What were they talking about?” she asked.

  "They were deciding what they wanted to do with me. Lord Caliber wanted me to be a part of his demon meat market as a sex slave. Lord Raphael wanted to play games with me. The Holy Mother Maria Boutonnière chose Lord Raphael's plan instead. I was taken to a nearby abandoned farm and left there to starve to death,” she explained.

  “But you managed to get out of there alive…” Hiroyuki said.

  Marco nodded, “Yes, barely… When I managed to stumble across a camp just 200 kilometers away from the plantation, there was nobody around.”

  “A military camp that size was abandoned with fresh food, running clean water, and electricity with no rhyme or reason? Where was everybody?" Marcus demanded.

  Marco shrugged her shoulders, "beats me. I was too busy trying to get water. It was a godsend that I found a radio and called for help…"

  "But you didn't call the Stygian Society at all for backup…?" Marcus asked with a stoic look.

  Marco glared back at him, “why would I?”

  Knowing the brief history between her and Marcus’ family, Marco didn't have to explain everything. She lost faith in trust in the same people she worked with for many years.

  Hopefully, Leon would rectify that as well, “still, Marco, you should have notified headquarters. We have come and helped you regardless… Your problem was with Morpheus and his overachieving daughter Arcana, no one else. You didn't have to shut yourself out or resign. Even with your latent abilities at that time, you were still an amazing scout. That is why I bring to a vote to nominate Marco Bennett to the rank of First Knight. Effective immediately." He presented. "All in favor, raise your hand."

  All five did, ‘Morpheus’ being the first one to raise his.

  Marco scoffed at the idea, "Now, I am accepted… I guess this is the part where, I don't know, you call me on my bullshit?”

  Hiroyuki tried to tread softly with his personal question, "In your previous photo, you had black hair and green eyes. But now I can see you have icy-white hair and icy-white eyes. I can tell both are natural. Is it because of the Daemonia Shift?"

  “Yes,” Marco answered with a smile.

  "And I see you have changed your style. Not because of your experiences, I hope," him being a psychiatrist, Hiroyuki followed up.

  He was nervous asking the question, knowing he was the lead investigator of Lord Raphael's disappearance, apart from the two dozen male soldiers murdered at the abandoned camp.

  Unbeknownst to everyone, Lord Raphael came from a long line of the wiccan who were well-versed in holy magic and Aethereal abilities. One reason Holy Mother Maria Boutonnière wanted the young man to be a part of her little faction was short-lived because of his disappearance.

  With a conquering smile, Marco answered truthfully, “I am just happy, now knowing I don’t have to be ashamed myself anymore. I’ll accept the position at my hometown and promotion, but it’s going to be part-time now. Ran into an old friend of mine and I bagged him. So now I don’t have to work as hard. You can tell your daughter that boy is all hers now, Marky!” She heckled. “Now, if you excuse me, my man waiting for me back home... in Lancashire.”

  Marco gets up from her chair as she walks while swaying her hips to the door.

  Linktree, where you can see all of my exclusive artwork, become a Patreon member, listen to my podcast, follow or subscribe to my twitch channel, and of course be part of a movement on Kickstarter.