The feast inside Fort Knightfall continued in order.
Stone tables filled the hall from end to end. Empty plates were stacked neatly at the edges. Steam still rose from thick cuts of monster meat. Members sat straight, shoulders wide, bodies heavy with fresh strength. Even the youngest recruits looked larger than before.
No one laughed loudly. No one wasted movement.
Guards walked between the rows. Their boots echoed against the stone floor. Mimi stood near the side wall, holding a ledger, marking names as she watched the hall. Bella leaned over a wide map table, speaking in low voices with battalion leaders.
Daniel stood at the front.
No one spoke while he was standing.
Outside the fortress, gates opened and closed through the night. Messengers rode out in pairs. Red flags snapped in the wind. By morning, every border city would have heard the same message.
Help was available.
Contracts were required.
Meanwhile, in Hell, the council chamber was sealed.
Black stone walls rose high above the seats. Heat bled through cracks in the floor. Red light pulsed slowly, like a breathing heart.
A demon knelt at the center.
"Pseudo Vrizz is dead," he said.
The chamber fell silent.
No rage followed. No disbelief.
"Confirmed?" a voice asked.
"No soul return," the messenger replied. "No recall. No echo."
A low sound moved through the chamber. Vrizz had been a demon commander, one campaign away from stepping into demon monarch rank. His loss was not small.
A general leaned forward.
"Begin the portal project."
Heads turned.
"Open summoning portals across the human continent. Wide breaches. Dungeon-linked. Cause disorder while we reassess."
No objections followed.
The decision settled.
One figure rose from his seat.
Zaa.el.
His armor was smooth and dark, runes glowing faintly along his arms. His horns curved back in clean lines. He said nothing as he left the chamber.
No one stopped him.
He walked through Hell's inner roads. Lava flowed in carved channels beside him. Screams echoed far below, distant and ignored. Gate after gate opened as he passed, until he reached his own mansion.
The doors parted on their own.
Inside was his dominion.
A vast circular hall opened before him. Dungeon cores floated in the air, hundreds of them, sealed and pulsing. Stone pillars rose high, each marked with conquest records from fallen worlds.
Zaa.el stopped at the center.
"Vrizz," he said quietly.
A demon who had climbed from minion, to soldier, to commander soldier, then into full demon ranks. From there to general demon, fifty years of campaigns, then demon knight, then pseudo monarch.
Almost a monarch.
Gone.
"That shouldn't happen," Zaa.el said.
His fingers flexed.
"If commanders can disappear," he muttered, "then something has changed."
He looked at the dungeon cores.
"Portals won't solve that," he said.
But they would buy time.
Back in Fort Knightfall, the hall had been cleared.
Tables were pushed back. The stone floor had been washed clean. Three hundred and thirty members stood in formation, lines straight, eyes forward.
Daniel stepped forward.
A wooden board was brought out and placed beside him. Ranks were carved into it, starting from rookies and initiates, rising through apprentices and disciples, inner ranks and elites, vanguards and knights, ending at commanders.
Daniel placed his hand on the board.
"This is the order," he said.
No one spoke.
"You move by result," he continued. "Not by years."
A pause.
"The domain will decide."
Heads lowered across the hall.
Outside, the continent shifted.
In Hell, portals were being prepared.
And between them, Fort Knightfall stood quiet, disciplined, and growing stronger by the day.