An actress in our midst! (web version)

Jessica frowned as she looked over her creation.

It was a jet-black crystalline spear, made of various gems she’d found out in the demon realm, infused with magic and put together to form a weapon. It had taken her a long time, but once she had finally figured out the right combination, it had only been a matter of time. The demon general weapon had been completed. With this, she checked off another requirement for being selected as one.

“Dammit…” she muttered.

But she wasn’t satisfied with it. After all, she hadn’t even used much of the knowledge from Trish’s notebook at all! Sure, it had an imitation of the magic-absorbing effect, but it was several orders of magnitude weaker than even that little experimental gem that had almost killed her. The real thing was too dangerous to implement even partially.

Honestly, how was it supposed to work?! There was no way it was actually impossible, right? There had to be something… Something that both Trish and Jessica had missed. But what? Stupid world-ending magical piece of-

She took a deep breath and sighed.

“I’m not sure what’s bothering you. This thing is already a fine demon general weapon,” the voice in her head assured her. “Probably even better than most I’ve seen.”

“Not good enough! I can still improve it! I know I can! I just don’t know how!”

The demon spirit shook his metaphorical head. For whatever reason, Jessica had become even more driven this past week. So much so that she wasn’t even casually threatening him with every sentence anymore. Nomed didn’t know whether to be relieved or worried.

“Gah! This is worthless!” Jessica yelled out as she picked up the spear and threw it into the corner of the room. It pierced through the reinforced castle wall while discharging some of its magic with a loud bang and crackle.

Nomed could only stare.

Worthless… Uh-huh. If that one was worthless, then what in the world would she consider worthwhile?

Jessica didn’t even glance in the spear’s direction, though. She was already picking up more gems and glaring at three magic books at once. Nomed would think she was trying to cast a hex on someone with how she began muttering to herself.

Then the sound of hurried footsteps outside, followed by the door swinging open, interrupted them.

“Jessica?!” Cody yelled out as he entered. “What happened?! I heard an explosion!” His eyes scanned the room in a hurry before landing on the hole in the wall with the spear sticking out of it.

“What?” Jessica raised her head to look at him before waving her hand around and going back to glaring at the books. “Nah, it’s nothing. Just a bit frustrated at the moment.”

He continued staring for a few seconds before snapping out of it and looking at Jessica.

“Right… Still stuck on making that weapon then?”

“Yeah… Well, no. Nomed said that thing over there–” She pointed at the spear stuck in the wall behind her. “-- is already better than most demon general weapons.”

Cody frowned. “Err… Then what’s the problem?”

“It’s not good enough!” She threw up her arms. “I’m hundred percent sure I’m thiiis close to a breakthrough!”

Cody frowned and glanced at the spear again. On one hand, he liked making breakthroughs and discoveries as well, but on the other hand… The little shouting match they’d had a few days ago was still fresh in his mind. He hadn’t liked Jessica being so reckless then and he didn’t like it now. Honestly, who uses an untested magical tool like that? She was lucky, the magical girls had saved her.

“How about you take a break? Maybe you just need to get your mind off of it for a minute to figure it out.”

Jessica growled something unintelligible under her nose and kept glaring at the books like they murdered her mother or something.

“Come on now. I even got a text from Sarah this morning asking if you were alright. They are all worried you are working yourself to the ground.” Cody gestured at the various gems, books, and magical tools thrown around Jessica’s office. “And they aren’t even wrong.”

“Ugh, fine!” Jessica finally relented. “I’ll take a break or whatever.”

Cody replied with a small smile. “Good! Then how about we…” Cody stopped for a second. “What’s that?”

“What’s what?” Jessica asked as she stood up from her chair… before stopping as well. She could hear it as well now. Heavy metallic steps echoed outside getting closer and closer.

Before either one of them could say anything else, the steps stopped outside of her door… And then the door shook. Someone knocked on it. Then again, and again. Three heavy knocks.

Jessica and Cody exchanged a questioning glance. Who the heck was that?

“Enter,” Jessica said.

“Oh, that’s probably the–” Nomed started as the door swung open, revealing a massive man clad in menacing pitch-black armor. “--demon lord.”

Jessica held back her jaw from dropping. She hadn’t actually seen the demon lord in person before. Not this close up at least. He was huge! The horns on his helmet only barely fit through the door. And not only that. Just looking at him told her his magical power was off the charts. It was as if he ate pure magical energy for lunch every day!

No, more importantly, what was he doing here? How had Nomed known? Had he discovered their conspiracy? Had the demon lord come here to try to incinerate her on the spot himself?

Only one way to find out.

“The fuck do you want?” she asked, annoyance permeating her tone.

The voice in her head choked despite not needing to breathe.

Cody’s eyes widened and his face paled at Jessica’s brazen attitude. The demon lord stopped as well as he stared at the girl.

“H-hello, sir!” Cody tried. “How… uh, h-how can we help you?”

The demon lord briefly glanced at Cody… then at the spear still stuck in the wall… and then finally back at Jessica. A few seconds of tense silence later, he spoke with a deep voice. “Hello, minions.” He fully walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

Jessica somehow managed to keep up her annoyed glare despite the situation.

“Salem informed me of a prolific minion who was working on a demon general weapon,” he said, before chancing a brief glance at the spear again.

He also hadn’t incinerated Jessica yet. A good sign.

“Hmm? Yeah, that’s me,” Jessica said in a bored tone and pointed at the spear behind her with a thumb. “That thing over there is done. It’s a piece of crap, but Nomed tells me it’s good enough to count as a demon general weapon.”

“Come on now… It’s not a piece of crap…” the spirit in her head pleaded.

“... I see.” He once again stared at the spear, noting how this supposed ‘piece of crap’ managed to damage the reinforced walls with seemingly no effort.

After another moment of silence again, he continued. “Nomed is correct. That weapon is sufficient enough to nominate you for the general position.”

Jessica grinned on the inside. That had been much easier than she’d expected. Everything according to plan.

None of these thoughts showed on the outside, though. “Cool. So what did you want here?”

Both Cody and the demon lord gave her an incredulous stare.

“You…” the demon lord started, before stopping, taking a breath, and starting again. “I’ve come to assess you personally for the position of a demon general.”

Jessica quirked an eyebrow, and after a few seconds of silence, gestured with her hand in a ‘get on with it’ motion while saying, “Aaand?” Part of her felt like she was playing with fire, but she couldn’t back down now or the whole image she had been building up would be ruined.

And also, it seemed like she’d managed to make the demon lord quite flustered already.

“... Do you even want to be a demon general?” he then asked.

“Hmm? Sure. Whatever floats your boat.” Jessica shrugged.

“Right…” he muttered, once again glancing at that spear in the wall. “Well, the last requirement for this promotion is to pass a trial.”

“Trial? Like a quiz?” Jessica quirked her eyebrow again.

“No. It’s a trial of the demon spirits. Our ancestors will judge you if you are worthy of the position.”

“Ugh, great. A bunch of boomers deciding things for me.” She put an elbow on the table and rested her chin on her fist. “Just like back home. Why did I think the demon world was any different?” she scoffed.

The demon lord went silent for a moment again. “... Salem will let you know about the details of the trial soon. Good luck, minion.” He then turned on his heel, opened the door, and basically ran from the room.

Jessica continued to stare at the closed door with her bored expression for a little while longer, keeping up the act.

The silence this time lasted more than just a few seconds before Cody finally broke it.

“... Seriously…?”

“I concur…” the voice in her head agreed.

“What?” Jessica glanced at her friend. “You think I’m gonna be all nice and buddy buddy with him just because he’s my boss? Phe! Screw that! Respect needs to be earned!”

“Right… Uh, you are gonna do that trial thing though, right?”

“Of course, I am. I just wanted to make him feel like he needs to convince me to do it.”

Cody sighed whilst shaking his head.

“Savage… Pure savage…”