Chapter 81 : beginning of the last battle

*****

"Booom,bom,booom!"

I found myself watching the cannons, unsuccessfully, attacking the ramparts' defenses. It was obvious that these were futile efforts and that it would take days to break through. We were running out of time.

In front of me was this guy who thought he was important, a five-star desperado, giving us non-stop orders and thinking he was superior. I would have ripped his head off a long time ago if it weren't for the fact that he was now stronger than me.

He was Daimyo Nero, something like the nobility of this place. My subordinates and I, were making deals with some nobles who promised to patronize us in exchange for some favors, as a blood moon member it was best to have as many connections as possible as well as new additions.

Suddenly, we were called by our leader and assigned to a mission, as we were in the vicinity. According to what he said, a labyrinth would appear without divine protection that we could enter.

We were promised greater rewards. At first, I was puzzled, as labyrinths without divine protection do not exist. They are labyrinths because they are made by the gods, so to say so is a contradiction.

But I followed the assigned orders. Very seldom our oracle is wrong, and I could not disobey orders. So, together with my group, we went to the place and, after waiting a few days, we were able to enter the labyrinth.

Upon arrival, I felt a sense of heaviness and lack of energy. When I evaluated myself, I noticed that my stats were reduced and my rank had returned to three stars and any weapon or artifact was unusable. I panicked, my subordinates, who had the same problem, also looked agitated, but after thinking about it, I realized that it could be because of the maze. So I calmed down and went on with the mission.

At first, we just went with the flow and somehow made it to the Tenjin realm. After some investigation, we thought we had figured out the purpose of this maze and how to clear it and I ordered my subordinates to start what we had to do.

The result of those plans is this: behind a local nobleman, giving us orders and swallowing my anger in order to clear the maze. I don't know what will happen if we fail. I heard that you could give up if you entered a maze, but this one doesn't seem to follow logic. I should have guessed as much when they said I had no divine protection.

At that moment, Nero turned and spoke to me.

"The preparations are ready."

"Yes, Nero-sama. As soon as night falls, this will be over."

"Excellent. When the demons invade these lands, you too can be the ruler of your own kingdom. So keep up the good work," he said, placing his hands on my shoulders.

I had to stop my impulses to tear his head off. 'Not long to go, not long to go,' I kept repeating in my mind. This guy thought I was an idiot, but he didn't know that I had my own plans too.

At first I shared demonic spells and techniques with him to gain his trust. The idiot thinks I'm on his side. He doesn't know that I know he steals all my achievements when he reports to the demons and that he is thinking of discarding me when the time comes. But that doesn't matter. I'm doing the same thing.

As night fell, there was me and one of my subordinates walking with spells that reduced our presence and concealed us , arriving at the back of the camp.

There were a few hundred soldiers, mercenaries and some nobles gathered. They had already made preparations so that their movements would not be suspicious. We took up positions, including myself and my subordinate, and began the established chants.

The runes began to resonate along with us, drawing a great mass of energy from the surrounding bodies and blood, which had not yet been cleansed. It was an arrangement that Nero and others were able to achieve with enumerable excuses. To delay the cleanup until tomorrow.

We were in the middle of a black mana storm, with a large sphere forming above us. At that moment, Nero, who was in the center, finished chanting. I nodded toward my subordinate, and before he could do anything, I took control of the ritual.

While the demons shared knowledge with the three realms, it doesn't compare to what our organization handles. Unnoticed, I made some arrangements beforehand, allowing me to take control of the ritual. I changed the target and aimed it at the walls that seemed impenetrable.

I could see two spheres from the other camps and noticed that the rest of my minions successfully completed their part.

"BOOOM!"

"BOOOM!"

"BOOOOM!" 

Three large explosions were heard. I was about to escape. I did not need the recognition of the kingdom; labyrinths know how to recognize achievements. Now it only remains to wait for completion and I will have my reward based on my accomplishments.

As I looked over to my subordinate to make sure he was escaping, I noticed that he was just a headless body. Before I could understand the situation, my eyesight began to spin. Without realizing it, , and in the end I could only see the feet of a man.

"W-why?" Everything happened so fast that I didn't understand anything until the darkness came over me.

****

At that moment, I was communicating with Lili mentally about what was happening. Just as I expected, the demonic humans who had infiltrated humanity were waiting for the perfect time to interfere and, according to what Lili heard, it would be tonight.

A logical thing in all wars is to be careful with the bodies of the dead, either because they can cause disease or be used by the enemy for other things if they have necromancers among their ranks. But, because of interference from the demonic humans in the three realms, they had been able to delay the cleansing of these for a while, waiting for this moment.

From my position at the top of the wall, I could see how the bodies scattered around the fortress were used as a sacrifice to feed a huge magic circle, made of hundreds of runes that concentrated all the energy in three points.

It was quite large and the amount of energy gathered was enough to leave the three armies with no choice but to retreat or exterminate themselves directly. But I watched quietly as that happened, knowing that, even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop them at this point. However, it didn't really matter since this is what I wanted.

'How are things on your side?'

['All good. I even boosted them with enhancement spells since it seemed like I couldn't control it.']

The night sky was covered by a thick layer of clouds, hiding the stars. Despite the darkness, the runes emitted an ominous glow, illuminating the terrain with a reddish, sinister light.

The moment the three spheres seemed to have absorbed enough energy, I saw them begin to move, slowly moving towards the armies. The soldiers, not knowing what to do, watched in terror as the colossal energy approached.

In an unexpected twist, the spheres passed over them, heading toward the second wall from three different directions.

"BOOOM!"

"BOOOM!"

"BOOOOM!"

Three explosions echoed in three different places, the sound reverberating in the air and shaking the ground. Taking a crystal in my hand, I spoke in a firm, determined voice.

"Now."

After a few seconds, I could see Hayato and the leaders of other realms leading an elite group to catch the demonic humans.

I had already talked to Hayato and told him that the infiltrators were planning to make their move today. I mentioned to him that it was the perfect opportunity to catch them, but I hadn't given him any details about what they were doing. I had only told him that I would let him know when the time came.

I had left my doppelgänger with him in the barracks; without Lili inside, he can only follow simple commands, but if I concentrate, he can do more complex things, as well as see what he does. At the moment when the spheres were forming, Hayato almost came out to see what was going on, but he didn't because he understood that I couldn't stop him and he trusted me.

Although, I must admit, there was a moment when he grabbed me by the neck and threatened to kill me if we died from the spheres, because of the pressure he felt he was saying nonsensical things so I kindly ignored him. In the other realm, I don't know what happened in their camps, but it went as planned and they still came out on my signal.