“What is your idea,” General Arthur asked curiously. His figure was barely visible through the blood mist despite standing less than an arm’s length away. There was a slight light radiating from him that pushed the fog away from his body but it did not seem strong enough to help with visability. “Do you have a way to stop the Demon from teleporting?”
I shook my head but quickly realized he probably couldn’t see my action. “None of us have the right talent for that. I think only a telepath capable of completely dominating a Demon’s mind would have any chance. Owen is our strongest telepath but his specialty is detection and creating mental illusions, not preventing actions. I might be able to stun the Demon with my talents but I doubt he will give me the opportunity.”
Sebastion growled in annoyance. “Then how do we kill the blasted Demon? If I have to run around chasing his shadow again, I am going to turn the entire land into a scorched wasteland.”
“Please don’t do that, my king,” General Arthur said quickly, “I’m not sure the army’s morale could handle ye frying our own men tryin’ to catch the Demon.”
I hesitated slightly as I tried to find the right words. “Actually, that might be what we have to do.”
Sebastion narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Explain.”
I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “We can’t stop the Demon from teleporting but we know what his targets are.”
Sebastion seemed to almost radiate a cold chill as his annoyance at the Demon transformed into a deathly glare. “You want to use one of the officers as bait?”
Feeling a little apprehensive at the sudden change in Sebastion’s emotions, I swallowed nervously. “Chancellor Otto would be able to tell us the moment the Demon teleported in for the kill. So long as we set a designated location ahead of time, it wouldn’t matter that we can’t see and with your lightspeed attacks, the Demon wouldn’t have time to teleport away. If we all launch our strongest attack at once, there is a good chance we can overwhelm his defenses before he can recover.”
General Arthur fell into contemplative silence as Sebastion continued to glare at me. “Do you understand the full implications of what you are suggesting?”
“Yes,” I replied firmly. A small flicker of flame ignited around me from the outburst of emotions. “The Demons are not stupid. They will not walk into an obvious trap. To make this convincing, we will need to keep the troop formations relatively unchanged. Even if our attack zone is at the edge of the army, a blast from all of us will devastate a large area. Hundreds of our own men will probably be caught in the blast. Even with glyph armor, I doubt any will survive.”
The tension between Sebastion and me became so thick it was almost palpable. Despite his earlier declaration in the heat of the moment, I knew Sebastion was not the type to risk attacking his own men. Sending them to die in the heat of battle was different than this. If the soldiers knew of such a plan it would be nothing short of a complete betrayal to them.
“I had really thought you had started to change, Aurielle. A childish hope, maybe, from a time when I thought you could do no wrong. Now I see how foolish I really was.”
I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I heard the broken disappointment in Sebastion’s voice. I could barely see his face through the blood mist but what I saw tore my heart in two. There was no anger or bloodlust, no sorrow or tears. What I saw on his face was callous disgust.
I could not look him in the eye as I shifted my gaze to the ground. I had faith that my plan would create the least number of casualties for the army and maybe even kill the Demon for good but it also touched a bottom line of betrayal that Sebastion would not cross. I felt both ashamed and indignant at his response. It may be a reprehensible plan but it was for the greater good!
It was General Arthur that finally broke the tense silence between us. “Sometimes a sacrificial pawn is needed to win a war. That was a hard lesson I learned very early on in my military career. However, attackin’ our own men without regard for their safety would likely spark a rebellion among the troops. Instead, I think I have an alternative.” Sebastion and I both turned to General Arthur, waiting for him to explain. “In every army, there are deserters, criminals, and even soldiers that kill their fellow brothers and sisters in arms. In wartime, these disgraces are usually punished with a swift death to send a message preventin’ similar behavior, however, many of my colleagues prefer a second option. That is a suicide battalion. If they survive, as rare as it is, they will be pardoned for their crimes.”
I nodded in understanding. The Demon would have no way of knowing that the soldiers in question were all death row criminals. If we were to sacrifice someone, it was better them than the loyal men and women trying their best for the army.
Sebastion still frowned. “Even using a suicide battalion, I am not fond of this plan. I prefer the idea of having our officers mix with the common soldiers temporarily. Aurielle can raise the fallen officers as undead to command the army during the next attack. I doubt the Demon will care enough to attack something that is already dead.”
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General Arthur tapped his chin thoughtfully before shouting in frustration. “If only we had a way to remove this blasted storm! Even glyphs designed to push the blood mist back can’t do anythin’ when it is this thick.” With a resigned sigh, General Arthur shook his head. “Alas, the strength of men is nothin’ in front of the majesty of nature.” With a slight pause and a sudden clap of his hands, General Arthur spoke in an authoritative tone. “I have made my decision. We will do a combination of both plans. We will hide the officers among the common soldiers throughout the attack, lettin’ undead take command temporarily but we will have one volunteer ‘accidentally’ stand out and draw the Demon’s attention. Once he attacks, we will all retaliate with everything we have.”
“I still…” Sebastion spoke but before he could finish General Arthur raised his hand to stop him.
“I know your concerns and I understand but all of you appointed me as the leader of this army. The weight of this decision is ultimately mine to bare and if we are to survive this war we need to be unified on that front until the day I am removed from this position, understand?”
Sebastion hesitated slightly but reluctantly nodded in agreement. “I understand. I just hope that in our quest for victory, we do not become worse than the monsters we fight.”
I felt Sebastion’s gaze fall on me as he spoke those last words. Then, without saying anything to me he flew off into the blood mist. I watched his figure disappear with conflicting emotions. No matter how much I tried to understand my former student, he and I always ended up at odds with one another. I could not help but wonder what Lucia would have thought about our decisions if she were still around today. Maybe I can ask her once we retake the city.
My thoughts were interrupted as General Arthur cleared his throat. “And what about you, Aurielle. Will ye respect my orders even if they go against your own plans?”
“I understand the need for the chain of command,” I replied with a shrug, “So long as you don’t put my family in excessive danger, I will naturally do what needs to be done.”
“I never doubted that. Just inform me next time before you bring out a giant cannon capable of wipin’ out small cities or whatever other monstrosities you might still have hidden.”
“That wasn’t even me! Go talk to Mare if you’re worried about more unexpected surprises. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her outbursts.”
General Arthur coughed in embarrassment. “I already tried that.”
I frowned in annoyance. “I will try to keep her in line but I can’t make any promises. That girl is beyond what any of us can comprehend.”
General Arthur understood and did not push the matter further. We ironed out the details with every domain warrior and several people with especially destructive talents. I explained my theories about the limits of the Demon’s teleportation and after some debate, everyone was given a task to do.
We only had maybe two hours before the Demon returned so now that we had a working plan, I had to get started with the preparations. Raising several hundred more undead after an already exhausting fight was not as easy as I would have liked. I had to sacrifice many of my existing undead to accomplish it, leaving behind only a hundred of the strongest Demonkin. It was still a force to be reckoned with but it hurt to give up my hard-earned undead Demonkin in exchange for simple humans.
I was not sure how the ordinary soldiers saw my actions of raising their former commanders to continue leading the army but I was too tired to care about my image right now. If they felt I was trying to usurp the army, I would simply reassign these new undead to my own battalion later. Our survival at the moment was more important.
Random Demonkin and Alphas still attacked periodically, keeping everyone on edge as they waited on pins and needles for the next assault. I could see the exhaustion on each and every face I passed. If our surprise attack on the Demon did not succeed now, I could not predict how long the army would be able to last.
In the end, we gained more time to prepare than I expected. Nearly three hours passed before a familiar predatory bloodlust returned. There was no warning or signal. One moment, a soldier was valiantly fighting back against a flying Demonkin with his innate talent and the next a terrifying Demon appeared behind him. He did not even have time to scream before the Demon grabbed the top of his head with one hand and his shoulder with the other. In one swift motion, the soldier’s head was ripped from his body. A shower of blood rained down on the smiling Demon as he relished the visceral carnage before vanishing to find his next victim.
This scene repeated itself time and again as the Demon teleported randomly through the army. How he killed each soldier varied but it was always excessively brutal as if the Demon was showing off the vast difference in strength that no normal human could hope to match. To him, these lives were less than insects.
With the officers disguised as common soldiers, the Demon instead targeted strong individuals. People that showed innate talents or skill with glyphs were his main victims. Anyone displaying any bravery would be slaughtered mercilessly.
As for me, I once again found myself up against an Alpha attempting to take advantage of the chaos to create more death. I was too exhausted to use my Divine Body again so I found myself unable to do much more than harass the creature. Attacking it with flames while keeping my distance, I led the monster away from the soldiers the best I could. All the while, I listened, waiting for the signal.
Nearly thirteen minutes after the Demon started to attack, a courageous shout rose up from one of the soldiers. “Men, keep your heads held high. This monster cannot keep attacking much longer. As soon as he tires, we will slaughter the rest of these beasts without mercy.”
As soon as I heard the voice, I knew this was the moment. This was the brave man that volunteered to be bait for the Demon. I felt a pang of guilt as I knew what would come next.
Sure enough, it was less than ten seconds later before the Demon appeared in front of the brave volunteer. He smiled wickedly at the soldier as his hand pierced through his chest. He leaned close to the soldier and chuckled. “Brave men only die faster.”
Before the Demon could finish speaking, a myriad of lights crashed down on his location.