Demon continent Alsace in the year 307 in the 10-month Asmodum on the 26th day after the shattering of the empire.

Getting a thousand men through a thin corridor was no easy task and they would be heard from afar by any enemy that existed down here. Also, they would not be able to bring numerical superiority to bear, since only a handful of them could fight at a time.

The opponents had the same limitations, of course, but they were under the influence of the Meinoume and would not behave as normal soldiers would. 

Golems could be of great help now, hopefully, the Larrua can bring them back under their control.

They had split into several groups, against her advice, since the Larrua had no protection from Meinoume's influence, she thought it was a dangerous game of luck and she had the feeling that the Larrua had no luck to spare at the moment.

At least they had found their fighting spirit again, even if it was thanks to her that they did not fall under the influence of the Meinoume. Otherwise, their will to fight would not increase but would be slowly suffocated by it.

Which is why she kept fanning it, what Meinoume could do, she could already do. She would make sure that Eder's Larrua would survive this day, even if she had to intervene in their minds to a greater extent.

In the tunnel in front of them, figures appeared, still hard to recognize, but they seemed to be Larrua from the other side.

Panos gave a hand signal that caused the soldiers behind them both to slow down. 

"What do you think, one of ours or one possessed by the hunger?"

She focused on her domain until it stretched all the way down the long hallway and she could see the ten soldiers in her domain.

The minds showed her a similar image as she had seen too many times today and had this not betrayed the soldiers, it would have been their uniforms.

"No, they're not one of ours." She did not bother to add that they were some of their own, converted by the priests of Meinoume.

"They smell like some of our own Commander." One of the officers they had picked up spoke up.

"Yes, I can smell that too, could you free them from the spell of the eternally hungry like the others?" Panos turned to her. 

She had already expected something like this since it was always the same request.

"It's already done, but we should hurry, I could see in their minds that the enemies are already at Diva's cell, they should just find stragglers and bring them to the priests."

She extended her domain again so that it was she was in its center, and while she was at it, she might as well stretch it to its maximum range to react early enough to situations like the one she had just encountered.

Since it could only be an advantage to free more soldiers from the clutches of Mainoume, if this increased their numbers, they would possibly outnumber the attackers and even if numbers were not everything in a fight, they were helpful.

Still, there remains the problem with the tunnel and that only a few of us can fight some of the enemies at a time.

It is possible that she could widen the tunnels in certain places to allow more of them to fight. But this would allow the enemies to do the same.

Not that there wouldn't be enough brave fighters and with each squad that rejoins our side, the fire of revenge grows in the hearts of the Larrua.

So they would not lack fighters, but still, this was not really a possibility. She would have to think of something else, or Panos and his officers might think of something. 

She would first see how it would go on and act accordingly, as she had already learned at the military academy no plan survived the contact with the enemy. Which is why she could make some, but should not rely on their one hundred percent implementation.

Always remain flexible, as we learned.

What she wouldn't give now for a handful of her soldiers, but they were on another continent and busy being bored, and she had to suffer through a jungle here ... Well, suffering was a bit exaggerated, it hadn't been a bad life so far, yet she couldn't help being reminded of her old life. 

Still, she couldn't suppress a sigh, with her own soldiers she wouldn't have such a problem taking the lead and leading them in small troops through the different corridors to save Diva. 

Soldiers sworn to her, through their oath to her she could communicate with them telepathically and they could not be attacked mentally.

Was there something similar that she could use to turn away the influence from the spirits of Larrua. She scoured her memory, going over each and every memory that was even remotely related to mentally defending others.

"Commander do we have some Larrua among us who know the sacred runes of the Diva? Priests or aspirants?" Panos, as he continued to walk, turned to her.

"Why? Never mind! And do we have anyone like that among us?" He turned to one of the officers who had organized the troops.

The latter thought for a few moments as they approached the troops freed from the influence of Meinoume.

She could already see the next squad of soldiers in her domain.

"I think we have one or two, but why?" Answered the latter Panos and her, turning to her as he asked for the reason.

"Prayers and sacred symbols are probably the best defense for the soldiers if we want to split up further and also if we meet a priest of Meinoume. Besides, don't you think it would be better if we had some security than just relying on me to keep the influence off your minds." 

" HOLD!" Shouted Panos in response. 

"Which of you was an aspirant to the priests? Step forward and also anyone else who knows about the runes of the priesthood." At the latter, he gave her a questioning look, and only at her nod had he added it. 

"Then explain your plan."

"It is very simple, those of you who know the runes of the priesthood will show them to me, I will engrave this on your armor, and lastly you will all have to pray to Diva since as your creator she can ward off any influence on you."

At least she hoped that Titan's religion worked like a deity's religion and that they could be protected from Meinoume's influence by it.

Gradually, some Larrua pushed forward through the crowd of soldiers, and she was able to pull the runes from the soldiers' memories, and with a little Arcane Art of Will, she could transfer them to any armor.

As in the battle against the enemy Larrua, this too came too easily to her. She had never used this spell before and yet she could recall it from her memory without any problems, which was not what was surprising, but the fact that she could easily use it without ever having practiced it, and even in this life she had used little Arcane Energy of Will, focusing instead on Arcane Energy of Body Art. Also, her Arcane reserves had hardly been tapped and they had had a few fights and she needed to expend some energy to free the Larrua from Meinoume's influence.

She would have to get to the bottom of that later, though, because the next group of enemies she had been keeping an eye on with the help of her domain was coming around the corner, and this one was accompanied by a priest of Meinoume. 

Perhaps he had noticed that his victims were getting lost?