"Now then, where was I again?" Marcus spoke, bringing both of his hands together.
Rubina simply sighed seeing the smile on Marcus's face.
All others bound by the chains looked towards Marcus.
"What's the meaning of this, Marcus? Tell that dog to release me at once!" Luna shouted at the top of her lungs.
It might have been Rubina who bound her but everyone in the room knew about the weird relationship between Rubina and Marcus, if Marcus simply asked, Rubina could kill anyone, even herself but they didn't share a relationship of love, if anything Rubina's hate for Marcus was pretty apparent to everyone.
Yet, even so, Rubina has never once disobeyed Marcus.
A loyal dog, that's what everyone called Rubina, of course not on her face, except for Luna.
"If I do then you will again go fighting and destroying this room, so yeah, not happening, repairs ain't free."
"Just kill Luise, then!"
"You do know if I wanted it I would have done it, right?"
"My, oh my, Marcus, are you underestimating me? I do believe I am on par with dear Rubina, I don't think I would die by her hands that easily. This is just a little mishap on my part. I simply thought you were going to sit this one out."
Luise wasn't wrong, he has lived far longer than Rubina, and his experience was on a whole different level than Rubina's, what he lacked in raw talent could easily be compensated with his mastery and experience.
Except for Marcus and Rubina, everyone else attacked Luise clouded by their emotions and Luise had to defend himself from everyone, in the midst of it all Rubina's attack came as a surprise for everyone. After all, Rubina wouldn't move without Marcus's order and Marcus didn't seem at all interested in harming the vampire.
"Lol, that really sounds like a sore loser thing when it's coming from someone who could die at a moment's notice, don't you think?" Marcus asked Luise
"Now that you say it, it truly does sound like a sour loser's words."
"Marcus, for fuck's sake stop using 'lol' and why the hell did you not say anything about Luise until now!" Jayden shouted.
"Rubina are you really okay with letting Luise get scot-free" James complained to Rubina in the hopes that she would realease their bindings but ...
Rubina simply stared at her phone all the while muttering "Damn... he blocked me. I wonder if I can find another hottie"
"I think I am plenty hot," Said the elf who once had been preparing for a high-grade fire spell to attack Luise, his name was Alan, brother of none other than Elina, the self-proclaimed guardian of Noah.
Everyone looked towards Alan, baffled.
"Dude, you first tell us where the hell is your sister! She just disappeared one day without any notice! Do you really have the time for this!?" James asked
"She is fine, I put a tracker on her clothes, she is somewhere around the southern region. I will pick her up when there's no war here, I don't want her to participate in war, it's better this way"
James was baffled for various reasons, Jayden rolled his eyes back, Melina kept glaring at Luise utterly ignoring the banter, Luna kept her stare at Rubina and Luise simply mused.
Rubina looked towards Alan as she gave her reply "Meh, you killed your lover all 'cause of your sister complex, you are a big red flag man"
Alan's face scrunched up, bitter memories coming back to him but before he could say anything Marcus began to speak.
"Well, to answer your questions about why I didn't tell you anything till now is simply because we didn't have any time, as for why I don't want you all to dispose of Luise is simply because he is strong, and thus useful."
Crack!
The sudden sound of chains being broken resounded in the room.
"Well, do my words still sound like a sore loser's?" Luise asked as he slowly walked towards his chair, the freezing mist surrounding him.
Rubina ignored Luise, she simply concluded it was a waste to try binding him again, the situation had been pacified, enough to handle a talk and that was exactly what Marcus wanted, a talk. There was no reason to indulge in any unnecessary display of prowess.
"Lol, imagine being childish when you are the oldest" Marcus let out a chuckle as he looked towards Rubina "Ruby, settle them down"
Swish~
In the next instant, everyone found themselves seated in their original positions.
"Do anything funny again and I will kill you" Rubina said, the black chains slowly disappeared and everyone found themselves freed again but no one moved as the silence settled down.
"Just so y'all know, apprehending those leaders as fast as you did was the right thing to do, people who commit atrocities in the name of freedom are fucked in the head, dealing with them as soon as possible is always a good thing. Besides, don't sweat it was natural things would spiral out of control, there was a lack of time, and you needed to deal with the leaders and then the demon. You would have to be some sort of hero if you can calm the masses down, and deal with the leader and the demon, perfectly without any problems in the amount of time that you were given and there's no heroes in this world." Marcus said with a sweet smile on his face.
What Marcus didn't know was that there would have existed heroes if not for the fact that Noah had interfered, heroes who would ignite hope in the hearts of people, and bring the hammer of justice to those leaders and the demon.
Those heroes would have existed if not for Noah's interference.
Silence followed until Jayden spoke
"..And?"
"I was complimenting y'all! Whatever!" Marcus said shaking his head and then he continued "Y'all need to put your feelings aside and work together, I get you are all salty about being used by Luise by let's put it past us, alright?"
"You said this all happened and we fell into whatever this trap is 'because' of the decision we took back then, because of Luise! How do you expect to put it past us!?" Melina barked, anger evident on her face.
"Well, I will put Luise on the front lines, happy?"
"Marcus, we might not be as smart as you but if it's a 'war' you are planning, you want us to believe you won't send us all on the front lines, regardless of what we say?"
"James, you have grown so much. It makes me tear up a little."
James rolled over his eyes, clearly exasperated by Marcus.
"So, what exactly is this 'trap'?" Luna asked bringing everyone's attention back to the main topic.
"Well, do you remember the 'tips and advice' that came along with the blueprints?" Marcus asked, the blueprints he was talking about were of course the ones Noah provided Elina with.
Instantly, everyone's face scrunched up.
The reason for that was rather simple, the tips and advice that Noah had written were simply, cruel, heartless, and far too vile.
'Take a demon child as a hostage, I mean whoever said only demons could use a hostage?'
'Crucify the normal, populace demons and hang them for all to see surrounded by weak soldiers, the Demon in charge will be too outraged and send all his beasts to kill those weak soldiers, use that moment to attack him and take him out. Once the demon dies, their beasts are released from their control, the beast at that moment will definitely start wreaking havoc, guide those beasts to another demon's direction, see quite simple, no?'
'Put bombs inside some of your survivor's stomach, send them to a food farm, have them explode, cause a huge commotion, and use that chance to blend into the demon's castle'
Those were the kinds of tips that Noah had left.
When they had read these suggestions that Noah had written, they all had unanimously thought the same thing 'What the actual fuck is wrong with this kid?'
"...Yeah, we do, what about them?" Jayden asked.
"Did you read them all?" Marcus asked
"Of course not! Why would anyone read them, we aren't going to use those methods!" Melina said, her voice disgusted just by thinking about those suggestions.
The tips that were left on how they can deal with problems were crazy, ideas not bounded by common sense or morality. Plans that were in one word can be described as vile.
Suggestions that would make any normal person disgusted by them.
"And that's precisely what the problem is, if you read them carefully and read all of them, y'all will realize, those suggestions are interconnected, if you hadn't followed the advice on page 1 then implementing advice written on page 2 would be difficult and then implementing the advice on page 3 will be even harder and it will continue until his suggestion will simply become absurd to go through."
"It's more of a chain reaction type of suggestion, one thing will lead to another and keep going on."
Marcus took a pause, letting everyone ingest his words.
"...We haven't followed a single one of the advice that Noah even so why does this 'chain reaction' sound so much like what happened with us?" James asked warily and was a bit creeped out.
Everything that has happened in the past two months was kind of a chain reaction that Marcus has talked about, one thing led to another and they now have found themselves with 90000 Demons subjugated and millions of people saved in the process but without a question, they had no control over the situation from the beginning. They were simply reacting to their situation.
"That's the thing, James, as I said it's a chain reaction which involves everyone, every person, every circumstance, every possibility into account. It didn't matter whether you would follow Noah's advice, it didn't matter what you wanted, in the end, things will result in what he wants them to result in. That's why it's a well-planned trap."
Confusion visible on everyone's face, Marcus continued.
"Noah gave you blueprints, let me rephrase it, Noah gave you information. Information that could change things drastically and they did. First, Noah wrote down the cruelest suggestions, the most heartless ones but efficient nonetheless, nothing would change the fact that if we had followed his suggestions then we would have faced fewer casualties than we did. Now, then let me ask you who wouldn't want demons to die a painful death all the while being able to save their own?"
Demons were hated, they were, after all, the reason why everyone lives in fear, the reason no one can think about their future, the reason people are hopeless, the reason they are suffering.
Demons need to be eradicated since their very biology is made that way, demons need to consume other species to live even if that demon is a child. There is simply no reason to not kill demons.
Those who hate demons would without a question follow Noah's suggestions to the T.
But there still exist people who understand that demons aren't at completely fault for they don't have any other option, as much as nothing would change the fact that they need to kill even kids if they want to save the world, their thoughts could be considered hypocrisy. They are willing to eradicate demons but they also don't want to kill kids and a normal, carefree populace.
And Elina had found those types of people to help her.
Marcus and others wouldn't hesitate to kill even the demon child but they would never forgive themselves either.
But not everyone is the same.
"It was inevitable someone would leak that information because they don't like the way things are here"
That was correct, they weren't the only ones who had the blueprints, a member of their team didn't like how everyone had decided to not follow the suggestion which clearly could have resulted in fewer casualties of their own. Thus, he made a copy of those prints and afterward was just a mess. He had given those prints and ideas to other shelters who then had acted accordingly.
"Even so, we managed to take the control back all thanks to me!" Marcus said thumping his chest. Marcus has single-handedly brought every last one of the shelters that had the prints under him.
"Regardless of which, it wasn't something anyone would have been able to stop. That's why I said, the moment you chose to help Elina you fell into Noah's trap. Those blueprints were like a seed and those suggestions were to use the deep-seated hatred inside of people to be used. Some might follow it like a gospel, for some, it will create discord, for some it will use their greed to help them reach their demise. It's meant to be destructive if not careful and unfortunately world isn't filled with smart people like me."
"Now, do you all get what I meant?" Marcus said throwing back the tab that he was using to show displays to everyone, back to Rubina.
Even after a few minutes passed a still silence persisted, no one moved even a little, still digesting the information.
"...Don't you think this has far too many variables?" Jayden's voice cut through the silence that hung in the air.
"Yeah, it does but they don't matter. To him, to Noah, it didn't matter how things would happen what mattered the most was whether they would give him the results he wanted or not. He doesn't give a fuck about what you do or how you want to do it, as long as it gives him what he wants, nothing really matters. Besides, you are still missing the main point."
"..There's still more?" Luna asked, completely exhausted by today's event that had transpired.
"Haa~ I will just lay it out for you dumbasses. Think again, these blueprints are far too detailed and contain information far exceeding what a person should be capable of having. I mean, we have got professionals here who go for scouting and even they don't have this level of information. Just ask yourself for a moment, how the hell do you think Noah got this level of information?"
"...Elina said he said some sort of mapping skill that allows him to have the map of the area he is in" Alan replied a bit hesitant, he knew Elina hadn't told about Noah's skill to anyone but she had trusted him, and told him about it though as things were turning out Alan simply concluded it was better to give the information.
"Wait, what? Elina never said anything about it to us!" Jayden shouted
"Why didn't you say it till now!?" Melina asked
Alan felt pressured by Jayden and Melina's gaze but to his relief Marcus began to speak, pulling everyone's focus on him.
"Oh yeah? And what's the range of this map? How much area does it cover? And besides, you are telling me a 16-year-old kid, who is G+ ranked managed to do what? Pull one over every damn food farm he has been to when even our scouts have been caught several times when they had the map? Besides, how long had Noah and Elina known each other? Are you telling me a kid like him who gives suggestions like those would ever trust someone else to tell them about his skills? Dude, stop trusting so blindly."
"What are you suggesting here, Marcus?" asked James, dubiously.
"What I am saying is if things would have proceeded in a way that wouldn't result in things like Noah wanted them to ...then he simply would have intervened. He probably has some skill that would let him know what's happening, as for what exactly is this skill? Well, no idea. I have never met him, and all I can infer from things I know is ...he let things proceed as naturally as possible, letting others do things of their own free will with the least amount of intervention and he tweaks other people's plans or lead their plan just a little bit, enough to turn things into his favor. Like a domino, once triggered it will keep on falling." Saying so, Marcus shrugged.
Everyone's faces grimaced except for Luise, his grin was clearly an indication of how incredibly excited he had become, he wanted to meet Noah.
"...He is a 16-year-old child," Melina said, covering her face with both her hands and heaving a heavy sigh.
"16-year-old, who is completely fucked in the head, yes," Marcus said.
Silence once again hung in the air.
"...Is he hot?" Rubina asked.
"According to Elina, he seems to be and she said he probably will become even more handsome like other Elves or even more so as he grows up" Marcus replied.
"Cool, by the time he is 20 I can date him, I would be 26, so not much of a problem when it comes to the age gap," Rubina said, she is currently, 22, and that's what makes her incredible, she is stronger than everyone in the room who are SS+ rankers and she is a human who is simply 22. The word incredible doesn't even do her justice.
Regardless of that, her words were concerning.
"For the love of god, is this really what you should be talking about?" Jayden asked not expecting any response he continued "So, how does this relate to us going to war"
Taking a deep breath, Marcus began to speak.
"Well, here's the thing, if we choose to not attack then they we will. They aren't going to sit back, and it's precisely that we are not stable and we aren't going to become stable anytime soon that it's the best time for demons to retaliate and we are gonna die in the process or become their food and die as we get cooked!"
"On the other hand, if we decide to keep our momentum going and attack demon lord in her own home turf and cause some serious damage then they will focus on their own defenses which will finally help us buy time to stall things! Thus, we should go and keep the momentum going! Also, we can have those people sent to war, that way we wouldn't have to worry about the resources much, fighting where now they have actually seen victories will give them the morale they need. If we win, well all things will start resolving on their own, if we lose, well as Luise said it is a last-ditch effort."
"...or we can simply abandon those weak people! All we have to do is go in some hiding, we will take as many high rankers from the people we have saved with us."
"We can't do that" James instantly answered and everyone nodded alongside him. The last option that Marcus presented would be ridicule for all the hard work they have done.
"Nah, don't worry, we can't do that anyway." Marcus words left everyone confused and he sighed once again.
"Look guys, I am sure y'all are wondering why Noah had done what he did so I will tell you what I think, Noah 'wants' this war and if you don't take it to him, he will bring it to you instead. Why? I don't know that."
"...What the hell do you mean" Asked James, baffled.
"A black-haired boy with black eyes appeared in a demonic continent around the time when Elina came asking for your help. The demon lord has taken him as her disciple. The very demon lord who never leaves her room except when she sometimes just goes to single-handedly kill others. That's the information that came from our spies. If he wants to he can fuck us all over, I mean what gives you the idea that he can't give the same kind of blueprints regarding us to demons?"
Silence hung in the air, their faces growing paler by the moment, today's day had been pretty heavy for them when they had all thought 'Finally, we can now rest..' they had been told to go to war and the reasons behind it all ...seems to be a single, weak, 16-year-old kid.
"Why does he want us dead.." Alan asked, it was quite obvious that none could win against the demon lord, she is an SSS+ ranker. No way they can win against her. It is basically suicide.
"He doesn't," Marcus said shaking his head as he continued "He wants a war, it's not a war if it's one-sided."
"Marcus, what kind of information have you gotten your hands on?" Luise said smirking, with each passing second his smirk grew wider.
Everyone's head turned towards Luise, wondering what he meant.
"It's time, Demon lord go to her sleep."
Everyone's eyes widened at Marcus' words.
Demons and Vampires, live long lives but that's not all, they are also species that can live without any sleep for a long time, a year, a decade, or even a century for some vampires.
And once they fall asleep, they won't wake up for days.
But the case of the Demon lord isn't so simple, since she is revered as a god by her own kind when she goes to sleep, almost all the beasts that demons have control over are focused on solely protecting the Demon lord.
The demons keep the bare minimum of beasts on their side during those 3-4 days.
As everyone gulped on this newfound piece of information, Marcus asked once again.
"How will we know when exactly she is going to sleep?" Melina asked.
"I have made sure to put a tracker inside one of the very close attend of the Demon lord, if she doesn't leave the room for a whole day, well we know what we need to do"
"So then, let me ask you once again, who is in opposition to my suggestion that we go to war? Marcus' smile in that moment looked no different than that of a devil himself.
But no one uttered a single word. Except for Rubina who looked uninterested and Luise who seemed to be excited, everyone else audibly gulped.
It was unanimously decided that they would be going to the war.