The Duke was reminiscing with his old friend about the carefree past they enjoyed back then. Now, both had to constantly work together to achieve their goals, abandoning everything they held dear for something so small as a flicker of hope.
"You know, back then the lands were a lot more green. I wasn't paying attention for a couple of decades, and you turn a flourishing country into mostly sand? How did you manage, oh dear Duke?"
"Quit it, I was Duke in name only. I wasted no time managing something I didn't even want in the first place. Besides, the reason most of the land died was because I had a few failed experiments, not that the public knows."
Shaking his head in disbelief, "You could've just used some demons as material, why use something so many people live on?"
"It was necessary."
"Necessity, huh?"
The Duke had a light smile, not wanting to divulge any more as his contact device started to light up. Grabbing it, he read it in silence as his friend sneaked a peak. Realizing the meaning behind the words, the old friend started to laugh out loud.
"Hahaha! What a wonderful trick," the man sat down on a couch in the Duke's large office clapping to himself and the people who orchestrated the entire thing. "To even go behind your back, hahaha! Looks like you weren't the only one with such an idea! How does it feel to be running behind some little kids you old fossil!"
Said with complete glee and genuine joy, the old man couldn't remember laughing so hard in a long time. The Duke had a light smile on his face, reading the message he received from Protaris, his county was overrun by the undead ravaging the place to the ground.
The Duke had fought against plenty of the Undead, to them, destroying the buildings made completely no sense unless they had a reason to do so.
Connecting the dots, the Duke raised his head as he used his willpower to alert his 13 Guardians. "The plague?"
"Undead don't get sick, and they're great at taking over the dead," a wide smile plastered over his face, the idea he and the Duke came up with some time ago was being reinvented in front of their eyes. "Take all your Guardians with you, your son said he would take care of Isale and Protaris at the same time. This crisis is manufactured to distract you."
"Then I'll leave it to you to handle things from here."
"Of course."
The doors of the Duke's office opened as Yaldor came rushing in. Dressed in a black uniform with red lines, he looked like a true protector of the lands. Entering the room, he quickly noticed two high ranking people were present. Bowing in the right order, he made his presence known. "My Lord, Lord Alastor, you called?"
"Yes, prepare everyone to move out. Protaris is in danger, we need to hurry!", with a booming voice, Yaldor rushed outside to gather all the members of the Guard and the Guardians to fly towards Protaris' county as fast as possible.
"When you get there, do be careful not to damage the land any further. Wouldn't want it to be crippled for decades," a sarcastic smile appeared on Lord Alastor's face, his enjoyment of the situation peaking.
The Duke exhaled with a smile before dressing in a similar garb to Yaldor and moved out. His friend stayed and enjoyed a few hours of peace before another message appeared on his personal contact device.
"Tch, you stay put, son. I'll need you to shake him up, so don't you dare ruin our plans now."
---
The Duke and his Guardians flew at a rapid speed towards Protaris' county. Aided by the Duke, they all moved at a much faster pace than usually. The Guardians didn't know what was in store for them, but the fact that everyone was called, it only meant something terrible was occurring.
And if on cue, the developed cities started to become visible in the distance. What stood out was not its tall buildings or roads, but the massive smoke plume that rose from all over the city. Flying past one of the cities, the Guardians quickly deployed their willpower, checking every nook and cranny.
"Not here, Lord!", one of the Guardians reported.
"You stay here, clean up and join us when you're done."
Dispatching one of the Guardians, he quickly went to work cleaning up the undead. They passed three more cities, each with the same result. Yaldor flew next to the Duke with a somber face. "My Lord, there were no demons left in those cities. They've either been killed or turned into the Undead."
"Well, the Undead Legion has a lot of souls unwilling to pass to the cycle of reincarnation. It makes sense to turn their fallen foes into their revived allies. This has always been the case with those pests. To fully clean them up we would have to get rid of every single one."
"My Lord, their so-called King was killed, so why are their forces still so plentiful and structured?"
"You're wrong about that in multiple ways. He was one of the few rare Undead that held a rare disposition. His rage fueling his action, he wasn't killed, our Demon God just transported him to Aurora, letting them clean up the mess. His closest followers were just as fanatic as he was, making the lower ranked Undead follow like the dogs they are."
Hearing the cold and calculated voice from his Lord, Yaldor felt that things were still in control, yet by each town he passed, more and more demons had met their end. Entire families and bloodlines vanished in an instant as the Undead took over and ravaged the land.
"With the amount of Undead, we would have to get rid of the entire county," a dark look was visible on Yaldor's face as he, despite his age, couldn't hold his emotions fully in check.
"Indeed. There are powerful mages guarding the borders, they'll stop the spread. All cities and towns have lost their function, the trade center that Protaris has build will most likely also have collapsed. I'll contact Vesper to send some of his men to help us out. I'm also sensing some Demons from Descartes here. Do be careful not to attack them as well."
Hearing the Duke speak about another person on the same level without honorifics always seemed strange to Yaldor. Keeping quiet, they kept flying forward until they reached the headquarters of Protaris.
Barely any building was still standing upright. The roads and few bridges were decimated. Letting the few remaining Guardians check for signs of life, their eyes widened as there were still two people who hadn't turned yet.
"Good job, son," the Duke spoke with a strange acknowledgement and respect, one he rarely heard. Yaldor was glad to see Protaris still alive, but felt there was something he was missing in his Lord's words. 'Is he talking about Protaris?'
---
A few hours before the undead started to rampage through Protaris' county, Lucas was preparing to leave for Isale's estate. Taking his time to reevaluate the plan, he noticed Bell cleaning up the office. A light smile adorned her beautiful face, which made Lucas curious.
"What has you in such a good mood, Bell?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing..."
Lucas simply stared at her, seeing her almost incapable of holding herself back, he knew she would bend any moment. "Okay, I've been getting letters from someone special for the last couple of months."
The light blush on her face made the gears in his mind spin. He wasn't well versed on love and relationships, but could tell she felt butterflies in her stomach. "What about Asta? Weren't you head over heels for him?"
"Hmpf! He never even looks at me," crossing her arms to accidentally emphasize her assets, she pouted in a cute manner, which complete went over Lucas' head. He was more curious about someone who would lust over a maid that's in eternal servitude to someone else. Bell rarely left the estate, making the possibilities limited, but perhaps Lucas was being too shortsighted.
"Who is it?", not knowing any tact, Lucas directly probed her.
"None of your business, it is," turning her head away, she seemed to have forgotten that Lucas held the same authority over her as Asta.
"Tell me."
"Argh, why are both you so annoying? I don't know his name, okay? He's just really good with words, and holds a high ranking position in a nearby county."
Lucas shook his head, "So you don't even know what he looks like?"
"...no.."
Moving on, he left Bell to fantasize about her dream boyfriend that she made up in her head. Walking around Agatha's mansion, it almost felt empty without all the soldiers from the Underground. Even Augustinus and Galen left, much to Agatha's dismay, as she seemed to really like Galen, not that Lucas cared.
Galen was here on a temporary visit, one he would not make again.
Having everything ready, Asta and Lucas moved out with a few demons in tow. They were ex-slaves, now working for Asta and Agatha, and while not completely loyal, they performed their tasks with a certain amount of competence.
Travelling to Isale's estate didn't take too long as the carriages were being pulled by some magical offshoot of a typical horse. To Lucas, it was quite interesting to see different kinds of domesticated beasts.
This one looked like a large black leopard with white spots. It had two horns at the top of its head and saber-teeth that stuck out. It's fur was thicker and longer than a typical leopard, fascinating Lucas a bit.
During a break, he was observing them from up close since most of the plans were already in order. The coachman saw the passion in his eyes and couldn't help himself.
"How do you like them? They're one of the rarer breeds!"
"I can feel the power of their muscles without even touching them. What are they called?"
"They're Blightfangs, but most don't grow this big, only the most powerful do. In fact, they have special muscles that make them capable of harnessing more power through magic. Because of their unique structure, the maximum amount of mana we can use to empower our muscles is nothing for these beauties."
Hearing that, the experimental side of him started to blossom open. Could he possibly recreate the muscles to strengthen himself even further? Sure, his body had already been tempered through the trials, but that just resulted in his cells containing more mana, making them a lot sturdier at the cost of needing more healing in case he got injured.
Patting the side of one of them, it purred a little, "You see, the only problem is their rarity. They only mate once a year and if they don't find a suitable mate in a few days, they lose interest. It's only compensated by their long life, but the fact that they're solitary makes them rarely cross one another."
The coachman almost had a saddened look in his eyes, finding it hard to accept that such beautiful creatures were having such a tough time out there.
The rider was a magicless demon, perhaps that was the reason he seemed respectful enough to talk to him. Because while he might have some support from the demons close to Asta, all others had to hide their disdain for a human walking among them. To the coachman, there was no foolproof way to sustain the existence of the Blightfangs, but to Lucas, there existed the possibility of simply experimenting enough to create a more powerful breed that sustained itself.
Once his thoughts reached the simple conclusion, he couldn't help but be reminded of what Augustinus said. The Underground, the century long wars were all a game where the players abandoned their pieces out of boredom. A mage's influence could have disastrous concequences for generations to come, yet most wouldn't even think about it.
With a bitter taste in his mouth, he stepped away from the coach, who's simply waved him goodbye.
"You look terrible," Asta said as he waited for the others to take their break. As mages, they could easily fly ahead, but they needed them.
"Thanks."
"No problem, hope I helped."
"Incredibly. Is everything in order?"
"Yes, the main city in her county is closely guarded. The moment we arrive we'll be under watchful eyes, but there's a small village before it where we'll split up with the rest. We'll move by ourselves and they'll arrive not long after to prepare everything."
"Timing?"
"Should take them around an hour in total to set it all up."
"We have around three hours before the trap will already have sprung down south. The moment that trap closes, ours will spontaneously activate as well."
"I'm aware, according to schedule, we'll make it on time," placing his hands behind his back, Asta watched the surrounding roads and demons eating and drinking.
"Are you prepared? She isn't exactly the most... reasonable."
"She's certainly hot tempered, but she cares deeply about her subjects. During the banquet, she made sure all her followers survived, though she is willing to sacrifice them for her own goals as well."
"So she'll be willing to strike a deal?"
"If things go according to plan? Yes."