"I finished narrowing down the last two commanders, so I'm off to gather a meeting between them. I'll then introduce them to their army, which is slowly growing… should we put out a notice for this upcoming war?" Kumo asks.
"Yeah. Homura, can you please do that? I'm going to try and figure out a plan since we're greatly outnumbered," I said.
"Sure, I guess those weaklings are safe for now,"
Homura and Kumo walk off, leaving only me and Aika at the table. Yin had finished telling me the most general and basic information, but I allowed her to stay as she crawled onto my lap. I pet her as I struck up another conversation with Aika.
"Aika, do you think you can inform the school before Homura informs the public?"
"Sure, but make sure to spar me later, okay?"
"Of course," I respond, seeing Aika walk off.
I walk up to my throne with Yin following behind me.
"Come here, I'll give you a reward," I say, patting my lap.
"Yay!" Yin says, quickly crawling onto my lap as I started to stroke her hair.
"I'm going to give the assassin corps and you some new daggers as your bonus reward... wait, did you start mapping outside the [Mountain of Twilight]?"
"Y-yes but it is very minimal. It's so big outside the [Mountain of Twilight] that we got lost most of the time... A-also I thought it was my reward and my reward only?"
"I'll be asking Aiso to make soul equipment for you while the rest of the assassin corps just gets some new high-quality daggers,"
"Okay,"
Alright, now what do I do about this war. We are severely outnumbered, but we have the advantage of knowing the terrain. The best idea I can think of that takes advantage of the terrain would be taking the border between the [Blood Swamp] and [Forest of Poison].
The conditions in the [Blood Swamp] are something nobody wants to be in. It's wet, muggy, dark, smells terrible, and monsters could appear from anywhere… so we have to take advantage of that.
We first have to crush their spirit. The more misery and disparity that we can induce, the bigger advantage we can receive. This will lighten the load on our armies which will make a pincer attack from both sides.
If we have a tank-related army, they can push through the front, but they'll immediately get destroyed, so they need to ambush them somehow… Ambushing with tanks? That's utterly impossible… Wait…
"Yin, do you think you can hold 500 bulky soldiers in your shadow with [Grand Shadow Magic]?"
"I can!" Yin shouts with a weary smile.
"Give me an honest opinion cause if you can't, then you're going to ruin my plan,"
"M-maybe I can. I'm confident in 300 tanks, but I don't know about 500…" Yin says, a dark cloud seemingly hovering over her head.
"*sigh*... does anybody else in the assassin corps have [Grand Shadow Magic]?"
"N-no…"
"Don't be a bad girl,"
"I-I'm sorry. Yin is a good girl… 7 others have [Grand Shadow Magic]. Y-Yin is still a good girl, right?" Yin asks as she grabs onto my sweatshirt with teary eyes.
"Then answer me honestly. Don't leave out anything just because you're jealous somebody else is getting attention. If you leave out something, then I'm not sending you to do any missions for me, and you'll be a bad girl,"
"N-no, please! Yin is a good girl. She will tell you everything,"
"Okay, now let's continue… All 8 of you should be able to hide at least 2400 soldiers within the shadows, so that's a part of the plan already complete. We need to make sure nobody finds out until they actually come out of the shadows, though,"
"Master, I think I know what formation they are going to be using when marching towards us,"
"Are you sure?"
"I think so… Judging from how they were lined up, they are split into 5 by 5 boxes with about 5 feet in between each box. Then those 5 by 5 boxes are split into 2 lines with 25 feet in between both lines," Yin says.
"You're so smart," I say, petting Yin even more.
My finger slips slightly off her face, and it lands on her nose. Yin snuggled her cheek into my hand and did something unexpected. She licked my finger…
"Yin, what are you doing?"
"I-I'm sorry! I-I-I don't know what I was thinking. Please forgive me,"
"It's whatever, don't go licking me. It's fucking weird,"
"I-I'm sorry…."
Alright, with the notice of an upcoming war, we should be able to draft at least double our current soldier count. Damn, I need to know what all the armies specialize in to formulate the best plan… and it seems the best way to do that is by calling a war council.
"But first, I should try this [Divinity Domain],"
I order Yin to train some more before activating the skill.
[Domain is extremely fragile]
[Due to fragile domain, your Divinity Domain will only affect your body]
[Divinity Trait has been selected]
[Divinity Trait: Forbidden Magic has been selected]
[You are the first to have this divinity trait]
[Your forbidden magic power has increased]
"Oh… that makes sense, though. I don't even have 1% of the domain and forbidden magic being my divinity trait makes sense. I have many of them, and I mainly specialize in them as well," I mutter.
『Status』
[Name: Arpious]
[Race: Lamassu of Ancient Fires]
[Status: Excited]
[Servants: 7]
[Subordinates: 7]
[Pets: 2]
[Level: 40/100]
[HP: 700/700 MP: 500/500 SP: 500/500]
[Strength: 200 (+5) (+25) (+25) (+25) (+215)]
[Defense: 200 (+5)]
[Magic: 200 (+25) (+25) (+25) (+115)]
[Speed: 200 (+5) (+25) (+25) (+25) (+115)]
[Luck: 5]
[Charisma: 50]
[Skills: [Forbidden Magic: ******] [Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus] [Poison Immunity] [Disease Immunity] [Virus] [Forbidden Magic: Medusa] [Fire Immunity] [Lightning Resistance] [Inspect] [Gluttons Stomach] [Concentration] [Evolution Switch] [Gold Manipulation] [Assimilation] [Lavas Will] [Heightened 5 Senses and More] [Summon: Blood Minion] [Forbidden Magic: Hermes] [Blood Devouring Army Enhancement] [Tangible Bloodthirsty Aura] [Pain Immunity] [Invisible Grand Flying Sense] [Ancient Reproduction Art] [Summon: Slime Weapon] [Mystic Arm and Leg] [Summon: Phoenix] [Summon: Walking Jungle Hydra] [Night and Day Enhancement] [Summon: Overlord Deer] [Summon: Overlord Wolf] [Grand Mind Magic] [Forbidden Magic: Midas] [Summon: Golden Mountain Bear] [Grand Water Magic] [Weather Manipulation: Wind, Rain, Sun, and Snow] [True Queen Overlords Dominating Presence] [Forbidden Magic: Skadi] [Twilight Dragons Vampiric Breath] [Double Earthquake Slash] [Throne World: Deathly Ice Palace] [Ancient Fire Magic: Amaterasu] [Ancient Fire Magic: Ichimei] [Divinity Domain (.05/100)]
[Body Modification: [Great Wings of the Cursed and Blessed Lamassu] [Cursed and Blessed Tattoos] [Incinerating Tail of the Cursed and Blessed Lamassu] [Piranhas Spiny Fin Wings] [Bat Wings] [Aquatic Body] [Monster of Monsters Body] [Ice Dragon Wings] [Legendary Overlord Creature Bloodline] [Divine Mark] [Divinity Trait: Forbidden Magic]
[Mastered Weapons: [Scythe]
[Soul Equipment: [Fire of Deaths Sword: Raiu] [Fire of Deaths Armour: Araes Dress] [Anapofeyktos Thanatos]
[Equipment: [Queens Crown] [Green Ring of Twilight] [Purple Ring of Twilight] [Blue Ring of Twilight]
[Titles: [Blessed by the ********* Spirit of *************] [Savage Assassin] [Heartless] [Blessed by a Star] [Chief of the Fire Harpies] [Blessed by the Overlord Spirit of Curses] [Blessed by the Phoenix Mountain Guardian] [Blessed by the Overlord Spirit of Blessings] [Strong Willed] [Savage Monster (Humans Killed (0/200)] [Blessed by the Moon] [Blessed by the Emperor Spirit of Gold] [Queen of Golden Mountain Bears] [Ruler of the Mountain of Twilight] [Blessed by the Emperor Spirit of Ice] [Blessed by the Emperor Spirit of Snow] [Blessed by Mother Nature] [Alchemist]
…
The divinity trait is now in my body modification tab. Nice to know…
"*sigh*... maids, send out a notice to all my subordinates and servants that we have a war council tomorrow," I say to the maids who just finished cleaning up the breakfast table.
"As you wish," they all say in unison while bowing towards me.
I turn off [Divinity Domain] before sitting up from my throne.
…
I just finished checking on the saplings for both of my trees. They hadn't grown much, so they were currently right at my waistline. A few more branches and leaves had sprouted from the saplings, but they were nowhere close to becoming a tree.
The biggest change would be how the grass around the saplings are metamorphosing into longer blades, and their color shifted into the tree's respected color. Qliphoth had long black grass around it, while Yggdrasil had long white grass surrounding it.
"Since nobody else is around, let's see what this domain does towards my forbidden magic," I mutter while activating [Divinity Domain].
I don't feel much, but once I activated Medusa, a burst of gray mist exploded from my body. Patches of my skin turned to stone, and cracks appeared all over them… but they didn't cave in, nor did they feel uncomfortable. My black hair turned gray, my nails turned gray, and my eyes turned gray. I felt like the embodiment of petrification. Not Medusa, but petrification itself.
Swiping my hand away from my kingdom, a burst of rocks, gray mist, and wind destroy the hill next to me. The remaining mist falls to the ground, petrifying it with some parts having signs of potential caving in.
Deactivating Medusa, the petrified ground and my modified body parts revert to normal like nothing ever happened.
"Interesting…"