Operation Sisilia Subjugation (1)
“Block the intruder. I’m heading downstairs. Don’t let them into this room, no matter what.”
“What’s an intruder?”
“……If a human makes it this far, eat them.”
Fern nodded with an innocently pure expression.
The control tower’s fourth floor. The blue magic circle was half-dyed in blood-red. It was Fern’s unique Authority, Dungeonization.
If she seized the city’s defensive magic circle in the control tower, the entire city would become Fern’s possession.
With her rage heading to the lower floors, Fern sat still and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to be alone, and she needed to claim the magic circle as quickly as possible.
You crazy bitch!!!!
Boom!
A somewhat noisy commotion echoed from outside, and she opened her eyes. Footsteps approached—thud, thud.
Not the presence of a demon, but a human.
“Hehe.”
Fern recalled words Sisilia had once said to her.
Demons have to act like demons. They should always be objects of terror to humans.
Fern quickly closed her eyes again, her heart pounding with excitement as she waited for the human. She timed it perfectly to deliver lines that would make them tremble in fear when they entered.
The door creaked open.
Lowering her voice with intense focus on fixing her clumsy pronunciation, Fern said, “Human. I’m a very scary demon. Turn back before I count to one. Or you die. One.”
“Your pronunciation’s improved.”
“!”
Fern’s eyes flew wide at the familiar voice. Sisilia stood there, wearing a peculiar smile.
“……”
Fern’s eyes quickly welled up, her legs trembling.
Sisilia gazed at her for a moment, then extended her hand into the air. With a tilt of her head as if to say what are you waiting for?, Fern hurriedly brought her neck to Sisilia’s hand.
With her collar gripped by her own hand, Fern stared at Sisilia’s sword in sheer terror.
Sisilia spoke softly. “Come out. Unless you want to watch Fern die.”
“……”
A small child emerged from behind the closet.
Sesilia looked at Fern with clouded eyes and sighed. “……You move unpredictably too, don’t you?”
Sisilia said coldly, “Shall we talk?”
“Sealing Sisilia, eh? An intriguing tale.”
Around the time Sisilia arrived at the Eldrasion Empire on Lydia’s orders to replace the emperor.
And when the Demon King and young Sisilia first faced each other, planting the seeds of betrayal for some reason.
That’s when Sesilia devised a single plan: to seal Sisilia.
“But is that even possible?”
“Killing her’s off-limits, but sealing? That we can do.”
“Sounds like you’ve given it some thought. You seem pretty confident.”
“To beat the strong, you have to move unpredictably. And I can bet on the fact that my original self would never imagine a seal. Demons don’t use seals—that’s human trickery.”
The world’s trickiest foe is oneself, or so they say. Knowing she was a fake, Sesilia understood just how terrifying Sisilia was as an enemy. With her own abilities—a pale shadow of the original—the odds of victory were slim.
Slim. But not zero.
Sesilia had her greatest weapon: the ability to go all out.
“But the chance will come only once, if we’re lucky. Any tiny mistake, and there’s no next time. ‘She’ isn’t dumb enough to fall for it twice.”
Sesilia laid out the plan. She claimed a seal was possible, but it wouldn’t be easy. Sealing required fulfilling specific conditions, which varied wildly based on the target’s presence.
And sealing Sisilia—the being with the greatest presence in this world—was like cramming a massive, ill-tempered tomcat into a matchbox.
Odds were, the box would shred, and the cat would get twice as pissed.
So first, shrink the cat that was Sisilia.
“Deceive the Demon God. Summon the ‘Darkness.’”
“……!”
“Get a verdict that Sisilia killed the previous Demon King. Even a moment’s fine.”
Cain’s impassive face twisted through a rainbow of emotions. How did this tiny clone know that secret, known only to demons of the Demon Realm?
“It’ll cost you.”
“Summoning Darkness demands a steep price, but the previous Demon King’s corpse should cover it.”
Building a banquet hall takes a fortune. But an invitation? Just paper, pen, and a letter.
Darkness was that invitation—from the Demon Realm, the abyss.
Not a huge price at all.
Sesilia’s guess was spot-on. Cain secured the verdict, summoned the Darkness, and it restricted Sisilia’s True Name Release to some degree.
“……Now the big cat’s a bit smaller.”
But the cat still had claws sharp enough to rip the box.
Two options: clip the claws or reinforce the box.
Sesilia chose both.
First, to toughen the box, she layered on complex conditions. Procedures to maximize the seal’s strength.
Inscribe impossible-seeming conditions into the magic circle, fulfill them one by one.
“Erase the memories, Lumia.”
“……Y-yes? Whose memories?”
“Ours. Mine and yours.”
“Then we won’t know the sealing conditions either.”
“It’s fine. I know my original self best. By this point, the conditions will complete naturally. No need for us to remember.”
“……Do we really need to go that far?”
“Yeah. Turns out I’m a pretty sensitive cat—picks up on the tiniest changes.”
Above all, Sesilia doubted she could hide her thoughts from Sisilia. Conversely, Sisilia probably thought she couldn’t read Sesilia’s either. Because she knew herself best, after all.
“First, when the original finds Lumia Castle, she’ll chuck expensive swords like crazy. Don’t block—just repair frantically.”
As predicted, Sisilia started hurling pricey swords. Sesilia hadn’t expected dozens, though.
With it going to plan, Lumia was dumbfounded. “What the hell?”
Now my original will think Lumia Castle’s safe.
Sisilia smashed first, thought later if something felt off. The Four Heavenly Kings’ castles were indestructible objects—destroyed, they reset to default. Tampering meant nothing.
Of course, the seal wasn’t exposed. Just blocking newbie variables in a playground.
“Now appear before the pissed-off original.”
“……Hmm. Can I at least fight?”
Lumia sounded eager, but Sesilia smirked. “She won’t fight.”
“...Huh?”
“She’ll run.”
“Why?!”
“Because even running away looks cute to her.”
The real goal? If Sisilia soloed here, newbies would never get a shot at the Demon King.
Result was the same.
“……She really ran. Now what?”
“Yeah. Cast Eternal Night on Eisenberg territory. Unleash all the hidden wolves, send the remaining Seven Deadly Sins there too. Empty house—easy pickings.”
“Whoa, seriously.”
Lumia covered her mouth in awe. “How are you so smart, Sesilia? I slaved away for centuries and couldn’t take Eisenberg!”
“……Kid?”
Sesilia barely held back—the word choice grated. Lumia blabbered on.
“At this rate, no need for the seal! We can crush the humans!”
Eisenberg was the North’s linchpin. Its fall meant victory.
“No.”
Sesilia shook her head. “Classic Four Heavenly Kings pattern. The original will drop her guard the moment she sees Eternal Night in her territory.”
Raiding empty houses? Sisilia had seen demons do it dozens of times. She’d peg Lumia as a scrub, perfect newbie bait. Utter complacency.
Sesilia knew because it was herself.
“Just activate the magic circle prepped in Demon King Castle, and it’s over.”
Everything perfect so far.
Until—
Sesilia looked up. Sisilia was poking her cheek.
“How’d you know I was here?”
“It was a mess. Felt like you were reading my mind—creepy.”
“……That’s it?”
“Fern’s here too. You wouldn’t leave her alone and go elsewhere.”
“I don’t care that much about Fern—she’s no newbie.”
“I might. But you do.”
Sisilia grinned. “Sending Fern to a dangerous spot anyway? Means you need her power. Trying to dungeonize this territory and summon something?”
Sisilia pressed her sword to Fern’s throat.
“So, let’s hear it. What’s your real goal?”
Sesilia smiled faintly. “I told you. I want to see the ending too.”
“Your attitude doesn’t scream ‘curious.’”
Sisilia stated flatly. Stay hidden and quiet, and she wouldn’t hunt you down.
But Sesilia’s meddling crossed the line.
“Won’t say it twice. What’s your goal?”
Sisilia couldn’t imagine. Unless it wasn’t about watching newbies shine, what more could “Sisilia” want?
So she asked directly.
Sesilia turned away, unwilling to answer easily.
“You ditched your friend.”
“Freya’s with her—fine.”
“Yeah, no worries. First thing I did as legion commander was execute the Seven Deadly Sin of Wrath. So the ‘Wrath’ fighting Bianca now is some newbie demon, appointed less than a month ago.”
Sisilia blinked slowly.
Then looked that way too.
One presence vanished.
“Bianca won. As expected.”
Sesilia smiled quietly. “Good thing you didn’t trust her to clear this episode together. Soloing saved you.”
“……You.”
“Curious about my goal? I’ll tell you.”
The half-filled red magic circle swallowed everything whole. Bianca slaying Wrath had triggered something.
She prepped a ton.
Sisilia eyed Sesilia again.
Sesilia met her gaze steadily. “Kill you, and become the real one.”
“……”
Sisilia shot to her feet, grabbing Sesilia’s tiny head, grinning like it was fun.
“Try it.”