The Red Hand

"As expected, it turned into a slaughter." Gale said as he and a group of Gods watched the Battle of the Simoea Plains via a large floating orb that hovered at the center of the table. He'd gathered them together shortly before it began and was hoping to get more information about his foe by watching her fight. "Though while the result was obvious, the exact nature of the event..." He hummed in thought.

{The simultaneous devouring of nearly a hundred thousand souls was far more than I expected. I knew Demon Lords could consume them at scale, but Vikes was only capable of consuming a few dozen or so at a time and only those directly near him. I'll need to be more careful as such a power could easily undo my plans if I'm not attentive.} (Gale)

"A slaughter indeed..." Teirea was caught a bit off guard and found himself uncharacteristically speechless by the deaths of so many soldiers. Akagi's actions had wiped out an army, and while that wasn't the most outlandish thing he'd seen in his life the way in which she did so completely threw him for a loop.

{I've seen far more battles and bloodshed than one could ever possibly count, but this...} (Teirea)

"Gale!" Esquire yelled, breaking through the malaise that covered the room. "This is why I told you not to let that Army march forward!" She said as she slammed her hands on the table, frustrated by his decision to permit such a slaughter. "All those people... They didn't even get to transition into the next life! They're gone!"

{I'm supposed to meet the souls of the dead on the other side but I just watched tens of thousand vanish into the gullet of a monster! I don't care how important our plans are or the fact that we were going to sacrifice these people to fuel our escape, this is NOT acceptable!} (Esquire)

"I mean, isn't that what we're planning to do with them anyway?" Korex pointed out that the mortal's souls would be consumed to enable them to escape Enoris. "What does it matter if they vanish now or later? At the end of the day they're still destroyed."

"Besides the fact that having them eaten by the Demon Lord now means that we can't use them for fuel later, I'd say nothing really." Cheofla commented in a flippant manner.

"Oh its very different. To be consumed by such a creature is a fate far worse than what we would do to them..." Esquire bit her lip in disgust and frustration. “At least they won't suffer via our methods! But here... You heard the screams, the agony! It may have only been for a moment, but in that split second, I can imagine the pain they must've felt as their soul was torn asunder and devoured!"

{That's a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone!} (Esquire)

"I'll admit that it wasn't pleasant to listen to... but..." Cheofla paused as Gale spoke up.

"It was an unfortunate miscalculation, but it has provided us with more information about this Demon Lord." Gale said as he raised his hand to the orb and flicked his finger to zoom in on a group of Ninja. "First off, we finally have a good idea of how strong these beastkin are."

"They're incredible warriors, that's for sure." Teirea said. "Their teamwork was superb, and their ability to use their individual strengths together to take down a physically superior opponent was impressive." He knew that Jerome was strong for a mortal and expected the Elector-King to take down a few before dying.

{The power he was given should've put him a bit above average, so to see him taken down like that was a surprise.} (Tierea)

"They're dangerous in a group to be sure, but it seems to me that such a reliance on teamwork is also their weakness." Korex commented, stating that individually they seemed rather weak and thus could be destroyed once isolated. "Separate them they'll good down rather easily."

{I've already taken measures to separate one of the most troublesome in their ranks. My Son should be more than capable of handling her, and even if he's not I'll finish the job myself.} (Deborian)

"Exactly." Gale nodded in agreement. "The Demon Lord herself is, of course, the single most dangerous threat to our plans. But having those subordinates of her running around is going be just as irritating. If they're more than a match for our regular forces that will complicate taking down the monster herself."

'Yeah, and they're already spreading fear across the Northern continent with their assassinations and their ability to get the rumor mill spinning at full speed is quite the problem." Cheofla said as she listed off a group of Nobles and Clergy members that had been killed or disappeared. .

"Reflia's report on that matter didn't elucidate much." Esquire sighed, wondering why the Space Goddess had still not returned back to the Heavenly Realm despite the order for all Gods to return. "Before this disaster he mortal leaders seem to be holding things together, but I can imagine this mess will make things worse." She figured it would send the entire content into a panic. “The planet being covered in darkness already spread fear, and learning about an entire nation's fall is going to make that even worse.”

"Perhaps..." Gale smirked. "But there is a way to twist this in our favor."

"Oh? You've got that look in your eye again, Gale." Cheofla rolled her eyes, knowing that whatever the Order God had come up with was no good. "Care to tell us what hair-brained scheme you came up with this time?"

"Nothing too out of the ordinary, merely a bit of a... Let's call it fact-checking

"Well if you're the one checking the facts, I can't imagine it's going to be unbiased and legitimate." Cheofla laughed.

"You wound me, Cheofla!" Gale said with a fake look of surprise on his face. "All I'm going to do is merely tell the mortals that the Demons were defeated because they rejected the Gods' protection and turned their backs on us. In the end, is that really that far from the truth?"

{Considering that we never really liked the Demons in the first place, it is.} (Cheofla)

"Oh? Korex raised a non-existent eyebrow at Gale's plan. "So you mean to finally toss the Demons under the cart? I suppose washing our hands of them would help."

"It's true that they marched on this Demon Lord completely without sanction or approval, and who's to say that we didn't try and warn them that such action wasn't in their best interest." Gale stopped laughing and grinned. "You know how it is, a few divine messengers pleaded and begged them to reconsider their foolish action, and when they failed to heed our warnings, we simply allowed them to wallow in their foolish actions."

"So you're basically casting it off as Divine Punishment." Teirea nodded in understanding. "You'll say that the Demon Army was destroyed because it failed to have enough faith in us to handle things."

"Precisely." Gale nodded, glad that he was quick on the uptake. "Demons are already not trusted or well-liked by most other races, and frankly, they've worn out their welcome on Enoris anyway. I see this turn of events not as a defeat but a win. One that we can use to placate some of the mortal's fears but also one that removes a constant thorn in our side. We'd been trying to move the Demons into a position to diminish their power for centuries, so this is should get us to our goal, albeit through means other than what we intended."

"A good plan, but one that has a small problem." Esquire said as she moved the orb's vision to the knocked-out Penelope that was being carried away by Halifax. "If you wish to say this Army went forward without our sanction that will be difficult if they trot out a defeated Demi-God. Penelope is well known enough that its going to be impossible to write her off as having gone rogue."

"Not to mention that Elariel, the traitor that you for some reason refuse to allow us to destroy, can easily break the illusion by speaking out." Korex scoffed at his suggestion.

"I understand everyone's concern about her but rest assured that Elariel is playing her part here, and you should know by now that I'm keeping her alive to use her as part of the eventual ritual." Gale figured that burning a God's life force would enable things to go smoother, and Elariel was the perfect sacrifice. "Not to mention that she's been neutered, Elariel is wholly subservient to this Demon Lord. There's nothing she can really do at this point and any attempt at publicly denouncing us would be met with a chorus of Gods calling her a traitor. Nobody is going to believe her."

"Don't act like this is all part of some elaborate scheme to use her when the only thing you're keeping Elariel alive for is Halifax." Hilare, God of the Forge, said as he appeared in the room. He'd originally planned on skipping the meeting but something told him that he needed to show up.

"I won't deny that getting Halifax is part

{And once I swap control of her from Elariel to me that's going to be made even easier.} (Gale)

"Gale." Hilare's tone grew sharp. "For all your plans do you have a contingency in case the Demon Lord figures out how to use Halifax? If she manages to bring out her full power? In that scenario we're going to have a major problem on our hands."

{A Demon Lord wielding that blade would easily spell our doom. This is exactly why I was against forging such a thing in the first place! Combinning two powers that should never meet was nothing more than a ticking time bomb, especially when you idiots gave her every reason to hate us.} (Hilare)

"I wouldn't be too worried about that." Gale waived off his concerns. "Elariel may have command over Halifax, but only I can bring that part of her out again. That foolish Goddess can't bring out what's been buried and even if she could, she wouldn't."

"Elariel is one thing, but are you're sure that a Demon Lord can't?" Hilare asked, the other Gods nodding in agreement. "Considering what she is, I wouldn't be so sure. They're closely related so it would only make sense that she could bring out the Blade's true power."

"I suppose the fail safe is that the Demon Lord knows nothing about Halifax's true nature." Cheofla said.

"And Elariel isn't the kind of person to let that information slip." Esquire commented, knowing how attached the Time Goddess was to the Blade. "She may have sided with the Demon Lord here but her attachment to Halifax has only grown over time. She'd likely sooner allow herself to die than divulge that knowledge."

"It's still far too much of a risk for my taste." Hilare grumbled. "If we're going to be moving forward with our transfer then I'd say it needs to happen sooner rather than later. The longer we wait the higher the risk and I'm in no mood to go toe-to-toe with a Demon Lord wielding Halifax."

"I agree, and on that note how have things been going on that front?" Gale asked Cheofla and Hilare for a status update on the transfer ritual.

"Slow, yet steady." Cheofla said as she clapped her hands and made a magic formula appear in the air above the table, taking the place of the 'video'. "The power reactor you brought from the surface greatly boosted the amount of energy we've been gathering, and it shortened the completion time significantly. I estimate needing three or four more if we're going to do this in any short span of time.”

{And sadly, I don't have the opportunity to sabotage this whole operation. That thing is under constant guard, and even I can't get near it. I suppose we'll just have to hope Elariel can figure something out on her end.} (Cheofla)

"Even with these resources it will still take more time for everything to be ready, but in the meantime I've been working on that request of yours." Hilare said as he flicked a small coin-like object to Gale, who caught it.

"Oh? You work fast, Hilare." Gale laughed as he held the golden coin that was covered in glowing magical runes.

"When I need to I can." Hilare laughed. "I can't make many of them due to a shortage of materials, but I should have enough for a couple of you over the next few weeks."

"Excellent." Gale smirked as he flicked the coin in the air with his thumb.

{Alright Demon Lord, let's just see who will checkmate who in this little game of ours.} (Gale)