5 Minutes later...
"Demetrus..." Edharn said.
In the magical screen infront of him, the king of Highlios, Demetrus von Ezarios appeared from the side of the screen, he stopped when he was at the middle, after waiting for a while, it seems like he was alone in that room, there are no other people like a guard or his advisors, his appearance emits an invisible aura of elegance, with his royal outfit and a handsome face consisting of gray hair and a beard, Demetrus looked at Edharn with an expression of confidence and curious.
'Hm?.. He looks a bit– different?'
"Edharn En Latricia, long time no see..."
"Same goes for you, i hope that my appearance doesn't bother you with an important matter."
Demetrus chuckled.
"Haha, not at all, i was only in a meeting with a few people when i received a notice of your sudden appearance, now.. What is the reason for you to meet me using this crystal?"
The atmosphere tensed up pretty quickly, both Edharn and Demetrus lost their smile as they've had enough with the chitchat, now it's time to talk about the real things.
"I have things that i want to discuss— Let me ask this first. Do you– have an idea of what im about to say?" Edharn said.
"Hm? How should i know, we haven't interacted much these days, so i can't guess."
'...mmmhh– His face lacks any sign of deceptiveness, is he good at acting or does he really not know, i can't tell.." Edharn thought.
"Do you know what happened at the border between our nation?"
"Hmm, im afraid im not informed of that matter yet.."
"Demetrus, one of the town near the border in Latricia had been attacked by a group of robed warriors and assassins, my subordinate says that the robe that those assassins and warriors were wearing had the symbol of Highlios Kingdom in it, i want to hear your explanation about this matter."
Edharn then furrowed his eyebrows in anger, his eyes fixed at Demetrus.
He isn't only demanding, but also threatening Demetrus to answer, Edharn then continued with..
"If you can't answer my question, then i suppose i could take it as you waging a war against us."
"..."
Edharn expected Demetrus to retaliates and deny the allegation, he thought that Demetrus is not someone that would do something like that, after all they've had interacted a lot in the past, even if they barely talk to each other recently, it doesn't mean that they forgot with each other.
However, rather of denying, Demetrus instead smiled right infront of Edharn's face, as if his entire personality have completely changed, Demetrus laughed and pointed his fingers towards Edharn.
"Keukeukeuk.."
"DEMETRUS! ANSWER MY QUESTION!"
"Haaa!! It's amusing, really amusing, you thought our connection were friendship? Don't make me laugh, i will never call a pig's shit like you a human, let alone a friend, it's all just for our benefits, BENEFIT!!"
With his evil smile, Demetrus began to do a pose like a true villain, his previous aura of elegance had all disappeared, now what's left in him is neither a king or a respectable individual, bit rather an enemy that will bring death and wars upon this land.
"DEMETRUS! YOU!—
'THAT MAN IS NOT DEMETRUS! HE'S NOT SOMEONE LIKE THAT! HAVE I BEEN WRONG ABOUT HIM THIS WHOLE TIME!? OUR CONTRACT OF TRUCE, ALL OF THE PRODUCTS THAT WE'VE SEND TO EACH OTHER, WAS THAT REALLY JUST FOR BENEFIT!?'
"Your Majesty! You need to calm down!"
Lewin interrupted Edharn in his rage as he tried to punch the magic screen infront of him, Lewin grabbed Edharn's shoulder and desperately hold him in place, he knew that if Edharn punched the screen, it would phase through and instead hit the magic crystal, thus possibly shattering it.
"YOUR MAJESTY!!!"
"UGH!..."
Edharn finally snapped from his rage and he immediately stepped back to get further from the magic screen.
"P- Pardon me, it seems like im a bit too emotional."
"Keukeuk, that was a nice respond, Edharn.. Don't worry, i will make you show even more anger going forward– That attack on your town will not be the last one. BEHOLD! we will show you what a one sided battle looks like, the Highlios who's placed second at military power no longer exist, soon, the whole continent will be engulfed in flames of war, and the second Era of Destruction will BEGUN!"
"THIS GUY!!"
"HE HAS LOST HIS MIND! YOUR MAJESTY! WE NEED TO DEACTIVATE THE MAGIC CRYSTAL!"
"KEUKK.. Demetrus!!, You bastard— If that's what you want, go at it, but you'll have to remember, that every kingdoms in the continent will be your enemy!, humans, dwarves, elves, and demihumans, they will all try to stop you!, if you're that confident, come.. I will kill you, we'll kill you, for you who have lost your heart to Greed."
Hearing that, Demetrus felt chills going down in his spine, he is thrilled, he is excited, he can't hide his face from everyone else, at this very moment, the world will soon headed towards chaos.
"HeEHH!! I will be eagerly waiting." Demetrus said with a wide smile and a half closed eye.
Swoooshh!!
The magic screen disappeared, the magic crystal also stopped glowing, the call has ended abruptly, everyone were left in shock, they can't take back their words now, they cannot avoid this, from now on, Latricia Kingdom will be at war against Highlios.
"Shit.. We're in huge problem.."
"Lewin."
"Ah- yes!"
"Call every nobles family that have a history of being a warrior or mage, every commanders, and also every ministers, we'll prepare a meeting in 3 days."
"Understood, i'll call them right away."
In a hurry, Lewin ran outside of the room, leaving only Edharn and the two commanders that is guarding.
"Sigh.. What a mess, may the god's light descend its blessing upon us."
***
At the magic crystal room in Highlios..
"With this, the first stage has been completed."
Demetrus walked towards the exit door, but rather than opening the door handle by himself, Demetrus instead walked right through it, phasing the door like a ghost, he releases a black smoke when he phases through, indicating a form of magic or special trait.
Upon stepping into the outside, the surroundings were not that any different with the one in Latricia, it was still underground, however there was no torch or other doors that lead to somewhere else, there was also no staircase that leads to the top, it was instead replaced with a long hallways with bright lights that is coming from the other end.
"Now, what should i do about this."
Demetrus looked at the corner of the room, in there, a brutally murdered corpse was seen sitting motionlessly behind the rocky walls, the corpse seems to be killed by a stab on the neck, other than that, there was also a hole in the corpse's head that reveals the brain.
"Cleaning the blood stain on the walls might take too long, but considering that this room have been pretty much forgotten, they won't find this until a couple days or weeks had passed."
When Demetrus walked closer to the corpse, the face of the corpse began to look more clear, as it turns out, that corpse was actually the woman that previously slept when Edharn was using the magic crystal to contact Highlios, when she ran outside of the room, she was killed by that man, although she put up a good fight, in the end she still couldn't win against him.
Swooosshh!!
Suddenly, Demetrus's whole body was covered in thick black fog, the fog whirls around him before disappearing with a gust of wind, with the disappearance of the fog, the supposed Demetrus also disappeared, the person that is standing on his place now isn't Demetrus, but a man with black hair and a very tired eyes, his face is cold, there seems to be no sense of empathy or remorse in that eyes, only void and murder.
"There's no choice, i'll grab this dead body for now, she can still be used."