Trunk Roads

Trunk Roads

Year 222

Its surreal.

We both looked into the skies, and even my void mages could see it too. An emptiness unlike before, not a single astral path headed our way.

How did that work? Why did the astral paths disappear? I realized, at that moment when we finally destroyed the demon king for the first time, that the collapse of the rifts was also some kind of warning. The demons, or something at the top, could sense demon kings being defeated before their time was due, and we would soon invite greater retaliation from the demons.

This wasnt the end, even if weve won a reprieve.

No.

A part of me even suspects that it may have been a mistake to go all the way with the demon king. I shouldve pulled them back, dragged this arrangement for a bit more.

We could have gotten more experience, and a bit more levels.

Whats done is done. Lumoof assuaged my worries. We still have links to the other world, and we will have to hunt for demon kings through those worlds instead. Stellas [Void Explorer], in particular, should get us to more habited worlds. If this gives us time, well need to prepare for whatever they throw our way. I believe we can do it.

I knew Lumoof wasnt that convinced either. I felt it in our connection, but it was done. We now also had two more clone seeds, which essentially meant I didnt have to recall the Lava world.

I remembered Roons strategy, which focused on living-worlds, and that meant these two seeds should go to Threeworlds, and the new Lawyerworld, if theyd let me put my trees there. Or else, Id have to keep looking for other, friendly worlds.

Or maybe, Stella could find a super-world.

It had to be there, somewhere out there.

***

They fucking won. The heroes couldnt believe it. The fact that weve destroyed the demon king on the lava world invited a lot of chatter.

The key seems to be that droplet from the blob. That explosion burnt through a lot of the demon kings body. Chung observed the battle through our dream academy. With the [dream academy], I could record and replay scenes, which I could then share to them as a dream.

Actually, Stella needs to target that blog directly.

She tried, but its too large and protected by too much magic.

What if that blob is the real heart of the demons, and the black suns are just nothing more than power-generators? They only seem to supply void mana, after all.

That does sound plausible. What needs to be made, I think, is some kind of interplanar nuclear missile. A black-hole missile, kinda. Blow that shit out of space.

Youre talking about a missile to destroy something thats way too big. That blob looked to be the size of an entire sun! We dont even know what that thing is. Prabu countered. We may be heroes, and our powers are incredible for sure, but were probably not at the planet-buster tier.

No matter, it does mean that Aeons discovered a few weak points to the demon king. One, that droplet is a very big weakness. It explodes, and deals enough damage that the demon king is severely weakened. If that fails, corrupting and flooding it with mana seemed to poison the demon king and block a large amount of its powers.

More importantly, this world now doesnt have new demon kings.

Ken laughed. You dont believe that, right? It looks to me like its going back to lick its wounds, and come back with something more powerful.

What. a demon emperor?

Probably! Ken said. But based on what Aeon knows... it may be a meteor.

The heroes stared at each other. What, weve got Armageddon and we have to knock a comet out of its path?

Yeah. Probably.

Chung just stared at Ken like he said something insane. If youre right, Ill hate you so much.

You already do, bruh. Ken lightly punched Chung on the shoulder.

No I dont.

Its not the first time you said it, so I assume youve already hated me.

Oh. Wait. Now that you reminded me, I do. Chung laughed.

***

We had a large funeral for the Valthorns who died, the priests were quick to twist their deaths into a kind of martyrdom, and some of these Valthorns wanted to live on. My priests soon claimed that their death was a noble sacrifice to defeat the demon king before it arrived, much to the annoyance of the four temples.

Despite that, they were unable to actually mount any actual countermeasure beyond a war of sermons, as they denounced our claims. Most kingdoms didnt care all that much about waging a war with us, they were all power crazy, but none of them were suicidal.

The large funerals throughout the continent did draw some curious spies from the other kingdoms, as they wondered what caused such a large loss of Valthorns in the level 100s.

But it was not all lost, as my powers of the soul allowed me to retain those who wanted to remain, and place them into new vessels, with no [soul contracts]. For those that wanted to remain, I took their souls, or what was left of it, and made them into training trees, or beetles, according to their own personal choice.

For those who wanted to move on, for whatever reason, they were given a chance to say their goodbyes to those who they loved. Using my [dream academy] and other such abilities, I was even able to store some of their thoughts, their words as something that their family could revisit again.

***

Maybe it would be better to just open an embassy and recruit interested parties instead, which, I suppose, will also require a messy list of agreements.

At that point, Stella proposed something else, since the grilling really wasnt productive and there was a lot of arguing over nitty gritty details, all because they have no understanding of what happened. Stella, especially, found the entire ordeal exhausting and so spoke out. Lets just stop this farce of a grill. I propose that a delegation from this world visit us, we will take you on a tour of the demon worlds. We have access to the demon worlds, and you can see it for yourself. Arguing over details is fascinating, but I dont have much time. There are more worlds to visit, more preparations to be made. No more than five persons are allowed.

Lumoof nodded, and the session was adjourned. The council of the angel-lords had a lot to discuss, especially the idea of a tour-group. You could talk at length about the beauty of the mountain, but itll still pale to actually walking and standing on it.

Thats a good idea. Taking them on tour. Lumoof complimented Stellas idea.

It worked for the lizardfolk, hopefully itll open their eyes to what they are dealing with.

Theyll definitely recommend we destroy all the daemolite. Lumoof said with a chuckle.

Which actually works on a longer timescale. Stella said. It allows the cycle to be somewhat sustainable, since 80 years to a century per invasion is actually quite a long time, enough for any world to recover from the aftermath.

A stable status quo, but it feels a little like cutting off ones leg to save ourselves. Lumoof conceded. We would no longer be able to gain strength as quickly without the experience from the demon kings.

It is a good form of peace, and a dilemma. A stable status quo, or a constant grinding treadmill upwards.

After what we did, that is no longer a choice for Treehome. But it is for the Mountainworld and Threeworlds.

Should we decide for them? Stella smirked.

Do we cut off the path to ascension, in exchange for century long peace? We would be ill prepared for what comes after such a long period.

Lumoof didnt have the answer.

I didnt, either.

***

Eventually, the angels and humans decided to send three individuals, and we were introduced to one of the oldest angels weve ever seen in their world. He had eight wings, and was actually old, with white hair and an actual aged appearance.

From what we gathered, the wings actually had an impact on the powers of these angels. Those with two wings had lower potential than those with four, and so on. Someone with more wings had no inbuilt level limits, so their path to a [domain] was unhindered.

This is Raph, a former high-arbiter, and was once known as the One Closest to the Gods. The angels introduced Raph and his two assistants, who would visit our worlds. The two assistants were fairly distinguished people in their society, but were frankly deferential, when next to Raph.

Its not every day I am offered to visit another world. He chuckled like an old grandfather. They must really distrust you to demand I come out of retirement.

Lumoof shrugged. It seems they find offense in every statement we make.

They are either too young, or newly old. Raph grinned, and he walked slowly. Yet, we could tell it was an act. He radiated a power similar to those in the Level 120s, and was clearly seen as one. It is also such a rare thing to meet two people stronger than me.

My priest grinned. Your attempt to [inspect] us was duly noted.

Old habits die hard. Raph said. Everyone [inspects] everyone in this world, and as [domain] holders, it all just gets blocked. Does it offend you?

It doesnt, it is but a minor... disturbance. Lumoof responded.

That is good. They spoke of an intent to form an alliance of some sort. Tell me you are not so foolish to think an alliance with these people would be worth it. Lumoof was fairly stunned at how harshly he criticised his own council.

Its in an exploratory stage. The war with demons is something we face across many worlds, and we could use some additional forces.

Youll get nothing of value from the Council of the Tower Lords. They are bureaucrats, concerned with the administration of their lands to the letter, and war is fought in coliseums and gladiatorial arenas. Many of them havent even lived through a bad demon king. If you want allies, they are not the ones you should approach.

Lumoof couldnt reply to that. Not immediately, anyway.

But I suppose you wouldnt know.

Stella and Lumoof just shrugged.

How old are you, milady?

Stella paused, and looked at the old archangel. I... lost count, frankly. Maybe eighties?

Ah, still very young, and already so powerful. I wonder what kind of hell they put you through.

Stella chuckled. Oh you wouldnt want to know.

I will, actually. It would at least be a fascinating story for the younglings. They said there are more of you.

Yes.

Raph nodded and frowned. Have we holed up in our ivory towers for so long?

Stella and Lumoof just looked at each other for a while.

Never mind. So, where are we going?

Spaizzer

Once again, 9 Nov I'm on break. I'm taking a rest. I feel like taking a long break sometimes. Write something else.