Khazaria back in July 437:

News of the war breaking out in Britannia reached Atil and Lucifer began preparing to enact his operation "the truthful promise", he already mobilized the largest armies ever known to this world.

Five hundred thousand troops of all kinds of monsters, Vampires, Elves, and Demons and put them under the command of his favorite general Azazel, who recently settled in Khazaria from Hell and also sent Satan.

"Are you ready to serve our lord Alexandros? You are ordered to conquer the lands of Eastern Europe by whatever means necessary" Lucifer spoke to his generals and they bowed to him.

Vladimir, the palace of Lord Astaroth:

Both generals left Lucifer's palace and asked lord Astaroth for ideas and the perfect plan to conquer Eastern Europe

"Alright, a four-frontal attack that will aim to overwhelm the defenses of the Slavic lands and we will attack the Baltics lands, Minsk kingdom, the dwarf kingdom of Kiev, and the duchy of Warsaw and Galicia"

Lord Astaroth approved and even lord Vassily liked the idea but told him that he needed to finish the war as quickly as possible.

Zapadoslavia, August 437:

All the states in the Slavic lands agreed to unite and form the kingdom of Zapadoslavia and Kiev joined as well, expecting an attack from the demon emperor.

They were contacted by Athena who offered assistance to King Wladyslaws I Piast who gladly accepted and she immediately started training his army.

As years progressed, nothing happened as the demon armies were preparing for war and the Zapadoslavian forces were preparing as well.

Zapadoslavia, present time, February 439:

Finally, the attack that everyone expected happened as Azazel and Satan began their offensive with intense bombardment from the demon mages and the dragons.

Azazel began throwing his most powerful spells as well, and this was destructive as after-hours they breached the defenses of the Baltic front and began a fierce battle with their enemy forces but unlike any war, Azazel was brutal as the battle destroyed cities and used overwhelming magical powers that shocked the human mages and turned everything in front of it to ruins.

Athena after hearing what happened was shaken because this brutality is only the style of her opponent Alexandros Argead but she remembered that the demons are his puppets and led the army of the baltic front to a counter-offensive but failed and was forced to retreat.

On the Minsk front, a catastrophic event occurred where all the defenses that Athena had spent a year preparing and building were destroyed by the intense dragon bombardment.

The troops were unable to kill Cerberus dogs, who were released by Satan, and as a result, they were all slaughtered. Numerous citizens were also eaten by the infernal dogs, making it easy for the demon army to conquer the region.

Unfortunately for Satan, the moment he tried to attack the northern regions of the Kyiv province, he was defeated in the battle of Sumy by Athena after he was ambushed there and decided to ask Asmodeus to mobilize his army to attack the south and the eastern regions of Zapadoslavian Kiev.

Asmodeus, being ready for war as always, ordered his one hundred thousand troops to attack Crimea taking over the entire southern region including the city of Bremil which borders the Roman Balkan province, and the eastern regions that border the Khazarian empire but failed to advance further.

Now as for the army of Azazel, he was advancing unopposed as Athena and the Zapadoslavian army were overwhelmed by his multi-frontal attack he was near Warsaw but on the river Vistula, he got bogged down there by enemy mages who kept resisting fiercely against his advance and his troops kept falling due to traps.

He realized that he stretched his logistics thin and immediately retreated from the duchy of Warsaw back to Minsk to help in the Kievan front and consolidate the current gains that he achieved.

The victory in Warsaw was unbelievable as the Zapadoslavian forces forced the demons to retreat from the entire lands of the duchy and gave Athena a moral boost.

Rome, February to April 439:

In the early morning, Alex's peaceful sleep was interrupted by Azazel who barged into his bedroom.

"Can you help us, my lord?" Asked Azazel begging for help

Alex was annoyed by this and said: "My my, Lucifer launched an attack and as usual you got stuck now tell me everything and you better hope it is worth the interruption of my sleep with my lovely wife"

Azazel told him about the progress that he achieved and Alex was impressed but the moment he told him about Athena, he started to show concern because he knew the reason why she chose to lead the Zapadoslavian forces.

he ordered Azazel to focus on killing Athena and winning by whatever means necessary and he immediately left the bed to call for a meeting of the imperial government to discuss the current threat to the Roman state he sent a letter to the ministers demanding to come with ideas necessary to re-establish peace in Europe and somehow restore the scarlet empire.

The ministers came to the palace as quickly as possible with documents in their hands containing the report regarding the state economy and suggestions on how to restore peace in Europe.

The first subject of discussion was a report delivered to the emperor from the governor of Britannia who successfully conquered the southern part of Caledonia but failed to conquer its northern front due to the Asgardians turning on their allies and annexing the northern half of Caledonia.

Alex was livid because this was the first time that such incidents happened and he hated it now.

"Write down this letter to the governor:

Dear Governor of Britannia Flavius Constans:

Consolidate your gains in Caledonia and whatever you do, do not dare to start a war with the Asgardians; however if they start a war first, do not hesitate to be brutal or savage in the defense of the Roman people in Britannia." Spoke to Alex while the scribe was writing his letter, and then a messenger received it and teleported to Londinium to deliver the message to the governor.

The second subject is the state economy, the emperor issued a new decree to increase the mining of gold and use only Silver and Golden coins while officially banning the use of bronze coins declaring them to be worthless, moreover, he ordered all clans and guilds to dump their bronze coins reserves.

He also ordered to fix the bad sanitation in Carthage, suddenly he received news of a sudden regime change in the Piast Realm and a sudden offensive against Gaul.

Zapadoslavia, warsaw April 30 439:

Dissatisfied with the rule of King Wladyslaw Piast, several nobles within the Piast Clan, contacted Athena and offered her the crown.

She only accepted if she was adopted within the Piast dynasty as the ruling queen and the nobles accepted.

At 7 am when the king woke up, he found armed men in front of him, and without a word he was stabbed ten times before he died.

After three hours, a rushed coronation ceremony happened and her first decision was to prevent the largest demon attack from taking the city of Lvov.

Scouts reported to the queen that Azazel split his army between two groups, and reported that the enemy only lost two thousand men while their losses were massive.

"Unfortunately we might realize that our realm can't survive if we continue fighting the demons, I suggest we sign a peace treaty with the demon race until our empire recovers," Said Queen and goddess Athena and the nobles despite hating the idea of peace with the demon race, they agreed because their losses were massive.

She then sent a letter to Atil and Rome requesting both Lucifer and Alex to come personally to Warsaw.

Rome, May 439:

Athena's letter arrived two weeks later and when Alex read it, he could not believe it but decided to accept the invitation while designating Kahn as the commander of the Gallic legions.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He visited Samantha who was busy taking care of his two sons Justinian Argead and Anastasius Argead who were two years old, and told his wife that he would go to have a chat with Athena.

She was worried but decided to believe in him and was hoping for his return.

Warsaw, May 439:

Both Lucifer and Alex came to the Palace of Warsaw and they found a table alongside a document and Athena waiting without a word.

"Hahaha, Athena you finally became a ruler and that is the very thing you hate, now if my guess is right you want a peace treaty" Spoke Alex but Athena stood silent.

Both guests understood that she was making a power move and was trying to manipulate their feelings and they just went along and took the document.

The official explained the document saying that her queen would recognize the current gains of the Demons' empire and would pledge a twenty-year non-aggression pact.

"Let her speak please," Ordered Lucifer.

Athena finally decided to speak: "You are right about me almost becoming the very thing I hate, however, these people can't survive without me therefore here I am now will you sign the treaty or not oh and Zeus approved my move".

Alex and Lucifer signed the treaty and both shook hands with Athena and left for Rome.

Rome, May 439:

After teleporting back to Rome, Lucifer asked if Athena could be trusted to keep the peace.

"Well, she can't be trusted for one bit and she is vengeful but now that she has taken over Zapadoslavia, she needs to ensure her pet project's survival now Lucifer, it might be a good idea to build a good idea to build a new capital and move it from Atil" Spoke Alex as he went to the imperial throne seeing two generals awaiting him.

Legate Gaius Messius and Antonio Ahenobarbus were waiting for him and delivered to him the news regarding the frontline and requesting additional help.

When Alex read the news about Governor Anthonius Gallianus' reckless offensive into Gaul right after his victory in the battle of Colonia Agrippina and Jumping into Germania with only Ten thousand men, he ordered forty thousand troops or Twenty legions to Germany as quickly as possible.

Teutoburg forest, May 439:

After winning the battle, Governor Anthonius Gallianus stopped near the Teutoburg forest.

"The emperor must have heard about my move and may think I am stupid but the difference is that I brought both Earth and poison mages with me". I spoke to the Governor of Gaul.

He ordered the Earth mages to detect the movement of the Batavian kingdom troops and the mages did detect some enemy movement.

The governor signaled for the troops to use their air shields and artifacts connected to their armor and they did.

"Unleash the poison magic, and I mean poison gas spell" Ordered Anthonius after activating his air shield.

Poison gas started to spread everywhere in the forest, ruining trees, killing monsters left and right who used to live there, and finally forcing the enemy forces out of hiding as their soldiers were coughing blood and dying slowly. In contrast, the Roman soldiers were happy that they avoided a second Teutoberg forest battle.

Just as Gallianus tried to enter the forest and advance further into Germania, he got news of the imperial army arriving and he was forced to stop to greet his emperor and inform him about his victory.

"Well, why did you stop? I came here to help you...." Alex was interrupted by reports received from Athena's messenger who is a spy in the lands of Germania, of someone claiming to be Wilhem von Vanderreich conquering the vampire kingdoms one by one and he changed his intention and ordered a retreat to Augusta Trevorum.

Gallia Augusta trevorum, May 439:

Around 9 pm, both the emperor and the governor of Gallia arrived in Augusta Trevorum.

The governor was curious about why would his emperor believe someone who just intruded upon their discussion back on the road to the forest.

"That is something dangerous, I would not want to risk the empire in such business again and if the dead emperor of the Scarlet Empire, there will be even more trouble" Spoke Alex in a worried voice.

Kahn came to the meeting room by luck and when he heard the conversation, he requested to talk with his friend alone.

The governor left and went to check on his legions while Alex closed the doors of the room.

"Are you crazy? you believe the woman that tried to kill you in the trial that took place in the palace of Themis and started a failed but dangerous attack on our empire and caused the total collapse of the Vampire Scarlet empire" Spoke Kahn with anger

Alex tried to calm him down: "Guess who dragged Wilhelm into this mess and the answer is me, I used my friendship to make him my ally, remember the meeting between you, me, Lucifer and Wilhelm about how we will deal with Athena, this is me dragging him and his peaceful nation into my mess and when Athena came for him, I wasn't there probably due to a lack of request for help but still this is scary" .Kahn understood that his friend's words were true and suggested meeting the goddess but this time not in her realm but in Rome.

They both teleported to Rome and ordered to prepare a fancy banquet while Alex left for Warsaw to invite the goddess to his capital.

Warsaw, three days later:

Alex arrived on the night of May 20 and requested a meeting with Athena and when he was informed by one of her state officials that she was in a meeting, he said it was urgent and she knew the reason.

Athena immediately interrupted the meeting: "Greetings lord Alex, so you came here because of the reports of Wilhelm returning from the dead or surviving and this is a bad thing for us"

Alex told her about his request to have a meeting in Rome and didn't explain the details but she did accept the request.

Rome, May 439:

Both Athena and Alex arrived at the imperial palace with teleportation, when Kahn saw the goddess and Alex together, he didn't believe it because he remembered how she was trying to kill him but he didn't complain.

"Now to get straight to business, if the reports of the return of Wilhelm are real then this is bad not only for the goddess but for me and my plans now I suggest a temporary alliance". Alex spoke with great concern because he was hoping that the reports were about an imposter.

As for Athena despite her tough appearance, she is afraid and scared for her life and is worried about her realm.

She asked Alex to check the underworld to see if he was dead, and the Roman Emperor accepted her request despite knowing the fact that getting killed by a divine weapon can cause your soul to shatter.

Alex decided to check with Hades but Kahn stopped him and told Athena to go.

Fortunately, neither needed to go because Hades and Zagrios came to them personally. Zagrios took the initiative to speak to break the silence: "All the panicking regarding the return of Wilhelm or him escaping from the dead is just fake news..." he was interrupted by someone mysterious who entered after being permitted by the imperial guards: "It seems the news of my death have been greatly exaggerated, Well I was attacked by Athena and yes my soul was shattered but as all creatures of the dark, the pieces of my soul reunited together and I was revived out of scratch now I realized something, Athena is not the evil guy you tried to convince me in my meeting with you and instead you are the cruel enemy that is causing death and destruction and I was proven right when I saw the genocide of the Dacian people and the torture of the goddess Palas, my guy you are so Sadistic". As Wilhelm continued describing how his former friend now the enemy is evil and sadistic, Alexandros became livid and pale because all he said was the truth and the surprise of Wilhelm's return was a piece of shocking news to him.

"Heh, you should have stayed dead but I guess it's ok" Spoke Alex with pure anger in his tone.

After provoking Alex, Wilhelm left back to Berlin and Athena left back to Warsaw but the impact of this brief return of the dead man was bad for both Alex and Hades, especially for Hades who just chose to leave with his son.

He decided to order new forts to be built and a new defensive line called the Argead line would be built from the province of Raetia and end in the province of Gallia and the restored Scarlet Rome borders.

He was worried because his plan to keep Athena away from him just collapsed.

His worries were made worse by the news coming from the province of Britannia.

Roman Britannia June 439:

On the first day of the new month, news of the death of Governor Lucius Verus and per the Roman Constitution was written by Alexandros and his wife Samantha, each province has a local government and some autonomy in its governance as long as the imperial rule isn't harmed and the governorship candidate is approved by the emperor.

When Lucius Verus died, He declared Gaius Messius to be his successor and ordered that he be sent to Rome.

Meanwhile, tensions between Rome and Asgard started to Soar after an intense border skirmish that resulted in three Asgardians being injured and only two Roman soldiers being injured.

Rome, June 439:

After arriving in Rome through the teleportation Panel, Gaius Messius arrived at the imperial palace.

Once he arrived at the imperial palace, he was about to meet Emperor Alex to discuss his approval to the position of governorship but he was interrupted by a messenger who brought a letter to both the emperor and the governor.

"Dear Potential governor Gaius Messius:

In the disputed lands, one thousand Asgardian soldiers led by Valkyrie Brynhild were ambushed near the city of Eden but our soldiers who were expecting the attack ambushed the enemy force inflicting one hundred casualties and capturing Valkyrie Brynhild and nine hundred soldiers and we await your orders". Read Gaius and when he asked the emperor, Alex told him it was his call.

"Send a message with the order: kill them all, if they want a war then they shall get one, there will never be negotiations with the Asgardians, and war is peace" Ordered the governor while the emperor ordered to prepare for a massive and bloody war.

Asgard, July to December 439:

Once the head of Brynhild arrived in front of Odin and Loki, both were shocked because they loved the now-dead Valkyrie, and what made it worse was that the news spread to the people, and this led to protests everywhere demanding revenge and war.

Hearing their demands, Odin accepted and officially ordered the mobilization of a massive army and encouraged the people.

Athena came to Asgard Norway province and tried to convince him to not fight against the Roman emperor but Odin was stubborn as he told her that the people would have his head on a pike if he didn't fight the war.

Realizing that it is pointless to try and keep the peace she decided to inform him about what would happen if he tried to fight: "Well for starters, you should expect a demon attack from Karelia as I will not help you distract them because they are strong and they do love genocides, oh and be prepared to see your people be killed and your women be assaulted in the most brutal way I have ever seen and if that doesn't scare you, he will raise your entire kingdom to the ground with his massive undead army however if you want to fight a war, you have to fight the demons and I suggest you fortify your borders or strike first"

Odin understood her and told his generals to formulate a plan against the demon race empire in case they attacked.

The entire six months were spent in preparation for the biggest armies ever for war as four hundred thousand troops were mobilized for war.