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Chapter 108 - Sending a Message
🕑 Added 2018-07-23 08:08:25 +0000 UTCWatching from atop the western gatehouse as the army under Chandra sets off, I stare at the back of Korenga, as she walks side by side with the Ajura clan leader. They are on their way to reinforce Erbilan, the gateway to the Herelier desert, where many key cities of the Dominion - including the capital - are located.
If there were a fast information network in this world, I alone would be enough to defend the entire continent. But messages are carried by birds or winged demons, which require a day for a distance that takes me a minute. While I can't be everywhere at the same time, I can be everywhere very quickly, and the only ones who could coordinate a simultaneous attack across such vast distances are the Old Humans - meaning I would be able to encounter them then.
Seeing Korenga off with a heavy heart, I return to the castle to continue training the maids. And as expected, my mind is too occupied with the fate of my people to fantasize about the actual kind of training I'd prefer to conduct with them. The sooner they become more powerful, the sooner I can leave the city in their hands to start the counteroffensive against the human invasion.
As I fly back up towards the floating castle, I hear voices call out to me from the ground. Despite having fought such a hard battle just two days ago, the citizens of Arkaim have regained their vigor and optimism due to my speech and my continued presence. For their sake, I can't be feeling down about the Black God's situation. Waving back at them with a smile, I hear many people cheer.
Suddenly, I have a thought.
"Senka, you said Vitalis was in Pontis Daemonis, right?" Addressing the doll girl through our mental connection, I want to confirm what I should already know.
"Yes. What about it?" I can see the image of her raising an eyebrow at my question.
"Can you contact her and ask if any demons are being held there?" Not for one second do I think I can let my intentions slip by Senka, but I try to sound as casual as possible.
"What would you do if there are?" She's obviously skeptical about my sudden interest in the human bridgehead on the Demon Continent.
"Nothing, really." Shrugging, I ascend over the castle walls, from which the guards look up at me in wonder - after all, I'm flying without wings, and they will most likely never get used to it.
"Then why are you even asking." Senka's response makes me picture her pouting face in my mind. I immediately shoot down into the courtyard and land in front of her, before sweeping her off her feet.
"Come on, help me out here~" I kiss her cheek and hug her tightly. She's just too cute!
"You're going to fly off and do something stupid then, aren't you?" She shows an irritated look on her face but doesn't struggle against my embrace. "So I won't."
"No, if there are demon prisoners, I won't do anything." Placing Senka on her feet, I look into her eyes with a serious expression. "But if there aren't, tell Vitalis to evacuate that place."
"... what are you planning?" Furrowing her eyebrows, the doll girl looks up at me with a skeptical look.
"I'm going to send them a message."
Others Side
Pontis Daemonis was established by Emperor Lucianus IV, who used it as the bridgehead for the campaign against Demon King Aldeath, as his forces had been weakened after the incident with the Primordial Crawling Chaos. Even after the emperor's death at the hands of Queen Pelomyx, the Empire of Terminus continued to hold the city against many attempts to take it for the Dominion.
After the demon queen was vanquished last year, the coastal fortress city has once again become the staging ground for the human invasion of the Demon Continent. It houses more than a hundred thousand soldiers at a time, with all the necessary facilities such as a vast granary, smithies, and stables.
Now that the invasion has progressed to the point where the demon armies are being pushed back on all fronts, many question the necessity to maintain such a large garrison. The upper echelons propagate the idea that it is a display of the empire's overwhelming resources, to be able to keep so many soldiers out of the war effort to hold a city that would only be of strategic value if they were conducting a general retreat from the Demon Continent.
The governor of Pontis Daemonis is Second Prince Saturio, rumored favorite son of Emperor Lucianus V. His older brother, the Crown Prince, is known to be a spendthrift who loses himself in poetry and women - a blemish on the family's name. On the other hand, Saturio is known to be a capable military commander despite his young age and is lauded as a genius with the sword. Some even say that he would surpass his father in due time.
Fourth Prince Hector, on the surface equally capable but prone to cowardice when under pressure, had been tasked with leading a secret army to take the capital of the demons by surprise. At the same time, the forces across the entire continent would advance on the cities before them simultaneously and overwhelm the demon high command - which has shown itself steadfast in their defenses from the very start.
If the capital falls to Hector, that would be the end of it. But even if it can withstand a prolonged siege, no reinforcements will come for them as many other cities will have their hands full being besieged.
At such an important time, Saturio felt that the political maneuvering of the nobles supporting Hector and the Crown Prince has negatively impacted the empire's war effort. Keeping him so far away from the action where he could have been making a big difference with his capabilities is pure folly.
But his diligence is not diminished by the easy task of training the troops and maintaining a steady flow of supplies to the front lines, as he views it as important as leading the troops, if not more important. While it may not require someone of his overall brilliance, none would argue that he is less suited for governance than he is for warfare.
"I have finished looking over the documents and have made some adjustments to the distribution of grain among the troops based on their projected routes." Saturio leans back in his chair and gestures at the stack of papers to his right. He is left-handed, which has earned him some scorn behind his back during the time he was learning fencing, but due to his position, nobody would ever dare to say it out loud.
The aide quickly picks up the stack and leaves the room, to deliver them to the corresponding offices. Sighing, the second prince stands up and walks out onto the balcony, to look over the city. With paved roads and neatly arranged buildings, it exemplifies the architectural ingenuity of the Empire of Terminus, as much as it remains a monument to his grandfather's strategic acumen.
Located on a river delta island connected to the mainland only by two drawbridges on either of its sides, it remains an impenetrable fortress. The superior navy of the empire can easily defend the city from the river, and due to the extensive shores, they can land troops for large army stagings.
Saturio shades his eyes against the strong afternoon sun and regards the city with pride. Then he hears concerned voices grow louder in the courtyard and looks down to see people pointing to the sky. He lets his gaze wander up to see what they are talking about, and when he spots it, his eyes widen in bewilderment.
There are two suns in the sky. Neither loses to the other in brightness, and for a moment the Second Prince's mind tries to process the phenomenon his senses are picking up. Then a new notion occupies his thoughts and soon wipes away all others.
One of the suns is growing bigger - or coming closer.
Chaos Side
"That's taken care of." I look down at the huge crater filled with molten slag where Pontis Daemonis - and the surrounding land - used to be. "Now, where is Vitalis?"
"You're a madwoman; you know that?" Senka's spirit form is floating next to me, and she's looking down at my handiwork with a frown. "What happened to not exterminating them all?"
"That was a message. Even if Zenlith ran back and told all the other Old Humans, the empire most likely doesn't know about my return, yet." I look across the landscape to see whether any humans escaped the calamity or not and spot a patrol of half a dozen horsemen galloping towards the top of the hill after hearing the explosion. They most likely saw the massive plasma ball falling, too. "Watch this."
Dropping out of the sky right in front of them, I look at the humans as if they were mere insects. The horses buck in shock, and their riders try their best to control them.
"Hear me, humans." I create a second throat to achieve a minimally delayed, deeper echo of my words that gives me an otherworldly voice - without going all out and doing it Crawling Chaos-style. Paired with my armored form in the Chaos Warhead mode, it should have enough of an impact. "I have eradicated Pontis Daemonis from the map. Let your emperor know that the same will happen with every single human city in this world if you do not withdraw all the soldiers from the Demon Continent within one moon."
Suddenly, one of the riders shoots an arrow at me. I purposefully turn my head towards its flight path and let it hit my eye. Harmlessly bouncing off of the reinforced eyeball, it falls onto the paved road with a clattering sound. Unblinking, I let my gaze rest on the man with the bow, whose expression shows unbelieving fear.
"Pray to your gods that your emperor listens to my gracious proposal." Rising into the air slightly, I look down on them with a cold glare while gesturing behind me. "If he does not, you will return to your homeland to find a wasteland of craters just like this one."
Leaving the terrified riders behind, I fly up into the sky and undo the dragon armor transformation. At this point, I don't even need an aerodynamic shape to travel at Mach speeds since I can just imagine a shaped barrier around myself instead.
"What do you think?" I grin at Senka, who looks away, clearly suggesting that she knows my announcement to those soldiers just now was very effective. "So, where's Vitalis?"
"She went up the river and is waiting over there." Pointing towards the east, upstream from the delta I just turned into an almost perfectly circular bay, she replies with a thoughtful expression.
I follow the river and keep an eye on both banks until I finally spot a blue-skinned person. Rather than blue-skinned, her body is made of almost completely translucent bluish liquid. She seems to spot me, most likely because Senka told her about my approach, and waves up at me with both her hands while jumping up and down. Each time she lands, a little bit of her matter splashes from her and quickly rolls back to rejoin the whole.
"Onee-sama!" Vitalis calls out to me, and I feel like an arrow just went through my head. I'm seriously questioning my sanity when I let everyone call me that in my academy days...
"There you are." I land before the slime girl and look her up and down. It seems like she has gained a bit of size, especially in the areas that make her look more mature. She's also completely naked, most likely because she was spending all her time in the pipes and drainage system of Pontis Daemonis to spy on the humans.
But it's too dangerous for her to keep doing that, now that the Old Humans know I have returned. I'm sure they knew she was spying on them and just ignored her - most likely fully aware of the fact that she's connected to me. Once they become aware of me being a threat, they'll look for anything they could use against me, including hostages.
"I missed you so much!" While I expected her to jump at me and hug me tightly, she holds herself back from doing so. Our relationship never progressed anywhere because it was cut short, but I'm sure she would have become my girl as well sooner or later. We can still catch up on it, but for now, she's still reserved.
"Thank you for helping me back then, Vitalis." I recall when she came to my aid when I was caught in the gravity trap, and the surrounding mages were about to pummel me with powerful spells. She was able to delay them long enough that I could escape but almost died for doing so.
"I-it was only natural for me to do so, Onee-sama." She sounds nervous as her eyes swim all over the place. I guess seeing me after so long reignited the flame in her heart.
"Come, let's go home." I spread my arms, and she looks at me in surprise. Bubbles rise up from inside her chest, travel through her neck all the way up to the top of her head where they come up to the surface and burst audibly. Is that her way of blushing?
"H-how will we get back to Arkaim?" She cups her cheeks and looks embarrassed because she clearly knows how. I remember that Senka told me slimes reproduce by having their partner incorporate them into their bodies and mixing some parts, before expelling them again. When I took her inside my body for easier transport back in the academy, I essentially had sex with her.
"Like last time." With a grin, I embrace her and let her slowly sink into my body. Bubbles continuously burst from the top of her head, and I fear that she might be boiling, but it just seems to be a natural reaction rather than because she's actually heating up.
Once she's all the way inside me, I take off and gain altitude, before instantly jumping to hypersonic speeds to return to the capital.
"I'm back!" Scooping Senka up into my arms in the courtyard, where she's still training with the maids, I cuddle her and squeeze her to my chest.
"Those are evil!" She slaps my boobs with an annoyed expression.
"Ahn! Not so hard!" I act like it both hurt and aroused me, and press my face against the doll girl's.
"Shouldn't you let Vitalis out?" Pressing out through my smothering embrace, Senka reminds me of a pretty important issue. Well, I did put her in an isolated and watertight partition, so she shouldn't have melted. Although I can't guarantee that she wasn't affected by my corruption.
"Wait... explain corruption to me." Putting Senka down again, I turn serious.
I know that Alverost and the other gods somehow added this so-called corruption aura that all demons possess, which causes mutations in humans and animals. But they didn't create my mother or me, and we still have it. And it couldn't be like the tribal magic that some demons are born with, because I'm only the third generation, and even the first generation, the Primordial Crawling Chaos, had it.
"I told you that you're a Cosmic Horror." Senka begins, and I nod. "Your kind has a maddening aura that affects all living beings. Alverost and the other Old Humans were inspired by that and modeled the demonic corruption based on your aura."
"What is this about maddening aura?" Hestia peeks around me and asks. Luckily it wasn't one of the maids; it would have been too early for them to learn their origins.
"Not too important." I deflect the question and turn to look at the maids training in the gravel-covered courtyard. This maddening aura is beneficial to demons because Alverost programmed theirs to be similar? Well, it's not like that can be changed at this point since it's been added to their very genetic templates.
"Melting..." Senka mutters to remind me of the pressing matter.
"Bring me a large wooden tub." I order the two closest maids, and they quickly leave to fulfill the task.
"Well, this looks awful." Looking down at the contents of the tub, the doll girl comments with a disgusted expression.
Vitalis has completely melted and is bubbling all on her own. Even though I made sure not to get mixed with her, she still ended up this way, so I guess it must be the effect of my corruption aura. There's nothing I can do about that.
"Is that Vitalis?" Hestia should remember that night I came back from the library with the slime girl inside me, and how she splattered all over the floor when I pulled her out again. Maybe it's been so long that she forgot what I considered to be quite the memorable event.
"Yeah, I went to Pontis Daemonis just now and picked her up from there." I explain, and everybody looks at me in surprise.
"Did you not leave just a little while ago?" The angel girl is the one who asks what all the maids must be thinking. "How did you-"
"That's a secret." I place a finger on her lip and smile. Several of the maids look at me with dreamy expressions, while Hestia blushes at my gesture. Does what I just did warrant such a reaction? "In either case, I've erased Pontis Daemonis from the map."
At these words, I hear gasps from the crowd around me, while others blink in bewilderment. I'm sure some of them must have seen me annihilate swathes of enemies with plasma balls during the siege; is it that farfetched to think I can't do the same on the scale of a whole city?
"J-just like that?" One of the maids asks, almost fearfully.
"Yes, just like that." Winking at the maid in question, I reply with a casual smile. Then I become serious as I glance at Rewera, who is standing further back. "It was a message to the humans as well as the gods."
I know that what I did doesn't hurt the Old Humans at all. At the same time, they could easily do the same with any demon city, and it would hurt me to know that so many lives were lost because of my declaration of war. While it would mean that they are abandoning their millennia-long game, I doubt they'd let that get in their way of bringing me down. But then I could at least meet them all in a serious confrontation.
"You're thinking that the gods could do the same to the cities of the Dominion, aren't you?" Senka basically read my mind and speaks to me telepathically. A glint in her eyes suggests reproach; I should have thought about the consequences before doing what I did. That also explains why she called me mad back there.
"Yes and I'm trying to-" I begin to reply, but she interrupts me.
"You can't really do anything if they were to go all out in eradicating demonkind because of this." Cutting me off in a pretty serious tone, the doll girl looks at Vitalis slowly reforming in the tub.
"... tell me what I can do." I'd like to believe that I have grown ever since the many errors that led to my banishment to the moon and indirectly the death of my mother, but it seems I still act too rashly sometimes. At least now I know to ask for help instead of doing it alone.
"Get one of those Old Humans to help you." She responds in my mind while speaking out loud to the maids, telling them to return to their exercises. "Go find Exla."
