The Demon King’s Army.
It was said to be the natural enemy of humanity, the source of evil spreading tragedy across the world.
Their headquarters were in the Demon Realm, a place far removed from the lands of man, where air was thick with demonic miasma, the source of the demons’ powers. It was no safe place to be; and it was said that human armies had invaded and defeated many commanders on multiple occasions, only for the miasma to choke the life out of the humans three days later.
And within this realm, there was a certain place known as the Castle of the Demon King. It was a majestic structure, a symbol of calamity, and despite its solemn atmosphere, it exuded an intimidating presence.
Within the walls of the Castle, there was a certain room — a meeting room with a round table and eight seats, where only the most important members of the Demon King’s Army could enter. Of those eight seats, three were empty, but five shadowed figures filled the rest.
“How disgraceful.”
The Warring Flood, Mercury Changroo Handsomely declared.
It wore an elegant and refined kimono, with an androgynous face that was neither decisively male nor female. It’s hair was finely textured, transparent with a tingle of blue like a work of glass; the demon carried itself with the beauty of a work of art.
But for the eyes, which gazed down with absolute strictness.
“So tell me, Beschtleben, Sway, on what grounds did the two of you decide to retreat, without defeating the hero? After going through so much trouble to devise a plan, deceive humans, and luring the hero’s party in, the two of you cannot mean to tell me you simply gave up?”
“…”
“I couldn’t really get into it, is all.”
“Must I remind you that the Demon King’s desire is the eradication of humanity? And to eradicate humanity, the hero must be defeated? Now, twll me, do you understand the gravity of this situation, of having defied the Demon King’s orders?”
Neither Beschtleben nor Sway respond enthusiastically to Mercy’s accusations. Meanwhile, a ways away, a white-furred, white-tailed demon watched the situation unfold — Trudeon the Lightspeed Bolt.
“I told you guys this would happen, so you’d better not make a fuss about being punished.”
“Don’t think yourself excused so easily Trudeon; as I recall, you not only failed to finish the hero off but also let the humans escape, didn’t you? According tot he reports, y ou had been so preoccupied with tormenting them that the swordsman you were supposed to dispatch had escaped as well. It seems you still have yet to shed that habit of playing with your food.”
“Huh?! Why am I getting punished?! They’re the ones that left me to finish the deed, on my own! So you shouldn’t be punishing me, just them! In fact, I’d be more than happy to be the one to do the punishing!”
Trudeon began to raise a fuss, seeing as he would be punished alongside his fellows.
Beschtleben, silent until Trudeon made his remarks, suddenly interjected.
“If I am to be punished, then so be it. But I will only accept a punishment as handed out by the Demon King. I will not accept punishment from anyone else, let alone a weakling like you.”
“Why you… You wanna do this then, right here, right now?!”
There was an audible crackle of electricity coming from Trudeon. In response, a suffocating pressure emanated from Beschtleben.
Sparks threatening to come alight flew between the two Warlords, but the one to stop them both… was Mercury, the one blaming them both to begin with.
“Now, now, settle down. It seems all is still well; my sources tell me that the hero the two of you were after… Foil Austin was not the real hero.”
“Fugo! A fake?!”
The reaction came from one of the Warlords that had yet to speak — one that resembled a dark-skinned, potbellied orc. This one, in particular, had skin that appeared more scorched than dark, and it was massive — about three times the size of a normal orc.
This was Brachiola Gen Vulcan, the Inferno.
“Indeed. According to our Church informant, it seems the real hero, that is, the True Hero is named Yuu Protagonist, while Foil Austin was simply an imposter who merely claimed to be one. I had forces sent after him, to try and steal away the Holy Sword before it could be passed to the True Hero, but unfortunately my efforts were for naught. In the end, the True Hero slew Foil Austin.”
“True Hero, huh? What’s the difference between that and the fake hero that came before?”
“It is currently unknown. We have lost contact with the Swiftclaw unit – that is, Downburst’s former subordinates – that was supposed to be monitoring him. They were quite diligent with their reports for a time, so for communication to suddenly be lost, that could mean…”
Mercury turned its gaze toward Beschtleben.
“What do you think of this development, Beschtleben?”
“And why do you ask me?”
“The Swiftclaw unit was, after all, under your command.”
“Was it not you who made the reassignment? And the unit is only my subordinate in formality; it is you that they answer to, is it not, Warring Flood?”
Merucy had been the one to put Onyx under Beschtleben, and the reason was simple: its strength aside, the demon was able to fly. And by placing Onyx under Beschtleben that is, the Mighty, Mercury could compel the demon into obedience through pure might and force it to focus on monitoring the Hero.
Beschtleben snorted in disdain as it answered Mercury, who simply smiled in return without saying a word.
“…But if I were to guess, that one has long since broken; it is hard to imagine it going off on its own; that one no longer has the spirit for such a thing.”
“I see, thank you for your observation. Then, I believe it would be best to assume the Swiftclaw unit was discovered and subsequently eliminated without room to escape.”
“For all the noise that one made, in the end, it was just another regular demon. It was pretty confident in speed, but that wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with me! It was just a woodpecker at best! Though, I guess all of those birdbrains are gone now, huh?”
Trudeon interjected with a scathing remark. However, since there truly was a world of difference between a regular demon and a Warlord, there was none among them that denied his claim.
And with Onyx gone, that meant Downburst and its unit were truly no more… Not that any demon present cared very much.
“Bugogo! But to think, this new hero, the True Hero, defeated Swiftclaw so easily! How strong must he be that he has an attack to reach one that flies! Fugo! Hehe… hehe!! This is getting me fired up just thinking about it… All heated, all in heat!!”
“Hey, what’re you doing, heating up the place when you feel like it?! You piece of grilled pork!”
“Buhoo! Hit me with your electricity all you like, it don’t affect me! The burning.. just feels so good!”
“Ugh, you perverted pig!!”
While Trudeon continued hurling insults, Brachiola simply let out a depraved chortle, with dark flames like hellfire jetting out from his body with each mirthful shake.
“Brachiola, if you would, please restrain yourself for now. As for this True Hero — we will consider him an unknown factor; the best we can do for now is continue observing, as it seems too dangerous to make a premature move. Things are much different now, compared to before — too unpredictable. Now, next, there is the matter of Soleil, and…”
With that, their discussion moved onto their future plans in regards to the Demon King’s Army.
The Warlords present put Foil, the False Hero, out of their minds and move on, asking about their roles going forward.
However, among them, two of the Warlords had grown more interested in Foil instead.
“How fascinating. To think they’ve made him the False Hero. That would mean he could never become the real thing, right? Ah, now I’m curious — just what does he feel towards the True Hero? Could it be envy? Or maybe jealousy? Spite? Resentment? Perhaps I should not have been so hasty as to leave so soon, back then…”
One was Sway ka Senko, the Freezing Fog. Hearing that Foil was forced to take on the role of a fake, they had grown interested in him.
“That one… was a fake?”
The other was Beschtleben the Mighty; hearing that Foil was actually an imposter had interested him.
It did make sense, as from the demon’s point of view, Foil was so weak and so fragile, that it only made sense for him to be a fake.
And yet, a head-on clash had left the Mighty with a deep cut across his face. And while Beschtleben had treated Foil with contempt, the demon had not let down its guard.
(If what Warring Flood claims is true, then the wound that human left on me… Humans lose power when they try and use powers beyond their set Job. If that human in particular really had not been the hero, and yet he still wielded the Holy Sword despite it handicapping him… That he still had been able to land such a hit on me… That would mean…)
The scar on Beschtleben’s cheek, the one Foil had cut out of him, seemed to throb.
A sense of elation and a desire to fight surged from within the demon. But just as quickly as his emotions erupted, a damping disappointment smothered it entirely.
After all, the human that inflicted the wound was dead — they would have no rematch.
“How very dull…”
Uttering his usual phrase, Beschtleben put the meeting he was in, and the Warlords participating in it, out of his mind.
All the while, Mercury continued to speak.
“Next, I have received a report from Eroding Land that our continued battles with the Solar Kindgom of Soleil, which directs the hero and boasts the power of the Goddess, has more or less become a stalemate. However, this is still within our predicted expectations, though I personally believe the situation favors us, as, having forced the humans to field more to their frontline, we gain the leeway of implementing different strategies. On the other hand, this also means we are seeing a greater numbers in depletion as we lose more demons and demonic beasts on the frontline. While this does not adversely affect the battlefield, this does give those humans the opportunity to boost their morale by claiming our forces are nothing to fear, or some such nonsense. Still, I personally find this to be quite unpleasant.”
“Me too. Seems like its a human thing to do, get cocky when they’ve gotten together like that.”
“It does not actually hurt us, since we always have more demonic beasts to replace the slain… but for the Demon King’s Army to be taken to slightly, that is quite unpleasant indeed.”
Next, Mercury pointed to a spot on the map sitting on their round table.
“And of course, I have plan in mind, to put the humans in their place. See here, this human settlement, the Commercial City of Ricco. It is a hub city where merchants of varioius human countires pass through, and it is very important center in the war effort. Please take a look; you can see how this city connects the Kingdom of Soleil to many other countries in the rear. The city itself seems to have grown complacent as it does not sit directly on the frontline. Of note is its affluence, and it seems they will soon host special event – some sort of Great Wheel Festival, as I am told, where the humans consume many goods and finish the event with a so-called ‘fireworks display.’ My idea is this: let us destroy Ricco in the midst of all this, to put the humans in their place. Is there anyone that would like to take command of this operation..?”
“Might you leave it to me?”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. After all, how could humans be so arrogant as to hold a festival during a war? That they could simply enjoy themselves and gorge upon food. Ahh, how enviable… I’m already feeling ever so jealous…”
The air in the conference room suddenly grew cold.
The demon called Sway let out a mirthless titter; if nothing else, the jealousy it exuded was palpable.
“I expect no less from the one often called the witch of jealousy. Very well then, I shall entrust this operation to you, Sway.”
“Hehe, then, by your leave. If I am to go, there are still preparations I have to make.”
With that, Sway stood and exited the room.
The meeting had yet to end, it Mercury paid it no mind; it would have been pointless to stop Sway, so the demon simply continued.
“Then, with Sway covering the rear, we can look towards our next target. Now, Trudeon, Brachiola, the two of you shall be going here, the Martial Kingdom of Sodom, and here, the Chivalric Kingdom of Gomorrah, respectively. Now, these two countries provide supplies and soldiers to the Soleil, and they are quite similar in their ideology, which I find quite suffocating. In expectation of this plan, we have begun reallocating demonic beasts to their frontlines; know that their military strength is actually quite lacking. In addition, one of my subordinates have also infiltrated these small countries; thanks to their influence, we have quite a number of our demons secreted within. Please make use of these subordinates to surround the humans, destroy their city, and annihilate all opposition, to your heart’s content.”
“Nice, I was hoping you’d say that!”
“Bugogogogo! I’m ready to burn it all to ash!”
“However, know that it is possible for the hero to appear in either location; if that happens, please retreat immediately. While our goal is to conquer the country, we can consider our goal accomplished if we succeed in doing a certain amount of damage.”
“Whaa? That’s no fun at all…”
With that, Trudeon’s motivation seemed to deflate; “Those are your orders,” Mercury said with a smile.
That did little to improve the demon’s mood, but it did give a reluctant nod after clicking its tongue. Mercury was still all smiles as it turned to give instructions to the last Warlord present.
“As for you, Beschtleben, you are not allowed to participate in this phase of our operations. Consider it punishment for having failed to retrieve the Holy Sword and allowing the Hero – fake though he may haven been – to escape.”
“As you wish.”
“Indeed, this is as I wish.”
Mercury turned another friendly smile to its fellow Warlord.
Beschtleben snorted with indifference.
“And as ever, I pray each of you demonstrate admirable strength for the sake of our master the Demon King.”
And with those words, their meeting adjourned.
Before long, the Warlords had departed from the room.
And that left Mercury, though he was not alone; a number of figures emerged behind him.
No, that was not entirely correct; these four had actually been in the meeting from from the very start; they had simply stood perfectly still in the shadow of pillars behind Mercury, without saying a word.
They each had a different expression, but the differences ended there; they shared the same white hair and the same androgynous features that made it difficult to distinguish their genders — no, it wasn’t just that they shared features it was more that there were no differences among the four of them. In short, they all had the same face and the same build.
And there was a reason for that; they were Warring Flood’s direct subordinates: the Homunculus1.
“Thank you for your hard work, Lord Mercury.”
“…None of them drank the tea I worked so hard on. How unfortunate… Now I’m sad…”
“Ahaha, oh Lord Mercury, you’re as sneaky as ever!”
“Why do they all insist on doing things their own way? Can’t they see there’s no unity?!”
The four Homunculus express different emotions – joy, grief, humor, anger – as they comfort Mercury in their own way.
And of course, they do so by criticizing the other Warlords that had attended the meeting.
“Indeed, it is quite the problem. Our organization is called the Demon King’s Army, and yet it hardly functions as a properly cohesive unit. In fact, there were even those that did not respond to my summons, either.”
Mercury let out a deliberate sigh; The four Homunculus seemed to understand their master’s feelings and gave the same wry smiles and sympathetic glances.
“Lord Mercury, what about the two Warlords tasked with bringing down those countries. Will they do as they are told?”
“Hmm, Brachiola aside, I believe Trudeon is sure to act on his own. I imagine he will go out of his way to fight the hero, even.”
“And you are not going to stop him?”
“It would be a meaningless endeavor. Their personality is one of building and holding a grudge against any who would try and stop them. So the best solution is to simply allow Trudeon to fight to their heart’s desire. We will simply take advantage of it by observing from the distance — and thus we see for ourselves what the True Hero can do… right?”
“…So a sacrifice?”
“Hehehe, why, perish the thought! I would never! Trudeon and I are comrades of the Demon King’s Army; at the very least, I do so wish for his victory, my plans aside.”
“Amazing as always, Lord Mercury! Sly and wicked, with all sorts of cunning schemes afoot!”
Though each of the four spoke in the same tone of voice, Mercury responded to each of them as he would any other demon.
Then, a certain thought came to the Warlord’s mind.
“Come to think of it, while I am not particularly worried about Sway, I suspect they will simply drive people away from the city… and simply kill no humans. Perhaps there is still exists some feeling of kinship in our frosty Warlord… If only we could truly bring them to our side…”
Though, it is currently of no consequence, Mercury thought dismissively as he returned to the main issue at hand.
“Now we have a True Hero to contend with… I have searched what written literature I could, but no such name has ever appeared. Even so, no matter how strong he may be, the True Hero is but an individual with the same limits any normal individual has. Seeing the only threat to a Warlord is the Hero, we simply send each of the Eight Warlords out to simultaneously attack different countires, forcing the hero to have to choose a nation to save. Through this, we can whittle away at the humans without fail. Indeed, quite the sound strategy, if I do say so myself.”
The history of wars between heroes and demon kings was quite long — it was currently a five-hundred-year span and still continuing. Even so, in every generation there was always the same constant: the demon kind was always defeated in the end.
But why was that?
Every generation of demon kings was a generation of arrogance and overconfidence; each of them had done nothing as their top generals were eliminated one by one. It was foolish, especially considering the Eight Warlords were supposed to exist to defend the Demon King. And really, each time, the issue had been humans — inferior in strength individually, but by cooperating, they became greater than the sum of their parts.
Then, to win, they simply needed to divide and conquer, namely by spreading the Warlords out and annihilating the humans where they went.
In the case of Foil Austin, Mercury had carefully evaluated his abilities. When it did come time to eliminate Foil, Mercury had then sent out three Warlords; Foil had been defeated and retreated, per Mercury’s analysis, but the variable the demon had not been able to predict was Beschtleben’s fickleness in returning without killing Foil.
“He is undoubtedly the strongest among us, but he is much too individualistic… No, actually, he isn’t particularly unique in that regard, I suppose.”
Mercury was aware of exactly how strong the Warlords of the Demon King’s Army were — they were strong indeed. That they were so strong, however, was the reason why the Warlords of ages past were defeated.
They, and now Beschtleben in turn, were so strong that they could not resist challenging the hero to single combat.
Mercury, however, thought otherwise.
“Why is there a need to fight the hero head-on? Our objective is the annihilation of humanity, so we simply must needs focus on that. Dealing with the hero could wait until the very end, after achieving our objective.”
Though, there wasn’t much point to having a Hero to fight in the first place if they were the only one that remained; humans were social animals, after all.
So the most realistic solution would be to isolate the Hero while bringing about the demise of the rest of humanity — doing so slowly, steadily, like water seeping into a foundation.
Just as the water will weaken and split the foundation, so too would the hero crumble as humanity met its end.
And of course, by the time they noticed, it would be far too late.
One of the abandoned cups on the meeting room table reflected an image of Mercury’s distorted smirk.
- 造られし人工生命 (manufactured artificial lifeform) read as ホムンクルス (homunculus) ↩︎
Headcanon TL 
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