Interlude I: Demon Duke Nubal and his Minions

Demon Duke Nubal had been tasked by Baliel to remain in the Tanga realm to ensure that enough negative energy was generated to allow the widening of the rift and the entry of another Demon Prince. Their fight against Seraphiel had been going poorly until he had tricked the scions of Zaibatsu with demon artifacts that would allow them to rival the Guardian’s power. Ha! The fools had forgotten to read the fine print and their souls had been consumed; becoming additional fuel in the Deep. As a Demon Duke, he was able to change his appearance and seem human. He now resided in the Imperial Peninsula in the form of the Zaibatsu Prince whose soul had been consumed. Through his authority as head of the Inquisition branch of the Imperial legions, he had waged a war against the clans of the north which had so ably resisted his master.

He had not been happy to be confined to this realm when his Prince had been killed by the Guardian. Even with the betrayal by the Zaibatsu, the demon hordes had nearly been annihilated in this realm. Baliel himself had ordered him to stay and develop a network that would make it easy for total domination when a Demon Prince entered this realm for another time. He had turned many people with the allure of power to his cause who had been useful in the propagation of pain and suffering. One such minion, Centurion Praximus, had been doing a good job putting entire towns to the sword in his blind fanaticism to rid Tanga of the old ways. These negative emotions were needed to skew the balance and channel more power to the Deep. The realm had weakened considerably under his guidance such that the only Soulcrafter in this realm was the emperor who lay dying, poisoned by his son.

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As a Demon Duke, he had enough power to fight against masters of the Martial path. However, they were enough masters to overwhelm him and any Mind Rank beasts that he would use in such a war. He needed to bide his time. It would not be long now. They would rule this realm like many others.