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The Obsession Demon army has traveled half an hour looking for more targets and finding nothing when they finally catch a whiff of unwashed bodies carried by the wind. Moving closer, they begin to smell blood and hear the signs of battle on a large scale. Their opponents, the Wrath Demons, must have beat them here. 

This is no fortress. Instead, the Wrath Demons have found an actual metropolitan city. Tens of thousands of people, a standing army that is currently sending a Cavalry charge at the Demons known as Carnage, and a palace in the middle. They’ve practically won the lottery. Even if most of the civilians flee, they’ll be lucky to Cleanse this place tonight. 

The Axes of the gigantic Demons leave a wave of broken bodies in their wake as the Cavalry charge vanishes. But before they can move forward to attack the infantry, the Oath Breakers are already in the defenders officer ranks.

“Party Foul. Foul, I say.” The Echo who is leading the Wrath Demons calls. 

“All is fair in love and war, brother. Don’t worry; I’ll keep good count.” The other taunts back before both armies charge. The Wrath Demons towards the soldiers, the Obsession Demons towards the barracks and buildings near the edge of town. 

Back in the Skyview Palace, news is trickling in from the battles scattered all along the border regions. All of the caravans seem to have been stopped, though that’s not yet confirmed as it will take days to verify their total losses in battle and those who were lost to capture. 

The raiders are reported to have turned tail and run back towards Niman Territory, abandoning their prisoners and their employers alike in their haste. Preliminary reports suggest that an attack on a border city is the cause, as many of their guards were currently in Skyview. 

Neither Cain nor the King intends to let them escape back home, though, especially not before they’ve been searched for the missing Skyview Citizens. The flights of Dragons have been arranged along the border while the Skyview Nobles’ armies and the Seraphim hunt the raiders. 

The raiders split up for maximum effect earlier, and it cost them heavily when retaliation came, but the details sent from the hunting parties indicate that there are still thousands of them active. They usually arrive as a Cavalry-only force, but the tracks show many are on foot now, so either they’ve got prisoners, or they lost a significant number of mounts during the previous battles. 

Then a very different message comes in, not an emergency, a letter from the former Archduke Ferdinand’s territory that a new Duke has arrived to claim the region, but without transfer papers. He’s been housed in the guest quarters for the evening until the confusion is cleared up, and the Administrator is requesting a copy be sent to them to transfer the ownership in the system. 

“That Duke, he’s one of the banished Rebels. What’s he playing at?” Duke Chen wonders out loud. 

“When I took over the Long Fang Valley that borders that land, the paperwork was already done. Perhaps he thought the administrator would have the document in his files and not question a Duke, giving him system rights over the area?” Cain suggests. 

“That’s a possibility, but what should we do about it? I won’t send the papers, but if he’s invited a bunch of Rebels and Niman Slavers there, they’ll have a good defensible position.” King James adds.

“Why don’t I go say hello and introduce myself as the neighbor?” Cain suggests. 

“When everything settled, I was going to designate that property as an inheritance for the Crown Prince, as it currently belongs to the Royal Family and had been passed down in the family for generations. A Duke should know that, so this one may be an impostor entirely and just picked a rebel name accidentally.”

Duke Chen has one of the assistants draw a picture for Cain from the paintings of Dukes on the palace walls so that he will know if that is the person they claim they are. 

Cain messages Misha and Mythryll, telling them the situation and to prepare for a ‘Friendly Visit’ to their new neighbor. The ladies are happy to oblige, getting freshened up for a welcoming battle as soon as they see the message. 

The travel circle brings Cain to the Manor in Long Fang Valley, where the ladies are waiting with their hair done and wearing fancy evening dresses with their functional jewelleries. Cain is already in a suit since he was at the Palace, so he doesn’t leave the circle and simply invites them to join him. 

The landing pad for the Transport Circle in this territory is also on the the grounds of the Manor but on a large stone platform surrendered by pillars. It looks like it used to be a pavilion but got damaged and never repaired. The Administrator runs out a few seconds later, having been alerted to the new arrival by the system, and welcomes them with an anxious voice. 

“Welcome to the Manor in Ferdinand City. Might I ask who has come calling?”

“Duke Cain of Long Fang Valley. I’m informed that you have a visitor. Does he look like this?” Cain says, holding up the drawing, and the man shakes his head.

“No, not at all. I checked the identity of our new lord with a clear vision ability. The name, class, and title match what’s on the Noble Registry. If that’s an impostor the King has been looking for, we’re fortunate he’s not here.”

“Excellent, thank you. Is he still up? The king asked that I take care of some other paperwork with him right away, as we have had a bit of a situation in the Palace.” Cain says with a smile, and the Administrator motions for them to follow him into the Manor. 

They only make it a single step when two dozen armed men step out of the shadows, and a barrier falls over them. Much like the one in the Palace; it blocks skill activations inside the area of effect. The Administrator looks shocked and backs up toward Cain while the men laugh. 

“He told us that if we waited, they’d send someone to finish him off. But the King sent us a particularity good catch, didn’t he?” The group leader, a warrior in blue-tinted plate mail with a black cloak over the top, laughs. 

“Now, just put on the collars like a good little slave, and nobody has to die.”

He throws four slave collars at their feet, and Cain begins to laugh. “Did you honestly think he’d send someone defenseless into a trap? I know the Rebels are not too bright, but surely the Nimans aren’t that naive?”

“Big talk, but you can’t do anything about it.” The warrior laughs while Cain releases Laura from the Merger. 

“Kindly freeze these idiots.” Ice Fog Breath is not a skill granted by the system, it’s innate to her species, and the two tiny Dragons fill the area with fog before transforming to their full size, deactivating the ability that makes them small. 

Cain then releases Vala, as the life-on-hit stats on her gear should still work inside the bubble. The two cups of Vala, followed by Cain, lunge forward at the attackers, forcing them back out of the effect of the barrier.

Misha and Mythryll follow close behind, as the other attackers circle the restricted area, and the Administrator retreats to the transport circle, desperately trying to activate it and run away. 

The fog is their most significant advantage today, not only can the opponents not see, they’re not exceptionally high level, and the breath of an Ancient Dragon does a lot of damage. Cain Merges with a group of Oath Breakers and lets the other Companions free to fight as he drives his spear into the neck of the warrior he’s engaged with. 

The armor barely manages to hold, but it has collapsed, squeezing his throat, and the impact nearly broke his neck. The area damage from the near decapitation drops all the attackers below half health, and the Oath Breakers laugh in Cain’s mind. 

[Let us out. We want to play too.]

[Fine, but not all of you.] Cain replies, keeping only one merged with him while the others joined the battle. 

“They were right, almost all his summons are out hunting right now, and he can’t call anymore. Bring them now.” One of the mages calls, and the area floods with the smell of the undead. 

Unfortunately for them, that’s a weakness of the Necromancer, not the Puppet Master. Once their undead army is out, they need to be destroyed before more can be Summoned. The Necromancer can dismiss them from a few dozen meters away, but any further than that, and he’s out of luck. 

What Cain called was plenty to deal with this group, though, if the Oath Breakers can get to the Necromancer. 

Misha and Mythryll have both transformed for battle, and Mythryll is bringing a load of Lesser Golem level Dark Nymphs from the surrounding trees, while the whole area becomes razor grass and vine whips sprout from random locations. 

Misha bathes the Transfers in Holy Fire, the skill boosted by her Merger with the Record Keepers, whose appearance she now mimicks while in her Apostolic Transformation. She follows the flames up with a group of Lamia Scourge Casters and some Wrath Bringers for good measure. 

The attackers panic, not having expected a second Summoner to be with the group who was sent to deal with them, but it’s too late to regroup; they’re caught between the undead and the Demons, unable to back away. 

The undead horde is mindless, they don’t understand retreat, so they make no effort to clear a path for the doomed group, even as the fearsome Axes of the Wrath Bringers descend on their heads.