“Shadow, get out here!” Jin shouted and Shadow came running.

Shadow gathered with Jin and Horn who were examining a group of 5 Devil Elf corpses.

Their skin was a pale reddish pink, and their eyes were a pale-yellow void of life. They wore mail and cloth armor that was covered in sand and brush from the land to better camouflage themselves.

“Horn, tell him what you just told me.”

Horn knelt down to Shadow. “These Elves are scouts sent by the Elf Emperor; I can tell by their armor. Instead of wearing gilded Elven plate armor, they are wearing a mixture of mail and cloth armor. They’re only carrying bows and daggers as well. This was an envoy sent to retrieve the Orc Emperor and his forces.”

Shadow looked at Jin ‘We need to get moving, fast. It’s just a matter of time before the Devil Emperor sends his full force to wipe us out.’

“I agree, recall the Fallen Giants in the meantime. They’re like beacons that show our location, I barely caught these guys when I was flying and making rounds around the area. They even managed to get past our sentries.”

Shadow recalled the Giants and turned the Elves to Fallen soldiers.

They packed up their rations and loaded onto some Fallen War Beasts to travel on.

They quickly left the area with Horn flying beside them.

Jin passed the time by discussing Devils and the Devil Emperor with Horn. Horn had been in the Devil Emperor’s army since it numbered less than a thousand, so he had become one of the few that knows the earlier history of the Devil Emperor’s war as he conquered different realms.

“So the Devil Emperor is using our world to bolster his forces to take the Giant realm?” Jin asked.

“Yes, the Giant realm has been the only one to defeat the Devil army. While he the Devil Emperor was taking the Dragon realm, he sent a force of several thousand to start preparing for his arrival in the Giant realm. But by the time he finished conquering the dragons, he lost nearly half of his main force in the process and the Giants eliminated the force he sent. So now he is rebuilding his army here by killing the humans and twisting their spirits into new Devils.” Horn explained.

“That explains why he sent us to the Giant realm, he probably thought we’d become trapped their and kill off some Giants before being killed.”

“Correct, Master. Upon sensing discovering the death of the Hydra, he personally took action against you, before you dealt further damage.”

Jin laughed. “Well he severely underestimated us, and I can’t imagine his face when he learns that we killed the orcs.”

“No doubt he will send the full might of the Devil army to stop you now. The Devil Emperor is a vengeful being.”

As the night began to set in, they stopped and set up a new camp. Their progress through the Outback was significantly slower now that they weren’t traveling with the Giants.

Shadow and Jin sat around the fire and discussed their next move. ‘We need to draw out the Elves before the Devil Emperor learns of the Orcs defeat.’

“Easier said than done, it’s a matter of time before they become suspicious that their scout team isn’t returning and if they send the full army with both Emperors we’ll be killed.”

‘Call Horn, I have an idea. But I need to be sure of a few things before I know if it will work.’

Jin got up and flew off to retrieve Horn. He returned after a few minutes, followed by the Devil.

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Shadow spoke into the minds of Horn and Jin. ‘Horn, why doesn’t the Devil Emperor raise his army from the safety of the Devil realm?’

Horn was startled at first but responded promptly. “The God of Time altered the Devil Realm, so to raise an army there would take centuries and any force he would send to another realm would be killed off before his arrival. He plans to open a portal connecting the Giant realm and this one, then funnel his armies in. But he does have to return to the Devil Realm to create more Devils with the spirits he collects. He is unable to create Devils while in any realm besides his own. He then waits for the Devils to gain strength in the Devil realm before moving them to this one.”

Shadow and Jin sat in silence.

‘Before you said a majority of his army is still in the Devil Realm, why aren’t they here?’

“The Devil Emperor can only maintain a portal connecting to the Devil Realm for so long and it takes a great amount of Celestial energy to move stronger Devils into the realm. The Devil realm has no Celestial connection to other realms. All this is why he has yet to move the Devil Dragon army into this realm.”

Jin chimed in. “That makes sense, the other Gods don’t exactly like the Devil Emperor.”

‘Jin, can you open a portal back to the Giant realm?’ Shadow asked.

Jin closed his eyes. “Yeah, I can still sense it’s energy from when we were there.”

‘Good, then this should work. Horn, I want you to send a Devil to the Devil Emperor and tell him that the Orc army was defeated, but I was killed and only Jin remains. Say that only Jin remains, but he’s still wounded from the battle.’

Jin crossed his arms and looked at Shadow. “What are you planning?”

‘If the Devil Emperor is smart, he won’t waste sending his entire army to take you out, but he won’t underestimate you, so he’ll send the Elf Emperor to kill you.’

Horn bowed his head. “Your assessment is correct; the Devil Emperor will not waste the effort to kill a half dead Hero. But he will still be angered by the loss of the Orc Emperor, so he’ll send the Elf Emperor to completely annihilate the cause of his anger.”

Jin scratched his head. “What if your wrong, what if the Elf Emperor gets here and senses both our energies then return to the Devil Emperor to report this.”

‘That’s why I’ll return to the Giant realm, and you bring me back when the Devil Elves arrive.’

Jin loved this idea. “In the meantime, you can kill more Giants and we can build up our own army!”

Shadow nodded. ‘Alright if your own board then let’s not wait anymore.’

Jin opened a portal and sent Shadow to the Giant realm, his Fallen disappeared and so did his domain.

Jin and Horn looked at the shelter disappear, then it was just the 2 of them sitting around a fire. “Well, there goes my bed.”

Horn bowed. “I will retrieve another for you, Master.”

“First send a Devil to alert the Devil Emperor.”

“As you wish.” Horn summoned a small flaming imp and passed the message, the imp skittered out of there into the night, and Horn promptly flew off to find a bed.

Jin sat on the ground by the fire and warmed his hands. “Should’ve had Horn look for a chair too.”

Jin looked up at the stars, the only sound was the crackling of the orange flames. There were no sounds of life anywhere in the arid land, the Devils had eliminated all other life in the country.

He wondered what Lacey and Leon were up to right now. He tried to avoid thinking about them because it made the weight of the situation feel even heavier, a small part of him wished he could say screw this whole war with the Gods and just live a peaceful life with his family. But he knew it was impossible, eventually the Devil army would attack the rest of the world and engage in a massive conflict with the other Gods and neither side would care about normal people who got caught in the crossfire.

Jin also knew that what remained of the normal government wouldn’t stand idle. It would be like the Devil invasion in the Philippines, around the emergence of the first hundred heroes. With no way to combat the Devils the world government evacuated who they could, then launched several nukes and other bombing runs across the islands. They killed most of the Devils, only a few higher-level Devils survived but the islands became unlivable and covered with radiation.

When they tried to do the same thing in Australia after the evacuations, it failed and crippled the world’s naval and air forces resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers.

Horn returned carrying a mattress over his head with one hand and a blanket with a pillow in the other. Horn laid it on the ground beside Jin.

“Thank you, Horn, how long before the Elf Emperor starts making his way here?”

“A safe estimate is 2 days, 1 day for my minion to arrive to alert him and then another day for the Elven Army to arrive here.”

Jin got up and started to make the bed. “Alright, stand watch for now. I’m going to get some sleep tonight, then you and I are going to train tomorrow.”

Horn nodded in understanding and flew into the sky to keep watch over the surrounding area as Jin slept.