by North Drake
Lily Carter juggles lectures, 7-Eleven night shifts, and a secret life as Lilithia Nocturne, a top-ranked demon princess in the VRMMORPG Xantia. Then a robbery, a gunshot—and blackout. She wakes on cold stone in a glowing blood circle, wearing Lilithia’s regal armor and horns for real. A bargain-bin cult calling itself the Children of the Abyss has summoned her—on purpose, by accident. They wanted a real demoness and not a nerdy girl cosplaying one. They’re incompetent, fanatical, and, inconveniently, the only people who don’t want to burn a demon on sight. Lily plans to humor them, learn the world, and bail. Instead, rumors snowball, idiots congregate, and an accidental empire starts forming in her name. Will Lily lean into the crown and become the new Demon Queen, ghost the lot of them for a blissfully quiet life, or—against all odds—end up saving a world that keeps mistaking her for its doom?
