Cashmere Cannonball

"Cashmere Cannonball" is the second and current chapter of Heartcore.

Summary
Chaos erupts in court as Amethyst Lashiec, sentenced to death by her father Royce for attempting to escape Asgar via bribery of the gatekeeper Lutz Langriss II, fires her "Devil Drive" spell, incapacitating Nyx Avery. Goristro Austerlitz, angered at Nyx's injury, prepares to fight back, but Ame leaves him equally indisposed with a "Fireball" spell.

Realizing that Slade is nowhere to be seen, Ame uses a "Burstroc" spell to create a hole in the floor for her and Sukina to escape through, but Slade reappears, hitting Ame with an electric spell and sending her and Sukina tumbling into the hole.

As Royce, knowing Asmodai Radinov has lingering affections for Ame, warns him not to do anything he would regret; Ame and Sukina fall into the royal kitchen, with Ame inadvertedly ruining the fifth course of Royce's next dinner and another birthday cake. Ame attempts to intimidate the chef, a lesser demon named "Pimm", for directions chambers. Sukina, however, reprimands Ame for scaring Pimm.

Slade reappears, having pursued Ame and Sukina, and attacks Ame. Sukina tries to defend her by hitting Slade over the head with a skillet, but this does little more than draw Slade's attention to Sukina. Ame uses the distraction to subdue Slade with a "Summon Suffering" spell. As Slade and Ame fight, with Slade gouging one of Ame's eyes, Pimm has an idea to help Sukina: summoning two bauble demons that had been making trouble in the kitchen. The two trouble makers bring Ame her red shapeshifting gem, allowing her to change her overfiend uniform out for her iconic white outfit. Ame uses the outfit's red waist sash to deflect Slade's attacks and gain an advantage.

Slade is driven off by a "Fel Overdrive" spell, launched by Asmodai, who, along with his reluctant daughter Teodora, decided to help Ame. Afterwards, Asmodai heals Ame's eye. Together, the four make their way to the chambers, where Lutz is playing with Ame's Game-Go.

Trivia

 * The name of the comic comes from a song from the video game No More Heroes.
 * The cover for this chapter is the first one made in a collaboration between TL Welker and fellow artist Jazzy, with Ame creating the character line art and Jazzy coloring the cover.
 * The sequence where Ame dons her white outfit is explicitly inspired by transformation sequences from the "Magical Girl" genre of anime, which includes Sailor Moon, Cutie Honey, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.