Panic rippled through us.
"You guys go—now," I said, keeping my eyes forward.
"What about you?" Shizuka didn't want to leave me. She wanted to stay.
"I'll hold him off. Don't worry—did you forget I have psychic powers? I can teleport away."
I tried to reassure her as King Demaon prepared to strike at my telekinetic barrier.
Doraemon knew what mattered most. This wasn't the time for sentiment. He grabbed Shizuka and pulled her back. The best thing they could do now was not slow me down.
But the commotion in the palace had already drawn the demon guards. They realized Earthlings had infiltrated King Demaon's stronghold and began to surround us.
"Damn it." I could only hope Doraemon could get the others out.
"Trying to flee? Take a look at this," King Demaon said with a cruel smile, and gestured.
A prison cage materialized before us.
When she saw who was inside, Miyoko blanched. She tore free from Shizuka's hand without a second thought.
"Father!"
"How despicable you are, King Demaon!"
Miyoko shook with rage.
"Aren't demons like this in your minds? Why shouldn't I be?" King Demaon said mildly.
"Miyoko, run! Don't worry about me!" Professor Mangetsu rattled the bars.
I knew if we let this play out, none of us would get out alive.
"Miyoko stays with me. The rest of you, go!" I said, voice low.
"Got it!" Doraemon understood. There was no way Miyoko would abandon her father now; forcing her would only leave lifelong regret. He decisively led the others away first.
"Nobita, thank you," Miyoko said. If they'd dragged her off, she wouldn't have known how to live with herself. She couldn't flee while her father stood right there.
"This is my choice," she told her father when he apologized, wracked with guilt. King Demaon was too strong—and too cunning.
"Enough of your touching family drama," King Demaon said lazily. "I kept this human to lure you in. Shame I only managed to keep two of you."
"With the palace swarming with demons, your struggle is meaningless."
"Now die."
He didn't even finish the typical villain speech before striking. One claw swept out, ripping up the tiled floor in its path.
The poor palace had barely recovered from my Planetary Devastation; now it was being trashed again.
I threw up a telekinetic barrier in front of Miyoko and me.
"Not good—I can't hold it!"
The barrier shattered the instant his lightning-wreathed hands touched it, punching straight through.
I grabbed Miyoko by the scruff like a kitten and teleported us away.
We landed farther off, and I saw our previous spot had been gouged into a large crater by his claw.
No sooner had we blinked away than my instincts screamed. I teleported again on reflex—just as King Demaon, in a body of flame, lunged after us.
His flame-form was nearly as fast as my teleportation. I had to keep blinking, over and over.
I threw up telekinetic shields here and there to block his lightning, but I didn't dare take a direct hit.
So, in that cramped cavern, a streak of flame chased a flickering figure—me—around and around.
"Slippery little rat!" King Demaon snarled as another strike missed.
He flicked his hand, and flames roared to life around Professor Mangetsu inside the cage.
His agonized screams made Miyoko struggle in my arms.
"Not good!" Her struggling slowed my teleport by a beat.
"Got you," King Demaon grinned, lightning flaring as he drove a claw straight at my chest.
I had no choice. I threw a denser telekinetic barrier in front—but against his strike, it was like an egg against a boulder.
It shattered instantly.
I whipped out the Denkomaru Doraemon had given me and caught his claw across the flat of the blade.
Power slammed through the sword. I felt a brutal impact, then I was flung across the chamber into a wall.
I peeled off it like a poster and crashed to the floor.
It felt like I'd been hit by a train. Everything hurt.
"Nobita! Nobita! Are you okay?" Miyoko was unharmed thanks to my earlier cover.
The stabbing pain cleared my head fast.
Damn it. We can't win. We have to run. Even if I have to drag Miyoko away, we're escaping.
Across the chamber, Professor Mangetsu's screams faded.
"Oh dear, turned the fire up and forgot to turn it down. He went up in smoke," King Demaon's mocking voice drifted over.
As if it were an accident. He did it on purpose.
If the kids were that troublesome, how much more a grown man? He'd kept him alive only to bait us. Now the demon guards had reported good news—no more need for a hostage. Time to erase loose ends.
"Father!"
Miyoko stared at the ashes in the cage, tears brimming, her heart breaking.
She wanted to fling herself at King Demaon that instant, but she knew she couldn't win. If she lost control now, she wouldn't just fail to avenge him—she'd doom her friends too.
She could only glare at King Demaon with pure hatred.
He saw that look. He'd seen it countless times on his climb to the throne, and he always had the same answer.
Leave no roots to sprout again.
Just as he moved to finish the two of us off—
"King Demaon! Your heart is that red moon orbiting the Demon World, isn't it?" I shouted.
"How do you know that?" He paused, eyes narrowing, thinking.
So he did care deeply about his lifeline.
"What are you trying to say?" he asked, unsure what I was really aiming at.
"You know what it means that I said it out loud," I replied, pressing the bluff now that I'd rattled him—playing the riddler to buy time.