I spent almost two years on the island alone. It was a bit nerve-wrecking at first but somehow I got used to it. The island itself is quiet and I like it this way. There were no intruders so far and I can only conclude that Lisa did not tell my location. So far, news about humanity's destruction has not reached me yet. I know that it has not come yet but soon it will be. I am not looking forward to it to be honest. The time I spent alone made me realize some things. The life of the race itself is short. That pushed everyone to move and do things which question morality itself. The life of a human is short and they feel it themselves every second that pass. The anxiety ingrained in their being pushes them to make things. Things that can make others remember them even if they are gone. They are afraid of being forgotten by the later generations. The fear of complete deletion of their existence. "I guess human race value life on contrary." It made me smile how twisted it can be. "Ah... How dumb it is when they know that it is wrong but still decides to continue on." As a demon lord, I think different from them. I never lived my life as a human in the past too so I am not too affected with their inborn desires. The only desire I inherited from them is the will to survive but as time went on, I don't strongly feel the need to. I don't mean to be a suicidal freak or whimsical idiot by that though. What I want to say is that life with a goal and a life with a meaning is different. Humans were only racing towards the goal while I want to have a meaning. I don't want to take part into a race which does not yield anything but misery. I want my life to have a meaning. I asked myself many times what will I do when I finish my goal? What then? It dawned to me that I am running in vain. I realized that what I do along the run is the most important. Even if I reach the goal or not is not important at all. For the past year and a half, I transformed the island into my own personal paradise. Now, the island hosts almost thousands of animals and countless plant species. I travel sometimes to seek other things but remained off the radar. I still want to see the end of the challenge. If the challenge will fail or not, the end of humanity will still come even if I do nothing. As I said, they are a self-destructive race. They don't notice them though. That is what makes them dangerous at the same time. Their actions were fueled with the mindset that what they are doing is right. Imagine someone shooting random stranger with a mindset that he was shooting criminals. As the other person, you can conclude that he was wrong but the other party will not do so. He is right in his mind. "Well, enough with the depressing thoughts." I stood up and walked towards the lush vegetation of the island. This side of the forest is the home of many pitcher plants. The number of them started to swell and I am finally obliged to act. It was hard for me to cull the harmful ones. I wonder if this is how god feels. "How ironic for a demon lord." I laughed as I travel. I am not stupid though unlike the last time. I made sure to guard the island so that no intruder will be able to trespass within certain range. The outside of the island is fine since I don't own it but once they went past certain points, it's another story. I summoned some creatures to guard certain points. They will act as the first and last line of defense so I made sure that they are strong. The Lost Lambs were out this time since they need mana to exist. I can't expect that there would be invaders every time. They will only end up destructive so I made sure to lock them out. The guards were only mid-tier creatures but they are aggressive. They also have high sensory range that makes them ideal. There's a bunch of them burrowed along the sands and lands. They only need a constant supply of mana from me and I can fulfill that easily. This island is far enough that sentient creatures rarely stumble upon. If this is back in my world, then this island will only be unnoticed for a few days. The technology back then can be considered scary. I remember that they managed to survive the drought and famine for so long with the help of technology. I did not live long enough to see the device since I am alone and I have no one to ask for help. "They all died in the end." I chuckled somehow. I have a black heart if I say so myself. When I realized that though, I am already way too late. The actions were done and I can only do so little to change anything. If we are speaking of the present though, I can say that I am doing fairly well. I do not send ridiculous numbers of monsters and I learned to hold back. The hatred I felt back then is starting to fade and I can clearly feel it. I can't say if it is a good thing or bad but I will let time tell me. "Am I supposed to stay put and watch time go on?" I looked in the sky and I'm somewhat lost. For the last year and a half with me idling, I am bored to death. I sometimes go out and take walks here and there. Despite that, I still feel bored. It is more fun when I am sending monsters to harass them. Talk about hate fading. Since I have nothing else to do, it will be better to practice magic. I can cast magic on my skill column but they are so many and I can't see myself going through all them. I decided to read a few and combine them somehow. That is the goal I have in mind until I find something more fun or interesting. In the past, I only used ones that is convenient for me. I have so many arsenals but considering that I am lacking back then, it is natural. Now that I am not that much lacking, I need to use them more productive in a sense. I have so much mana that I can't think how to spend. That much is natural since I am overlord tier but I cast spells like a kid. Sometimes when I go out of the island I go to the demon race haven. There I saw how vast one can manipulate magic. I got some idea from them and here I am now trying to merge random spells. I guess I will be stuck in here for a longer period of time. One thing I will not forget about humanity though. They can never maintain peace for a long time. "Are you going to burn? Or are you going to fly?" My challenge still stands. Prove me wrong puny humans. Evergreen town Lisa is walking down the river following a small fish. It has been a year and a half and her stature is starting to change. Due to training for so long, her build started to change from the slender to more fit. She no longer has some baby fat on her as her body went through gruesome physical training. She may not compare to those warriors specialized in physical aspect but she can stand her ground. The training not only brought her new strengths but also a sort of addiction. The feeling of breaking your limit is so addicting for her. She managed to step into the next magic tier within a year and a half which made her a bit proud. She now has more confidence that sooner or later, people are going to take her seriously. The experience she went through before still made her insecure. She is still far from enough to dictate the direction of humanity like her cousin Klein back then. She wants to reach that kind of power first before she do something significant. How are you feeling my Lady? Lisa looked up and saw Adarna landing on a nearby tree. She was thankful towards her summon. Adarna thought her many things not just magic but also how to be wise. She may be naive before but now she is not that easy to trick anymore. She learned that too good to be true promises are lies ninety percent all the time. "I am feeling better now." She said with gratitude. Adarna looked at her in a quizzical manner before flying and land towards her right shoulder. Lisa smiled vaguely about how this master and servant is too complicated. She was supposed to be the one in the reigns but the superior knowledge Adarna has is making a difference. She can barely maintain the position of the master. She was not having trouble though as Adarna seems devoted to her. The bird has never leaded her astray. She trusts Adarna more than anyone in the world. We need to talk my Lady. "What is it about?" About how to deal with the current situation. "What do you mean?" The emperors met again after the war. Don't you think it is somewhat suspicious? "I see." Lisa nodded her head. "What can it be for?" I am still waiting for the information from the beast that I assigned to watch over the leaders of the Alliance. "Then we have no way to know as of now." she kicked a small rock along the side-way. "That will not be good anyway." You seem to think about the worst. That is unlike you. "After I went through? I don't trust humanity as much as I trust them back then." Adarna was silent for a bit as it recalled the event back then. It saw how her master was nearly drowned in sadness and disappointment. Her master did all she can to save the race but obviously a single weak female can't convince the whole world. Let's wait for the information first before we make conclusions my Lady. Making extreme assumptions will only pollute your mind. Don't turn into someone like the demon lord who lost faith in humanity. Lisa was a bit stunned. She has not thought that Adarna will say something like that. Now that she think about it, her trust towards humanity is clearly at rock bottom. Am I really losing faith? Lisa can only ask that question in her mind. She can't bear to ask that to Adarna as she is sure that it will answer. Adarna might be wise but it does not know the real meaning of being tactful. It only relies on its vast knowledge and come up with an answer. There is no such thing as moderation for it. Lisa was afraid that Adarna may answer that she is losing faith in humanity like the demon lord. She tells herself that she is doing this to save her race and she is not losing faith. She is just making strides to make something significant. After two days of waiting, a little bird arrived at the room of Lisa. It was a little sparrow in shape but in reality it was a magic beast with disguise ability. It was intelligent and Adarna was the one who tamed it. Lisa and Adarna started to decipher the news and it made their faces grim. Lisa's face is full of shock and disbelief in what she is hearing. Adarna is translating the information from the little sparrow. The information contains the essence of the meeting of the emperors. Lisa's name came up along with the talk about the demon lord. The human emperors are growing scared of her progress as she had contact with the demon lord. "How can they even think like this!" She screamed as disappointment ran deeper in her heart. "I am making effort to save this race! How can they even think that I am to betray the race in the future! Klein! How can you!" Lisa's tears started to fall. Despite gaining knowledge, she is still a woman. The importance of family for her runs deep. She could not have thought that one day Klein will even allow something to happen to her. She can't even feel any shred of protection from what she heard from the information. This is really bad my Lady. You need to disappear from their sights before you gain enough power to smash their pride. "I know but how can they do this... I am family... Why..." Lisa felt so lost. She was feeling even more miserable than when she was taken by the winter infernal. At least back then it was a beast. This time it was her own family member that did not even protect her. This is the product of ignorance my Lady. They lack knowledge and they can only succumb to their fears and suspicions. Now they are leading humanity to their downfall. Lisa woke up from her self-pity. She has more important things to do than to wallow in sadness. She needs to become strong. Strong enough to trample anyone that threatens the survival of the race. Even someone that holds great authority and power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adarna is looking at his master in dismay. He knows what is to come next. He has experienced this countless times already. The desire to make peace but they are only fueling the war in actuality. They vow to uphold peace while holding weapons aimed at each other. It was truly ironic how human race thinks. Even so, he needs to support his master. His master is now doomed to become significant in the future. He may not be able to change the outcome but he can still influence it a little bit. He tried to seek ways to help his master and not fall into the same fate his previous masters went down. His previous masters gained vast powers due to his help but in the end, they also self-destruct. The previous masters tried to overthrow the rulers. Some organized rebellion while others became rulers. The common ground of them is that they all desired for peace. They have never realized until the end how elusive peace is. He felt sad for them. Adarna can somehow guess how his new master will do things and he is determined to guide this one. He vowed to himself that he will keep this master away from the predestine result of an uprising. My Lady, we should leave this village as soon as possible. "I will pack my things and supply." his master replied. "How much time do we have?" Adarna tried to calculate how much time they have until orders arrive in this town. The capital is about seven days’ worth of travel with horse. Shorter if they use magic beast as mounts and less than three days if it is alone. At least two more days My Lady. He looked at his master's countenance and felt sympathy. This master of his is really kind. Even when they betrayed her, she still try to avoid casualty. He can tell otherwise but he remained silent. He can guide the master as easy as breathing anyway. With the two day allowance, his master and he collected the basic necessity for survival. He can use magic anyhow and his master also is now adept with fire and light magic. They are not yet on par with the specialized water magic of his master but they are at least satisfactory. The two left the village without notice to any relative. The absence of Lisa Evergreen in the Evergreen town caused a massive uproar. It escalated with the royal knights demanding for her. The knights nearly had a heart attack when they heard that their target has already left a day earlier. They are wondering how they are supposed to report. The next day, they left the Evergreen town with a dejected expression. They do not know what future lies ahead of them as the emperor instructed them to bring Lisa to the capital. The expression of the emperor back then is not pretty to look at and they can guess how important the mission is. Without their knowledge, a small sparrow also flew away from the Evergreen town at the same time. It headed towards the west. Towards the vast and endless forest it goes. Seeking where his tamer is. Adarna received the news after a few hours. They are walking towards the island where the demon lord is. It was the best idea he can come up with the current situation. The demon lord is not hostile towards them and he has enough power to fend off everyone. "Are you sure that this is the best course of action?" His master's voice is a bit shaking. He can relate though as he also experienced how fearful the demon lord is. He had never met a being capable of eliminating a race if it felt like it. It was breaking with the rules god has set. Though he is no one to reprimand the decision of a god. This is the best way My Lady. Drake is not as bad as you see him. He just lost his faith to humanity to extreme levels. It makes him look bad but if we act carefully and not cross his lines then we can gain power steadily. "I see." His master still has a difficult expression. "I hope we are right about this." Of course master. Adarna will guide you to the result you desire. Adarna burned this moment in his heart. He will do anything to stir this master away from destruction.