With the prowler legion offering me their throats (their version of swearing fealty to me as their new alpha prime), the other two demonic legions shortly came to offer their loyalty. With that, three remained on the fence while the shadow legion remained unaccounted for.
Of course, with the insect legion destroyed, there wasn't much else to say about them. In time, a new twelfth legion would be formed, but that was probably far into the future. I had to deal with the present legions first.
"Still nothing?" I asked Eleanor when I walked into the strategy room. She shook her head.
"I still can't find any trace of the shadow legion."
"We do have something, though," Stella reported, reading off a scroll that was printed off a magic machine (for some reason, the word "computer" popped into my mind). She looked up at me. "There are rumors that Sheldon Umbra and Ralph Da Ghoul are one and the same."
The Divine General of the shadow legion and the leader of the League of Shadows…it made sense that they were the same person, especially when we discovered that the shadow legion was the League of Shadows. Interesting.
"The cowards," Stryker muttered darkly. "They only know how to cower in the darkness. They do not dare to face our lord in open combat."
"Well, they know they will lose." Larson shrugged.
"It's still not a good idea to underestimate them," Claude cautioned. He turned to me. "I've stepped up security, my lord, but considering the assassins' abilities, I don't know if it'll be enough."
"We'll continue keeping an eye out for them," Valerie vowed.
"Until then, we'll continue to remain vigilant." Silvia exchanged a glance with Stella, who nodded silently.
My aide, in particular, had insisted on doubling as my bodyguard. I didn't object – I knew nobody would listen to my protests, anyway. What was I supposed to do? Tell them I didn't need a bodyguard? They weren't going to back off because of that. In their eyes, I was far too important to leave unguarded. As much as I disliked the idea of others risking their lives for me, I had to accept my current position. Right now I was the Demonic Emperor. My life wasn't my own any longer, and I couldn't regard my own safety cavalierly.
But damn, I wished for some privacy. Well, Stella did respect my privacy and keep a comfortable distance, so it wasn't that bad. But being under surveillance 24/7 was pretty harsh, especially for someone like me, who was used to being a commoner.
With the business regarding the three new legions settled, we settled for the day. After I had absorbed the prowler legion into my forces, Owen Wolfe had assigned one of his deputies to guard me. Unsurprisingly, they consisted of a couple of massive dudes, Billy Cantwell and Doug Dubinsky. Billy and Doug were massive, but while Doug seemed to be a little simpleminded, Billy was intelligent enough. I could see the cunning in his eyes, and unlike the boisterous and rowdy Doug, Bully was silent and brooding.
The silent ones were always the most dangerous. I was glad he was on my side.
"You'll need them," Owen had informed me when I objected. He had nodded toward the shadows. "They can sniff out the enemy from the shadows, no matter how well hidden they are. We prowlers have acute senses. You'll be safer with them around."
Stella rounded them out with a human touch. Okay, she was not completely human…not anymore, but she still brought a gentleness to my entourage that the other two lacked. At least I wasn't stuck with two burly dudes all the time.
And so the days slowly crawled by while we futilely searched for the shadow legion.
Fortunately for me, they didn't take too long to show up before me.
I was just retiring for the night and about to enter my bedroom when I noticed that something was amiss. Billy Cantwell, in particular, was sniffing the air and bearing an odd expression. He turned to Doug to confirm something, but the other prowler just shrugged.
"Yeah, I caught the scent too, but it's…gone. I don't think they stuck around." Doug chuckled. "Maybe they got scared off when they saw us."
"I hope that's the case," Billy muttered, but he clearly didn't sound convinced. He maintained a cautious vigilance, sweeping his eyes across the interior of the castle. I liked him more and more.
"What did you…find?" Stella asked, an edge to her voice.
"Intruders," Billy said simply.
"We don't know who they are, but their scents are unfamiliar," Doug explained with another shrug. "Maybe some curious onlookers. Scouts? They may or may not be the enemy, we can't confirm for sure. But they are gone now."
"They might return," Bill cautioned.
"If they do, we'll kick their asses," Doug replied confidently. Stella scowled, but she didn't rain on his parade. She was smart enough to avoid antagonizing her colleagues.
"We must be careful," she said instead.
"We will," Bill assured her, shooting Doug a dark look. The smaller prowler held up his hands in protest.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm not suggesting we should slack off, you know? If I smell them again, I'll let you guys know."
"You should go rest now, my lord," Billy told me. "We will take care of the rest."
"Okay." I trusted them. At least I trusted Stella. I didn't know Billy that well, but he had this reassuring presence. It didn't matter to me that he was a prowler. I felt as if I could rely on him, despite our short acquaintanceship. I could also trust him to whip Doug into shape if necessary. I turned toward the door leading to my bedroom. "Thanks, guys. And don't overwork yourselves."
Billy chuckled at that. "My lord, you're the last person who should tell us that."
I shrugged and stepped inside, shutting the door and heading straight for bed.
That night, I woke up, feeling as if something was off. Sitting up in bed, I reached out for my glasses and put them on, scanning the area. I didn't see anything out of place, but I could sense that something was off.
There was a crash outside and I could hear a growl. A prowler's growl. Sounds of tearing and ripping followed as well as snarls of fury and pain. Billy Cantwell was fighting something, and he was joined by Doug Dubinsky.
"Get in there!" Billy shouted, his voice still human despite clearly being in his prowler form. "Make sure our alpha prime is safe!"
"I'm trying!" I recognized Stella's frantic voice. Clearly she was fighting her way through assassins, judging from the noise of combat. I grabbed Nocturne, which was lying right next to my bed, and hurried forward.
I wasn't going to let my comrades fight alone. I didn't care if I was supposed to be the Demonic Emperor or whatever. I was going to fight by their side. Hell, what kind of emperor would I be if I couldn't even protect my own people?
"Interesting. Even at this point, you're more worried about your subordinates than yourself?"
The voice came after the attack, but I sensed the strike even before it erupted from the shadows, parrying the dagger with Nocturne. My assailant then spoke up, amused, but I was already spinning away to dodge his follow-up strike.
With a flick of my hand, I conjured a blood limb to grab hold of Blood Angel and retrieve it. The moment I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the crimson sword, I spun around and blocked the second dagger. Sparks flew as metal screeched against metal.
Two assassins melted out of the shadows, circling me. I studied them warily as I moved back, a sword in each hand. Even though they were masked, I was somehow able to tell that neither of them was Alan Assam.
I couldn't help but be disappointed.
"Alan isn't here? Alan Assam?"
Surprise flickered in their eyes, the only portion of their faces unconcealed by fabric. The first assassin narrowed his eyes.
"Oh, right…you and Alan Assam were in the same Hero party before, weren't you? That explains why you thought he might come."
I shrugged. "I thought he might want to personally come to ensure the job is done. I have always known him to be quite the…responsible fella. Alan never leaves any loose ends."
"True," the second assassin agreed. "But we didn't think you were worthy enough to deserve his attentions."
A third assassin jumped from behind me, her daggers flashing, but I ducked under them before she could slit my throat from behind. Instead, I whirled about and kicked her so hard that she left a small crater in the wall.
"You knew she was there all along?" the first assassin growled in disbelief. I shrugged and remained silent.
Coughing, the third assassin rose to her feet and pointed her daggers at me.
"You don't deserve to be personally killed by Alan!" she raged, spitting out blood. "He's the second in command, and will be the future leader of the League of Shadows! Only the most dangerous targets are worthy of his personal execution! You're nothing!��
"…you do realize I'm the Demonic Emperor, right?" I asked dryly. "What other targets are more dangerous than me?"
"Shut up!" the first assassin snapped, and I realized from the direction of the glare that he was speaking to the third assassin. "What do you think you're doing, giving away information like that?!"
"What does it matter?" the third assassin protested. "He's going to be dead anyway. It won't make a difference even if we tell him now."
"Are you an idiot?" the second assassin sighed in exasperation. "It's about professionalism!"
"Stop wasting time and carry out the mission!" the first assassin ordered. At his command, the other two spread out before all three sprang at me from different directions.
Stomping on the ground, I cast a spell and had a bunch of blood stakes erupt all around me. The three assassins reacted quickly enough, their enhanced reflexes allowing them to evade the deadly blood stakes.
As the female assassin dodged, I suddenly appeared in front of her. She immediately lunged at me, her daggers flashing toward my throat. I deflected them with Nocturne and dodged her kick. At the same time, I sent a blood stake piercing her from the ground. However, she managed to deftly retreat, doing a cartwheel.
"Watch out! It's a trap!"
The warning that the first assassin shouted out died in his throat when he saw that he was too late. While the female assassin was cartwheeling away, I had thrust Blood Angel into the direction where I foresaw her landing. She gurgled when she saw the blade protruding from her stomach, but I ruthlessly dragged it upward, bisecting her chest and splitting her head in half.
"You…!" the second assassin roared and charged at me.
"No!" the first assassin shouted. "Don't…!"
Once again, he was too late. The second assassin reached me, striking with his daggers simultaneously, but I managed to deflect them. We traded several blows, with the assassin displaying his incredible speed. Unlike the female assassin, he wasn't carelessly disregarding my spells, moving quickly to dodge the blood stakes and icicles.
The first assassin quickly moved in to support his comrade, but the moment he did, I unleashed my other spell and covered the entire bedroom in ice.
"Damn it!" the second assassin cursed, finding at least half of his body frozen. He did his best to flex his battle aura to resist the cold and break free of the ice, but for a moment he was rooted to the spot, unable to move.
That was all the time I needed.
Nocturne swung down and split his skull in half. With his brain obliterated, the assassin's corpse sank into the ground, frozen blood spilling out in solid crystals rather than fluid.
I whirled around to kick the first assassin just as he broke free from the ice with his expanding battle aura. He grunted as he crashed onto the ground, but he managed to throw himself into a roll. Knowing that his mission was a failure, he began to sink into the shadows.
"Do you really think I'll let you get away?"
"Ugh!?"
Before he could fully escape, the assassin found his route frozen, along with his body. He tried to break free with his battle aura, but once again I froze his entire body. Only his head was left unfrozen, the majority of his battle aura concentrated there for some reason.
Well, it made sense. If his head was frozen, it didn't matter if the rest of his body was intact and untouched. He wouldn't be able to do a single thing when unconscious.
"Where is your base? Where is the home of the League of Shadows?" I asked the assassin, approaching him. He glared at me, understanding that I hadn't killed him because I planned to interrogate him.
Then he crushed something with his teeth and killed himself. I watched as he foamed at the mouth and convulsed before falling still.
A poison capsule hidden inside his mouth, most likely. Rather than be taken alive, he had chosen to kill himself. These assassins were ruthless to the core and extremely well-trained. They would rather sacrifice their lives than allow the enemy to extract any information from them.
I sighed, disappointed. It was a pity that necromancy wouldn't allow us to read their minds or extract the information from them, or I would have brought their bodies to Lindley. As it was, they were of no use to me dead.
"My lord!"
Stella finally burst into the room. Outside, the sounds of battle dimmed and I was relieved to see that Billy and Doug had survived.
The big guy, in particular, glanced at my room and grimaced when he returned to his human form.
"I see that you've handled the assassins in your room by yourself, my lord," Billy said.
"You're amazing!" Doug exclaimed, only to earn a smack from the bigger prowler.
"We failed in our duty!"
"No, you didn't." I raised both hands before staring at the dozen or so assassins lying tattered and torn in the corridor outside my room. "Even I wouldn't be able to fight against such a huge number of assassins by myself. I'm glad you guys were here."
"In any case, we have finally received confirmation that the shadow legion has no intention of pledging their loyalty to you," Stella remarked as she kicked one of the bodies with her toes. She turned to me, her expression grave. "This is clearly a declaration of war."