Ronia and her small platoon came to a stop when they noticed a marching army in the distance. The princess sent a messenger to see who they were and was surprised to see that Arnold's forces had already began marching, numbering in the 500 from the estimates given to the messenger who returned with the news.
The army also came to a stop while five horses approached Ronia's platoon. Surrounding them was a small village that has long since been abandoned after what happened in Nuaria city. People living in settlements near highways knew it was suicide to still stay there when monsters were still roaming the countryside.
Fortunately, it's all been taken care of but it seems the villagers were enjoying their new homes so they didn't bother to come back.
The concerning thing about this village is that it's regularly being used by squatters, bandits and junkies, though. It's never a good idea to stay here for too long. But they wouldn't dare do anything if there's a platoon of elite knights.
There was a meter of space between Ronia and the new arrivals.
One was a very tall long-haired blonde man in full plate armor and a dark hood that even covered the back of his horse. The second one was a young female knight with long pink hair. The third was a boy who seemed to be in his teens, with short pink hair but judging from his delicate face, he might just be a girl dressed tomboyishly to fit her taste. The fourth one was someone Ronia knew—Victoria.
'Victoria has grown much more beautiful after all these years I haven't seen her. A pity she's Arnold's lover.' the perverse thoughts circulated in her mind as she stared at Victoria's voluptuous breasts and cleavage.
Since she was wearing a black spandex body suit, the zipper at the top just wouldn't be able to close with how massive her chest was. This gave Ronia some distracting eye candy during this chaotic time.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Ronia." A woman with white-silver hair and pale skin was the fifth person, and she greeted Ronia on behalf of the others.
Ronia, being someone attracted to the same sex was instantly stunned by her beauty. Though she had the appearance of a young maiden who had been locked away by her controlling lover or doting parent, a strange power emanated from her.
Naturally she did some digging in the past about Arnold's city and this woman is apparently his fiancée, just like Celeste.
"Likewise, Lady Siana. I hope you can listen to my request before heading on your way." Assuming that they were attempting to flee the empire, Ronia quickly revealed her intentions.
"Of course, Your Highness. But may I ask who those people are behind you?"
Spotting the citizens numbering in the hundreds, some wealthy and nobles while others were commoners. It was a whole mix of both worlds.
"They are refugees hoping for protection in your city. I hope you won't turn them away as protecting my citizens is our greatest priority. I'll make sure to tell my father to reward Whitage for this deed."
"Hmm, there's little space to accommodate too many people, especially those with noble titles but there are outer settlements still being developed so I hope they can put up with that for now."
"That's more than enough, My Lady! My family will never forget this kindness!" one of the citizens shouted, a fellow in a fancy suit, indicating that he was clearly rich.
Siana smiled as if it was nothing. This much good reception will just increase Whitage's popularity. Not only does it hold a powerful military and has no violent crime whatsoever, the city lord is kind enough to let anyone take refuge during disasters.
Once news of this spread throughout the empire, Siana expects people to flock to the city.
"Arnold has grown kinder since his childhood days." remarked Ronia. She could almost feel Jurius shaking behind her, clearly aware of her bullshit lip-service. What happened to him was nothing "kind".
Adavire heard this and was conflicted. Meanwhile, Evelyn was glaring at Ronia hearing such nonsense.
"Oh? Your Highness knew him for that long?"
"Yes, he used to be my sister's fiancé so he used to visit the palace lots in the past. Ahem, we're getting off topic. I hope Whitage city's kindness extends to helping the empire as well…"
"Please go ahead with your request." As if she knew what it was, Siana showed no hint of being impatient.
She looked relaxed even with that dark red cloud in the distance covering most of the land in red mist.
"I shall be going ahead, Lady Siana. We must return this boy to his family and discuss the consequences of his actions." The pink-haired girl in the suit walked ahead with her horse as she dragged a young man by a rope, bound in chains and wearing rags.
Siana nodded, "Head to the Berkley villa to protect Arnold's family afterwards. We can sit with the Ayried family once this invasion is over."
"Yes, Lady Siana."
'Is that Tyran Ayried?' Ronia recognized the young man.
Even though he looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to help him, she simply ignored him. If she wants Arnold's support, she should learn to keep her nose out of his business unless he's in trouble.
The two soon left, leaving Ronia to wonder why such a cute girl was left on her own in these dangerous lands. Siana didn't seem to be perturbed at it and simply smiled at Ronia to continue her business.
"The demon cult attacked the empire again, sooner than expected. We were already making preparations for such an attack but even though we've installed advanced demonic energy detection systems in every district in the empire, nothing was detected before the attack. They managed to bypass the detection somehow."
"Yes, we've heard the news. That's why we gathered this army to assist." Siana said proudly.
Ronia trembled when she made eye-contact with the black knight standing in front of the red armored knights. He seemed to be a commander-type judging by how no one else stood next to him.
'So, this is what humans call awe and fear…' she placed a hand over her trembling arm holding the rein of her horse.
"Oh, that's a relief." it seems Arnold isn't as cold as he used to be. But as someone who knows him, he probably expects some benefits from this even though he hasn't even received a reward for his contributions to fighting Valtraak.
"Any leads on how this happened?"
"No… We'll have to investigate later."
Siana suddenly looked in a random direction.
"A camp was found set up in the empire, not far from the capital walls. Don't you find that suspicious?"
"Lady Siana, that's not unheard of for medical practices."
"I would've agreed with you if there was actual medical equipment, Your Highness."
"…What?"
"The camp had the usual flag and supplies outside to make it look like a medical camp but when one of our scouts checked the camp, the supply boxes and the tents, were empty. Not just that… there were signs of earth magic so we investigated inside the camp and found corpses buried there. Some were mutated and beyond unrecognizable so they must've undergone some rigorous experiments while the others were let go earlier."
"…." Ronia's face drained of color, "…They did all of that so quickly?"
One of the city guards who had accompanied Ronia came up to them:
"Your Highness, I recall spotting a lot of people coming in through the gate last night and early morning. I thought they were refugees but none of them carried luggage, only hampers and pouches of coin. The majority of them lived in the poorer districts of the empire and some even went to the slums so I think whatever happened involved mostly commoners."
"…Those despicable scum used the people of the slums for their goals? Lady Siana, were you able to tell what experiments were conducted on the dead?"
"No, but it's obvious they tested newer variants of Demon Punch. They were also smart enough to leave trails in multiple directions so we couldn't follow them."
"…We're relying on Archmage Freya to find the Terraformer then. Perhaps we'll find answers there."
"Terraformer?" Siana looked at the red sky which was basically right on their butts nearby. It was like seeing two oceans meet at a border. For some reason, she wanted to see how it looks during the day.
"…Is it related to that strange phenomenon?"
"You catch on quick. Yes, Archmage Freya says that this mist is meant to terraform our land and drive out mana."
"That will make it possible to summon portals from their world…"
"Yes. That's why our main goal is destroying the terraformer."
"I thought terraformers could only do good for a dying planet or to make a moon habitable but I never thought demons would use them for this purpose."
"Yes, in the event that our objective fails, we need an army strong enough to repel the demons." Ronia glanced at the red knights and hooded shadowy figures then back at the commander next to Siana, "Would it be possible for Arnold to fight with us again?"
She said "with us" because she knows it's selfish to expect him to protect them again without her and the empire helping in some capacity.
"My darling is going to be relaxing for a while. You must've heard of his fierce battle with Valtraak, no? He expended a great deal of his energy so he returned to our city to rest."
"…That's unfortunate. His arrival on the battlefield alone would've boosted morale."
Not just his power alone, but people seeing him will boost the morale among the soldiers and citizens.
The sound of horses neighing in the distance caught their attention. It was coming from the direction of the capital.
Ronia glanced back, seeing a familiar face riding towards them with about a dozen imperial guards riding with her.
Princess Olivia approached them after slowing the horse down.
"Greetings, Sister." She greeted Ronia with a respectful nod.
"Olivia, what are you doing here?"
"Same thing as you." Olivia moved her horse closer to them, "To request help from the neighboring lords. The adventurers and soldiers that remain in the capital can fend the monsters off for a while but it won't be long before we suffer heavy casualties. That's why I'm looking to recruit the lords in the countryside."
Olivia glanced at Siana with narrowed eyes.
"Your Highness Olivia, it's nice to meet you." Siana greeted her upon being acknowledged.
"…Yes, you too, Lady Siana…"
If fate was different, these two would've been sister wives. Siana seemed to be a gentle young woman so how on earth did she manage to tame Arnold of all people and even get such a high position in his city? there were even whispers that the two are engaged.
"Olivia, I'm not sure you'll succeed in getting the country nobles' help."
"Why do you say that?" she looked at Ronia, wondering what her scheme is.
"I did some digging and found that several of the countryside nobles purchased properties in neighboring cities and kingdoms after the previous demon cult attack. What do you think that implies? They were securing safe boats for themselves when they heard a storm took place across the sea, which sunk a ship."
"…"
"Their properties must be empty by now so you should give up."
Olivia was trying to use this chaos to gain some achievements and hopefully political support.
This isn't a bad thing per se. The person only comes off as opportunistic but it doesn't hurt anyone. It's infinitely better than fabricating chaos then handling that chaos to make yourself look good.
"Your Highnesses—" Siana was about to speak but a yell came from the back of Ronia's platoon, "DID ANYONE SEE THAT JUST NOW!? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT THING!?"
At the soldier's yell and his horse's distress neighs, everyone looked to the west of the village, spotting a silhouette moving between the houses, stalking them. Since it was hiding between the houses, no one could see its full form.
Ronia noticed that the commander next to Siana remained calm, despite seeing that beast. He should've clearly sensed it with his warrior sense but allowed it to approach them this closely.
'Hah, so even the demonic world has creatures that stalk its prey…'
Upon seeing it was discovered, the creature darted out of the alley of the houses and targeted the knights at the very back, clearly intending to at least grab a few preys and run away.
Seeing this, the soldier at the very back got uneasy and ran away.
The tall blonde man next to Siana lifted two fingers and signaled with them. Immediately after, that black-armored knight charged at the monster with incredible speed.
A rumble shook the ground when the knight's gauntleted fist connected with the monster sending it crashing through several houses. Immediately after, the red knight unsheathed its great sword and jumped into the air.
It then threw its greatsword at the monster trying to get up. The moment the chunk of iron landed, a violent rumble shook the world again and only chunks of meat remained in the aftermath.
Ronia stared with a gaping mouth at the knight's raw power.
All of that coming from one knight…
Siana clapped to get everyone's attention again, "Now then, as I was about to say: I believe Whitage city's forces are more than enough for the demons in the capital."
· Creation: Homunculus
· Rank: Commander
· Level 100
**
Not far from the abandoned medical camp, there was a certain castle in the empire that was said to be cursed. Magicians of the past used powerful magic to destroy the curse formation that was placed on it but even though the curse is gone, the souls of the dead still linger, walking between life and death daily, in search of souls.
Only the unlucky few get kicked out of the River of Lamentation Cocytus, without a means to reincarnate or enter the afterlife.
This castle is cursed with actual ghosts so no one would think to come here. It's shameful to hide here but Ekterina Foruthflame can't risk them finding the Perdition Core, not while they're using this chance to grow their armies.
Using the chaos, members of the demonic cult are kidnapping humans from the empire and injecting them with the new formula to grow their divine power resistant army. This task was being supervised by Radius.
The Terraformer needs more dead essence to grow its influence throughout the land. This death essence is the soul of the dead and is the fuel needed to successfully terraform a new land.
It might take decades and a billion lives to fully terraform this world. The easier option would be to destroy the World Tree and dungeons around the world to stop the natural production of mana, but that's illogical.
Ekterina sat in the basement of the ruined castle, which was some miles away from the capital but still in the range of the red clouds, tubes injected into her naked body, dark purple liquid flowing into her.
The moonlight flowed into the dimly lit room, shining on her muscular pale body, covered in scars from battles from the past. The cold night wind made goosebumps appear on her pale skin, hardening her nipples and making her shiver every few seconds.
Purple veins pulsated over her skin, from the tips of her toes, to her nipples. Though it looked painful, it was anything but.
She still felt herself grow dizzy by the moment, though.
There were cult members in the room observing her, many of whom were scientists from the human side to make sure she gets the best formula of Demon Punch to heighten her resistance to divine power. She's going into the frontlines so she needs the protection the most.
She could spot that a few of them had tents in their pants, likely enjoying her naked body, filling her with disgust. She's never had any desire for human penises so she could only feel contempt smelling their lust and pheromones.
After having sex with so many of her generals over the years, all of which had unique characteristics both in the crotch area and techniques, humans who possess the same type of penis, wouldn't be able to satisfy her. Sure, there are big ones and small ones but that's about the only differences you'd find. None have natural ridges, bumps, tentacles and unique head shapes like the demons she had sex with.
The last one she had sex had a head as thick and wide as her hand so he could scrape her walls with every pull.
'…Since I can't move, my mind is starting to wander to strange places.'
She couldn't stop herself from leaking so she quietly closed her legs shut. It would bring her great shame if these humans misunderstood that she was aroused by their genitalia.
"How is the artifact doing?" she asked Lilith, who was operating it nearby. Though some eyes were on Ekterina's nude body, some were also drawn to Lilith's voluptuous figure draped in an elegant dress that showed more skin than what it hid.
Behind Lilith was a mirror that reflected the small portal—which was in the lowest basement of this castle—that she came through.
"It's absorbing the souls of the dead well. About five thousand have already died. Ekie, should we not let our army through? So far, we're only using low-ranking demons."
"We can't just yet, Lilith. We need to amass an army of divine resistant demons before we send the entire army."
This is to test how much damage the drug-enhanced army can do. If they fail to produce satisfactory results, they'll have no choice but to open the portals even with Luke and Arthur fighting out there.
It will be difficult but they'll need to at least kill one of the heroes (preferably Arthur who can use the Holy Sword). Ekterina was preparing for this inevitability.
"Lord Malzorath hasn't sent orders either so let's continue with our original plan."
"Okay…"
Just after Lilith went back to work, Radius appeared with a puff of black smoke.
"—Your Excellency, I bring news from Her Majesty."
"What did she say?"
"Due to there being two heroes, with one possessing the Holy Sword, she believes it's too dangerous to send in all your forces, Your Excellency. Only a few demons must be put at each portal in the empire. She says you'll have to command the divine-resistant army and try to kill at least one of them."
Basically, Ekterina is being used as a test subject to see just how effective this new drug is.
"…I get it. Damn, Arnold really played me for a fiddle getting in the way of me killing that kid."
But it can't be helped. If she actually fought him, it would've brought unnecessary attention to herself. With her now knowing Guinevere is back in this world and Lancelot had awakened his power of the Sun, she didn't entirely regret her decision to agree to a truce.
"We'll just have to work harder. Radius, where is Hero Luke right now?"
"Hm, I believe he was seen heading to one of the Berkley villas in the capital with that Lauran girl."
"That's not exactly strange since his family is there. Did you clear out the infected humans near the neighborhood of that villa like I ordered you to?"
"Yes, before they could transform from the vials of demonic energy, I eliminated them."
"…Good. We can't have danger befalling his precious family… not yet at least. We can't have the little hero awakening on his own. That's what Arnold would want."
It was also the point of their truce. If Luke awakens, Ekterina would be free to kill him. with her thousand years of experience in battle, she'd be able to handle him, although it would be difficult.
Plus, he didn't have the Holy Sword so that battle would've been a 50/50.
"…"
For some reason, Ekterina felt a premonition settle at the depths of her stomach. She's not typically one to feel this way.
"Radius, how accurate are those flying demonic energy detectors the humans deployed across the empire this morning?"
During the mass arrest of the people involved in the incident, the investigators were able to find and confiscate all the drugs in the labs and various pickup locations or stash houses, because the drugs always emit a scent of demonic energy.
The demonic energy detector gives off a loud beep-beep-beep.
"They have a hundred percent accuracy readings from my research. The moment the brainwashed humans opened the vials, the sensors went off."
"They can't detect the portals below ground?"
"Yes, I believe the humans haven't perfected the device yet and those are only prototypes so they can't penetrate solid ground yet."
That was supposed to make Ekterina feel better but somehow the premonition remained.
"The scientists said that the new formula doesn't require a vial of energy, right?"
"Yes. The atmosphere alone will trigger the transformation."
"…" Ekterina stared at the heaps of plastic sacks filled with the old drugs in the crates in the corner of the room.
"How many of the old formula was left in this pile?"
"Is that… important?"
"Answer me."
"…Hm, they said that they prepared 300 bags of the drug. That meant three hundred attempts to succeed in the drug's new and improved formula. The breakthrough saw the death of more than two hundred, but we had a lot left."
'All the humans that left the camp were brainwashed and ordered to inhale the energy in the vial at the same time. But I still feel a bit uneasy.'
Radius chanted a Telekinesis spell and quickly connected his mana to each of the bags.
"Hm? I could've sworn there were 45 left." He spoke with uncertainty.
"What?"
"There's… only 44 bags left, Your Excellency…"
Ekterina's head shot towards the empire's direction through the window nearby.
None of the sensors were going off but there was still a red-light flashing in each of them, indicative that the sensor senses demonic energy. Not surprising with all the demon monsters invading the empire.
But none of them beeped.
But the more that silence continued, the faster Ekterina's heart beat. It became so unbearable that she forgot to breathe.
"Ekie, is something wrong?"
Lilith approached again and asked worriedly seeing Ekterina look out the window.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
A loud beeping noise echoed across the empire, reaching even the ruined castle here.
"…Arnold… whose side are you on really?"