Sinful Rose

"Sinful Rose" is the first chapter of Heartcore.

Summary
Several years ago, the war between demonkind and the beastmen was coming to its end, with the demons reigning supreme. Amethyst Lashiec watches in delight with her father, Royce, as the beastmen's capital is razed. As she watches, however, tendrils from Royce wrap around Ame's body as he asks for "a small favor" and he forcibly syphons her energy for the Ritual of Possession. The process leaves Ame weakened, scarred, and furious...

In the present day, Ame finds herself in prison for having drawn her father's ire once more. She is accompanied by her friend Sukina, who reads her a book on the history of the realm of Lilium. Sukina is annoyed by, and fearful for, Amethyst: she is going to be court martialed. They are joined by Teodora Radinov, come to taunt Ame before her trial. Ame deduces that with Teodora present, her father and former lover Asmodai is not far behind. He has come to escort Ame to her trial.

Ame is brought before Royce's presence, and the trial commences with Royce as the judge and an audience of Ame's peers and fellow overfiends: Slade Chasme, Nyx Avery, Goristro Austerlitz, and Carval Jarvoc. In the past, Ame had been charged with subverting the Demon King, conspiracy to commit treason, extortion, and grand theft (including a birthday cake). Although punished for those crimes in the hopes that she would fall in line, Ame is now brought to trial for attempting to bribe the gatekeeper, the beastman youth Lutz Langriss II, giving him a Nexus Game-Go handheld game console in exchange for letting her leave Asgar. Ame retorts that Lutz accepted her bribe and demands her Game-Go back, but Royce proclaims she will no longer need it, for this crime would be her last.

Ame counter-argues that she was acting in retaliation for being subjected to the Ritual of Possession, revealing scars on her arms that matched those on her face. Royce replies that the Ritual helped the demons win the war with the beastmen, and he had compensated her with an overfiend rank, a rank Ame never wanted.

Royce concludes that none of this would have been necessary if not for the "little apocalypse" caused by Ame's predecessor, or "mother". As such, Ame is sentenced to death, as well as Sukina. He orders the other overfiends to attack Ame, promising her rank to whoever brings him her head.

As the other demons launch their attack, Ame fights back with her Devil Drive spell.

Trivia

 * The name of the chapter comes from a song from Disgaea 2.
 * Royce's character design on the chapter's cover is based on a combination of his Original Run design and his current design, having a youthful appearance from the former while having his clothes and horns from the latter.