Sometimes the unexpected hits you in a way that you are simply completely at a loss at how to react to this kind of development.

Believe it or not, I have a bit of experience with this stuff by now.

Such is the case this time, when suddenly the enemy that was purely defensive, bordering passive, just decides to go for the offensive.

Yet Lajus is quite a reliable source for this kind of information, so I need to accept it quickly and figure out my countermeasures.

The first thing I need to do is to get my own picture of the situation.

As they attack my realm, it only requires a bit of eye manifestation to establish direct surveillance.

A moment after this, a tentacle with a single eye bulb at its tip emerges from the ground, close to the human fortifications next to my realm.

Adjusting it in the corresponding direction, I can soon see the troops who got Lajus so upset.

There they are!

The grand army of light.

Soldiers in glistening plate armor, riders in the brightest colors, mages with staffs of wood and gems.

Also, did I mention the elves and dwarves who each have their own army department?

They all are marching through the gate right towards me.

An impressive sight of the last stand of all that is good against the forces of darkness.

However, this impression loses a lot of its impact once you're looking at the small details.

Like the stiff movements and blank gazes, indicating the truth behind this illusion of grandeur.

All those creatures don't have a will of their own, and are nothing but soulless husks, mindlessly fulfilling the will of some eldritch creature.

So it's more like a heroic zombie army, which kinda defeats the thought, as zombies are by no means fit for a glorious march.

On the other side, my opponent at least didn't skimp on their equipment, so their outer appearance at least somewhat fits.

Though, they certainly won't win a prize for historically accurate depictions.

Seriously, if medieval armies would have had all their soldiers clad in shining plate armor, this would've completely destroyed the budget they need for maintaining the army.

As they come ever closer, I feel like I should have my forces meet them in battle.

I spent quite a lot of time having my hives chuck out more troops for my cause, after all.

This goes especially because I wouldn't fare well with a defensive approach.

Most of my troops are close-quarter fighters and would be mercilessly picked off by the archers and mages my opponent leads into the field.

In theory, I have a template for an acid spewer, but the range of this one is rather limited.

Also, it's basically about vomiting stomach bile, which is just disgusting.

Then I'd also have spike shooters.

However, those don't last very long without a way to replenish their projectiles.

I would've had to build an industry to create these kinds of weapons.

Time and effort better spent on simply creating more 'living weapons', to outnumber my opponent.

Therefore, as I was already set on taking an aggressive stance, most of my army consists of clawed and fanged beasts, as well as all kinds of natural weapons to slash and pierce.

Not to forget my winged ones.

I'll let their army advance a bit from the gate and then roll over them with all the forces I can muster.

But not before establishing a very narrow surveillance network.

I need to know exactly what is going on with the battle.

I cannot forget about the fact that they might have Chiaki or this souled savior with them.

And who knows if there aren't any others in the enemy army who are the same?

It might seem like an almost impossible task to spot them in this mass and filter them out without greater harm, but I wouldn't want to meet Chiaki eye to eye after having murdered real people.

This is probably a small mercy from my opponent to not overly exploit this weakness.

If the only one.

Looking at what he's sending there, I'm sure he's definitely out to crush me.

There are so many enemies, I'm actually surprised how my opponents achieved such numbers.

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"Lajus, gather the others. I want you to hold back their advance. However, make sure not to take too severe risks. I don't want to see any of you at the frontline. If things become dangerous, pull back. Losing you all would be far worse than anything that this army can achieve otherwise." (I)

"Yes, my lady." (Lajus)

One thing is for sure, they all are really good at doing what they're told.

Lajus is basically the avatar of the wind with how fast he instructs every single of my generals.

This way, they can gather with my army before the enemy advanced too deep into my realm.

As it can't be delayed any further, I give the mental signal to attack.

It might feel rather hostile and aggressive to tell your demon army to slaughter all these humans, but I doubt that engaging in negotiations would've done anything here.

This isn't the kind of game my opponent is playing.

More importantly, I wouldn't get Chiaki back if I gave in.

No, I can't let them have their way!

So they clash.

I could now go about how epic this whole battle is.

How gigantic brutes of demons are slashing their way through the masses.

How rows of archers take out descending gargoyles and giant bats.

How war machinery shoots holes into an everlasting tide of rushing hounds.

Spearmen piercing the thick hide of my strongest berserkers while getting equally decimated by their gigantic blades and clubs and so on and so on.

However, in general, it's not really much different from all the past weeks.

Just a bit higher in quality and scale.

Yet getting too caught up in the gruesome visuals could mean I lose focus.

Not recommended right now.

The battle continues and this time I can't pull out, as I'm on the defensive.

If I give up now, they'll reach my headquarters, my foothold in this realm, and after this, regaining the necessary presence here to reclaim Chiaki would become almost impossible.

War through dimensions is a complicated thing, where I can only send small forces through, relatively seen, miniscule openings.

It's certainly possible to block me out.

At least, if my enemy is a being of such power as I'm up against here.

Thus, I have to win this.

At least, till I managed to tear open the barriers that prevent me from going all out on searching for Chiaki, which might be the metaphorical same as toppling over the board and picking the piece I'm looking for from the ground.

As well as giving the one who made me play this game a good smack!

Now that I think about it, scratch the "metaphorical", that's absolutely what I'm going to do.

Even if I have to erase this whole damn realm doing so!

Yet I'm growing concerned about a certain thing.

I can't see this hero group anywhere close to this battle.

It might very well be that they don't want to expose their most valuable pieces and put them in the first row.

I mean, I did the same and have pulled my generals back to the castle, as there's already enough fighting going on in the center.

However, they aren't anywhere close...

Oh damn!

Having come to a realization, I pull my focus away from the main battle.

Yep, there they are.

Taking a detour through one of the small side passages, together with what appears to be an elite unit of human forces.

They seriously pulled this trope of me drawing my gaze upon them while coming with a small elite unit.

This is so ridiculous!

And it worked!!!

The troop barely meets any resistance, as occupied as my main forces are, and moves faster than humans have any right to.

Also, it's not feasible to just redirect my forces towards them.

Pulling frenzied demons out of a fight is quite a difficult thing to do, and at those numbers, targeting individuals requires a kind of focus I'm not easily capable of.

Especially, as my dark side is still requiring the majority of it for the "teardown" project.

Thus, I can't do much more than redirecting the flow of newly produced demons right towards them.

But as I said, they're all the best the enemy has to offer.

Especially, this hero troop, who are just mowing through my forces.

It's truly off-putting how much stronger they got since I fought them the last time.

They claimed this savior would be able to defeat me in a fight.

Could this truly be the case?

Should I maybe just abandon the castle and gather my forces for a counterattack without involving myself directly?

But then I see it.

The thing I'm sure my opponent planned all along to force this confrontation.

"Ha... Hahaha. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahah!" (I)

Chiaki!

She's with them!

They're delivering her right to me!

Of course, I can't run away now.

They're coming.

I may have preferred to exhaust them, but they arrive far too undeterred at my castle.

I feel like this is going to be the finale.

Oh my god, that is so cliche!