708 Lost Communication

"Sir! We have lost contact with Knight Forcas and the reinforcements that were supposed to rendezvous with him." The very same imp servant brought the unexpected news to his King, the ever great Baal who was being attended by other servants who were helping him don his armour.

"What do you exactly mean you lost contact?" Baal may look indifferent to the cause, but deep inside, he was irritated that his imp servant had to report a simple case of miscommunication.

"No, sire. We CANNOT contact them at all. Their signals disappear from our mages' communication centre as soon as they enter the safe zone. And to add on, Knight Forca's flame in the Halls of Ceremonial Titles has disappeared entirely." The imp servant emphasised the severity to his liege, hoping he got the message that Lord Moloch could be packing more firepower than expected.

For the distinguished Knight of Hell, whose skills in jousting was nearly unmatched in the metropolis, King Baal could not believe Forcas would die in a duel with Lord Moloch, much less permanently. He was well aware of Sebastia, the hidden trump card of Moloch's Battle Maid Minotaurs, yet even if she somehow had improved greatly, it should not be possible to best someone of Forca's calibre before he could send back any news.

Something was very suspicious about this whole situation.

"What do you mean you cannot contact any of them at all? Are you implying that the death of Knight Forcas equates to the complete loss of demon foot soldiers? I'm very sure they are all dying to prove their glory." King Baal paused the donning of his pauldrons to get the full picture from his imp servant.

"There was a single glimpse of imagery that managed to be sent back to the mage communication centre before they lost contact with the reinforcements. We have temporarily stopped the invasion following Duke Crocell's advice. Awaiting at the audience hall is the senior mage who received the image before it went all black." The imp servant finally relayed the entire message he had been entrusted with.

"Tell Duke Crocell to continue with the invasion and authorise him to use whatever forces he deems necessary to break through. Get Duke Vepar and Earl Furfur to assist him in the meantime. While I do not believe that cow has the brawns to win against Knight Forca given the state he is in, I trust in Crocell's decision making. Also, have the senior mage enter this room, while I finish donning my armour." King Baal appeared to be calmer and more collected, though inside he was burning with rage that Moloch still wanted to resist against him. Perhaps he should have done more than reduce him into a plushie all those years ago...

"… Your Majesty, Senior Mage Twice Eyes from the Mage Communication Centre at your service." The Tiefling mage went down on one knee and reported what he saw to King Baal. The imagery of smoke and fire all around the mage that took the image before he went down.

"This is all the information we have collected. Judging from the otherwise complete lack of communication, we can only assume either the worst-case scenario that all of our soldiers perished soon after entering the fray or that Lord Moloch employed some sort of anti-magic field that blocks communication. Perhaps it also has an effect of breaking the mages' ability to cast magic. There are some amongst us who deduced that the magic the mages cast may have backfired hence the smoke and- "

"Enough." A word from King Baal was sufficient to render the Senior Mage silent.

"If they are rendering us useless of magic or using explosive spells against our foot soldiers and cavalry, then send in the Horned Armoured Knights and be done with it. Duke Vepar should have some under his command." King Baal commanded and told the senior mage to relay the message.

"But I am just a lowly mage, I do not think Duke Vepar, The Armoured One Winged Angel would listen to-"

At that point, Twice Eyes could feel his neck tightening and was rendered breathless almost immediately. It felt as if a slippery rope was wrapped around not just his neck but his entire body too. Then, he saw a long reddish thread appearing out of King Baal's palm.

It was the infamous toad tongue whip which King Baal prefered to use to anyone talking back to him as it had the ability to allow the user to manipulate it in any way he wanted including the option to inject poison into it.

"Don't waste my time any longer." King Baal ordered as he left an unmistakable mark which only the toad tongue whip was able to inflict. It was as if King Baal branded the senior Tiefling mage with his mark so that Duke Vepar would have no doubts in believing what Twice Eyes was supposed to say.

The succubus maidens who were helping Baal to don his armour immediately stepped backwards even though they needed to complete the procedure. However, they all recalled that one incident where their Liege had entered a small frenzy and swiped his toad tongue whip a little too wildly and killed two maidens in the process.

Henceforth, they remained behind his other sets of armour, hoping they could provide some protection in case of a repeat scenario.

And being the impatient King of Hell, Baal also sent a surge of magical energy into Twice Eyes, giving him the energy needed to make an instant teleport to where Duke Vepar was so he could relay the message as soon as possible. Yet, he did not notice, nor did he care that upon sending the message, Twice Eyes succumbed to the poison within King Baal's toad tongue whip and perished.

The One Wing Armoured Angel, Duke Vepar treated it as King Baal wanting to keep this as a secret from the rest of the army to keep the morale up and going.

"Lord Moloch, is the reason why you have the guts to betray the King because you found some new powers or was it solely because of him?" Duke Vepar thought to himself as he shook his head and headed to the Mage Communication Centre where he met up with Duke Crocell and Earl Furfur.

"Crocell, Furfur. I've received royal orders from his Majesty himself. Proceed with the invasion as arranged. We will send out our best men." Vepar said, and he could literally see the Demi Tiger Crocell wanting to open his mouth to rebut upon taking in the latest news.

"No, Crocell. This is not up for discussion. I am sending my Horned Armoured Knights into the fray as well. This time around, let Lord Moloch feel the wrath of the Armoured Guards."

Crocell remained speechless, and since Duke Vepar was sending his Elite Knights in without care for the 'traditional' order of battle, he decided to resume the attack.

"I hope it is as simple as you said." One of the senior mages injected his comment as he looked at the smoke and fire from the imagery that was left behind by the dead mage.

"I've seen such a density of smoke and brightness in the fire. It doesn't look like a magical explosion, more like a chemical one…"

"Who cares? As long as that traitor Moloch is dead, we'll get our glory in servicing the King." Duke Crocell replied as he continued ordering his mages to send the order to resume the attack.