THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOUTHERN EMPIRE
"Don't you know by now this battle is not real. It is a show for the public. The Bully is helping the Mad King gain control of all the cities in Drachia by betting with him and losing. Such a genius. Why don't I have someone like him advising me", the woman replied and lamented.
"Is the Bully the real deal then?" the invisible guy asked.
"That is not unlikely. He seems to cast the Bully's magic although in a watered-down form which is reasonable given that this duel is a mere mock", the woman replied to him.
"Did you find out what you came here to see?" the invisible guy asked.
"Yes, I am certain now that the Mad King and the Bully are two different people. That realization will help my planning in the future", the woman replied to him.
"What should we do now? Our armies are restless at the borders", the invisible guy asked.
"We retreat to Odeena and rebuild our army from there. The time is not ripe for a fresh invasion", the woman replied to him.
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"I can't believe all the cities in Drachia surrendered to us so easily after the Bully lost the duel with the Mad King", Bommurs said to us.
"That is the king's plan, and it worked", Queen Mistral replied to him amusedly.
"How did you manage to fight against yourself in the Duel of the century?" Raven asked me.
"Yes, I thought you lost all your templar magic. How did you conjure all your previous magic in the duel", Mistral asked.
"Sara was impersonating me as the Bully of Starri during the duel. She could program her own magic, so she could cast magic that is like my Lance of Drakul and Shields of Vukodlak to give an illusion that she was me fighting. To the untrained eye, she was me", I told them.
"If the Demon Queen was watching she'll probably find out I was faking it", Sara told us.
"That is alright. She will probably think that the Bully is conjuring lesser versions of his magic to lose to the Mad King on purpose", I replied to her.
"Now let's go back to Raven's briefing", Queen Mistral told us.
"Our domain now consists of the region of Nyx-Nymera, Trogdol, Merernia, Haverly and now most of Drachia. We now control almost half of the continent of the Ten-Kingdoms", Raven told us as he calculated our holdings.
"We are now known as the Southern Empire of Nyx and our king and queen, the Emperor and Empress of the Southern Empire. Greetings Emperor and Empress", Bommurs said and greeted us.
After all the cities in the former Drachia kingdom surrendered to our sovereignty, we needed a new entity to describe our vast domains.
The Church of All-Seeing gave us another edict, at my suggestion, naming our kingdom, the Southern Empire.
"It is surprising and ironic that the damn Church is supporting us now. They even gave us a new flag", Eirot said to us disappointedly.
"Don't worry we will exact revenge on the apostles for you when the time is ripe", I told her.
Eirot was once taken by the Apostles to Elis and enslaved there because she had special magic that could call and summon demons. She hated the apostles.
"Will that Demon Queen leave half of the Ten-Kingdoms to us uncontested? That is so generous of her", Rinna told us and doubted.
"The Demon Queen probably wants to consolidate her powers in the northern region after we killed her strongest lieutenants, Kolgane, Anansi and Archdemon Zesgumath. We won't hear from her for a while", Raven replied.
"After the Church anointed us as the Southern Empire, the Demon Queen declared herself as the Empress of the Northern Empire", Bommurs told us.
"So, there are no longer the Ten-Kingdoms in this continent but the North and South Empire", Ratatouille said to us.
"The Church still controls the areas northwest Drachia and south of Arrakis", Raven told us.
"This continent has been partitioned into three main forces. This is the age of the Three Kingdoms", Queen Mistral told us.
The Ten-Kingdoms age was over.
It is now the age of the Three Kingdoms or Empire – The Northern Demon Empire, The Southern Barbarian Empire and the Holy Church in the middle.
"We still must be careful with the Church. The Sword of Malevolence was summoned several times during the last few battles. The Apostles might find out about it eventually and come looking", Black Bishop Aluva reminded us.
"That Demon Queen bitch will definitely use that against us in her sinister way", Rinna told us.
"That is a problem we must deal with", I replied to them.
"How will you react if the Apostles find out about your Malevolence?" Eirot asked me.
"Well, we pre-empt them. That would give us an alibi against any accusations", I replied to her.
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[In the Monastery of Elis]
"Fool, why didn't you report to us earlier that the Dark Angel's malevolence had appeared in the Ten-Kingdoms, once in Tarah city, once more in Maher city and again in Mount Templar?" a saintly figure asked High Apostle Bannon angrily.
"Your excellence, our armies were at war with the demons at the gate of Elis, we don't have the resources to track the malevolence in other places", High Apostle Bannon apologized to the Saint, his face gloomily as he worried about the saint's wrath.
"If Lord Oriese from the Order of the Templar Knights did not provide evidence of Malevolence magic to us, we might never have discovered it, you fool", the Saint scolded the High Apostle.
"Where did this source of Malevolence magic come from, I wonder?" the High Apostle asked.
"Fool, are you asking me instead of giving me answers? Based on the evidence provided by Lord Oriese, the Dark Angel's undeveloped form could be harbored by the demon army. During several times the demon army launched a major invasion, Malevolence was released. That could not be a mere coincidence. If only you apostles are more competent", the Saint asked, replied and reprimanded.
"Our army is unable to defeat the demons, and we must cede the southern territories to the Barbarians to guard against the demons. We don't have access to resources or to places that could alert us sooner about Dark Angel activity. The Barbarians controlling the land are too stupid to be useful", Bannon complained to the Saint.