"Quit pretending!" Ralph Da Ghoul sneered as he ran a circle around me, then charged when he believed he found an opening. "There's no ice spell more powerful than Absolute Zero!"
Maintaining my position, I merely glanced at him before mouthing an intonation.
"Hell's Ghost."
"Ugh!?"
Ralph Da Ghoul was forced away from the sudden surge in the chill, the azure waves of frozen mana causing frost to spread around his body. He shattered the ice with his battle aura, but found parts of his body crumbling away.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Hell's Ghost," Silvia whispered, a few dozen meters away. She was surrounded by a regiment of her mages and elves, the spell casters using magic against the shadowy assassins to great effect. "The ice element stops molecular movement, and the absolute lowest temperature is -273 degrees Celsius – in other words, Absolute Zero."
"Why are you explaining my magic to the enemy?!" I complained, annoyed. Silvia ignored me, and I had the sense she was explaining it to the readers…ahem, I mean her subordinate mages, probably to educate them and hope they would eventually achieve a breakthrough in their magic. She continued, as if I hadn't said anything.
"But this spell unleashes a cold that's superior to even Absolute Zero. It goes beyond simply stopping the molecular movements but completely destroys them."
"What a big boast!" Ralph Da Ghoul scoffed. "I've never heard of such a technique before! Stop bluffing!"
He lunged at me again, his sword slashing toward my neck, but I dodged it. Instead, I focused all of the azure mana into my two swords.
"The chill…they are all gathering onto the emperor's blade!" one of the mages whispered, even as he conjured a spell to deflect an assassin's blade.
"It's useless!" Ralph Da Ghoul howled and struck again, only for me to duck under it. Seeing that he was finally wide open, I stepped in and slashed him with my two swords.
"Grand Cross!"
"Ugh?!"
Ralph Da Ghoul staggered backward, clutching his wounds with his free hand while trying to keep me at bay with his sword. He swung his obsidian blade, unleashing a fresh tide of shadows, but while I successfully blocked them with a glacial wall, I was still forced to keep my distance.
Not that it mattered. I had done what I needed to do.
"That's it?" Ralph Da Ghoul laughed as he glanced down at his wound, a cross-shaped scar that had been etched into his torso. "After all that bragging about a chill colder than Absolute Zero and molecular destruction, this is all you can do?"
I shrugged and waited for him to take a step toward me. He didn't disappoint, swiftly rushing toward me.
For a moment, he darted toward me, only to fall. He threw his hands out to break his fall, looking puzzled.
"Eh?"
He then turned back and caught sight of his leg. His disembodied leg. For some reason, his foot and a good part of his lower leg had been separated from his body. There was no blood, though. The lower part of his leg was frozen, and the ice was slowly spreading toward his foot.
"How?"
Ralph Da Ghoul glanced up at me, still looking puzzled. He gritted his teeth and glared at me. Gripping his sword tightly, he tried to hurl himself at me once more.
"Even without a leg, I can still…!"
He didn't manage to finish his sentence. His left hand broke apart, turning into countless frost fragments that scattered across the ground. With a grunt, he stabbed his sword into the ground to prevent his fall, but his eyes widened when he saw the ice spreading across it. Glancing down, he saw that his entire body was frozen, the ice creeping toward his neck.
"Damn it!" Ralph Da Ghoul cursed. He gathered his battle aura about him to break the ice, but his efforts proved to be futile as more of his body broke away in pieces. "This is…impossible!"
"Molecular destruction." I shrugged. "Even your battle aura will be hard-pressed to resist something as advanced as that."
"You…!" Ralph Da Ghoul screamed as he tried to lunge forward, only for his right hand to shatter. Bereft of both arms, he fell face first onto the ground and spluttered. The ice had spread to his neck by now and was now expanding across his face. He tried to move, only for his head to break off his frozen shoulders.
Behind his head, the rest of his body crumbled away, leaving not even white frost behind.
His eyes wide, his brain still unable to process that he was already dead, the master of assassins stared at me in horror before the ice engulfed his eyes and what remained of him disintegrated totally.
Finally, everything was over.
Well, not exactly.
I returned my attention to the rest of the assassins and phantoms fighting in the shadows. However, even from my position it was clear that the fight had gone out of them. They were visibly deflated after the death of their leader, their morale crippled. In contrast, my forces were buoyant after the close victory and they surged forward, mopping up the rest of the League of Shadows…or the Shadow Legion. Whatever you prefer, since they were one and the same thing.
The cleanup lasted for another hour or so, my legions thoroughly cleaning out the lair and ensuring that there were no remnants of the League of Shadows. Of course, that was impossible. No doubt there was still agents out there somewhere, who were away on missions, cells posted in other parts of the Havan Kingdom or the Demonic Empire.
As an aside, the lair of the League of Shadows was located in the Havan Kingdom. Thanks to Tony Mowbray and Bryce Wayne, I was able to conduct the campaign without interference from the human armies. Tony and Bryce had scrapped together an army of their own, informed the king that they would take care of the assassins, and they had the place surrounded somewhat, watching over us.
They would alter the reports, of course. I doubted the king would be pleased to hear that the Havan Kingdom had allowed demons into its territory to conduct a military campaign on human grounds. Whatever the case, I could count on Bryce and Tony to handle the political fallout and keeping the royal family and the human government in the dark.
I could already imagine the excuses they would cook up. "By the time we arrived there, the League of Shadows had already been destroyed. A mysterious army had beat us to it and wiped out everything. We could only find dead bodies."
Of the fallen demons, we would ensure they wouldn't be left behind. We were going to take our dead back with us.
Speaking of which, the mages were with the duke and marquis. Chris, Wilson, Rose and Lance were no doubt part of the army they had mustered, watching from afar. I glanced in their direction, magnifying the view on my lenses to allow me to see them. They probably couldn't see me, but that was fine. I waved at them before turning away.
This was farewell for now, until the next time I visited the Havan Kingdom incognito. For now, I should focus on the current battle.
"How's it going?" I asked the zombies. The merged Miranda-Mikhail and fused Herman-Irene glared at me balefully, but evidently they couldn't speak. The necromantic control Lindley wielded over them was too complete. I grinned, increasing their impotent fury. "Don't worry, you guys will still have a lot of work to do."
"My lord."
Stella appeared by my side, her head bowed. I turned to her and nodded.
"The battle is done. We are preparing to withdraw."
"Good. We'll leave the rest to Duke Wayne and Marquis Mowbray. Let's go."
With the battle over, my demonic legions marched away and withdrew to Bravia province, the only demon-controlled territory in the Havan Kindgom.
*
With the Shadow Legion effectively destroyed, there were only ten Demonic Legions left. Seven under my authority, with three preferring to remain neutral…for now. However, when they heard of the destruction of the Shadow Legion, their Divine Generals sent emissaries to me, to sound out my intentions and consider pledging their fealty to me.
I could conquer their provinces, of course. No doubt the more aggressive members of my ministry were demanding that I invade their territories and subdue them, such as Ragios. Stryker too, while not as extreme as Ragios, did suggest that I begin planning to subjugate the legions.
They wanted a united Demonic Empire, after all. A strong and powerful Demonic Empire, united under a single rule, which would eventually lead to world conquest.
I wasn't sure how to handle them. My goal was peace, after all. Peaceful coexistence. I knew that once I united the Demonic Empire, the next step would be to attempt to conquer the Havan Kingdom, and then spread our forces throughout the continent.
And I didn't want that. I was sick of war. I wanted peace.
Yet I couldn't simply dismiss the ambitions and calls from my aggressive subordinates. By alienating them or refusing them, they would break off eventually and rebel against me.
"I need an alternative," I muttered to myself somewhat darkly.
"What do you mean?" Stella asked, puzzled. I shrugged.
"The Divine Generals calling for war. Their ambition can't be sated with the unification of the Demonic Empire alone. Eventually they will want to invade the Havan Kingdom. But I can't let them do that. However, if I stop them, they will eventually rebel against me…and then we'll have war again." I clenched my fists in frustration. "There will never be peace at this rate."
"So why do you mean by an alternative?" Stella asked curiously. I shrugged.
"I need an alternative to war. Something to divert the Divine Generals' attention away, an alternative ambition. One that isn't necessarily military, but would hold their attention." I clutched my head. "Something like economic prosperity. But that's the problem. These people will link economic prosperity with conquest. The more territory you have, the richer you become. So how do I…?"
���Um, how about industrialization?" Stella asked.
"Yeah, that's the problem. In order to industrialize, you need resources. And in order to obtain resources, you go to war and capture colonies." I threw my hands up. "That's how the history of colonization began! Industrialization and colonization go hand in hand. Without its colonies such as India, the British Empire would never be able to industrialize so quickly. Japan invaded Asia in order to acquire resources for its industrializing empire. It's hard not to make an argument for invasion if I want to push industrialization."
Stella seemed to know what India and the British Empire were, for she didn't question those terms. I wouldn't be surprised if she reincarnated from that world too.
"So what should we do?" she asked, similarly stumped. I shook my head.
"The only thing I can think of is a Cold War. You know, nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction. The Havan Kingdom needs…weapons or something so powerful that they would deter the Demonic Empire from ever attempting to invade them. Or we would risk mutually assured destruction."
"Ah, that might work." Stella nodded. Then she frowned. "But what can possibly…?"
"That's the problem!" I moaned, clutching my head in despair. "I have absolutely no idea! I've asked Lindley as well, but he has no clue too."
"Lindley?" Stella raised an eyebrow, looking surprised. "I didn't think he would be interested in peace."
"Oh, he doesn't care either way," I assured her. "Lindley is a pragmatic person. As long as something is in his self-interest, he will choose that route. War might be counterproductive to his research while peace will allow him to conduct his experiments undisturbed, so of course he can be persuaded to see the value of peace."
I sighed heavily.
"The problem is the others…I need to find a way to persuade them that peace is better than war."
"Yeah, seems like the deterrence idea is the only practical one.�� Stella nodded. "But where are we going to find super-weapons and nukes in a world like this?"
There was something about super-weapons that caught my attention, and when I suddenly recalled the fused Herman-Irene zombie, a smile came to my face.
"Oh, they already exist." I rose to my feet, an idea taking shape in my head. "I'm going to the Havan Kingdom."
"Eh? Did you finally think of something?"
"That's right." My smile widened. "I'm going to talk to the remaining Heroes."