Year — 23

Era of War.

I heard all these whispers in my mind, all of them saying indecipherable sentences that I didn't I understand even a little bit. It felt like someone speaking 30 different languages in my head at once, but none of those languages sounding coherent or even at all clear. It was.... Strange. It kind of reminded me of the couple brief moments before I awoke in this world, during which I felt a similar feeling to what I was feeling right now.

But.... What even was going on?

I slowly felt my head finally clear up with the whispers turning silent and falling out, replaced by a voice seemingly calling out to me over and over again — getting louder and clearer every time. At first, I thought it was just Emily freaking out over me having passed out, however, as my eyes opened I was surprised to find myself sitting on a throne, with a woman who I had never seen before in my life whatsoever. She had the classic maid attire, combined with short black hair and... An eye mask? A thing that covered her eyes.

She also did not appear to be human, given away by her mouth being.... Well, less like a normal womans, more like a monsters, with almost fleshy looking lips and small, sharp teeth lining across the lips.

Demon Attendant: "Demon King Avis, wake up."

The maid stated. I finally fully opened my eyes and my vision cleared up, with all sounds becoming crystal clear as well. Looking around immediately, I seemed to be located in some sort of... Tent? It looked a lot like the inside of a military tent... Just- a lot more medieval and less modern.

It also had a black and red colour scheme, with occasional gold accents around it, which made it certainly look interesting.

'Where the hell am I...'

I thought, trying to remember whether or not I had seen this location somewhere before in the game or not. I mean — I was still Avis Virtiosa, so it was clear I was still inside the 'game world'... It's just that somehow I gave completely shifted where I am located in this game world.

Demon Attendant: "Demon King Avis, please, are you finally awake?"

The maid asked, backing up from me and keeping her... Gaze onto me. I looked back at her, examining her a bit more. When I first had a look at her, I only caught the major details, however with her having backed up from me and in full view for me, I could make out her crimson red skin that clashed with human like skin, her dark crimson, almost rocky looking hands, that had sharp claws on them and finally — 4 small horns located ontop of her head, small enough that they were mostly hidden by the maids hair. You'd be forgiven for not noticing them.

"I am — do you need something?"

I said, trying to stick to character as much as I could. The demon maid seemingly exhaled lightly, I suppose out of relief that I was awake, before clearing her throat.

Demon Attendant: "Demon King Natalya has requested your presence at the main tent. You are to head there immediately."

She replied, bowing before me lightly. The moment she replied, my pupils slightly dilated at the name that she had mentioned. Demon King Natalya.... That name... Was the name of another 'character' that was mentioned during the main and DLC stories of 'Battle for Hope & Love'. More specifically, it was the name of another fallen Demon King....

But this demon maid chick just said that my presence has been requested by her?... Could it be...

Before I could finish my way of thought any further, a sudden individual burst into the tent, walking in with heavy footsteps and with a pretty furious expression. The individual was wearing heavy crimson red armour, which was complimented by a deep black cape, which also sort of found its way onto the front of the armour, covering the individuals arms for the most part. The individual also wore a helmet, which completely blocked off all parts of the individuals face and head — with the only thing it didn't block being a pair of long, curved horns.

Demon King Thalsis Helvia: "Avis, what's with the hold up?! We need your presence at the main operative tent this instant!"

The individual shouted loudly. I almost immediately recognised this individual — it was none other than Demon King of War, Thalsis Helvia, one of the more powerful Demon Kings as well as the one with the greatest desire for... Well... War. That should have been obvious. It had taken a bit to kick in, however I finally realised what was going on. This setting and these characters... They were all from the so called 'manga' — which was more like a glorified short comic — that the games company released after the DLC came out. In the 'plot' of said manga, we were taken back to the so called 'Era of War', a time which was referenced in the games main story a couple of times and was supposedly the time when the Gods and the Demon Kings were at... well... War. Once again — pretty self explanatory.

With this realisation, the requested presence by Demon King Natalya now made a little more sense. I had somehow been whisked back in 'time' to the Era of War. Now, why and how this happened, I have no idea. However, I have suspicion that it may have been because of that strange chest I found in the Demon Castles library....

After all, I awoke here after opening it.

Thalsis: "Are you even listening Avis?!"

Thalsis suddenly shouted loudly, stomping his foot onto the ground, causing a loud bang and a slight tremble of the ground and whole tent. The demon maid backed up a little even at the sight of this stomp. However, I exhaled lightly.

I didn't know what was going (again) nor how I got here, however I should just play it out like I remember it going in that manga. Let's hope my memory doesn't fail me this time around....

I didn't exactly pay attention while speed reading through the manga...

"Calm yourself Thalsis - I heard you loud and clear the first time."

I replied, getting up from my throne and brushing off lightly my outfit. Even the outfit I was wearing was that of the Avis within the manga — which was basically just like his outfit I woke up in, just... Less formal and royal, more war and rough - almost like I was wearing an outfit made up from rags I found laying somewhere on the ground.

Afterwards, I walked down the 3 stairs infront of my throne, before walking up to Thalsis and locking eye contact with him. Thalsis glared me back into my pupils, neither of us moving for a bit, before Thalsis exhaled and turned around, whipping his cape as he did.

Thalsis: "Come on — the others are waiting for us."

He stated, before walking infront of me and back out the tent. I turned to look at the Demon Maid, who looked a bit shooken, before exhaling.

"You're from the Red Demon order — right? Head on back to your comrades now."

I stated. The Demon Maid politely bowed towards me, thanking me, before rushing out of the tent. I guess she was the type to be somewhat intimidated by other Demon Kings... But then again, I wouldn't blame anyone if they were intimidated by Thalsis - he was a true monster. After a little while longer, I exhaled again before finally walking towards the tents exit and exiting the tent, with sunlight shining down.... Or at least, as much as sunlight as was possible for it to shine down.

The skies outside were grey and dark, with only a few rays of sunlight managing to pierce through the dark clouds and light up the ground below. The atmosphere had this stench, this dislikeable, sour and foul smell to it — the stench of war. And the scene before me was honestly appropriate for the colour of the sky. There were multiple military style tents around, with Demonic Troops and armies covering the grounds — either resting, training or walking around on patrol. And it wasn't one or two types of demons - there were many types of demons. I saw Black Demons, Red Demons, Crimson Red Demons, White Demons... I could go on and on, but I would probably never name them all. This big of diversity in the army was expected to be frank, as there were a total of 13 Demon Kings and with that 13 different demon races.

Although, there were only 8 Demon Kings still alive, which included me — so 5 of them were already dead meat, alongside with their races, as they were all wiped out by the Gods in previous battles. I began moving away from my tent, which was surrounded by groups and groups of Lich Demons, which were a race Demons that I or actually Avis ruled over, as he himself was a Lich Demon. The Lich Demon race was seen as the most powerful due to our so called 'immortality' which was basically us being unable to be killed via normal means, however Lich Demons were also the smallest in size as the number of Lich Demons under my command barely exceeded 2,500 at most. Compare that to the almost 30,000 Black Demons under the command of Natalya or the astronomical 50,000 Red Demons which were once ruled over by Nilove Traviosa, before he was killed by the Gods and his army went under the rule of Thalsis.

I moved towards the middle of all the military tents, as a massive — grey tent with 8 Flag posts stood there. This was the main tent — the one from which the entire war was being planned from by the Demon Kings. As I moved closer and closer to the middle, the less and less Demon army soldiers were present around it. It wasn't surprising, considering that the main tent was strictly only for the access of the Demon Kings and their head assistants and no one else - unless it was a scout reporting some kind of news.

As soon as I reached the middle tent, I took in a deep breath, before pulling open the 'door' to the tent and walking inside, with the other 7 Demon Kings already there and waiting for me. Inside the tent, it was mostly empty, with only a giant round table in the middle of it, on which the war plans were laid out — with various figures and what not on it. If you've seen those old war movies, you know what I am talking about.

The other Demon Kings almost immediately turned their gazes towards me as I entered and stepped forward towards the table, with them all eyeing me.

Demon King Jeltia Jiona: "You're late Avis."

"My apologies Jeltia — I simply had a minor headache when I woke up from an accidental nap."

I replied immediately to Demon King Jeltia. Jeltia was a White Demon, with her appearance mostly being monstrous — her skin snow white and her outfit mostly light grey and grey, to symbolise her race as a White Demon. As a White Demon her horns were also more goat shaped and her hands were absolutely enormous — with sharp claws on the end of them. Jeltia was known as the Demon King of Order and her power was one which actually almost matched mine, however she fell back when it came to control over that power.

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Well, it's not like I can really say anything about her control... I myself have no clue how to effectively control my own powers — and I am supposed to be the most powerful of the Demon Kings.

Jeltia gave me a sour expression, almost like she was judging me for falling asleep 'accidentally' as I had phrased it, which I wouldn't be surprised about. After all, technically we were at war in this era.

Demon King Divertia Dilavania: "Alright, everyone is here now — Natalya, you may begin with your news that you wanted to relay to everyone else."

Divertia spoke up, looking at Natalya, who was standing right next to Thalsis. Divertia was a Green Demon and had elements of his body that mostly resembled a rotting swamp — his entire attire and even appearence beyond the outfit was that of someone who had been living in a swamp. His face was mostly covered by this mud like texture, which also made him completely lose his mouth as it was blocked off, with only his full red eyes piercing through it. Lastly, he had hair similar to moss and his 'horns' were more like antlers with vines and moss connecting them both up.

He was known as the Demon King of Curses.

Natalya nodded in response to him, before stepping a single step closer to the round table and then clearing her throat. Natalya was a member of the Black Demons and her appearance was basically the same as Jeltias, only colour swapped to darker colours, with her skin being pitch black, her hair long and flowing and her horn slightly less like goat horns. She was known, as the Demon King of Lies.

Natalya: "Right, now that we all are present, allow me to deliver the news my scouts brought me earlier today."

She stated, before taking out a roller up piece of paper from the inside of her clothing. Then, she opened the rolled up paper before clearing her throat again and then beginning to read it out.

Natalya: "I quote from my scouts; 'During our scouting mission, we discovered that the Gods were moving closer and closer to our settlement with their armies — hiding themselves with powerful invisiblity magic. We had barely managed to catch them using our demonic eyes, however when we did, we discovered the main 3 angelic armies slowly marching towards the settlement, all being led by the Angels of Justice, Kindness and Charity specifically.' end quote."

Natalya finished rolling up her paper and placing it back into her clothing. Upon hearing the news, all the Demon Kings fell into their thoughts, overthinking the news they had just heard. It was silent for a long bit, before one spoke up again.

Demon King Grot'tyna Lumbrana: "Those are some worrying news right there...."

Grot'tyna stated, crossing her arms. Grot'tyna was a member of the Silver Demons and was the scrawniest of all the Demon Kings. She has a very skinny build, with four arms and kind of dragon like appearance — mainly due to her tail and horns resembling that of the dragon kind. Her outfits colour scheme was mostly white and silverish, with also black accents mixed in.

Among the Demon Kings, she was known as;

'The Demon King of Demise'.

Thalsis: "Tch... Those Gods are such cowards. Instead of coming to face us themselves, they decided to send their angels to lead the angelic armies."

Divertia: "Have to agree with Thalsis here - That was quite the coward move from the Gods."

Thalsis spat out, with Divertia agreeing with him, slightly leaning onto the table. I remained silent, while Jeltia next to me exhaled heavily.

Jeltia: "Well, then we should return the favour. Let's just send in the Red Demon army wih the Blue Demon army to take on those three forces and not step into the field ourselves."

Jeltia stated with disappointment in her voice. Then, a hand was slammed onto the table surprising everyone, as a darkish blue demon, with three long, straight horns and spiky ears looked at Jeltia with a slightly agitated look. The demon had a somewhat muscular build and was also wearing mostly light weight armour.

Demon King Yurmuna Jaklait: "You will not be the one to decide whether the Blue Demon army will go into battle or not!"

Yurmuna exclaimed with serious and slightly angry tone. Jeltia scuffed throwing a slight deathstare at Yurmuna. Yurmuna was known as a Demon King with a pretty low temper... It really didn't take much to make him angry. I suppose that is fitting for the Demon King of Rage.

Before anything escalated, Natalya threw two pitch black knives at Yurmuna and Jeltia, just landing them infront of the two, which immediately shut both up and caused them to look away from each other. Then, Natalya sighed.

Natalya: "These news are terrible - however I do not believe it is wise for us to just send in our largest armies to take them head on. After all, the Red Demons and Blue Demons may make up the majority of our army force, but they aren't strong enough to take on the Three main angelic forces."

She stated, before leaning onto the table with her hands, before looking at the recreation of the war area that we were in right now. The territory we were attempting to conquer right now as the Demon Kings, was the territory which in the future would be ruled by the Elven kind - just to add on.

Demon King Hivera Balva: "Then, what do you suggest we do, King of Lies?"

Hivera voiced his question. Hivera was a member of the Grey Demons and was alongside with me Avis, one of the more powerful Demon Kings when it came to both Physical and Magical abilities. We both were basically unrivalled, with me being the more powerful one as well. Hivera was a grey demon, as well as the tallest and thinnest demon, with pretty unnatural proportions to his body, being very long and thin, with his outfit being mostly just rags and cloaks which covered his skin. The Grey Demon also had 4 eyes, which shined a red colour (surprise, surprise) and horns which were quite long as well, with a unique shape to them, being very twisty and bendy.

Hivera was known as the Demon King of Power, as behind me, he was the second most powerful Demon King among us all. Natalya threw her gaze over at Hivera, before thinking for a bit and then exhaling, leaning back away from the table, crossing her arms.

Natalya: "Honestly, not a clue. However, we shouldn't be rash with our decision. The wrong one could be costly in terms of manpower."

She replied, looking down at the war map. After Natalya, Thalsis exhaled before slamming his right hand onto the table.

Thalsis: "I say we take them head on. Those Gods are cowards and didn't bother coming to face us head on, meaning that we can strike back and harm their pride if we ourselves fight on the battle field against that army."

Grot'tyna: "Did you not understand something in the sentence 'we shouldn't be rash'?"

Grot'tyna asked, looking at Thalsis with a slightly unimpressed and disappointed stare. Thalsis threw a slightly agitated look back at her. Then, Jeltia let lose a chuckle.

Jeltia: "You really expect the Demon King of War, a muscle head among muscle heads, to actually care about non-rash decisions?"

Thalsis: "Watch your mouth Jeltia, otherwise you'll see why I am known as the Demon King of War."

Thalsis threw a furious glare at Jeltia, who scuffed at his threat, laughing it off. The atmosphere was slowly getting more and more intense among all the Demon Kings, with me slightly shedding a sweat, while still staring down at the war map, mostly being inside my head, trying recall what the Demon Kings had agreed to being the solution to the approaching angelic armies at the end of the manga. However, my memory was slightly failing me at this time.

Yurmuna threw a slightly nervous gaze at Thalsis and then Jeltia, before Natalya exhaled, extended her arm up to Thalsis head and hit him in the back of his head, causing Thalsis to look at her furiously.

Thalsis: "What the hell is your—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Natalya gave Thalsis a cold deathstare, with Thalsis immediately shutting up and backing down, looking away, with slight sweat drops falling from below his helmet. Afterwards, Natalya looked at Jeltia.

Natalya: "Jeltia, show some respect to your fellow Demon Kings."

She stated, with Jeltia seemingly wanting to say something back, only to remain silent and look away as well. Then Natalya looked towards me.

Natalya: "Avis, do you have any idea on what we could do? After all, you're the only one who has faced two of the three of these Angelic armies that are marching towards us."

She asked, with all other Demon Kings also throwing their gazes towards me. I remained silent for a bit — mainly because I had no clue what to answer, as I could not recall what Avis has said during this segment of the short comic. Man, I really should have paid more attention to it when I was speed reading through it...

I simply shook my head lightly, before exhaling. I was just going to make some bullshit up — let's hope they buy my shit. I let lose a slight sigh, before chuckling lightly — making all other Demon Kings present slightly curious as to what I was about to say. Then, I leaned onto the table, before reaching out and taking a hold of a rook type piece, which represented the 'Lich Demon' army that was at my command.

"I have a proposal. These three Angelic armies are capable of killing any demonic army we send against them.... Except one."

I stated, with the others shedding a slight sweat. Natalya even looked a bit worried, gazing at me with sweat drops falling from her face.

Natalya: "...This would be a risky gamble Avis — are you certain that it's a good choice for you to do this?"

She asked, with the others also eyeing me.

Hivera: "Natalya has a point Avis. I respect you as the most powerful of all of us, but your army is the one with the least members in it - are you certain that you could take them on?"

Hivera asked, expressing the same worry as Natalya for me. Grot'tyna looked around a bit confused.

Grot'tyna: "Wait — what exactly is he suggesting..?"

She asked, confused. No one managed to answer, as I smirked and laughed lightly, before placing the rook like piece in my hand onto the war map, just infront of the pieces that represented the incoming Angelic armies.

"It's a simple suggestion — I take all my Lich Demons with me and tackle them alone. I managed to repel them once — I will do so again."

I stated, with mostly the other Demon Kings gasping lightly, with even Thalsis looking quite surprised at this rather reckless plan.

Divertia: "Hey, hey now — that's a bit rash don't you think? Sure, you and your army are basically invincible and nothing can harm you, but with only two thousand, five hundred or so soldiers..."

Jeltia: "Yeah — I don't doubt your abilities, but even for you this may be a bit too much.."

The other Demon Kings stated, seemingly trying to dissuade me from going through with this plan. However I simply exhaled lightly, before leaning back and crossing my arms, before turning around and slowly beginning to leave, only stopping to throw a gaze back at the others over my left shoulder.

"Have some faith in me — I won't lose to those Angelic armies."

I stated coldly, before marching out of the tent, without hearing out any other word that came out from the mouths of the other Demon Kings. They all just watched me leave, not quite sure what to say. Then, Natalya sighed heavily, with Thalsis leaning down to her height.

Thalsis: "Do you think Avis will manage?"

He asked. Natalya looked at the exit through which Avis had left before crossing her arms and exhaling lightly, shaking her head.

Natalya: "Part of me wants to say no... But..."

Hivera: "...Avis is an individual, who none of us can ever hope to even begin to comprehend. His confidence in fighting and winning against the three angelic armies isn't empty - it's one built upon the foundation of his mighty power."

Hivera finished Natalyas sentence, before looking over to Thalsis and Natalya with a confident and calm expression. It was clear, that he had full trust in Avis's word and that he would manage to do what they consider impossible. The other Demon Kings did not comment on any more and simply looked back down at the war map, with the rearranged figures on it, standing coldly.

Outside, I was on my way back to the tent at which I operated from. I wanted to get that whole meeting thing over with as fast as possible, so I made that that cheap excuse for me to leave - however, I still wanted to figure out why and how I was here. If it was because of that chest with the symbol of the Demon King of Agony on it.... Then why did it bring me here? At this time, the Demon King of Agony is already dead and not present for the evolving war, and basically all of his items are still located at his once castle, which has been yet to be claimed by anyone — the Gods or the Demon Kings.

.....Could it be - I have to do something here? Or maybe learn something? Maybe... Honestly, who knows. But right now, I suppose I should prepare the Lich Demon army and prepare to head out into the battle field.

However, as I took another step towards my tent, a sudden strong headache hit me again. It felt just like the one I had been struck with when I opened the chest, which caught me off guard. I fell to my knees, with the Lich Demons noticing me falling and rushing to my side as my vision became blurry and the scene began to fade. The Lich Demons had seemingly said something to me, however I could not make out anything any longer, as I passed out - again.

• Next Time •

[ (14.) Beginning of the Plot. ]