Chapter 2: Demon's luck

After having half of his power left behind, Lunarius then manages to return to his "comfort zone" through the portal he had opened. Without a body, and surviving only as a spirit on the astral plane, he finds himself with his main companion, lying on a sofa, who seems willing to comment on his pitiful situation.

???: "Hmmm, Lunarius, I see you're not in the best of situations. How did you get into this? Hehe."

Lunarius: "The most serious thing is that I had to leave my body. Looking back, I don't think I really needed it, but look, I was in tears, I value my safety more than a disposable body."

???: "Do you really think so? When you get a solid and well-shaped body, I hope you don't end up discarding it like you did now, not that I mind."

Lunarius: "Hm, looking on the bright side, I think the human who obtained a portion of my power will use it for something useful. I just hope he doesn't end up extorting me even more…"

???: "A human, extort you? I see the evil Lunarius is more passive lately."

Lunarius: "Hmm, that's enough, talking to you is freaking me out more than I'd like. I hope you have 'good times' ahead too, Elscar."

Moving away from the second individual, Lunarius looks for a mirror big enough to reflect an entire body, and by making a magical reflection of his astral body, begins to use demonic magic to create a new body. Although such a body is based on the image of his astral spiritual form, he has to manually create the entire anatomy of the body. In the midst of this, he does things in anyway since he barely feel any senses trough this sort of body created my demonic power, but still following a little of what he knows through his knowledge, after all, he needs the body to function like that of a humanoid being. Demonic power is only able to manipulate reality, and it is not able to assume a completely different form if it does not have the power to do so, it is basically only able to copy and paste.

In the end, the result is better than his last body: The heart and brain this time are in the right place. His green hair and blue eyes are visible. His skin, despite having some irregularities, is pale, typical of the body of demons. Lunarius then create his own clothes, they are slighty armored with his own magic and are mostly yellow.

Elscar, who apparently sees the scene, comments: "I always thought it is kind of gross. Fortunately, I almost never switch bodies."

Lunarius: "Of course, you barely change from the same position once a day."

Elscar: "And what am I going to do? We've been stationed around these lands for quite some time now. Rather than risk walking around and making contact with suspicious people and possible screwing up something like you, I'd rather wait for the orders from above, they probably have their own messy issues, and i wouldn't mind rotting away from waiting, it would just mean I'm being held here and have more free time. Besides, I'm not merely standing still right now, I'm, uhm, thinking about technical stuff"

Lunarius: "Ha, I would do the same too, but I'm looking to hit the lucky roulette wheel now. That girl's power is now parked in Henri's body, which means he will be more vulnerable against possible attacks by draconians or other people who notice it soon. He absorbed a part of my power through some magical papers, I'd like to try to get them back right now, but I'm out of power, and when I get it back, who knows where they'll be once i finally get to there by fliying for how many hours, there are some dillemas to think about…"

Elscar: "But you took a beating from him, didn't you? If you try to get him back, won't you make more mistakes?"

Lunarius: "Hmm, why are you warning me about this? I only took 'a beating' because I was afraid of being trapped there after the portal closed. Now is perhaps not the best time to act against him, however, I need to do something, right now i'm weakened."

Lunarius finishes getting dressed with the clothes he created and immediately leaves the room. He is in the castle of the arch-demon Perla on the continent of Andresh, building magic castles is something very typical of demons in charge of the commander-in-chief position, it is a typical way to allocate a magical point of connection with the underworld, at the same time which guarantees the stay of named demons at strategic points. It takes a lot of power, and usually the castle's accommodations are maintained through the power of the demons themselves, altrough the castle itself is owned by the arch-demon.

Despite having agreed to leave the underworld to join the archdemon's army, Lunarius was rather disappointed to see that his bosses move little and barely tell him any confidential information about what is actually going on. By snooping around meetings, Lunarius managed to get some important information, which involves the capture of a girl with 'original' powers. Whatever it was, something seems to have gone wrong, and his superiors have been quiet ever since.

Considering the situation, he cannot wait any longer, as he intends to take advantage of his stay in this world as much as possible to obtain power since his last ventures costed him quite a lot to the point he almost had none. The humans here curiously know a lot about demons, obviously an effect of their long stay in this world, and it is not difficult to convince them to enter into contracts with him using his corruption powers. He just didn't expect Henri, one of his main contractors, to outwit him. But to be fair, it was probably an overwhelming situation for him. Lunarius just took a lot of risk, and paid the bills for his mistakes, but time can't be lost doing nothing while someone is toying with his own powers!

Now the plan is to convince other demons to conspire against the humans and get both his own power back and also the "original power", he plans will hit two birds with one stone. Lunarius knows how valuable that power he discovered is, if he obtains it, he will surely leave most of his superiors in the slipper, and he won't need to listen to any of them again besides the one who aren't in this world. After leaving the castle and taking a look at one of the fields on the side, he is faced with some bored demons who are sitting around. Approaching them, he says:

Lunarius: "Hey guys, aren't you getting tired of standing around already?"

??? (Male voice): "Pretty much i am, do you have something good to do?"

Lunarius: "Do you already understand what is the new wave of our superiors?"

???: "No. Since I got here, I've only been assigned to kill these monsters that roam the forests. It's a joke, this type of situation that these guys on the top doesn't explain anything to you."

Lunarius: "Right. But what if I tell you that our superiors are cowering for a little girl? They seem to have tried to capture her, but she ran away, protected by the dragons."

???: "Was it from that last mission? I remember they said they were trying to capture something, before they came back with their tails between their legs…"

Lunarius: "Exactly. Our superiors are not capable, but I operated autonomously and… I discovered the location of our target. I am also aware of all the news."

And continues: "But I won't be able to capture the target alone. Our target counts… With a multitude of humans capable of using magical power of sorts at his disposal, including individuals who use some powers antagonistic to ours. If I'm going to act alone, it will take years before I succeed capturing her. Why don't you help me?"

??? (Female voice): "But what are we going to get out of it?"

Lunarius: "Hey, we're going to act in human territory. Corrupting and eliminating humans will be enough for you to get your share, isn't it?"

??? (Female voice): "I get the idea a little bit. But I want to know exactly what the plan is, who knows if there won't be some hidden mess waiting for us, i already had my share of taking part in reckless plans who fucked me over…"

Lunarius: "Well… To begin with, there isn't, exactly, a plan. We just disguise ourselves as humans, and together, it's just a matter of arriving at the target's location and blowing everything up, it's betten than standing around for orders who will never came."

??? (Male voice): "But… Your plan ignores a lot of things. What if the target runs away or disappears permanently after noticing us? They've tried to capture this girl before, and apparently it went very wrong, considering that the superiors are still quiet and shy about the matter. If it were that easy, they would have sent us all there by now, but i bet they don't even know her currently spot."

Lunarius: "… If you're not up for it, I'll come up with a way, by myself, to capture the target! Hear me, if the lazy leaders aren't doing anything important or simply are caught in their own bullshits then it's up to person like me, the truly free to do something!"

Lunarius' frustration seems misunderstood by listeners, who seemed intrigued by the idea of something to do, but something does seems to be holding them back in Lunarius's perception, who knows if they are really trustable to beggin with? Before the demon from before could try to say something to him, Lunarius already turned around and flew away.

??? (Male voice): "Does anyone here know this guys? Where have you ever seen people come here to ask for help only to run away in the slightest disagreement…"

Another demon arrives, Elscar. Apparently he was following Lunarius and somehow managed to observe the situation without being noticed.

Elscar: "I know him very well, and how can we tell… He's good at acting, but seems quite out of touch with things like this, I think he must own his traumas, or he's just rushed…"

Elscar continues to dialogue with the demons. Meanwhile, Lunarius continues flying for a few hours at high speed, approaching a territory close to the demons, supposedly occupied by their main enemies at the moment, the dragons. Before the demons came, they lived in isolation across the vast continent, but eventually had to unite into a single military force to fight a common enemy. As they are formidable beings, it usually takes armies to eliminate a single dragon, but the archdemon is capable of temporarily holding back one or two on her own, she is only rivaled by three other demons among the demon forces in this world, and her main minions are also fearsome in their own right. But from the beginning, dragons have never been the target, but those who possess the "power" they seek.

Eventually, the main target fled to the mainland in the west, and the last target also fled to the east. Lunarius, for all this time, could only wonder why the archdemon seemed so incompetent as not to move to capture targets since the dragons doesn't even seems capable of leaving this continent anyway. After the last fiasco, they stayed put for years, even though they knew the second target was on the run, and who knows what will end up happening while someone with that much power is on the move. Maybe there is some information that he will never know by himself.

Eventually, he arrives close to the place that he has been investigating for some time, the mountainous contours of the desert region to the southeast of the mountainous region that surrounds the forests around the castle, for some time now he has noticed a great magical presence in the place, but he still does not know the specific location of it. It's like the whole place is ready to conjure something, but it's doesn't look like anything will happen since there are not any sort of magic taking place.

Lunarius then starts hunting for something. He continues hunting for hours, until nightfall, but apparently finds nothing. The energy he senses from the place feels demonic, but it's purer and less chaotic than it usually is. For a moment, it crosses his mind that perhaps some extremely powerful demon, like his lord, is trying to communicate with him. The thought seems a little absurd, considering that his demon lord has not much of a history of intervening in missions unless if there is a critical situation, mostly because because there are not many means to do so, it's impossible to summons higher beings, and the more powerful it his, the trickier will be the conditions, but the fact that so much power is located in the middle of nowhere is perhaps a hint for something, so maybe it's actually aimed to be solved by him?

To conjure an entity in a place with so much power, it is necessary for him to prepare three or more magic points throughout the region, preferably in high regions. The more magic points, the better, however, he doesn't know what awaits him, and therefore, he intends to be more conservative, and will prepare four magic points in a square shape on top of four points in the highest mountains he can locate. To form each point, a small sacrifice is needed that refers to what must be invoked, or a large amount of power from it, together with a stable symbolic structure that can direct all that power in a single place and form a connection with whatever is there. what should be invoked. In this case, Lunarius will establish four points and a central point where everything will be directed. The symbol used refers to the power that is in place, however, it is impossible to deduce which is the correct symbol on that occasion, considering that he does not know how to conjure such an entity. His only hope is that his actions have already been premeditated by this being.

The idea is to place a quarter of the spell's power at each location, along with a steady portion of his own power to try do direct it at each point. First, he absorbs, and then, he begins to direct everything to the magic symbol he has established in the place, and the symbol he uses will be the chaotic star, that is, the symbol that refers to the chaotic power capable of corrupting the order of the stars, though he obviously isn't capable of doing so, but the stars refers to the planets, and this power is already enough to do some slighty corruption without troubling the higher beings who protects it. Finishing the first point, it is necessary for him to hurry to the next point, as the tendency is that eventually so much power will destroy the limited symbol he has established with his own power. He repeats this process 3 more times in the places he designated, and when he arrives at the place where he should place the main point, he notices that the four symbols suddenly begin to act alone, establishing, in the middle, the symbol of Satan, it's the most powerful demonic symbol, which leads to chaos in all order to the space level. Suddenly, a mirage appears over the symbol, a black door. Lunarius enters it, and inside, he is covered by complete darkness. The door closes, turning into giant lips, Lunarius, however, is no longer able to see himself.

Lips: "Lunarius, I am ***, know your existence is necessitated, and I intend to form a contract with you, now."

Lunarius seems to know whom he is talking to, considering that he kneels before such lips.

***: "Despite not being the most skilled, you are competent in the way that you should be. I offer you an opportunity to obtain all the power you need and wants, while at the same time you can also improve the situation of the mission that was given to your force designated by these regions."

***: "As you may already know, Perla has been demonstrating an attitude unworthy of an archdemon. When I assigned her this mission, I didn't expect her to be sitting in this world. I've already tried to warn her about this omission, which to my eyes and my knowledge, is premeditated for several reasons, and even though the signals have been weak, she continues without the expected attitude. Regardless of what she actually plans or does today or tomorrow, I have already decided that she must be replaced. Azel must become the new commander-in-chief of the demons in this region."

***: "And you, Lunarius, must get rid of her. Take this."

The mouth dissolves and forms a hand, holding a shapeless dagger.

Lunarius takes the dagger, but realizes that it has no physical form, apparently it is a weapon whose form is created by the one who controls it and from the essence it's come from. The hand dissolves and turns into lips again.

***: "When you wish, this dagger will take shape. Just stick it anywhere in Perla's body, and then I and my power's essence will take care of the rest. Your safety is not entirely guaranteed, but if your fails even considering your circumstances who i deems to be special, know that I will replace you. If you fulfill your goal, I will empower you to the point that you can be considered 3rd class."

Most demons are classless, but those who have names are divided into classes according to their powers, and the most basic division is 5th to 1st, a method of defining the divisions of raw power between they. Lunarius is a 5th class demon, the last one. Demons of this class generally have no fixed physical form, and the only way to increase their power is typically through contracts with living beings.

***: "Do you understand your mission? There will be no truly time limit for you to complete your task, however, I hope it doesn't take more than a week, according to the way time works in the world you are in, since much more will greatly hinder the demonic forces overall progress."

Lunarius: "…Yes sir"

***: "Now go. Don't get caught for no reason, just focus on creating the ideal situation for hitting Perla with my essence."

The lips form a door again. Lunarius opens it and returns to the normal world. The power that circulated in the magic symbols burst the casting points and disappear, and the door also dissolves in the air and disappears.

This mission was exactly what Lunarius wanted most. One wonders why it took so long for the demon lord to move, but possibly it's due to the fact that there isn't much time left for something, so maybe he senses that the situation will get out of hand if nothing is done now.

Archdemons are not easily replaced. As soon as they go to a place that is out of reach of their lords under their orders they easily gain independence and control over those of their legion. The dagger he received is directly imbued with the power that was at the site, which apparently belongs to the demon lord. The fact that it has no form is probably due to the fact that it's expected that it will not be discovered by anyone until it has fulfilled its purpose, or maybe it's true form is simply currently hidden from him.

Thinking about it, Lunarius would like to go directly get rid of Perla, but he doubts that he could get close to her easily, and it's mostly likely that he'd get exterminated instantly. Until today, he has not been able to exchange a word directly with her, as he is always communicating through her subordinates.

Thinking about his options, Lunarius returns to the castle. It's already morning, and he needs informations and solutions. He would like to enlist the help of Elscar and others in his investigative works, but a level of caution is always needed first. But maybe he can get information trough several sorces, as long as he doesn't tell too much, altrough there still some risk in it.

As he searches the castle in search of his fellow Elscar, he sees several groups of demons heading somewhere in the upper part of the castle. Maybe there's something going on that Lunarius doesn't know about, like some general meeting. Following them, he sees several demons gathered in a hall on the 4th floor. Inside, he sees Elscar, talking with some other individuals, but now is not a good time to talk about his plans.

The demons are gathered and are making bets with each other, having drinks or just talking. There is also a stage that appears to be being prepared for an eventual speech.

Upon entering and sitting down, eventually two demons approach him. He recognizes that they are two of the individuals he tried to convince to join him yesterday.

??? (male voice): "Hey, you left out of nowhere yesterday, hahaha."

??? (Female voice): "C'mon, Lunarius, you got us on the hook right after saying a bunch of stuff."

Lunarius: "I'm a busy man, if you won't notice, I'll go do other things. Also, we talked yesterday and you already know my name?"

??? (male voice): "A friend of yours came to talk with us shortly after you left. His name is Elscar."

??? (female voice): "By the way, we don't even know each other. It's been at least a few years since I came here, but I never met you."

Lunarius: "I don't stay in the castle. If I show up here, it's usually at night, looking for information. Elscar always knows a bit, and is a decent informant, and is also one of the few people I know before coming to this mission."

??? (Female voice): "Yeah? By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Marry, and this…"

??? (male voice): "I'm Kerry. We're brother and sister."

Looking back, the two are similar, but not uniquely similar. Both have pale purple skin and white hair, common traits coming from demons whose bodies are being maintained through magic. Lunarius's own body is not yet pale and his hair is green colored, but both lose these characteristics over time. While fixed bodies maintain their characteristics permanently, bodies made by demonic magic tend to rot by themselves. The crucial difference between a fixed body and a temporary body is that one is meant to be kept as a permanent container for the spiritual form until it is destroyed, while the other is just a temporary physical repository so that we can exist.

Lunarius: "So, do you know what's going to happen here? Or is it just another pastime for demons?"

Kerry: "Everyone was informed by the familiars. You weren't here?"

Marry: "They said to come here because the archdemon would say something. Apparently, she will only come when she feels like it."

Lunarius: "Typical."

It's curious that she comes to say something soon today. Maybe she sensed some sort danger, or maybe she's been planning something for a while. High level demons can never be underestimated.

Kerry: "By the way, your friend Elscar is right over there. I'm going to go talk to the guys over there. If you feel like talking about something just say so."

Lunarius: "If I'm going to say anything it will probably be after we leave here…"

Marry: "You seem to have something else in mind. Have you formed a plan or something?"

Lunarius: "Yeah. I got a great opportunity. But I don't feel like letting you know here, it's something that will potentially change my future after all."

Marry: "Fair"

Marry goes after Kerry, and Lunarius remains seated, waiting to see if there's going to be any spectacle, which is the way he always sees these meetings, which always come before something seemingly grand. He feels a certain animosity towards the situation, after all, it is doubtful that Perla has not noticed something. When looking at the stage, all he can see are some demons talking.

Elscar then approaches, accompanied by an individual.

Elscar: "Well well hello Lunar, I was thinking you were going to stay gone."

Lunarius: "I give you the pleasures of seeing me. I wonder what will happen now."

Elscar: "Looks like they're going to organize another expedition. I hope they don't throw us back against the dragons of the north."

Next to Elscar, he sees Rupt, he is white and has a dark orange long hair, and is wearing some dark clothes, he is an demon with a fixed body, and Lunarius always trough of him as a lazy being, no wonder he walks with Elscar, but maybe that's probably why he still has a fixed body, so no point in criticizing the dude.

Rupt: "Whatever comes, just follow orders, okay? You guys complain a lot, but I have no idea and I don't want to know what the higher ups are thinking."

Elscar: "Ke."

Lunarius: "By the way, El, are you still writing that so-called work of yours?"

Elscar: "Yes, I've already progressed a few "levels". I can't wait to see how it will be in its final stage, hehehe."

Rupt: "Still working on that gooey stuff? I can't see it being worth the effort."

Elscar: "The point is, with a grimoire, I'll be able to automate my spells, won't I? I might end up wasting a lot of power on fruitless rolls, but I know they'll be worth a lot in the future."

Rupt: "Hmmm, I don't see the point in wasting power on something like this, but everyone has their own preferences in order to waste their time away I guess."

Lunarius: "By the way, I have good news. I was contacted by our lord himself…!"

Elscar: "Are you serious?"

Lunarius: "Yes, I won't talk about what it's really about here, but he promised me power and a physical body if I do what he says."

Elscar: "Probably must be something of weight then. I hope it's to eliminate the person responsible for our stagnant stay in this region, kekeke."

Rupt: "Orders from above? It sounds like a pain, what's it about?"

Lunarius: "He didn't tell me anything about rewarding others, but if they help me, I'll inform him of any major contribution. Maybe he might form a body for them too or give them power, but I doubt it, unless some huge contribution besides mine actually happens."

Rupt: "Seems interesting, but it's certainly risky, who can say that trying to contribute will give your more power than it's worth in the end? You'll need to important people closely related to your mission to get anywhere."

The three continue exchanging ideas, until new people appear coming through the entrance. It is the arch-demon Perla, she is of large stature, and has pink hair and characteristic purple eyes. Along with her are some other big shots, such as Azel, the guy with yellow hair, blue eyes, dark blue skin and a blue symbol marked on his cheek who looks like some word made by large claws, and Oss, a guy dressed in an overcoat and a characteristic hat, but who has all its colors in a gray and dark tone, looking like a mass of mold, which highlights the same colors of his skin, his eyes and his whole body, pretty monotonic.

They are totally different from any other demon in that they possess far greater powers and capabilities to the point they can just absolutely destroy entire armies with their brute power alone. Lunarius, as a low-class demon, is already able to influence classless demons and give them orders, but both of the three demons he sees are easily able to form their own armies through their powers, which are abundant. Despite this, they hardly appear on the battlefield, unless they are looking for something or are acting under some battle strategy. This is due to the fact that low-class and classless demons are subject to a hierarchy of power, being mobilized en masse, while high-class demons do not owe absolute allegiance to those at the top, and are able to act autonomously if they are not under direct orders.

Azel and Perla are almost on the same level, however, Perla has much more experience than him. Despite looking young, she is one of the oldest subordinates of the demon lord, which makes her recent attitude even stranger. Demons don't care much for the passage of time, considering they are easily able to hibernate indefinitely so long as they have powers flowing through their bodies, however, the operation launched in these lands has lasted nearly a century, the fact that the lord has not intervened even after all this time is largely due to the fact that he also has his own duties.

Perla then moves from the entrance to the stage. Both of those following her don't look like they're going to say anything, they're probably just watching the event unfold but don't want to meddle themselves with the masses. And so, she begins her speech without further ado:

Perla: "Hello gentlemen, it's been a long time since we've met like this. I've asked you to gather here because, as you expect, I'll explain our next steps.

As you already know, Druaga took refuge in a distant continent, and from there he has already obtained new lands. The dragons are apparently still under his control, and a few years ago, I learned that he had left half of his power on this continent. Such power took on… physical form, and the dragons were already instructed to take such an individual to be absorbed by Druaga.

I commanded troops to intervene, but the dragons were always too thick-skinned… They slowed us down, and the result is that they managed to take such an individual to the other continent. I prefer to bet that the power has already been absorbed by Druaga, and therefore, I intend to prepare an expedition on the continent. In the last century, we have done nothing but sit around in this region, chasing vague clues, but now we have a good idea of our target's whereabouts, and soon, I will be preparing to mobilize in the actual period. Everyone who is ready to apply to contribute something, line up from the entrance to the stage."

Finishing the speech, the demons begin to talk to each other. Some are forming queues, and others are leaving the place. Most of them are going to be drafted to the expedition anyway, but volunteering is a good way to try to get special orders or to try to affiliate himself with some demon faction.

Elscar: "It's finally going to be time to mobilize, huh… I've been sitting in this castle for a few months now, maybe I need to end up contributing in something."

Rupt: "I won't lose anything by not going on this expedition, but since i will probably be drafted anyway i might as well try to get a special mission so to not get myself with the other forces."

Lunarius: "… I plan to go normaly, but afilliying myself with some faction might be a good choice."

The three line up in a row. Eventually it stops growing, and Perla, after looking at everyone's faces, declares: "All who will normaly participate or get drafted, wait in the castle courtyard in the morning. Prepare everything you need or that you will be ordered to do."

The line disperses, and Lunarius leaves the place, Elscar follows him, already asking him about his plans.

Lunarius: "I won't tell you how, but the lord plans to replace Perla with Azel."

Elscar: "But if she's already mobilizing now, it won't make sense to eliminate her, right? I guess there are some hidden stuff there."

Lunarius: "I don't know, I just know that I was ordered to take care of her. Maybe this expedition is the chance for something unusual to happen. If I see the chance, I won't think twice."

Elscar: "Hehe, but if you make a mistake that might compromise me, I won't hesitate to treat you as if you didn't exist."

The situation seems a little strange to Lunarius, mostly because it seems like something too good to be true. First, he is given a quest by a lord, and then, is he given a perfect chance to carry it out? Perhaps Perla has already realized that something is wrong, and therefore needs to take immediate action. On second thought, maybe this expedition is just some sort of trap… This further reinforces his thinking that he should wait for the right moment. Perhaps he should seek to approach Azel's forces.

Lunarius then leaves the castle. His thinking pattern does not allow him to stays quiet. The castle is located in the center of the continent of Andresh, surrounded by a mountainous region, in a region called the "Eye of Darkness" by the dragons. The east of the continent of Kheneldia is located in the extreme west and to travel there one will have to pass trough the ocean. Since dragons surround the region, demons have only managed to liberate the south, which has become an arid desert after many battles. Lunarius likes to spend the days combing through the movement of dragons, and has come into contact with some of them in the past. They are not aggressive creatures, as they have an average of centuries to live, but since the war began, they have no choice but to defend themselves against the demons' attacks. This is because Druaga is the lord of dragons, and therefore, they are vital against the demons' goals. However, a century ago Druaga seemed to have split, any traces of him became invisible, the only thing that could be perceived is his power, which was still permanent in the region, and apparently the demons followed blinds hints for a long time.

Lunarius was not yet in the region to witness the entire war that took place, nor what were the results of it. Perla failed to discover Druaga's location, and remained in virtually trench warfare to the south, as both sides easily detected each other's movements and plans. Lunarius has participated in a few minor scavenging battles in the past, but he's always been quick to figure things out. He acted autonomously on the continent of Iguadesh, where he sought clues to the whereabouts of Druaga while increasing his power through contracts with humans.

If Perla is going to form an expedition to go after Druaga, it might be preferable that Lunarius purposely give her information, though it is doubtful that someone so powerful doesn't already have information about it. The fact that the mission always seemed to move so sluggishly left many, including Lunarius, fearful about the future.

Whatever it is, Lunarius is no longer able to detect Henri very well, but he can still vaguely sense the location of his power. The teleportation magic he usually uses to move quickly from one place to another is also infeasible, considering that he had to use half of his power to create it. When he lost that half, his immediate goal was to convince other demons to take part in an operation against him, but he couldn't let it show that he was weakened and that he planned to have others do most of the work. Come to think of it, the quest his lord gave could very well be seen as a salvation for his difficult situation.

As he leaves the castle, Lunarius sees Resselph, a dark blue guy with red eyes and hair, who is from Azel's faction, talking with another demon. The most powerful factions at the moment are those of Azel and Perla. Oss is also extremely powerful, but technically factionless, as the armies he summons are sustained by his powers. Among Perla's subordinates, most are located in the west, hypothetically in charge of actions commanded directly by her. Azel's vast majority are in the castle, and Resselph is supposedly one of his closest subordinates.

Trying to get close to him might be a good idea, but Lunarius doesn't know him and has no idea what he's like. Anyway, he decides to approach to see what they are talking about.

Resselph: "By the way, has Elrinia already returned? Unfortunately we will have to mobilize tomorrow"

The person next to him seems to say something, but she speaks too softly for Lunarius to hear anything.

Resselph: "Okay, if she takes too long, you'll go get her yourself."

Lunarius then sees a pretext to approach.

Lunarius: "Are you looking for someone?"

Resselph, relaxed, looks at him and replies: "You are… Lunarius, correct? If you are leaving, then the meeting is over?"

Lunarius: "Yes, Perla showed up to talk about the next expedition, I'm determined to participate too."

Resselph: "I'll go too, but do you have something to discuss with me? Tomorrow will be a long day, and I need to make sure all my teammates show up now."

Lunarius: "And I have something to do, or rather, I need to make preparations, because tomorrow will be a long day. If you're worrying about someone, let me ease your back, because later I want to deal with something with you."

Resselph: "Interesting, but this is yet another hindrance within our faction. Among Azel's subordinates, there are two rookie demons with potential. The one with me is called Eclyst, and her younger sister, Suzy. She was commanded to the north of the continent of Kheneldia, but it's entirely possible she stopped for a long cup of coffee somewhere on the way back."

Eclyst: "Coffee? I'm sure she does what she's told."

Resselph: "Yes, yes, but she's not very punctual, and likes to act independently… if she doesn't show up, I hope you'll go find her as soon as the expedition force is dispatched, i bet she got herself in some dangerous mess which she still didn't even notice."

Eclyst: "Of course, but… She's also your partner, if the worst happens, I want you to help me."

Resselph: "… I'm just warning you, because depending on the situation as a whole, I can either help you or secretely send someone along with you, so you don't have to worry about having to scour enemy lands on your own, because you don't have the same powers as your sister."

"…Right. See you later." says Eclyst, pulling away and heading towards the castle. She has pink hair and eyes, her hair in the back is in a ponytail and she has hair combed forward above her eyes, with more hair gathered on boths sides of her face, and along the top side of her hair she has a mask with a figure that looks like a cat attached with an "E" written on top. She is a little short, around 4 feet tall.

Resselph: "…By the way, Lunarius, what did you want to tell me?"

Lunarius: "I'm sure you're aware of the idleness presented by the archdemon, right?"

Resselph: "Idleness? Are you talking about her rebelliousness, or rather, independence from our lord interests?"

Lunarius: "Exactly. She was never replaced due to her being at the top of the hierarchy, but I would say that Azel made a great candidate as an Arch-demon, what do you think?"

Resselph: "I can't speak for him, but personally, I would say that the day is near when he replaces her. Still, I can see, as someone close to me, that Azel always liked to push any situation to the extreme, and soon, in my perception Perla was the ideal candidate to command our campaign in this mission as a whole. If she started an expedition now, it means that it is the ideal time, not least because she has her own subordinates, operating independently of the demons in this castle, who are here only for missions that need high numbers. Some say she has her own agenda, but that is mere ignorance of the situation as a whole, the main issue is another and most don't know the details."

Lunarius: "… I also understand that she has her value, but what if I told you…" Lunarius approaches him, in a low voice "That our lord decided to replace her with Azel?"

Resselph: "… If that were true, we'll have to make arrangements for such a replacement, however, it would be strange for something like that to happen when she was already preparing an expedition since some time."

"I know it sounds hard to believe, but our lord himself appeared before me, through the preparation of a ritual, and presented me with this." Says Lunarius, conjuring the dagger given to him. Resselph looks startled.

Resselph: "Is this… A dagger with chaotic power?"

Lunarius: "Yes, I don't know what will happen, but our lord told me to stab this anywhere on her body at a propitious time."

Resselph: "… I don't know what that means exactly, but if he commanded this, that means you have something to gain too, right?"

Lunarius: "Exactly, he also said that anyone who helps me will also be remembered, and will have the chance to ask for something at a propitious and correct time to do so."

Resselph: "That means he intends to make a drastic change in our objectives, he's probably already aware of the fiasco of the last expedition, and hopes for quick action, hmmm… But I wonder why he chose you for that. "

Lunarius: "ha! you may not know it, but I'm one of our lord's most senior subordinates. I'm probably the most reliable individual when it comes to taking a chance on something that I already have experience with, and it's not like I've always been low in the power as I am now…"

Resselph: "Okay, that's for the best if that's the case. I'll let Azel know in due time, however, I'd like you to let me know if you're going to take independent action. If we link our actions, the chance of everything going well will probably be greater."

Lunarius: "Does that mean you will also help me? I plan to start taking actions when the expedition starts."

Resselph: "During the expedition? Wouldn't now be the best time? After all, most of her subordinates are in another location."

Lunarius: "I'm looking to the future. Perla probably has more information than us, and therefore, we should inform ourselves more during the expedition, so we don't end up in the worst."

Resselph: "… The arch-demon entrusted you with the decision, so I'll follow your reasoning. See you in tomorrow."

Resselph then makes his way to the castle, seemingly heading in the same direction as Eclyst. Getting allies is a good choice, but Lunarius wants as few people as possible too know about it. He is not someone close to Resselph, but the two have worked together on several occasions. Lunarius has always been someone heavily in charge of scouting and other spy work. While he's no absolute master of stealth, his mastery of mobility and executing quick decisions have shown him to be capable. His only sin, however, always stems from being someone who is always taking risks. Maybe that's made him rank 5th in the demon class hierarchy…

He has known Perla for a long time. If he is someone who takes a lot of risks and is always acting alone, then she is someone who is patient, cautious and who always acts putting the chances of success first. Despite respecting her, the fiasco of her last expedition is somewhat offensive to the mission simply because it is something that has been prepared for a long time. Since this last failure, Lunarius has been alligning himself with the humans who are the so-called black magicians, seeking to form his own contacts and obtain the location of the "target", and now that he has concrete information thanks to Henri, the only thing left is the necessary power to take independent action.

Lunarius then looks for a place to train. Demons typically don't train, as they don't really gain anything from it. Lunarius, however, is always putting his life at risk, and therefore, he always needs to be used to fighting. He made it a ocasional habit to practice with his demonic spear from time to time. Despite always being skilled, he still misses his old high power, and his body can't handle high amounts of action, disintegrating as soon as he uses too much power. When in spirit form, demons become creatures vulnerable to spirits, and if they take time to form a new body, they can end up being swallowed by the planet through gravity's spiritual pressure against things which doesn't have any form if they end up exhausting their powers, because when they are in their spiritual forms, they end up having to constantly use such powers to combat this gravity caused by the planet. When they are in physical form, they also have to use powers to constantly regenerate the gradual destruction of their bodies, however, they don't have to worry about gravity as long as they are "clothed". Demons are unable to possess bodies and objects for the simple fact that this is an impossibility, for them to "take care" of something, it is necessary that this object or body is compatible with their bodies, which is usually not the case. When they form a new body using their powers, they do so by molding the body in a way that is compatible with themselves. A body that is too large may be inaccessible, and a body that is too small may be unusable. It is necessary that essential requirements are followed, such as body size, musculature and curvature, and even the number of neurons. Lunarius knows very well why: the spirits of beings are just the essence of the body maintained through powers, however, there is no "soul", because for such spirits to exist, it is necessary that the essence of the body is maintained by a greater being, and the one who takes charge of this is the one who commands absolutely all demons, above even the demon lords, who are his subordinates, some call him the "God of chaos", others call him the "King of all demons" , but no one knows if he really exists or where he resides, only that he is the "original essence" that maintains the existence of them all.

Lunarius then begins training with the spear, piercing it against invisible enemies and making targeted throws. Despite calling it training, he considers it more of an addictive hobby he always had to pass the time. Many demons have no sense of time, but the demons that partialy keep their spirits inside their bodies have greater contact with reality, and therefore, know how to use their time usefully. All demons capable of this are considered "class demons", on the other hand, demons that exist only to take orders are called "demon familiars". Very rare are the familiars that become of a class, since they are maintained by an named demon's power, and naturally, most demons of this level have been living beings before, some humans call the process of creating an demonic name and demonification has "selling their souls". Familiars are only used for their usefulness, and are almost always immediately discarded after their use, since they are created by high-level demons, and their existence is maintained as per their master's goals. Most familiars are summoned by leading demons, and in a war situation, they are often put under the command of lower-class demons. The strongest and most costly familiars to maintain are usually commanded by high-class demons. Therefore, it is essential that the strongest forces are used in the most essential moments, and the rest are used to cause damage, and their roles are generally defined according to the strategies.

In the battles that the demons had against the dragons, the strategies usually revolved between exhausting the magic of the dragons through numbers and using the strongest troops to finish them, or a direct confrontation between the strongest, using numbers only to surround the dragons and distract their attentions in necessary moments. There have been thousands of these types of clashes in the last few decades, and the thing is, these types of tactics haven't worked very well, having been unable to help progress much, and this is due to the simple fact that dragons also have their own tactics and powers to oppose them. The clearest example of this was in the last expedition, an aerial battle above the ocean. Lunarius did not personally witness it, however, he knows that it was a clash between the most powerful of the demonic army against the dragons, who were also concentrated. In the end, the concentrated mobilization on both sides nevertheless resulted in heavy losses for both sides. Technically, the dragons suffered far greater permanent losses than the demons, but it's still remarkable that they apparently managed to do what they set out to do: transport the target away and keep the demons away from the other continent. That's what kept the demons at bay for a few years, but even Perla now knows it's time for a drastic change in the direction of the mission.

Following this thought, Lunarius wonders if Perla would not voluntarily descend the steps of the hierarchy for Azel to command the demonic army as a whole, but wonders if he would still be rewarded by his lord even if he managed to convince her, but maybe there are some stuff in there he probably still don't know. The orders of a demon at the top of the hierarchy are absolute, and he wouldn't want to disobey anyway. He then proceeds to train alone for the remainder of the day until dawn.

…

Returning to the castle, he already sees the mobilization of several demons. While training, he came to the conclusion that a portion of the demons would probably be used to obstruct any interception by the dragons, who are probably going in this way to intercept the mass teleportation to the other continent. If he doesn't want to end up going that way, it's preferable for him to associate with Azel's subordinates, who apparently have a much more guaranteed passage to the expedition than those who don't have association with anyone.

Entering the castle, he returns to his resting room. There he meets Elscar, sitting and preparing something at his table.

Lunarius: "Hey, Elscar, are you getting ready or something?"

As he approaches, Elscar responds, "I have received a call from above to prepare 'puppets', but I doubt they are of any use against the dragons, so i'm just going to deceive them temporarily."

Lunarius: "Dolls, hm? If the archdemon is going to prepare a massive expedition, I wonder what's the actual point of leaving demons around, couldn't it be preferable for everyone to teleport too?"

Elscar: "Probably to secure the position around here, right. The dragons are not that aggressive, but people are needed to hold the place and report irregularities, otherwise they will simply get hold of their lost territory and do whatever they want, which will make it trickier if Druaga ever comes back."

Elscar appears to be sewing dolls. One of his skills is generating hypnosis through objects injected with his illusion magic, but if he's creating puppets, that means he'll have to stay behind to operate them.

Lunarius: "But it means you won't be able to help me, and therefore, you won't potentially gain favor with our lord. I can accompany you, and as soon as you finish your business, I'll teleport with you to regroup with the rest of the group. "

Elscar: "No need. I still have a lot to do here. Now when the archdemon is out, I can have some vacation, kekeke. You might think I'm missing out on a good one, but I'm still, in a way, working hard at my 'work'."

Lunarius: "Right then. Will Rupt also go as told?"

Elscar: "I don't know, but he wanted to participate. He'll probably show up in the courtyard, or maybe he as been give some secret mission we will never know about, kekeke. I just know he has disappeared for good."

Lunarius: "Okay, see you later."

Elscar: "Fine."

Finishing what he had to say, Lunarius follows the castle corridor and climbs one of the stairs. The castle was modeled so that it looks like a pyramid in the inside, that is, the further down, the wider the space, and the further up, the smaller the space. This cannot be said very well when looking at it from the outside, as the entire castle is created and maintained by magic, and therefore, the spaces are not completely physical and are maintained by interdimensional magic which is used by a lot of demons. At the top of the castle there are several sealed towers, used for summoning demons and rituals, and down there are 5 floors, representing the 5 classes of demons. Each floor can expand the more demons of the level appear, but the inevitable is that it follows a pyramid model according to the scarcity of them. The castle is also theoretically moveable, but it is extremely rare for it to move, considering that extreme use of magic is required through many demons who knows interdimensional magic. It is usually easier to deform the castle by collecting the used runes, but the conditions are pretty trickier.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

In the past, it is said that this castle once floated high in the sky, in order to facilitate operations, but this became unfeasible over time, the more rhe draconian forces got ways to develop defenses and forecasts against their attacks, which were easily observable. Since then, the castle has been moved to the ground at a strategic point between the mountains, which was previously draconian territory, and covered with barriers, watchmen and patrols responsible for exterminating monsters in the region and observing enemy forces.

Lunarius, as a 5th class demon, is on the first floor. Resselph is a 2nd class demon, and therefore, is on the fourth floor. He was summoned along with Azel and others of his companions half-century ago, all his main subordinates are on the third to fourth floors, with the exception of azel himself, who is on the fifth. Azel, as someone who is close to the archdemon level, naturally has his own hierarchical rights, however, he is unable to directly disobey her, as that would shake the power hierarchy. Demons who disobey such a hierarchy are extremely rare, as it is part of the demonic nature to obey the strongest. More experienced demons, such as Lunarius, are capable of more autonomous attitudes and actions, but most are unable to act autonomously without orders, as well as the familiars that serve them, because, while they have intelligence, this intelligence is often linked to a "greater" will, something that is already established from all "pure" demons, which are the majority, that is, they come from the complete transformation of a living being or spirit to a chaotic form that represents the respective values of a lord demon and his desires under them, it's all quite troublesome, and most new demons suffers existencial crisis, barely remembering their past memories, but they usually "recover" their own will over time as they get used to being demons.

While going up the floors, Lunarius eventually sees Kerry and Marry on the 3rd as they go down the stairs along with other compatriots.

Lunarius: "Hello, are you guys going on the expedition too?"

Marry: "Lunarius, my man! We're all going, and you, what are you doing going upstairs?"

Lunarius: "I have some unfinished business, I'm going to meet with a guy who goes by the name of Resselph."

Kerry: "That hooded one with the red hair? I didn't see him."

Suddenly, a deep voice is heard coming from above.

???: "Are you talking about Azel's henchman?"

Then Oss appears, he is dressed in a black overcoat and has a mask and a black hat, but his physical characteristics are unique, as if he was made of mold dough, and his body is wide and tall. On top of his huge hat, mold dolls dressed in the same clothes can be seen dancing and jumping almost as if they are fairies.

Oss: "He already left, I think he went way ahead, hihihi."

Without elaborating, he runs over everyone on the stairs at an abnormal speed of movement and heads down. Lunarius manages to dodge, but the air pressure causes him to hit the wall.

Oss: "I see your skills are as sharp as ever, hihihi. Know, however, that I don't appreciate any suspicious attitude, i'm one who always acts first!"

Before Lunarius could respond, Oss disappears in the same way he lunged at him earlier. If it weren't for his instincts, he would end up being thrown against the bottom wall, which is where Marry and Kerry are now.

Approaching them, he already realizes that they are conscious, and that they are already getting up.

Mary: "I always thought that guy was weird…"

Kerry: "Never heard of him doing something like that, are we in his sights?"

Lunarius: "But by the way he said it, I probably won't find anything around here. Let's go join the rest soon."

Lunarius: (Oss… Or rather, Oss' Es', former wizard of Os. I always thought he was a suspicious little fellow, but that movement was a clear distortion of spacetime, meaning that maybe that body is not his real one… but it also didn't look like the usual interdimensional magic)

Lunarius, reflective, proceeds with the group. Suddenly, his instincts feel something suspicious, someone is watching him. Looking towards the group, he doesn't see anyone staring at him, but he can feel something… something coming from Kerry and Marry. He immediately tries to widen his vision, and the stress he begins to get from this pressure makes him draw the dagger. Suddenly the whole location starts to turn red, Lunarius immediately realizes that he is inside a barrier, but what surprises him the most are two floating eyes next to the two brothers, they are big eyes and blood seems to splatter from them. Suddenly the group that was in front of him turns to face him.

Kerry then says: "I didn't expect you to notice so soon… Your elimination was already prepared."

Lunarius: "You…"

Marry: "Everyone here, excluding the three of us, are mere mirages, illusory puppets created to distract you if necessary. Have fun…"

The two take steps back, and the other group members step forward. They appear to be three demonic servants, but the aura emanating from them are different… Lunarius just stays in a defensive position, preparing his muscles for a counterattack. The eyes stare at him steadily, he has no idea what kind of synergy there might be between them. But more worryingly, Oss formed this barrier without him realizing it, not something that typically happens when demonic power is utilized.

The first demon, wielding a warhammer, jumps up, Lunarius notices that it appears to be pointing the hammer at him. The second, carrying a spear, comes running towards him. Lastly, the third one has a bow, and is preparing a point-blank attack. Lunarius immediately runs towards the one carrying the spear, and before he could be targeted by the arrow, he places himself between the spearman and the archer, nimbly dodging the spear and kicking his wielder against the archer, who quickly changes location and launches his arrow.

Lunarius, realizing that the other demon above him is probably up to something, immediately conjures a throwing spear and throws it at him, who responds in kind, throwing his hammer. Knowing that the impact will be great, Lunarius immediately withdraws from the scene, directing himself against the archer, who immediately conjures an arrow and shoots it at him.

At that moment, Lunarius finally realizes that these individuals he is battling are nothing more than puppets, somewhat tangible illusions created to sap his power away. The power used to conjure the archer's arrow seems to be coming from the flying eyes, and who knows what is contained in them. Lunarius immediately creates a spiritual spectrum, and taking the dagger, creates another metaphysical object that absorbs the essence of the dagger, becoming a spear in the hands of the spectrum, which launches itself against the archer. Lunarius then prepares to deflect the arrow, and as it is coming, absorbs part of the hammer's impact against the ground to launch himself to another location. The spear created with the dagger's power seems unstable in the hands of a spirit specter, and Lunarius doesn't know if there will be serious consequences. For him, the important thing is that this is certainly a power capable of confronting the unknown power of the puppets. The archer then conjures another arrow, holding it against the wraith now, who immediately launches the spear. The archer seems to try to defend himself by slashing precisely with his hand, but the spear pierces his entire body and blurs his shape, as if he made from punctured paper, and not a drop of blood comes out. The puppets suddenly falls apart, and Kerry and Marry seems to fall to the ground.

A voice is launched against Lunarius:

???: "Now I understand, you were sent by the lord…"

By dissolving his specter, the power returns to his dagger.

???: "I made a deal with Oss, but I didn't expect him to fall out with the Lord… I'm sorry, but you need to be eliminated anyway"

One eye disappears, and the other floats in midair. Conjuring a high amount of power, it begins to tear apart the ceiling's footholds, quickly knocking down pillars with raw power and shifting the ceiling, clearly intending to hurl it at Lunarius.

One of the main characteristics of demonic barriers is that they imprison the individual and isolate him from space and time, and the longer one progresses, the more the barrier tightens to eliminate the individual. They are especially useful against demons and spirits, due to the fact that they do not have a fixed form, this means that they are unable to leave and will end up having their spirits disintegrated by the force of space time. Moving the ceiling along with the barrier means both will fall on top of him, and the pressure from the barrier is more than enough to wipe him out of existence.

Using the spear previously may not have alerted his lord, perhaps because he used it against a doll, or perhaps because his lord is aware of why his weapon is being used, but if Lunarius uses this power again against the barrier, there is no shadow of doubt that the essence of the power will begin to be lost. Basically, the energy the lord bestowed upon you is pretty much in a container form. Normally, this type of bestowed power can be used and reused if the form used to bind it is efficient, but the lord created this vessel in a weak and temporary form, to be used only once before the vessel falls apart. This means that if Lunarius uses it against the barrier, he will have to break the container to dismantle it, and he can't get it back.

While watching the destruction of the hall, Kerry and Marry appear to get up. Lunarius takes a defensive position, approaching the two, and when they notice him, they say:

Kerry: "… Where am I…? In a barrier?"

Marry: "Strange, i don't remember anything about this…"

Lunarius, finding the two strange, asks: "You are Kerry and Marry, right?"

Marry: "Yes, and you are Lunarius right? Where are we?"

The eye finishes destroying the pillars and appears to be preparing to throw everything down.

Lunarius: "Apparently you were being controlled by a floating eye. If we don't do anything soon we will die with the pressure of the barrier."

Marry imediatly recovers her standing, as if she already noticed everything that's happening: "Let's combine our powers to get out of here. The eye seems to be busy."

The three then unite, and head to where Lunarius says the stairs to the top floors are. The location of physical objects is obstructed by the barrier, which covers everything with red. Naturally, there isn't any lighting in the place, but even the castle itself doesn't have any lighting, demons don't have any problem with that, as they don't really rely on any bodily vision.

The eye immediately realizes what the three of them are going to do, and immediately floats a pillar and launches it at the group. Both the three take sides, and use their fists boosted with their powers to destroy specific parts of the pillar and stop it. But the eye's aim of distracting them succeeds, and the ceiling, thick in width, finally begins to fall, pushing the barrier with it.

Lunarius: "No more time, we'll have to destroy the ceiling."

Lunarius immediately grows wings, and conjuring a thick spear, prepares to fly and pierce the barrier, concentrating enough power to at least prevent it from falling on top of the three. Marry makes a big jump, preparing to kick a spot close to where Lunarius will hit with everything he has, and Kerry prepares daggers, throwing them exactly where Lunarius and Marry intend to hit.

Kerry's operation, however, is interrupted by the eye, which seems to throw a sticky piece that obstructs the daggers' path.

Eye: "Kerry, do me a favor, did you forget about our appointment? It doesn't matter if Marry dies, I'll spare you."

Kerry: "Don't be ridiculous, you stuck me in here without even saying anything before, I know very well what Oss wants now waking you up like this."

Eye: "You're wrong… Whatever it is, I can't let you die uselessly."

The sticks run through the dagger and cover Kerry, who tries to fight back but ends up covered.

Meanwhile, Lunarius, anticipating the worst, seems to be getting ready to play a trick up his sleeve.

Lunarius: "Marry, Kerry is in danger, just the two of us won't do it… If you do, come back, I still have an option."

Mary: "Option?"

Lunarius: "This."

Lunarius seems to summon a bracelet of sorts.

Lunarius: "This is my specialty, I will implode some of my power and my body to destroy a part of the barrier. This bracelet is an ancient artifact used to grind power in exchange for explosive strength… So get away."

Marry seems to get the message and stops using power to float upwards and instead goes back. Lunarius then equips his bracelet. Originally a gift from a certain witch to deal with a certain brute, Lunarius has lost much of his past power through it. Explosive energy is the type of power where the person is able to synchronize his own nature with his power so that it enjoys an explosive and heightened force when circulating it in his spirit. Lunarius was never able to do that, but one day he had to deal with a certain man who used this power so normally as if breathing… In the end, he lost anyway, but he managed to contain him so that the witch would do her things, and the bracelet stayed with him like a "reward" from the witch. Gathering the bracelet along his right arm, he already begins to feel the adverse effects even before the power, his power quickly begins to be absorbed, and Lunarius, even for a moment, can feel an explosive aura capable of destroying anything flowing from him. The barrier is already in front of him, lunarius undoes his spear and prepared to attack it with a blow… When the time comes, by attacking his body quickly starts to desintegrate with the usage of so much energy, pulling him forward and disintegrating all his body mass more faster than he can regenerate it. An explosion occurs as soon as he hits the barrier, and Lunarius sends a large portion of the wall and the barrier flying. His body is then unrecognizable, and falls apart, causing the bracelet to fall, Lunarius then loses all certainty of what is happening around him, perhaps he has spent too much power and is dying, to be soon absorved by the spiritual gravity. His miscalculation as to the usage of power is probably due to the fact that he no longer has a real body, and normaly his body should at least survive against these sorts of impacts… The dagger remains with himself in spirit form, but it won't be of any help in getting him out of the consequences of mistake, but oh well, at least death is finally knocking on his door…

…

He wakes up, lying in bed and feeling nauseous. He realize that he has something he haven't had for long time: A physical, fixed body. He would have thought he has been reincarnated if not for the fact that he is in a dark place with Resselph staring at him.

Resselph: "We're in the west tower, I stayed here so you wouldn't feel alone when you woke up."

Lunarius: "Feel alone?"

Resselph: "Of course, when demons get a body they also start to have feelings and sensations, I'm being kind."

Lunarius: "… Seriously, I already had a body in the past, but this one, where did it come from? And how am I alive?"

Resselph: "First, I need to say that you are basically Azel's servant for now. When you were dying he gave you the necessary support to hold you through until you reached this tower, and you know very well what that means."

Lunarius: "Azel? Was he around?"

Resselph: "Yes, we were going down, but everyone saw the bottom floor and ceiling going down to the bottom floor and the explosion you caused by attacking a barrier, naturally we went down, and we saw a floating eye kidnapping two other demons and looking for something while carrying them, Azel sealed him for information, and as we searched the wreckage we noticed your morbid presence, I suggested for Azel to save you, and i took you to this hall to make contact with the Lord. He seems to have made you absorb a portion of the dagger's essence to help you gain a fixed physical form, and informed me that your existence is now tied to the dagger. The mark on your cheek seems to represent something this conection."

Lunarius: "So im bound to the dagger…? Am I still in a position to go along with his quest?"

Resselph: "The lord didn't tell me anything, so that means yes. Whatever it was, it has been only a few minutes since after everything happened, we have to reunite with the other and progress with the beggining od expedition, let's go. If you want to ask me something, ask me later, I'm in a hurry."

Lunarius: "And what about the bracelet that was lying there? It's mine."

Resselph: "Azel confiscated it, said it's part of the payment for saving your life and that he will put it into good use."

When demons "rescue" the spirit of others, in practice they use their powers to make them a direct servant, and thus give them amounts of power to continue to exist. This means that Lunarius will basically be Azel's eternal servant until one of the two dies… There are, however, more complex things involved in this "connection", but it is necessary to explain other things first.

Lunarius: "… whatever, that bracelet almost killed me several times anyway. Let's go."

The two quickly descend the steps, and see Eclyst on the way.

Resselph: "I thought I told you to wait for me in the courtyard."

Eclyst: "… I don't know, apart from my sister and you, I don't trust anyone else to keep me company."

Resselph: "What nonsense are you saying? Your sister is mischievous, but you seem an even more hopeless case sometimes, but I don't have time to be educating you right now, because we usually just walk around in circles… let's go! I'll prepare a shortcut."

Resselph appears to launch an energy ball against the wall, forming a passageway. Since the castle is all created by demonic power, high-level demons are naturally able to modify everything at will by using interdimensional magic.

Resselph leaves the castle and flies into the courtyard, with Eclyst close behind, and Lunarius going last. In a few seconds, he can already see the demons gathered in groups in the courtyard, Perla is proclaiming her speech on the expedition's agenda, using her demonic power she is able to make everyone around her listen.

Perla: "[…] We still don't know what will be at the meeting point, but the trend is that by the time we get there, our scouts will have already mapped all the surroundings. Unlike when we arrived on this continent, naturally we won't need to build new castles, but if we fail, the tendency is that the war will prolong and we will have to divide our forces. This means that, if we do not manage to accomplish something in this expedition, it is valid to affirm that our objectives will enter into stagnation again […]"

As Perla continues her speech, Resselph signals Lunarius to meet him in the third group, pointing out the location of where it is. Naturally, it's best not to make a flying fuss while a high-level demon is giving a speech, so all three of them land and head to the third group's ranks.

Resselph: "The first and second groups are troops commanded directly by Perla, the third is commanded by Azel, and the fourth is commanded by Ertudes. "

As Lunarius enters the group, Perla starts to finish her speech.

Perla: "[…] And lastly, let us not forget that not only will we count on the target's army as our enemy, but it is safe to say that all forces on the other continent will also oppose our expansion if we act without caution and knowledge of the facts. If any of the leaders want to raise their voice to oppose or suggest something for this expedition, let them do so now."

???: "Then it will be me!"

Ertudes suddenly appears, first the cape seems to have come out of nowhere in mid-air, and then his body appears after it starts to float. Messy white hair, a black and red cape, morbid eyes and dry pale skin, many think he is a low level demon due to his physical characteristics, while others see him as a vampire, no one knows for sure his combat level, only that he has powerful subordinates under his command.

Ertudes: "I object to the fact that you are in command of most of the forces, you are already leaving Pertia in charge of your personal little castle, who among us could guarantee that your are not plotting a new one with our face!"

Perla: "… Pertia is under my command yes, but the troop allocation is by realistic measures, it is necessary to have someone powerful enough to hold back the demons from here. It's not my fault if you never attend the meetings."

Ertudes: "Hmph, it's for foreseeing such a response that Azel and I have already agreed to allocate all our forces to the expedition. If something goes wrong, it's preferable that we separate from your group to act autonomously!"

Ertudes then moves and stays close to Azel, who is right behind her. Lunarius realizes that, in fact, Azel seems to be utilizing all of his own forces from demons that served him before, while Perla's forces are made up mostly of factionless demons, which means that she is purposely leaving a portion of her strength here for future purposes.

This proclamation Ertudes has made appears to be a sign that he is willing to rebel against Perla along with Azel, should she orchestrate plans of her own that go against their best interests. Whatever it is, Perla begins to prepare and launch her timeless allocation energy spheres against the demons. Unlike portals, this type of magic is of a similar type used to create castles, it allocates resources and transports them to pre-planned designated points in a physical state already automatically ready to be sustained, and using the nature of demonic power, it is it is even possible that they cause such resources to float indefinitely at one point in time.

Azel and Ertudes then walk towards the third group, and Resselph walks to talk to them. After Perla finishes teleporting her groups, she teleports herself as well. Azel then stands before the group and says.

Azel: "Listen, let's do as she says, but fractures between our strength and theirs is inevitable. Resselph here says there's someone I should introduce, some of you may already know him from his somewhat heroic attitudes in other campaigns, but what matters is that he is a messenger from our Lord and he has come to bring change."

Resselph: "Exactly, we have to stay quiet about this matter now, but Lunarius is the man who received the power and permission from our Lord to put Perla in her place!"

Resselph then signals the Lunarius to go there. It seems a little incomprehensible to him why he is being introduced, but perhaps it is a custom among Azel's men.

Azel: "Lunarius, I saved you in your last crisis, but I want you to know that you have no obligation to render services to me or because of me, since your very existence is already for the benefit of the demons and my forces. On the other hand, you already understand that Oss is after you, he must have already gotten information that you are planning something. So, the most realistic thing is that you stay with us and face Perla, altrough it's also because i will be the future commander-in-chief. Besides, the Lord seems to trust you a lot to grant you so much responsability."

Lunarius: "…Of course, I'm also committed to gaining something from our Lord, but what are we going to do in this campaign? I'm not very up to date on matters here at the castle."

Azel: "Hmm, I'll explain later, we'll have to go right away because the dragons are preparing an attack. The plan is to convey the idea that we're running away from them, and this has all been orchestrated in recent months."

Azel then launches his own sphere of energy at his troops, before launching himself and his men through another. Ertudes stayed behind.

Everything is instantaneous, and in a second they are already in the other part of the planet, in the mountainous region of the Hur line, which divides the continent of Kheneldia between center and north, Lunarius appears together with Resselph and Eclyst, Azel seems to be in another place. The region is frigid and anyone seeing Azel's group of demons would wonder how individuals who wear little clothing can stand being there. Demons are naturally resistant to cold due to their powers, and feel little even for the standards of demons with fixed bodies like Lunarius and Resselph, who have heightened bodily senses, altrough freezing might still be a issue.

Resselph: "Eclyst, remember what you must do now."

Eclyst: "Yeah, I'll be right there." She sprouts wings and proceeds alone towards the north.

Lunarius: "She is going alone?"

Resselph: "Not exactly."

Resselph turns to Lunarius and says: "You heard our conversation earlier, I planned to go with her but you showed up…"

Lunarius: "But you couldn't?"

Resselph: "I can, but it's more convenient for me to be nearby Azel, as our plans for you will depend on the situation. Suzy performs better when she is alone, on the other hand, she might easily starting messing around with random people. Eclyst is the exact oppost, she is more timid, but does better when there is someone to guide her, but If I were found by Druaga's forces in this region it would be a disaster for this expedition. Incidentally, we will form our base of operations here, it was agreed that each leader would act with certain autonomously, but attacks against Druaga's army are prohibited without unconditional permission from all leaders."

Lunarius: "How much do you know about the situation in these regions?"

Resselph: "…Not much, the original idea was to listen to Suzy's report and mobilize our operations from there, but who knows why the delay, I have no doubt that she went to make friends with suspicious citizens of the north region, she's the opposite of her sister, i knew we should have sent Eclyst in her place anyway…"

Lunarius: "Whatever it is, what do we do first, the conspiracy against Perla or against Druaga?"

Resselph: "At the moment we will just allocate ourselves here and offer support to Perla, she must have her plans, and from the information we receive we will only act a bit autonomously while receiving orders from her. Ertudes on the other hand will act with complete freedom, he has powerful men under his command, but he calls them only when he wants to. Because of that he is ofter considered a special case."

Some demons are forming shacks, they are able to form temporary constructions with their powers, and when they want, they can simply undo their constructions. Of course, this means that the way the demons build and maintain them will also constantly absorb their powers, so it's only a tiny fraction who are willing to build barracks. Others are being called by Azel and sent on group missions, and before Lunarius can ask Resselph any further questions he already indicates that the two need to talk more about the geography of the place and the geopolitical control of the region before making decisions. The demon's forced mapped Druaga's domains very well, but the consensus is that he dominates a part of the North and exerts great influence in the center-east of the continent.

Resselph: "So the first strategy is to look at the checkpoints and how Druaga wields his kingdom. Perla said we should look for uses for humans, but I don't think it's going to be that simple. Druaga commands an army of draconian beings, that is, they all have scales and are able to fly, and unlike dragons, they are equipped and follow battle formations when at war. An old report says that they inhabit the volcanic region a little south of the center, and since they are minions of Druaga, they receive direct orders to collect tribute and allocate humans and other beings when necessary, of course, Druaga hardly needs humans tributes, it's simple population allocation for slave labor, and most are in the center of the continent, but it's not like all of them are under his control, we need to map better the region, and…"

Lunarius realizes that Resselph likes to go to the smallest detail when he himself is interested in the subject, so he says: "In short, we are going to look for allies among the humans and use them as a shield against Druaga, that's it, right?".

Resselph: "Shields? Azel certainly wouldn't think twice, but Perla seems to be quite thoughtful about how to use them, since getting in a all-out war against Druaga is a bad choice. Anyway, it's only a matter of time before we're noticed in this region, building castles is out of the question unless we get forced into a long-term war against other force, but the situation is ripe for a divide-and-conquer strategy."

The two continue to argue, until Azel gets between them.

Azel: "Resselph, since you're together with Lunarius, why don't you discuss how to approach Perla instead of the strategies here? We won't have much freedom until whoever is at the top doesn't know how to make precise decisions…"

Resselph: "We are in agreement on this, but we know that Perla is not really the one hindering us, but rather the one controlling her: Oss. But if the Lord ordered her to be the target even considering that, there's must be a reason. Listen Lunarius, as long as Perla has Pertia and Lynsei, it's basically unfeasible to try anything against her. Fortunately, she left Pertia on the other continent, but Lynsei is more than enough to stop almost absolutely any attack coming from us with her special abilities capable of negating demonic powers."

Azel: "You're forgetting to tell him that Pertia and Lynsei are one of the most neutral people among Perla's subordinates."

Resselph: "Yes, but they're always on her side when it's needed. I don't see any way we can attack Perla if we don't completely desolate her first."

Azel: "It's simple, we need to force her hand and put them in a unfavorable situation. Oss can be extremely powerful in his own right, but I doubt Perla wouldn't come running if he was in danger."

Resselph: "Exactly, the alliance we made with Ertudes was originally to protect ourselves and exchange information about Perla and Oss, but I'm sure he and his men will help us if it's to eliminate both the two as enemies at once. Of course, we don't have much hope of beating Oss and Perla together in battle, but the dagger you have… I'm sure it will help us a lot."

Lunarius: "But I have a feeling Oss is more likely to read our moves first before we figure out where he might be."

Azel: "Oss already knows you're with us, and that's exactly why he'll want to get rid of you if the opportunity arises. I mean…"

Resselph: "The best strategy is to use yourself and someone else as bait."

Lunarius: "What do you mean?"

Azel: "Look."

Azel conjures a scythe. From inside it, an energy emits out, and suddenly an eye appears, apparently sealed.

Lunarius: "That eye…"

Azel: "That eye is no longer conscious, I absorbed all the power it had, but I don't know how to control it."

Lunarius: "You don't know?"

Azel: "I have an impression that it originally was from some body, and was probably artificially inserted into another. My analyzes also indicate that it underwent spiritualization and artificially became a demonic weapon, and i bet it directly obeys only Oss, which means the power is prettu much unusable to anyone who hasn't made a contract with it. It's only a matter of time before he tries to get that eye back. On the other hand, Kerry, the demon I rescued, said that this eye originally obeyed him…"

Lunarius: "What do you mean?"

"I think I'd better to hear it straight from his mouth." After saying this, Azel suddenly begins to conjure demonic power with his right hand, directing it towards the ground until it forms a large circle on the ground, supported by a series of symbols that canalizes power direct to the exact coordinates of the magical operation. "Come!" After Azel scream these words, Kerry suddenly starts to appear through the circle, already questioning: "Where's Marry?"

Azel: "She's still unconscious" Azel turns to the others, "His supposed sister was having her power absorbed by that eye, luckily I saved her, but I couldn't help noticing that the power of these two is part of the same essence than the power of the eye."

Resselph: "Interesting, that means these two also have a form of eye contract, right?"

Azel: "Spit it out Kerry, we want to know the relationship you and your sister have with Oss and the eye."

Kerry: "… It's a story of many years, I would need to explain everything for you to understand straight, but it's not like I remember everything in detail either. But in short, many years ago Marry and I formed a contract with a certain… Witch."

Azel: "Witch? Which one?"

Kerry: "I don't remember exactly, but I wasn't a demon at the time. Whatever it was, we had to form this contract to preserve our existences… We had to go eliminate a certain sorceress and obtain a certain enchanted crown, in the end, Marry died after selling her own essence to the witch to save me… But I got the power I needed, and in exchange for the crown, the witch offered me the two pair of eyes of the sorceress we defeated, along with her magic, that would supposedly be embedded in them… I used one of the eyes to revive Marry, but she was a mere artificial creation with no conscience of her own, in the end, the demon Oss offered me an option to revive her as long as I granted the absolute use right of the eyes for him."

Lunarius: "And you accepted it so unconditionally?"

Kerry: "Well, there was a lot more involved, remember that I'm just making the story short, I was going to die anyway if I didn't accept it. Oss made another deal with the witch using the eyes and their power as an intermediary, and got the power to make dreams come true."

Lunarius: "Dreams?"

Kerry: "Yes, as long as the individual has enough determination to make dreams come true, even a normal person is able to revive from the dead through his power. My determination to revive her caused her consciousness to return, but to to keep her alive we had to make her a demonic being as well. To ensure our obedience, Oss has made Marry's existence dependent on the power of the eyes. I, on the other hand, do not, but my existence is tied to the eyes, if I somehow die, the eyes will also cease to exist."

Azel: "Hmph, I understand everything, the witch you made a contract with is Pandora, known as the eclipse of the apocalypse and one of the most powerful witches in existence."

Lunarius: "Pandora? I've heard of her from a certain other witch I knew from some time ago. Known as the mistress of interdimensional magic, she exists only to watch over the complete destruction of planets, and is capable of intervening as much as she can to do so. Has this happens, many who think they are getting power from her in exchange for something are usually just being used as toys for her mere convenience."

Kerry: "… Whatever it is, the secret behind Oss's true capabilities actually revolve around another power he possesses, I've seen him battle on one specific occasion, he's able to easily distort the space to target his attacks or instantly hit them with his powers. He can, for example, instantly move and approach his opponent even if he is hundreds of meters away."

Lunarius: (So that's what happened that time he tried to hit me…)

Azel: "If everything you say is true, I don't see very well how to defeat him without counting on Lunarius' dagger…"

Resselph, who has been quiet, suddenly starts talking as if he had an idea: "If he is supposed to manipulate space-time, does that mean there must also be limitations? Azel, do you remember when we worked with Luxon in the past to exterminate that rat that repeatedly ran away from our attacks?"

Azel: "…Yes, but Luxon did most of the work to catch him, we just obeyed his orders."

Resselph: "Luxon told me that if the opponent appears to move as if traversing space-time, it just means that their existence is more sensitive to our perceptions than by normal standards. What I mean is, for a demon being able to do these things, it just means he's using our limited perceptions to perform movements over large distances as if it were instantaneous."

Lunarius: "What do you mean?"

Resselph: "I didn't quite understand it when he said it either, but I've always thought about it. I bet Oss doesn't distort space at all, it's more likely that he generates illusions and hides in order to hide his true position while preparing his attack."

Lunarius: "Now that you say it, when he tried to attack me back in the castle, I remember that the strides he took - taking down his minions in the process - was accompanied by a feeling I had that he was close to attack me, and I barely managed to dodge."

Resselph: "Hmmm, interesting, it means it's possible to prepare countermeasures. Rather than relying on our basic perception of where the attacks seem to be coming from, it's safer to guarantee that there are indeed attacks coming. If he attacks without giving any signs, then we'll just have to broaden our partial perception to see when the attack is actually coming. Azel and I will take care of it."

Lunarius: "But how are we going to manage to attract him?"

Azel: "Isn't it obvious? Just drop the handsome Kerry with his eye in a place near Pearl's camp, I'll return some power just to make sure the eye can be noticed."

Azel immediately bestows some of the power absorbed through his scythe to the eye, which doesn't appear to have woken up.

Azel: "I tried to communicate with that eye, but it wouldn't stop chattering, I don't see any reason to make it conscious. Perla is in the westernmost wing, I've already given orders to some of my subordinates to scout the region, she'll obviously see that I'm trying something easily, but that's not so important if can force her hand. Whatever it is, we need to scout the region carefully and make decisions calmly, we need Eclyst and Suzy first of all, they will have an important role in holding the demons and Perla's minions should they try to intervene. The battle will likely go quickly with Ertudes on our side, his magic might be useful in a variety of ways."

Azel then looks at Kerry, "Your sister will be better off sleeping for now. After I find out everything I can I will do something for you two."

Kerry: "…"

Azel: "Now go!" Suddenly the symbol that was under Kerry starts to move in reverse, and he disappears again.

Lunarius: "Think he'll get in the way by walking around?"

Azel: "I don't think so, I'm sure, I don't know when they'll try to control him and his sister again. Besides, Lunarius, why don't you check out the east wing and contact Ertudes? I would do that myself, but you will probably go moldy if you just stands here."

Lunarius: "Shall I?"

Azel: "It's hard for Resselph to shut up when he starts explaining something, I don't want you to feel intimidated into leaving him talking to himself every now and then."

Resselph: "… I'm the one with nothing to do."

Azel: "What do you mean? You were supposed to be accompanying Eclyst now, I'm sure you stayed here just to pose, 'Hmph, that girl has to go after her sister as punishment for being so silly', it doesn't even seem like you took responsibility for the protection of these two. "

Resselph: "… Those two are going to be fine themselves, but I know where Eclyst is, instead, i'm more concerned with the troubles they might bring."

Azel: "Then go soon."

Resselph: "Right, right."

Resselph instantly forms a magic circle on the floor, but he cuts his finger with his fingernail, from which blood oozes and is absorbed by the symbols in the corners of the portal.

Azel: "Do you still use that ridiculous blood spell?"

Resselph: "It doesn't expend much of my power, and it's not like losing a little blood would make a difference… Not everyone has massive amounts of power like you and Perla."

Azel: "And that's exactly why we're 1st class devils."

Resselph seems to want to say more, however, the portal takes him.

Azel: "Now, Lunarius, I want you to go and make contact with the orcs to the east. Ertudes plans to corrupt most of them and raise his army to conquer the are if he can't convince them, but that will just make him stupidly reveal his location and go in direct confrontation with Druaga's men."

Lunarius: "But will he listen to me?"

Azel: "It's not a matter of whether he listens to you or not. Since you're such a big part of our plans right now, he obviously won't lift a finger against you. Use this to your advantage, just show him that you'll get the job done faster. and more efficiently than he."

Lunarius: "Seems even harder…"

Azel: "…Take Kerry with you then."

Lunarius: "But there are no risks?"

Azel: "There are, but the Ertudes certainly won't think twice about destroying him if he ends up trying something funny. He is apparently able to manipulate some of the power of the eyes, extract information from it and try to use it."

Azel then again speaks "Come on!" to perform the conjuring spell from earlier again, Kerry reappears.

Kerry: "Decided what you're going to do with me?"

Azel: "Follow Lunarius, he will tell you what to do along the way."

Kerry: "Right."

Lunarius: "Hey Kerry, follow me."

Lunarius then grows wings and flies, and Kerry does the same and follows close behind. Resselph has given him estimates of the location of the regions, so he has a vague idea of where the orcs are.

Kerry: "Lunarius, I see you've gotten more powerful, I'm sure you'd leave me behind if you were going all out."

Lunarius: "I'm not exactly powerful, this body is being maintained through the dagger the Lord gave me, if it wasn't for that I'd be fucked having to depend completely on Azel."

Kerry: "But how did you lose your power?"

Lunarius: "I spent it to save myself when we were trapped in the barrier. Azel already confiscated it, but I used a bracelet to use all my power explosively."

Kerry: "What bracelet was that?"

Lunarius: "It's called the armlet of the… What was it like… O, o… Oh, I don't remember, but whoever gave it to me said it was a weapon used to imitate the ancient berserkers… This person adjusted the weapon in order for me to be able to use this power, even though I'm not qualified, and in exchange, I have to sacrifice power… Ah! I remembered the name, bracelet of Ostoporou. Do you know the Ostes?"

Kerry: "No."

Lunarius: "Ostes are certain creatures that live on a certain planet, the carcass they leave behind after death is said to be capable of storing great power. Ostoperes, a certain member of the legendary tribe of Berserkers, betrayed his comrades and sold the secret of their powers, he set to work to invent a way to make any being with power able to use it and fight on equal terms with a berserker… But the qualities of the husks left by the Ostes make the demonic and most powers to be liquidated, that is, if I want to use it, I have to sacrifice my own strength. Whatever it is, I got this bracelet as a gift, I'll still get it back from Azel."

Kerry: "Eh, I see he wants to use the bracelet as a ploy against you just like he's using my sister to get me to obey him."

Lunarius: "But if you ask me, you'll end up having to serve him anyway, won't you?"

Kerry: "Yeah, if Oss dies, I think it'll be more convenient to serve him, at least he doesn't hide his true intentions… But where are we going?"

Lunarius: "We'll have to 'assist' Ertudes to put the eastern orcs to good use, but I wonder how useful you'll be in that case."

Kerry: "I still have power, if you want to know how it works, basically I'm as capable as any demon, but when I had the eye I was able to… Aff, I don't have many memories."

"Perfect." says Lunarius nonchalantly, he wonders if this is a act.

The flight of the two easily reaches 200km per hour. A few hours pass, and they begin to see a camp, Lunarius notices armed humans in it.

Lunarius: "Oh, I thought there weren't more human military forces around these parts."

Kerry: "Aren't they Druaga's minions?"

Lunarius: "If that were the case we would have already been intercepted. Let's land and see if we can get information."

The camp has walls and watchtowers, there are two men armed with rifles who notice them. One already shouts: "You… ha-have wings? Who are you and to which faction you belong!?"

Lunarius already answers through the soldier's ears: "We're not with anyone. And you, aren't you tired of standing there for hours?"

The man starts to get conflicted: "I- that's beside the point! Tell me who you are!". Lunarius keeps insisting: "Seriously, don't you think you're just standing there making a fool of yourself while your leaders are sitting and lying in their tents?" The other soldier doesn't understand anything, since Lunarius is communicating directly with the soldier beside him, and seeing his partner getting into conflict he shouts to him: "Rebber what's the matter with you!?", The other soldier, however, keeps whispering to himself: "They are right, what am I doing wasting my time for a lost cause?…", and seems to be preparing to leave the tower, but suddenly a strong and powerful voice echoes : "Don't be influenced by the demon's words! Open the gate now for me to pass!".

The soldier who seemed to be sleepwalking suddenly wakes up, and the two respond: "Yes sir!" and begin to turn the gate mechanism. Opening it, Lunarius sees two elves. They are identical to humans, but unlike them, their life is enhanced and enhanced by the breadth of spirits. Naturally most elves are found in the so-called forest of life, where they are able to live for centuries, so an elf leaving there means that they have deliberately shortened their own lifespan. Of course, Lunarius doesn't know all of this, but they do emit some weird aura in them.

Lunarius: "What are you? One of the legendary elves of this planet?"

The elf replies in another language: "You should answer the questions first. I just caught you harassing a human, what do you want by invading our camp!?", Lunarius feels uncomfortable and pressured by these words, as if the elf was using some power to disturb his senses. The elf has a furious complex, his eyes and his hair have a reddish tone so beautiful to the point of looking ruby, the other one beside him, who is calm, also doesn't lose in terms of appearance, her eyes and hair, which is held by pink bands in a ponytail, are violet in color and are very very light. Seeing elves like this shows the reason why they don't live together with humans, as a capable observer would say, but they are wearing typical human noblish clothes, Lunarius wonders if the forest elves also dress like them.

Lunarius: "Well, we're just passing through, but I stopped here to get some information. Just so you know, we're also after Druaga."

Red Elf: "After him? I don't care! You demons are the most despicable beings! For me you could be all extinguished!"

Lunarius: "Calm down… We're going to leave your forces alone, could you just tell me how is the situation with the orcs?"

The elf seems to be getting even angrier. His red color seems to highlight his fury well, he replies: "Are you after the orcs too!? If you take a step in front of this camp I swear I will exterminate you and that weakling at your side!". The saying goes that words have power, but in this case, for Lunarius, they do, he will hardly be able to fight two elves together.

Lunarius: "Even if they are in danger? I'm going there precisely because they are in danger of being destroyed!"

Elf: "And how do you know about something like that!? I know, some mouse has probably already allocated itself there without me noticing, and you're going to take along his rope to sneak there!"

Lunarius: "Well, yes, but the plan is to get help against Druaga, you should know that orcs are not easily influenced by demons since they can be pretty strong-willed."

The elf seems to think a little and calm down, the elf next to him seems to say something to him, but Lunarius is unable to capture any sound frequency coming from them.

Elf: "Very well, I want to talk to you in a more suitable place, but just the two of us, I don't want you and your little friend creating conspiracies under my nose, so you should come alone, the other will be supervised by my partner."

Lunarius seems to have managed to somewhat persuade him, he then tells Kerry: "Try to extract some information from the elf over there too.", but Kerry says: "Would it be wise to piss off one more of them?".

Lunarius: "You see with her, I'm asking you to extract information, not coerce. You still have good memories of when you were human right? Start with small talk and then elevate the dialogue to confidential questions."

Kerry: "I'll see what I can try…"

Lunarius for a moment seems to regret making this suggestion, his foreboding never fails.

Lunarius: "On second thought, just stay quiet there…"

He then heads towards the camp and enters through the gate. As he had already seen from above, the men have a variety of weapons, some have rifles, others bow and arrows. Only a tiny minority have swords or melee weapons, which shows that they specialize in defending themselves against aerial attacks. By the way, Lunarius has seen many more modern weapons than these rifles these men are using, some demons use firearms, but they are also usually the weakest, there is only a tiny minority among them capable of use bullets, ammo, shells, explosives, and the like in ways that are useful in the battles they take part, but demonic power is simply too unstable to support generating, maintaining, and strengthening this type of substance for even a decent amount of time, but perhaps the humans have some tricks, especially since the elves are here.

Following the red elf, he takes him to a hall, the place is very well lit, organized and colorful, perhaps this place is private only to the elves themselves.

Red Elf: "Okay, demon, let's get to the point, you want to overthrow Druaga to get his power, right?"

Lunarius: "Exactly."

Red Elf: "But there is no compromise between the beings on this planet and you demons. To me, you are invaders, parasites and sources of corruption and chaos. How can I trust beings that in my eyes are nothing more than detestable?"

Lunarius: "You're applying your common sense to generalize, you should be grateful to us due to the fact that we've been holding back the dragons of the east for decades, if it weren't for our presence on this planet, you'd be fried already, and your goddess and even her children wouldn't have done anything to save them…"

Red Elf: "Blasphemy! If she isn't intervening, it means that Druaga has some trick, also, you aren't the ones who are holding the dragons back, but our goddess, even since the ancient war from more than 700 years ago. My people, cowardly due to centuries of peace and relative isolation from the world, haven't lifted a finger to face Druaga, but I know better! I want to inform you of some facts, this whole region is under my control, I have bestowed magic on humans and am using them the way they should be used.The orcs will soon be completely at my side too, so, what can you demons help me with!? "

Lunarius: "Well, if they still don't serve you, it means that you still don't know how to control them, right?"

Red Elf: "No, the barbaric customs they developed over the centuries and the lack of communication between the elves and orcs made them forget their full commitment to us. My only hope is to train or find a strong human warrior enough to defeat their champion, Torrias the Berserker, he is known as an invincible warrior, and he isn't even an orc, in fact Torrias is a nickname given because he doesn't even know how to communicate…"

Lunarius: "Wait… Berserker? Can you tell me what he looks like?"

Red Elf: "His hair is long, his body is abnormally broad, muscular and flexible to a level that borders on the absurd, he is said to be able to blow up mountains as if they were nothing, and the aura he emits is said to be abnormal and out of the ordinary. He is already capable of intimidating any warrior who is not a single step to his level…"

(Is it him!?) Lunarius has just had a flashback of many decades ago. A witch named Minerva convinced him to use the bracelets to paralyze a certain Berserker warrior, she said he was the result of a certain experiment she called "berserkization", and he was the only one to come out of it alive. However, he lost his sanity, and she needed someone to make him lose consciousness or at least paralyze him for a few seconds. Lunarius sacrificed more than half of his powers to stall the Berserker for a few seconds until she could put an obedience collar on him. If he's the one with the orcs, it probably means he managed to break the collar, but how the hell did he end up in this world?

Lunarius: "Torrias huh, I think I know him… He's a wretch who didn't have much of a conscience, his name is Rorteneres Ashreen, but that name probably doesn't mean much to him."

Red Elf: "So you know him? Do you know any weaknesses?"

Lunarius: "Let me give you some information, in fact there is another demon that went to the orcs' territory, he is much more powerful than me. On the other hand, Torrias probably can't be stopped, but I can put together a strategy as long as I manage to reunite with my mate."

Red Elf: "If that's the case I can't let you go alone. Orcs are aggressive creatures, but they also have their strange codes and without a doubt have secrets. I can let you pass this way, but on the condition that me and my elf companion can also talk to the leader of the orcs and ask for a major request if we manage to win."

Lunarius: "A temporary alliance then? I'm called Lunarius, I think you'll probably be good for something."

Red Elf: "And I, Enswtt Montegis Arionteepes, but you can just call me Montegis. Our spiritual power, which we call Flora, is inherently incompatible with you demons, we elves were created to fight the forces of corruption, so, I can hardly help directly in your fight."

Lunarius: "Then why are you going to accompany us then?"

Montegis: "Although Flora opposes you, that doesn't mean we can't absorb the spirits of nature to help you even if it didn't, the bigger problem is that the elves are not able to normaly communicate with the spirits outside the forest, when we leave it, the flora becomes limited and we end up having to depend more and more on our basic communication with the spirits trough deep concetration. So, I can't strengthen and make spirits accept supporting you demons, but if it's to limit the powers of the berserker, there is some hope."

Lunarius: "Limit?"

Montegis: "My partner, whose name is Dawnar Pormewtts Ettlis, is able to sing a runic song capable of moving the spirits through Flora, basically she quickens the forces of nature to make her opponents have their nerves relaxed and their senses numb. Of course, her skill is unlikely to be able to put a monster like Torrias to sleep, but I believe he's probably vulnerable to this skill if what I've heard is to be believed. First, Torrias uses raw mana to strengthen himself, the "aura" he uses comes from some parallel between his consciousness and his unconsciousness so that he can absorb and 'boil' the mana inside himself and use it to create explosive power. I have no idea which intermediary he uses for all this, as I have never heard of anyone capable of it, but the important thing is that the essence of music through Flora is to bring both the unconscious to rest, as it is music sung to spirits and elves.. ."

Lunarius: "Wait a minute, if she uses something like that won't that make the ones battling Torrias also enter this "rest" state thing?"

Montegis: "No, as I said, Flora moves the spiritual essence of nature, that's how we become friends with the spirits, but when we are out of our forest, flora is limited due to the deficiencies we have when we are out of our cradle. In short, my partner, Ettlis, will be able to use this power to move the essence of nature and her chant to make Torrias feel asleep, naturally, this essence will only be directed against him. It won't do any good if his opponent isn't at least half of his level, even asleep I'm sure his unconsciousness will make him keep attacking."

Lunarius: "Hmm, your whole plan looks good on paper, I admit your presence now seems indispensable."

Montegis: "I will go too, as I don't fully trust you."

Lunarius: "Why don't you fight yourself?"

Montegis: "It would be suicide, I'm not that tough, and since i specialize in quick battles, I admit I don't see much chance against a monster that is said to be unbeatable… However, I've never been able to find a warrior who seems to go to his feet."

Lunarius: "Hmmm." (I'd like to try to prolong the conversation and get more information, but it was hard enough to get the elf to trust me to the point of telling me all this… Hmmm).

Montegis: "That's it, I've said everything you needed to hear, now let's go outside, shoo, shoo."

Lunarius: "Fucking shoo shoo what."

Walking out of the red elf's private hall, Lunarius sees the other elf apparently delirious without noticing that they are coming, and his partner is lying against the wall also apparently in a delirious and reflective state, at least it seems that he didn't even look for a chat, or is he under some spell?

Montegis: "I'll talk to Ettlis, you talk to your friend over there."

Montegis approaches the elf and seems to crack close to her head, as if waking up from a hypnosis, Kerry also comes out of his trance state in the process.

Lunarius: "What the hell happened?"

Kerry: "You took a while. I already say it's the elf's fault, she suddenly started singing and I lost control over my body, on the other hand, she was also delirious."

Knowing all this, it's already clear that things won't be as easy as it seemed when he spoke to the elf…

Lunarius: "Whatever it is, the elf and I have agreed to a temporary alliance. Our opponent will be the champion of the orcs."

Kerry: "Really? But wouldn't the Ertudes alone be enough to subdue the orcs?"

Lunarius: "I'll tell you the details halfway through, including what the elf probably tried to do against you."

Montegis then approaches, saying: "We will go tomorrow, going by horse from here to the border of the orcs will take at least 4 hours.".

Lunarius: "If so, I doubt there will be time to stop my companion who should already be there."

Montegis: "If he's there it means we won't make it in time anyway. It's better to think long term than make hasty decisions, no? Besides, I need to inform my men and share responsibilities, so I can only be going tomorrow anyway. However, I don't want to hear about you inside the camp, and I also know very well that you demons have your own ways and don't need any shelter from the cold or whatever."

Lunarius: "You are very well informed hm?"

Montegis: "I know how to inform and seek information, I wouldn't have embarked on this ambitious mission to save the world if I had come out of the forest while not knowing anything."

Lunarius: "Right." Lunarius has the impression that Montegis acted more friendly and willing to share crucial informarions when they were alone than he does now, perhaps he is simply putting on the tough pose, but it also shows that he, for an elf, is a very rational fellow who knows well what to do and how to act at any time, is very useful information to understand, altrough acting like that might make Kerry suspect about everything he says.

Lunarius: "Come on, Kerry."

Kerry takes one last look at the two elves before following Lunarius. Eventually, the two spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around, and at night, it was considered among them to ignore the elves and head straight for the orcs. The two meet at the top of a mountain, and from there they observed the entire military base, the searches of the two in the afternoon showed that there are signs of having other camps at distances under 100Km with some supplies unit moving around between, which shows that there is some planning in the middle of all this, but it is uncertain whether it was the elves who organized such bases, Kerry thinks that the elves are somehow mind controling the humans. He has been talking to Lunarius about his theories for a few hours now, he is way more agitated than usual.

Kerry: "I quite understand the plan, but let's see if following their terms will make any sense."

Lunarius: "You're probably acting like this because of the female elf's strange behavior…"

Kerry: "Yes, while using those Flora spells of hers, I bet she gets stuck and the other vermilion is the only one able to control her. Let's see what he plans, it's totally possible that more than half of what he said is rubbish to trick us, and he will use it to lock us down as soon as the berserker guy is immobilized so that he can control him using the other elf."

Lunarius: "Hmm, you've been thinking a lot, did you notice anything special?"

Kerry: "Yes, when I had the eye I was able to observe a lot of things that i can say to be… Inexplicable, i can uncouciously notice a lot of things by looking at people, almost as if my power look at them and inform me of their characteristics. You could say that the eye seems to be returning to me, and I'm regaining some of it's ability."

Lunarius: "What do you mean?"

Kerry: "The eye has a contract with me. Even while unconscious, it probably has a way to analyze and look for "holes" in Azel's seal against it. I can feel its presence coming back, and when it is complete again, it will probably force me go to Oss…"

What Kerry says doesn't seem like such a conspiracy theory. The eye that Kerry has a contract with is probably the "eye of pandora", Lunarius doesn't know all the details involved, but it is said that whoever uses it is capable of seeing the basic essence of things, a bit of the "third plan" so to speak. Spiritual beings navigate in the background invisible to most eyes, but even the demonic and spiritual senses cannot see and feel them very well, and it is said that those who see it are able to see the interferences exerted by the third plane.

Lunarius: "But you still aren't sure of anything, correct?"

Kerry: "It's just stipulations. In fact, I'm still reflecting on what I saw."

Lunarius: "Hmm, even if your paranoia is correct and the elves betray us, I still think it's better to stick with them until we meet Ertudes again, it will be much easier to deal with them that way."

Kerry: "But Lunarius, remember what he himself said, the elves never had an interest in intervening in this war, don't you think it's strange that one of them is among humans and controlling another elf? I don't see the point in making hasty decisions until we have enough information."

Lunarius: "Right… Let's say the red elf, at this very moment, is preparing an conspiracy against us, if that's the case, then he won't want us to meet with Ertudes… On the other hand, he also wants to use us to face the champion of the orcs… Taking all this into account, don't you think he'll wait until the end of our alliance's purpose to put his conspiracy into practice? Let's also say he'll have allies ready to fight us attack… That just means we're going to have to be ready for whatever it is."

Kerry: "But… What if something more absurd comes along?"

Lunarius: "… We'll have to wait and see, I don't see much point in debating until we have all our allies and start gathering informations. Honestly, I'd like to invade their base now and get as much information as possible through the humans, but I I have no idea what trick the elves might have, alas, the humans probably knows less than we."

The two continue arguing for a while, and Lunarius finally goes to sleep for a bit, he's not exactly exhausted, but as his spirit is completely in sync with his brain, he naturally needs sleep to preserve memories. While he sleeps, apparently a distant past comes in his dreams… Or are the memories materializing somehow to tell him something?

(Lunarius: "You are…)

(???: "A demon of your level already knows what I am, doesn't you?"

(Lunarius: "Wait… so you're the one on the lord's dagger!?"

(???: "Yes, your body is currently intertwined with my essence, in fact, the whole plan the lord passed on to you was just for you to help me be conjured on this planet. Stabbing Perla is just the first step, this is our Lord's golden chance to rob Oss of all he has obtained in all the centuries he has been free under his command doing his little conspiracies.")

(Lunarius: "No wonder I've always had a strange feeling… But me being intertwined with you doesn't mean I can use your power, right?")

(???: Hahaha, obviously not, since what you have right now is only a very small fraction of it. But relax, if you end up dying again I'll revive you, just don't screw things up, the fact that I have the Aries symbol on your cheek is proof of our bond. And the also fact that I am not simply possessing your body and devouring you shows that you are a special existence, but don't think that you have too many rights above me. If all goes well, in the future I will deal with Druaga myself, from the beginning all this about the lord sending mere first-class demons to deal with a Druaga-level existence was just a well-planned pretense, but the lord knows Oss very well, if he were left here without intervention it's possible he might even make it by eventually completing his own objectives, but the Lord has already defeated him once in the past, and of course everything has been foreseen, you remember, don't you? When we had to deal with that army of his in the past.")

Lunarius initially thought it was a memory because the two were closer in the past, but he hardly remembers her, but he knows that the person he is talking to is called Lilith, she is a original demon - a demon from "vanity" -, who ended up becoming subordinate to the lord, the classic symbol of a demon is engraved on her appearence: Two huge and black pointy horns which cames above her hears, but in her case, they are similar to those of rams, an ancient symbology that shows that she is from the sign of aries, not that anyone knows what that means since it's a astronomycal symbology from a distant galaxy… It's been a few centuries since he last saw something like that, he doesn't even remember what the hell she had to do with the aries stars. Normally he remembers her as a giantess, but she is talking to him in a more standard humanoid fashion, maybe it represents the level of her power and essence inside him.

(Lunarius: "I do remember. Anyway, if your essence is in my body, it means that you've been aware of the situation I'm going through, right? Do you have any tips?")

(Lilith: "Tip? I don't think you need any hints, just don't be manipulated like the idiot you are, the fact that you're relying on me now just shows your intellectual shortcomings in a transparent way. By the way, if you not waking up now will die, go back to the real world now, idiot!")

She instantly gives him a diagonal kick, when he wakes up, he sees a dark demonic figure approaching silently, it doesn't seem to be Kerry. Lunarius immediately conjures a spear, which seems to be different from the others he has conjured so far, and prepares to attack.