Book 4: Chapter 1

Announcement

As always, I remind you that this story was converted, quite hastily, from 2nd person to third. Characters were also renamed when applicable. If you find any discrepancies, please let me know and I'll try to fix them. Although, if you've made it this far, you probably don't care that much...

“Man the front lines! Don’t let them get any closer. Keep your distance! Use the archers!” Shivra bellows as she points out various flaws in the army’s defenses.

“Shivra is a little sexy when she’s acting like a general,” I say out loud.

A yellow-tinge paints Shivra’s cheeks as she turns to me. “Warrior! I’ve already accepted my place as your woman in waiting, but please do not demean this general’s authority in front of her men again. It took many beatings to knock the insubordination out of my men last time you embarrassed me in front of them.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I fight the urge to snicker. “In that case, report general!”

“Y-yes!” Shivra nearly solutes me before stopping herself. “Florian’s army sent a couple of peace officers into the camp only to have them use some kind of magic to explode. After that, they started sending wave after wave of men into the camp to explode. Their fighting is erratic. They strive to cause as much damage and kill as many as possible.”

“We’ve managed to keep them at bay for the most part. Casualties have been minimal. However, the demon camps were attacked in the same way. They aren’t fairing as well, and Florian has seemingly switched most of his focus on them. They clearly lack the training of a goblin horde.” Shivra gives the two new demon women a gloating look.

“That’s because we’re stuck here, and our armies don’t have leadership!” Sarah growls.

“Neither of us are as battle centric as our eldest sister,” Medusa admits. “I doubt our presence would change much. Rather, our armies were never trained for something as insane as suicidal runs. Why would goblins train in this manner?”

Shivra snorts and raises her shoulders. “Of course, serving a man like the warrior, I had to prepare this army for every eventuality!”

“What kind of guy do you think I am!” I respond with a sigh.

However, I don’t have much room to talk since this form of Spartan training seems to do the trick.

“Is there any suicide squads still attacking us?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Yes, a squad is being shot down with arrows right now from our right. Strangely enough, even though they’re failing to reach us, they’re still tossing men away. It’s quite strange.”

I use a little magic and a second later a man appears in front of me. He’s a nondescript demon with horns and a tail. He lacks the attractive looks that dominate the demon lord sisters’ appearances.

“Tssk! Back up! It’s one of them!” Shivra shouts.

“It’s fine!” I raise my hand. “I’ve rendered him inert. I just wanted to get a look at the enemy.”

“This man…” Mal growls, cracking her joints as her hands tighten.

“You know him?”

“He used to be in my army! I thought he was one of the loyal ones. To think he worked for Florian. I’m truly shocked that Florian’s coup ran so deep.”

“Hmm… I wouldn’t be so sure, Sister.” Grimhilde takes a few steps forward, looking into the eyes of the man.

I had the man frozen so he couldn’t really do anything but stand there. Other than preventing him from exploding, I didn’t do anything else like lock his expressions or anything. Rather than shouting or looking afraid, he just stood there staring blankly at nothing. His eyes lacked any light at all.

“Wh-what do you mean?” Mal demands.

“He’s braindead.” I explain, probing the situation with some exploratory magic. “A puppet like the ones your sisters use… well, except made of flesh. Florian has brain wiped him and is using him as a pawn. It’s possible most of his army are braindead pawns.”

Shivra snorts. “Good, that is why their strategy is so primitive. Florian will easily be defeated by us. Yet, I get a sense that things are not right. I can’t help but feel like this is a trap.”

“You’re perceptive for a goblin,” Medusa states causing Shivra to snort derisively before stepping up to the soldier and pushing against him close enough that her breasts squeeze against his chest.

She presses her hand against his forehead. The guy is braindead, and it isn’t like I had marked Medusa as mine yet, but I still have a complicated feeling as I watch her with her hands all over this man. While Medusa seems like an incredibly easy fuck, I'm starting to realize that as a harem member, she might be a bit more trouble in other ways. As a free and lustful woman, her love and loyalty to me are likely skin deep. Once I’ve had her, I’ll have to take some precautions. Perhaps the collar I gift her will need to be modified to be a bit more restrictive.

On that note, Shivra’s collar is white and made with ivory, taking on the form of a slightly spikey collar that matches her aggressive appearance. Grimhilde’s collar is made completely of obsidian, a black glass color that surrounded her neck in a single ring. Kida’s collar is more necklace-like, sporting a single Malachite gem. I am still steadily making collars, and Mal hasn’t received a collar yet. Now, I am going to need to make two more as well.

“Some kind of energy scythe. So, what is it they’re trying to do?” I mutter, trying to make sense of the analysis magic coming back from my scan.

Medusa looks over at me appraisingly, impressed that I deduced this much. “You don’t see what they are doing? These aren’t just suicides. They’re sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices?”

Medusa presses a hand against the man’s chest and a rune suddenly appears there, as if it is buried within the man’s skin. “This whole fight. It’s not about defeating you. Florian is trying to sacrifice his entire army and as much of yours as possible. He’s trying to maximize the amount of death, using every one of his soldiers to siphon off freshly released life energy.”

“I’m sorry… this seems to be a little out of my depth here…” I mutter, scratching my head.

“You don’t mean…” Grimhilde seems to get it first. After receiving a confirmative nod from Medusa. She turns to me with a worried look. “He’s killing people and using their life force to open a portal.”

“What? He can’t possibly…” Sarah growls. “Here? Now? It’s too soon! The demon king hasn’t even been selected yet!”

“This is happening now!” Mal cries. “He’s using my former army to bring about this crisis now? Ridiculous! Stupid! Stupid!”

“Girls, Girls…” I hold out my hands. “Please, explain a little clearer. What’s going on?”

Grimhilde is the one who answers. “Florian is trying to summon the Demon God. Demon lords exist in this world to stop that from happening. We are the gatekeepers that hold him back. However, we’re not ready yet. If he’s summoned now. This world will be destroyed. He’ll remake it as his own! My love, we have to stop this before the Demon God is summoned!”