At dawn, a shrill, wildly off-key voice rose note by note, its terrifying sound waves forming visible ripples in the air. The sound was so piercing it shook birds from the sky, making them convulse as they fell in flurries.
"Laaa!!!!"
"Who? Who is it?!"
In a garden suspended high above the town, Samael, who had been sprawled on his bed sleeping in, jolted upright. Every hair on his body stood on end as he shot straight up from the bed, like a snake hibernating in a cave that had been accidentally stepped on by a traveler, instinctively raising its head and flicking its tongue as it entered a state of alert. He looked around for the source.
"La, la, la~♪ Fight while singing~♪..."
Before long, the ancient serpent recognized the tune. He stiffly turned toward the sound, his narrowing vertical pupils gradually focusing on the faintly trembling window as he ground his teeth and asked,
"Who is singing?"
"Not here..."
The Empress, who had rushed in after hearing the noise, was likewise unable to stop her facial muscles from twitching. Half confused and half resentful, she lowered her head to look at the land beneath the clouds.
"...It seems to be the town ahead?"
Samael froze slightly. If he remembered correctly, the two places were at least several kilometers apart.
"Let's go, little fawn~♪ Anyway, we have to be~ cute and adorable~♪..."
As the disastrous off-key singing broke through the clouds once more and rang in his ears, Samael's painful memories surged into his mind like a mudslide bursting through a broken dam. Thick veins bulged wildly on his forehead, his teeth creaked, and his face shifted from white to red, then red to green, and finally iron-green to dark purple. He looked utterly aggrieved.
"Call everyone! Beat her