Chapter 67

I arrived at the tree’s location after shadow stepping for a bit of time, Nemu was following me and I proved to be faster than him, however, it wasted a lot of mana and was not practical for long travels, also I got dizzy after a while.

Entering inside I headed straight towards the Queen’s chamber.

Two of the guards at the door gave way, without even stopping me or trying to know the reason why I am here.

“Your guards seem less aggressive than last time, Queen,” I said

“You helped their race and their family, so why not. Even more, if you wished to kill us all they would not prove to be a challenge, so why bother?”

“True, true. But let’s get over with the pleasantries, Where are the girls?” I asked

“Strange, shouldn’t you be more concerned about your own state, why bother with the slaves before yourself?”

“That is no longer a problem. Now, where are the girls?”

“Send a messenger for the companions of our honorable guest,” said the queen to one of her guards

“Understood,” replied the guard and left through a door near the throne.

“Now, can I ask you how you managed to remove that curse? It should be impossible without the help of the tree of life, or one of great faith.”

“There was no need for faith, being smart is enough, and I know that you were incapable of curing me, at least if you were unprepared to give your life for it…” I said leaving the queen lost in thoughts.

“So you knew…”

“Yes, you didn’t have the power to remove the corruption from me, it was too strong for you to handle…but I have my ways.” I said

I needed to see the girls for one reason. To know if the queen has tried to influence them, or do anything to them that I would not normally approve… Well, I am a paranoid person.

Two of them arrived, Misaka and Haruka, the others were not here.

“Where are the others?” I asked

“We are still looking for the youngest one, the princess is dressing”

“Did they do anything to you?” I asked the girls after confirming with insight that they did not have any debuffs on them.

“No, they were quite hospitable and nice,” said Misaka.

“Very well, I have news about your former party,” I said addressing Misaka

“They organized an army and are attacking the Demonic kingdom,”

“What? You mean that the guys from our class are attacking the demon-kin right now?”

“It seems that it is the case, this is our best chance then…”

“What do you mean?” asked Haruka

“Well, invading a kingdom has its risks; they lowered the defenses of their country to attack another. This is our chance to strike…”

“Do you plan on attacking a kingdom with but your companions?” exclaimed the queen

“It should be more than enough”

“Let me at least assist you with some of my troops”

“No, it would take a lot of time for them to get there. I only have a one day window…”

“You will use your dragon…but still, once the invading army hears the news about its kingdom being attacked, they will head towards you, you won’t have enough time, you need a lot of man power.”

“I took that in consideration, I only need one day…”

“Preposterous, it is impossible to take down a kingdom in one day. Even with your power…one man cannot bring down a kingdom…”

“We will have to see about that.”

“Are you going to take my daughter too?” asked the queen, she must have been worried about her.

“Why don’t you ask her that, if she wants to stay then I won’t force her, she accepted the contract on her own accord…”

“I will leave with you.” Said the Princess that just entered

Looking at her, I saw her dressed in a beautiful emerald dress that showed much of her cleavage. It was sparkling. Her face looked livelier while her hair was done in a ponytail. Her slave collar was adorned with some embroidery that looked like little flowers, it only made her look more elegant.

“Elia, What are you saying?” said the queen.

“I will be following them, I want to see how this will unfold… and I have not the right to decline, I asked him to help in exchange for serving him and assisting him with an army, while also helping to cure him… yet I failed in accomplishing any of those…I cannot run away like that, I need to pay him back…” said the girl while looking into my eyes.

“You heard her,” I said “Very well, we leave in one hour…I need to get the other girl now. Haruka, Misaka, and you get to where Nemu is and wait for me” I said and shadow stepped away from the place.

I was headed to Haruna’s location, she was not far, still inside the tree but looked to be in the lower part of it.

The ability of the Herald to see the ones branded is quite powerful…

Once down I began walking towards her location. Some people were there. They all gave way, some even bowed in doing so.

Looking around I saw Haruka conversing with another elf, she was not wearing her armor, just the usual clothes she had before, a tight black leather dress that made her look like a gothic Lolita.

“It's time to go,” I said to her

She turned around and said

“I won’t be going with you” her hands were crossed and her gaze was stern as if defying me

“That was not a request,” I said while I leaned towards her, my face was close to her and my eyes looked right into hers.

She trembled a bit and said

“Who do you think you are? Ordering us around, forcing us like if we are your bitches do you have no Dignity or any of the like? What the hell have I ever done to you to force this faith on me?”

This idiot still has not understood why I did all of this, simply it was to protect them, if I were to let her alone she would die, without my help…she will not be able to protect herself.

“You need to remain a slave, it is for your own good,”

“Bullshit! I don’t need you, I can survive on my own, you can even have your armor back…”

“Alright, alright, you want to be freed right?”

“Yes,” she said without a shred of hesitation

“Then I will do so after we finish this whole thing with our former classmates.”

“What thing?”

“You will know soon enough, now follow me.”

And she did. Honestly, I was thinking about this too, the girls are not that strong, well compared to the power of the divine, they are rather useless, even I, who is much stronger than them died many times to the dwellers of hell, and the dwellers are sealed and incapable of using all of their power. So these girls that only have one chance, one life… it wouldn’t be less than a suicide if I was to force them to come with me… it's better to lose the extra weight…

But strengthening them to face against the ones from this world is not a bad idea, they need to be able to defend themselves, from the hero party or any other dangers… one day I will have to leave them, and they should at least be able to handle themselves… but for now, though I don’t need their strength, I need their presence in the upcoming fight…

Once outside the tree, I met the other girls where I asked them, they were near Nemu and waiting for us. Some of the Elves were there too, probably bidding their princess fare well.

“Time to get to where the action is,” I said and rode atop Nemu, normally I would let him fly us to our destination, but it seems that his current body is too aggressive and relies a lot on instinct, it can attack anything that it will consider a prey so I didn’t want to risk wasting more time.

I summoned my chains and threw them to coil around his horns, they ignited and the dragon roared, not from pain, but from the surge of mana I gave him.

This was so that he would not feel hunger, and concentrate better on the flight.

The girls leaped atop and we flew upward. Due to the strength and size of Nemu. A gust of wind from his wings pushed the spectators a bit some even fell.

The girls looked a bit apprehensive, they were less chatty than before, I wonder what happened…

“Where to?” said Nemu, he didn’t seem to object the fact that I had a rein of flame on him…

“To the human kingdom, take the fastest route possible and I don’t want us to be spotted by the human army on our way too.”

“Alright, this shouldn’t take much time then,” said Nemu and pushed with its wings harder forcing us to almost lose balance from the recoil.

“Show off…” I said to the dragon

“This is not even my final speed,” said the dragon while increasing the speed, even more, just a push of his wings and his body would propel itself a few hundred meters, he would glide for a moment then push forward.

Honestly, aerodynamics, gravity, acceleration laws and all that is related is thrown to the wall when facing magic.

Night fell soon after our departure. The girls remained silent for most of the trip, only speaking few sentences at a time, not the usual from their earlier chattiness.

I was enjoying this silence, however, the night fall and the wind breeze were soothing my mind and making the upcoming event seem less ‘annoying’.

A few hours later, and at the wake of dawn we reached the borders of the dark forest. As we had taken the shortest route we got to the human kingdom even faster.

Haruka got closer to me and said in a low toned voice.

“Are you sure about this Daiki? This will only bring carnage and massacre, innocent people will be involved, people that did nothing wrong…are you that cruel?”

“You will have to wait and see, I will only take what is mine…”

She then sat back, defeated and looking lost, the other girls were silent.

“We will pass the first city in few minutes, it is a half an hour ride to the capital.” Said Nemu

“Good, girls, wear your armors, Nemu, try and get us to an open space near the capital, somewhere close to its gates. It should be big enough to hold an entire army.”

“An open field is a dangerous position to land in, I won’t be damaged much, but your companions might lose their lives.”

“Worry not about the details, I have an idea… just get us there, the humans won’t have enough time to gather a proper army. The open field is for me to use.”

The girls wore their armors and looked ready, while Misaka spoke saying

“Daiki… shouldn’t we have some sort of weapons? To defend ourselves?”

“No need, you won’t be fighting at all anyway. I just need you to do what I ask.”

It was the first time that Misaka became an active person. Usually, she would wait for me to speak then react to what I had to say, now she came to me herself and asked, though not a great deal of a change in character, she is slowly getting used to this current ‘relationship’

“Alright then,” she said.

A few minutes later Nemu said

“We are here.”

Looking down we saw an enormous city, built like a giant fortress; three circular walls separating the inner buildings. The first contained low-class buildings and visible slums while the others had more prestigious ones.

The second circle had an enormous white building. It is probably a cathedral.

The central circle had a giant palace within it.

“Get us down, right there” I pointed at an open field near a great gate.

Once down, we saw the gate hastily closing down while some people that were trying to get inside ran away after being stuck.

“Time to start our little play then,” I said

I then used a skill I learned some time now, it was a vocal skill that enabled me to imbue my voice with mana to convey my words

“HUMANS! RAISE YOUR GATES AND SURRENDER, THE HERALD COMES ASKING FOR TRIBUTE, GIVE ME THE HEROES AND YOU WILL BE SPARED, FAIL TO DO SO AND DEATH AWAITS YOU ALL, YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO ANSWER”

The voice was loud, to say the least, as the girls winced from its intensity and the air vibrated from its strength. Nemu then roared as to certify the threat, a dragon is at your gate I wouldn’t be so dumb to ignore it.

I said these words fully knowing that the heroes are not inside the city, well not all of them, I was able to see three green dots still inside the city, but much more were still behind us, exactly in the dark forest.

After five or so minutes a lone man carrying a banner of the city came on top of a white horse. He was wearing metallic armor, probably a Knight from the royal guards

Once he got closer to us he looked up, at us who were riding a black dragon reined by inflamed chains.

“W-we ask to know the reason behind this act of war! Who might you be to declare war on us.”

“I am the guy that is riding a dragon, I don’t think that you would want to piss that guy right?” I mockingly said “Now my demands, Bring the heroes or suffer the consequences”

“Our kingdom will not yield to the demands of a terrorist, If you want war, you will get it, You and your dragon will not stand a chance against the might of our army”

“If you were not a messenger I would have killed you right now, Go back to your hiding place and tell everyone that if they want to survive they will need to drop their weapons, any that fails to do so shall die. Now go or die here and now”

“You will not have what you seek invader.” Said the man and scurried away

A brave man, even facing against the terror of a dragon he did not falter nor yield but I just needed to know their intentions. After all, it is unfair to attack without giving a proper warning.

“What are you going to do now?” said Haruna, I even felt a bit of cynicism coming out of her mouth.

“What I was planning to do all along. Minion summon!”

As the duke of the sixtieth legion, your minions have heard your call and are ready to answer

How many do you wish to summon?

“All of them!”

Summoning

60 000 Minion.

For that blood must be shed, for that the name must be held

We of the legion, vow to never drop until our breath forever stops.

The ground turned dark around us, dirt began to rip and unravel, hands emerged from it, and creatures began climbing up from the dirt, monsters of horror and fright emerged, bringing an ancient and old terror to the land.

In but few moments an army too big and too frightening had emerged inside the territory of man, however, in but few seconds they started fighting amongst each other, unorganized undisciplined and mainly dirty and stupid.

Shit, I knew something like this would happen, I need to organize them first before I start my plan.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE.?!” Said Haruka while the other girls looked frightened, even the Elf could not utter a word

“Just some minions I got from Hell, no big deal”

I used the same vocal spell to speak the next few words addressing the unorganized army.

“GET YOUR ASSES TOGETHER YOU FILTHY SCUM! THE TARGET IS IN FRONT OF YOU, KILL ANY THAT FIGHT BACK AND ANY THAT HAS A WEAPON, CHILDREN AND ELDERLY AND ANYONE THAT HAS NO WEAPON OR IS NOT ATTACKING YOU IS TO BE SPARED NOW READY UP! YOU WILL CHARGE SOON!”

“Why should we heed your call?” said one of the demons that just rose, “You are not our leader, Thamuz was, you just took the title, you are no demon!”

I inspected him and saw

Vishar Sidin

Level 480

Vice leader of the Sixteenth legion

“You seem not content with my leadership,” I said

“No! None is, you are too merciful, we kill and pillage rape and murder, yet you want us to spare filthy humans, We shall do no such, you better send us back to hell…”

“No, there is no hell for you,” I said then increased my voice “NOR IS THERE A RELEASE TO ANY THAT DEFIES ME! REBEL AND YOU SHALL DIE! COMPLY AND YOU MAY BE SPARED, BUT FREEDOM, IT SHALL NEVER BE YOURS, FOR THAT I AM A TYRANT! AND THIS IS MY CREED!”

The men began to whisper amongst them, some even pulled their weapons up, trying to start some stupid shit up.

I am going to have to do it the hard way then

I jumped down right between all of them and headed for the vice leader, he flinched a bit after feeling my Aura of Imposing Pain, and the rest gave way.

“Like I said, there is no hell for you,”

I then shadow stepped behind him grabbing the back of his neck with my right arm. These filthy bastards only acknowledge strength, and I will show it to them.

Smashing his face to the ground multiple times before he could even do a thing, I raised him for all to see.

“This is the fate of those that dare defy me, of those that dare to not follow my command.”

Opening my mouth I began sucking the very soul out of him, unlike regular demons, the army of Abigor contained trapped souls in hell, this means that their whole bodies are composed of soul energy. Something I needed to refill for the upcoming event.

His life withered away as everyone saw the green particles of his souls being ripped from his very being.

A moment later. He was no more, nothing of him remained, his armor dropped and everyone took a step back.

“THIS IS THE FATE OF THOSE THAT DARE CHALLENGE ME. IF YOU WANT TO MEET THIS FRIEND OF YOURS THEN YOU ONLY NEED TO DEFY ME, SO WHAT SAY YOU? DEFY AND BE SENT TO THE VOID? OR FOLLOW AND BE GRANTED MOMENTS IN THE WORLD OF THE LIVING…”

Normally they wouldn’t have even dared to do this stunt, the time they fought against Ravana they attacked him right after hearing the command from me, but it seems that my control over them has somehow lessened due to them not being in hell anymore…that is why I needed to show this side…

“Now, the vice leader’s seat is empty, who wants this position?”

None dared speak

“Very well, then if no one wants it, no one will have it, I don’t even think it is needed,” I said then jumped back to Nemu’s back.

The minions quieted down, the fights ceased and their behavior was ‘corrected’

Looking at the gate I saw that many soldiers scurried atop it, some archers positioned themselves on the gates and on the towers separating each section of the walls.

“Nemu, break that gate, will you? And try to only destroy the gate… I would like the casualties to be minimal.”

Well like I said, I don’t want to kill any innocent bystanders, but if any of them didn’t heed the call, then it is their mistake, I am not a savior, I never said I was…

“With pleasure,” said the dragon then he opened his mouth and shot a reinforced ray of soul magic that was mixed with black magic.

It only took a split second for the ray to reach. It instantly melted the gate making it look like if it was as thin as a paper.

“Very well, Now let's get this party started,” I said as my minions charged forward.

The gate was open, the humans were at a loss and I was feeling quite good, Ah kingdom conquering, if I knew it would have been this cool I would have done so a long time ago…