General Arthur looked down at me with a gaze that seemed to be able to perceive everything. I fidgeted uncomfortably, crossing my arms across my chest, but there was little I could do about it. He was not even using an innate talent. He just looked at me and understood everything from the smallest changes in body language.

“Tell me everything about Envy,” General Arthur said with his attention fully focused on me. “Even the smallest detail could be the difference between victory and defeat. The more I know about Envy, the easier it will be to come up with a plan.”

I nodded as tried to remember every detail I could about the Demon. If General Arthur was leading our troops in the future, I could not hold anything back.

“You already know about Envy’s innate talent, right? He can copy anything he sees, there is no limit to how many abilities he can copy at once, and it is not just limited to innate talents. Any skill can be copied. If he is up against the greatest swordsman in the world, then he will have the same level of swordsmanship as the one he faces. If he sees you use a glyph, he will know how to use it as well. This does have a downside though. He may know how to do something thanks to his talent, but he does not know why something works that way. He is never quite as good as the original because of this. unfortunately, the insane physical strength of a Demon that has lived as long as him can usually compensate for this defect, making a one-on-one fight practically impossible. Our only real advantage is that his talent only lasts a few hours before whatever he copied fades from his mind.”

General Arthur rubbed his chin as he thought. “I have read a few of the reports. In the past, ye used various ways to blind him to stop him from copying your talents. Can we try that again?”

“We can try, but Envy is not stupid. He recruited seven other Demons to serve under him. A pitiful parody copying the Archdemon and his seven High Demons. Each of these Demons has a talent that makes blinding Envy practically impossible. If we want to defeat Envy, we will need to take them out first.”

“Tell me about them.”

“Aurielle never bothered memorizing their names, but I know their talents. The first has the ability to create portals. He can use them to travel anywhere in a huge region almost instantaneously. More importantly, you can see and hear everything on the other side of the portals. This allows Envy to spy on anyone he wants no matter how far away they are. The second Demon is much weaker. He can create light that disorientates those around him. Envy uses this talent to make sure darkness does not interfere with his vision. The third is rather strange. He can create hundreds of mirrors. They can reflect attacks aimed at them, and Envy uses them to make sure there are no blind spots that he cannot see. The fourth’s talent allows him to see through solid objects. Even if there is a mountain between you, he can still see perfectly fine. The fifth Demon can manipulate the wind and air. This prevents us from using smoke and mist to cloud Envy’s vision. The sixth Demon has a self-recovery ability. If Envy has copied this ability, even if we manage to pluck out his eyes, they will heal within seconds. Seventh, and probably the most dangerous of the Demons, has the power of foresight. She can only see a couple minutes into the future, but it makes any attempt at a surprise attack practically impossible. Naturally, Envy has all seven of these abilities copied constantly.

General Arthur closed his eyes as he leaned against a nearby tree silently for a moment. he started pulling at his hair as he groaned in frustration. “What an infuriatin’ group of Demons! No wonder ye could never kill the pest. The seventh Demon alone is enough to foil most of my plans!”

I nodded. “That one should be our biggest target. She is the reason Envy has escaped so many times. The problem is, she practically never leaves his side.”

“I am curious though, none of those Demons have an ability to increase Envy’s attack power. Is he really so confident in his own strength?”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “No, he knows he is the weakest of the seven High Demons. He hates it with a passion, but every time he recruits a stronger Demon, they are snatched out from under him by one of the other, more powerful High Demons. I think they do it to keep him weaker on purpose. As his name suggests, Envy has a big inferiority complex about most things, but especially the other High Demons. I use it to get under his skin all the time. Making him furious is one of the few joys I never forget to take advantage of. It is part of the reason he hates me so much more than the other Calamities.”

“Now, that is something I can use!” General Arthur said with a grin, “If I prod his hatred for the other Demons, I could pull him into a trap. Even if he sees it coming, he might willingly walk into a bad situation just to prove himself superior. Most situations on the battlefield are decided hours or even days before the actual battle begins. If he is overconfident and angry, we can trick him into thinking he is safe with his foresight, while an entire army surrounds and closes in on him.”

“It would probably work, but we would need to sacrifice a lot of troops and firepower to bring Envy down. Do not compare that newborn baby we fought yesterday to a Demon like Envy. He could literally kill her with just the flick of a finger.” I made the small motion with my hand as I spoke, showing the general just how easy it would be.

General Arthur placed a hand on my shoulder as we smiled. “At least we have the start of a plan. I have a few ideas to counteract the ability to see a few minutes into the future. I might even know a way to counter Envy’s innate talent. If we can take down a few of his followers before then, it will be even easier. All we need to do is set the board in our favor.

I spent the rest of the day with General Arthur as the Army marched to catch up with the civilians. I told him everything I could remember about Envy’s personality. The general was especially interested in anything that could make the Demon angry and irrational.

During our march, the general only had to stop once to use a single glyph. This glyph created a dome of silver energy that completely pushed back the mist in the surrounding area. It covered the entire army and much of the surrounding area. The best part was, the dome was centered on the general and moved when he did. It was an incredible use of glyphs that even the Thirteen Divisions would be jealous of.

“How did you create a glyph like this?” I asked in amazement.

General Arthur just shrugged. “I have always been good at creatin’ glyphs. I can’t really explain it. I just naturally understand how they work, and how the glyph will change if I alter the runes slightly. The church noticed this skill of mine and spent quite a bit of money to get me access to the restricted sections of the Ninth Division’s archives. Thanks to that, I think I can safely say, I know more about glyphs than any other person in this realm.”

“That’s impressive,” I mused, “If the doorways between realms had not been closed all this time, you would have been shipped out to join the Endless War.”

The general smiled. “Fightin’ on the front lines of that great war has always been my dream. I was brought up by the church you know. Stories of the Endless War were beaten into my head before I could even walk. I was raised for it, born for it. I was only a child when ye closed the door between the realms. I was not old enough to join the war yet, and by the time I was, I had no way of gettin’ there.”

“So, you decided to fight for the Novus Kingdom instead? How was Sebastion as a king?”

The general laughed. “The constant conflicts have been a good experience, but honestly, the Novus Kingdom is a joke, and the king is a fool. He has no more interest in rulin’ the kingdom than ye did. The people still see him as the hero that overthrew the Undead Queen, but the truth is that he is no different than ye were. It was only once I became a Duke that I saw how little he really cared about the kingdom. He rarely ever leaves the castle, and while he does attend formal functions once a month it is clear he does not interested in the people there. He never listens to anyone’s advice. He declares new laws on random whims without ever looking at the situations those laws create. His kingdom is a quarter of the size it was when he first became king, but when I tried to talk to him about it as a duke and general, he refused to recognize that entire nations had risen up due to his negligence. Even after decades of independence, He still sees them as nothing more than rebellious children that will be put back in their place sooner or later.”

Flames burned in my chest. “Ignorant, stubborn, mindless brat!” I shouted. He was there when I was teaching Lucia how to be a good queen. He listened to my lectures just like she did. He should know better. Was he purposefully running the kingdom into the ground just to spite me?

General Arthur chuckled at my outburst. “In my opinion, I think it is better this way. When ye ruled, your undead armies made the idea of breaking away from the empire impossible. Without ye around to enforce peace, new countries have been born. Some are corrupt sure, but many are ruled justly. If you do not like the laws of one country, you can simply sneak over the borders into another. No one person is powerful enough to control everything so the governments have to actually listen to their people or risk revolution. There have been many great things born from this.”

“Maybe it is better this way,” I said with a sigh.

“More importantly, many great warriors and generals have been born from the strife created between the countries. To protect their new home, people have accomplished amazin’ feats. They have proven they are not cattle to be herded, but lions to be feared. The Avari Kingdom is a perfect example. Their king was not born into royalty. He was nothing more than a stable boy when he was young. His land was ruled by an unjust governor. So, he created a band of mounted horsemen that raided the governor’s trade routes. He created villages with that stolen wealth, givin’ it all back to the people. Before long he had thousands joinin’ his cause. He became a hero for the people and overthrew the governor. He created a new country that people will fight and die for. All of that would have been impossible if ye were still the empress.”

“If you are trying to convince me not to return to my throne, do not worry. I have no intention of ever being the empress again.” I said, waving my hand dismissively.

General Arthur smiled. “That’s music to my ears.”

“I am curious though if you do not like King Sebastion and the Novus Kingdom, why do you fight for them? You could join one of the smaller nations. Your talents as a general would make you one of the most respected people in the kingdom. You would probably see more battle too.”

General Arthur sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “I have thought that many times. Please do not tell your parents about this. They are far too virtuous to understand, but the only reason I still serve the Novus Kingdom is that the church ordered it. Despite all his faults, King Sebastion is still the single strongest person on the continent, and perhaps the entire realm. As Duke, I can keep an eye on him in a way that would be difficult for anyone else.”

“I am fairly certain my contract with the church forbids spying.”

The general coughed nervously as he tried to clear his throat. “The contract… um… it states we cannot spy on ye, but if we tell ye we are with the church then it is not spying. I am… more like a diplomat… It is not our fault if King Sebastion does not understand what being a part of the church represents.”

“Fine,” I said shaking my head. I always hated Division politics. “I do not really care now that I am not the ruler. Tell the church when we get back that we can renegotiate that part of the contract. They can expand their operations in exchange for me getting a bigger stipend of their yearly profits. Only my family and others directly connected to me are off-limits.”

“Ha! the higher-ups will be delighted to hear that!” General Arthur replied, slapping my back.

I winced at the sudden sting before stepping further away so that I would be out of arms reach. “Just warn them not to abuse it. This is not Fourth Division territory. I do not want governments popping up that are puppeteered by the church.”