“It is a dragon, we must request more reinforcements from the minor nations if we wish for our troops to survive!”
“Ridiculous, just for them to be annihilated in one breath?! Just one breath would render thousands of soldiers incapable of fighting, adding a few extra thousand to the thirty thousand we have will make no difference!”
“Of course there is a difference! We can conquer the invasion before the dragon intervenes!”
“Do you hear yourself?! Before the dragon intervenes? We can reasonably assume that the dragon is the top officer of the invasion; it's not going to stand around as its troops get-”
“Yes it will, it's a demon!”
“Dragons cannot be demons, they are already sentient!”
“And how do you know? Was your father a dragon?!”
“The two of you, as I've suggested, we should turn this into a battle of attrition to avoid this. You have not even discussed it and immediately dismissed it!”
“Yes, because it's shit!”
“It's garbage!”
“How dare you!”
“What about mine?! I proposed that…”
A room within the Odir estate was currently occupied by the six generals under Noah, as well as Noah and his important personnel. The sound of the yelling of the men could even faintly be heard beyond the soundproofed walls of the war room.
Their panic was well warranted. The presence Noah had hinted at had been revealed to be a black dragon. Although Noah’s warnings had never been dismissed due to his renowned history of success on the battlefield, the generals had long since begun to make plans and even had begun to allocate resources under the assumption that there were no significant higher powers than the four demon knights. Being experienced generals, they had contingency plans in the event that another knight level power was involved, but a dragon had to have been at least baron ranked, a firm step into the ranks of demon nobility.
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In the eyes of the public, the demon baron had the power of what would have been a demon count a few hundred years ago and, today, was leagues more powerful than what they knew up until recently as the heavenly kings.
Plans needed to be rectified. One could even say that everything needed to be overhauled. Conventional military strategy would undoubtedly fail now, and this war was an assured victory no longer.
Now, this fight was similar to a war between ants in the midst of one between elephants. However, it was different in that even ants could not be discounted. As the elephants fought, the ants had the duty of ensuring enemy ants could not infiltrate their own lines, as they tried to do the same.
The light of noon outside did not quite reach inside the room, blocked by the dark curtains which only allowed a fraction of the light through. Amongst the noise, Noah leaned back, tilted his head to the roof, and sighed. Things were not looking good. The way he saw it, victory was shaky. The generals seemed to believe that the two former heroes and other powerhouses among them would be able to handle the dragon and were only worried about the ability of the troops to survive, but Noah wasn't so sure. The leviathan was at the mere entry of SSS-rank. The black dragon, however, stood at the pinnacle—the extreme peak. One could assume the dragon to be a few times stronger than the leviathan.
He wasn't willing to stake the lives of so many of men on a shaky victory. He needed to be sure. He needed confidence to absolutely triumph. He couldn't deny that a small part of him also wanted to subjugate the dragon so he could mimic it as well.
And he had a small inkling of where he could obtain that extra bit of reassurance.
Noah slammed his hands down as he abruptly got up, instantly silencing the table.
“Draven, Lirael, Seraphina, Ariel, Evan, Elara. Let's go. The information I received from the slimes was not limited to just the demons. I also sent a few out to explore nearby regions, and we have work pertaining to it. Everyone else, return and spend a couple days in thought, and organize detailed plans. When we do this again, we will be more civilized. Adjourned.”
Noah left first, and the names he mentioned caught up with him as he did. Cedric, left in the room, released another sigh. He had been doing that a lot these days. Meanwhile, the generals shot looks at each other as they left as well.
“Evan, I have a separate task for you. Remember Operation SPIDERWEB we had been talking about? Go for it. Elara and Lirael will back you up.”
“Got it.”
“Ariel, Seraphina, Draven. The Demon Cult‘s been acting up again. They look like they might be trying something with the Manticore clan; sort that out. Crush them with overwhelming power. Draven will take charge.”
“Understood, sir.”
With a hug, he saw Ariel off, as she left as well with the other two.
With those matters settled, Noah’s face hardened into a resolute expression. As much as he didn't want to, it was time to disturb her paradise.
Briskly walking in the opposite direction down the corridor, the curtains fluttered from the wind in his wake, allowing a hint of noon’s light through into the darkened corridors.