The following is a special Halloween story in my Master of Death fantasy series, that takes place on the night of October 31st 1013 AE (Helena's 13th birthday), shortly after Helena's conversation with her four new sisters in Chapter III.

I actually added quite a bit of new content to this blog last year, even more than I did back in 2021 when I added some additional information about Hellfire and the freeing of damned souls, and I recently made some similar improvements to the other blogs in the MoD series as well (such as extending this friendly little exchange between Misandria and Lumin at the end of Chapter III), so you may wish to check them out again too.
(And I'm also still working on that full rewrite of MoD Chapter I.)

And if you need help understanding any of the weird terms that I use in MoD, you can check out this glossary that I made for it.

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An AWESOME drawing of Helena Dusklight, by SCREECHiNG FLARE.

Helena: Hey, since today IS my 13th birthday, I was wondering if we could all go out tonight and have some fun together…?

Summer: Sounds great! What did you have in mind?

Helena: I was thinking that we could maybe take a little trip down to Muspelheim and say hi to some of our demon friends…

Spring: I don't know, that sounds kind of dangerous… Are you sure that we could handle it down there?

Helena: We should be okay, as long as we don't get in over our heads.

Winter: I'm guessing that you've never crossed the border into Muspelheim before, correct?

Helena: Only once, but I've spoken with a number of Drowish Adventurers who have plenty of experience hunting there, and a party of 5 people as powerful as us should actually fare pretty well down there, even against most of the Demon Lords.

Helena: We'll obviously need to avoid Balroth and the stronger Demon Lords, but they're all only in the lowest levels, so we shouldn't have to worry about them as long as don't get too carried away.

Autumn: Helheim is actually inside of Sekaigame's plastron, isn't it?

Necky: Yes, and the eastern "shadow side" of Helheim – now known as Svartalfheim – is still ruled by the Drow, whereas the western "flame side" of Helheim – now known as Muspelheim – was taken over by Balroth and its demonic hordes when the Current World Order began 65,000,000 years ago…

Winter: I wonder how Balroth was able to reach Helheim when Datenshi landed here in Midgard…?

Helena: I don't know, but the only way that we know of to reach Helheim without dying is to cast the Dark Magic spell "Go to Hell" to open up a Wyrmhole, and it's me and Necky's understanding that demons and mortal Balrothists aren't capable of using ancient Dark Magic like that.

Helena: …Anyway, is everyone ready?

Winter: Yes, we're ready.

Helena: All right then!

They all took a moment to pray to Evelyn for success in their upcoming adventure in Muspelheim, and then Helena cast her Go to Hell spell to open up a Wyrmhole to Helheim, which her and her four new sisters then went through.

They arrived in the small quiet region of Helheim known as the "Dead Zone", which was a buffer zone of sorts between the Dark Elven queendom of Svartalfheim and the infernal hellscape of Muspelheim.

For everyone except Helena and Necky (both of whom could see clearly even in the deepest darkness), all that could be seen in the pitch blackness were the red glowing eyes of their two new friends, which shone like four bright blood red stars in an otherwise starless night sky.

Spring quickly remedied this by blessing herself and her three night-blind sisters with her Eyes of the Deep Sea Kraken spell, which allowed the four of them to see the skyless underworld of Helheim much more clearly.

The Dead Zone actually wasn't that different from Svartalfheim. Above there was nothing but total darkness where there would normally be the sky or some sort of ceiling, and all around them was a strange cave-like world.

The Dead Zone wasn't quite as cold and dank as Svartalfheim was, though, and as they headed westward towards Muspelheim, it progressively became hotter, drier, and harder for them to breathe…

Upon arriving at the cave entrance to Muspelheim they began to make all of the necessary preparations before entering, including discussing their battle strategies, casting all of their various enchantments and blessings on one another, and putting on equipment best suited for fighting demonic enemies in a toxic, subterranean environment.

Helena also cast illusion spells on her four party members (but not on herself) to make them appear to be Drowish, so that nothing in Muspelheim would realize who they really were, and would likely just assume that Helena had finally decided to aid some of her Drowish friends in their ongoing efforts to drive Balroth and its demonic minions out of Helheim.

Spring's Druidic magic again proved to be vitally important here as well, because the environment that Balroth had created in Muspelheim was incredibly hot, completely devoid of air and water, filled with poisonous miasma, and was heavily cursed, and no living being (not even a Drow) could survive in such a completely inhospitable environment without the aid of the proper blessings and enchantments to make it possible to do so, which thankfully she could provide.

Spring: Let's see here… I made us all able to breathe in an airless and waterless environment full of toxic gases without dying, I made us all able to pass through cursed flames and withstand temperatures of over 1000,000 °K without being instantly incinerated, and I made it so that we can survive environmental curses that inflict tens of thousands of points of damage every second and reduce all of our stats by over 99%… Is that everything that I need to protect us against before we can enter?

Helena: Yup, that should cover just about everything. Thanks!

Once they were all finally ready (including a group of around 10 skeletons that Helena had raised to accompany them) they entered Muspelheim, and immediately upon doing so they were confronted by the Demon Lord Cerberus, whose sole task it was to guard the entrance to Muspelheim against would-be intruders, typically Drowish raiding parties.

Rather than attacking the giant three-headed Hell Hound though, Helena simply stared directly into the center head's eyes, and it stopped dead in its tracks.

She then began whispering in Ancient Drowish while Cerberus remained entranced, simply staring into her burning red eyes.

After about a minute or so Cerberus submitted to her, its hate-filled demonic mind completely dominated by Helena's Sin Possessor spell, a powerful Neuromantic spell sometimes used by Drowish magi to possess demons during their raiding expeditions into Muspelheim.

Summer: Woah! So you really can possess demons!

Summer: …Does anyone else think that that's a little creepy, or is it just me?

Helena: It's just a matter of having more Willpower than your target, and also sufficient skill in Neuromancy.

Helena then grinned evilly.

Helena: …Of course, it also just feels nice to penetrate the minds of soulless Hell spawn and bend them to my will.

Summer: OK, you're definitely creepy, but at least you aren't evil… I think…

Winter: As she herself already stated, demons don't have souls like the living and the dead do, and she is essentially just redirecting its desire to kill and maim others toward its own kind, rather than us.

Winter: Demons are not mindless creatures, but their lack of a soul or spirit means that they are driven solely by their own sinful nature, and they are therefore completely incapable of things like love, kindness, or empathy.

Winter: Essentially they exist solely to kill, torture, and defile, and to carry out the evil will of the Snake, and by possessing them Helena is merely taking the place of their unholy master.

Summer: Well, when you put it that way…

Helena: Anyway, enough talking about demons. I came down here to kill them, not to talk about their "feelings".

Summer: Yeah, you're right! Let's get going already!

They then began to venture deeper into Muspelheim.

Unlike the rest of Helheim, much of Muspelheim was tight corridors and tunnels, with a clearly visible ceiling overhead.

Muspelheim was a realm like something out of a nightmare: the floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of bone; rivers of boiling blood, bile, and sewage flowed throughout the place; and there was no clean water anywhere to be seen.

The atmosphere of Muspelheim was not only airless but somehow completely dry somehow as well, and it was comprised of a toxic miasma that smelled like a combination of brimstone, raw sewage, and burning rotten flesh.

Ominous black flames burned throughout Muspelheim. These were the unholy flames that burned the souls of the damned for all eternity: Hellfire.

Other than having fun hunting the demons, freeing the souls of the damned who were imprisoned within the Hellfire was another goal of Helena's, and she accomplished this by extinguishing the Hellfire with Holy Water, the only known substance capable of doing so.

When Helena (or any other mage powerful and talented enough to do use Soul Summoning magic) summons damned souls from Muspelheim, she is essentially opening a spiritual portal to Muspelheim, through which the damned soul may pass through to reach the Soul Summoner's location in Midgard.

Unfortunately, although the Hellfire is temporarily extinguished when a damned soul enters Midgard (because Misgard's atmosphere is different than that of Muspelheim), all damned souls must eventually return to Muspelheim, unless they are either somehow given a compatible body to inhabit (which Helena does with her Necromancy), or the Hellfire binding them to Muspelheim is extinguished, which can only be done in Muspelheim by baptising them with Holy Water.

Like the damned souls freed by Drowish raiding parties in the past (and unlike those freed by Helena's Necromancy), those freed by Helena and her sisters during this adventure will wind up spending their afterlives in Svartalfheim living alongside the Drow as
ghosts, still unable to interact with the physical world the way that Helena's skeletons can, but never having to suffer through the unimaginably excruciating pain that the Hellfire and demons of Muspelheim put them through ever again.
(Which is why Helena, like countless brave Drow in the past, was willing to risk her life in order to free them.)

Helena, who had always felt quite comfortable in the cold, wet darkness of Svartalfheim, hated the heat and dryness of Muspelheim, but fortunately for her Winter maintained her Cryogenian Aura spell, a powerful Cryomantic spell that literally caused Hell to freeze over within a large radius around her, and so Helena stayed closest to her, where she felt the most comfortable.

With their overwhelming might, the five of them (aided by the mind-controlled Cerberus and Helena's undead companions) decimated the lesser demons that they encountered in the upper levels, but as they ventured deeper into Muspelheim, it didn't take long before they began to encounter much stronger adversaries, such as the Demon Lord Witherot.

Witherot was a Decay Lord, a type of Demon Lord which specialized in using Disease magic and whom was surrounded by an Aura of Decay that caused all living beings within its radius to begin to wither away, losing not only their HP over time, but their MP (Mana Points) and SP (Stamina Points) as well.

Witherot was accompanied by around 100 lesser demons known as "Rotfiends" as well, all of which were considerably stronger than the demons that they had faced up until this point.

This battle would put the healing abilities of not only Spring, but also Helena's skeletal healers to the test.

Witherot (in the Snake's Tongue): I am Witherot the Foul, Lord of Decay and slow but certain harbinger of death…

Witherot (in the Snake's Tongue): All enemies who stand before me eventually fall to my Aura of Decay. You are not the first Drow and Vampires to rot away and die in my presence, nor shall you be the last!

Helena (in the Snake's Tongue): Yeah yeah, you're the this and the that, and you think that you're a badass just because you smell worse than the other Demon Lords, I get it…

Helena (in the Snake's Tongue): And I'm not a Vampire by the way. I'm Princess Helena Dusklight of Evelynia, Master of Death and savior of the damned.

Witherot (in the Snake's Tongue): You speak to me in my own tongue? I'm impressed. Few Vampires bother to even learn the Snake's Tongue, and most Drow simply treat us like mindless beasts.

Helena (in the Snake's Tongue): Yeah, well don't be too impressed, as I'm only doing it because I like to trash-talk my enemies before I annihilate them.

Spring: Why are you talking to that Demon Lord, Hel? And why is it that you can speak their language?

Helena: I learned the Snake's Tongue so that I could read the Book of the Snake in the Darkweb Library in Svartalfheim, in order to gain a better understanding of my enemies' thought processes and magics.

Helena: As far why I'm talking to Witherot here, it's just because it bothered to introduce itself and started bragging about how poor its hygiene is and stuff, so I figured that trash-talking it a bit before we kill it was the least that I could do.

Helena summoned around 90 more skeletons to match the numbers of Witherot's forces and tried to stay back outside of the range of its Aura of Decay, not only to help conserve her MP but also to reduce the burden on the healers.

She focused most of her efforts on weakening Witherot with curses and attacking it with powerful Dragon and Light Element magic, which worked well against Disease and Dark Element opponents like Witherot and its Rotfiend minions.

Spring also stayed back, but she focused most of her efforts on keeping everyone's HP and SP up with her healing magic, and also curing them of the various afflictions that Witherot and its minions would inflict upon them.
(Although she'd occasionally cast a Light Element attack spell whenever an opportunity arose for her to do so.)

Both Cerberus and Helena's skeletal army were immune to the Aura of Decay (because they weren't technically alive), allowing Cerberus and the melee classes amongst the skeletons to fight without the need for constant healing.

Most of Cerberus' attacks were either Fire or Dark Element, the latter of which wasn't particularly good against anything in Muspelheim, but the former of which worked well against the Disease Element demons in this particular battle.

It was Summer, Autumn, and Winter, however, who had the most dangerous jobs: confronting Witherot and the Rotfiends directly while the Aura of Decay was draining them.

Being the strongest among them, Winter played the role of the main tank, taking Witherot itself on directly and being on the receiving end of most of its attacks.

Being a master of both Dragon and Crystal Element magic (not to mention more Light Magic, which all five sisters were proficient in), she also inflicted a great deal of damage on it, not only by unleashing powerful sword and shield attacks against it but also by infusing her melee attacks with her magic, a powerful technique commonly used by those highly skilled at both (such as Dragon Knights like herself), and she was one of the best (if not THE best) in the world at this type of combat.

Also, while none of the demons that they faced in this battle had a particular weakness to Ice, Winter's Cryomancy was also invaluable because of her various freezing spells (including her Cryogenian Aura), her ability to control the movement of Witherot's forces by creating walls of ice, and also because of her Zero Touch spell, a powerful Cryomantic spell that can instantly defeat a sufficiently weak (in terms of their current HP, their Resistance stat, and their susceptibility to Ice) opponent simply by touching them with her hand.
(Which was helpful for quickly eliminating Witherot's minions, although it took a lot of her MP to use it.)

Summer (like Cerberus) played the role of an off tank, assisting Winter in keeping Witherot away from the spellcasters, healers, and ranged classes, but her main contribution to the party was her damage output.

Being a Berserker, she was the weakest of the princesses when it came to using magic (although she was still really good at it), but she was also the strongest at physical combat (tied with Winter), and inflicted massive damage with the brutal attacks from her two greataxes, which she infused with her Fire and Light Element magic.

Both she and Winter fighting side by side was a sight to behold. Winter, clad in her beautiful Crystalline Dragonscale armor made from the shed scales of her Dragon friend Cryofyrmythr, and wielding a Crystalline katana and tower shield also made of her shed scales and teeth, entered her Dracoform – a powerful magical transformation performed using Dracomancy – before charging valiantly into battle.

Beautiful diamond-like Crystalline scales (just like Cryofyrmythr's) covered every inch of her normally smooth, snow-white skin (which appeared to be indigo in color at the time due to Helena's Drow illusion) from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes, and her hands and feet began to resemble the talons of a Dragon, with her turquoise-colored nails turning into sharp and deadly dragon claws.

Magnificent draconic wings sprouted from her upper back and the powerful tail of a Dragon sprouted out from just above her bottom, granting her not only the ability to fly, but also three new weapons for her to use in melee combat.

Her beautiful aquamarine hair and her mystifying ice blue eyes (which lacked visible pupils) were also transformed, with her hair turning into crystalline ice while mostly retaining its usual shape and coloration, and the whites of her eyes being completely consumed by the icy blue of her irises, as her face transformed from that of a beautiful Evelynian princess into that of a fearsome Crystalline Dragon, complete with razor-sharp horns, serrated teeth, and powerful bone-crushing jaws.
(Which like her wings and her tail, she used as weapons in battle.)

This transformation increased her power dramatically, both physically and magically, offensively and defensively, and Dracoforms such as hers were the primary reason that Akushinese Dragon Masters and Dragon Knights were so feared on the battlefield, and Winter's Dracoform surpassed those of even the greatest Akushinese Dragon Masters and Dragon Knights in strength, save for that of the Akushinese empress herself.

Summer wore a full suit of Adamantium platemail similar to the one worn by her mother Misandria, and it had been crafted by the same legendary Dwarven blacksmiths who made her mother's suit of platemail armor as well.

She wielded two Adamantium greataxes made by them as well, one in each hand (a single greataxe normally requires both hands to wield), and despite the fact that each of them individually weighed several times her own body weight (and her armor was quite heavy as well), she was strong enough to let out her fierce War Cry of the Coming Storm (which dramatically increased her offensive stats and Speed for a short time), light herself and her weapons on fire with her Phoenix Burst spell, and then charge into battle at blazing fast speeds and unleash all of her pent up rage (which she had a lot of) upon her enemies in a brutal onslaught of rapid-fire combo attacks with her two axes.

Being a Nightblade, Autumn was fairly good at both physical combat and spellcasting, and was also quite good at sneaking around without being noticed, which allowed her to safely scout ahead for the others.

Her skills were quite useful in battle as well, as she could easily navigate the icy labyrinths that Winter created with her Wall of Ice spell without being seen, and quickly eliminate particularly troublesome enemies with her deadly sneak attacks and then vanish, as though she was never even there.

Clad in Mythril scalemail and wielding two Mythril shortswords (all made by the same Dwarven smiths who crafted Summer's and Misandria's equipment), she was quite capable of direct physical combat if necessary, but both Winter and Summer made far better tanks than she did, and so she stuck primarily to sneak attacks, distance attacks (both with her magic and also with her archery), and using support magic such as healing.

Helena, Winter, Summer, and Autumn all had to keep up their attacks on Witherot, as its Aura of Decay not only drained all of them (except Helena since she was far enough away) of their energy, but also used the HP, MP, and SP that it drained from them to replenish its own.

Towards the end of the battle, Helena began to walk onto the battlefield and started heading directly towards Witherot.

Although most of the Rotfiends had already been defeated by this point there was still some fighting going on, and as soon as she stepped within the range of Witherot's Aura of Decay, it began to drain her.

Whenever one of the Rotfiends tried to attack her, she simply touched them with the blade of her scythe and they died instantly.

Due to her IPP rating of 0, she couldn't actually use her scythe as a weapon the way a melee class like a Berserker would, but she could still use it the same way that other spellcasters (such as Spring, who wielded a magical staff) use wands, sceptres, and staves, to enhance her own immense magical power even further.

Helena eventually made her way to where Witherot was, and once she was there she closed her eyes, leaned in close to it, and kissed it ever so gently…

Witherot died instantly.

Helena had been using her Touch of Death spell to instantly kill all of the lesser demons that had approached her, and she used her even more powerful Kiss of Death spell to finish off Witherot, and both of these spells were powerful Dark Magic spells that were like even more powerful versions of Winter's Zero Touch spell, capable of killing enemies with a mere touch.

After Witherot's defeat, all of its remaining underlings began to flee in terror, and Helena and her sisters were easily able to hunt down and kill every last one of them.

Helena: Blech! I hope that I never have to kiss anything so disgusting ever again!

Helena then proceeded to scorch her own lips using her Dracomancy, in order to cleanse them of the foul taste of Witherot's decaying flesh.

Helena: …Anyway, let's keep going.

At this point all of the demons that they encountered were a reasonable challenge to defeat, but Helena still scaled back the number of skeletons that she kept out until the next big battle against a Demon Lord.

The next Demon Lord that they faced was a Minotaur Lord named Killgore, whom was accompanied by around 150 Minotaur Berserkers and 13 Satyr Dark Magi.

Killgore (in the Snake's Tongue): I am Killgore the Butcher, Lord of the Minotaurs and decimator of all who cross my path!

Killgore (in the Snake's Tongue): I am going to enjoy killing you and your blueskin friends, little Vampire girl. And rest assured, your other blueskin friends back in Svartalfheim won't be able to recognize any of you from your mutilated remains!

Helena (in the Snake's Tongue): …Seriously? "Blueskin friends"? I know that all Demon Lords have to be assholes, but do you have to be racists too?

Helena (in the Snake's Tongue): And while I'm kinda used to people mistaking me for a Vampire back in Midgard, it's beginning to get a bit old hearing you Demon Lords doing it too, and I'd have thought that being children of Balroth that y'all would be able to tell the difference, although I guess you're all just too stupid and racist to even care…

Killgore (in the Snake's Tongue): You speak our language, Vampire girl? No matter, as I much prefer killing Vampires and blueskins over talking to them!

This battle, though more difficult, was much more straightforward than the previous one against Witherot.

The tanks immediately intercepted Killgore and tried to keep it and the other Minotaurs occupied, while Helena (using her Kiss of Death spell) and Autumn quickly eliminated the 13 Satyrs, in order to prevent their relatively powerful Dark Magic spells from becoming a potential issue.

The rest of the battle was basically just a test of their strength, because although Killgore was a Death Knight and had limited Dark Magic spellcasting capabilities, the other minotaurs did not, and they all relied primarily on Dark, Fire, and (in Killgore's case) Chaos Element melee attacks, rather than the various curses and afflictions used by the Satyrs, or by Witherot and its Rotfiend minions during the previous boss fight.

Just like during the battle against Witherot, Killgore was finished off by Helena's Kiss of Death spell, and just like Witherot's minions, all of the surviving Minotaurs ran away in fear after their leader's death, only to all wind up being slain by Helena and the others anyway.

After defeating Killgore, the lesser demons that they faced before their next run-in with a Demon Lord were becoming increasingly difficult to defeat, and as much fun as she was still having, Helena knew that her birthday adventure would soon have to come to an end.

In the next boss battle they faced not one, but two Demon Lords: the Incubus Lord Bloodthrust, and the Succubus Lady Bloodbust.

Bloodthrust and Bloodbust were accompanied by around 100 Succubi and 100 Incubi respectively, and even under normal circumstances defeating such powerful enemies would have been quite difficult for them.

Unfortunately, Helena made this battle somewhat more complicated than it had to be, as the moment she laid eyes upon Bloodbust it was love at first sight… sort of…

Helena: Woah! Now THAT'S a demon that I'd REALLY enjoy kissing!

Helena: I mean, I know Cerberus has been a good pet and all, but who could pass up an opportunity to get with HER?!

Autumn: Umm, are you OK Hel?

Necky: She's fine, she just has an odd sense of humor, that's all…

Winter: I presume you wish to possess Bloodbust, but you are only powerful enough to possess 1 Demon Lord at a time, correct?

Helena: Damn! Do you ever get anything wrong?

Helena: Of course, something tells me that lovely lady over there is gonna play hard to get, so things may be pretty rough for a while…

Winter: Understood. We'll be sure to not damage the other demons too badly though.

Helena sent Cerberus as far away from herself and her party as possible, and then turned her head back towards Bloodbust and winked at her, blew her a kiss, and then proceeded to stare intensely into her beautiful violet eyes as the two of them simultaneously tried to possess each other.

Bloodbust (in the Snake's Tongue): Are you flirting with me, Vampire? My badness, my powers of seduction must be even greater than I thought!

Bloodbust (in the Snake's Tongue): …Possessing a weak, lust-driven soul like yours shall be an easy task for me, Bloodbust the Irresistible, Lady of the Succubi and temptress of lost souls!

Bloodthrust (in the Snake's Tongue): Don't worry Sister, I will kill the blueskins and the skeletons while you're playing with the Vampire girl.

Bloodthrust (in the Snake's Tongue):
…I don't know how that Vampire girl managed to possess Lord Cerberus, but she surely can't maintain her control over them and try to possess you at the same time, which means that they will be able to assist me in killing the rest of these vermin.

While Helena had the difficult task of gazing into the dreamy eyes of a beautiful Succubus Lady, the rest of her party had the slightly more dangerous job of fending off a horde of 200+ demons (including both Bloodthrust and Cerberus) while trying not to inflict too much damage on them.

Winter's Wall of Ice spell and her various freezing spells were incredibly helpful here, as was Spring's Earthen Wall spell and her powerful wind spells like Banishing Gale, the latter which she used to blow enemies away without damaging them too much.

Autumn had some spells that were quite helpful here as well (such as weaker versions of some of the same wind magic that Spring used), but Summer on the other hand found this whole situation to be incredibly frustrating, although she thankfully knew a few physical combat abilities like Forceful Bash, which allowed her to knock enemies back great distances without damaging them too much.

Summer: Can someone please tell me why the heck I'm not allowed to just hack apart all of these demons that are trying to KILL ME again?!

Winter: Just be patient, Helena is trying to do something very important right now, and we need to give her a chance to finish doing it.

Summer: Really?! 'Cause it looks to me like she's just staring into that pretty demon lady's eyes and daydreaming!

Helena wasn't able to respond to Summer's complaints since she was still in the process of trying to possess Bloodbust, but it certainly did look as though she was enjoying herself quite a bit while doing so, which only made Summer even more suspicious of her true motivations for doing all of this.

Summer: …Whatever, but I better not regret going along with this nonsense!

Winter: Trust me, you won't.

Because they were all holding back so much, healing was also extremely important here, and being the best healer among them, Spring had to quickly switch between healing her companions and trying to keep their enemies far enough away from them all.

They had to drink many potions to keep up their HP, MP, and SP, but after several hours of Helena and Bloodbust gazing into one another's eyes, Helena finally penetrated her mind and was able to overtake her.

Immediately upon possessing Bloodbust, Helena had her use her extremely powerful Lusty for Busty ability to charm all of the other demons there (except for Cerberus, who was completely unaffected by it) and take control of them.

Helena now had not only possessed a more powerful Demon Lord than Cerberus, but by taking advantage of Bloodbust's ability she now indirectly controlled a small army of demons, including another Demon Lord.

She sent all of the demons that she now controlled after her former "pet" Cerberus, and they defeated it in a matter of seconds.

Helena: BWAHAHAHA! I am a GENIUS!!!!!

Helena: All of Muspelheim shall fear me! My fearsome army of soulless, mind-controlled Hell Spawn shall destroy all those who dare to stand in my way!

Autumn: Wow, I never would've guessed that you planned on using Bloodbust to control all of those other demons like that!

Summer: I've gotta admit, that was pretty clever…

Summer: …I'm sorry about giving you such a hard time before, Hel.

Helena: Hey, no worries. Maybe next time I'll let you have some fun with my girl Busty here, too.

Summer: If by "have some fun" you mean having fun hacking her to bits with my axes, then sure!

Helena gasped in disbelief, and then turned towards Bloodbust and started talking to her.

Helena: …Don't worry Busty, she just can't appreciate how special you really are…

Helena then kissed Bloodbust directly on the lips, and it was an infinitely more pleasurable experience for her than all of the times during previous battles that she had to kiss demons in order to cast her Kiss of Death spell on them.

Winter: …It was a logical decision to possess her, as mind-controlling an enemy allows you to take advantage of whatever abilities that enemy has, and Succubi happen to have incredible powers of seduction.

Winter: Additionally, a Succubus Lady like Bloodbust would have far greater powers of seduction than a regular Succubus does because she is a Demon Lord, allowing her to seduce a far greater number of enemies simultaneously. In this case, an army of 201 other demons.

Spring: Yeah, but this still seems a little extreme…

Helena: What the Hell are you talking about?! I mean, did you look at her?! I bet no demon in Muspelheim could resist her charms!

Winter: Cerberus already did, and many other demons in the lower levels undoubtedly will as well.

Winter: …Anyway, let us continue.

???: You're a long way from the palace, aren't you "princesses"?

A chill ran down Spring's, Summer's, and Autumn's spines, as they heard the eerily familiar voice come from behind them.

They all turned around and saw that the person who just spoke to them was none other than Lord Lumin Redshield himself, only not hiding himself in his Human illusion like he did back when they had seen him in Midgard in the past.

Winter and Autumn recognized him immediately from all of the times that they saw him with Winter's Tuatara's Eye spell, but for the others this was their first time actually seeing him in this form.

He looked exactly how Winter had described him to them: a humanoid creature wearing a black robe with Balrothic symbols all over it written in blood. His head was covered by a skull resembling that of a ram, only the bone that it and his skeletal hands were made of was black in coloration, and nothing could be seen underneath the ram's skull but complete darkness.

In his right hand he held some sort of strange utensil that resembled a metal skewer, and it was dripping with blood…

Helena also couldn't help but notice (thanks to Winter's Tuatara's Eye spell, which all 5 of them still had on) that Lumin somehow had an IPP/IMP rating of 0/0, just like Winter said he did, suggesting not only that he was completely incapable of using magic, but also that (like herself) he was completely incapable of physical combat, which she found somewhat troubling given how that shouldn't even be possible.

Lumin: Leave this place now, little girls. This is MY domain.

Helena suddenly burst into laughter.

Helena: Seriously? "Your domain"? ALL of Helheim rightfully belongs to the Drow. Not to that ugly ass dung heap that you call a god, and certainly not to a filthy little cockroach like you!

Lumin was highly offended by Helena's remarks, which were an unpleasant reminder of some of the harsh things that Misandria had said to him earlier that day, but he knew that taking on all five princesses of Evelynia (not to mention a couple hundred demons and Helena's entire skeletal army) alone would be far too risky at this point in time, and so he held back his anger.

Lumin: That idiot mother of yours should've killed you while she had the chance, rather than throwing away her pathetic, useless little life to bring a nuisance like you into the world.

Lumin: …People like her disgust me, and I can only hope that she suffered in excruciating pain as she was dying, as punishment for her own stupidity.

Helena took great offense to Lumin's terrible remarks about her late mother, who bravely gave up her own life to give birth to her, but she knew that she wasn't ready to confront Lumin yet either, and so she too held back the seething rage that was building up inside of her, and instead channeled that anger into her words.

Helena: As much as I'd like to crush you under my heel right here and now, I've got better things to do at the moment than dealing with the pest problem down here.

Helena: …Mark my words though, Cockroach: I WILL kill you one day, and there are few things in my life that will bring me as much pleasure as the moment that I get to rid Sangai of your worthless, parasitic existence once and for all.

Helena: Come on everyone, we're leaving this hellhole. It smells even worse down here than before with this thing stinking up the place…

Helena gave Bloodbust one last kiss goodbye before relinquishing her control of her and the demonic army that she had seduced, and then she opened up a Wyrmhole back to Midgard to take herself and the rest of her party back home.

Since their adventure in Muspelheim had been cut short by Lumin's unexpected appearance there, Helena was somewhat disappointed that she didn't even get a chance to actually use her demonic army at all in battle.

Helena: Damn! That SUCKS! And I was just starting to have fun, too!

Summer: Tell me about it! You had just gotten that cool army of demons, and the enemies were starting to get tougher, and I hadn't even gotten the chance to hack up any of the stronger demons in the lower levels yet!

Winter: We were already beginning to reach the limit of how far we could go without the assistance of a proper raiding party from Svartalfheim anyway, although Helena possessing that Succubus Lady would've allowed us to progress somewhat farther than we did if it weren't for Lumin's untimely arrival…

Helena: BLOODBUST! Her name was BLOODBUST!!!

Helena: …But yeah, what was up with Lumin showing up in Helheim like that anyway?

Winter: I'm not entirely sure. If he were a demon, he shouldn't be able to survive up here in Midgard when exposed to sunlight outside of the body of a possessed mortal host, which I know for a fact that he can.

Winter: If he is merely a powerful Balrothist of some sort from here in Midgard on the other hand, then he shouldn't have been able to even make it into Helheim in the first place, as neither a Midgardian Balrothist nor a demon should be capable of freely traveling between the realms like that…

Helena: Yeah, it's definitely a bit concerning, and as much as I want to waste that scumbag right now for what he said about my mom, I don't think that I'll be ready to take him on for a good long while.

Helena: …Anyway, how many souls were we able to free down there?

Winter: 61,132.

Helena: Seriously?! That many?!

Helena: Damn! That's even more than the Drow have been able to free in the past decade or so!

Necky: Not quite, but it's still remarkable what only the five of you were able to accomplish there during a single night.

Helena: Hell yeah it was!

Helena: …Although having a massive skeletal army and a pet Demon Lord on our side certainly helped us out a lot, hehehe…

Helena looked towards the skeletons that she still had out from her battle with Bloodbust and Bloodthrust.

Helena: Thanks again for helping us out, everyone.

Helena then returned all of her skeletons to her magical rucksack.

A deliveryman then knocked on the door of her and her sisters' room.

Deliveryman: Special delivery for Princess Helena Dusklight of Evilonia.

Helena: That would be me!

Helena enjoyed hearing the deliveryman refer to her by her new official title of "princess", as it made her feel as though she truly was a part of the Evelynian royal family now, despite being born in the small town of Shadewood, and raised by her godmother in the local orphanage there.

She opened the door for the deliveryman and took the package from him, and she then thanked him and paid him a royally generous tip before going back inside and closing the door behind her.

She saw that the delivery was from none other than her godmother Lisa Pureheart, and then she opened it up right away.

Helena: AWESOME! Mom baked me a birthday cake!

Helena: …Anyone else want some?

Summer: Of course!

Winter: I would like some cake as well, please.

Spring: You can count me in! Thanks!

Autumn: Sure, thanks!

Autumn: And look! It's got vanilla icing on it too! That's my favorite!

Summer: Really? Then I'll make sure to share one of my slices with you since it's your favorite and all.

Autumn: Yay! Thanks Summer!

Spring: Wait a second… I thought that strawberry icing was your favorite?

Autumn: Oh yeah, it is… My bad, hehehe…

Winter: Actually, my Tuatara's Eye reveals to me that the icing on this cake is in fact mint icing that is white instead of mint green in color, and mint icing is actually my favorite, although I suspect that it is Helena's favorite as well.

Helena: Yup! It's an angel's food cake with mint icing! My favorite!

Spring: Wait, so your Tuatara's Eye can reveal the true flavor of icing on cakes…?

Winter: Of course. The icing on this cake was trying to fool us into believing that it was vanilla flavored, was it not?

Spring: If you say so…

Helena: …Y'know, it sure was nice of Mom to make this birthday cake for me and all, but I hope that she'll be OK with me not being able to spend as much with her in Shadewood anymore…

Winter: Don't worry, you can visit her anytime that you wish to do so, and Mom said that she is welcome to visit you here at the palace anytime that she wishes to do so, as well.

Winter: Also, Mom is still having her spies keep a close eye on her, and should the Union of the Snake send anyone to try to go after her, they would be quickly eliminated.

Helena: Yeah, I guess you're right…

Helena: Anyway, let's dig in everyone!

They all then shared Helena's birthday cake, not only to celebrate her 13th birthday, but also to celebrate their first of many adventures together as sisters, and also the freeing of 61,132 souls from eternal damnation.