The Red Hand

"Now then, let's sort through the files... And get everything up that I'll need to explain things." Akagi began talking to herself as she stood in front of a large monitor, her fingers effortlessly flying over the keyboard as she opened dozens of programs and files. "Good. Good. Good. Some of these interactions are really slow, I'll need to check out reformatting and reinstalling the OS if this continues... Probably need to debug and optimize it a little bit. Imp's gonna need to help me. She always was better at this programming stuff than me..." She sighed as she continued to speak to herself in technobabble that nobody else in the room could understand.

{Writing code was never really my interest, but with all the time on my hands, it was worth spending a few years in my shadow learning it. I still fucking hate it though...} (Akagi)

"This room... It reminds me of..." Ariel said quietly as she looked between Melifous and Bathrumd, who seemed to have the same thoughts on their minds.

"If those two were awake, they'd be having a field day with all this stuff." Bathrumd sighed as he imagined the Phimas pestering Akagi about all the strange technology in the room. They were always fascinated with strange magical items, and Akagi's technology was more or less a higher form of magic from their perspective. "Its a good thing they'll be out of commission for a while. Using up their magic put them in a nice coma that'll last nearly a full day, so they'll be taking a nap for a while.”

"Yeah... It's gonna be really hard to explain everything to them when they finally get up though..." Melfious said with a wry smile. The sleeping girls had been placed in a secure room for the moment, and were being watched. "But hey, now that I think about it... Delora... Balour and Jerome... Are they..."

"The Paladin Knight guy is dead." Akagi said without looking away from the computer, her eyes continuing to flick back and forth as she moved things around on screen. "My idiot subordinates killed him during the battle. I told them he was on the save list, and I ended up eating his soul along with the soldiers since I couldn't differentiate his from the rest."

{Giving them a scolding would, alas, be unwarranted. In a battle of life and death, they come first and that guy wasn't really that important anyway.} (Akagi)

"Did not you notice him because he was just as seemingly weak as the regular soldiers?" Yumi asked with a giggle.

"Snacks all end up looking and tasting alike at that level." Akagi replied, her words annoying Ariel, who tried her best not to say anything. "But as for the other two..." She paused and snapped her fingers, causing the large double doors on the opposite side of the conference room to slide open revealing the missing two Elector-Kings.

"You're alive?!?" Ariel had expected to be told they'd been killed as well, especially as both were essentially noncombatants. She'd left them at the rear headquarters and assumed it'd been wiped out to the last man but Akagi's final attack.

"Only because they had the sense to side with the winning team." Akagi said as she pushed a button to run a program before turning to face the others. “Something I wish more people of your world would do.”

"No... No... Don't tell me that you... You betrayed us?" Ariel asked, her eyes going wide in shock. She'd never expected the two of them to do something like that since they were quite loyal.

"We were left with no choice." Delora said, looking away, embarrassed by her decision. "A war with a Demon Lord was sure to end in disaster, and as we've seen here, it did." She shook her head as the two entered the room.

"So we decided to take necessary steps to preserve our Kingdom, please forgive our actions, Lady Araiel. Understand our actions were taken with the best of intentions in mind." Balour said with a bit of a wry smile on his face. “We couldn't risk our people being wiped out because of this... incident...”

"Now it all makes sense." Bathrumd said, clicking his tongue in disgust. "No wonder why you both had your men take on vanguard and scouting deployments during the march and why some of your more elite troops just so happened to get 'food poisoning' right before we left the Capital." He growled.

{I thought it was too convenient an excuse but I never would've imagined they'd gone and switched teams.} (Bathrumd)

"We saved who we could without raising too much suspicion." Delora said as she lamented her inability to save more. “In the end we made the choice to preserve our best forces...”

"However, the rest..." Balour's face grew dark as his words came to a pause.

"So in order to save your elite troops you chose to allow your other men to walk into the slaughter." Ariel said. Her words were almost silent, but the amount of vitriol laced within them sent shivers up the two Elector-King's spines. She was furious at their decision, but understood why they'd made it. Though that didn't exactly make it any better in her mind. "I'd denounce your actions right now if the circumstances were any different. As it stands, my choice to lead our people to battle in the first place was a greater folly, so I have no right to say anything."

"They were good collaborators." Akagi said with a smile. “The intel they provided on your forces really helped things go smoothly.”

"Though you were a poor leader, what withholding some of the info they gave you about their formations." Yumi said as she rolled her eyes. "Nima would've appreciated knowing more about those Wyvern riders and I'm sure the others would've benefited from the breakdown on their high command."

"Bah! Don't worry about it. It's okay." Akagi waived off Yumi's concern as she pouted. "That whole thing was more about seeing how they could handle a proper battle. Where would the learning experience be if I tee'd everything up for them with all that intel?" If there was something they truly needed to know Akagi would've told them, but since nothing stuck out as especially dangerous she decided to hold information back to test them.

"I suppose that's better than spoiling them." Yumi sighed.

{Just don't go making a habit of testing people like that...} (Yumi)

"I spoil them enough as it is." Akagi snickered before getting the conversation back on track. "Alright, so here's the situation." She tapped the table between them, making a holographic projection of Enoris appear above the table.

"I thought we weren't bringing one of these?" Yumi asked, noting that Akagi had intentionally left a Holo Protector out of their base building plans.

"I know, but I changed my mind since it would be easier for things like this." Akagi said as she gave a tee-hee pero. "But as you lot can probably tell, this is Enoris. Your little ball of blue and green that is on the precipice of destruction. Neat, huh?"

{Earth's technology really is similar to the Eridal's. I wonder if there is some kind of connection between the two?} (Elariel)

"I've seen maps of the world before, but the only one that comes even close to this level of detail is in the ruins beneath the Capital." Ariel hummed as she took note of each nation's location and borders which were shown via colored lines that streaked across the terrain.

{Though that one shows the world as it was during the height of the Eridal Empire, so it's little more than a curiosity. Its strange to see our entire world reduced to little more than a floating colorful ball... Is this how the Gods see us? As little more than tiny dots on a map?} (Ariel)

"So here's the current situation." Akagi tapped the table again which caused the globe to grow a bit and focus in on the Demon Kingdom, which then turned a shade of black to match Amdamell. "Feline has already given in to my demands, so that's one nation under my control, and with the defeat of the Demon Kingdom we've now got two nations of the Northern Continent under my suzerainty."

{And another one that will soon become my ally if all goes well.} (Akagi)

"I wouldn't get a head of yourself." Ariel said, interrupting her thoughts. "We may have agreed to let your Vampire take over, but our people are unlikely to do so. The Demon Race is a proud one, and the hatred of the Demon Lord Cult runs in our blood. That you defeated our Army will not make them so easily roll over for a newly imposed leader, even if we all publicly support it. Not to mention that our population will see you as no different than Vikes."

{Hells, they'll probably find you even worse.} (Bathrumd)

"Yeaaah.... I'd actually go so far as to say that our open support would only cause more discontent." Melifous said with a sigh. "They'll just call us traitors and collaborators, and I have no doubt that members of the Nobility more distant from the Capital will raise banners of insurrection once they catch wind of what's going on. They'll declare Silfana an illegitimate ruler and beg for aid from abroad to crush the 'usurper'."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Any who oppose my coronation will be swiftly crushed." Silfana said, seemingly savoring the opportunity to crush any uprisings. "In my time as Imperial Crown Princess, my Father taught me well what to do with malcontents like that." Her smirk caused the Demons to shiver.

{Dealing with rebels has always been a personal hobby of mine. Oh how I can't wait to enjoy it again.} (Silfana)

"Stacking bodies tends to get rid of dissent very quickly!" Akagi laughed, stating that she found such methods to be the best way of handling things. "People talk a big game, but once their comrades start dropping like flies they'll start begging for forgiveness." She continued. "But in this case, I'm actively pushing for such a result. I've already got my insiders working behind the scenes to prep certain Demon Nobles to revolt, and it will plug in perfectly with my plan to force the rest of the Northern Continent's nations into a single decisive engagement."

"Boze!" Ariel shouted the Count's name in disgust, figuring that he was the one Akagi was talking about. "I knew he was more than just a messenger of yours! He's a fucking turncoat!"

{A weak nobody like him would be the perfect person to push those already troublesome Eastern Lords to rebel! They'd never think someone like him was in the Demon Lord's pocket!} (Ariel)

"He's doing remarkably well too." Yumi said. "His last update stated that at least three moderately powerful Noble Houses were willing to take up arms, and he thinks he can gather together a rather large force once Silfana's ascent to the throne is announced."

"So your plan really is to gather everyone together and just..." Elariel shook her head in disgust.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Akagi asked as she rolled her eyes.

"I suppose I do but my comment is more related to the fact that I think your overconfidence is going to get you killed." Elariel retorted, her tone aggravating Akagi. "Vikes took on our entire world and failed. Granted you are more powerful than he was, but I think an action like this, uniting everyone against you, is simply hubris. Hubris that will ultimately lead to your down fall like so many others that came before you."

{Biting off more than one can chew and choking on your own ambitions has to be the quickest way for a villain to be defeated. I've seen it many, many times.} (Elariel)

"Perhaps it would be if I wasn't making adequate preparations." Akagi replied with a bit of snark in her voice. "Contrary to what you might think I'm not charging into this battle without thought. I've planned and planned and planned. I've ran and am currently running more scenarios in my mind than you could even conceive of God. So take your lecturing somewhere else as I have no interest in hearing your prattle. What you perceive as arrogance and hubris is actually confidence.” She continued. “I know well what I'm capable of, and while I don't know everything about this world or what you Gods are able to do, everything I do know tells me that my victory is likely. It's just a matter of deciding how to make it happen and shaping what that victory looks like in the end."

{Not to mention I've got an emergency get out of jail free card if I need to. I don't really care about this world and if push comes to shove I WILL destroy it rather than risk those Gods doing anything I don't want them to. This victory must be total and clean. A Demon Lord does not lose and that means getting everything I want with no losses. I will either win this via a carefully laid plan or via destruction of this world. I don't tolerate failure, especially from myself.} (Akagi)