Deep in the African continent lay a forgotten tribal settlement.
The blazing sunlight baked the cracked earth, and a few low huts built from mud and thatch stood scattered among the sparse bushes.
The tribespeople sat in a circle in the central clearing, white patterns painted on their dark skin, holding crude pottery bowls as they murmured to one another in an ancient language.
The sky overhead was a clear blue, without so much as a wisp of cloud.
Suddenly, the sky darkened.
A voluptuous figure in black descended from the sky, her broad Demon Wings slowly folding behind her as ripples of dark purple energy gently spread around her.
She landed on the ground, her high heels striking the cracked earth with a crisp clack.
The tribespeople looked up one after another. At the sight of this great black fluttering moth descending from the sky, their eyes widened in terror.
"Ah!!"
Someone screamed, dropping a pottery bowl that shattered into several pieces on the ground.
The men grabbed spears and bows and stood in front of the women and children, but their weapon-clutching hands trembled violently.
They had never seen anything like her.
Without so much as glancing at the terrified crowd, Morgana walked straight up to the old chief sitting in the place of highest honor at the center of the settlement.
The old man's face was covered in wrinkles. Draped in animal hides, he clutched a smoothly polished wooden staff, her seductive face reflected in his cloudy eyes.
"Ato, your queen has come to take you home."
Morgana bent down and lifted the old chief's chin with her slender fingers, her voice as gentle as though she were coaxing a sleeping child.
She softly blew a breath at that aged face.
A dark purple, glowing mist drifted from between her lips and slipped into the old chief's mouth and nose.
The old man's body jolted, and his cloudy eyes suddenly grew unfocused, dark purple patterns of light churning in his pupils.
The next second, he abruptly clutched his head and let out a hoarse roar of agony.
Bones crackled inside him as his body rapidly swelled. His aged skin tore apart, revealing dark purple scales beneath, while a pair of broad, fleshy wings pierced through the flesh of his back and fangs protruded from his mouth.
Within seconds, he had transformed from an old man in his twilight years into a winged Demon Warrior over two meters tall.
The tribespeople around them erupted into chaos.
"Demon! Demon!!!"
They threw down their spears and bows and scattered in every direction, but Morgana merely chuckled and gave a light wave of her hand.
An invisible pulse spread outward from her, enveloping the entire settlement.
The fleeing tribespeople all stopped in their tracks at once, and their bodies began to mutate.
A few minutes later, the entire settlement fell silent.
The tribespeople who had been screaming and fleeing just moments earlier had all completed their transformations, becoming a group of Demon Warriors standing in silence.
Morgana looked around and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad. At least they're much stronger than the people on that little island."
She examined her latest results. Although there were only a few hundred of them, almost all the transformed Demon Warriors had reached the second-generation level, making them countless times stronger than that batch of first-generation cannon fodder from Sakura Country.
Ato knelt before her on one knee, a hint of concern on his rugged face.
"My queen, you seem a little unhappy?"
Morgana rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, her tone filled with surly irritation.
"No shit! I ran into angels as soon as I got to this crappy little planet. Would you be happy in my place?"
"Angels?"
Ato jerked his head up, a vicious glint flashing in his dark red pupils. "Where are they? My queen, let me go kill them!"
Morgana looked down at him, a faint, teasing smile on her lips.
"Oh, please, Ato. It's your old rival. Do you want Angel Yan to kill you again, just like last time?"
At that, Ato's expression darkened, and resentment crept into his voice.
"My queen, I was careless last time. This time, I won't fail."
"Then your queen will look forward to it. Still, this encounter with the angels wasn't entirely fruitless. At least it let me meet someone special."
At this, Ato frowned.
He had sensed the unusual interest in Morgana's tone.
"My queen, what's so special about him that he managed to catch your interest?"
Morgana's lips curved upward, a complicated light churning in her dark purple eyes. "Hmph, that bastard is infuriating. His whole style is just like mine, yet he insists on helping those little angel bitches! If he hadn't interfered, I would've avenged you already."
Hearing that, Ato clenched his fists.
"Then he's an enemy of us demons?"
"No, no, no!!!"
Morgana raised a finger and wagged it, the amusement in her eyes deepening.
"He belongs to me! Those little angel bitches may have blinded him for now, but sooner or later, he'll see the error of his ways and return to his queen's embrace."
Ato opened his mouth to say something, but seeing the look of absolute confidence on Morgana's face, he ultimately said nothing.
He silently lowered his head, merely tightening his clenched fists a little more.
Just as Morgana was lost in her fantasies, a teasing voice suddenly drifted down from the air.
"Well, who's thinking about me?"
Morgana's pupils abruptly constricted, and a dark purple energy field erupted around her.
She turned toward the voice, the Demon's Claw already positioned beside her, ready to tear any intruder to pieces.
In midair, Qin Feng had brought Tara along and was looking at her with a smile.
Qin Feng?
Seeing that it was Qin Feng, Morgana's expression shifted from vigilance to delight.
She put away the Demon's Claw and folded her arms across her chest.
"I was just thinking about you, and here you are, delivering yourself to my doorstep. What, have you come around? Ready to bow down before my leather pants?"
Qin Feng's smile remained unchanged, but a hint of amusement entered his voice. "I was just passing by and thought I'd say hello. And while I'm here, a reminder: next time you traffic people, remember to suppress your dark energy fluctuations a little more thoroughly. I could smell you from miles away. You're lucky the angels haven't come looking for you."
Morgana's smile stiffened slightly.
Before she could retort, Ato had already stepped forward from beside her.
"So you're the bastard who's been upsetting the queen?"
Qin Feng tilted his head and glanced at him, then casually withdrew his gaze and returned it to Morgana's face.
"This subordinate of yours has quite a temper. I just wonder whether his strength can match his mouth."
Morgana reached out to restrain Ato and pushed him half a step back, though her gaze never left Qin Feng's face.
"That's enough, Ato. He's here to send me his regards."
She raised an eyebrow at Qin Feng. "Qin Feng, you came all this way to see your queen. Surely it wasn't just to exchange pleasantries?"
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