The Red Rose and The Black Rose

In the marbled hallways of the, excuse the redundancy, Marble Palace, footsteps echoed through its immensity, lending a sense of impressive majesty.

Even if her boots weren't exactly clean, so wonderful was each tile of the palace, that each one was inherently magical, ignoring dirt as much as possible, leaving dust at most, which didn't last long considering that the maids fervently cleaned the place every so often.

She couldn't help but be impressed by the wonders of the palace, no matter how many times she walked through the same hallway.

The bathroom in her room alone was much better than the throne room of the previous Holy Queen.

Well, maybe she was exaggerating a little, or maybe not.

Neia Baraja walked, looking out the huge windows that swallowed pure light, perfectly illuminating the hallways, even without the need for a single candle, and leaving almost no shadow.

However, despite such tranquility and peace, Neia was not particularly calm.

No, after all, she knew what must be happening now.

Lady Nyx herself told her…

Everything… Absolutely everything she experienced in the Holy Kingdom… Ignoring the presence of humans, of course, was nothing more than a prelude to what this war would be.

Komodo… With her entire army gathered from the depths of Hell by a powerful evil spell in the Katze Plains… Not only had she increased his own power, but he had brought his loyal servants from every circle of Hell…

Added to that, she had taken over everything that was once Re-Estize… And to prevent her from making her first move in seeking to plunge the entire world into a copy of the Holy Kingdom, or worse, Re-Estize, 3 entire nations joined together in an absolute military alliance to deal with such a threat.

The Argland Council, Deorum Regnum… Even the Slane Theocracy joined in, a nation that prided itself on despising non-humans by allying itself with two multiracial nations…

Neia could only clench her fists…

Back then… She was weak… Even with all the gifts from Titania herself… She could barely make Komodo scratch where she hit him…

And now… Even when she was much stronger… Thanks to Titania, Lady Nyx, and the Deorum Regnum Commanders themselves… She couldn't even go to the battlefield…

At least, to her own relief, her mother wasn't recruited…

She had Lady Nyx to thank for that…

If her mother had stayed in the Holy Kingdom, there would have been no chance of recruiting her, as all of the Holy Kingdom's forces were left alone due to their weakened state after the Demon Invasion. And yet, Neia had selfishly brought her mother to Deorum Regnum instead of staying in the Holy Kingdom and helping with the reconstruction…

Therefore, she would have been a possible candidate for a general of the Deorum Regnum army… If it weren't for Lady Nyx managing to use some favors to prevent that from happening…

After all, even on the first day of the battle to eliminate the Demons…

A chill ran down her spine as she recalled what she managed to hear thanks to her keen senses…

That the mortality rate of the war was at 68%.

She paused in her walk through the halls, attempting to calm herself while using her mother's safety as comfort…

And yet…

"T-Titania…" She sobbed through clenched teeth…

"Mm? Baraja?" A voice startled Neia a little, who had been so deep in thought that she didn't even notice someone approaching.

She quickly turned around, after making sure to wipe away any tears that might have escaped just in case.

"M-Miss Remedios?" The blonde girl blinked, a little surprised.

The legendary brown-haired paladin advanced where Neia passed, quickly catching up to her.

However, her slight dissatisfaction was noticeable. Neia could only blame her own eyes for it.

"I'm sorry if I startled you." Remedios said, lowering her head slightly. "I was on my way to meet my… Sister." She explained, hesitating a little at the end.

Neia wondered for a measly second why there had been so much difficulty for the legendary heroine of the Holy Kingdom… Then she remembered…

"Oh, I-I see. Yes, don't worry. I was just distracted." Neia quickly recomposed herself, unsure of how to react to the White…

"Is something wrong? Is it about the war?" the paladin asked directly.

The blonde stood still for a second, a little uncomfortable with how direct Remedios was… At least now. But she knew it wasn't her fault, and there was no need to hide it from her former idol either.

"Yes… I was thinking about… How I was lucky that my mother wasn't recruited… And about Titania…" She admitted, looking slightly to the side nervously.

Remedios blinked at this, and sighed softly.

"I see. We're even on that last one then." The paladin sadly said, causing Neia to look back at her… "It's been 4 days since all contact with Titania and the rest of her group was lost…"

"… Was it really that short…?" Neia muttered with her gaze lowered.

"I wouldn't say it's a small thing… But it doesn't make it any less worrying…"

Neia remained silent, not knowing what to say… She looked towards the nearest window, seeing the clear blue sky, admirable from every place in Deorum Regnum, except when it rained or it got dark, of course.

"I don't think she's dead." Remedios said suddenly, making Neia shudder.

She looked at her again, seeing that Remedios was also looking out the window.

"Call it a mere feeling… But I… I know that Titania is fine." Remedios said confidently. With that expression that Neia had never really seen before, but that she knew the Remedios she so idolized always had when fighting evil.

"… Yes… You're right…" Neia said, looking up at the sky again. "Titania… She will never know defeat. Because she is the justice of the Gods~" Neia said with a smile.

They stayed like that for several seconds, so that Remedios was the first to look away.

"Wah, my eyes." She muttered, rubbing her eyes. "Well, I better get going. Kelart gets weird if I take too long…" The paladin sighed.

"Ah, yes. Of course. Be careful, Miss Remedios." Neia gave a slight bow to the brown-haired girl.

"It's fine. There's no need for you to call me Miss or bow." She tried to reassure. "After all, I should be the one calling you Miss, Baraja. You are Lady Nyx and Lady Titania's protégé after all~"

Neia blushed slightly at having Remedios remind her of that, feeling a little embarrassed and… proud at the same time.

Thus, without any further words, the former fighters of the Holy Kingdom set off on their respective paths, with hope in their hearts.

Because Justice would stand over evil. No matter what.

…

Jaws lunged at an ankle, seeking to sink their sharp fangs into it and shatter the leg.

However, the tip of a spear got in the way, making a clean move that split the Hellhound in two, followed by a vertical swing that left a dozen deformed Zombies that looked like Demons, but not at the same time, headless.

On the other hand, a beast like a giant goat fused with a boar, with fire instead of horns and fangs and empty eyes replaced by raging flames as pupils, charged with an unnatural roar towards the man with a spear.

However…

"[Demon Separation]!" A voice was heard, followed by a movement like a flash and a sharp sound.

At the moment, on the other side of the boar, a man sheathed his katana in its sheath, sighing heavily, as if he had made a great amount of effort.

Following that, the demonic beast that had charged furiously towards the Captain of the Black Scripture, collapsed, continuing its run, but losing speed, especially noticeable by how its lion-like legs were separated from its body, and it simply dragged itself across the ground skidding.

Subsequently, a spear pierced the beast's forehead with speed, precision and force in an instant, finishing off the legless Demon in an instant, to proceed to split in half an Observer Demon that tried to attack the captain from behind.

Brain got back up, quickly examining his surroundings.

Corpses adorned the dark place, visible thanks to the fact that several of them had light sources, be it magma-like glowing eyes, parts covered in fire, or their blood was directly lava.

However, if there was something to point out, it was that the number of enemies decreased noticeably.

Especially after 1 hour of fighting relentlessly against Demons and Undead that came like a wave of furious evil.

On the other hand, he looked back, seeing the rest of the Black Scripture. At least most of it.

A mountain of muscles furiously swung his gigantic axe, single-handedly cutting down a Demon as big as him, despite the monster's skin appearing to be solid rock.

Imps tried to climb the forest of statues of their peers, only to join the stone museum due to the constant gaze of a pair of Giant Basilisks.

A white sword was swung by the blond, cutting down two Demons in one slash, so that the Paladin opened his hand, generating a blade of light on it, and threw it towards another Demon, piercing its eye and making it scream in agony as it collapsed backwards.

On the other hand, the woman with her hands sealed controlled the pair of metal arms coming out of her back, making them cut Demon after Demon without rest or effort.

All the while, in the middle of the defensive circle formed by all the physical combatants, a greenish magic shield manifested itself in a rather large dome.

Inside it…

"Uuuuuughhh… Hellhound meat is the worst…" The blue-haired girl with a big hat, 11th, or aptly named Roma, groaned in annoyance, forcing herself to bite into another piece of the black meat that tasted like burnt meat, regardless of whether it was raw or cooked.

"… It's what it is for now, 11th, don't complain." 2nd sighed, taking another bite of her piece of meat on a stick, grimacing at the bitterness of the burnt meat.

"2nd is right. Don't complain, 11th. At least you have meat from… A mammal. I have Fire Wasp meat." 5th Seat grumbled, biting into the soft, slimy thing on her stick in some disgust, trying not to look at the piles of black and red chitin on the side.

"... Please don't fight…" The 4th Seat said with a sad and somewhat uneasy expression.

"..." On the other hand, the theoretically 7th Seat, remained silent, pouring out a liquid.

"Hey, and why can she keep all the yogurt?" 11th complained while pointing at Elise.

"... You know why, 11th." 5th sighed, looking at where Elise was pouring the yogurt.

The half-open mouth contained the liquid just barely, before Elise stopped pouring the liquid food, lest it overflow.

Afterwards, she carefully grabbed the head, and tilted it back.

She massaged the swan's neck carefully, lest the fluid go down the wrong tube.

Once the yogurt was effectively consumed, Elise gently rested her head on a pillow.

"... Are there any signs that she will wake up?" 2nd asked towards 4th.

"...Not at the moment…" The Priestess sadly blurted out, looking to the side as she bit into a small piece of the Hellhound's black flesh in disgust.

"She's going to wake up." Elise stated sadly.

"You said that 3 days ago." 11th emphasized with a frown.

"..." The saddened one-eyed woman didn't say anything, simply starting to stroke the gorgeous white hair…

Titania didn't move.

A sound like a kind of 'knock knock' on glass was heard, causing everyone to look towards its source.

There stood Brain.

"We've already taken care of all the Demons. It doesn't look like they're coming anymore." He announced, with the Black Scripture Captain, 6th, 9th, and 10th approaching, confirming this.

Of course, the clearest confirmation was the countless corpses of demonic beasts around the small hill they had decided to camp on.

Although the corpses should have been more. But more than half of the slain Demons turned to dust and ash as soon as they were killed.

At this, 11th made a gesture, and the magic dome disintegrated, allowing the men, and 9th, to enter.

"Help yourselves." The blue-haired mage reluctantly invited, pointing towards the Fire Wasp and Hellhound meat.

"Is Titania okay?" Brain asked towards Elise.

"... Yes…" The crying maiden muttered.

A silence fell, even 6th remained silent, only letting out a 'tch' when he tasted the Hellhound meat.

".. Uuuugh…" 11th complained again. "Seriously we can't contact the Extra to come over? At least we can teleport and bring back some supplies or something. I hate this."

At this, every member of the Black Scripture seemed to at least slightly agree.

"…Elise. Is that possible?" the Captain asked.

"… In general, it is possible to try…" She muttered depressedly. "However, if we disable the countermeasures that prevent all types of communication, then it is possible that Komodo and his servants will find us. Likewise, some Demons can use a spell capable of making teleportation impossible, so it might very well prevent us from being able to return." The sobbing woman instructed. "Also… Those things that came out of the ground seem to sense our footsteps and magic unless we have these countermeasures… We shouldn't draw the attention of those things…"

"I agree with Miss Elise. I don't think we'll be able to deal with another one of those 'Demon Generals'. Just one of them almost killed Titania despite the Captain supporting her." 5th muttered, nodding as he held his chin, with the two Basilisks he had brought out being able to leave the dome once it was opened, and going out to eat the occasional Demon corpse. 

"But she can… So our best bet is to safely wake up Lady Titania… She'll take care of the monsters and strong Demons…" Elise muttered almost whimpering, as usual.

"But she's been asleep ever since we found her buried in the snow." 6th Seat clicked his tongue.

"And my spells don't seem to help her with that either…" 4th Seat muttered, feeling rather guilty.

Brain looked down at the ground, gritting his teeth, however, he knew he couldn't blame himself for what happened.

Even if he was a bit stronger, it wouldn't have made almost any difference to all of this.

Although… He did feel somewhat guilty about another loss…

He looked towards the 10th Seat, who had remained completely silent since they came down from the mountain after seeing the two Black Scripture casualties…

He saw the bastard sword he respectfully took from another strong individual on his back, and Brain tightened his grip on the handle of his katana, biting into another piece of Fire Wasp meat.

"… I see. In that case, we should mobilize and clear the way to the Demons' location to make way for Extra when they decide she will be deployed. In the process, Titania should awaken." The Captain concluded, although betting quite heavily on strength in that.

2nd looked at the Captain silently, and he looked back at her, but they didn't say anything.

"… As you say, Captain." The 5th Seat sighed.

Elise looked at Titania's beautiful face in silence, then looked up at the sky…

The red and black clouds hid the real light of the sun, only allowing a corrupted scarlet red light to pass through, bathing the scorched earth in a dirty, unholy red.

In the distance, monsters could be seen flying and prowling around the desolate land. Fortunately, not close enough for said monsters to see the massacre on the hill.

The elite group allowed themselves a few minutes of rest. One of the few times they could have it since entering the land of the Demons.

…

"How is Elise?" A beautiful voice asked towards a small blonde girl.

"S-She's fine, S-Supreme~" The shy girl smiled, showing the one-eyed girl surrounded by humans through the Remote Viewing Mirror.

"Very well~" The woman exclaimed with a smile, then looked towards the blonde. "Hm… Eyesight, how are the B.A.F.W.? They must have taken a large part of the Demon territory by this point."

"Ah, well… In fact, the conventional expectation was exceeded. They took the initial invasion territory much faster than estimated, and the Golems had to be deployed in advance to force a pause in the advance…" The girl muttered as she explained the situation, switching from one mirror to the other to the other, revealing…

"As I understand it, there was no previous record of trench warfare in these realms. As far as I know. It's interesting that they resorted to that method, it's safe against ground forces, but they don't know that the B.A.F.W. can still go underground." The white-haired woman muttered as she looked at the aerial view of the area.

"Y-Yes. According to Miia's report, it was one of the Lizardmen generals who suggested it. Due to their initial defensive efficiency, it was decided to put more effort into it as a slow but safe method of advancement. And while the B.A.F.W. were able to take much of the territory as ordered, they were ordered to retreat as a powerful flanking guerrilla force after the Demons' intensity increased." The Gorgon explained, zooming out the view in the mirror to show how an ocean of Demons, Golems, and Undead that looked quite like Demonic beings were constantly attacking the trenches, requiring an almost constant fight that fluctuated between victories and defeats on different sides, with the B.A.F.W. In this case, attacking the Demons from the ground, just as Black Abyss had indicated, although having to retreat due to the appearance of the Magma Worms, who were putting the genetic abominations in a bit of a bind in the underground environment. "T-The daily quota of attacks will end in about 5 hours, so the summons will focus their appearances to stop the Argland Council army and cause some attacks to the Elite group."

"Hm…" Black Abyss almost growled, with Eyesight looking at her nervously, something that the Paladin noticed, smiling at her, reaching out a hand and patting the pretty girl on the head. "Don't worry~ You didn't do anything wrong~" She said to the same, as she had already gotten used to NPCs almost wanting to commit suicide for doing something wrong, it was better to keep them happy~

"Y-Yes~" Eyesight said with a wide smile, happily letting out a giggle.

"Still, I still have that bad feeling…" Black Abyss muttered, looking at the area they were going over. "We've already seen almost the entire map of Re-Estize, and for 4 days we found nothing… I'm almost ashamed of having this bad feeling and prolonging the war for so long…" She muttered somewhat annoyed and doubtful… She didn't have any race level that would allow her to know what was happening elsewhere, nor was she an Oracle, but she could feel a sense of danger from somewhere, an energy… No, she didn't know what it was, but it was a bad feeling…

"W-Well… I-If it's any consolation, Lady Black Abyss… 80% of t-the casualties are from the Argland Council and the Theocracy… L-Likewise, both Lady Dont and the deployed Commanders are being constantly monitored, and you will be notified along with the rest of the rescue team if someone strong attacks any of them." Eyesight explained, her explanation losing steam as she continued, as if she was afraid that she had gone too far in reviewing the protocol that Black Abyss obviously already knew.

"It's good, our casualties are mainly temporary summons, some permanent ones, and several fairies, but they will be revived. Still… All the Commanders, especially Bachelory, are going to have to be tightly attached to the World Items assigned to them. Bachelory can revive all those on our side with his World Item, so that gives us an advantage and a relief. But Dont already had an encounter with a World Bearer, so I hope this bad feeling isn't something like a Player with a World Item who can give heavy casualties to our side…" She muttered with a frown. "In these 4 days that didn't show up, so they must be waiting for something, like us… But with my absence, the other kingdoms will be forced to use stronger cards to balance my absence on the battlefield." The white-haired girl explained. "How are Riku and the Extra Seat of the Black Scripture?" 

"U-Um… Riku was seen only once… He appeared to clean up the Demons that came in the horde after the Lord of Gluttony retreated, and then he disappeared… P-Personally, I-I think he appeared to eliminate the Lord of Gluttony, but I didn't expect him to have completely retreated…" She muttered timidly. Pollux, who had been quietly chewing on an entire chicken, reached out and gave the girl's cheek a lick. "P-Pollux! N-Not now!" The Seer scolded somewhat nervously.

"It's strange…" Black Abyss said, reaching out her hand to Pollux and patting it. "I thought that in my absence, he would make himself more present in my absence."

"D-Do you think it's because he's saving himself for the 'Demon Generals' and K-Komodo…?" Eyesight asked, after throwing another chicken to the draconic creature, while Castor slept peacefully on a dog bed next to Eyesight.

"Possibly. But if my absence isn't enough to make him come out and wear him down, then an assault from the Demon Realm to his side of the battlefield will be necessary. I don't want to put a Commander there, but in these 4 days, his kingdom's Demi-Dragon army has been heavily used. The bastards are tired after the fight against Gula and two of them died, so they're only being deployed against Demons in groups, making it difficult for there to be any accidental casualties among them, while the rest of his army takes care of the weaker ones, they wouldn't expect something like that now. So a Commander would make a huge mess, but another Demon General will be enough to make him come out and learn more about him to eliminate him." Black Abyss exclaimed, rubbing his chin.

"I-I understand~! I-I'll tell Sir Bachelory~!" The little Gorgon smiled in wonder.

"But first…" Black Abyss frowned for a moment. "Is it possible to infuse Mind Control into a target from here on the Re-Estize battlefield?" She asked Eyesight with a raised eyebrow.

"W-Within the strongest… Possible except for Riku and perhaps the Extra Seat according to estimates and our units… M-My apologies, Lady Black Abyss… We don't have many mind controllers on Titania… I-If you wish, I believe there are some Yigg to summon here at the Observatory…" The Witch pointed out somewhat nervously, almost looking afraid of disappointing the Paladin, quickly looking below the platform they were on.

"Hm… I don't need to control a strong one, it would be difficult. But… Being able to control an important one would open up many possibilities…" Black Abyss muttered. "How to provoke a Theocracy Commander to 'betray' us…" She exclaimed thoughtfully… The Theocracy was entering from a very narrow point on the map, comparatively to her, the Theocracy would be between its army and the mountains in case of being able to attack them… Between a rock and a hard place to put it simply.

"A-Ah~ In that case, it will be quite easy, Supreme~" The Gorgon smiled. "In fact, I think that among the possibilities proposed by Sir Bachelory, Miss Superbia and Mimosa there was something similar…" The little snake tried to remember, frowning as she grabbed her chin.

Black Abyss sweated a drop, remembering the 'list of possibilities', that is, basically a bible part 2.

Between Dont and her they only read 10%, and decided to make more or less a straight line next to Bachelory and company trying to pretend that they read all of that.

"Yes… I remember…" Black Abyss muttered with a droplet on her forehead, then looked back at the projection. "Is there a Theocracy unit heading towards Re-Estize? It would be more feasible if it's a new one rather than one that has already fought alongside us. Army or something."

"That…" The Gorgon opened her eyes wide, quickly turning to one of the dozens of mirrors floating around the two women, causing it to approach, quickly starting to move with complete confidence in what it was doing…

After showing something, she looked at Black Abyss with nothing less than pure admiration.

"S-Supreme~ T-The 452nd unit of the Theocracy, better known as 'The Badgers'~ The unit that showed the most animosity towards the Deorum Regnum army between units 400 and 500~ There was even an assassination attempt by several of its soldiers on Fairy soldiers of Deorum Regnum. It was one of the units that was given the most attention to avoid any real sabotage on their part~" The girl hummed. "Even the use of mind control would have to be minimal and undetectable~ Just an incitement that would be easily accepted by their commander~" Eyesight applauded, her little eyes practically shining like little stars.

"Wow…" Black Abyss murmured in surprise, not even she expected it… She almost thought it was no coincidence that everything goes so well sometimes… "Start with that, I'll talk to Dont about this and we'll shift to a more intense course. Removing the Theocracy from the equation will be the initial opening we needed, a dispute like that will undoubtedly draw Riku's attention, and with that I'll have the perfect excuse to eliminate the Black Scripture and the danger they represent." Black Abyss murmured, showing a smile at the end.

"Of course, Supreme~ I-I'll make sure your will is carried out with the g-greatest of success~" The little snake said happily, smiling from ear to ear as she clasped her hands together in content.

Black Abyss looked at her with a smile, once again raising his hand and patting her head.

"Good girl~" She said, pleased by the little serpent's happiness.

Eyesight blushed happily, pressing her little head against Black Abyss's palm.

"H-Hehe~" She hummed happily, enjoying the Supreme's touch.

As happiness flooded through Eyesight, and Black Abyss herself, having left the Black Scripture with a 'comatose' Doppelgänger of herself, equally satisfied and content, thousands, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people were going to get an even harsher, bitter taste of Hell's fury.

…

"Let's see… It doesn't sound bad at all~" An amused voice hummed from a woman sitting on a throne.

"Should we adapt the attacks to that plan, Your Majesty?" An elegant voice from a purple-skinned man asked with a playful smile, though with reverence in his words.

"Yeah~ I like it~" The masked woman nodded, smiling beneath that demonic cover.

Dont-Say-My-Name, the Queen- No, Demon Empress, delighted as she looked at the map of Re-Estize's territory, or rather, the Demon Empire.

Still, she wasn't going to admit that she didn't understand much of the lines and marks there were more than the basics…

"In that case, Your Majesty, if I may." A third voice made Dont look to the side, seeing his… Third in command? Something like that.

"Speak, Betelgeuse." 'Komodo' hummed.

"Perhaps I could finally be deployed alongside my unit in an 'untimely' attack on the United Army once such a 'rebellion' happens. Of course, I understand the precautions to be taken into account, and I will minimize unwanted casualties." The Devil, Betelgeuse, the summon above level 90 thanks to reducing the population of the Holy Kingdom and the Abelion Hills by 52%, as well as the biodiversity of the ocean off the coast of said kingdom by 80%, counting, of course, the monsters of the depths.

On the other hand, the purple Devil, better called Crimea, better known as Ghøst, actually being Bachelory Antoinette Sheoler II, remained silent, almost staring deadly at Betelgeuse.

And on one more hand, Macuin Thunder placed a hand on the handle of his sheathed katana while also staring at the Demiurge.

However, the words of their queen reassured them.

"Mm~ It's certainly rare that we don't deploy some heavyweights again~ Good~ Betelgeuse~ You will be sent to stop the advance of the United Army~ Gula and Luxuria will be deployed to deal with the Argland army, while Invidia and Acedia will stop the advance of Deorum Regnum~ Finally~ Avaritia and Superbia will search for the survivors of the Pride Lord's initial attack and hunt them down~ Fufufu~" Dont hummed, quite satisfied.

"Your will shall be done successfully~ Your Majesty~" Betelgeuse bowed, with adoration and the greatest of respects, while Crimea gave a similar bow, and Macuin just stared, relaxing a little.

"On the other hand, Betelgeuse will be facing off individually against the Commander of Deorum Regnum, known as 'Miia'~ Therefore, we will deploy the 'Archon' elsewhere to lure Riku or 'distract' Miia~" The Queen of Titania smiled, leaning on her throne, and quite excited about what was to come.

"The Archon… That is… Wonderful, my Queen~" Crimea blurted out, almost seeming surprised and stupefiedly joyful, as if he had been the victim of divine inspiration at Dont's words.

She could only sweat a drop, not understanding what Bachelory understood other than what he said…

"Ejem. Yes. Crimea, contact Number 2 and inform him of the adaptation of the plan~" The Demon Queen ordered.

"Of course, my Queen~" The purple Demon nodded.

"On ​​the other hand, Betelgeuse, make your preparations. You know that if Riku appears, you must stall him as much as possible until we deploy all the countermeasures to eliminate him once and for all~" She exclaimed towards the hooded Devil.

"Indeed, Your Majesty~ I will not disappoint you~ Should I invoke the power of the Star Demon with the disposable soldiers of the United Army?" He asked, causing Dont to tense up.

She recalled the very disturbingly intimidating feeling of 'That Thing', and everything that happened because of it…

"Er… No, no… Perhaps [Ïa Shub-Niggurath] should be enough. One or two Dark Youngs should make good meat shields against Riku." The Shooter sweated a little.

It's not like she didn't fear the minuscule possibility of the Goat of a Thousand Young appearing instead of mere Dark Young just as much as she feared the appearance of Jaldabaoth. But the amount of Theocracy soldiers that had to be consumed by that spell should be enough to summon a couple of Dark Young at most. Not the brutal barbarity that was almost 300 thousand Re-Estize soldiers, 50 thousand Deorum Regnum soldiers, and Gazef on the Katze Plains…

Were those exact numbers? No, Dont didn't even remember anymore, but they were massive numbers nonetheless.

"I understand, Your Majesty. That will be done~ What should I do if Riku appears with any allies?" Betelgeuse asked, freezing Dont again.

"Mm… Same, I guess, hold on. We don't know how many allies Riku has. At least we can rule out Titania, of course~" The Demon chuckled, licking her lips at the thought of her precious little dove.

"As you command~" Betelgeuse nodded, satisfied with her instructions. "In that case, Your Majesty~ I will prepare to abide by Your will~" The Devil said goodbye.

"Alright~ Be careful, Betelgeuse~" The Daemon nodded.

Dont watched as her super-powerful summons left the throne room.

Afterwards, she sweatdropped, looking at the map again…

… Which of all those 'X' was the unit that had to be attacked?

…

"There has been no activity from these 'Demon Generals' since their first attack…" Someone in a reddish armor growled.

"And there's no sign of that ass either… *Sniff*" A golden armor cried, clutching his face as if he was actually crying.

"… Not even the Theocracy seemed to receive news from the elite unit. Unless they're hiding it from us. At the same time, that Orc should have reported back on his own." A silver armor grumbled, trying to ignore the golden one's words.

"… This is bad, and very suspicious." A platinum armor sighed. "I went to help the Argland army in their fight after that one with the Demon General after hearing that two of Crime-Colored Stone's (JOKE, don't report me to Twitter) children died, but there were only normal Demons…" He growled, looking somewhat resigned at having nothing to do.

"Hey, and why aren't you doing anything? You're not even looking for my future girlfriend." Golden pointed at Platinum accusingly.

"I can't just expose myself like that. You know that if Komodo is a Player, it's possible that he'll destroy this armor and reduce my chances of exploring the outside. I must have a decisive battle against that thing." The armor argued.

"Doesn't explain why you're just sitting there with your arms crossed." Scarlet muttered.

"... Excuse me, if you want I can look at the broken mirror that exploded in my face the other time." It muttered almost sarcastically.

"Stop complaining." Silver growled.

"You're complaining." Gold said.

A thunderous sound rang out as Silver's fist connected with Gold's helmet, causing the latter to fall to the ground with his paws up.

"Are you sure the therapy is helping you?" Scarlet asked amused.

"The therapy is, you guys aren't…"

"Enough. This is serious, how many times do I have to repeat it to you?" Platinum sighed.

"Ugh, it is very serious indeed…" Gold agreed as he stood up from the ground somewhat unsteadily. "The best ass in the world is lost… I don't even have a close-up of that majesty!" The draconic armor shouted. "Agh!"

Another thunderous sound rang out as Silver once again knocked Gold down with one fist.

"… He's right…" Silver had to admit.

"Did you fall in love with Titania's ass?" Scarlet seemed to raise an eyebrow.

"No! That she's lost!" The knight armor growled, stomping towards where Gold was lying for no reason.

"It's true. She is, indeed, very strong. Strong enough to fight for quite some time in a one-on-one confrontation with Komodo. That alone puts her value very high for us." Platinum nodded, looking towards a map he got from his friend, hanging to the side and showing what must have been the original territory of Re-Estize.

On the map, a point in the Azerlisia Mountains was crossed out, where the elite group had some sort of confrontation and all communication was lost.

"And on top of that, she has an ass to die for- Agh!" Gold tried to get up, but was knocked down once again by Silver.

"... I hate you so much…" Silver sighed.

"Liar, you love us~" Scarlet laughed.

In response, Silver clenched a fist, and punched Gold once again.

"Aw! Why me!?"

"Hmp."

Platinum sighed once, covering his face with his claws from another spot.

"Hey, I think I found something." Scarlet called.

At this, the collective attention turned to the chaotic armor, as it showed its floating mirror.

"That's…" Silver was speechless.

"Weren't they that smart?" Gold questioned towards Platinum.

"..." Platinum said nothing, something… Shocked at what he saw.

"What do we do about this?" Scarlet asked.

"Destroy it. Why do you even ask?" Silver snorted.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe Platinum wanted it for his toy collection." The armor shrugged.

"Speaking of him, I think he finally kicked the bucket." Gold muttered, touching the platinum armor's cheek with a finger.

Platinum swatted away, pushing Gold's hand away.

"We can't allow that thing to be finished. We'll go right away." Platinum said seriously.

"Really? Now?" Gold complained.

"Yes." Platinum nodded.

"As much as I'd love to go and destroy everything, I'm afraid it'll be a bit difficult." Scarlet muttered.

"Why?"

"Look for yourself." The chaotic armor sighed.

The 3 armors looked at the mirror, seeing where Scarlet was pointing…

"Those are…" Gold opened his eyes.

"Golems." Silver muttered.

"So what? They're just piles of rock." The pervert shrugged.

"They're not just piles of rock. They're just like the ones I have at my base." Platinum muttered seriously, clenching his fists.

"But those are-"

"They're Player constructs." Silver finished Gold's sentence.

"So that confirms it. Komodo, or perhaps one of her subordinates disguised as servants, is a Player. Or at least she is an Enpici." Scarlet sighed.

"It has been many years since there was one of those here… It always ends in untold disasters… Our delay in identifying this threat caused only the beginning of such a disaster… So the end is only one, we must eliminate Komodo and all of her subordinates, one way or another." The Platinum Knight exclaimed seriously.

"Uuuuggghhh… I just wanted to spend time on my private island and fuck that cute Rabbit Girl from the bar…" Gold collapsed onto the table, starting to whine.

"You…" Silver clenched a fist, an imaginary vein swelling on his temple.

Platinum ignored the start of a rather loud beating, staring intently at Scarlet's mirror.

Nothing good augured for the tower made up of 4 peaks with a huge sphere like a sun similar to an eye floating between said peaks…

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Tower of the Arconte

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Name: ΩMinyibaiΩ

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