[Turning back the clock once more to earlier in the morning- the same day in which Oscar set out for the Kingdom with two legions in tow, also the same day in which the antiheroes overtook the cities of Iciclaris and Volaciophus.]

With hands folded behind his back, a figure proceeded through the candle lit hallways of a demonic mansion.

The heat and light of the candles bathed the indigo skin of this demonic figure, casting shadows in every which direction as he progressed through the halls.

He wore a black suit and a checkered tie, and his glasses only served to add to the elegance of his demeanor.

His hair spiraled around his head in the same way that a hurricane would spiral about it's eye, creating a vortex which was both predictable overall and yet completely unpredictable when it came to each specific detail.

This demon was Huberos, the Host of Pride.

His calm footsteps echoed through the empty hallways as he glanced from one side to another, ensuring that he was alone.

He came to a doorway on the end of the hallway, opening it ever so carefully to reveal a room which was dimly lit, and just as extravagant as the demonic halls.

Dark marble lined the walls, and statues of gargoyles held the candles which lit the areas.

The room to which he opened the door was a washroom.

'I suppose it is time to remove this issue before anything else.'

The demon thought this, careful not to move his lips to speak.

Entering the room, he opened up a mirror, grabbing what looked to be a file.

He opened his mouth and began rubbing the file on his strangely elongated fangs, causing the pure white sawdust to pile in the sink.

After he finished, he bit down with a smile.

"Finally..... these annoying teeth continue to grow on me, ruining my own suits and staining them with blood."

Nodding with a satisfied smile, the demon exited the room and continued to walk through the hallway.

"Now then..... I suppose it is about time to get to work?"

Entering the door on the end, the demon came across an open manor, and standing by the side of all the doors surrounding the open area were many demonic servants, all dressed in high class attire.

"Good morning, Lord Huberos."

One man who appeared to be a head butler quickly greeted the demon, bowing his head.

"Good morning indeed. It is time that I set out and obtain the people of Iris for our own forces. I will be going alone, as there will not be any others necessary for such a simple task. My strength is more than enough. However, you will follow behind me in order to assist in their transportation."

"I understand, Lord Huberos.... but is this truly acceptable? You have allowed Lady Envidia to attack the city of Iciclaris. If she is successful in taking their military power for the uses of our army, will she not have gotten the better of you? After all, the strength and number of warriors she will have obtained will be much greater..... so why have you allowed her to jump on this opportunity?"

Huberos let out an arrogant smile, closing his eyes as he walked forward, not so much as flinching at the statements.

"Have you forgotten, Ferdinand? Even if her efforts are greater than mine, that will say nothing about the results. Just how much greater would I look if I were to take over a mere village of plantmen.... and turn that small force into a group far more powerful than even the Knights of Iciclaris?"

The butler smiled at the confidence with which his master said this with.

"I see..... so you truly intend to use your abilities on them?"

"And by leading them into battle, I will not be required to call upon our civilian forces. I will turn them into a force more powerful than even the average demon. With a mere group of weaklings, I will show the antiheroes the difference between our states. For this is what it means to take pride in one self."

The man nodded.

"You continue to impress me, Lord Huberos. Truly, your achievements are something only you could perform. To think that our city will not have to provide our own forces, as you are willing to find forces from outside..... it is nothing short of excellent."

"Indeed. Speaking of which..... what of the damages of the previous night?"

As Huberos asked this, the butler became conflicted with a sour expression.

"Unfortunately, a number of casualties have been confirmed, and multiple mansions were erased due to the explosion. Any trace of all those within the vicinity has vanished."

"The fool. Vex was acting excessively strange last night, and now he performs such a careless action, leading to the deaths of our people?"

With a twitch in his eye, the demon glared into the distance.

"We believe Master Vex to be among the casualties. We have not found him since the incident, and there are no remains left to confirm."

"So he truly did die off after all?"

Huberos placed his thumb and index finger to his forehead as if he had a migraine, wrinkling his eyebrows with irritation.

"I cannot come up with any other conclusion. If he is not dead, then he has gone off somewhere, but given the circumstances..... I think it is safe to assume his death."

Taking a deep breath in, Huberos hid any form of concern, quickly moving forth.

"I see. So he was defeated by the Determined, and in his own anguish he decided to kill himself? Yet this is quite unlike him, to take others out with him. I never expected him to do such a thing. I don't know what the Determined did to effect his mental state like that, but it is not something to be taken lightly. Even so..... in a fight I would win, whether direct or indirect. There is nothing to worry about. So long as I live, the seven hosts will remain as the most powerful demons in the realm. This much is certain."

The servants who were listening were relieved of their tension at the statements of Huberos.

They were clearly concerned, yet hearing these words from their master, this was enough to allow them to rest easy.

"I take it then that we won't return until night, my Lord?"

"Indeed. We will return with a group of weaklings who will be transformed into warriors."

With this statement, Huberos walked out the grand entrance, opening the doors to the pitch black land of darkness, where only the light of the moon shined.

Taking flight, the indigo demon grinned ever so lightly, causing his teeth to just barely poke into his lower lip, creating a light drip of blood in the same location as before.

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The blood slid down the demon's lips due to the fast speed at which he flew, dropping right onto his tie, staining one of the white spots with the purple fluid.

The demon cringed as he watched this happen, furrowing his eyebrows in irritation which was far greater than what he held when hearing of the death of Vex.

"Well that is annoying...."

Taking a handkerchief from his pocket to dab the stain mid flight, the irritated demon continued on his path.

'I suppose this is what I get for smiling too much. After all.... to smile is to lower myself to emotions such as satisfaction. And if I am satisfied with anything, how then can I rise above all others?'

This demon was Huberos, the Host of Pride.

Without question, he would show all his greatness.

He would show all that pride was the deadliest and greatest off all sins.

And that he was the greatest among all.

----

The plantmen village.

Yet another village of humanoids who came into existence through the experiments of a certain demon long ago.

This village, however, was slightly different from the other villages.

Perhaps it was due to the cruelty of the demon, who cared not for his creations, or perhaps it was for experimental purposes- the plant kin did not know. However, for one reason or another, the village of Iris was located in the Southern sector of the monster realm, very close to the boundary between the land of darkness.

The plant kin lived in a sector of the world where the day spanned only eight hours.

To any other group of humanoids, this would be nothing more than an abnormal day and night cycle, which they would adapt to and incorporate into their own schedule, however for the plant people this was not the case.

Most of the people of Iris required sunlight in order to function.

Solar energy is the basis for all plant life.

The limited amount of solar energy meant that the plant people were only able to function for a very limited portion of the day. During the day, they would 'charge their batteries', so to speak, as they worked in broad daylight. They would then use the stored energy to continue their work into the hours of the night. Yet the limited amount of daylight always proved a challenge.

Around 12 hours of the day, the plantmen could not function.

While they could last around 4 hours after the end of the day, after that was pushing their limits to the maximum.

When their energy was used up, they would simply collapse on the spot. For this reason, the people of Iris quickly developed a very controlled lifestyle in which they would spend the entirety of the day outside doing whatever forms of work they could, to maximize the number of hours they could spend doing work inside at night.

Ensuring that they made it to a bed before collapsing was also an issue, and so the plantmen would pay very close attention to their own vitals, ensuring that nothing went wrong.

Currently, the sun was rising.

The village was covered in foliage from beginning to end. The buildings were made from materials that looked to be overgrown trees surrounded in vines and other greenery, and to some this might appear to be a lush paradise.

Yet to the plantmen, this was home.

As soon as the rays of the sun peeked out from the horizon, doors opened.

Rubbing their eyes, a number of humanoids exited their homes, stretching their arms and preparing for the day.

They all held the forms of humans, with arms, legs, and heads.

Some were composed of a cellulose skin, while others had a skin made from bark. There were even a few people who were made from a mushroom material, however these ones did not require sunlight like the others, therefore many of these mushroom people were already wide awake and up early to work.

The hairstyles differed from person to person, yet they all were similar in that they were composed of some sort of greenery, whether it be vines, leaves, shrubs, or even flower petals.

"Ahhhhh... long night as usual.... wasn't it? I'm glad to see the sun come up for once."

A young male with blades of grass for hair and skin made from cellulose material wore an outfit made from bark, which looked somewhat similar to the apron of a worker.

Stretching his arms, he looked over to the direction of a girl.

"Mmm..... yeah. Looks like we got another short day ahead of us. We'd better get to work quickly before the sun sets again."

The one who replied was a girl, around the same age. If one were to guess, they would be around 17 or 18 in human years.

This girl had leaves as her hair, which was cut just above shoulder length. She too had skin which was made from cellulose material, and wore a dress which was made from the beautiful petals of flowers.

The two walked together towards their place of work, lazily waking themselves up as they prepped for the day.

"I heard that to the West of here the days are longer. Do you think that's true?"

"I heard that to the East of here the days don't exist. Do you think that's true?"

The girl replied to the question of the boy with another question, and the two laughed it off quietly.

"Wanna someday try and go see?"

The boy asked this with a timid expression, lightly suggesting the idea.

"Oi oi, you know what I heard. I heard that to the East of here there are the seven Hosts of Sin who will destroy anyone who isn't a demon without a second thought, and to the West of here there are the antiheroes and their horrible leader, the Determined- who will end up destroying all the nations of the world if she's left unchecked."

The two felt some rough hands placed around their shoulders to look back and see a man who was made from bark, casually interrupting their conversation as he stuck himself between the two.

"Boss."

"Boss. Good morning."

"Don't you two even think about leaving here. It's a real dangerous world, you know. All the young kids who try and go exploring end up regretting it. I know it sounds promising, going on adventures and finding a new land where the sun is up for longer..... but that isn't quite right."

The man, who looked like a human who had been carved out of a tree, walked forth with a serious expression alongside the two.

He wore an outfit which was made from the same material as his own skin, created from the bark of a tree.

"What do you mean, Boss?", the male asked.

"To put it simply, there's a whole lot of danger out there. Take a look around, will you?"

The two looked around to see everyone getting up and ready for the day.

It was a peaceful yet repetitive scene, one which they had seen more than enough times.

"What of it?", the girl asked.

"It's peaceful. Nobody is being killed. Nobody is killing. Nobody is creating chaos. Nobody is harming anyone else. Everyone is working, living, and dying. Is there anything more you could want in life?"

The man placed his own hand on a tree next to him with a light smile, appreciating the nature that surrounded him.

"But we are limited. We're limited to 12 hours. I've heard that there are places where 12 hours is the norm for daylight. We could stay up for 18 hours and get a whole lot more done if we were to-"

"At what cost?"

The boy had quickly gone on about the possibilities, to be reprimanded with a stern glare.

The glare of a man who once held the same dreams, yet had been shattered by the cold, hard reality.

"At.... what cost?", the girl questioned.

"Niko, Tera, let me give you two some advice from an old man."

"You're not that old, Boss. You're only-"

The boy, Niko, quickly responded with sarcasm, but on seeing the serious expression of his boss, he shut his mouth and listened.

"You haven't lived in a place where people are out to get you. You've never seen a place where you're viewed as some strange commodity. But everywhere else in the world.... nobody is like us. Nobody looks like us, nobody has the same qualities that we have, and nobody cares about us."

"But didn't you once visit the ratmen village?"

"I did. And I almost died the air was so bad. Not to mention the fact that they attacked me with strange weapons and drove me off."

The man lifted up his hand, which had been partially withered.

"This is the result of me trying to mess with something I shouldn't have."

"The people didn't treat you well at all? Not any of them?"

"The only ones I met were those who drove me away."

The two were quietly dejected at the statement of the man, but he continued as they walked.

"But that isn't all. Yeah, there were some places where the daylight was longer. But we plant kin.... we have a curse. A curse that nobody else in this world has."

"A curse?"

"What do you mean?"

Niko and Tera questioned the words of the man as he spoke with serious tone, looking forward as if he was remembering a set of bad memories.

"In a peaceful city like this, it's nothing. We go about our day, we sleep when we need to, and we wake up in the morning. Simple as that. Matter of fact, everyone else has to sleep as well. All the other humanoids, even the humans and the demons. This isn't some big surprise. But the thing is, once we go to sleep, we can't wake up. We literally can't, till the sun shines through our windows, giving us the energy to get up again. There are two problems with this."

The man lifted up two fingers, shivering as if he was remembering something horrible.

"Number 1. If we get caught in the middle of the night in a bad spot, we can't do anything. We're as helpless as babies, and if someone wants to kill us on the spot..... we're defenseless."

"Oi oi, what are you saying, boss!? Are you telling me there are people who would kill us out there just running free!?"

"Yeah, it isn't as if every person out there is some murderer. Come on, boss."

The two responded to the grave words of their boss, but he continued despite their protesting comments.

"But all it takes is one slip up. That's all I'm saying. One slip up..... run into one bad person at the wrong time, and we're gone."

The two closed their mouths, holding their breath as these words were said.

"But.... how often could that happen? I mean, it's never happened here."

"Because everyone here knows each other. Everyone here isn't some criminal. But in that city of ratmen... almost everyone was a criminal of some sort."

Clenching his teeth, the three reached a workshop.

It was an outdoor carpentry shop.

"And the second thing to watch out for..... even if we don't get caught in the night, if we get caught in a dark area permanently, then it's over unless someone helps us personally and moves us out. Say you try exploring a cave and fall asleep. You're never waking up again."

Walking over to his station, the man grabbed some tools and a block of wood, slamming it onto the table with a smile.

The sudden change of mood startled the two, but the man shouted out to them with a cheerful expression.

"Well anyways, forget about all that! Let's get to work!"