BXBX NOVEL Chapter 276 276 - A Mess Of A War
Venturing out of the preparation tent, Haruki was once again met with the handful of human guards provided to him to sway the tides on this war. To him, treating war as a test seemed a little extreme, but the emperor was apparently rumored to have tested the other generals the same way.
Peering up high, Haruki saw Michael still using his magic to witness his every action from the sky. As for the front and down the hills, the army of demons was prepared to tear his men apart.
"What's your magic affinity?" Haruki asked, slowly walking towards the edge to get a closer look at the infernal demons.
One after the other the men told him their affinity, but it wasn't until one said water that Haruki's ears perked up with interest.
'Water huh? Maybe using that can help us weaken these idiots.' His eyes still fixed at the army storming towards him, Haruki stretched his hand forward readying himself for the use of water, the affinity of which he'd just gained after becoming a demon lord.
"Get ready, and follow my instructions," pouring mana into a giant magic circle, Haruki turned to look at the handful of soldiers standing behind him. "I've only been asked to neutralize this army, keeping you alive isn't exactly part of that deal."
Hearing his disregard for their lives, the battalion members drew their weapons out and got ready to intercept whatever came their way. Haruki on the other end, turned back to the magic circle and finally topples it off with the remaining mana. Stepping away from the circle, Haruki watched a violent stream of water rushing out through it. Flooding down the hills, the water marched towards the infernal demon, and in fear of their bodies being stripped of their flame, they all began retreating as far away from the flood as possible.
"Archers, mages fire!" Haruki ordered, gesturing the rest to follow him.
Jumping down the hill, he was followed by other brave swordsmen, landers, and fencers who, to some degree, weren't too sure about going against the army on their own. Yet as the arrows began to rain down on the retreating demons a flicker of hope burst inside their hearts.
"Where is the demon lord of envy? Shouldn't he be directing his soldiers?" Asked one of the soldiers to another while they followed behind Haruki.
Unbeknownst to them, Inferno was off to Hestemia after Deus, and Merciella had disappeared and hadn't returned to the battlefield after a whole day. And since Klaus had been the only one helping Margarette for a while, Inferno was forced to leave his territory to switch with Klaus so he could return back to his own territory.
"Stay behind me and only attack when your strike is sure to kill an enemy!" Creating an army of clones while also providing them with enough mana to cast magic of all affinities, Haruki led the charge against the retreating infernal and tore through them with blades and magic.
With the ground flooded to the hips and the stream of water quenching the Scorchen earth's thirst, countless infernal demons fell to their knees and drowned by the extinguished flames on their bodies alone. The remaining weren't in much better condition, however, their sheer numbers were bound to take a day or two to get rid of them all.
The clones helped by shooting magic spells against the enemies and even the soldiers were trying their best to get as many bodies as they could, but even then the number of demons still didn't seem to be reducing even in the slightest. After a while of retreating and getting to the cliff where Inferno's tent was, the once aggressive demons looked down at the small battalion as if they were the grimm reaper.
"They're no different from the army I had, impulsive and their only strength is their numbers," Haruki muttered, looking at the cliff on which plenty of demons were still trying to climb up on.
'As long as Inferno isn't here, his army of demons lack direction and are working through impulse. It shouldn't be hard to deal with the remaining infernals then.' Getting ready to summon otherworldly creatures, Haruki gestured his soldiers to back away.
"Marionette ballerina!" Summoning the multiplying marionette, he'd planned to trim the numbers until near to no enemies were left behind.
To make things even harsher, Haruki also created a pair of giant shadow hands protruding from the skies to claw away at the weakened demons.
"Let's just get this over with," hastening things further, Haruki used shadow-form body to turn into a giant monster made of lost shadows of tormented humans.
Grumbling out loud, he gave his battalion a quick frowning look as if to warn them against getting in his path. Shaking from the sight before them, the men felt thankful that Haruki was on their side and not against them at the moment.
***
"How long until you find Merciella?" Growing impatient by the second, Inferno growled at Reya.
"I don't know where she is," Far away in her territory, Reya talked to him through her mind. "Nobody has seen her since she switched places with Klaus."
With the war nearly ended, Inferno was seated inside a tent waiting for Deus or Merciella to switch places with him. But with both of them gone and nobody having any clue where they were, he had no choice but to lag behind until someone else was ready to take his spot.
"Where the fuck is Deus? I thought his research wasn't going anywhere so they figured out something before continuing," Inferno complained, sipping on a glass of sage.
Crossing his legs, he leaned back into the chair to relax his mind for the moment. Having worked for the entirety of the day to help Margarette direct her army, he was in no mood of moving a single muscle.
"I think he's waiting for Fay to cut off a sample of her daughter's flesh," despite knowing where Deus was, Reya deflected from the topic to save herself an embarrassing explanation.
"Cutting off a part of her flesh? Sounds like something a real demon would do," cackling out loud, Inferno reached onto the table next to him and grabbed a lit cigar that he'd rested there a few moments ago. "Regardless, wake me up when you find either of those two idiots."
Taking a strong hit of tobacco, Inferno set the cigar back on the table and even put the sage aside to consume it later. Closing his eyes shut, he let himself wander to sleep all the while in his territory his army was being trimmed by Haruki and his battalion.
While her brother drifted to sleep, Reya decided to inform Deus about the situation in Hestemia once he leaves Azalea alone inside their love room. What bothered her more was the fact that nobody, not even her, was able to figure out where Merciella was even though she was supposed to have switched with Inferno hours before the current time.
'That bitch, did she die because of her stupidity somewhere?' Knowing how she had tortured Deus, Reya wasn't too happy with Merciella, and if given the chance she would howl her frustration on her face. 'Where the fuck is that bitch anyways?'
All of a sudden as Asuka and Athena came inside Inferno's tent, Reya noticed them rolling their eyes, seemingly frustrated by the lack of effort on Inferno's part. The other demon lords had made some strides to help with the war, it was only Inferno who seemed too self-absorbed in his own comfort to fight a war that he wasn't interested in.
"When are we getting his replacement?" Asuka muttered with a tired sigh.
"At least Klaus and Merciella were helpful," shaking her head, Athena turned around to leave the tent.
Even though they were sent to get Inferno, neither had the energy left to wake him up and convince him to follow them to the battlefield. Thus following Athena's lead, Asuka didn't wait long before leaving the place as well.
'I feel bad for these kids, who knows how long they've been at work?' Feeling concerned about the healers, Reya once again cursed her selfish sister.
Still Hidden outside the room where Deus and Azalea were, however, Merciella made sure to stay invisible as she pushed the door open. Sleeping inside, the lovers had each other wrapped in their arms. Although she knew it was all her doing, a hint of jealousy took over Merciella's mind. Right that very instant, she wanted to push Azalea away and take her place, but doing so would spoil the pleasure of ruining their relationship later on.
"Let me have a taste," the risk of ruining it all, however, didn't stop her from stripping naked in front of the two to enjoy herself in the moment as well.
Staying invisible, she made use of her dark magic to keep the two trapped in a cloud of dark that kept them both confined to their sleep. Then as the effects of the spell began to take place, she moved behind Deus to taste his skin from the back.
"You're going to be mine, so is every other cutie," she whispered right into Deus's ears.
Following the rest of the night, her actions grew more and more lascivious. Going so far as to lick him in places she shouldn't and even riding on top of his body until she was filled with her unconscious spirit brother's cum. By the time Deus would wake up, Merciella would already be gone, but the feeling of something heavy would still linger over his chest.
'I…I should return to the experiment.' Having someone to be with when the chaos dies, Deus wanted to be done with all the trouble as soon as he could.