Meanwhile, in the castle of Midland, Naberius slept in a bar where someone would offer him wine to drink. There would always be somebody tending for the bar, whether it was a creature with mighty power or just a casual demon. Mephiles always offered wine to drink and food some would find in a fashionable restaurant. The demon general dreamt of his glory days as someone who hunted humans for sport. On such an occasion, Naberius chased a group of knights who were running away from him.
The lonely knights found him too powerful to kill. Unlike the other creatures, they finished putting on the sword. Naberius always found himself careless around the ones who wish to put him down; they always die a grisly death. The deaths of his enemies always satisfied him and made him more powerful and dangerous. The demon general saw himself hacking and slashing his way across a group of ten knights who could not best him. He goes up to one knight from behind and slices him in half, and he watches the knight's blood and guts soak the winter floor.
"Naberius is here! Neither of you will see the end of this day!" He shouted. A few seconds later, a knight dashes at the demon general and tries to attack him before another of his comrades suffers the same fate.
The knight and the demon general use their blades and clash with each other, but the knight's sword shatters in many pieces. Naberius had the upper hand, mostly because of how powerful his greatsword was compared to the knights. Without hesitation, the mighty night creature uses his weapon and decapitates the hopeless man. Naberius left those men to rot on the floor, and he made their gore stench in the air.
The other demon generals were not as reckless, or as hungry for power as Naberius. He went on to the remaining eight knights, who ran away instead of fighting to the death. In his eyes, the knights were brave or foolish to fight a creature who commanded demons. Naberius went out his way to slice them down and watch as their guts spill in the cold forest. He sliced through them in many places and showed no mercy to those who run away from duels.
Then, he saw the remaining knights looking at the edge of a cliff; none of them had any good ideas on what to do. They hoped to make it through the morning and watch as the morning sun vanquishes the night, but that would not save them. Naberius hacked and slashed through all but one of them because they were not fast enough. His two greatswords were stained with human gore, and he was still thirsty for blood and hungry for human flesh. The last knight held a short sword in one hand and a dagger in the other to see if he could kill the creature quickly.
"Ha! Brave livestock!" Naberius shouted. He did not give himself an idea on how to best attack the remaining man; he simply dashed to him to deliver a finishing blow.
He was too fast for a simple demon and too strong for a casual man in knight armor. He slashes the short blade away from the knight in one hand and cleaves the man in two with his other sword. The man had no chance to redeem himself as he was left to die along with his comrades. He was left to rot in his blood as the moon's light began fading away so the sun could shine down. The time came for Naberius to escape from whatever kind of force would soon come after him.
From an enormous distance, he could see a massive ship with four of his comrades waiting for him. He joyously leaped down from the cliff and landed on the ship's surface.
"Look out!" He happily said. He rolled forward after landing perfectly on the ship as his comrades watched him.
They saw his weapons stained with so much human blood; two of them became jealous, while the other two praised his overall strength. He dashes to the front of the ship and looks forward to discovering more lands, and he laughs in excitement.
"Come on, lads. We will show these humans our true strength! Glory and valor are with us!" He shouted. Before something else could happen, the vision fades away and Naberius returns to reality.
His eyes were pink after being drunk from drinking too much wine and staying awake for so long. He looks up and sees the bartender looking at him with a confused expression. He was trying to figure out what the demon general was thinking about and why he dreamt about it. Naberius was already getting thirsty after dreaming of his young and glory days.
"Ah, it feels good. I dream of my days when I had glory and power at my side. Now... I'm thirsty," he said.
"Is something wrong, Naberius?" The bartender asked.
"Screw your eyes, mate! Bring me your finest wine!" Naberius shouted. He had the right to tell those who served food and drink to offer it to him for free.
The bartender quickly offered him some cherry wine mixed with lilac and gooseberries. It was their finest wine and the only wine Mephiles was pleased to deliver. It had such a delicate aftertaste and an intriguing touch to upgrade the person's mood after one sip. From the minute he started drinking the wine, Naberius started feeling much better and more prepared for the evening.
"Your wine tastes delicious, you know that?" He asked.
"Many thanks, Naberius. King Mephiles reminded me to make sure all of my wine is mixed with the richest flavors," the bartender answered.
"And you call yourself a servant of King Mephiles? There are many ways to serve our lord and master. Being a server of wine is one of them. I have been doing some thinking ever since I came here."
"Would you like to tell me what you're thinking about?"
"Nah. You might shiver in fear as soon as you hear of it. I've some plans to share with the rest of my fellow generals. These are plans that should be told in secret and not have heard throughout the castle. You might never know who will tell whom during these times."
"Aye, best not to tell the king of your darkest secrets. Someone or something might come for you and take you away. You don't want that to happen, right?"
"Of course not. If I tell anything to anyone, it would more than likely be Godbrand. He knows how to keep a secret, even if it takes a while to get used to him. He thinks like a lion and has the claws of a feral cat. I just need more time to decide."
"You have all the time you need, Naberius. Just let me know if you need more wine. You look like you need more since you fell asleep in here. Nobody said you couldn't take some advice from a bartender. Such is my purpose."
While the bartender continued speaking, Naberius continued drinking the wine to keep himself awake. He needed to prepare himself for the inevitable and for what shall happen to him if he succeeds or fails. This secretive plan for dominance troubled his soul because of the way he was treated by Mephiles. He drank the gooseberry wine until there was nothing left of the glass chalice, and he started having split personalities. He had this grand plan to share with Godbrand, but he did not know if Lenora and Mephiles would hear him or not.
"Bloody hell. That Viking is right. Some things must be done," Naberius said. Without a clue of how to carry it out, the demon general stands up from the chair and leaves the bar.
He walks up the stairs to come up with a conclusion, yet a few demons were watching him walk to the next floor. He did not care about them for a moment, but he had every reason to lead them to glory. Naberius walked more quickly than usual because he was in a hurry to deliver the plan to his fellow generals. Suddenly Godbrand stepped out from the shadows and walked towards Naberius with ill tidings. He had an expression on his face that gave Naberius plenty of reasons to be prepared for what is coming.
"Ah, Godbrand. I've been wondering where you've been," the demon said.
"I hope it's better news than what I'm going to give you. And you better be awake more than ever," Godbrand said.
"Oh? And what news do you bring at such an hour?"
"One of my strongest servants, Mundis, is dead. The Wolf Queen killed him."
They both had firm expressions in their eyes, and they knew that every general in Midland's castle had a strong hatred for Lagertha.