The next morning, Leonel and Aina entered the Demon Empire’s war room. Compared to the sweetness of the past day, the atmosphere was much tenser. In fact, even Mordred’s playful attitude had completely vanished.
She sat upon a chair with a tall back, staring intently at a massive map before her. It detailed everything about Camelot and the Demon Empire even down to the smallest and most inconsequential rivers and hills.
Mordred was so lost in her own thoughts and worry that she didn’t even notice the arrival of Leonel and Aina.
Others of her Empire might have been more enthusiastic about their odds, but Mordred had personally seen Leonel’s memories, she knew exactly what kind of monster she was facing.
She never knew that it was possible to wield such power without magic or Internal Strength, but now she could no longer deny the possibility.
The #1 Demon Lord Crakos and the other Demon Lords sat around the massive map, all of them equally as silent. Even though they thought they were in a great position to defend, especially when the demon beasts and the mountainous landscape were taken into account. However, they were all influenced by the emotions of their Demon Empress and didn’t dare to say much of anything.
It was only after the doors clicked closed behind Leonel and Aina did some begin to notice their presence.
Mordred looked up, squeezing out a smile. But, it was clear to all that this was the last thing she wanted to be doing. She knew exactly how dire the situation was, and she also knew that it would be even more dire if others didn’t understand the kind of threat they were facing.
If even the Demon Lords didn’t quite believe her, then what about their subordinates? And the subordinates to their subordinates?
The more carefree and careless an army was, the easier it would be for them to collapse. By the time they realized that these things should be taken seriously, it would all already be too late.
This was honestly the largest part of the reason Mordred had no choice but to call for Leonel’s help. The only one she could think of that might have a way of turning around this mentality was Leonel himself.
Mordred brought Leonel and Aina to sit by her.
“Three days ago an envoy of the Ascension Empire came. They established relations and also made it clear that the only course of action was surrender and complete obedience or war.” Mordred briefly explained.
Leonel nodded. He wasn’t sure what he as a single person could do about this. Honestly, he felt that it might be better for the Demon Empire and Camelot to simply surrender. In his opinion, they didn’t stand a chance.
However, he also understood how hard such a truth would be for them to swallow. No one would like the idea of something they built with their own hands being taken away by another just because.
In truth, no one was in the wrong. It wasn’t Camelot’s fault for appearing within Earth’s territory, nor was it Earth’s fault for wanting their territory to be under the sole control of themselves.
“You don’t have to do too much during this meeting,” Mordred continued, “I only want your opinions on certain things. Though I have a small understanding of the kind of existence the Ascension Empire is, I can’t be as certain as you.”
Now that she thought about certain things, Mordred began feeling somewhat guilty about calling Leonel here. Was she asking him to betray his people? Or, even worse than that, had she brought a seed of this Empire she wanted to repel into her den?
Though Mordred thought these things, she trusted her gut feeling. And, most importantly, she trusted what she had seen from Leonel’s life. She knew exactly how he felt about The Empire. In fact, he probably hated it even more than she did at this current point.
Leonel nodded again. So Mordred wanted a consultation of sorts. This was easy enough to accomplish.
Leonel took a backseat, silently listening to the meeting as they began to debate strategy. But, the more Leonel listened, the more his brow furrowed.
Their thinking was too strict, their scopes were too narrow, their understanding of their enemy was far worse than Leonel believed The Empire’s understanding of them was.
The more he listened, the more Leonel came to realize where Mordred’s feelings of unease came from. If things continued like this, let alone repelling The Empire, their Demon Empire would collapse in a matter of a few days. Then, soon after, Camelot would follow.
“… I suggest we leave Serpent’s Path unguarded. We only have a limited amount of resources and the enemies aren’t fools. Who would march an army up that hellscape?”
“It would be a waste of resources, indeed. Other than leaving some scouts there in case of trouble, I think we can leave it be and focus out defenses elsewhere.”
Just as the next Demon Lord wanted to chime in, a sudden sigh sounded.
Leonel stood, placing his palm on the map on the table. His eyes closed as he imprinted it all in an instant. Then, his Force surged, calling forth a strong surge of Earth Elemental energies.
In the blink an eye, the landscape bloomed. Under the astonished gazes of all those present, a perfect representation of the map was created, even down to the smallest imperfections of the mountain range they currently sat within.
“This is your world.” Leonel said plainly.
Leonel’s hand waved again, quickly forming another landmass. But, this one hovered above, held there by Leonel’s Force.
BANG!
Leonel dropped the newly created landmass on the one he had just formed. His actions caused a sigh of pity to spread throughout the room. The three dimensional construct had really been too perfect.
After lamenting it for a while, the Demon Lords looked at the new landscape, their eyes colored with shock. This new structure had such elaborate mountain structures that it put them to shame. Compared to the mountain range of their Demon Empire… it was like an adult versus a newborn.
“This is just half a continent on Earth that was once called Asia.” Leonel continued just as emotionlessly.
The pupils of the Demon Lord’s constricted. Just half a continent was already larger than their entire world?! Just how big was Leonel’s world?!
Looking at the ease this ‘Asia’ flattened their lands with, a bit of trepidation crawled into their hearts.
“When the Ascension Empire had yet to unite all of Earth, Asia was the final continent that remained standing. This wasn’t only because of their intelligence and ingenuity, but most importantly because of their terrain, the centerpiece of which was a country once known as China.
“China is surrounded by sea and islands from one side and completely protected by endless mountains from another. Attacking them was almost impossible and most attempts ended up in failure.
“Do you know what the Ascension Empire did?” Leonel asked coldly.
The Demon Lord shivered, their hearts clenching before Leonel’s gaze. They lost focus on who was the human and who was the demon for a moment.
Leonel lifted a finger, causing a small ball of fire to appear. It was only the size of a fingernail, but the heat concentrated on it made all of their hearts beat wildly.
Leonel flicked his finger toward his construct of ancient Asia.
BANG!
A hole was blown through the mountains, flattening them to the ground.
The Demon’s shuddered. Was this power a civilization should have? How could it be possible to flatten mountains so large?!
However, the next words Leonel spoke made them all freeze. It was as though a reaper had grabbed onto their throats, suffocating them from the depths of their souls.
“This happened in 2097, just the 21st century. It’s currently the 25th century. What do you think they can do now?”