Let’s talk about something originally unrelated to the Silver Continent, the Zebul Empire.
The Zebul Empire was founded by a human turned demon Zara Zebul. Zara was born into a clan of humans that practiced demon magic. He excelled at it from a young age which caused his father to fear him and tried to kill him at the age of 12. He killed his father and then slaughter his clan and bathe in their blood for three days. This boost his demon attributes and turned him into a real demon. He later encountered Beelzebub's Proxy and killed him. Impressed by his prowess, Beelzebub offered him a contract. After becoming a Proxy he went on to create the Demon Empire Zebul and became known as the Demon Sovereign Zara.
That was over 2000 years ago.
Now the Zebul Empire is one of world’s most powerful empires and is a global powerhouse. While Zara was the main reason why the empire became so powerful, he wasn’t the only reason.
Zara had a group of powerful and loyal subordinates known as the Black Scriptures of Beelzebub or Black Scriptures for short. There were 13 Scriptures in total who all represented a specific emotion. The Scriptures were Zara’s version of Seven Swords Of Lucifer. They weren’t as strong but they were very close.
Also just like the Seven Swords Of Lucifer, the top three members were in a league of their own.
Luka’s father, Zanis was a former Black Scripture who was ranked 7th and represent the emotion Love, despite living most of his life unable to understand the emotion. The other Scripture he fought, Zach was the 5th Scripture who represents Envy.
Currently in the Southern Region of the Silver Continent, a Scripture who was about to change the entire face of this war was preparing to make his move.
This Scripture was Julio Zebul, the current 3rd Scripture that represented Cruelty.
Of all the Scriptures, the top 3 were in a league of their own. As the 3rd Scripture this included him as well.
Despite being ranked 3rd Julio was probably the most feared. What people fear wasn’t his immense strength, but his ingeniousness when it came to combat or warfare on a whole.
He could turn a lost into a long term victory, he could turn the tables on his enemies in a snap, he could predict at least 100 moves into the future, he could outsmart God into becoming human, these were only some of the things people would say about Julio.
Exaggeration or not, it couldn’t be denied that Julio was a brilliant strategist and tactician.
He might not be the best in the world, but his charisma made him one of the most popular ones among even his enemies.
Because of his popularity and ingenious tactics, Julio was hailed as the Demon Tactician.
Julio was currently sitting in a room with a playing board laid out in front of him. On the board were several pieces lined off.
“Nero and the other leaders of the Dragna Clan.”
He took up a dragon piece and moved it across the board.
“Skylar.”
He moved a god piece.
“Ezra.”
He moved a Demon piece.
“The tyrants.”
He moved a warrior piece.
“The Seven Moon alliance.”
He moved a castle piece.
“Finally, Miko and Lennox.”
He moved two crown pieces and put them on the opposite sides of the board.
“These are all the major players in this war between the Northern and Eastern Sides.”
He said.
“If I were to say which side will be the most troublesome, I would say the Dragna side. In fact, if we hadn’t interfered they would ultimately win the war.”
He took up the crown piece which represented Lennox.
“It’s not that the Eastern side is lacking in anyway, in fact they have the edge in military strength.”
He took up Miko’s piece.
“It’s just that this Miko is that much of a master planner.”
Julio smiled.
“Others might haven't realized it, but a time bomb has been piece at the core of the Seven Moon Alliance. It’s no surprise that the one who planted this bomb was Miko himself.”
He looked at the castle piece that represented the alliance.
“Once that bomb goes off, its curtains for the alliance.”
He looked back at Lennox’s piece.
“That will eliminate Lennox’s excuse to take part in the war. Once he loses his excuse Lennox will have no choice but to retreat, because if he doesn’t he will have to face the full on force of the Dragna Clan and will enter an irreconcilable feud with them. That’s because Nero and the others will take him not retreating after losing his employers as a desire to fight them to the end, rather than just playing around. Even if he’s the leader of Hell Dynasty, one of the branches of New Era, he alone can’t decide to go to war with them.”
He placed Lennox piece back on the board.
“That removes him along with his Tyrants from play.”
He took Skylar and Ezra’s pieces.
“The problem is if these two will fall back as well. With Skylar it’s a 50/50 chance depending on what decision Stein will make. Ezra is a complete mystery, and although I didn't take them into consideration Hanzou and Buddhist Alliance’s actions are a mystery as well.”
Julio looked like he entered deep thinking.
“I can force them out of the game, but that will take up too much resources. I’ll think of something.”
He said.
“My biggest headache will definitely be Miko. From what I’ve seen he’s incredibly smart and crafty, but at the same time tends to make naïve mistakes. If he stays like that, then I can beat him easy. However….”
He looked at Miko’s piece.
“If he has experienced some major changes that removes that naivety, then he’ll reach his full potential. Even I don’t know if I can win against him then.”
Julio wasn’t one to underestimate his enemies. He prefers to overestimate them and prepare a lot of tactics that goes to waste, then underestimate them and have the rug dragged from under his feet.
He was currently treating Miko as if he was the greatest genius the world has ever seen. He also believed that what would decide who controls the continent was the battle between him and Miko.
Julio wasn’t arrogant. He was just being realistic. At the moment, no one knows that he had joined the war. So he still had the element of surprise, as well a superior military strength he got from conquering half the continent.
You must be wondering, how did Julio secretly capture the continent?
It all began little under two years ago, shortly after Miko publicly became king. After seeing Miko’s debut on the scene, the Zebul Empire like any other became curious and wanted to keep an eye on him.
But Julio was different.
“This kid is sure become a star in the future, so I propose that we launch a counter attack to nip him at the bud before he becomes a problem.”
This was the proposal he presented to Zara.
“If you’re still not convinced that this boy is worth the empire’s time, then please allow me alone to go to the Silver Continent.”
Julio said after seeing that his master was skeptical.
When asked why he wanted to go to the Silver Continent, and what he planned to do, Julio answered as such.
“I wish to go there as a precaution. If Miko becomes the person I believe he will become, I’ll be ready to destroy him. Even if he doesn’t I can push the Dragna Clan into a corner.”
When asked how would he do that, Julio answered.
“By taking the entire Silver Continent and putting it under our empire’s leadership. I’ll of course do it in secrecy for as long as I can. I estimate that my limit will be one of half of the continent if Miko tries to do the same thing, three quarter if he doesn’t. Either way, the Dragna Clan will suddenly find themselves surrounded from all sides, giving us the chance to crush them entirely.”
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After hearing what Julio said, Zara became quite tempted. After all, he lost two of his Black Scriptures on the Silver Continent and completely believed that the Dragna Clan had something to do with it.
After all, they were the only ones on the continent capable of destroying both of them without a trace. There was also the fact that Rouge had cut off the continent from the rest of the world during the period they died.
Zara wasn’t aware of the fact that Zanis and Zach died fighting each other. This was because he wasn’t aware that the two were on bad terms since they never argued in front of Zara much less fought.
However, Julio knew. He had an idea of what really happened on the Silver Continent between the two but never told Zara. This was because he wanted to go to the Silver Continent. If he used Zara’s anger towards the Dragna Clan then he would definitely be sent there.
Just like he expected, Zara approved of him going there. He didn’t need to think of where to start his conquest, because he already had a place in mind. The Lore Empire in the Southern Region of the continent.
The Southern Region was isolated from the rest of the continent because it was surrounded by a ring of mountains that was in the middle of huge drainage basin where the water from several rivers and mountains flowed. Countless streams and rivers also ran through the region until they meet the sea.
Lore was on the edge close to the sea, and was considered a port empire. It was also far from the Dragna Kingdom and was the least watched empire, because of their lack of ambition to expand their borders and came off as a peace loving country.
This made it the ideal place to lay low and prepare for conquest.
Upon arriving there, Julio didn’t faced any troubles because he and Emperor Travis had long before came to an agreement. He was to bring the Lore Empire glory, in exchange the empire will join the Zebul Empire. It was a win win situation.
Even though the rest of the world saw the Lore Empire and its imperial family as humbled peace lovers, that wasn't the case for Travis. Travis was a very ambitious person. From a young age he wished to conquer the entirety of the Southern Region. This desire quickly grew and he eventually lusted for the entire continent.
However, Lore wasn't capable of accomplishing such a feat; well, on their own anyway.
The first thing Julio ordered Travis to do was to take the entire empire under his absolute control. To do this, Julio observed and analyzed the inner workings of the government. He noted all those who held power and what degree of power they held. He noted who were really loyal to Travis, who were just pretending, and who were obviously against him.
Julio noted every little thing and didn’t miss a single important detailed.
After his observations were done, Julio discovered that there were several factions in the empire and Travis’ was one of the weaker ones. It was something that was common in any empire. What Julio did to counter it was simple.
He made all the other factions destroy each other.
He did this by orchestrating conflicts between the two biggest factions. First he started off small and gradually made the two go at each other’s necks. Since they were the biggest factions, the smaller ones expectedly took sides and something short of a civil war broke out.
However, Julio wasn’t an idiot. A civil war would hurt the country more than it would benefit it, so he ended things before it came to that. In one night he had Travis’ faction sweep in an arrest the heads of both faction leaders and had them charged with multiple serious crimes which both heads fabricated themselves to get rid of each other.
With him arresting two great criminals, Travis popularity and influence grew while the other factions lost the people’s favor. Since the timing was perfect, Julio had both factions purged on the charge of treason and had all their possessions seized by the state.
This was something that Miko had done with the nobles in his country.
After the nobles were gone, Travis easily gained control over all aspects of the government and became the absolute ruler of his empire. With that done, Julio turned his attention to the entire Southern Region.
Since the Southern Region was so isolated and rarely watched, Julio developed the perfect plan to conquer it. He seized the few export routes from the other regions to the southern region, and then went around and destroyed the other countries farms and poisoned the water supply killing their livestock.
He instantly pushed the Southern Region into a controlled state of famine.
With their backs against the wall and facing the danger of dying, the countries turned to the only country that had more than enough food and resources to share with them, the Lore Empire.
Of course there was the option of flying to get resources, but Julio made sure that couldn’t happen.
If someone was to take to the sky they would be attacked by a winged creature in the shape of a bird, gigantic enough to carry off an elephant or a whale. It appears as a peacock with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion. This was the mythical creature known as Simurgh that belonged in the Iranian mythology.
Julio had release a flock of these creatures into the skies covering the region. Simurghs were creatures that loved places with plenty of water so the Southern Region which was a giant basin of water was perfect for them. Because of this well-known fact, no one could say that the creatures didn’t migrated here naturally.
What about sea? If they tried to take the sea they would be attacked by countless sea monsters before they made it back ashore.
Teleportation? Impossible. Teleportation wasn’t a simple skill that anyone could use, especially here in this weak region. As such, the region was fully locked down, thanks to Julio controlling the borders no one could get in either.
With the famine threatening their lives, the other countries pleaded to the Lore Empire for help which they received in exchange for their allegiances. The leaders were forced to exchange their lives and countries in exchange for lifting the famine from across the region.
Soon after, the water cleared up and resources were distributed to rebuild the countries. Travis even had his own people fight away the Simurghs and kill those controlling the borders. He lost a lot his own people but the other countries were grateful to him and started praising him, as Julio planned.
Of course, they were people who suspected that everything was the Lore Empire’s doing, but Julio made sure to create a scapegoat in the form of a few kings who were cooperating with other Kings from foreign countries in an attempt to capture the Southern Region.
This news was first spread as rumors to let the idea stick in the minds of everyone, even if they didn’t believe it, soon after that the said kings publicly admitted to their crimes.
The reason why they admitted to a crime they never committed was simple. Their love ones were taken hostage. If they didn’t confess, they would have their love ones body parts mailed to them, which included their wives, parents, siblings, lovers, and children.
The kings were executed after cursing Travis for ruining their plans and were recorded as vile villains while Travis was praised even more as a hero. For those who still doubted him, they were in the minority and had to keep their mouths shut.
This all occurred in the first couple months Miko was at Grim City. In other words, while Miko was burning time in Grim City, Julio was already on the move to counter his future conquest.
How did Julio even know about Miko’s conquest? Through his actions at the Throne Wars. Miko ordered the destruction of the city that served as the battlefield instead of trying to capture it and he did so in front of his people. Why would he do such a thing that would make him look bad? It’s simple, he wanted them to get used to scene of carnage.
It was his way of telling them that more scenes of similar nature are going to occur. And it did after he became king. Miko quickly took complete control of his kingdom and boldly revealed that he was Tiamat’s Proxy.
Why? Because he was trying to lure those interested in Tia to the kingdom. Namely, the other three branches of the Dragna Clan.
Miko quickly rebuild his kingdom and was luring back rest of the clan which would give the country a huge boost in power. There’s only one reason why he would do.
Miko was planning on expanding the Dragna Kingdom.
From all this, Julio was able to predict Miko’s next line of actions and did them before he could, thus gaining one step ahead of him without Miko knowing.
This included conquering half the continent as well.
The Western Region was considered one of the stronger regions on the continent. It’s the region where most of the non-human races tend to gather. It’s also the region with the most Magic Stone mines, which makes the countries there the richest on the continent.
Especially the star of Region, the Memphis Empire which was a commerce powerhouse with an impressive military strength. If the two regions were to go to war the entire continent would immediately know. Following that logic, Julio took a nontraditional approach to conquering the Western Region-
He bought it.
Well, more specifically he bought the Magic Stone mines that the region was centered around.
At first, he went around and bought the small mines using different identities not to let people on what he was doing. When he bought all the small mines that didn’t worth that much, he sold them collectively at a higher price and used that money to buy bigger mines.
After that he hired some mercenaries to constantly attack the smaller mines he sold and killed everyone working there, thus making it impossible to mine. This left the new owners with mines but no one to mine it, thus making it worthless. That’s when he approached them using a different identity and bought the mines for the same price the owners did and gave them a way out. Seeing that they had a chance to minimize their loses and get rid of the worthless mines, they quickly sold them as if they were afraid that Julio would change his mind.
In their eyes, Julio was a fool who would soon regret his purchase, but they didn’t know that one person now owned dozens of the mines in the region thanks to their sale.
Julio repeated this process a couple times but on a larger scale until he owned majority of the mines. The big mistake that all the previous mine owners made was to think that they could buy other mines or find new ones, and didn’t give much thought when their mines were overtaken; and sold them thinking they met a fool willing to bail them out of a crisis.
However, there was no more mines to buy or discover. That’s because Julio either bought them or discovered and claimed them when no one was looking. And just like that, he owned majority of the mines except for the ones the Memphis Empire owned. But that didn’t matter, because with him owning the mines he was able to buy out the empire’s mines too.
Although the Empire owned mines it wasn’t all owned by the emperor. Most of the mines were owned by government officials. Julio obtained these mines through legit and dirty means and finally did something no one thought was possible.
He performed an economic takeover of the entire region.
Let’s state again. This region’s wealth depended on the magic stone mines, meaning that those who owned the mines owned the region. Julio was the sole owner of the mines and had sole authority over the region’s income. In other words, if the region was a company he just bought all its shares.
Julio followed up by buying all the major businesses in the region like private banks and further gained control over money in the region.
How did the Region allow one person to own everything? They were simply outsmarted. No one expected that such a grand plan was in motion, because this feat shouldn’t have been possible, hence no one dared to try it. But Julio tried it and succeeded without anyone noticing.
After buying out the Region, Julio sat down with the various kings and emperors in the Region and negotiated a deal. The deal was simple, Julio will sell back all the mines he bought in exchange, they secretly fall under Travis rule.
He was literally asking them to sell their countries to him. The kings of course refused, but Julio expected this. This was where had reached his limit as tactician and then returned to his original persona.
The 3rd Scripture of Beelzebub, Cruelty.
He slaughtered the gathered heads of state and prepared a doubles to take their place. He then slaughtered everyone who knew about the selling and buying of the mines without mercy.
Since every transaction took place behind the scenes, most of the people didn’t even know that they had changed owners and continued to live in ignorance.
With this Julio had conquered half of the continent.
Around that time, the other branches of the Dragna Clan hadn’t yet returned to the continent and Miko had no idea that the objective he set on was already accomplished by somebody else.
Julio used the remainder of time observing Miko and his actions, learning his character, habits, and weaknesses. Before long, he crafted out the perfect plan to crush him.
“Even so, what’s this feeling of unease I’m getting?”
Julio said as he looked at Miko’s piece.
“Could there be something I’m not aware of? Or something I couldn’t even imagine?”
He said.
He stood up from his seat with a smile and turned his back to it.
“I guess only time will tell.”
He moved to prepare himself for the biggest challenge he’s ever faced with a smile. Whether he lose or wins, even he couldn’t imagine result. Even so he looked excited.
“Game on!”