The words dripping off her lips made me feel like my balance went askew and the world warped into something I couldn’t unravel. I came to this world and did a lot of things over a half year or so, but never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that an entire clan would need to move. How does that even work?! The concept was running circles around my feeble knowledge.
Lilith Darkviper was the master of the Darkviper clan, the third largest of the four clans when it came to the number of matured demons. More than two million demons! And that wasn’t including those that didn’t mature yet, because when we included them, it was a whopping three million. Sure, that was just one million more, but a million was a lot.
How in the fuck am I supposed to do this? I don’t know shit about any of this! I was a blank canvas when it came to knowledge about leading a human population, so I would definitely fail with a demon population. Laws and policies came into mind, policing, food, shelter, clothing. I knew nothing about making a civilization.
Or was I worrying for nothing? All I really needed to do was basically offer land and protection, right? This was much too scary a thing for me to handle, so I paid particular attention to Lilith’s mana. “Are there no other options?”
She paused and looked at me with disdain. The mana in her wavered as it often did when someone was going to lie, but then it calmed down and returned to normal. “We have two other options. We stay here, hope Fyren is ignorant, and continue our lives as usual. Quite a low probability of that happening. The next option is enlisting the help of the Doomhorn, as we are both under you now; it would do the two clans well to lend aid and get along.”
“But?” I spurred her on to continue.
“If we abandon Nemus and run to your territory for fear of getting caught up in treason, then my chances of securing queenship is lowered drastically.” She bit her lips in defeat. “If we seek Doomhorn help, any suspicions Fyren has about our treason will be confirmed, because you have claimed the Doomhorn.” Her long sharp nails dug into a book and she flung it away in anger of the choices she was forced to consider. “Those choices have high survival rates for my clan, but my dream of integrating demon and human dies.”
My head leaned to the right. Ugh, sometimes I miss that shitty office job. What choice did I have apart from listening to Lilith? I mean, do I really want to risk fucking up the lives of three million demons? I thought maybe Einar could help, but he was just a knight who still missed out on over a century of progress because of the dungeon he was trapped in. Queen Ayana also shimmied into my mind, but she served Lilith anyway, so it would be the same as following Lilith’s command. Demarcus and Kaelyn maybe? One’s human, one’s demon, kinda, so it’ll be balanced advice? I rubbed my forehead. But they serve Queen Ayana. Oh fuck it…
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“I know you want to become queen to save the rest of clans as well, but think of the Darkviper clan for now. I will set portals all over your territory, bring your clan to my forest. But,” I held her wrist tightly and locked my eyes onto hers, “they’re not allowed to go past the perimeter. I don’t care if it’s a mature demon or not, there will be no second chances.” I released my clutch on her hand. “Do we have an understanding, Lilith Darkviper?”
She wore meek eyes and an enfeebled will, but she regained her resolve quickly. “They will be, taken care of.” She bowed as we came to an agreement. “Please, help us. My network is reporting heavy Hellfire forces assembling around our territory. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Very well. Lend me an experienced scout.” Once she assigned the floating demon to me, we flew about Darkviper territory, laying down portals. Lilith had some winged demons fly about, blaring a strange piercing alarm and dispatching small sprites to give messages and instructions about the evacuation.
After a few hours, the main towns and settlements were cleared out, and perhaps only a few stubborn demons remained. The green swirling energy around my portals could be seen everywhere. The scout and I ventured into particularly difficult places like old elven ruins or caves to find those who were dispatched on research, then we ventured into other clan territories to make contact with Lilith’s spies. If they were sure that their cover wasn’t blown, they would remain wherever they were stationed.
The evening sun wasn’t too wrathful; silver barricades offered a cool atmosphere. But there was a rather tumultuous Hellfire general leading the charge against the Darkviper. Even though there wasn’t much to protect in the Darkviper territory, I still remained in order to send a message, or a few rather.
I flew over the Hellfire forces, which looked like nothing less than one hundred thousand wizards. From the reports of their attack on Perseverance, portals were used, and that meant the Hellfire clan had experts in them. I wouldn’t dare bother with anything less than master spells.
Their general was perched on a mound overlooking a great portion of Darkviper territory. One could not enter the place without a Darkviper clansman opening the magical barrier, so I was sure they had their ways. I released an array of blinding Dawnlights to get their attention; I didn’t want my encroachment to come as a surprise to them. Once their vicious but organized minds were set upon me, I slowly flew forward on my trusty warhorse.
Halfway through the magnitude of Hellfire wizards below, a fire spell wormed its way to me and failed upon hitting my Mana Shield. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, even if I shouldn’t have. It could’ve been a misfire, or perhaps someone was rather nervous, but the next almost simultaneous attacks painted their intentions in the light I suspected all along.
Still, even at that point, I naively continued towards the general. Was I hoping for peaceful talks? Maybe. Sure, it was dumb wishful thinking, but I had to try at least. About twenty spells bombarded me in the air after. They pushed their luck too far. A solution like a duel to settle everything was now off the table.
I peered down at the deputy commander and cast Aether Shell on him; he was to be my messenger.
Beautiful and dazzling shooting stars suddenly began appearing from the skies, raining down at us.