An underground room with brightly burning torches attached to the walls. No windows. A tall room with white, brick walls. Secure. Solid. There is a large, wooden rack holding weapons of all kinds.

Knives. Swords. Spears. Glaives. Bow and Arrow Sets. All beautiful. Some are made of pure gold. Others of silver. Those made of wood are delicately carved out of the finest trees.

Some are made of celestial iron. Some are made of Mythril.

A man is holding one of these weapons. An icepick. A weapon believed to be useful for espionage missions.

A weapon that can inflict wounds that bleed internally. A weapon of choice when the mission is to kill as quietly as possible with less chance that a body will be discovered or an intruder detected.

But this is no ordinary icepick. This is a smooth, burgundy-coloured weapon. A weapon made of Azazel Steel. A magical metal created by the goddess Azazelin.

A metal that doesn’t melt at even the highest temperatures. A metal that can pierce through most normal steels and alloys as well as anything below Mythril-level strength.

Even the lightweight, near indestructible armour that the man is wearing currently can be pierced by this weapon. Although, that would not be enough to kill him.

The man looks at the weapon in hand, feeling anguish.

“...Sir?”

“Heliaye?”

A woman reveals her presence to the man, Immortal Emperor of the Supreme Azazelin Empire, Alin. The woman is his second-in-command, the Divine General Heliaye.

Both of these are not humans but beings of another race referred to as demons by the human race they are currently at war with. They refer to themselves as the children of Azazelin.

“Yes, sir, I wish to give you more details about the area of Ystria, some rough details about the forests at least.”

“No need, Heliaye. I won’t be going through the forests. I will be assaulting the facility from the sky.”

“Sir, I would advise against that. The patrolmen and watchmen for a facility like this will likely be great in number and it would be easier to infiltrate through the forest with tree cover than from the sky.”

“Heliaye, we’re in the weapons room. We’ll discuss the greater details upstairs after I’ve settled on my weapon of choice.”

“Understood.”

Heliaye fidgets with her right horn with a small white cloth, making sure to clean it thoroughly. She has three on her head, one on the right side of her head, one on the left side and one right in the middle of her forehead.

Alin himself has spiralled horns, one on each side of his head. At the moment, his long red-streaked golden hair is tied back in a ponytail.

Heliaye looks over at what Alin is currently inspecting, being mindful about the importance and sentimental value of the weapon.

“The Hero Killer, sir? I’ve never seen you use a weapon like that... Do you know the protocol for its use?”

“Back of the neck.”

“Through the ear, sir...”

“Whatever works.”

Alin puts the weapon, the Hero Killer on a wooden table behind him, at the wall opposite to the wall where the weapons rack stays. He walks back to continue his perusal.

Heliaye looks at Alin with an expression that Alin doesn’t like. He notices it. Not an expression of disrespect towards him, but because the expression...

“Heliaye... are you hiding something?”

“S-sir?”

“Heliaye, your face is trying to be as neutral as possible but you always give the game away with your eyes.”

“My eyes...”

“Like a dead fish, Heliaye. What happened?”

“Sir... this would be better kept until after you complete this mission...”

“I know I’ve given you the authority to keep things from me but... I don’t see that expression from you very often, Heliaye. The last time I saw it was when I commanded you to exterminate the first border city of Therea in the war--”

“The collateral damage to the beastkin and draconids was what--”

“No, we’ve settled that topic already. Tell me what happened this time. What do you have to say? Spit it out...”

“Sir...”

Heliaye hesitates. Her lips quiver.

“It’s that, bad?”

Heliaye bows her head. She positions herself before Alin on her right knee, with her left fist on her heart and her right arm to the side.

She shows only deference to his divinely given power.

“Sir. It is about the outcome of the southern Wilhem theatre battle.”

“...how many of us did we lose?”

“...None, sir. We have thoroughly extinguished the enemy.”

Heliaye hesitates to continue.

“Stop being so suspenseful, Heliaye, is it really as bad as--”

“Sir, among the enemy ships, there were a number of beastkin and draconid children. From what we’re seeing of the sinking wreckage, it’s possible that each ship had at least 20 beastkin and 20 draconid children below the deck. We haven’t encountered any adult demihuman men or women. Only children.”

“...what?”

“I don’t know how to explain this. My current understanding is that this is an attempt by the humans to demoralize us but... to go this far...”

“Prepare the Azazel Steel armour and my mother’s Divine Sword.”

Heliaye doesn’t look up at Alin. She doesn’t see his face, his expression. She only sees his shoes, unmoving.

But she can feel his intent. His intent to destroy. His intent to destroy everything the humans have built. Every relic of the human race. Every last man, woman and child.

“Sir, wait.”

“We’re going to launch an attack on Reid. We’ll postpone the hero campaign.”

“Sir, was I correct to keep this from you?”

Alin pauses. He had forced Heliaye to reveal the truth. She had thought that it was better to keep it from him until after he completes his mission. Is she correct?

Is he reacting as he should be?

“...Ok. Ok... Fine, tell me what we know about this first. I was assured that there weren’t any demihuman soldiers or suicide squads...”

“Yes sir, the Federation had purged the beastkin and draconids from their armies years ago. Our long range light magic has also shown that there were no beastkin or draconid soldiers on the decks of the ships...”

“Continue.”

“Acquaen analysis of the hulls also indicates that there were no beastkin or draconid workers or prisoners on the ships. However...”

“How did the whales fuck this up?”

“Their sonar worked perfectly and gave us the weak points of the ships as well as the number of personnel on each ship, however... the children were kept hidden...”

“...hidden? How could they be hidden?”

“Our hypothesis is that they were kept in rooms that were ‘sonar proofed’...”

“The humans possess such technology?”

“It appears so, sir...”

“So, when we sunk their ships... the children they kept... drowned...”

“Yes, sir...”

“Shit.”

Unrestrained rage can be felt. The air feels heavier at Alin’s emotional state.

“How many did the whales recover? How many can be buried?”

“Almost all of them.”

“...can that be called a silver lining?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“How did they get that many children on their ships?”

“As of recently, the beastkin and draconids are nothing more, nothing less than second class citizens in the Federation. However... the new pope...”

“Vildir Patheon.”

“Yes, sir... apparently, he’s been funding human supremacist groups and organized crime to do his dirty work. Kidnapping. Burnings. Human traff--”

“Alright, alright. Forget about all that... why did they do this?”

“As far as we can tell, a demoralization tactic. Psychological warfare. It’s worked well. Our soldiers on the shore saw bodies wash up... some of the children looked... emaciated... All of our soldiers on the shore, including our beastkin and draconid countrymen, know about the children.”

“Fuck...”

“Our enemies at home will make it seem like we knew about this. There will be investigations. It will reduce trust in our regime. It won’t cause an open revolt obviously but... this might just be the beginning of a larger campaign of terror. At the very least, our soldiers will be less willing to launch offensive attacks against enemy vessels.”

“That kind of hesitation will result in more of my soldiers killed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fine, Heliaye. I understand. Prepare the Azazel Steel armour and my mother’s Divine Sword.”

“Sir...”

“I’m going to launch today against the summoning facility with full power, still alone. I’m going to use the icepick to dispatch the heroes, the holy knights and the archbishops. I’m going to bring the cardinal back. He might have his limbs amputated however. But, when I return... we’re going to launch our City of Reid invasion.”

“The timeline is going to be moved up?”

“Yes. I need plans ready for the quickest route to destroy the central church and to extinguish the nobility.”

“Sir. Please wait--”

“Just remember to prepare my sword and armour. I command you, Divine General Heliaye.”

“...Yes, your majesty.”