"Ethan, are we going to start the attack against the demon generals?" asked Anise with a tone of apprehension as soon as we were all seated around the table.
I took one of her hands to reassure her as I said: "We sadly don't really have a choice. We've already lost a lot of time and we don't really know the condition the world's core is in right now. If the demons finish devouring it, it will be over for all of us."
Everyone around the table nodded with serious looks on their faces before Lysa asked: "So, which one are we going to start with?"
"We initially planned on dealing with Azrin since he was the weakest of them all, but with our recent attack on Kazim City, the number of demons inside the city appears to have quadrupled according to the information Anna's spies brought, so we need to choose another one of them. Since Gol'Gan is guarding the entrance to the underground world, he's also out. That only leaves Vannoth or Mezienne for our first target."
When I mentioned Vannoth or Mezienne, I felt Anna from my left pulling slightly on my robes. Prompting me to nod towards her and continue: "That's right. Since Vannoth has a contract with a lower spirit and is quite troublesome to deal with, I figured out we should go ahead and launch an attack on Mezienne. If successful, there is a high chance that the brainwashing on the people in the north might also get undone, giving us a greater fighting force to maybe force the demons back underground."
"But, can we really take out Mezienne? Won't it be better to try and wait out for a while before attempting to attack Azrin?" asked Anna with a face full of worry.
I understood her reasoning since, if possible, I would have liked to wait and start with Azrin as well, but we couldn't really afford to. As long as we didn't manage to get any information on the world's core, we had to move as fast as we could.
"We don't really have a choice. We can't afford to wait. Can you please get us all the information the Battalion has on her?"
Anna nodded and went to her office. She returned a couple of seconds later, carrying only a small piece of paper, which she placed on the table.
I looked at the piece of paper on the table that barely contained any information and asked: "is that all?"
Anna nodded and replied: "That's all the relevant information we have. I've been trying my best to learn as much information about her as possible, but the problem is she has a habit of wiping the recent memories from the mind of everyone she passes by. Our spies in Mournmore City are also rooted quite fast since it's almost impossible to hide from someone that can read your mind."
[Ethan, she must be a true soul wizard. Taking her out will be difficult even with your soul being tier 2.]
'I know.'
"And how much information do you have on the city itself?" I asked Anna next.
"We used to have quite a lot, but after what you did in Kazim City, our few remaining spies have been trapped inside, unable to relay any information to us."
After pondering for a few moments, I said: "We can't try to take her out without any actual information, so I think I should go and try to scout the inside of the city."
"No. You can't go inside Mournmore City alone. The Battalion has barely any presence in there and we won't be able to help if anything were to happen." Anna was the first to disagree and Anise followed right after: "Anna is right, we should all try to go in together."
I shook my head and replied: "I understand that you are worried about me, but there's no way an entire party will be able to move inside unnoticed. It's actually a lot safer if I were to go on my own."
"We need information and Ethan is indeed the best choice for the task." Said Oliver, to which Velor and Lysa also agreed.
"At least let me go with you. I've also learned the spell to turn invisible so I won't be a burden." Said Anise right after.
"There's no way we can pass by the demons only using invisibility. Their sense of smell is too strong and they might even be able to feel the use of invisibility magic."
"Then how are you going to get in?" asked Anise.
"I'm going to move around the city pretending to be a one of the brainwashed humans. I should be able to at least move around through the city without getting noticed and maybe manage to obtain some information. I know that you two don't want me to go, but I really am the best choice for the job since my soul evolution gives me a chance to not get played with by Mezienne."
Eventually, after a bit of back and forth, Anna and Anise reluctantly agreed as well.
"Now Anna, do you think your Battalion can cause a distraction to help me get inside?"
"What do you mean by a distraction?"
"I want you to launch a mock attack on the city itself using wizards, just enough to distract their magic senses so I can sneak inside. You will also need to the same for the other major cities so that they won't suspect we're attacking Mezienne."
"That won't be a problem, but how much time do you need? If the demons retaliate we won't stand a chance if spread to multiple cities."
"I only need around one minute to get inside if nothing goes wrong."
We settled a few more details of the plan after which Anna went to prepare everything with the Battalion. We settled on starting the infiltration tomorrow, so I also wanted to recharge my Staff of the Eternal just in case anything were to go wrong and get some rest.
In the morning of the next day, we all gathered on the teleportation platform in the middle of the city and Anna said: "The Battalion troops are already in place and will launch an attack on the southern gate in about ten or so minutes. You'll have to enter from the north and be quick since I told the troops attack for one minute before retreating."
I nodded and gave the two girls a kiss each before walking next to Brenn. He was the one who would teleport me there.
"Take care." Said the girls at almost the same time as I disappeared together with Brenn.
When we next appeared, we were just behind a big tree, a short distance from the norther city gate. Brenn looked at the gate and said: "Watch the sky for the signal of the start of the attack and make your move right after. Good luck, Ethan."
I nodded and watched him disappear before I cast my invisibility spell as I waited for the attack to commence. Not long after, a small explosion appeared up in the sky and I knew that was the signal for me to start.
Taking a deep breath, I got as close as possible without getting noticed and carefully watched the guards. I saw as a part of them left the gate and started heading south to join the defense and knew that was my chance.
I used wind magic to propel myself towards the two remaining guards on the top of the gate. Before they even felt me approaching, the two were already on the ground paralyzed by a lightning attack.
Seeing that there didn't seem to have been anyone else noticing me attack the two guards, I quickly jumped inside the city, canceled my invisibility spell and hid in an alley. Not even half a minute later, I felt a huge pressure on my soul coming from the center of the city and knew that was Mezienne planning to join the fight which will make the battalion retreat.
After the explosions from the south ended, I let out a sigh of relief and asked Ai: 'How is it Ai? I can't feel anything else besides a spatial lock.'
[Same. There doesn't appear to be any kind of spell targeting the soul in effect.]
'That's good.' I replied as I got up and got ready to get out of the alleyway.
After changing my clothes into a worn down tunic, I was about to get out of the alleyway only to get stunned by what I was seeing.
The road I was just about to walk to was filled with people having sex, both humans and demons. Looking around more, I noticed that no one inside this city seemed to even wear any sort of clothes.
'Ai, what the hell is going on?'
[I think they are using this city as a reproduction facility, for both humans and demons.]
'But why didn't Anna say anything about this? If things like this happen on the first street I stumbled upon, I'm either really unlucky or this is going on in the whole city. There's no way the spies failed to notice this.'
[…Maybe the information was false.]
As her words ended, realization hit me. How would a demon that specializes in mind control abilities allow information to leak out of her city?
'Do you think she found out about our plan as well?' I asked Ai, this being the most important question at the moment.
[Probably not yet since you came up with this plan just yesterday and Anna couldn't really come into contact with the spies inside the city.]
'True, but I'll still have to move faster. What's even worse, I don't know if any of the information on Mezienne can be trusted either.'
I let out a sight and decided to continue the mission. Getting rid of the simple tunic I was wearing, I stripped completely naked and waked out of my hiding place before starting to walk through the road towards the center of the city trying my best to hide my disgust.
The smell of bodily fluids paired with the sounds of meat pounding all around was making it hard for me to maintain a blank expression. Eventually, I was about to throw up so I moved to the side and hid inside an alley once more to clean up my airways.
'This is the most disgusting place I've even stepped into. The soles of my feet fell so disgustingly slimy…'
[Using any kind of magic would alert the demons to our presence. I recommend you abstain from cleaning yourself for now.]
'I know, I know. I'm just glad I didn't agree to take Anise with me…' I said before taking a deep breath and continuing my journey.
I hoped that as I got closer to the center of the city, I would eventually stop seeing people having sex all around, but it was just a foolish hope.
Just as I was passing by the door to a small simple house, I heard what sounded like sobbing from the inside. Since the brainwashed people usually didn't let out a single sound, even as they were copulating and I couldn't imagine a demon sobbing, I slowly approached the door and put my ear against it.
Hearing that there was indeed a sobbing sound coming from inside, my interest was piqued and I slowly pressed on the door handle.
Entering inside, I was greeted by the sight of a woman with bruises all over her body, using a piece of cloth to cover the front of her naked body, sobbing as quietly as possible with her back resting against the wall. The floor of the house was also covered in dried up bodily fluids combined with what looked like blood.
As soon as she heard the door open, an expression of fear appeared on the woman's face as she ground her feet on the dried up bodily fluids trying to crawl backwards away from me.
"No, no, no more.. Please.." A hoarse voice escaped her bruised lips as she crawled into a fetus position and closed her eyes.
The image was beyond disturbing, but I tried to maintain a normal expression as I said in the gentlest tone I could manage: "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you. See? I'm not a demon, but a human."
The girl appeared to ignore me completely as she kept sobbing without lifting her head or moving a single inch. I wanted to get close and try to comfort her, but as I took a step forward, I saw her body flinch and stopped myself.
I would have loved to teleport the poor girl away and save her from this hell, but the space all around the city was locked. Taking a deep breath, I crouched down so I would be at her level and said again: "Hey, can you look at me? I'm not here to hurt you."
The girl didn't react once more, prompting me to try and continue speaking to her: "Have you heard of the Blessed Battalion? I'm a member of the Battalion that came here to search for information. If you let me, I can take you with me after I leave. You will never have to go through what they did to you here never again."
I kept trying to speak to her, until eventually, she lifted her head and looked at me. As her eyes looked into mine, a playful smile appeared on her lips and the sadness from before was completely gone from her face, the same as all her bruises from before.
As I saw that smile, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up, but just as I tried to take a step back, I noticed that I couldn't move my body at all.
'Ai, what is going on?' I knew that I probably fell into some kind of trap, but I had no idea how it happened.
Much to my surprise, Ai didn't respond, but the woman in front of me stood up, the cloth covering her body falling to the ground revealing her alluring naked front. My eyes got fixed on her perky breasts and I could feel a fire burning into my lower body.
"Oh, who is this Ai you're thinking about sweetie? Wouldn't you prefer having me instead?" said the woman in a seductive voice, making my mind starting to feel fuzzy and my body to turn hot at the same time.
"Mezienne.."