Authors Note:

Good afternoon everyone! This series of chapter releases can be attributed to COVID-19 locking me up inside my house. This rapid release also indicates something else though, we're approaching the end of the first arc.

What's that? You didn't know there were arcs?! Hahah! As expected since I never mentioned it! For those who are curious, Arc 1 is titled :Rise of the Fake Demon Lord. In predictable fashion, Arc 2 is titled :Fall of the Fake Demon Lord.

All of that was to say though, I would appreciate if you rated this story and left a review. As it's nearing the end of Arc 1, I'd like to adjust the contents of Arc 2 according to the feedback I receive. While comments are lovely, and I do enjoy reading them, they tend to focus only on the chapter at hand and not on the entire story.

That being said, please rate and leave a review on the main story page. It both encourages me as an author to continue this story and helps me correct mistakes that tend to be forgotten due to chapter releases being so widely dispersed.

Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Until next time!

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Remaining true to his pace, a crimson haired Elemental found himself in front of a reinforced steel gate. He traced the mana coursing through the city entrance and discerned the basic functionality while ignoring the guards standing beside it. The guards, thinking he was just another wanderer amazed at the technological prowess of Inmont City, allowed the man to near the gate under premise of a tourist while they managed the ever increasing line of immigrants and merchants.

The man kneaded mana and turned his focus to the gate before injecting his mana into the visible traces. As if overtaking the natural function, the blue traces dyed red as the corruption spread through the structure. Moments later, the sturdy gate that protected the Western entrance opened under its own power surprising both the guards and guests. The guards issued orders to the crowd to keep panic as low as possible while the gate guard reported the situation to higher headquarters. In their response, they failed to notice the lacking presence of the crimson haired man.

During the same time that Inmont's gate malfunctioned, Allison and Sahib were in the middle of shopping in town. Their training was mostly complete and had the full cooperation and backing of the Adventurers Guild as official members. They had yet to establish themselves with a team, but they were already well known throughout the guild's network as promising rookies. The degree of combat capabilities they possessed and the latent magic confirmed within each of them drove their instructions to train them even harder and as a result, their names spread by both word of mouth and through personal connections.

While carrying the results of their shopping through the main street, a siren reverberated through the air halting both Sahib and Allison in their tracks. Three short and three long tones repeated over and over while City Knights moved to evacuate civilians from the streets. Part of their training as adventurers was to learn the emergency broadcast codes as the Adventurers Guild was part of the militia system. In this case, three short and three long tones indicated an unknown enemy was approaching.

The two stole a glance at each other before their bodies moved. They rushed through the streets at full sprint making their way to the Adventurers Guild's building when they came across a mysterious man with long crimson hair walking calmly through the streets towards them. Allison slid to a stop with Sahib following her lead. They both realized it. Rather they were forced to recognize the familiar sensation that grated against their mind.

Despite the chaos surrounding them and the citizens running through the streets, the man remained calm and appeared otherwise unaffected. Such a hint was enough to prove he was out of place, but the the aura he emitted was even more revealing. Allison looked to Sahib as if to ask the obvious question with her eyes and the young boy seemed to agree. His figure wasn't shaking, but Allison noticed the boy kept his body tense to react, an unusual state for a boy who avoided fights as a matter of course. Allison drew her attention back to the man who seemed to have taken an interest in her.

Before she realized, the man appeared directly in front of her with less than a meter of separation between them. The alarms honed in through battle experience and training forced her body to react without her mind's consent. She dropped the bag of and drew a dagger from hip to swing at the man. Sahib reacted in similar fashion accelerating forward to engage the man. His calm demeanor under the assault of the two didn't break as he avoided Allison's swipe. Sahib was less lucky as the man rotated his torso and hips with a leg following straight into Sahib's side. The young boy was launched skyward while coughing blood and the man continued his rotation sending the back of his hand into Allison's gut.

Unable to react, she was flung into the side of a building, her reinforcement magic shattering its protective veil under the single strike. As if to follow after her, the man extended his palm at the ribs of Sahib mid fall planting him directly beside her. Unable to move her body, Allison could only watch under helpless eyes as the man approached the two. His expression hadn't changed once during their exchange and that was enough for Allison to know the futility of resisting him. Betraying her expectations, the man bent his knees in front of them and seemed to look intently at them. She felt the mana surrounding them flow towards the man as he kneaded it and she felt a magic invoke.

Her numb body regained a little strength and the wounds that opened from impact restored themselves until the bleeding stopped. With her newfound strength, she directed concerned eyes at Sahib, but relaxed after seeing him also receive the care. Returning her focus to the man bent down before them, she couldn't help but feel like he was still directing an intense stare at her. Rather than scared, his recent actions drew her curiosity instead. From him she felt a similar uncanny aura that woman also emitted. As if to respond to that questioning gaze, the man spoke up.

"Where did you receive that power from?"

His question was directed at the two of them and yet neither understood the subject. Perhaps sensing their confusion, the man continued.

"Your bodies contain a foreign power. Where did you get that power from?"

Allison forced herself to reply for fear of invoking the man's wrath with silence.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Me and Sahib were summoned as heroes. Are you sensing that?"

"No. That power is yours. Hero summoning only brings out latent abilities of a selected individual. Those results belonged to you from the start. I want to know about the foreign power inside you."

Allison scoured her memories for anything related to the foreign power, but her summoning was the only thing that came to mind. Her eyes flickered in recognition as an idle thought crossed her mind. Sensing her recollection, the man persisted his question. Weighing the fear of the woman versus the man in front of her, Allison had no choice but to decide the immediate threat is higher in priority.

"Does that power feel similar to you?"

"Yes."

"Tsk. So it was that after all...What a troublesome woman. That power you're sensing was an unwarranted separation gift forced onto me and Sahib. I don't know what it is though, she never gave me details like that."

The man seemed to think about her response but stood from his spot and stretched a hand towards her after a moment. Allison couldn't help but dance her gaze between the man and his extended hand. A cautionary hand grasped her shirt from the side drawing her attention. Sahib seemed to be worried as well and upon observing the interaction between the two, the man realized his mistake.

"I only retaliated after you attacked me. I did not mean to hurt you, only disable so I could question you. I will not harm you. You are not my target."

Allison's eyes narrowed at his comment. Even if she ignored the statement about disabling them only, the man dropped extremely worrying words. Despite her situation, she felt she had to ask the question.

"What do you plan to do with your 'target'?"

"I will hunt it and bring it back to where it belongs. Wild elements must not be allowed to exist."

"Are you heading to capture 'it' after this?"

"Yes."

"Take me with you."

"That was my intention. You have a link with it. You will serve as good bait."

"Bait...Well, fine. Sahib and I were going to leave town and head to Profectus anyhow."

"Profectus?"

"You didn't know? That thing you're looking for is at Profectus City...Well, most likely. I figured you already knew since you came this way.", Allison replied to the unexpected question with exasperation.

"I'm only following the mana signature."

Allison grasped his outstretched hand and pulled herself up. Reaching out to Sahib, she pulled him up as well.

"My name is Allison, this is Sahib. If you want us to go with you, you're gonna do it our way. I don't plan on being kidnapped by a stranger."

"That's fine."

"And?", she directed a questioning look at the man who ignored her introduction.

"And?", he replied without a hint of suspicion.

From his response alone, Allison felt a headache come on. She felt she already had a grasp on the man's character from the small exchange just now. Riding on that feeling of understanding, she forced the situation on track.

"What's your name? How do we refer to you?"

"I don't have a name. Call me however you want."

"No name...? Why do I run across people like this?! Am I cursed...? Should I see a priest?", she held her head with her hands while muttering rude comments at her fate.

"Crim."

Breaking the odd mood, Sahib spoke lightly with a directed gaze at the man. Picking up on the soft voice, Allison reeled herself in and took a moment to observe the man in earnest for the first time.

"I see...Crim for crimson? It definitely fits him I guess. Right, then we'll call ya Crim. How's that?"

"Acceptable. Let's go."

"Aaaahhh! Wait, wait, wait, wait! Ouch!", Allison moved to grasp the cloth of the as he walked away but yelped as the cloth burned her skin.

She looked over him trying to figure out what burned her, but couldn't determine the source. Crim stopped moving and returned to facing the two with his signature stoic face. Allison ignored the boring face and continued her original intent.

"Sahib and I need to prepare for the trip. We can't just leave on the spot. We need to register with the guild as well so we don't get in trouble. Even before all that though, you don't hear that siren!? It means an enemy is nearing Inmont. We can't just leave. The city gates are on lock down by now."

The man didn't seem to care about the situation. At his silent reply, Allison tried to persuade him further.

"Listen, we will go with you to find...'it'. For now, can you lend your strength? Sahib and I were on our way to the Adventurers Guild when we came across you. They will give us orders after...we...get...there...", her voice faded as her sights climbed to the city wall in the distance and the large mass appearing over it.

Crim followed her gaze to the behemoth. Though his face was stoic, Allison and Sahib felt his fighting spirit spark a bit. Though hard to see from their position, the beast appeared built of stone. Various crystals stuck out through its limbs, but the large crystalline orb resting inside a cavity on its back stood out the most. Its movements were slow, but despite the many clumsy gestures it used to climb with, it was unaffected by the magic being flung at it by the Knights nearby.

Allison took a step back at the sight. Her eyes though, were not locked onto that creature being attacked, but rather were floating along the circumference of the city walls. Despite where she looked, similar beasts started peeking from the other side of the wall and moved with a sloths pace to clamber over. The first beast she noticed seemed to reach the tipping point and its balance placed it entirely on the inner city. It released its grip and plummeted to the ground ejecting dirt and dust as plumes into the sky. Allison felt fear at the plumes, not because the seismic rippled of the collision reached her, but because it looked to her that the creature fell on purpose. As if to prove her fear, further seismic shocks reached her position as the behemoths tumbled over one after another.

While Allison and Sahib were entranced at the sight, King and Queen Asalerian were stationed inside the royal vault issuing commands and receiving reports from the Knights outside. His ministers were occupied receiving reports and organizing the information as well. With his main General in the same room as him, King Asalerian questioned him fervently.

"Cain, have the gates been sealed?!"

"Sir! We sealed them. The Western gate malfunctioned earlier, we were forced to barricade it, but the creatures ignored it regardless! I'm getting reports they number nearly fifty strong and have already surrounded the Capital!"

"How the hell did they get so close without anyone seeing them?!"

"From the distance, they resembled boulders. By the time anyone noticed they were moving, it was already too late!"

"Dammit!...How about weapons? Have you managed to kill any of them yet?"

"No. Standard steel weapons appear useless. Magic is reflected off them as well. So far, only earthen and water based magic has managed to damage them."

"Such weak magics hurt them?!"

"I was surprised as well...We don't train much in those though, so the problem is finding competent Knights!"

"We'll worry about such trivialities later. For now...Elric!", the King called his Prime Minister who was receiving reports from front liners.

"Your Majesty.", he bowed while waiting for his King's order.

"Shoot a flare. We need the Adventurers Guild to step in. Prepare the communications orb as well. I want to talk to Profectus City. It's impossible to think they fell from an assault meaning there must be another route the Demons are getting in from!"

"T-that is not possible, my King. Their orb was damaged during our last communication with them over the female Fairy.", Elric replied in nervousness.

"Useless!! Go notify the Adventurers Guild then!"

"Yes!!", he screamed as he ran out the door.

Returning his attention to his General, King Asalerian overheard a few words from the report delivered.

"...the caves!", reported the Knight with a pale complexion.

"Good job, son. Return to the front lines and get me more information."

"Yes sir!", the young man saluted before returning to his duties.

"What about the caves General?"

"Ah, you heard that?...I've been investigating the caves cropping up all over Klasika. It's as if the just rose from the ground over night, but the inside of each one is different. Apparently, these monsters were seen by citizens to be coming out of the caves."

King Asalerian's face paled in terror at the news. He couldn't help but reply.

"No way...How many were reported so far?..."

The grim expression infected even the General upon realizing the King's intent behind the question.

"Two hundred and sixty..."

Two hundred and sixty caves were reported to have sprouted up throughout Klasika. In the report, these fifty or sixty seemed to emerge from only three of those. What's worse, the majority of the caves were nowhere near Inmont. Losing the strength in his legs for a moment, the General balanced himself against the table.

***

King Gilphriya stood at the edge of his railing. His Queen locked her arms around his arm and followed his gaze. Her body tensed at the sight, but at the calm exterior her husband showed, she remained calm as well. Having felt her tightening grasp on his arm, King Gilphriya moved his hand to cover hers in comfort. The two weren't alone in their observance of the spectacle as the people of Erlan were all outside their houses looking at the forest floor.

Though they lived in the canopy of the trees with their houses built around the sturdy limbs sprouting at every angle, the beasts moving below them were large enough to discern at glance. Starting almost a month ago, King Gilpriya started receiving citizen reports of strange occurrences inside Gilphriya. Initially, he pushed the reports back as inconsequential but as the number of reports increased and their allied nation started sharing reports of their own unusual sightings, he was forced to take action.

He sent out investigators to sample sites, but the results always returned the same. The caves appeared unnatural in their structure but appeared to sprout out of the ground over the course of a night or two. Each of the caves held an abnormal amount of mana in its surroundings and they all retained a unique appearance. According to the reporting of his allied nation Klasika, the caves revealed themselves as a form of cavern with a rocky exterior and barren innards.

Unlike their allied nation though, the caves that appeared within Gilphriya resembled large tree stumps ejected from the ground. Each trunk was massive in size yet hollowed out. Shrubbery rapidly grew around its exterior and despite investigators pruning the plant life surrounding the site, it always seemed to restore itself over night. Further investigations using soundwaves to probe the ground beneath the sites found a hollow chamber of variable size. Each site seemed random yet there was an obvious relationship between the size of the discovered chamber and the concentration of mana.

The tree that supported his house swayed after a behemoth knocked against its base in its clumsy lumbering. Emergency reports from Klasika revealed they were under siege by similar beasts, but there were clear differences as well. As if to assimilate the character of the nation, the beasts roaming the forest floor resembled crabs constructed of vine and crystal. Their eight legs formed from massive trunks shattered the ground under the immense weight they supported. Two arms protruded from the creature and was covered in vines that wrapped around whatever it neared as if to strangle the object. Embedded into the back of each creature was a massive crystalline orb that reflected what little light penetrated the canopy.

The moment the creatures were spotted, King Gilphriya moved into action his forces and issued alerts to his citizens to avoid the beasts. Though he appeared to only calmly watch the creature move about, he was in fact in constant communication with an assault team. Rather than launch an all out attack against the creatures and stir their wrath, an investigatory team was dispatched to the border of the forest to engage one of the creatures. What results came back suggested a weakness to earth and water magics, but such magics were too weak for normal use, so the country prioritized more combat oriented magics instead.

King Gilphriya couldn't help but feel hollow at the revelation. Another sway reached he and his Queen knocking the two of them off balance for a moment. He moved an arm around the waist of his Queen to help her steady herself by his side. Though the beasts have yet to cause any major damage, the mere fact that they remained idle around the forest floor was enough to worry him. Even if the creatures were potentially docile, how could their nation even hope to control beasts of such massive scale and durability.

While wracking his brain, additional emergency reports arrived from Naoki. Hearing the contents of the report, King Gilphriya and his Queen's eyes widened in horror.

***

Naoki, despite its location bordering an ocean, consisted primarily of arid desert due to prevailing winds forcing storms north. Though lacking standard vegetation due to its environment, Naoki instead focused on animal husbandry and fishing. Expansive flat plains provided the perfect environment to raise Chukuku birds which were hardened ostrich like creatures that thrived on cacti like vegetation. Rather than fur or feather, the birds produced reflective scales radiant of all colors. Due to their docile nature and high output of scales, the birds were used as both a food source and export product.

Naoki's capital Isamu resided along its North Western coast and housed not only the most advanced technology in Naoki, but also the upper aristocracy of Naoki. This sea bordering city was surrounded by a semicircular wall on land and included a navel port that doubled as both a commercial inlet and military post. From the outside, it was obvious that each of the gates leading into Isamu were wide open. From those entrances, a massive evacuation was underway with a trail of wagons being rushed out from the city center.

Leading the evacuation and issuing orders was a large Pantherian with black fur mixed with orange spots. His deep voice echoed over the city transmitted through the speaker system setup only recently thanks to technology imported from Inmont. Plumes of dust escaped the city center, rising above the defensive walls and falling to cover evacuees and personnel. Those closer to the source of the billowing dust could only hear screams and the shouts of commands.

"Surround it!"

"I can't pierce it with my lance!"

"Magic! Use magic!"

"It's no good!"

The assorted voices were disparate and panicked, but held the resoluteness of warriors. From the collage of yells, one stood above them all issuing orders.

"Those capable of magic, test each attack carefully! Warriors with steel, follow up on the areas struck with magic!"

King Naoki remained on the front line against the massive creature that was flailing on the ground. He and his Queen were enjoying themselves in their room when the foundation of the palace shuddered. Thinking it was an earthquake, something uncommon in the area but not impossible, they evacuated the palace out of caution. He realized something was wrong only after stepping from the palace and finding the ground still. He found himself looking back with widened eyes at the flexing pillars and fracturing structure.

The shakes increased further forcing the entire palace to evacuate. For nearly thirty minutes, the quakes continued while gaining in strength over time. It took only a moment, but the shakes halted and then the ground collapsed. Recognizing the sight as similar to potholes reported around his nation, King Naoki could only shudder. The scale was just too different. Of the potholes reported, they were each deep with a shallow incline from their edge, but rarely did the radius of the holes ever exceed twenty meters. Despite that standard, the hole that opened in front of them swallowed the entire palace. The nearly two hundred meter radius crumbled into a pitch black darkness in the ground.

Stunned at the spectacle, the King, Queen and their followers were only able to stand in silence at the site. Though stunned, they were awoken from that state at the arrival of a clambering noise reverberating off the walls of the shaft. The noise increased from one source to two, then to six, then to twenty until it became incessant. The arrival of the noise drove the King to issue orders of evacuation to his servants and ministers. They quickly moved into action and only moments later, behemoths covered in sand and stone were sighted crawling up the walls.

The skin of each creature seemed mobile and shifting to assume the best shape to grip the wall. His first impression was that of a slime or jellyfish, but upon reaching the surface, it became something closer to an octopus. They supported their massive bodies with the flowing tentacles that continued to shift from one form to another and embedded into their torso was a large crystalline orb that seemed to act as an eye.

The moment he saw their climbing figures, he issued orders to gather all forces inside the city and hold the beasts back while the citizens evacuated.

"Water magic! Water disintegrates their skin!"

"Earth too! It freezes their movements!"

While thinking 'finally, good news', King Naoki issued further orders.

"Focus on the limbs! Push em back into the hole if you can! Don't try and win this, we're evacuating after the citizens are safe!"

Turning his focus to his Queen, he left her with orders as well.

"My Queen, go to the adventurers guild and use their communications crystal to report to Klasika. I doubt help will arrive in time, but request reinforcements as well."

His gaze returned to the swarming behemoths that moved at an excessively slow pace before returning back to her.

"In fact, report our status to everyone. If this is the work of the Demons, it means they're no longer trapped inside the Demons continent. In the worst case, we will have to band together in a way our ancestors once did."

"I will my King...Please be careful.", she left those words with him before bounding off to the adventurers guild.

Turning his attention back to the creatures, King Naoki continued issuing orders along side his Generals and city police to confine and slow them down as much as possible.

***

The guard flew around Sacramentum in the course of his normal duties to patrol the City. Each flap of his wings carried him further into the sky. He slid in and out of the barrier that protected the city enjoying the feeling while also scouring the landscape. As always, he surveyed the distant lands in hopes of proving himself to Demon Lord Arakis Nul Dieth. Unlike other days however, the hazy air contorted odd colors he had never seen before.

In his distant vision, he saw multiple figures approaching but due to the differing layers of heat and their temperature, the distorted figures appeared grotesque and enormous. Though curious, he left the barrier to scout the figures due to his sense of duty instead. His distance shortened and the figure became clearer and yet his disposition fell in proportion. His vision filled with the behemoths climbing the sandy slopes of the dune and after realizing he only witnessed one due to the hill from the city, he raised a hand to the sky in reflex and kneaded a large amount of mana. He felt the wind whip around his form for a second and then he invoked his magic.

A condensed ball of fire launched into the air consuming the mana that fueled it until imploding on itself far above the ground. The repeated implosions emitted an alternating blue and green rotating ring of fire around it. Having seen the signal, Sacramentum defense forces moved to action. Scouts deployed from the city covering the sky and spread in all directions. Receiving their reports through telepathy, representative ministers inside the castle collected information and issued follow on orders.

Reports of the behemoths approaching the city was only the beginning. Though the signal was sighted South of Sacramentum, further reporting from the new scouts revealed behemoths approaching from the North and East as well. Though none were spotted to the West, the ministers continued to monitor the area under the assumption of traps or potential strategies from the enemy. The early reporting moved the city's reaction into war mode against the approaching threats. Deploying after receiving initial reports, the defensive units of Sacramentum split the cardinal direction into areas of interest and assigned the regions to those capable. Two generals remained within Sacramentum and so they were assigned the Southern and Eastern regions respectively. Assuming the final area were the ministers. Since they lacked the power of a general, forces were distributed with a bias towards the Northern division.

Arriving before his troops, General Kruger overlooked the approaching behemoths. Their figures lacked the symmetrical appearance typically associated with living creatures. Multiple stone like legs attached to a massive abdomen supported each creature. The inflated abdomen rode across the ground raised at most four meters in the air. Attached to that inflated rear stood a segmented torso resembling a praying mantis. The mixture of stone and flowing sand covered the surface of the creature and embedded into its chest was a large crystalline orb. The uneven distribution of legs on both sides of the creature and odd placement of the arms at varying lengths up the torso drew a disgusted grimace from Kruger.

He readied his favorite sword and moved to assault one of the creatures that was somewhat isolated from the rest. Their slow moving pace enabled him to time his encounter without issue and upon his first slash, he was repelled by an invisible barrier. Though no damage occurred to his weapon, he remained astounded at the strength of the barrier and moved to inject mana into his sword and slash again. Once more, his sword was reflected, though he noticed the barrier failed to reflect all of the damage this time. Injecting further mana into his sword, he assaulted the beast as a test and dissected a leg from its body.

His moment of elation didn't last long as the beast seemed to ignore the damage and continue lumbering along as if it had no sense of pain. Taking the advantage of being ignored, Kruger followed his first attack into several more removing the behemoths ability to move. Despite its lack of means for further locomotion, it squirmed in place as if it were still walking. Seeing its movements, Kruger thought it might be a doll of some sort, but after moving his eyes to the excessive number of beasts approaching, he marked it off as an option. In his mind, only a being of equal standing to the Demon Lord would be capable of controlling such a number of creatures.

Meanwhile, General Aluro watched Kruger's fight through his magic and observed the weaknesses of the beasts. His vision returned from the mirage showing Kruger onto the swarming behemoths and donned a disgusted expression. Clicking his tongue at the average strength of the beasts, he moved to assault the creatures using magic. Kneading mana, he overlaid his imagination across the field crawling with behemoths and invoked an overwhelming assault magic.

Rings of magic circles appeared under each beast and with it, bolts of lightning dropped from the sky striking through the creatures. From his observations, the barrier that resisted Kruger failed to protect the beasts from his magic...and yet the creatures continued moving. Though the sandy exterior turned molten with a hole bored following the lightning bolt's path, the beasts ignored the injury and resumed their travels.

Clicking his teeth once again at the miserable showing, he once again kneaded magic. Upon invoking, flames erupted from magic circles radiating from the ground beneath each beast and wrapped around them encasing their bodies within the fireball. Aluro continued his experiments and observed the results only to be disappointed once more. The creatures stumbled through the flames trailing smoke behind them. Despite sections of their body turning molten and some creatures lurching forward only to collapse on the ground, no lethal damage registered with them.

Irritation was building within Aluro at seeing some of his most powerful assaults tossed off like glancing blows. As he strategized, he chose to combine multiple effects and sprayed the molten beasts with jets of water to rapidly cool them down. To his surprise, the water magic tore through the beasts despite it lacking the power of his lightning strikes. Although it was dissatisfying, Aluro reported the weakness to the ministers who further distributed strategies to the other divisions.

Just as he relaxed, a screech reverberated through the air from behind him. When he turned around, he witnessed the barrier surrounding Sacramentum straining against an intruder on the West side. A beast similar to what he just found somehow closed the distance to Sacramentum at a pace none of the others showed and was now in a competition of force against the barrier. The barrier continued to glow brighter until it was occluding the inner contents. Aluro understood the inherent danger from that alone and invoked a magic as fast as he could to destroy the competing beast. Tearing the beast from the ground, he forced it into the air by jutting the earth below it up and then used a blast of water to dismantle it mid air.

"What the fuck is going on here!?"

The words slipped from him as he watched the barrier return to normal. For the first time, General Aluro and General Kruger felt a sense of fear at the beasts which were capable of competing with the Demon Lord's barrier.

***

"What are these things?"

Demon Lord Arakis Nul Dieth was in the middle of his travel to Profectus City when he and his Generals came across beasts shambling through their route. He swiped his arm horizontally bisecting the creature in half and bringing it to the ground. Seeing its attempt to continue moving, Arakis' brow twitched. He wasn't used to seeing something survive after he attacked with killing intent. He focused another attack on the creature and invoked a magic halting the movement of the creature all at once. Darkness crept from the edges of the beast encroaching on its body and consuming everything it touched. As the darkness spread, the beast started disintegrating into ashes.

The crystalline orb attached to its chest shattered and started disintegrating as well. Beside Arakis, General Zannon observed the creature with admiration. He both admired the durability of the beast to survive a strike from his idol and also the abnormal magic invoked that he normally would never had seen. Generals Larkis and Elkune who stood beside him held faces of worry instead. Just as their Lord asked, 'what exactly are these creatures?' floated across their faces. Taking the opportunity to provide her opinion, General Elkune approached Arakis.

"Are they a new species perhaps?"

"No...We would have seen them in the past. Something this size shouldn't appear out of no where.", Arakis dismissed the comment outright.

"That's true. Should we retrace their steps? They don't seem hostile, we might be able to ignore them for now.", Elkune replied in a subdued tone.

Arakis moved his gaze to direction the creatures were coming from while considering Elkune's suggestion. He couldn't help but feel a nervous itch at the appearance of such resilient beasts and so confided in his Generals.

"Zannon, Larkis, what do you think?"

"I agree with Elkune. I don't like that these things appeared out of no where. Something smells.", Larkis adamantly replied.

"Yeah, something ain't right...", agreed Zannon.

"Very well. Elkune, find the source of these beasts then meet back up with us. We'll stick to the main path. Try to catch up as soon as possible, I don't expect us to take more than two days to reach Profectus."

Elkune's wings spread wide and a gust whipped around the group as she kneaded vast amounts of mana for her magic. Her invocation lasted only a second until her figure blurred from its location. Seeing her off, Arakis turned his attention to the multitude of beasts still crossing their path. His emotions which were running high in expectation for Profectus cooled somewhat due to the unexpected encounter drawing a scowl from him.

Sensing his displeasure at the creatures, Zannon and Larkis drew their weapons and walked forward with the Demon Lord following behind. As they traveled, they slaughtered each behemoth and shattered the crystal embedded.

***

Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!

Bells rang out alerting Profectus City residents to take shelter in place. The streets cleared with a practiced pace and the Knights distributed themselves to the city's inner walls. Due to its position between Lore Forest to its East, the surrounding hills East, South and West, and the Demons territory up North, it held the unenvious situation of lacking information on its immediate surroundings. As the city was built to specification for defending from the North, it held little defensive or reporting ability for the South, East or west regions surrounding it. This lack of awareness led to the current emergency alert.

Creatures of monstrous size sprang into view from the crest of the surrounding regions. Each creature looked different, as if tailored for their region, but all shared an enormous stature and girth. Mr. Redmon and Aira stood at the top of the first rampart walls together to observe their surroundings. They had already done what they could to prepare for the creatures and were now watching their approach. Between them, they held a conversation in whispers.

"They're quite grotesque..."

"Yeah...That lass be nurturin some distasteful preferences..."

"Are we ready to handle them?"

"I've givin the orders to the men. If they be caught afta all that prep, they got none to blame but themselves."

"That's good to hear...", Aria exhaled strongly.

The two remained fixed with their gazes in the distance when a series of steps and clattering drew their attention from behind. As she turned her attention, a group of individuals she was familiar with ran up from the rampart stairs. Their gazes passed by the pair and focused on ascertaining the situation surrounding Profectus. Hiiro walked forward while surveying and spoke his mind.

"Countess Sugimoto, are you familiar with those creatures?"

"...No. This is my first time seeing them. They're quite massive though aren't they?"

Taken back by her light reply, Kelvin turned his gaze onto her. She stood tall, her dress neat and ordered with a pair of eyes calm as a still lake. Despite her gaze on the remote creatures and their threatening lurches that edged them closer and closer to Profectus, her eyes reflected a will that seemed to look past the creatures and into something less tangible. Curious at the behavior, Kelvin followed up.

"You're calm, Countess Sugimoto. I'm surprised."

"Profectus City is the front line of defense against the Demons. Battles are common place occurrences. Deaths are common. Experience in handling the life and death of those you're in charge of requires a certain degree of disassociation. You're viewing me incorrectly, Sir Belmore.", her eyes locked onto his and with a sharpened glint she continued.

"What you see as calm is an absolute, uncontrollable fear. I can't run though. Not because I don't want to but because I simply can't. No one in Profectus City can. We are surrounded on all sides. In such a state, I can only separate myself from that blinding fear and ignore it. Make no mistake Sir Belmore, your legend as a hero may be tested on this day. I hope you've prepared yourselves."

Her gaze darted to each member of Satyr before returning to the creatures descending the hills. By her count, she registered six different beasts numbering nearly twenty per type. The beasts passed a red marking on the hills and another series of clangs rang out. In response, a series of invocations fired off. Each hill was hit with different categories of magic. Explosions to the East. Water, ice and hail to the South. Finally, the West was assaulted with earthen, lightning and holy type magics.

Kelvin and his team watched the spectacle unfold with eyes wide. They hadn't expected Profectus City to harbor such talent even though common sense would suggest the foremost front line necessitates talent and skill to survive. As the glow of the sun illuminated the dust clouds, Aria spoke to the dazed team.

"Lady Halflight, I'm to understand you control a potent ancient magic. May I consider you part of this city's defensive force?"

"I'm only following Kelvin. If you want my help, ask him."

"...Very well. Sir Belmore, may I consider team Satyr as part of the City's defenses?"

"Count us in."

"Thank you.", Aria replied while directing a questioning gaze at Mr. Redmon.

He nodded and looked to the hills covered in dust. The wind had cleared out a chunk of the debris and the results were obvious. He placed a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun's glare as he focused into the distance. He assessed the situation out loud as he covered each assault zone.

"Explosive magics didn't do a damn thing. Didn't even poke the bastards...Water based magic hurt em pretty good. I dunno if it'll work against all of them, but it hits them stony studs pretty good...Oh, seems either earthen or lightin hit the jellies pretty hard too."

"Jellies?", Aria questioned his naming sense.

"I mean, they look like it though, right?", he sought an answer from the team behind him.

"I guess..."

"Shame...We ain't got the fire to take out this-", Mr. Redmon halted his tone and his visage became serious.

Aria and team Satyr followed his gaze to the Eastern hill. The explosions gouged out an area of the hill as expected, but they never expected for the tertiary effects. Unable to properly grip the new incline, the beasts that stepped onto the increased incline tumbled forward. Their momentum carried them to the base of the hill where they staggered back to their feet showing a lack of damage. As if cursing himself for not predicting such a situation, he raised his hand to the sky and invoked a golden fireball.

Carried into the sky by its own heat, two women blurred into existence beside him. Aria recognized their identities from the previous conflict.

"Bring those good with close range water type magics to the East side. Ignore killing the beasts for now, just disable their movement if possible."

"Yes!", the first women responded before leaping from the wall to deliver the message.

"Spread the message to limit attacks to water, lightning and earth type magics."

"Yes!", the second woman responded in similar fashion before blurring out of existence.

"Is our backup plan still viable even with the Eastern creatures so close?", Aria questioned Mr. Redmon in a controlled tone.

"Yeah. We made sure we could execute it even if the town itself was invaded so..."

"Should we expect any losses? I'm not confident in this plan..."

"Losses should always be expected...but if yer gonna ask me, that woman is devious but genuine. Heh...I guess we gonna test her trustworthiness for da first time, eh?"

Kelvin watched the two talk under their breaths to each other. He couldn't hear their conversation, but the situation felt too strange. He wasn't a stranger to war or battle and yet he felt this battlefield was too controlled. His suspicions started centering on the two people in front of him when another series of bells rang out drawing he and the others attention. Due North of Profectus City, they observed a massive obsidian carriage pulled with twin behemoths. The carriage sank into the charred ground as its massive weight rolled across the ground and yet the behemoths pulled it with ease.

After noticing a figure that sat atop a makeshift seat on the carriage, Kelvin issued an order.

"Zeena! Can you get a visual on who's driving that thing?"

"Let me try. Intra, Far Sight."

[Reply. Executing Far Sight. Requesting support.]

The orb glimmered as it floated and after grasping it in her hand, Zeena delivered an abundance of kneaded mana to it. She expanded the optical distortion that typically resided in front of her eye and boosted its distance to allow others to view it as well. The distortion gradually focused in on the carriage and in particular the driver. Rather than sitting, the figure was standing on a makeshift platform with a harness in each hand. They wore a full set of armor colored obsidian edged with something akin to silver. Their helmet carried two curving horns that arced exponentially backwards. Strapped to their side was a large broadsword and on the other, a thin sword. Attached to each thigh was a shortened stick that Kelvin assumed was an expandable staff.

Sensing a boss of some sort arrived, Mr. Redmon issued an order.

"Zeena Halflight. Destroy that vehicle. Use your strongest magic."

"What? It could harm the town you know?"

"We got no choice. If ye ain't feelin the monstrous blood lust flakin off that carriage, then yer disqualified as a warrior."

Zeena looked to Kelvin for the final answer, but was stunned to see his expression paling. He regained himself after recognizing her gaze on him and only nodded. She canceled her magic and started kneading mana as quick as her body could manage. Zeena's golden hair slowly began glowing and her vivid green eyes appeared as if they were crystallizing, increasing their depth and refracting the light with particles floating out limply. She brought her hands out in front of her calling upon her partner.

"Intra. Support me."

[Reply. Preparing Support Mode. Establishing Base Link. Verifying Owner. Elf Zeena Halflight...Verified. Executing Support Mode.]

The blue orb floated from her hand and rested centered between her out stretched hands. The dense mana Zeena was generating circulated around the orb gathering in denser and denser quantities. A thick mist accumulated with time and appeared to rotate around Intra with increasing velocity. Zeena left collection and management of the mana required for the magic to Intra while she focused on forming the various control circuits. Two small circles offset from the center of a larger middle circle on either side of it slowly formed. The circles aligned themselves as if to target the wagon and behemoths.

From the edge of each circle, detailed inscriptions established themselves as mana spiraled around Intra flaked off as if to act as an ink of some sort. Zeena continued to knead her maximal amount of mana in steady pace and pumped it into Intra. The magic entered its final stage and she boosted the inscription rate of the circles. As they rapidly filled in, the dense mana surrounding Intra underwent sudden expansion into a large ring that fit around the outer circumference of the large inner circle. Zeena looked towards the sky rotating the entire apparatus with that motion. She inhaled deep and on exhale, invoked her ancient magic.

The group shielded their eyes from the blast of light that shot towards the sky. Their surroundings turned silent before a large gust tore at them. Bracing themselves against the wind, they watched as trees lining the hill crests were torn from the ground and dragged into the sky. The gusts appeared to intersect in the air, center above the carriage before immediately rushing vertical into the sky. Each member looked up only to see a large depression in the clouds. As if someone were pushing the clouds upwards, he watched the sky disperse revealing a bold sun. Before long, the wind stilled again. Zeena quickly dropped to the ground bracing herself. She screamed to the group as well.

"I put everything into it! Get down!"

Mr. Redmon invoked an emergency magic and issued a telepathic order to everyone in the city. Though it wasn't his specialty, he was capable of utilizing it once or twice a day for emergencies only.

"Down!", he sent not only the order but his intention behind it while straining his abilities.

He pulled Aria into his arms and covered her with his body. Rumbles reached their ears and as the team glanced up just enough to see the moment of impact, the sky descended. The massive down burst condensed all moisture in the air with its fall outlining the titanic column of air. Shaped like a spear tip, the column dropped like a hammer onto the carriage and yet, the impossible happened. Watching it play out live, Zeena could only mumble to herself, but the emotions were felt by everyone.

"What in the Gods..."

Colossal rings of magic expanded from the carriage forming a barrier within seconds. The volume of air collided with the shields and yet they didn't even budge a millimeter. The abrupt halt warped the physical phenomena associated with down bursts. The air, trapped within itself, heated up until the air itself turned into a plasma. Without even half the column expended, the trapped plasma was compressed further changing its color and hue to a bright white. Fear spread amongst the spectators as the glowing orb expanded in size as if consuming the pressurized air. As one would expect, such immense magic is not eternal. The tail end of the down burst imparted its final energy into the plasma ball before the gas expanded with its new freedom.

Crawling along the outer surface of the colossal magic rings, strings of plasma reached out like an infection. Following their rapid growth, the bulk of plasma expanded further until it reached critical and detonated. The first explosion lacked any sound as the ball of fire ballooned outwards before collapsing in on itself. Watching in awe from afar, spectators felt the atmosphere slide against them as if they were hit by a sledgehammer. Windows shattered from the pressure wave and weaker houses collapsed and then, the secondary effects kicked in. The plasma ball expanded once more and yet the atmosphere that slid against them was sucked back towards it. Unprepared witnesses were pulled from their hiding spot and tumbled across the ground caught in the invisible current. As if to fight against itself, they watched as the cavitation rebounded against itself. Atmosphere slammed against itself acting as a cylinder molded air pressure cutter and gouged massive a ring surrounding the carriage with every rebound.

The first gouge occurred with a near three hundred meter radius. Each rebound collided against itself exhausting the explosive energy in whatever method it could. The energized air conducted arcs of lightning from the plasma ball across the magic rings and yet, in all that chaos, the shields remained solid. For the first time in their lives, team Satyr saw power worthy of being in the realm of Gods.