Demonic war. 1

Leonard wanted to perform his best. He remembered his time in the circus. He was very certain that the idea of using mimery as his leading magical art was both funny and helpful, he could find items that were never there and be silent as a feather falling. With his research of the demonic continent, he was sure that they would love the performance.

With his mind away from the troubles that keep him bound to this world he walked backstage, he could tell that the people were plenty and were excited about the show. Leonard trains everyone performing within the circus and is both anxious and excited.

Thanks to Leonard's photographic memory he could remember how the circus performers in the sapient continent move. He also remembered how they would plan events and improvise some acts when needed.

This time, he was very sure he taught everything to his hired performers. Leonard prepared himself, as there is no ringmaster he would assume the position, the job is simple as he is the one who would introduce the acts of the performers and a master of ceremonies.

Leonard stood up and looked at the time, it was near the start of their show. He walked up to the microphone in the announcer's booth and with a jolly voice he roared.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! We have 5 minutes left for our performance!" he gave a dramatic pause before continuing, "I advise that you buy your snacks and beverages and sit tight and watch!"

The announcement ended and Leonard looked at the gymnasts and acrobats. Even though demons are better than humans, the ones watching their show are still civilians, ones who are not trained to fight. Demons, just like humans have their livelihoods, interests and relationships. They're as normal as they could get.

So he was sure, that when these people show their skills who were trained to the extreme their mouths will be sure to be shaped in the words of 'wow'. Leonard nodded, the first act would be the acrobat's morning loops, an acrobat swing and leap towards a ring of fire and being caught by another acrobat on the other side.

It was very grand for the first performance but nothing less than welcoming. The acrobats had their warmup before so as not to cause accidents. The acrobats went ahead and swung, spotlights pointed at them the audience released applause amazed by the show, the applause got louder when the ring that was raised was lit on fire and the acrobat successfully swung through the blazing ring.

The performance went full swing after that, Leonard being the ringmaster continued his role, leading and announcing, that there were no animals that could perform unlike in the human continent, but then he could replace those with other things. Always on tricks as Demons are very perceptive of mana.

From juggling, tightrope walking, sword swallowing and many more. One could see the tension in the audience and the various emotions on their faces as they see the people perform abnormal tricks. Of course, the final act goes to the ringmaster himself.

Leonard prepared as the announcers changed. He walked up to the stage, all in the mime guise, his performance included sleight-of-hand tricks, volunteers and the last trick, which needed a daredevil but he thought it would be fun to do so. The human cannonball.

It might deviate from the normal miming but the essence is still there, to act like there is an object stopping him made the children giggle at his goofy acts.

He was particularly having fun himself, performing what he found delightful.

Then the roar, the roar filled his ears.

He knows this sound, the sound of an object breaking through the sound barrier constantly.

"No… no way─"

Leonard's wish that wasn't what it is was betrayed, just because for a second later half of the circus tent suddenly vanished in flames.

***

It was unreal, Ulpo arrived way too late, the bodies of their airforce falling in droves, mechanical or flesh. His eyes were in disbelief, he blinked multiple times before running towards the city of Kiryu was blazed in flames.

The military wasn't being a slouch, when Ulpo heard about the humans using aircraft to send in bombs to the demon city he immediately stood up and used a teleportation formation and appeared within the city instantly.

He saw how the humans were able to slip into the demonic territory undetected. The aircraft they used could go in a portal, a large portal. Ulpo could feel the mana being sucked into the dark portal lingering in the sky that continuously pours out aircraft.

Ulpo poured in mana and his wings appeared on his back, he flew, he didn't waste his time chasing those aircraft, he wouldn't be able to catch up with whatever he tried doing. Instead, he started going for something else.

The aircraft wasn't alone, some were carrier aircraft for people, he could see some humans going out of the planes and activating their parachutes. When he tried to get near and kill the nearest one he saw a gun immediately pointed at him.

So instead of a direct kill he pulled out his pistol and shot the soldier despite the air currents. Thankfully his pistol is made to launch mana bullets and not ordinary-infused bullets. Ulpo immediately went away, not bothering to grab the soldier's gun, it probably had some time of demon repellent, like the last war with human weapons.

"What is that thing?!"

Ulpo spoke with rage as he looked at the giant turret pointed at him, it was attached to the plane that carried the soldiers. He immediately cast spells, barriers mostly as a barrage of bullets infused with magic were shot at him. He didn't stay stationary though, he will not die a stupid death such as being a sitting duck.

He teleported out of the place after casting it for a few seconds, he grimaced at the amount of soldiers raining down the sky, there were still civilians! But he doubt that the humans would care about that. He thought they would be more covert but it seems they wanted a full all-out war.

The signals of an invasion are already ringed, most men and women of the demon military would have come here to defend their nation from an invasion. For now, Ulpo went ahead and helped the civilians to escape the slaughter of what was to come.

Running towards the nearest bomb-affected area he started helping by using his magic, he could see the horror on the civilians as the humans rained down from the sky, they had limited time so there was no time to be idle.

"People! Start evacuating!" he said in an urgent voice.

If the humans ever had their hands on a demon body he was sure they would not end up pretty. He used his natural gifts and healed some demons with basic spells though they would undoubtedly need proper medical attention for them to properly heal.

Ulpo heard a gunshot, he pulled out his gun and prepared for an all-out battle.

***

Screams and shouts were all there is he could hear, from the crying of scared people to the gasping of air. Soon there were gunshots, then he opened his eyes like a shell-shocked man.

Leonard opened his eyes, shocked and terrified of what he was seeing, he was being carried away by one of the acrobats, and he noticed his head bleeding. He noticed the panic in the demons around him and the blaring alarm of the city, warning of the invasion.

Leonard was in disbelief, Why is this happening? He tried to recall the plot of the novel despite it being irrelevant to make his deduction, but nothing, nothing notable ever came to his mind. There is a demon war, but it is near the mid or end-game.

Leonard felt some emotions whirling inside him, he wanted to complain about how this world was cruel to him. But then Leonard looked around him and his mind blanked, it was cruel indeed but not only to him.

Leonard looked at the demon carrying him. It was Jesson the tightrope performer, he tapped the man on his chest as he was being carried on his shoulder.

"It's a bit dizzy up here."

"Boss you're awake!"

Jesson kneeled so Leonard could go down and Leonard slowly went down from Jesson's shoulder. He gave a nod and thanked him for saving him.

"What happened to the others."

With that question Jesson's eyes darkened, Leonard could only empathize, he could not predict the situation, no, not everyone could expect the humans to attack the demonic continent at all.

"A few of us could escape, they helped the others run."

Leonard could only let out a few curses under his breath.

"But they did run, right?" Leonard asked, tinged with nervousness.

"I hope so…"

Leonard nodded and they continued rushing to safety, Thankfully not a single limb in Leonard's body was injured, only his head with an open wound that seemed to have closed up already.

"Let's go, I don't know how the queen would react to this."

"R-right!"

"There would be military blockades soon, most civilians would be able to escape while some are unlucky. If my prediction is correct. The humans would drop their soldiers to the highway out of this city. We have to leave by a detour."

Leonard cursed under his breath he was sure that Humans don't consider demons as living beings capable of having a society, the soldiers here would surely kill every single demon that lay on their site.

He was sure that the Winstead Empire went as far in their propaganda and brainwashing that this city is just a human city that demons once captured and roleplayed into a society.

It is true that in the entire human vs. demon history, the demons attacked first, but when they realised that humans could be negotiated they stopped, but soon the fight started again because Humans were greedy for Demon parts and technology.

This didn't help that other races also treated demons as a pariah, that they started being aggressive toward other races as well. Leonard still remembers the Demon History other than the recorded history, he was sure that demons are many people, there's no doubt about that.

"Ugh…" Leonard started casting a healing spell.

Jesson looked at Leonard with an incredulous look, his eyes were his head then next to the drops of blood he left behind, they somehow had a crystal sheen to them.