Chapter 22: War War War

I just want to live my life. That has been my goal for so long. Even back when the baldies caged me, all I want is freedom. Now that I have it, I learned that total freedom is also not a good thing. If people can do whatever they want without restriction then there is a very large chance that they will cause troubles not only for themselves but for others too. In this world of Mirth, I learned that freedom sometimes needs to be reigned in. Too much freedom will only make people go insane.

Honestly, I prefer to lose the challenge with the human race. I wanted them to succeed in letting me see that they are worth something. The series of event where they just went on their own ways after my disappearance shows that they are nothing without me keeping them together. I needed to exist for them to be on the right track. I have proven the need of my existence and that is all I need to start a war once again. Even if I don’t annihilate them totally, I will be sure to teach them a very painful lesson.

“You all are just fools without me.” I said as I wave my hand and started channeling my mana.

“Come and peel off the light that covers all. Call of the Ancient!”

“Serve even after death. Rally of the Emperor!”

“Unbind from sleep. Dragon’s Roar!”

Once again creatures which are not supposed to exist in this plane started to appear. Somehow I feel like I miss the presence of these guys. They are stupid and easy to control unlike humanity which has their own say on almost everything. If they can only unite perpetually then I will have more enjoyable days. I don’t care who it will be as long as he/she can handle these humans but sadly there is no one capable of doing so. If I describe it, the rulers of these kingdoms are blind and their citizens are also blind. A blind man guiding a blind fellow, how tragic this race is.

“Let’s go and make our presence be known to the world once again.” I said as I walk towards the borders of the north.

I can just summon them inside the alliance but my goal is to not annihilate them to the last man but to teach them a painful lesson they will never forget.

Let the flames of war ignite!

Black Wolf Fort

This fort has been destroyed not just once in the long history of war with the demon lord. The fort is located to the outward most location the human alliance controls. In short, this fort has the worst luck of all. This fort is always the first to take the first wave of the demon lord army. Through the long history, this fort earned the nickname Execution grounds.

“I think we got lucky this time though.” A soldier with a relaxed mood said while sitting down the walls as he watches the wide sea of forest.

“The war… It’s been a quiet year for us and I think that is a good thing.” The other soldier said in response.

“I like this kind of peace… No deaths, no more heartache when losing brothers-in-arms.”

“You bet.”

The two of them are still chatting when a sudden weak vibration in the fort occurred. It was not strong but the vibrations are not stopping even if a few minutes had already passed. The soldiers inside the fort grew restless as they took their weapons and position themselves along the walls of the fort. Their earlier comfortable atmosphere totally gone now and replaced with tension and a little bit of fear since they know that this fort is always the first to clash with enemies trying to invade the north.

The shaking did not stop until they finally saw huge cloud of darkness from afar. It looked like clouds from afar but after few moments, they finally saw that those were not clouds but a horde of flying creatures.

“Send a messenger! Quickly!”

The general stationed at the fort quickly made the decision after seeing the numbers of the flying monsters. He knows that this fort alone can’t defend and all he can do is buy some time until the alliance send forces to reinforce the defense lines.

Not long after the command was given, seven riders departed from the Black wolf fort. The seven people only have one expression common painted across their faces and that is fear and more fear. The seven of them knows that once again Black wolf fort will fall. They know that the war will once again start because they saw the army which they have been battling for so long. Those were the demon lord’s army.

No one saw it coming since it has already been a year since the demon lord’s army disappeared like a bad dream from the vision of the world. The alliance said that the demon lord has been assassinated and there will be no more wars in the future. They can’t understand what is happening then. If the demon lord has been assassinated, then who is sending these malevolent forces?

“Faster! Go on faster to your empires! You must not fall until you deliver the message!” A man said and then the seven of them split apart towards different directions.

All of them did not come from a single country or empire but all of them were brothers who bravely occupied the Black wolf castle which is popular as the execution grounds. The courage alone to stand inside the walls of the Black Wolf fort is worth admiring for each of them. Naturally, all of the people inside the fort treat everyone as brothers even if they are from different nations.

The seven of them rode towards the horizon with tears falling from their eyes. They know that they left their brothers and sisters behind to die and there is no possibility of seeing them again in this lifetime. They can only bitterly weep in tears as they push through towards their respective empires to bring back the sad news. They are sad for their comrades but they can’t dwell on it for now since a greater matter needs to be done.

As for the fort, creatures started to bang bodies against the tall metal gate. Claws screeching, fists smashing and horns trying to pierce the gate echoed towards the entire fort. The people inside the fort can only fight in oblivion as they prepare to meet the enemies beyond the sturdy gate. Despite the fact the fact that they are outnumbered and outranked by monsters behind the gate, their faces were not having the expression of fear. All of them know that a day may come where they will need to lay down their lives for humanity. It just happens that the day came sooner than expected without any warning.

Flying creatures passed by their heads as those creatures smashed themselves directly towards the fort. Confusion started to arise inside the fort as magic and swords versus the sharp claws of the demon lord army started to clash. Fires decorated the whole fort and consumed almost everything. Despite that, battles are still continuing between human race and demon lord's army.

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The battle is still raging on inside the castle when the gate finally fell and the land walkers of the demon lord army finally broke through and joined the winged monsters. The human soldiers know that doom has come for them and they are fighting with even more insanity to take down one more opponent before going down. Even if their limbs get cut, even if they lose an arm or two they will still try to do more damage. They bit even if they lost their arm; they cling to the monsters with their broken arms even if their legs were severed. The fight was too rigid and insane as the same time. The scene was literally a picture of hell.

As expected, the fort did not last more than a few minutes before creatures overrun them flat. Once again, the Black Wolf fort was destroyed along with thousands of soldiers stationed there. The demon lord armies did not stop and continue advancing towards the next fort. The winged creatures started to spread and try to cover more ground while the running monsters also started to split to smaller cluster to attack different forts at the same time. The monsters do not know fear nor feel pain, they can only blindly seek for destruction which make them a fearful enemy to have.

When the Black Wolf fort fell, a single visage appeared from the sky and landed on the still burning fort. He has red hair and piercing red colored irises. He looked around the forth and saw the remnants of the grueling battle between the demon lord’s army and the human soldiers stationed at the fort. His eyes scanned the surrounding and saw first-hand the destruction which he was so familiar even back then in his world.

“Am I going to reduce this world the same as my world?” the person looked at the sky like he was asking someone.

“Back then, I do not know the significance of life. I destroyed life while being unaware that I am also killing myself. Will this time be different?”

“I don’t know elder sister. Will you at least tell me something? Being aware of things makes it really hard.”

The person saw what the result of his actions were and even though logic is saying that what he is doing is right, he can’t stomach the fact that he is the bringer of destruction in this world. He agreed to be the demon lord back then since he hates human race and while being demon lord, he can have freedom and the chance to oppress humanity at the same time. He has no idea that being the demon lord is this hard and heavy. Now he is feeling if it was the right thing to accept the elder sister’s proposal.

Back then he accepted without knowing the things at stake but it is different now. All the guilt, he can feel absolutely. All the hate he see clearly and all the lose of life fall on his shoulders. Being demon lord is not actually freedom. Now he understands why the elder sister was hesitant in making him the demon lord. It is not whether she was looking down on him or doubting him. The elder sister knows the weight of being the demon lord, which is the sole reason, the elder sister does not wish for him to be the demon lord in his second life.

“I accepted and I need to be responsible for this. I must shoulder this burden not just because the elder sister trusted me with this but because I am the demon lord. This is my life now.”

Determination grew from those red irises and his expression sharpened drastically contrary to his first doubtful and regretful expression. He is the demon lord, the last of the kind. He was determined to finish what he started and be firm towards his moves in the future. He can’t have humanity continue its madness which will surely affect other races on Mirth.

He walked along different places of the fort and saw countless lifeless bodies of both human males and females. He can only admire their courage and resolve to lay down their lives for the human race. Sadly, for him their resolves were wasted and placed in the wrong direction.

He is walking aimlessly around when he caught slight movement from a nearby burning tent. A man with a bloodied visage went out from it and stared at him hatefully. The man was gravely injured but he was standing tall and mighty. He was not even strong and only a common soldier from the looks of it but he was carrying himself like a king at this moment.

“Are you the demon lord?” the man’s voice sounded harsh as if there were sands in his throat.

The person in question looked squarely at him without speaking. He was only looking and etching this image in his mind. He wants this image to embed into his memory forever as long as he exists. The image of the fallen human but still continues to stand up for something he believes for .It was a quality which he can admire and the second reason is that he wants to remember all of the life that falls because of his hand.

“I am Demon Lord Drake.” The man’s response was short but he carried the air of that of a ruler.

“I am Joshua of the Meteli village. I am the sole son of the Hellmore family. I offer my life for my race and family!” The bloodied knight charged towards the demon lord without faltering even with his injuries.

“I will be sure to remember you, fallen soldier.” Demon lord Drake said as he pierced the heart of the charging knight with his bare hands.

The sword of the knight only stopped a few inches away from the demon lord’s neck. A white barrier was preventing the sword to proceed further even how much the knight struggled to push his sword with his remaining strength. He offered his all with this one strike hoping to do something. Just anything will do but he can only despair as he witnessed his final attempt he threw his life for fail.

He can feel that his life is starting to fade away and he can only hope to do something with his remaining breath. He still continued even though he knows that it was futile. He felt his arms grow weaker and weaker but his determination is still burning bright as day.

“Go and rest. I will accept your determination.” He heard the voice of the demon lord as he felt his sword lose the force that prevents it from advancing.

Sadly, the sword only managed to scratch the neck of the demon lord only a little bit. It was just an insignificant scratch in the end. The knight saw it clearly and burned the image of him wounding the demon lord before his consciousness faded.

The knight fell lifelessly on the side of Demon lord Drake. He touched the spot where the sword grazed him and he was surprised to feel that it actually stings. This stinging sensation seems like telling him something. Demon lord Drake can only passively accept this stinging sensation until the wound disappeared without leaving any scratch behind.

Drake sighed and waved his hand. Flames which towers even the walls of the fort suddenly appeared and consumed everything aside from the broken blocks of stone which melted and deformed. Drake then flew in the sky and disappeared.

The Black wolf castle fell and information reached the other forts but it was too late as creatures of the demon lord were already at their doorsteps. They can only accept the surprise attack from the demon lord’s army. The other forts quickly dispatched their messengers asking for reinforcement while trying to hold back the charging demon lord’s army.

On that day, multiple forts fell. The loses of the northern human alliance was so big. Fortunately, the demon lord’s army did not continue to besiege other forts and occupied these fallen forts as their gathering spots. The matter quickly spread all around the northern alliance and kingdoms and empires which are still busy waging wars between themselves hastily stopped. They are not fools and know which matter comes first.

Once again, the dead name of Northern human alliance was revived. All of the twelve major empires hastily sent their representative while the rules of those empires started to organize their troops to send towards the defense line without any communication to others. At this time, nobody will seek trouble with a marching army heading towards the defense lines.

After a week since the reappearance of the demon lord army, almost all of the kingdoms and empires of the north are mobilizing their troops. Some have already arrived at the defense line while others are still marching. Even if those troops pass along other empire or kingdom, no one questions their intent as they are hastily welcomed and accommodated then sent forward after a brief rest. It was just like when they are still battling the demon lords of the past.

Even if there are still tensions between countries, nobody is making a bad move. Everybody has consented to behave and solve the most significant problem they are facing. In the end of the day, they are still one human race. Even if they fight among themselves, when the time comes that their race is threatened then they will unite as one and adamantly resist this foreign enemy.

All of this was known by Demon lord Drake but he allowed these things to happen. If he want to wipe them out then he can’t be bothered waiting for them to amass strength. He can just advance and take the north in one full swing. In the world of Mirth, he was supreme in power. No one is his match and if he willed, no one will survive.

For this occasion though, he was not having the idea of exterminating them. He only wants them to learn the painful lesson that he is still around. Before fighting with yourselves, all of you should defeat me first. He waited for them to build up their strength and show them how a demon lord can easily wipe them out if they misbehave. He wants them to know that only by being united can they be saved or maybe last longer.

“Come, human race. Resist me and feel how small you are. You all do not have the qualification to lord over another’s life.” Drake’s voice is full of taunting as he watches the countless armies gathering towards various forts.