It didn't take all that long before the first demons arrived in the plain forest. Finding Elianor, the faces of the children were filled with happiness while the men and women only wore darker expressions. If only she remained, it said enough about the rest.
Having fled plenty north, their sanctuary was located here. A stream of freshwater, entire underground warehouses stockpiled with food and water in barrels. Most of the housing was underground, as Arbor didn't think the surface would be livable after the invasion.
Guiding everyone to safety, they stayed underground. A vast space was carefully built with all the necessary utilities they needed to live. Fields filled with fresh crops, a warehouse filled with seeds and stored fertilizer and water. A few wells that were powered by magic to produce enough water for the thousands of people that would have to live here at some point.
Having the large space to herself, Elianor felt the Duke watch over her.
At first, Elianor was responsible for deciding who lived where, who tended the fields and cared for the children. It would've been chaotic were it not for the carefully crafted schedule and plans made by the previous Duke.
Having nothing better to do, Elianor kept checking the arrays that were meant to hide them with illusions and reinforcing the space they occupied. She didn't understand the arrays completely, she always left such a task to someone else. But knowing every rune here was written by his hand made her appreciate them.
Lingering near a few protective arrays, she stood still as the world around her revolved. The people were busy getting to know the space, discussing things with one another.
Days passed as she kept to her rigorous patrol, and one of the few things she noticed was the fact that it was always bright in this city. Never was there a moment when the light turned off.
She didn't dare touch the mechanism that controlled the light and as one of the few mages, they all looked to her for advice. While the people were somewhat optimistic, having given a second chance at life. Elianor didn't know how to feel.
The responsibilities on her shoulders were large, too large for a single person to carry. What changes should she bring to the place she was given. Did she have the right to mold the farewell gift she had received?
She wanted to feel motivated, to take care of the people, but another part of her wanted to wallow in the sadness, the hopelessness of the situation. All the lives lost, for what? A few more days to live?
Time passed slower than usual, especially since there was no cycle of time here. Feeling like she should find some new scenery, she stepped to the entrance of the city. A slope led to the outside, where a few arrays kept illusions running.
Checking some of the arrays, nobody was outside, not that she was expecting someone. It all looked fine until a single array gave off a small signal. Movement was detected nearby. The sudden change and potential danger pulled her out of her lull.
Panicked, she didn't know whether to confront them or not. Seeing the total amount of beings entering the array, there were thousands. The leader of the group seemed to head straight for their entrance.
'Shit! Have they already figured it out? There's no way!', the illusions were quite powerful, tricking anyone that passed by. Even if one were to use magic vision or spread their willpower, it should hold strong for a moment. It made no sense that they instantly spotted it.
'Unless they knew it was here!'
Rushing to the entrance, it was just a simple cavern that led outside, but the entire area should've been covered in highly complex illusions. Finding the exact entrance would take a ton of time, but the unhesitating march the group had said otherwise.
The only question Elianor had to answer now was to fight or defend. She could close the cave off completely. Arbor had made sure that oxygen would be created for the magicless, there was no reason to fight here.
Then again, if she did so, it would only delay the inevitable. The angels would simply keep digging until they found her. "Fuck it!", layering herself in tons of barriers, she rushed outside. At least here, she had the element of surprise as the illusion should've covered her initial attack.
Gathering the mana in her hands, she would unleash it all in a close proximity explosion of fire and dark mana, obliterating anything that would be caught up in it. Sensing a lone being step forward, she jumped out of the illusion to find a blond haired human stare at her without a hint of surprise.
Bringing her hand forward, she forced the built up mana to explode outwards, but right before the explosion took place, she felt a rough grasp around her wrist lifting her hand upwards to blast the open sky. A cloud of fire and darkness exploded above them, Elianor wanted to act, to fight, but the tight grip made her think twice.
"Calm down, woman. I'm on your side," the cold and almost annoyed voice completely shook her as she finally saw that the thousands of presences the array detected were all demons. Some were even mages of the same Rank as her.
The massive amount of men and women all looked tired except for a few demons who looked extremely motivated.
"Sir Lucas," a Rank 3 demon landed near Lucas before bowing slightly, "We've detected a standard platoon of angels coming south of here. They will arrive shortly."
"Then we'll deal with them first," the cold voice washed over her, giving her chills. Perhaps the almost baffled look in her eyes gave the human the wrong impression as he suddenly smiled without any warmth.
"Don't worry, the so-called angels in the sky have absolutely no military discipline or structure. They don't communicate with each other or share plans. After the cataclysm, they're focused on cleaning up without order."
Letting her go, she almost fell on the ground, the heavy presence the human had wasn't something she was used to. He turned around, exposing his back to her without any fear. Before she could even question what he said, she was interrupted.
"Excuse us, lady...", a Rank 3 demon stepped in front of her, and she quickly needed to know what was enrolling in front of her. A demon army led by a human? A slave commanding? It didn't make sense.
"Duke Elianor the 1st, inheritor of former Duke Arbor the 36th's title," the title went out of her mouth without pause, but as she finished saying it, the sad realization of her current position pained her.
"Greetings, we come from Duke Astaroph the 51st. The battle of the Dukes is still going on. But if he gave you his title, we will treat you as such."
"Why is a human leading you all? Also, you're a Rank 3, shouldn't you help stop that platoon or whatever?"
Elianor didn't know how many angels were in a single platoon, but considering the forces that marched into Sabaoth, a single platoon could've been easily 30 men. One can be strong, but against numbers, even the most qualitative mage would struggle.
The demon got a confused look on his face before he chuckled slightly, "Don't worry about him. You weren't there, but that man split a river of angels in two. He's the strongest force we have at the moment. A single platoon is nothing against our savior. Although I should mention, don't call him savior, he dislikes the name."
The demon was all smiles as the thousands of demons behind him were trying to take a break. Drinking water or eating something small to recover energy. The stark contrast between them and the mages leading the pack made Elianor frown. 'Not all Dukes placed an emphasis on living together.'
"Where are you all going?"
"Nowhere," the demon spoke without hesitation despite the awkward answer. "We don't have any singular goal. For now, we're looking for a place to set up an outpost to call to other survivors and gather everyone under a single group. Our savior said he knew where to look."
Elianor knew she could let them all in, bringing them safety and comfort in her sanctuary, but felt like this was a decision too large to make on the spot. Her beloved would've wanted them to join the sanctuary, considering the large amount of demons, they would fill up the entire underground city in an instant, leaving little room for others.
Ruminating over the thought, the human had already returned, hands covered in blood, his face didn't display any emotion, as if nothing happened. Landing in front of her, he stated his demands bluntly.
"We want in. Or more accurately, they want in," pointing to the group behind him, the human seemed like he wanted to get rid of the people instead of lead them.
"What do you mean?", Elianor didn't understand. There was no sign of their underground city, not a single clue was left in the castle they came from as well. It shouldn't have been possible to know about it, yet the straightforwardness from the man made her pause.
"You're guarding something that's hidden behind illusions. If you were a seclusatory mage, you wouldn't have attacked us so quickly. Besides that you stopped the moment you realized I had demons with me."
There was no point in hiding it in the first place. As much as she didn't want to let them, they were the rightful citizens of their sanctuary.
Giving in, it didn't take long before they got access to the underground city as this was the wish of her beloved, she couldn't stop them even if she wanted to. Elianor stayed with the highest ranking mages and the human as the normal citizens flooded the city slowly to find housing and meet their new neighbors.
The human had a light smirk on his face after seeing the underground space. It wasn't a look of surprise or shock, but more nostalgia.
"How did you find the entrance so easily?", Elianor didn't like the fact that they were so easily discovered, it posed a serious security threat.
"A partner of mine told me of this place, and I have some experience with illusions. The entrance is the only place where two illusions overlap. It only made sense to come here."
The calculative way he spoke and acted felt off. Who was this partner and how did they figure out something so secretive? She couldn't hold her question back, "Why are you leading this group? It's clear you want to be somewhere else," most of all, she didn't like that a human was here.
Humans were slaves on Sabaoth, but with the recent invasion, all humans she encountered were after her life. This one man seemed to be the complete opposite.
The Rank 3 demons heard her question and started to look towards the side or down, avoiding the human as they already knew long ago.
The new citizens of the underground city were extremely happy and hopeful seeing so many faces, some even familiar, their worries were finally being relieved after seeing the structure and preparedness from Elianor's crew.
The demons were living in the moment, but Lucas wasn't present, he was still stuck on the day they left. He could still remember it so clearly.
---
As the hand of Light vanished, they were still in danger. The troops that were stationed in the capitol didn't vanish along with their platoon leaders. It was only a matter of time before things would get hectic.
Wondering about whether to ditch the demons hiding behind him or guarding them, a voice could be heard near his ear through the piece he received from Alastor.
"I don't know what you did, but the Goddess has left. Good job. Now hurry and leave this place as soon as possible. We're going to loose against these Rank 4's if we don't do something good. With the Goddess gone we'll have created some time, but it's not much."
Since Lucas couldn't talk to him through the device, all he had to do was think.
'Are you that bad you can't hold out against a few of those assholes?'
"I appreciate the sentiment, but no, they're way too powerful. So I want to make a deal with you."
'A deal at this point in time?'
"Astaroph is alive and can help us out."
'You bastard! You fucking knew where he was this whole time!?', Lucas' personalities spoke up at random, since all could talk in his mind. They never had to switch in their mind, and neither were willing to stay silent at this point.
"No! My father just told me. Alastor is in bad shape and when awakened will attract enough attention from the Rank 4's that one of them would go and deal with him before he joined up with us."
'I don't see how a deal could be made here? Give me his location and I'll go there right away.'
"I can't do that. All the demons behind you would die without your direction. Get them somewhere safe, recover your mana and energy and rejoin us then. Besides, Asta won't be able to deal with that Rank 4 mage alone despite his powers, he'll need you to be at the top of your game as well."
'You want us to lead this bunch of fools to someplace safe? Have you looked at the capital yet, you birdbrain?!'
"I have, and I'm aware the chances are low, but according to the thoughts from one of the Dukes there should be a shelter south being led by a woman. Go there and return when you're ready. I can stall the battle for a bit, but hurry."
Lucas didn't see any other option, fighting a Rank 4 by himself was out of the question, so leaving to return later when he was rested seemed like the best option.
'Fine.'