Leon walked into Michael’s temple with confident strides. There was a visible bounce to his steps, and he oozed confidence. Much of this upbeat mood came from his achievement of defeating Nasir.
The reason why he was coming to the temple was because he received a summons from Michael. He was not happy at being called so randomly like this, but the promise of rewards had softened his resolve. He was still drowning in the wealth of the recently concluded Divinity’s Bout, but there was nothing wrong with getting more riches!
Leon soon found himself within the main room of the temple where Michael’s statue rested. As soon as the doors slammed shut behind him, Michael appeared with a dazzling show of silver light.
“Leon, welcome. I apologize for summoning you on short notice, but it has come to my notice that you have learned of some of the hidden routes of infiltration that the Demons will use when invading this continent.” Michael got straight to the point.
“Do you mean to say you did not know of those channels?” Leon asked with surprise.
“…” Michael did not say anything for a few moments before eventually speaking. “Let me tell you something about us Gods.” He said, steering the conversation in an entirely different direction from a moment ago.
“…” Leon waited patiently.
“Us ‘Gods’ are not as all knowing and all powerful as you think. We are close to that, but not all of us possess such power. I myself, am not all seeing, all knowing, or all powerful.” Michael shook his head. His tone was much more sincere than any other time he had interacted with Leon.
“What are you trying to say?” Leon was confused by this revelation.
“What I mean to say is that there are those above me who are capable of doing much more. But you will never interact with them at this level. It also means that there are other Gods that do not stand on my side. Those who support the Demons. It is because of the efforts of those ones that I can not see everything that the Demons are doing.” Michael explained.
“You will come to know more of this later on, but for now, I want you to do something for me concerning the information that you have received.” Michael steered the conversation back onto its original path after dropping that bombshell on Leon’s head as if it was nothing.
“Yes, yes, the mission.” Leon nodded and also threw that thought to the back of his mind. He would think more on it later on when he had the time.
“I want you to demolish all the channels that have been exposed to you. Kill all the people who refuse to surrender, but take the rest as prisoners.” Michael said firmly.
“Alright. What about my rewards, then?” Leon asked.
“…Complete the mission first, and I will hand you the rewards. And also, you have still yet to make your wish. I will be waiting for it.” Michael nodded and vanished again, leaving Leon alone.
“Hmm, it will take a while to get to the locations that Lance revealed. Plus, my wish… I will think about it on this journey.” Leon thought to himself with a sigh. He then reached out to Rakon through the mental link he shared with him and passed an order.
‘Tell Eric and the human soldiers to gather in front of city’s gates.’
‘As you wish, Lord.’ Rakon’s reply came immediately, and Leon severed the connection. He then focused on making his way to the gates as quickly as possible. He wanted to take the humans on this mission to get them used to fighting on his behalf. This would be their first proper mission under his service, and since it would be against the Demons, he was sure that they would want to participate.
When Leon reached the gates, the soldiers were already there, waiting for him in their armor. Their weapons and equipment were all ready, as they had gotten the feeling that such a sudden summon would have something to do with battle.
Taking in their worn equipment, Leon sighed. Even though they had been taking good care of the equipment, there were no proper tools for that. There was no blacksmith or anything of the sort here, so their maintenance attempts were just crude and rudimentary.
“Everyone, you are here.” Leon climbed onto a raised stone platform to address the men and women. “Today, I have found out the locations of several channels which the Demons will use to launch their invasions on the Central Continent.” Leon’s voice was loud enough for all of them to hear well. He did not even worry about their unexpected Demon guests hearing his words.
His words drew shocked reactions from the soldiers below. He paused to add some sort of tension to the atmosphere before continuing.
“We cannot let those channels continue to exist after finding them out. It is in our best interest that we wipe them off the map. Their existence will pose a threat to our safety if we leave them be.” Leon said as he looked over the expressions of the people. He could see determination and anger emerge over their faces, and he knew that they were all on the same page.
“It is for this reason that I have gathered all of you here. Your first mission under my service will be to wipe out these channels. We cannot let them stand!” His voice rose in tone as he spoke, rousing the fire in their hearts. The soldiers burst into cheers and war cries. None of them wanted to see their homeland invaded by foreign forces that only sought conquest and destruction. The Demon race was a race that thrived off violence.
‘I need to work out a proper plan for the military of this place.’ As Leon saw how enthusiastic the soldiers were, he began to think of the long term plans of his territory. Right now, their numbers were small, but with Balder and the other traders spreading word through their channels, it would only be a matter of time before a steady trickle of people would migrate to his lands.