325. Lull

    Year 292

    This year was a quiet lull for me. For those living in the various worlds, it was perhaps a busy time.

    Twinspace’s reclamation of the cursed continent continued with great fervor, buoyed by the promise of great wealth and resources. The rush was in full swing, and for those familiar with Earth medieval history, it was similar to the age of colonization with one difference. There were no natives to conquer and only demons to kill.

    In the future, mayhaps this Cursed Continent would grow more powerful than the old world where the settlers came from. The results spoke for themselves, and the credibility of our temple was only enhanced.

    Hoyia, at this point, began to preach about the duties of managing wealth and resources. The wealth and resources would first go to improving their living condition up to a point, but after that they should prepare for the return of the demon king.

    Duty.

    Twinspace likely had a 20 to 30 year cycle, similar to the other peripheral worlds.

    In the blink of an eye, all the wealth they built now could be easily lost.

    The promise of prosperity had a price, and that price was service. The Temple of Aeon had a challenging, but not unfamiliar task of transforming and guiding their flock to perform the service asked of them.

    I believed Hoyia and her team would deliver.

    ***@@@@

    For the remaining worlds, it was largely normal. The Order continued to grow on each, and we worked on training more members for the coming war.

    ***

    The heroes trained, practiced, but most of the time, they lived their lives pursuing their own interests. For both Perry and Sandra, once the effects of the hero class was suppressed, it brought back old habits. Games, reading, entertainment and music.

    The two were a pair, and yet I felt they were quite different. Perry was a lot more into sports and was eager to learn about the various types of sports available in this world of magic. Naturally competitive, he was quick to pick up local types of sports that didn’t rely on magical abilities, though his supernatural stamina gave him an advantage others didn’t have.

    Sandra, on the other hand, was a lot more introverted and preferred more individual activities. Reading, entertainment, and the sort.

    It didn’t take long for the rest of the heroes to notice that their relationship as a couple from their old world likely would not last very long.

    But as long as they were cooperative and did not create trouble, I didn’t see a need to intervene into their personal affairs.

    Year 293

    The White Shores was a place I often felt strange to return to. Finally, they would now face a demon king.

    “You can tell where it arrives.” The White Statue said, as five of the domain holders arrived. Lumoof, Edna, Kafa, Roon and Johann. Right now, it was a gigantic marble statue that somehow teleported from location to location, but this ability is dependent on a stone platform being in place. “And your numbers grow.”

    “As it should.” Lumoof answered. “It is a war of attrition, after all.”

    The White Statue looked at both Lumoof and Edna, and then back at where the whirl of demonic energy gathered. The White Empire’s forces had handily dealt with the rest of the demons that bothered the Empire, and what was left was only the final piece of the puzzle.

    Just like us, they had got it quite figured out.

    “We would like to see you in action.” Lumoof said, as we figured the White Statue was a person that we should deal with in truths and facts.

    We had brought a little separated component of the White Statue to the demon worlds through our void mages, but now, we wished to see its strength. “You wish to see how I fit into your army and where I can be useful. That is a legitimate reason, and so I shall deliver my part.”

    “Yes.” Lumoof nodded, as the demon king landed. It was a large creature that had a body of a muscular lizard, with large spikes and interestingly, glowing crystal streaks throughout its body. Those crystal streaks emitted a strong magical beam that started firing the moment it detected our presence.

    The White Statue glowed briefly, as it then transformed into an almost-living being.

    It was no longer a statue, but instead, took the form of an old, bearded man with the body of a muscular wrestler covered in olive oil that was three stories tall and surrounded by a golden halo of power.

    A statue that came to life to protect their people.

    The White Statue punched with great strength and moved quickly. The stone man wrestling a monster reminded me of old myths from our home world.

    But in terms of power, it wasn’t hard to tell where it stood. This White Statue’s form wouldn’t win on its own. That much was clear, but it could deal tremendous damage and even slow down the demon king enough that the White Statue could return to finish the job with another statue form.

    For added power, we noticed it had additional artifacts and items that granted it some extra punch in every hit. It had an array of amulets that were clearly hero items, and it gave the White Statue a protective shield to take hits from the demon king.

    The giant wrestler and the demon king fought for a while, but we saw enough.

    Edna didn’t need to say it, but we knew that Edna was stronger than the White Statue in combat. It affirmed what we knew about the White Statue. “It probably chose a slightly more survivable skill set such as the Statue-Regeneration so that it could win after enough battles.”

    Edna and Lumoof both decided it was appropriate to assist. “We will now step in.”

    The demon king died under the might of my power and Edna’s attacks.

    We repeated the affair in Gyroworld and killed the demon king there too. An average demon king, as it went.

    ***

    Then, we redirected our attention to the demon king of Terras. The world of the Floating Islands imposed its unusual laws on the presence of the demon king, and then, a massive demonic island loomed overhead above everyone else.

    Smaller islands then emerged that created a series of steps that connected the various islands together.

    It was an unusual law of the realm that indirectly protected the floating islands from the full wrath of the demons. Forcing all the demon’s arrivals onto a specific island, and then, the demons would have to travel normally from that island down into the other islands.

    The three great empires of Terras raised armies. Fleets of flying ships armed with magical weapons to guard their segment of territory from the demon kings.

    It was beautiful, and we allowed it to play out for a bit, only to see how things happen in this world.

    After we’d seen enough, we sent our forces in to destroy the demon king.

    A part of me wondered what would happen if someone other than the hero defeated the demon king on a world with magical laws such as the Floating Islands.

    But luckily nothing much happened. The demon king died, and the island that was once the demonic island began to drift. It was much higher up, vertically, above all the other islands, which were largely confined to a small horizontal plane.

    Once the demon king died, the laws that held its place loosened, and it moved.

    It drifted to the very edges of the world, where it then crumbled and separated into multiple smaller demonic islands. I suspected that the Floating Islands world was thus fairly young, since it had a mechanism that used the demon kings as a trigger for the creation of new islands.

    Our presence on Terras, the world of the floating islands, was in the form of a recruitment office, and for now, we chose to remain largely hidden. We operated by locating talented individuals and directly offering them a chance to try something different.

    Naturally, this was viewed with suspicion.

    ***

    Year 296

    Time passed. A few more decades to tick on. I wondered what was behind the veil.

    What sort of retaliation awaited us?

    “What sort of demons do you face?” I asked Hawa. I wanted to know what we had to deal with.

    “The Comet is a common one. I deal with a comet every one or two centuries.”

    “Other than that?”

    “I do not know. When I was a much younger god, there were tales of more powerful types of demon kings, but I have not seen them. Perhaps, they are chained to the worlds that created them.”

    “What was it like? That era?”

    “It is very much like today. Only, denser. The old gods used to be able to speak to each other. Before we all drifted too far apart. But even though we could speak to each other, I could count our interactions with one hand. In fact, I believe our interactions with each other far surpassed my interactions with the old gods.”

    “Why?”

    “Why not? Our powers allow us to hide away.”

    “Why didn’t you hide away?”

    “Perhaps, boredom.” Hawa answered bluntly. “Aeons passed, only for more of the same.”

    “I appreciate that I help sate your boredom.”

    “At the very least, you offer a chance for real change. Wait a bit more, the weapon will be ready in slightly over a decade.”

    “I know.”

    I closed my senses, albeit temporarily.

    I shut out all the inputs.

    Silence.

    I saw, in visions, the worlds then passed me by, as if they were nothing more than little iterations of various scenes from my past, played out in slightly different variations.

    Weapons made, powers stored. The time approached for us to venture into the demon’s realm.