Ch.28Blade Wind War (1)

It was a grueling time. Demons are beings born to struggle.

The search for justification, something more suited to the heavens, was so tedious and dull that it made one furious. The nobles were busy clutching their little books and fighting for their own bowls, obsessing over what they deemed important.

After the selection of the Imperial Elector, only the daughter of the Eastern Grand Duke had distinguished herself as a candidate for Demon King. It was a perfect example of the stagnant state of the demon realm.

This couldn’t continue. Since when had they started fluttering about like those white-winged creatures?

It was incomprehensible how they were trying to handle matters that demons should resolve through sheer force, as befitting their nature.

So the castle soldiers decided to speak up when Durin came to the training grounds. They could no longer contain their churning disgust at seeing the private armies divided by continent engaging in power struggles.

That moment was opportune for Durin. He planned to ignite the situation when the castle soldiers gathered to show their will for war.

“We shall replace the vanished king and rebuild our lost authority. In these times when all continents should gather for discussion, failing to send delegations is tantamount to treason.”

As Durin spoke, descending the stairs from the king’s hall, the soldiers held their breath. The words they had been waiting for finally flowed from his lips.

“The West and North shall be excluded from the demon realm effective today. They are enemies. All will be considered targets for conquest. The Chief Justice shall record this.”

The castle would no longer protect them. Even if heaven’s armies came, no forces would be sent to their aid. There was no protection for traitors. With the castle gathering its military might, there was nothing to fear.

“If you wish to select a king, prove your worth yourselves. The heads of traitors will demonstrate your loyalty.”

Moreover, the war would be a testing ground for Serphin. The ability to manage followers and navigate the battlefield could either win the soldiers’ favor or brand one as the worst candidate.

Thus, the demon realm moved. There was no resistance. Rather, having seen with their own eyes whom they should follow, they complied.

They too had secretly desired war. As their instinctive fighting spirit boiled up, they obeyed orders without question.

“We will subjugate as many as possible before the enemies properly unite. We must gather forces to mobilize for the coming war with heaven.”

The East had already begun to move. Spranches, who came running, reported that conflicts beyond local skirmishes were frequently occurring in the border regions.

Angels, the West, the North.

They needed to end this quickly with swift decisive action before the enemies recovered from the shock of sudden war. Unexpected raids combined with the Grand Duke’s breakthrough power had to yield results.

“War! All castle soldiers, gather your weapons and come to the gate. Hurry, so that time becomes our ally!”

A total of thirty thousand. The Demon King’s army, scraped together from all available forces, pointed their spearheads westward with Durin’s declaration of war.

The war of those wishing to prove their loyalty and ability had begun.

#

“The Demon King’s Castle has finally made its decision.”

“It’s time for us to make our choice as well, Lord.”

Unlike the four continents filled with harsh terrain, the central region had a mild climate. The vast plains looked like a bountiful world where humans might thrive. If not for the black sun, it would seem buried in peace.

Perhaps due to these environmental factors, demons living here were less aggressive. They preferred talks over combat and desired to maintain peace rather than engage in struggle. Despite being at the boundary between the central and other continents, they built their cities choosing coexistence over control.

This was how the border nobles, without central protection in a declining era, managed to survive in their own way. But a new wind blowing from the center rapidly changed the situation. The central messenger who arrived before them showed the sparks of war that had been ignited.

The lord and his vassals, gathered in one place, could only sigh deeply and agonize over the contents written there.

“The regent has designated the West and North as enemies. He’s ultimately making a different choice from the previous leadership that tried to maintain at least a loose alliance.”

“This is terrible. Terrible indeed. We in the border regions inevitably have to live with them…”

“Is there no loophole in the order? Let me see.”

The border nobles tried their best to find any gaps. If they could somehow twist the justification, they might avoid catastrophe.

With such desperate thoughts, they scrutinized each letter inscribed on the parchment. But the regent’s concise writing style contained only the essential content precisely.

[Expel all barbarians. Those who refuse will be considered enemies and beheaded. Place all severed heads on the city gates to show loyalty to the expeditionary force…]

There was no need to read the rest. Death or betrayal. Those were the only two choices he offered.

The border nobles held their throbbing heads and sighed.

“It’s easy to say, but how can we execute this immediately? There must be thousands of demons from other continents within our walls. Plus, there are the magical beasts they’ve brought. Unless the border army comes right away, it’s too much for just us to handle.”

“With enough will… it’s not difficult. If we choose massacre instead of expulsion and persuasion, we can move as the regent wishes.”

“Listen here! If we do that, we’ll be at odds with the North’s Great Warrior! If they become enraged and push down, do we have any way to stop them?”

Just as Durin was in the Demon King’s Castle, the North also had an entity protecting them like a guardian deity.

Warriors living with magical beasts in the land of cutting winds. Among them, a certain yellow-horned warrior called the strongest commanded nomadic tribes numbering in the tens of thousands.

Under the right conditions, they could even crush the central region’s solid infantry. There was a saying that if 100,000 northern warriors gathered, they could seize the demon realm’s throne, so their power was formidable even by rough estimation.

The border region had always opened paths to avoid conflicts with them if necessary, and made flimsy excuses to the central region. During those times of decline after losing a powerful Demon King, the castle had no resources to send expeditions and left them alone, but now things were different.

They were resolute, as if determined to exact payment for those times.

“Then what should we do! Die by the regent’s hand or die by the Great Warrior’s—that’s the only difference. Wouldn’t it be better to show our loyalty oath and seek protection?”

“We may have the same red horns, but can they save us? If the Great Chieftain pushes down, we won’t last three days before perishing.”

“There are the angels. The Great Warrior has deployed his army on the northwest face with them in mind, so there shouldn’t be an immediate problem.”

“Ha! Demons delighting in the help of those damned invaders. What a pitiful sight indeed.”

“Then offer a solution! Do you have nothing to say besides mockery?”

“Seeing this grim situation, that’s all I could spit out! What would you have me do!”

The border nobles were thrown into confusion.

The northwest face, where demon and angel garrisons with different interests coexisted, had always maintained a strange balance. Now that it was breaking, they couldn’t grasp what to do.

They were fortresses placed as time-buyers on the path to the central region, but they had forgotten their duty.

It was their complacency, choosing survival over struggle, that drove them to the brink of death in this age of war. Death was near whichever path they chose.

As they remained buried in endless meetings, unable to find direction, news came in succession to wake them up.

“The Great Chieftain’s forces have begun moving south. It seems they’ve accepted the central region’s declaration of war.”

“Weren’t they confronting the angels? And besides, the Grand Duke’s army should be pushing up from the east.”

“The defense forces are showing no movement. They seem to have dispatched a separate mobile force to the northeast face to only block incoming attacks. The Grand Duke seems aware of this and is not actively attacking. So it appears the central region is seizing the opportunity to come down.”

“Then…”

“Keshik. The Great Chieftain’s elite unit is coming down directly.”

Damn it.

Sighs flowed from everywhere.

The dreaded situation had finally erupted. Perhaps this was the direction the regent had intended all along.

He was a warrior who had ended the southern rebellion with conquest instead of persuasion.

“There’s no choice. Tell the soldiers to expel all barbarians.”

The collision of two giants had become a foregone conclusion.

The situation was rapidly deteriorating. One of the options they had tried desperately to keep had disappeared as disaster approached. They had clung to a faint thread of hope, but the cry in their hearts was already telling them it was futile.

“And urgently request reinforcements from the regent. The outcome of this war depends on who reaches the border first.”

Central heavy infantry versus northern beast cavalry.

Fate had decreed that either side would spill blood in the border region.