Ivory tower...

Magestia and her husband, Emperor Yamamoto, looked relaxed.

Apart from a few minor skirmishes between the Zantar and the Kanda'ar, there were few battles.

The Japanese attacks being repulsed without further ado, the situation remained status quo.

Magestia said, "In the history of Magestia and the Kanda'ar, as far back as we can go, once the infernal army emerged, it always resulted in bloodshed and divine intervention to aid the humans in their ordeal."

Then she turned to her husband. "Wouldn't it be conducive to a cease-fire, a truce or an end to hostilities?"

Yamamoto: "Assuming peace is signed, they're demons and hideous monsters."

Magestia: "Yes, but they live with humans and don't devour them... which is strange, and it must be because of Ivan, who is a pacifist dragon and you don't have a little demon blood, or Yukai in you."

Yamamoto looked at his wife with a little anger, upset. "You don't know what happened on the other side, when they marched with their army of darkness. They smashed everything to pieces and followed us here!.

If the gate wasn't sealed, they'd storm in here right now, tearing the entire Kanda'ar to pieces."

He stood up and showed himself on the projector.

Don't trust what the angels say, sweetheart... Look:

He's got the two super carriers, floating ships capable of carrying dozens of legions.

They're tucked deep in the bowels of Ethernia and the monstrous plant on the surface is showing abnormal activity.

They are digging and digging for minerals and crystals.

One of the projects we've managed to learn from our spies and hidden cameras is to conduct a gigantic monster hunt. They need monster hearts. Never before seen."

Look at this video... Conveyors as far as the eye can see, trains, forges and thousands of tons of iron ore.

Unless you build an ark or a spaceship... Yes, maybe that's it..."

Navarre approached. "Sire, would you like me to investigate Ivan? Or neutralize him?"

Yamamoto: Not yet... We know him, he's not the type to go looking for a fight. If another takes his place as Demodragon, it'll be bloodshed, and even if we win with the help of the Whitelighters, a large part of the population will be killed.

We'd like to learn a little more about his goals.

A factory like this, even in Japan, the land of robots, doesn't exist.

Navarre and his team of heroes went on a campaign to observe me and learn more about my objectives.

I was looking at my plans and reviewing them, to see what the flaws might be, a backup plan and the core dungeon.

With my specialists and Aries, the blacksmith dragon of the zodiac, we lit a huge plasma crucible and melted the monster hearts and proceeded with a purification treatment.

Impurities and abnormalities would be pulverized by the plasma sphere at very high temperature and the artificial mana generators were activated. The molten mass recrystallized, soaked in mana and took the shape of a superior dungeon heart.

Aries programmed the heart so that the dungeon would grow towards the sky and built an accumulator to charge the cannons hidden in dimensional spaces.

The hearts were ready and we had to go and place them.

Not wanting to put anyone at risk, I decided to go myself.

Hirrax insisted on accompanying me.

"Let us merge and pass through the darkness."

Hirrax pressed herself against me and she took the red head and I took the black. Then we sank into the darkness and advanced towards the black cathedral.

The darkness was also a shortcut, so we got there very quickly despite the thousands of miles that separated us. Like going from Brussels to Zaire... under the sea...

It was dark and we were in the desert.

I was happy to have Hirrax with me as my concubine, but without changing my love for Argententrix. But in the darkness I felt like something toxic, uneasy, as if something had happened, but I couldn't say what, but I felt a touch of sadness.

Hirrax: "How are you, Ivan, my little boy?"

I smiled a forced smile but she licked my tears.

"I know you're still thinking about her... I'm jealous of her... Say, if we were separated, would you fight for me?"

"What do you take me for? Hirrax? You know I love you too, and that I'd give my life for you too..."

She rubbed her head against mine, crying. "Thank you, thank you Ivan... you don't know how much I care for you..."

"Let's be careful not to be spotted... they have patrols."

They found rocky caves overlooking the plateau and the cathedral and buried the dungeon's heart.

It would manifest itself slowly, but quickly enough to become a centre for inexperienced adventurers.

A few miles further on, the same operation was repeated and the second dungeon was activated.

As soon as they would meet underground, it would begin to rise, creating a real complex inside.

A few weeks later, adventurers from Zantar were sent to contact the Kanda'ar Adventurers Guild, the only remaining diplomatic link between the two empires.

Of course, the adventurers of Zantar who found the 2 dungeons were stopped by the Kanda'ar adventurers and the rumor of a promising new dungeon went like a fuse.

It was a rush of adventure.

No one in the ivory tower was interested. The creation and appearance of dungeons was something natural and commonplace.

But on the way back, we went back to our underworld together and relieved our stress by making love there.

Hirrax: "If I have eggs from you, do you promise to keep them and acknowledge them?"

I kissed her and stroked her head. "You're my family now!"

Hirrax was stronger in character than Argentrix, less mischievous and more serious but perhaps more endearing.

Behind her strength as a general, she was vulnerable and in need of affection, which I filled.

"We're going home!"

When we arrived at the camp, Demodragon remarked, "You've been dragging!!!"

I looked him in the eye.

Demodragon: "I don't see General Hirrax!"

"She's right in front of you, spider!"

He wanted to strike, but my powers had increased tenfold, so he gave up.

Then Hirrax said, "If what I'm doing with Ivan bothers you, try and find yourself a demo-spider."

the insult was scathing, but it was a demon-sized insult."

Demodragon: "The kids are late... a delegation is waiting for you on set.

Hirrax and I split up and I went back to being human again. Hirrax accompanied me as my "bodyguard".

Japanese jeeps accompanied by 2 armoured infantry transport vehicles escorted them, guns down and 2 masts with a white flag and the flag of the Japanese and Magestian Empire.

The infernal army camped below the plateau that overlooked the gorges and cliffs guarding the valley where the infernal factory was established. Noise and smoke could be felt miles away.

Hirrax dropped me on the plateau. She sat a few yards back from me and I had my blood-stained US uniform on.

I didn't need any weapons and I wasn't carrying any.

The Japanese and the Magestians looked at each other, "There's only one dragon... and it's unarmed..."

"Another said, 'You're crazy! It's a super dragon in human form, it's Ivan..." He can crush us all."

The door of the Hum-vee-style jeep opened and a familiar figure emerged. On the passenger side, another figure emerged. It was Erza and Chronos, the magician who had taken me away.

Chronos: "Are you Ivan, the black dragon? Are you in human form?"

I opened my arms and he stepped forward on reflex. But too late, we hugged.

"Thank you, timos, for taking me with you... I know a lot happened in the meantime, but I never got a chance to thank you."

Chronos: "Always so sweet..." but his face turned frowning...

"Do you know why we came?"

I said, "No??? I've just been told that a delegation has arrived and it was my turn to meet you..."

And then he looked at Hirrax behind me, and he had a look in his eyes...

"Ah, that's my wife Hirrax! General Hirrax!"

At these words, she cried with joy. I officially recognized her as my wife. She wanted to throw herself around my neck but she kept her pose, all proud.

Chronos looked at the dragoness and bowed to her. "Pleased to meet you, General Hirrax and wife of Ivan."

Her mood changed to cheerful and she blushed.

Erza intervened: "Ivan... how you've changed!!! It's a beautiful man you've become. And all that beautiful black hair... It's you, isn't it?"

She was happy to be able to talk.

I cast a spell of Mordenkainen and a castle appeared around us. There were automatic servants and flat soldiers, and I signalled the men to follow me.

Chronos: "What magical power, an arch-mage elite" he thought.

We settled into a large room where refreshments and a cold but well-stocked buffet awaited us.

And, among the guests, I recognized Navarre.

We greeted each other from afar, he at one end of the long table and I at the other.

He almost shouted: "Ivan, Ivan ... TSSSS. I think we both got off on the wrong foot. You had me fooled with your face..."

I said, "I've just returned the courtesy, for the ice..."

He gritted his teeth, almost humiliated again.

When everyone was satisfied and refreshed from the trip, Chronos remarked that the welcome they received was exceptional and usually it ended with a massacre or fighting with victims, each side wanting to observe the strength of its enemy.

I spoke up:

"I'm not going to beat about the bush.

I never wanted a war. I never wanted to be a demon lord and I never wanted to die for it... for nothing..."

The humans were shocked.

"But without these trials, I would never have known my present family who took me in, my beautiful Argentrix and now my wife Hirrax, and most of all I would never have been able to meet my mother."

After much discussion about points of view and the possibility of a cease-fire, we reached an impasse.

Erza stood up and pointed at me. Ivan... we loved you too and we made mistakes, serious mistakes, and we ask your forgiveness in the name of Magestia.

"Erza, I know you're trying to do the right thing, but the apology, I want to hear it from Magestia and the Unicorns. They are of no value to me now."

Chronos: "They have been forgiven and approved by the angels, including Metatron who resides in the tower."

Erza turned to the old man, as if he had said something wrong.

Me: "I don't give a damn about these "superior" beings, do you have any idea what they are?

From the world I come from, the earth, they do only exist in the prayers and hearts of men. I believe in One God, a god, a true god. He listens to our prayers and helps us through life's trials, but your "angel" is an alien, a human being like you and me who has extra powers, a technological advance. They've been manipulating you for thousands of years. Didn't you know that their "world" is an orbital station, a spaceship from outer space?

They inhabit another planet that they have reduced to nothing by having emptied of all resources? They make you fight against the Army of the Inferno, but this army you fear so much is only one of thousands of others in the service of demons. My mother, the hydra, didn't ask to become an arch-demon... They drove her out. She created life on dead worlds, but it displeased your gods..."

Chronos: "It's a never-ending debate and we're going in circles".

Navarre: "Answer us sincerely, Ivan... what is this factory? And your collection of monster crystals? You, a powerful army, become blacksmiths, what for?

And your two ships, don't hide it from us, we know..."

I said, "Leave us alone and we'll leave you alone. But if you follow Metatron... we won't be fooled.

To answer your question, Navarre, you know I'm married to Argentrix and we're separated because of your gutless friends who destroyed the portal. She was coming to join me for her greatest misfortune."

Navarre was shocked

"Yes, I died and I was brought before the judges... I was able to see my human mother again and I was happy to be with her but very unhappy not to be able to stay close to my wife and especially not to have seen my children. Luckily, my rage and determination gave me a second chance and mom from hell gave me her spare body . Shall I show you?"

Navarre: "Stop it, you'll terrorise them and spoil the meal."

But my eyes were slit.

Erza: "And the crystals?"

"It's very simple: Many demons don't want to devour souls anymore... but they have to eat... With a monster crystal they stop being demons."

Shocking!

It meant a lot of good things and a lot of terrible things too.

The humans wanted to talk among themselves and they were taken to their rooms and the room was left to them.

I went to my quarters with Hirrax... but she didn't meet me there.

I walked down the steps of my tower into the great hall, but there was no one there.

There was a letter on the table signed Navarre.

"Dear Ivan, although we have everything we need to get along, your good will and also ours are on opposite sides.

Your wife is safe and under our protection.

But you have an innate gift for lying and floral language or you manage to embellish the worst of situations. If it works for Erza and Chronos, it doesn't work for me.

You like me we are not human and we are, in the end, wild beasts. Magical, yes, but wild and my instincts like yours don't lie.

If you want to see her again, then go to the ivory tower. If you surrender, I give you my word as Fenrir that no harm will come to you, but if you drag on too long or activate your plan with your infernal machines, Hirrax will be handed over to Metatron and you know what that means.

The castle flew into dust and, like a dragon, I sniffed to find his trail. Chronos must have had a teleportation circle.

It was too much. Argentrix... and now Hirrax...

How unhappy I was without them...

...I began to cry and cry and cry again.

Humans saw the desolation...

But I was inconsolable.

I sank into the darkness so that it swallowed me up and I screamed at Mommy...

Then I heard her...

Tiamat: "Ivan, I see what you see and I feel what you feel... we are connected.

Like you I am sad for my two little girls too. But know that you are immortal and whatever they do they will not be able to do anything to you but hurt you through those you love...

Use my temples... They're everywhere because it's human nature to be envious."

I said, "Hey, Mom, are you asleep?"

Tiamat: "Yes, I'm getting my physical body back and you know how to speed up the process..."

Me: "You can count on me... I love you, mom..."

And I come out of the darkness.

In the face of Demodragon...

Demodragon: "I see the negotiations have failed and your weakness has cost you again. You'll never learn... and this is the result.

I turned to Demodragon. "Wars always end someday... and what will you do when you have no purpose? You shoot yourself in solitude."

Demodragon was shocked by such a raw truth.

I said, "Demodragon, I'm off to find my wife... continue with the program and don't overdo it.