V2 Chapter 23

Back then, when he was still inside that dreamland, Envy was against the Prince’s decision to announce his attack on Kharigan one day prior to the actual attack. He felt that the decision was made to please Wonten’s conscience and his ego as a God of Justice.

“If you want to declare war against Kharigan, wipe them out, all of them,” argued Envy, “You do not have enough pieces and manpower to fight them all.”

There was no strategic value in announcing the attack and allowing the demons of Kharigan to evacuate ahead of time. Those demons who evacuated ahead of time would later unite with their progenitor, their Demon Lord. They would add up to the number of enemies that the Prince and Envy had to face later on. In a game of chess, if there was a free piece, uncontested and unprotected, a chess player should take it to gain an advantage.

But the Prince only scoffed. He raised his pinky finger.

“First and foremost, the international law of war prohibited indiscriminate bombing of civilians and non-military facilities.”

Envy immediately interrupted, “Your international law of war does not apply here, whether it is Escana or Kharigan.”

The Prince shook his head and flashed his usual arrogant smirk. “It was an important obligation for any student of history to follow and be committed to the end. Otherwise, my Bachelor has no value. It is just a worthless piece of paper that says, HEY YOU COMPLETED COLLEGE.” As usual, in his self-serving attitude, the Prince kept talking, ignoring Envy’s argument. He then raised another finger, his ring finger. “Secondly, it’s a matter of principle. I announce my attack to all of my enemies and my opponents, regardless of who or what they were, human, worms or demons, God or Demon Lord. Almost Always.

These so call demons on Kharigan, I have not seen them yet. I have not talked to them yet. But their Demon Lords, their maker and spawner, your kin Envy, they are clowns and worms at best. I’m sorry, Envy if that remark offended you.”

“No offense taken.”

“They had proven to be so fragile, so soft and malleable inside this dream, I highly doubt that these so call demons are any better. They are very far from my definition of a “demon”.

I gave my opponents at least one chance. Whether it was Death, Sinintee or you Demon Lords, I gave you a chance to back off. I have given you warnings. On the same principle, I will give these demons of Kharigan a chance as well.

Why would I do that? Because I can, simple.

What benefit do I gain from doing that? Not much, just a bragging right.

I am the only one who could point my finger at their face and say, Hey, I have foretold you.

If I have told them how and in which manner I will defeat them before our fight began, and still they were defeated in that exact manner, that would prove that my belief is solid. They are inferior to me, all of them, gods, goddesses, demon lords, demons. And I am just as great as who I believe that I was and am.”

Envy could only stand and watch that grin on the Prince’s lips spread wider and wider. Absolutely insane, absolutely illogical, overbearingly arrogant, Envy reevaluated his partner. There was no logic in his explanation. There was only pure stupidity, insanity, arrogance and nonsense. Yet, the Prince weaved his words to make his ideal and vision appeared noble and great. Accompanying the Prince was like sailing on a voyage with a boat made of mud. The day would come when this mud boat would dissolve into the water and everyone sailing on it would sink. It’s only a matter of time.

Yet, Envy did not hate it, that idea, sinking with this mud boat.

The Prince then raised his middle as well, forming an OK sign.

“Thirdly, these demons have not made their stance yet. Their Demon Lords have disregarded my warnings and picked a fight with me, but they have not. They have not declared their intention to be my enemies yet. Right now, by all means, and definition, they are civilians and bystanders. But when they have made their stance and chose to be my enemies, I will destroy them completely.

It was not about what they have done or have not done, it was their decision and intention that doomed them. This is a lesson that I intended to teach the inhabitants of the other spirit realms. If they foolishly decided to join this war as my enemies, they will suffer the same result.

Those who survived this attack will forever remember the terror that I commanded. If they decided to me with their Demon Lord, they have wasted the chance that I gave them. For those who died, they will become an example and a lesson for the rest of the living to learn.

Magnamor have already helped me making the records and materials for this lesson. He will spread this lesson across the nine spirit realms… my bad I mean eight. Of course, when it’s done, there will be only eight spirit realms remaining. So let’s say, this is a lesson and warning for the other eight moons. This, my friend Envy, was the Great Genghis Khan’s favorite terror tactic, massacring one city to conquer ten without losing a soldier. I am only reusing this tactic on a different scale.”

Envy finally understood the Prince’s intention.

The Prince has already predicted the like of Munezee and Flokí would reach out to the other spirit realms when that moment arrived. That moment, the moment when all of Demon Lords of Kharigan have exhausted their pride, spirit, strength, miracles, and number in their fight with “a mere mortal”. They would either quit this unwinnable fight or employing additional forces to keep this war going. He has already predicted such an action. The Prince has preempted and made his move to prevent that.

The destruction of Kharigan was a symbolic defeat for the Demon Lords. But it also served as a lesson and warning for the other spirit realms. Realization struck Envy like a comet.

Upon the 14th great eclipse,

A prince shall arrive.

All the nine planes of spirits shall know his name,

Escana shall be painted in his color,

For whoever has him

Shall win the Throne.

URLOX have stated in their prophecy, “All the nine planes of spirits shall know his name.” With the destruction of Kharigan, only the inhabitants, the mortal of Escana would not hear of his name.

Which was it? Envy mulled. Did URLOX predict this development ahead of time? Or did the Prince actively try to fulfill the third line of URLOX’s prophecy about him in the most outrageous manner?

This boat was made of mud, but it was a great shame not to board it. Envy reckoned.

This voyage was perhaps a doomed endeavor of a mad man from the beginning. The captain of this boat was a mad man who screamed, “So what? I’m Fearless.” He knew his boat was made of mud. He knew it would be an arduous and challenging voyage, but he boarded the mud boat and set sail anyway. “You want a handicap. I will give you one. Let’s see who will win at the end.”

For such a brilliant man that he was, he was equally mad as he was arrogant. Perhaps, to him, this voyage was just another gamble. Perhaps, he thought he could keep it afloat until the end. Perhaps, he did not mind if this mud boat would sink before he could see the goal. It was difficult to understand his intention. A Demon Lord could be imprisoned inside his head for a thousand years and he still knew nothing about this mad man. A Demon Lord could work with him and for him as a core of his General Staff for years, and still knew nothing of his intention or purpose.

But if he was not such a man, Envy would have never followed him.

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Magnamor and Envy returned to Kharigan on the same day. But unlike Envy, who was free of worries for he had no attachment or love to Kharigan, Magnamor was busy. Envy had the smallest domain on Kharigan, just an empty furniture-less tower, the Tower of Envy located at the edge of Pride’s domain. Envy had neither a throne nor a child nor a castle. Envy, the Doppelganger, the Faker, the Liar, he was one of those loners on Kharigan, a Demon Lord without a child or a legion.

Magnamor thought that perhaps because Envy had never had any attachment to this red moon, he was able to support the Prince’s decision to destroy Kharigan so readily.

Kharigan had only three days left.

Magnamor had no doubt that Kharigan was about to be destroyed completely.

On his way returning to Kharigan from Escana, Magnamor saw the trails of footprints of the Crippled Legion, Eogaill’s army during the First Divine War. Magnamor actively looked for Eogaill’s foot trail, but he could not find it. Eogaill’s trace was still invisible, but soon it would be revealed when she commanded this Crippled Legion of hers. The Crippled Legion, they were a legion of Primordial Elemental Spirits who have all sworn an oath of servitude to Eogaill. These Primordial Elemental Spirits were more ancient than Naharis himself if Naharis was still alive at this point. Perhaps, they were just about as ancient as Death.

After the First Divine War ended, this legion vanished completely from sight and attention. Magnamor had not seen their footprints and fingerprints since. Nobody could find them. It was as if they have all disappeared from existence.

And now, they were back.

Eogaill with her Crippled Legion, adding a fully willing Wonten and Envy to the war potential, if there were no Demon Lord defending Kharigan against this force, it would be completely destroyed for good.

Who was person orchestrate this development? The Prince or Eogaill, or both of them are in this together?

Magnamor has recalled all of his children, those who have sneaked to Escana and those who have traveled across the realms, and assembled them on Kharigan at the beginning of the latest round of Reign of Chaos to keep them out of this spreading conflict. But now, when the situation has come to this, Magnamor had no idea where he should send his children to. Regardless of how this war would develop and end, his children were not safe. Their eyesight was better than most. They could see things and events that even Gods and Demon Lords could not. For that reason alone, they would suffer.

For the first time in his life, Magnamor understood what those mortals on Escana felt when a round of Reign of Chaos was being played.

“All is fair and all is foul.

Bones of the innocence shall mount,

Blood of the livings shall course like rivers,

And the realm of mortals shall be torn asunder.

Great Heroes shall rise from this Great Chaos,

Great Heroes of Man, Champions of Gods.

“Will they fight this Chaos or will they aid it?”

“Chaos is a Game and Heroes are its pieces.”

The Prince was spreading this game the Reign of Chaos through the realms, and blurring all of its boundaries and limitation. Before he appeared, the pieces of the game were just the mortals of Escana. All the damage of the Reign of Chaos was contained on Escana.

Now, Gods, Demon Lords, demons, spirits, whoever played and aided this game was a piece of the Reign of Chaos. Champion became player and Players became Champions. A human became a Player and several Demon Lords have already vowed to be his Champions.

Nobody was safe now. No realm was spared from the damage. This was already a war now.

Such insanity.

It was as Magnamor has learned. URLOX impregnated everything they touched with the seed of chaos. And their most beloved Champion chose to spread and blur the boundaries of this chaos to end it.

Such insanity.

As he gave an evacuation order to his children, Magnamor secretly sent his eyeballs with the Prince’s message to all of the involved parties, Lust’s succubi, Pride’s wing demons, Greed’s Hellboars, Acrẽa’s vampires. That was basically all demon armies working under Pride’s faction, all but Managan’s, Pestilence’s army.

War was already here on Kharigan.

It was as the Prince has stated. “My buddy, Magnamor, the war has already started. But you just could not see it,” the Prince said such words with an innocent childlike smile on his face. “I don’t even want to play any part in this war. And yet here I am, a mortal, a human who scores the first blood that starts this war. Funny, isn’t it? Whose fault is this? I wonder.” The Prince’s voice became cold.

Magnamor sealed his mouth, knowing that if he answered that question, he would doom himself and his children.

“Do you know why I have isolated Envy and gave him such favorable treatment from the beginning?”

Magnamor shook his head, but his entire body was already shaking.

“I suspected him of showing her those nightmares and hurt her. She told me her nightmares. She saw nightmares of me flirting around with her most hated person. She saw the nightmares of me being with Alice. Those imageries provoked a feeling of envy in her. Therefore, Envy has been my primary suspect since. I have suspected that Envy was the motherfucker who whispered something like this, IF love hurts, if it’s painful for you, try to kill him, every time she went to sleep. She acted stranger and stranger every time she went to sleep. Someone planted that stupid idea into her head through a Divine Dream. That, I am 100% sure.” The Prince cackled darkly.

“But Envy was innocent. That was how he could talk to me in such an upright manner when I have already shown him how I punished my enemies with their own weapons and poison. So who was it?”

Magnamor was already started feeling like he was about to cry.

“I asked myself that question and started my investigation on all of these captives. But still, I still have not found the culprit.”

Magnamor thought that the Prince was asking him the “So who was it?” question when he made that pause. Answering that question or refusing to answer was both a death sentence.

“I repeated these questions a lot during our final night together. Why does this person show Iliva those dreams? What is this person after? And then, it was clear to me that Iliva was not the target. I WAS. I was the target. It was around the time that I was stalling my time and waiting for an opportunity to stay inside that forest. It was around that time that Iliva acted strangely. This person could see clearly see that I had no intention of leaving that forest or participating in this game or fighting this war. So, this person showed Iliva those dreams to flush me out of the forest. This person knew that I would leave the forest because the longer I stay by her side, the more hurt Iliva would be. This person was sure that I would make such a decision to protect Iliva.”

Magnamor became even more terrified now when he inwardly asked a question, “Why are you sharing this story with me?” His spectral bladders felt like someone has squeezed on them with iron grip.

The Prince stroke one of Magnamor’s tentacle with an affectionate smile on his lips, “I’m glad that you play no part in this incident. Seeing how you react, I am truly glad, Magnamor, my buddy. So do me a favor Magnamor, the next time that you see her, the culprit of this event, please send her my message.

Tell her that I’m willing to overlook that incident. Tell her that I say thank you. It was because she flushed me out of that forest in such a manner. I have realized how naïve I was on the matter. But more importantly, tell her that if that girl was hurt in any manner or any form while I am fighting this fucking war, which should not be my concern, COELES IS NEXT.” The Prince’s smile brightened, “Tell her “The Prince of The Alliance dared you to test his claim. Also, tell her the next time she has anything that she wants to talk to me, meet me face to face.”

YOU TELL THAT TO HER YOURSELF. If only Magnamor was brave enough to say that.

“Bye, my friend and good luck.”

Those were his parting words before the Prince sent Magnamor off.

The two of you lunatics totally belong to each other.

Remembering his role in this war, Magnamor cried inwardly while hurrying his children to get out of Kharigan.