On entering the expansive throne room, Darius was reminded once more of just how small he was.

The statues of figures who preceded him- those who had fought numerous battles and reaped glory for the Empire- lined the walls of the room.

Even having risen to the rank of Legion Commander, Darius understood well that there were many above him in terms of athletic skill and glory on the battlefield.

Darius was selected for his position due to his own forthright loyalty to the Emperor, however the reason he was so loyal to the Emperor was exactly because he believed that Percius was a man like no other.

There was no Legion Commander- not even Tirius, who was saddened more at the death of Percius than Darius.

Darius felt guilt that he was not at the Emperor's side at the time of his slaughter, however the fact of the matter was that nobody could have predicted it.

Who would have imagined in a million years that the hero- the man bestowed with immense physical prowess and a destiny to save humanity from the monstrous threat- would betray his own duties?

It was something which made Darius all the more concerned.

'The Indeterminant..... was he not supposed to be the savior of humanity?'

It was then that Darius remembered some of the words of the legend, which he had heard long ago as a child.

'Was there a statement about the possibility of failure? I cannot remember exactly how it went.... but I believe it had something to do with a condition..... if the heroes of each nation were not able to come together as one..... they would not be able to unleash their true strength..... something along those lines?'

As Darius walked through the palace, bringing the status of the world to mind, he knelt before the young Emperor, bowing his head.

The young Emperor looked annoyed.

Currently he was sitting on what appeared to be a chair and a desk.

However, said chair and desk were not made from metal, marble, or wood.

Instead, these pieces of furniture were composed of a number of scarcely dressed women.

Four women posed themselves, struggling to keep themselves held up as they acted as the seat of the young Emperor, and seven of them were lined up in a half completed pyramid, forming a 'table'.

The young Emperor held the paper on the back of one woman as he scribbled.

"You move too much. Look at this. My signature is now unreadable."

"Aren't all signatures barely readable, my liege?"

The one who spoke was the man with long black hair and the thin eyes of a snake. He spoke in such a casual yet persuasive tone that one would wonder if he held any respect for authority, or if he merely irked people to the point where they would not question him.

The men who came in with Darius were lined up behind him, and they all looked over to the lone man with shock.

"Larios. Even if his grace tolerated your own behavior beforehand, do you not think you should show the young Emperor more respect than that?", Darius questioned while glancing to the side.

"You really do have a stick up your ass, Darius. Young Emperor, have my words offended you? I do hope they haven't..... though I will add that they would only irk a man who is not already confident in himself.", Larios said with a chuckle.

Percius V looked up at the two men with a smug grin.

"I don't care. As long as you understand that your position is below even these concubines who I sit on, then there are no problems. Ah, stop fidgeting will you?"

The young Emperor slapped the head of one of the girls beneath him, to which she held herself perfectly still, shivering in an attempt to cease movements.

"Forgive me, my liege.....", she whispered.

"Instead of asking for forgiveness, show me that there is a reason to forgive you through results. A chair does not vibrate."

"Actually, I have heard some strange rumors about vibrating chairs in the Alliance.", Larios added with a grin.

He took no effort to lower himself before the young Emperor, casually speaking as if he were a lifelong friend- and an immature one at that.

"A vibrating chair?"

The young Emperor placed his pen down, allowing the woman who acted as his table to relax her stiffened back.

the Emperor looked over to Larios with intrigue.

His blonde hair was now well combed and swirled about his head in the fashion of a well tailored yet young and frivolous boy.

"Why would one want a chair to vibrate?"

"I have heard that it produces a pleasurable sensation within your backside. Why don't you try it out, my Liege?"

The young Emperor chuckled at this odd suggestion, looking down to the women who made up his chair.

"Tremble."

At these words, the woman began to shiver and shake in fear, causing the young Emperor to float up and down in awkward fashion.

"E- nough. This- is- not- plea-sur-able- in- the- least. Cease- your- trem-bling."

At this, the women became still, to which the Emperor looked back to Larios.

"That information was false. Remove it from your memory. Perhaps it is something only an elf or a dwarf would enjoy. They have strange tastes in the Alliance, don't they?"

"That's to be expected given that the dwarves are able to come to terms with their brutes which they call women. I will take that to heart, young Emperor.", Larios said with a chuckle.

With the wave of his hand the young Emperor silenced the topic, taking the attention of all present.

"Now..... I am sure you two understand why I summoned you here?"

"Of course. We are to prepare for a campaign to slaughter the evil tyrant who has taken over the Ruthobold Kingdom after slaying your father and the former King."

"Exactly. Hero. Come forth."

Many soldiers lined the halls of the palace, and among them a man wearing the armor of a legionnaire stepped forward.

This man was not any different from anyone else. If one were to compare him to the others, he looked like nothing more than an average grunt among the armies of the Empire.

Yet having been called out by the Emperor, he was clearly no ordinary person.

"Troy Ladia of Mitia. You have been selected by the Indeterminant as the hero of our Empire. You now hold the responsibility..... of whatever a hero is supposed to do."

The young Emperor fluttered his hand about as if it didn't particularly matter- or at least, not to him.

"But more important than your heroic duties, you must serve me and this Empire. Therefore, I will have you accompany the Indeterminant as well as the reinforcements of the Sultinate on the campaign to destroy that man who has slain my father. Darius. Larios. You two will serve the hero, and follow his orders. He will follow the orders of the Indeterminant, who will take complete charge over the armies of both nations. And our end goal..... will be the complete crushing of the Kingdom, and the annexation of their lands. With their hero having gone mad and their King having been killed, they lack any form of leadership."

The young Emperor held out his hands with a grin, as if he was ready to receive the world for himself.

"We will allow them to come underneath my rule. I'm pretty generous as an Emperor, aren't I?"

"Of course."

"There is no one more generous than you."

"I agree."

The women who formed the furniture replied, giving agreement to the baseless statements of the young Emperor and fueling his ego.

"I'm doing a pretty good job. Better than my father, that's for sure. Now go on, Troy. I want you to collaborate with these two for strategic whatever you call it. Figure out how to win."

Troy beat his hand to his chest with a smile and a light bow of the head.

"I will do as you say, my liege."

However, just as these words were spoken, the doors opened.

In came a man who had a worried expression on his face. It was a messenger.

"What? More bad news? Why do you messengers keep on coming to me with bad news? Why can't they come to me with good news? Eh? Come here messenger. Look at that worried expression. I can already tell. You're about to say something like 'My liege!! Terrible news!!! Our armies have disappeared!!!', or something like that. Right? Well spit it out already!! Jeez!! Nothing is going right these days. My father left me a real mess. I didn't know that nobody in this Empire was capable of anything!"

The man rushed through the halls, looking back and forth at the men gathered with concern. He was clearly in no place to interrupt such a gathering of esteemed individuals, but he stepped to the front as the Emperor ordered.

"Er.... my liege, perhaps you can read minds?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Quit with the jokes, messenger. Spit it out."

"Well, it is just that it is exactly as you have surmised. The fifth legion has still not been found. It is as if they disappeared into thin air, and we simply have no idea where they could have gone."

"Old news, messenger!! I don't care about Caler-whatever his name was. If he can't find his way to the front line, then he was useless anyways."

"Well, there is more than that...."

The messenger was holding his breath as the Emperor ranted before all. Even Larios remained quiet, though he silently smirked as if he was enjoying the entire scene.

"My liege, the third legion sent out a unit of 8000 men on the campaign within the monster realm. From the reports of the men who remained at the wall, I have come to give you a status update on their actions and progress."

At this statement, the young Emperor sat up with interest.

"Finally something good!! Get to it, messenger. What's going on out there?"

"Er.... that is..... well, according to the report, Tirius set out with 8000 men to take on the village of slimes. It was supposedly a small village very close to the wall which contained only about 20 or so inhabitants, each of which were weak even compared to the average soldier. As far as I know, it was in order to establish a base of communication within this village, from which they would expand their operations."

"I see. So what happened after they took this village? Has anything of note happened?"

"Well.... that is the issue. No messengers have been sent from the slime village, which Tirius was supposed to overtake. Not a man returned, so it was assumed at first that he was successful in taking the village, however no contact was kept. There was not a single messenger who was sent back to the wall to inform them of the movements of the unit."

"What the hell? Not keeping contact with the wall? That's a strange way to go about it. Is he perhaps trying to keep his movements hidden so that the monsters don't catch onto anything?"

"I am unsure about that point, however there is one disturbing issue..... any and all messengers who have been sent out from the wall in an attempt to make contact have not returned."

"Hm..... so either he is keeping everything on the down low and preventing even the slightest slip of information..... or something has happened. Is that about right?"

"That is correct."

"Whatever. The chance that something happened against 20 slime people who are apparently weak is low. I don't really understand what he's thinking, but I'm not a general so I'll let him do what he needs. As long as he succeeds, that's all that matters."

"I..... I see. Then, that is all, my liege."

"Get out of my sight."

The young Emperor waved his hand to which the man bowed before taking his leave quickly.

"Now then..... where were we? Ah right. Go form a plan or something. I don't really care. Same orders really. Just make sure we win, ok hero?"

"I understand."

As the Emperor spoke these uninformed orders, the messenger exited the doors of the throne room, and as he opened this door two figures stepped into the room, swapping places with him.

"So sorry to arrive unannounced, young Emperor."

At the sound of this voice, all eyes turned towards the entrance.

Inside the room walked two people. One was a dark skinned woman who had black hair that was styled in a specific foreign style. Her long eyelashes accented her distrusting eyes, which pierced into the hearts of all who met them.

She wore the outfit of a belly dancer, with a short cut shirt and baggy Arabic pants, and she walked without a care beside the man she entered with.

The man she stood by was a handsome man with blonde hair and a casual smile. He entered with grandeur, elegantly stepping forward with grace and style.

At seeing the contrast between the two, one might wonder just what such a pair was doing together, however the words of the Indeterminant quickly took care of such doubts.

"I've returned with the hero of the Sultinate. This is Risa Saheed, and she will be assisting in this Campaign. I also believe that the Sultinate will be preparing their reinforcements."

The people watched as the two stepped forward, taking spots at the side of Troy, Darius, and Larios.

Bowing his head and kneeling before the Emperor, Oscar spoke once more.

"It appears that everyone has gathered. My liege, is there anyone remaining? Should we start this campaign immediately?"

The young Emperor could not hold back a grin as he viewed the two before him.

"The heroes have returned. Haha..... this is great. Alright. Go ahead. Since everyone is here, do what you need to do and then head off."

With a quick smile, the Emperor spoke in a commanding tone.

"We'll show those Kingdom folk that they are headed by a demon in disguise."

----

The people who had gathered filed out of the palace and into a meeting room, all following the Indeterminant who stood at the head.

Following Troy, a certain figure stepped out of the ranks of men who stood beside the Emperor, joining the group to attend the meeting.

Darius and his men took the back rows of the line, and the group walked through the hallways in silence before entering a room with a long table and many seats.

At the head, Oscar took the main seat. On his left sat Risa, and on his right Troy took a seat. Next to Troy, the figure who had exited the line of men took his own position.

This figure was covered from head to toe in bandages, to the point where even his own face and skin were covered. Not even his eyes were visible, and he wore a shoddy suit of leather armor and a dark cloak covering himself, unlike the other men of the legions.

Larios then tried to take a seat next to Risa, however she gave him a glare and spoke before he sat down.

"Get away from me. I don't wanna sit next to any of you."

"My, so bold. For a woman to tell me such a thing straight to my face, it hurts."

"I wasn't just referring to you. I meant everyone."

"Except for the man who you currently sit next to?"

"I trust him..... a teeny bit more than anyone else here. A smidgen. That's it."

"Hahaha.... you are certainly an interesting person, hero of the Sultinate."

"I don't intend to be."

The man instead took a seat with one spot in between him and Risa, and Darius took a seat on the side of the bandaged figure, looking at him in confusion. His men then filled the rest of the seats.

"Forgive my rudeness, but who are you?", Darius asked as he looked to the figure. "You were among the lines of the soldiers of the Emperor just a moment ago, yet you joined our discussion here in this room. Why are you here?"

"Ah, he is with me. He is one of my..... most trusted subordinates.", Troy stated quickly.

"I see. Please forgive my rudeness."

"None taken.", the figure replied in a crackling tone which sounded ever so slightly unhuman.

"What's with that outfit? That's shady. Show yourself. I don't intend to sit at the same table as someone who's trying to hide their appearance.", Risa stated as she eyeballed the figure, though she did not meet his eyes, as they too were covered in bandages.

"Ah, please forgive me but I have a certain skin condition. I am allergic to light, and should I remove these bandages my skin will fester up. Of course, if you wish to see my boils and blisters, I would be more than willing to show you..... but it won't be pretty."

"Show me. I can't trust you."

Without hesitation, Risa asked the figure something that took no consideration for the man before her.

She couldn't trust anyone, nor would she work with anyone who was hiding anything.

"Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you."

The figure unveiled his hood and took the bandages off his face to reveal a pale white skin that was riddled with red blotches of blood, blisters, and bruises.

The complexion of the man was horrible. It appeared to be a young man, yet he was sickly to the point where one might think he was an elderly fellow.

"Satisfied?", he asked.

"Forgive me. I didn't mean for you to have to show something like that. I just cannot allow someone to be hiding themselves at such an important conversation."

"I understand perfectly. After all, what if I were some sort of invader who was disguising myself as another?"

"Of course. That could certainly have been the case."

"Can I start now?"

Oscar spoke up, taking the floor as he looked around to those surrounding him.

When he was met with no reply he ran his hand through his hair with a smile.

"Great. We have a ton to discuss, and I understand that there is a lot of distrust and issues among those gathered..... but we are here under a single goal. Don't forget this."

Looking up with bright expression, Oscar peered into the eyes of the men around him.

Most of them were preparing themselves mentally for battle.

"I am not sure myself when the last time an official war happened between nations, but I assume that it hasn't happened on this scale for a long time. Our goal.... is the defeat of the hero of the Kingdom who has gone rampid with his own madness, and the annexation of the helpless people of the Kingdom so that the Emperor may reassure them and restore their lives to a relative normalcy."

The men nodded, all coming to agreement on at least this point.

"I am sure you have all been debriefed at least lightly on the situation, but I will begin with my own narrative on exactly what happened in the Kingdom. After all.... it is my own fault that such a situation has come about."

Looking down with remorse, Oscar acted perfectly as if he legitimately regretted his own mistakes.

"And it is through my own efforts that I will destroy the monster that I have raised."

----