The Demon Sovereign (3)

Comprehending the counterparty’s interests, then calmly negotiating compromises – that represents negotiation’s foundational premise, an approach generally fitting reasonably well. Ultimately, substantive dialogues commence from mutual respect.

Yet warfare differs considerably from gentlemen’s sweet, elegant conversations.

“Surrender immediately, or I shall rain hellfire upon your capital!”

“Our beloved Sovereign shall permanently banish your verminous ilk from this entire continent!”

“Very well, let us proceed towards the bitter conclusion then?”

“Haah, I shall personally drag my artillery trains to obliterate your domiciles first!”

Demanding discourse after perforating one’s counterpart’s anatomies constitutes outright inanities.

Reality lacks classroom teachers directing erstwhile friends to cordially reconcile after scuffles. The Demons invoked their Sovereign’s psychic subjugations while humans threatened dispatching heroic saviors to their capital in droves.

Hence, the negotiation tables ironically represented literal hostage-taking extortion venues rather than diplomatic parleys.

Scoring ambiguous victories represented optimal outcomes, with humanity frequently summoned from defeated positions – having already internalized such realities through prior experiences.

“We have not yet succumbed to defeat. Those humans merely became intoxicated by fleeting triumphs – prolong our resistances slightly further, and ultimate victories shall be ours.”

“Observe how emboldened they have grown during our complacencies. This represents an opportune juncture to thoroughly uproot their insolence!”

“Was this not virtually the first instance of inflicting substantive strikes upon the Demons? Failing to capitalize upon this fortuitous opening would render us unable to face our citizens.”

“What manner of beasts utter such feeble entreaties before such monumental undertakings?!”

The Demons, having tasted outright failures after minimally ceding territorial losses.

Humanity, momentarily buoyant despite receiving beatdowns while bleeding profusely.

While mutually concordant in rhetoric, their internal contemplations differed:

‘Damn, we’re practically bankrupt at this juncture.’

‘Urging further human wave tactics would probably get me perforated instead. Nowadays, those high-powered munitions just punch clean through without resistances.’

‘Hhhuup, this appears somewhat arduous from any perspective. With elections forthcoming, we should probably concede momentarily.’

‘Grrruuelllrrr glllklklkk!’

Yet no miracles manifested reviving the fallen troops from their graves – and the inaugural covert negotiations had detonated so spectacularly.

Upon receiving these updates, Freugne exhibited no discernible disappointments.

“Such outcomes felt inevitable.”

Had they acquiesced compliantly instead, she would have suspected some underlying deceptions afoot.

Their gained acquisitions paled compared to the bloodshed expended. Unless utterly delusional, no sane proposals for cessations or reconciliations could possibly emerge at this juncture.

Excepting the parliament having already succumbed to some shadowy cabal’s indoctrinations, the Demons – who had unfurled the human extermination banners by initiating those preemptive strikes – alongside their Sovereign could only defiantly double down.

Had he represented a figure amenable to meekly capitulating, warfare would never have instigated initially.

Even granting provisional armistices, their inevitable future betrayals remained self-evident certainties rather than hypotheticals within scant years.

Certainly, deploying suicidal assault teams to terminate the Demon Sovereign proved infeasible.

Then should not that next optimal recourse be implemented instead?

“Our aims involve deposing the Demon Sovereign.”

“Indeed, the eventual outcomes differ negligibly, while representing considerably more feasible undertakings compared to outright terminations.”

Yet the Demon Sovereign resembled some twisted Saint Nicholas – unwilling to bestow Christmas gifts upon well-behaved children, so he simply bludgeoned every child indiscriminately.

The heavens, the earth, even the tragic Demons asphyxiating after becoming entangled within Londinium’s river meshes while attempting upriver infiltrations – all remained privy to his machinations.

Hence, conventional approaches proved insufficient.

Compulsively forcing him into negotiations required identifying opportune junctures when all parties had momentarily exhausted themselves into stupors after exchanging mutual pummeling barrages.

The pivotal moment necessitating spiritual interventions had arrived.

---

Through Freugne’s precognitive foresights and Edan’s extensive organizational tenure…

What had initially threatened to metastasize into an unwieldy bureaucratic leviathan gradually became systematized into a regimented division-of-labor apparatus.

While Marshal Bauder in Londinium would ruminate upon optimal Demon-thwarting strategies each dawn…

The Earl of Norton would alternate executing long-short financial maneuvers from his sickbed, imbibing the viscous tears of impoverished Antrim stock traders.

Nor did Edan remain idly complacent either – his roles transcended mere cheerleading totems or happiness sticks for Freugne.

Being somewhat candid, those characterizations contained partial accuracies to limited extents. But reducing his significance to such trivialities would constitute gross understatements.

“I’ve come to acquire the latest war situational data.”

“Certainly, do you require anything else?”

“If possible, please also provide the Demon Sovereign’s approval ratings, any indications of resistance organizations against him, public opinion poll results regarding the war, or any related intelligence.”

While frequently overlooked amidst his myriad other designations, Edan officially held the “Defense Research Department Head” portfolio.

Although nepotistic conflations often branded such appointees as either farcical stooges or incompetents during this era, official credentials nevertheless conferred meaningful distinctions from proxies relaying secondhand information. Direct interactions invariably commanded greater gravitas compared to intermediated conveyances across multiple echelons.

“Sir, senior…”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Is it truly permissible to provide all this confidential data – including information redacted multiple classification tiers beneath the highest echelons – even tangentially relating to current war operations and military directives? This appears to encompass considerably more than strictly necessary.”

“Well, as the Defense Department Head overseeing war-related matters, I naturally require access to such data for subsequent feedback analyses or identifying potential issues, do I not?”

“I suppose that rationale holds merit. Very well, as you say.”

This represented one of his intelligence-gathering conduits as well.

Excluding that one incident where he had visited the municipal office to retrieve certified copies, only to discover Freugne’s name conspicuously omitted from the family registries in person.

Under ordinary circumstances, he received the earliest access to any information he sought within this city’s jurisdictions.

Questioning his authorizations would prove redundant – such regulations naturally adhered to the philosophical principles of “noses upholding necklaces while ears supported earrings.”

But having received intimations about the war’s imminent conclusions, Edan – unable to discern further justifications for restraints – had begun accumulating even broader accesses, as if pondering “If not now, then when?”

“Ah, and do you recall those prospective heroic candidates?”

“The ones recently deployed into live combat theatres, currently active on the frontlines? The government had initiated extensive promotional campaigns regarding them – how could I remain unaware? Though my senescence precluded my own participation, hahah.”

“I too had contemplated volunteering my services to contribute towards the war efforts in such capacities. But returning to the main subjects at hand…”

As wartime contingencies spawned provisional institutions that gradually metastasized…

Indiscriminately overextending tentacular overreaches across jurisdictions no longer remained the exclusive purview of clandestine shadow councils.

“I intend to assign those heroic candidates towards somewhat more specialized missive roles.”

“Ah, but that hardly represents a unilateral decision within my autonomous discretions–”

“I have already established communications with the commanding generals overseeing the Kingdom’s eastern fronts. And if you harbor concerns about potential foreign entanglements, I’ve also exchanged words with General Andre to some extent.”

“…….”

By the time he had reopened his eyes, the Defense Department had rapidly disseminated across myriad sectors – engaging not just the military apparatus, but also the parliament through in-depth dialogues completely antithetical to its nominal designation, metamorphosing into some incongruous chimeric monstrosity.

The assertion “Since you utilize armaments our department manufactured, you fall under our jurisdiction” undoubtedly contained numerous critiquable aspects.

Yet challenging such overreaching encroachments risked precluding witnessing the next dawn’s sunrises – an additional egg quietly incubating within Londinium’s nest, though bearing governmental accreditation seals this time around as a distinguishing feature.

As the adage proclaims, “The offspring mirrors its progenitors.”

With that relationship having inverted, the mimicry had become proportionately reciprocal.

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To Freugne, the military represented a significant strategic asset yet simultaneously resembled an ornery rooster of underwhelming prowess.

Even within the Republic’s armed forces that remained imperfectly subjugated under her dominion, her intervention durations inevitably diminished commensurate control intensities across other minor human nation-states.

Certainly, temporal investments enabled steering their general trajectories. But like most gargantuan collectives, their maneuverability could never achieve the desired fleetness her precognitions might optimally prefer. This very inertial sluggishness had precipitated the Demons’ recent counteroffensive reprisals.

Metaphorically akin to donning skis while engaging in soccer – although foreknowledge of the ball’s positions conferred some responsive advantages, she could only concede outright inviabilities under real-time exigencies.

However, her clandestinely cultivated specialized operatives represented a distinct exception.

Outwardly, having undergone official military instructor tutelages supplemented by taxpayer-funded elite training regimens, they ostensibly personified patriotic heroic candidates nobly answering their kingdom’s calls during existential perils in brazen defiance against cowardly idleness.

How could such voluntarily self-motivated individuals possibly remain under any unseen mastermind’s controls?

Uttering such insinuations inevitably branded one as either Demon agitprop disseminators or highly-positioned organizational insiders.

“…Were those rumors actually factual? Not mere Demon disinformation propaganda ploys?”

“Shhhh! Such statements cannot be indiscriminately vocalized anywhere!”

Indeed, their actual identities more closely resembled Freugne’s personal militia contingents.

Those who had witnessed such shocking revelations found their jaws clenching like clamshells under their mentors’ admonishing rebukes, thereby preserving those secrets inviolable.

And these so-called ‘heroic candidates’ possessed yet another appellation:

“The capital has summoned you.”

“Pardon? Me?”

“Affirmative. Incidentally, some personnel from our battalion have also been requisitioned. Among those I can immediately recollect are James, Phillip, Ulric and others.”

Observing Erin’s wavering irises, Ulric nodded pensively – his summons had indeed arrived.