"Big brother!" Skye yelled out as she saw Reign enter the main tent where the king was currently staying with the rest of the higher-ups of the army.
Just like the info that Reign had gotten from the souls of the 8 Tier III demons, there had been no enemies on his path back and he was able to quickly and safely return.
"Reign, how confident are you that they will pass through here?"
"Almost 100%, although, thanks to us killing some Tier III demons, the leader might change his strategy, but I doubt it."
"He has already committed too much in this endeavor, and has used a lot of resources in order to come here and create the two arrays, he probably has nothing left and will be screwed if he was to simply stop."
"He needs to take over the whole territory and then attack the kingdoms that lie outside of the area, by doing so, he can not only gain more territory, but he will be able to transport the enemy troops and citizens back here and change them into demonic creatures again."
"With that, he will increase the size of his army tremendously and if the empires of the world don't act on time, he will be able to not only grow the armies until they become too large to handle, but he will also be able to increase his own power by bringing more demonic energy into the world and by sacrificing people and the demonic creatures in order to devour their souls and increase his power." Reign said with a heavy look on his face.
"This isn't only about us, but the whole world that could potentially fall if we don't manage to stop the bastard right here when he is at the weakest he ever will be."
"Damn it, how could the royal families of the two kingdoms actually allow for such a thing to happen!?" One of the generals, a Tier II individual, slammed his fist down on the table and cursed.
Conspiring with demons was a grave offense that could lead to a whole city being purged in order to make sure no worshippers were left, for the royal families to not only form contracts with demons but to even allow them to take over their bodies was something nobody had thought would have been possible.
There had been cases like that one in the past, but the repercussions of forming a contract with demons and worshipping them were immense. One whole kingdom was completely destroyed, not only the royal family and the nobles but all the citizens from the kingdom were hunted down and killed since the number of demon worshippers was so great that nobody knew for sure how many there were.
The kingdom had grown incredibly powerful in a short period of time, and it had almost managed to overwhelm empires with its incredible might, luckily, the closest empires united with other kingdoms and annihilated the enemy, leaving nothing behind.
Even now, the results of the battle could be seen.
Most of the kingdom's territory had been taken by others, but the major cities and the capital were left alone. The demonic energy that was lingering there was so great that a normal human would immediately fall sick, whilst staying longer inside would turn them into demonic creatures.
It was the work of multiple great mages that were Tier VI and VII that they were able to form arrays in those cities and contain the demonic energy so that it wouldn't spill out and contaminate the rest of the territory.
One could still visit the cities as they had become a sort of tourist attraction. Even though more than half of the demonic energy had disappeared after decades of being contained, one could still see it with the naked eye.
Even normal humans could see a pale purple hue covering the cities and making the buildings less visible from the distance. It was a sort of monument as to what demonic energy and worshipping demons would do.
The cities, which had been almost completely destroyed by the alliance, stood as monuments for all to see. They showed everyone not only what would happen if one was to conspire with demons, but what the end result would be like.
Demonic worshippers were almost completely exterminated after that battle. All the kingdoms and empires in the world started purging anyone that was suspected to be a demonic worshipper.
Houses were regularly checked, people were followed by soldiers and spies, and none that were suspected were left alive.
The kingdoms didn't even need clear evidence that one was a worshipper to condemn and kill them. Many innocents had died, but the kingdoms would rather kill 100 innocent people in order to find at least 1 worshipper than let them walk freely amongst them.
It is suspected that more than half of the people killed were in fact innocent, and even though that brought forth great tragedy to the world, it is considered necessary in order to make sure that demon worshippers and demons would never again come back.
And now they did.
The area where the kingdom of Riplas was situated was actually a great spot for a demon invasion. Thanks to its terrain and surroundings, it was incredibly hard for the kingdoms around it to find out what was happening and send out people.
Even if the kingdoms were to find out, they would need a long time to send out reinforcements, and by the time they arrived, it would have been too late to do anything.
That was exactly the reason why the demons decided to attack here. They patiently waited, slowly gathering support and worshippers until they started corrupting the nobles and then the royal families themselves.
With all the higher-ups in the kingdom being their servants, they faced no real resistance and were able to start their plan with incredible ease.
The kings, their families, and the noble families didn't care about the citizens, well, most of them didn't while those that did were taken care of easily.
The original plan was for the armies that were led by the two kings to stay at the battlefront for a long period of time, months actually, and for them to fight and not come back until the array was finished.
The kings actually had no idea that they themselves helped create it, and the only thing they thought the array would do was increase the amount of demonic energy which would let them gain more power.
They also knew that some citizens would be turned into demonic creatures, but the number was a couple of hundred thousand citizens, not all of them. Even their families weren't spared and were turned down by the leader of the demons.
The next step was to gather the army and attack them.
The army of demonic creatures would not only attack the kingdom of Riplas but the armies of the two kingdoms as well.
All would be slaughtered until none remained, and then the army would continue forth to Riplas and completely decimate it.
The two kings would have their bodies taken over by the two demons in a matter of days. If Reign hadn't arrived, the day they started taking over them would have been in 2 days, which is when the army was supposed to arrive and start the final battle.
The Saintess would also increase the number of worshippers and demonic creatures under her, while the horde would begin slaughtering people and turning more of them into demonic creatures before their leader, a Tier II demon, was supposed to sacrifice them all and turn himself into a Tier III demon.
With such numbers, they would be able to fight against the king, even if another Tier III combatant was to suddenly be unveiled, they would have the necessary power to fight them to a draw and wait until their leader arrived.
Then, it would be the end of Riplas, and the other kingdoms in the area.
All would fall to the demons, who would start turning the entire population into demonic creatures before attacking the kingdoms that lay around it, increasing their numbers and power until reaching a level so high that none would be able to match them.
That was all foiled by two men.
The first one was Reign, who had returned and was not only able to reinforce the kingdom with his power but was able to take the very souls of the demons he slaughtered, and not let any go back and inform the leader of what had happened.
Even now, the demon had no idea that his underlings were dead, and that their plans were destroyed.
It wouldn't take him long to find out, however, as the ones that had fled would definitely be met by demonic creatures, that would bring them to him.
Some had already been found, but it seemed that the demons and demonic creatures that had found them decided to not listen to them, but turn them into more powerful demons in order to strengthen themselves.
Even with that, the demons would be able to read their memories and inform their leader of what they had found out.
The only question is whether the leader would change his plans, or was the increase in power enough to let him be confident that the original plan was enough to take care of Reign and the others?
Reign believed that the demon would follow the original plan as his strength was now above a normal peak Tier III being, and the arrogance that came with that was not light.
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