“If we do that,” said Gemini, “this is going to be the biggest kidnapping in the history of Orb. I can definitely see the appeal in trapping the troops here, though. Blockading the supply route and breaking their morale with multiple encirclements from both foot soldiers and elites…the only issue is the possibility of taking things overboard.”
“Yes, Lord.”
Lila patted Gemini’s shoulder and said, “There’s probably another thing you forgot to mention, though. The issue that no one wants to mention so far.”
“What issue?” Pai-Relix asked. Her curiosity was mirrored in the faces of every other demon present, but Lila wasn’t daunted by the prospect of so many gazes directed at her.
“Hissatsu,” Lila replied. “If we trap the enemy in such a manner, it’s possible that they might just use it by accident. Sure, they would go insane shortly afterwards, but…”
She ran her hand through her hair. “We should not push them this desperately.”
` Pai-Relix considered her words for a moment, before nodding slowly. “It is said that the Cardinal Champions discovered the secret of hissatsu in the middle of desperate battle. The will to truly end another existence, the desire to annihilate the enemy. Solaris revealed this weakness to all, but few could execute it.”
“Unless,” said Bal-Nan, who was playing with a small dagger on the other end of the table, “they stumbled upon it out of pure desperation. Yes. Mercy must be shown, in a sense. But we need not be generous.”
“How would you carry that out?” Pai-Relix turned to her fellow Demigod.
“I would dole out minimal amounts of rations to our…hostages. Barely enough to keep them alive, but nothing else. At the same time, we should isolate the camps separately. With our huge forces, this is not an impossibility. The only worry is if the enemy decides to send in their elites.” Bal-Nan placed his dagger down. “But that’s probably not going to happen.”
“True.” Pai-Relix nodded at him. “After that, we send the convoys enroute back and tell them that we want to negotiate a ceasefire.”
“Sounds easy to me,” Gemini muttered. “In fact, I think I alone could do this, but…I’ll leave it to you people for now. It’s possible that the Five Lands might have a stroke and try to capture Lila’s family or something as a negotiation chip.”
“Yes, and—”
An enormous energy signature registered on Gemini’s sense, and he shot up from his seat. At the same time, Aria woke up, startled by his sudden movement, and began to bawl.
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“Lord?”
“What’s wrong, Gemini?”
“Damn that Demigod! What does he think he’s doing?” Gemini’s eyes flashed, before handing the bawling Aria over to Lila. “Ladies, gentlemen. The meeting’s over for now. There’s a really dedicated Demigod trying to screw our plans for peace right now. Right now, he’s gathering tremendous amounts of power; I think he intends to shatter the black dome from the inside.”
“What?”
“Unforgivable!”
Gemini clenched his fist. That Demigod had been trying to tear down his machinations over and over, as if he wanted war to continue on and on. Did that Demigod not realise that doing so would prolong suffering? He wanted peace; was it not obvious to that Demigod or whatever?
“Let’s go,” the Demon Sovereign muttered. His will surged out, encapsulating each and every Demigod present, and the world changed around them. Within the Wildlands, Gemini was capable of nearly anything; teleporting a whole bunch of people over to a certain location wasn’t all that hard for him.
A moment later, the immense pressure that had startled him earlier increased by another order of magnitude. The source came from the Demigod, who was currently facing the black dome that had protected the demons from senseless slaughters so far.
In his right hand was a blazing silver light, a silver tinged with an absolute black. In his left was a horrifying golden blaze, one that no one save for Gemini himself dared to look at.
Those lights were…
“Zeroth Armaments,” Gemini muttered. “Aren’t they?”
His only experience with Zeroth Armaments was the Severing Cube, a one-use Zeroth Armament that the Stabiliser had given him long ago. The immense fluctuations of power emanating from that solitary frame, however, hinted at the fact that the Demigod was unleashing the true might of his Zeroth Armaments, in a phenomenon known as the Zeroth Release.
Gemini didn’t have first-hand knowledge on what a Zeroth Release was, but he knew enough to not underestimate Zeroth Armaments to begin with. It was said that those items made from metals and other materials that were really limited, and that Zeroth Armaments were capable of bypassing virtually all forms of energy. The only way to defend oneself from such an attack was to either block it with something physical, or to dodge the attack entirely.
“What should we do?” Pai-Relix asked, her voice urgent. “Do we engage?”
“Last I checked,” Gemini replied, “you guys couldn’t take him down. No. No violence. Not now. I think…it’s time for a dialogue. Why is he putting in so much effort? What’s his deal in all this? If I can’t even understand a single Demigod, how can I hope to end this war?”
“Be careful.”
Gemini grunted, and began to approach the teenage-looking Demigod. Appearances were naturally deceiving, but this was the first time Gemini had seen a Demigod with such a youthful appearance. He’d seen his fair share of semi-divinities, but those that changed their appearance generally looked like someone around twenty-five.
This was the first time he’d seen an actual teenager.
It was a…novel experience, to say the least. The Demon Sovereign didn’t quite know how to approach such a person; maybe he had some screws off or had some odd complex. Such reasons would definitely account for why this particular Demigod was so insistent on prolonging the war, if nothing else.
Taking a deep breath, the Demon Sovereign called out, ready to dodge at a moment’s notice. “Hey, you. Just what do you think you’re doing?”
A freezing chill began to crawl up his spine as the Demigod turned to look at him. There was something…extraordinary about this Demigod. An intense, chilly focus that hid a vortex of madness, a set of eyes that seemed to see through anything.
Under those terrifying eyes of his, Gemini struggled to keep calm.
What kind of Demigod was this?