Chapter 18: Interlude: Belketh's Proposition
Above the ruined village of Rosemary, griffins circled and swooped down from the air, tearing into the beastmen army on the ground. Their feeble bodies were shredded by the griffins, while their riders rained bolts upon them.
Radiant Glory flashed onto the battlefield, burning the beastmen in an instant before disappearing far from harm's way. However, high above the carnage, unnoticed by all, was an angel with black wings adorned by a green robe. Darkness seemed to form where his face should be.
"The child of Elrath will come here," the figure stated as if stating a fact, looking from where the beastmen had come. "Reinforcements. Elrath's Chosen would have to hold me a favor." The angel disappeared silently in a burst of darkness.
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General Stak-ra POV:
Our scouts encountered a new civilization, weak, strange-looking apes—another civilization of slaves. How delightful. The Grand Emperor would be pleased with this.
'What is this feeling?' I looked around, feeling a strange wind caressing my senses.
"You, slave!" I called one of the slaves in front of me, my Baslac stopping dead in its tracks as the first row of about 100 slaves halted in an instant. "What are you doing? Why are you not marching?" Then, suddenly, one of the goatmen turned toward me and cried out, his entire body shriveling in an instant, his eyes glowing green as he launched himself upon me with the rest of the first row.
"Enemy attack!" I heard one of my guards cry out as what seemed to be a spear made of bone lodged itself in his head.
I channeled the Great Web to cast magic, but in an instant, I sensed my connection with the Web disappear as if someone stole it from me.
I looked toward where the feeling came from, and I saw a robed figure hovering in the sky, looking at us as if gazing at trash.
I was infuriated—an insignificant slave looking at me, a general, with those eyes.
"You insect! If you kill me, then the entire Empire will know of you and will slaughter your entire race!" I cried out to the robed man, but he seemed not to have heard what I said. After all, who in this world could ignore our glorious Empire? We were the first to march in this world, the creators of the world order.
The figure in the sky moved his hand, and I saw lightning coming from above him as two Coatl riders appeared with their mounts. The Coatl riders were the most prestigious order of our Empire, the greatest warriors mounted on the greatest mounts.
But as the man moved his hand, the lightning and the Coatl riders came to a sudden stop above him.
'Wh-' I started to think, but I heard the voice of the figure.
"Feels Death Grip." Then darkness took my whole vision. I sensed my entire soul scream before disappearing, as if a predator had taken all of my possessions.
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Above what remained of the battlefield between the Empire and Belketh, everything alive seemed to have died. Trees withered, the grass turned lifeless, and the bodies of all the beastmen started to reanimate. The Coatl bodies moved around Belketh as he looked back at Rosemary village.
"It seems that Elrath's Chosen is here, in due time for our meeting," Belketh said as he disappeared, launching his entire army toward their departing city to take revenge for all the lives of Asha's children that they took this morning. He teleported once again to Rosemary village, his body appearing above the clouds. He looked down to see the gleaming silvery confessor armor gazing at him.
"He can detect me? It seems that this one is perhaps the strongest of the new chosen, with Urgash's one," Belketh whispered as he initiated his descent toward the village.
Belketh chuckled as he saw a dozen Radiant Glories looking at him while he hovered down to the ground.
"Chosen of Elrath, we need to talk," Belketh said as Lucas moved his hands to stop everyone from attacking Belketh. Lucas looked at the Angel of Death before gesturing for him to follow.
"Come, Lord Belketh, let's talk a bit more privately," said Lucas as he turned to go inside the destroyed mansion.
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Lucas POV:
We soon entered what remained of Elrio's office, stacks of papers disseminated everywhere, his furniture destroyed. I picked up one of the papers to see my letter of recommendation toward his wife for a noble title.
'Is she still alive?' I thought as I put the paper back on the desk and turned to look at Belketh. His appearance here surprised me; this occurrence could perhaps mean that other very important lore characters from Ashan could be here.
'Oh, shit,' I thought of a certain person who, in this universe, could have a field day—Sandro, the void prophet. This madman was truly a strong person, perhaps even stronger than Belkiel or the Eternal Empress.
Belketh looked at me as the furniture inside the room started to revert to its normal state.
"Chronomancy," I looked at him with widening eyes. I could manipulate time too to a certain extent, but it was an extremely hard task to do, while Belketh did it like he was breathing.
"Do not mistake this for a play of power, young Lucas," he said as he looked at me. "'Tis was just a glimpse of what I can offer you."
"I will not become a Necromancer, Belketh," I replied to him as I sat down in the repaired chair.
Belketh chuckled as he looked at me.
"I do not demand of you to convert yourself to necromancy, Child of Elrath. I only ask if you want to learn the secrets of magic from me," he said as I sensed his enormous mana pool, like an enormous sea towering above me.
'How arrogant of me to have thought that I was one of the strongest beings in this world,' I chuckled at my past self's arrogant thoughts.
"Why are you deigning to teach me?" I asked the Angel. I knew of him, how he formed pupils like Vein or Sandro to become absolute powerhouses in Ashan.
"Do you believe in Fate?" the Angel asked me.
I pondered for an instant before replying.
"Yes, after all, what was my vision when I saw Irina back then?" I replied to the Angel with positivity. Irina, the firstborn of the Kingdom—when I looked upon her, I saw Irina Griffin back in Ashan. Her struggle with the Nagas, her fight against both Demons and her husband, and her ultimate end.
"Ah, yes, the young Irina. A brilliant woman who became a Daimyo of the Eternal Empress. Indeed, you have a basic comprehension of Fate magic, but yet, you still are experimenting with it," the angel said as he continued to look at me, a smile on his lips.
"But Fate magic is not something set in stone. If it were, you would not have taken Sandro as a disciple," I replied to him, wanting to see his reaction.
He chuckled as he took the chair in front of the desk and sat down, his wings disappearing in an instant.
"Bold of you to assume, young priest, that I didn't know the future of Sandro and Vein when I took them in," he replied to my question with a knowing smile.
"So why did you take Sandro in? You doomed millions with this decision. You are a servant of Asha, and yet, you take one of her worst enemies as a disciple!" I said, starting to lose my temper at the Angel's indifferent replies. He was so indifferent to the life and death of the people; it made me sick.
"You assume things that have no sense. The people that Sandro killed just returned to Asha; their souls were preserved. After all, living is just one part of life. I assure you that what I did was for the benefits of Ashan. Don't go and assume things like Kha-Beleth did back then."
"You compare me to Kha-Beleth?" I asked the Angel, angry and puzzled at the same time. Not many things were known about the Lord of Sheogh—how did he come to power when the Six Overlords disappeared.
"You are exactly like him. Having lofty ambition doesn't make you immune to the truth of the world," he replied to me, seemingly not wanting to dwell on Kha-Beleth.
The Angel looked at me, and then I 'saw' something—him destroying an entire army of the beastmen that attacked Rosemary. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, even if he would ask something of me.
"Do you know something about these beastmen, Lord Belketh?" I asked him as my index finger started to tap on the desk.
"Indeed, they are the most dominant race on this continent. Their ruling class is composed of the Lizardmen; all the others are their slaves," he replied to me with a bit of venom in his voice. "Their Empire is extremely large, easily dwarfing any Empire back in Ashan. Their spellcasters are not that impressive, but their warriors are quite skilled. However, it is their numbers that are worrying. They number in the millions, whereas you are not even five thousand with the dark elves. This war is lost even before it started."
"B-" I wanted to reply to Belketh, but he put his hand in front of me to stop me.
"I have proposed to some people like you, an alliance. People from Ashan should help each other, after all," he said as he looked at me. "Who have accepted this alliance?"
I asked the Angel with hope in my eyes, and with just one word, he replied, "Everyone." As I heard the voice, I saw a lot of symbols appearing: Academy, Inferno, Sanctuary, Fortress, Sylvan, Stronghold, Necropolis. Only two were missing, Haven and Dungeon—Malarion and me. The only solution was to accept; a coalition with everyone was perhaps the only way for us to defeat this humongous empire.
"Malarion and I accept this alliance," I replied in a heartbeat.
Belketh smiled as he redressed himself in the chair.
"Good then. In two days, there will be the first Alliance summit between everyone. I hope that there will be no aggression on the site of the alliance. Is this clear?" warned the Angel as he handed two stones to me.
"These stones will open a portal to Heresh, where the Summit will be taking place. You can take two advisors with you," ended the Angel as he started to leave the room.
"Thank you, Lord Belketh, and for your apprenticeship," I started as I saw him turn back toward me. "I accept."
"Good then, Disciple. I shall start your training after the meeting. I will take quarters at Falcon's Reach during the whole apprenticeship," he finally said as he disappeared instantly.
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Vatran POV:
Well, I would never have expected an angel to be here, and I thought that I was the only reincarnated one. He told me that he proposed an alliance between reincarnated ones to destroy an Evil Empire, and I accepted his alliance against the closing of the portal toward the Twisting Nether. At first, when I founded Ur-Ganesh, I thought that perhaps the Twisting Nether could prove to be a good training ground. However, when the Pit Lords or Doom Guards started to appear, my troops began to get decimated. Not me—I could kill some of them, but I was not a one-man army. So when this strange angel came with a solution for the problem, I accepted. After all, who in their right mind would want to fight against Sargeras?
I saw a blazing demon in enormous armor appear from a portal in front of me.
"Hey Veyer, my man, ready to go and see the others?" he huffed a trail of fire from his nostrils, terrifying.
"Do not call me 'your man,' Vatran. I am Veyer, one of Kha-Beleth's generals. I will not be belittled b—"
"Yeah, whatever, man. You are a general, blablabla, as if I cared," I made a dismissive movement with my hand. Ah, it seems that Veyer is boiling.
"You are dead, VATRAN!" I heard Veyer cry out as he tried to burn me with his magic and as he drew his own Chaos Sword.
"That's what I was waiting for!" I cried out as I took hold of my sword and dashed toward the demon.
Since when did I become crazy? Ah, I don't know, but this feels good.
As the fight continued, an enormous Pit Lord looked down from a smoldering mountain top toward Ur-Ganash.
"My Lord Ur-Khrag, your servant Azkaal has seen these two dumbasses fight each other again today," said the Pit Lord as he frowned, observing the two generals.
"If this is the new generation of demons general, then back then we would not make it past the gate of Sheogh," he sighed as he gazed at the sky.
'Kiril, the only one to truly comprehend me, where are you?' The Leader of the Legion of Destruction sighed as he slumped back into a slumber. In two days, he would see if Michael and this woman, Sarah, were here. If they were, then Azkaal, Prince of Destruction, would show them oblivion.
"Urgh," grunted a lizard man as a blade of darkness claimed his life in an instant. The last soul of a quarry mined by the Lizardmen Empire disappeared at the blade of the shadow. The shadow turned to look at the darkness that appeared in front of him.
"Mother Malassa, Erebos will answer your call once again," said the shadow as he disappeared in an instant.
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Another interlude before entering into the second volume, the War for the World,
See you soon :)
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