《Red Moon》 Chapter 1 - Luna writes a book Today was Tia''s sixth birthday. She was so happy. Her mommy told her to go play with the other kids while she would bake a cake for her. A cake!!! It was now evening and she was on her way back home. Tia had asked her daddy for a pet lizard as her birthday present maybe she would get one. Then she heard a sweet humming tone from behind her and when she looked back she saw a smiling female human, that waved her hand to greet Tia. Tia waved back. It was the first time in her life that she saw a human. The skin of the female human was white not black, with a green and a blue eye and white hair. And no horns!!! All demons had horns, of different colour, but humans had no horns at all!!! Tia''s horns were blue and she was named after the demon word for blue ''altianeth''. Tia''s mommy had told her that humans were like animals that looked similar to demons but without intellect. But the human, which looked like a soldier with her sword and armour, looked really nice. Tia decided to greet her. She stopped a few steps away from the human. Suddenly the smile of the human changed. It became ferocious. Tia screamed but it was too late. The human took her sword a cut Tia down in two parts while giggling. "One." A demon villager which was nearby heard the scream of the little girl and ran in the direction of Tia''s body. The human female warrior appeared almost immediately behind the villager and beheaded him. "Two." The peaceful demon village had become a war zone. Some demons tried to fight. Some tried to hide and some tried to flee. But in the end it was all the same. "Forty-one. Forty-two. Forty-three." The girl would sometimes throw a fireball at the roof of a house and cut down all demons that tried to escape from the burning building. "Hundred twenty-five. Hundred twenty-six..." When the last villager was cut down - "Two hundred sixty." - the girl stopped and listened to the deathly hush which sized the whole village, only interrupted by the sound of burning houses. A few minutes later twenty knights on horses entered the village and rode to the girl. "General Rubra! What are you doing here. You suddenly disappeared from the camp and then we saw smoke fuming from this village." "Just a little workout. You know I was really bored." "But general! If any demon survived then they might tell the enemy that we are already in their territory." "Mmh ... you are right Max. You go and find survivors while I go back to my tent. Oh ... and why do you call me general Rubra and not Luna like always?" "*sign* because sometimes you need to be reminded that you are a general and not some lonely warrior." "All the same. My job is to kill as many demons as possible." Luna smiled happily at Max. "Yeah, whatever. Soldiers we need to hunt demons! Lets go!" And they rode away. Luna looked up in the sky but the moon hasn''t risen jet. She ran back to the human army camp. She was faster then the wind. But something like this was only natural for the human hero. --------------------------- Luna went in her tent, threw her cloak in a corner and sat down in front of a folding table - this was a military camp after all. Her desk was a mess. Papers were piling left and right, most with illegible text which was often slovenly crossed out. She took one of the sheets and began to read in a low voice. "Chapter 1. The world of Kalar is divided in to two continents, Namar or more commonly known as ''Human continent'' and Arkar or ''Demon Continent''. Demons and humans have always been in war with each other. Demons are vile creatures that do not deserve to live. For them we humans are nothing more than food. It is the holy duty ... no. This sounds more like a history or geography book and not like an autobiography. What did Carla said again when I told her I would write an autobiography for the big library in Alinor ... ''a book about yourself has to transmit your feelings and personality. It isn''t about facts'' yea ... sure." She threw the page away in the bin next to her desk, picked up a quill from her inkpot and a blank sheet, and began to write. [The life of Luna Rubra - An Autobiografy Chapte 1] "Mmh, what would be a good first sentence ... maybe ..." [I do not know why or how, but I remember my past life. I always have. And I remember my death. It was not anything special, just a terminal illness and then darkness. But this book is not about my previous life and death but about what happened afterwards. My whole body was arching and without knowing why I began to scream. I opened my eyes but it was too bright for me to keep them open for a long time. Suddenly giant hands enclosed me and carried me to a giant breast and instinctively I began to suck while my mouth was filled with sweet milk. I was reborn with my memories intact.] This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ''I won''t write down that I was a man in my past life. It would be embarrassing and I don''t know how people would look at me if they knew. I have never told anyone so there is no need to do so now. Being a girl wasn''t my main problem back then anyway.'' Luna had never told anyone anything about her past life except for the fact that she died from an illness. It was actually cancer but nobody knew this word in this world so she just used the term `illness¡ä. [It took me several days to grasp the situation. Apparently I was born in a barn. Everywhere around me were naked women some of them with a baby and some pregnant. But there were no children. Just adult women and babies. All adults had two things in common: A collar around their neck and lifeless eyes. Something was terrible wrong with this situation. A few day later I finally understood what. A men with dark red skin, two black horns and black hair, dressed like a farmer or a peasant with a big bucket in his hands, entered the barn threw blackish green vegetables in a big through in the corner and left. All women, even my mother, immediately left their children and ran to the through as if they were animals. No they were animals. Farm animals to be more precisely. At this moment I finally understood. I was reborn at one of the human farms on the demon continent Arkar. This revelation immediately struck indescribable fear in my heart. How could something like this be true. What evil god has reincarnated me in this hell. I never got an answer to this question.] Luna lay down the quill and looked with cold eyes at the magical lamp which was attached to the beam holding the tent-roof. Her lips formed a joyless smile. A self-mocking smile. How could she be still so sensible about her past. She wasn''t really sensible. In fact Luna only felt a lingering pain inside her chest. But this was already unacceptable for her, because such feeling were weakness and weakness mustn''t be tolerated. She wasn''t weak. Those cattle humans were weak. Her new mother was weak. Her mother ... she took the quill, dipped it in the inkpot and continued. [Nobody noticed my panic attack which was not really surprising since they were occupied with guzzling their food. My apathetic mother would not have noticed anything anyway. My mother was a beautiful woman with white hair, blue eyes and an almost perfect body. I still remember that my baby instincts told me to love her and that I am safe with her while my intellect understood my hopeless situation and that I can only rely on myself.] "*sigh* I wasn''t born to be author ..." "True. I can''t think of anyone less suitable to write a book." Luna turned her head lazily to the entry of the tent and saw a handsome tall men, with black hair and green eyes, in a suit of armour. "Fuck you, Max. Who asked for your opinion. You know that the king asked me to write this." "Yeah, yeah. To silence the peace faction who think we can talk to those monsters." "Exactly." "But I still don''t understand how a book in a dusty library can change public opinion. Can''t you just tell them in a speech or something." "The demons will annihilate you if I leave you for one day and ..." "drama queen(mumble)" "What was that!" "Nothing. I was just thankful that you are our general. So what was the other reason?" "Another impudence and your fatigue duty will be to clean the latrines." "Oh come on. That was just a joke under friends." "I am still your superior ... *sign* anyways. Apparently they will copy my book hundreds of times so that every library in Namar will have at least one copy." "And you think people will read this?" "Don''t know. I am a hero to most people in Namar since I stopped the demon invasion two years ago." "You mean your army stopped the demon invasion." "This makes no difference for an average person. So why are you in my tent? Did you just visit me to mock my writing abilities?" "Ah, no. We caught some women and children from the demon village in the forest nearby. I thought you might be interested." Luna jumped up from her chair with ferocious smile. "Why didn''t you tell me earlier! Nothing in the world is as sweet as the screams of demons. Hahaha." Luna''s mad laughter send cold shivers up and down Max''s spine. And he wasn''t the only one. All the soldiers felt the same. They should be used to it but in reality they weren''t. Chapter 2 - A philosophizing baby ''So much blood. I really need a bath'' thought Luna. A bloody figure was walking through the Namar army camp. ''But it''s not my fault that killing demons is so much fun'' A smile bloomed on her face. Luna''s smile would have been enchanting if she wasn''t full of demon blood. She went to a nearby river got naked and began her bath. She had no problems with being naked. She had spent her whole childhood naked after all. That was also the reason why she wasn''t picky when it came to food. Her clothes were magical tools that repel dirt, water and most important blood. Naturally that wasn''t the case for her skin, which was why she needed a bath. The soldiers who stood guard at the entry near the river had beet red faces. Were they allowed to look at their naked general? But she was so beautiful. Heterochromatic cold eyes, snow white hair, big but not too big breast, a perfect slim but trained body. They tried not to get too aroused and look in some other direction. "Milady what are you doing!" A maid ran to Luna and threw a cloth around Luna who exited the river, while sending an angry look at the guards. "Hi, Carla." said Luna while using the cloth as a towel. "Don''t `Hi-Carla¡ä me! Why are you bathing naked in front of men!?" "I was full of blood so I took a bath." "Just tell me when you want to take a bath and I will prepare one for you!" Luna''s maid Carla was really upset by the behaviour of her mistress - again. "This is much faster." "*sign* Please think of your dignity as a general at least." "Sure." Luna averted her eyes and said "Nice weather today isn''t it?" "Milady!!!" "Fine~" They went back to Luna''s tent while ignoring the beet red guards. "By the way, how is the book progressing, milady?" "Wonderful, I just began from scratch." Luna smiled. "Figures ..." Luna sat down in front of her desk and took her quill. "Milady?" "Yes?" "Why are we still on this hill ever after the nearby demon village burned down? The smoke should have alerted all demons in the vicinity about our position." "I haven''t told you?" "No." "Ups sorry. But don''t tell anyone, ok?" "Yes, Milady." "We are a bait" "Bait?" "Yeah. There a several large demon cities nearby. All at the coast. They will sent their armies to exterminate the human army that build a camp upcountry leaving their cities almost undefended. Our fleet with the main army will arrive in a week. The demon armies will be trapped in turn if we manage to conquer and exterminate all demon cities at the coast. That''s the plan at least." Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences."But aren''t we in a quit hopeless situation?" "Yeah, so what?" "So what!?!" "If you die you die and if you live you live. No reason to get so worked up about it." "*sign*" "Oh that gives me an idea how to continue my first chapter." "Where was I? [...panic attack...apathetic mother...rely on myself.] - ah, yeah. Ok." [You have a lot of time as a baby, even if you are considered a farm animal. You can think about everything. I thought about suicide. Obviously a newborn cannot commit suicide but I could wait till I can walk or just stop eating - although that would be a quit painful death. In the end I decided against it. I wanted to try my luck. Maybe I could escape. Maybe I could live a free live and see the sun again. I also thought about what I could conclude from the fact that I was reincarnated. First: My old body obviously died while I continued to exist. Therefore I knew that consciousness is not just a process of the brain as I thought before. In other words, souls exist. Second: This was not the world of my past life. Therefore I knew that several worlds exist. In other words I discovered that souls drift inside a multiverse between different worlds. I was quite pleased with this discovery. It might sound strange but the awareness that I alone knew so much about the mysteries of the world raised my self-esteem. Those demons might be strong. They might only see me as future food. But I held a wisdom, born from my memories, they could never attain.] ''Mmh...mabye that sound too self-righteous? Nah, it''s ok. It suggests that I''m really intelligent, although I''m actually an idiot.'' Luna smiled in self-mockery. ''Maybe I should be a little more descriptive ...'' [The demon farmer came everyday two times to the barn. Before noon he would bring food and in the afternoon he would bring a case with milk bottles and said ''Hurl'' - the demon word for milk. He expected the women with babies to fill them. And they did. Well humans have thumbs in contrast to cows.] Luna''s face darkened. ''I really need to kill more demons'' she thought. [The first year of my new live passed like this. I tried to train my body in this time but the effect was meager at best. A child younger than one year really can not do anything alone.] Chapter 3 - No time to write "Lord Irk will you stay with us for dinner? We have just received some first-class human flesh from the inland farms. The were feed with the Callio kale their whole live and have really tender meat." Callio kale is a blackish green vegatable from the Callio region which is famous for its high concentration of mana. The reason why this was important was that demons, in contrast to humans, can''t regenerate their own mana reserves. They need to eat meat that has accumulated mana to regenerate their mana reserves. Most poor people would eat animals to do so, but beings without consciousness don''t have alot of mana in their bodies. There was a theory that is has something to do with the weakness of animal souls. What would this mean for demon souls? He didn''t know. Humans that only eat Callio kale would accumulate a frightening amount of mana in their bodies. What demons feared the most was that the armies of the free roaming humans would liberate their human cattle stocks since it would manifold the war potential of the human race. That was the reason why the human farms were hundreds of miles inland. There was no danger of an uprising of their livestock since all humans older than five wore a collar that would suppress their consciousness leaving them only with very basic instincts. "I''m sorry but I have to go home. I already missed the sixth birthday of my cute little daughter Tia today because of the stupid war conference. Well, I bought her a pet lizard so mabye she will forgive me." He smiled. "Oh, I see. But you shouldn''t call the conference stupid. It is necessary to prepare for a possible human invasion." "I can''t believe that this lower life forms would dare to invade the demon continent. Do they have the technology to do so anyway?" "Have you ever meet a free human?" "No, aren''t they just like our livestocks?" "Oh, no. They can be quite dangerous without a collar to suppress their mind." "Mmh, whatever. I''m an arch demon. I don''t fear livestock. And now excuse me. If I leave now I might be able to reach Irk by tomorrow morning." It was almost impossible for normal demons to become arch demons but about 5-10% of nobles managed to advance to a higher realm. Nobles could afford human meat since childhood. Therefore alot of mana has accumulated in their bodies. "Have a save trip home!" "Thanks, goodbye." Irk was quite far away from the coast and a horse would need at least three days for this trip. But he was an arch demon. He coated his body in mana and began running. Body strengthening magic allowed him to be as fast as the wind. Lord Irk saw smoke rise from his town the morning of the next day. He had a bad feeling about this and accelerated his speed. What he found was like a scene from hell. Bodies and burning houses everywhere. "No ... how ... what happened?" he mumbled. ''I have to find Anna and Tia.'' "Anna!!! Tia!!! Is anyone here?!" Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He wandered around the piles of bodies while yelling the names of his wife and daughter. Suddently he stopped and looked down at a dissected little girl. It was like time suddently came to a halt. --------------------------- After writing the rest of chapter one Luna collapsed in her bed. ''Stupid king. I hate writing.'' "General!!" A soldier charged in Luna''s tent and woke her up. But she only answered in a bored, sleepy tone. She was not really sleepy. Years on the battlefield and chased by demons teached her to be always wide awake immediately after waking up. Somtimes assassines suprise you in the middle of the night. And sometimes wild mosters or a night attack of enemy soldiers. "Hey there. What''s up." Luna loved to ridicule worked up people. ''Why do they care so much about life and death? If you die you get reincarnated. Where''s the problem?'' she thought. ''But his panicked face is kinda cute ... mabye I should tell him that hundred thousand demons will arrive soon to kill us all ... lol ... I know I shouldn''t but I want to.'' "General! An arch demon is walking to our camp!" This was no joke. An arch demon was as strong as hundred normal demon soldiers. Luna streched her arms in the air. "Sounds like fun. Let''s go" ''This arch demon is probably the lord of Irk, the village I have destroyed yesterday.'' That was actually one reason to destroy the village. The main reason was of course to lure the demon armies from the coastal cities into their trap. But killing the lord of Irk, a famous but secluded noble, would be her personal cherry on the cake that were the soon to be dead demon soldiers. She took her magical enhanced sword - one of the holy treasures of Namar and left her tent. She walked to the exit of the military camp which was in the direction of Irk and waited outside of the barricade for the arch demon. "How dare you, cattle!!! How dare you to kill a higher lifeform!!!" ''Here he comes'' Luna thought with a bright smile. If anyone had seen her eyes at this moment, he would have only seen pure insanity. ''Higher lifeform? I really want to kill him. Kill! Kill!! Kill!!!'' He was still several miles away but Luna didn''t care about something so trivial. She coated herself in mana, closed the distance to the arch demon in a second and swung down her sword intending to bisect him him but the lord of Irk was no pushover. He parried her attack and retaliated with a vertical sweep. Luna in turn used her unique special technique `short distance teleportation¡ä to get behind the demon trying to stab him in the back but he jumped forward spun around and released a wave of his supressed magical power which blew Luna away. She landed on her feeds hundred meters away while giggling like a madman. "Wonderful. I will really enjoy to kill you." The real fight would now begin. Chapter 4 - A love story? Carla saw Luna leaving the tent following a soldier who urged her to hurry. "General, please hurry. The arch demon will arrive here soon!" "Chill out." "What does ''chill out'' mean, general?" "*sign* nothing, just go and be silent." Carla went in the tent. She wasn''t worried about her mistress since she knew that Luna could easily defeat ten arch demons. Luna''s strength was really ridiculous. Even the strongest humans could barely win against one arch demon and Luna could win against ten. Carla had of course heard Luna''s story before and was aware that her mistress''s giant mana reserves had something to do with the food the demons gave their human livestock. Her chest hurt when she thought about Luna''s childhood. ''I must be strong for Luna! If only I could heal her heart just a little bit.'' Carla loved Luna. She always had. She was nine when she first meet her. A squad of demon slavers had attacked her hometown which was near the coast of Namar, the human continent, killed all adults including her parents and caught all children. It was the darkest hour of Carla''s life. Some children cried and some screamed for their parents. But Carla was in a state of shock. She had lost everything. The demons herded them together after beating up all resisting children and forced them to go with them in the direction of the coast. Carla knew of course that demons were monsters that eat humans. Her father once said ''if you aren''t a good girl a demon will come and eat you.'' when she refused to sleep. She couldn''t sleep the whole night. Her mother has beaten her father up the next morning when she heard the story from her overfatigued daughter. A tear flow down Carla''s cheek. Mabye she was a bad girl and that was the reason why the demons would eat her. She shivered from fear when she imagined herself be cooked in a soup or backed in an oven. Carla didn''t want this to happen. After a several hours long forced march the first children began to collapse. This wasn''t really suprising considering that some of the younger children were only three or four years old. Soon there were to many children for the demons to carry, so they decided to let them rest. The carried children weren''t enviable in any way since the demons would handle them really rough holding them on a leg or arm or in a sack on their back. Carla has already lost all hope when she saw her about hundred meters away form them. A little girl at least one year younger than hear. Long white hair, heterocromatic eyes and a deadpan expression. A sword in a black scabbard in her right hands that was at least half her size long. It was as if an angel had appeared in the hell Carla''s life had become. She wanted to scream and warn the angel to run away but she was so tired and feared the demons that surrounded the children. The demons saw her too. They pointed at her and said something in their demon tongue. The demons laughed. One of them stood up and walked slowly to the angel while again saying something in a foreign language. And the angel answered in demon tongue! Her voice was sweet and melodic but at the same time deathly cold. Then there was the flash of a drawn sword and the dull sound of a collapsing demon body. One minute later all the demons were dead. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Carla woke up from her memories. ''Why do I remember this now?'' She brushed away a tear from her cheek. ''Luna''s condition has become much worse since she began writing this cursed book. Why can''t she just forget her past? This deep rage and sadness in your eyes. I love you so much but I feel so helpless, Luna. Why can''t you see me?'' Carla wished that she and Luna could just live somewhere in Namar, far away from war, demons and death. Somewhere peaceful. In a faraway, remote house growing their own vegetables and ignoring the cruel world around them. ''A dream destined to fail'' --------------------------- Lord Irk has never expected that a human could be this strong. It was as if she was just playing with him. She afflicted only shallow wounds on him while smiling the whole time. How humiliating! Usually he was a very calulating and cold thinker. But he couldn''t form a single coherent thought since he would always see his dead daughter in front of his eyes. He didn''t care whether they were livestock or not anymore he just wants to kill them all. "Have you destroyed Irk, human?!" he asked while distancing himself from Luna and catching his breath. Luna''s smile deepened. "And what if I have?" "I swear I will sever your arms and legs and then torture you till you tell me!" "No need. It was indeed me who killed all those demons. Their screams were so wonderful, ah!" The arch demon demon lost now all his reasoning and blindly attacked Luna. ''Just as planned. My preperations are finished.'' thought Luna. Luna has held her sword vertical during their little conversation so that the demon blood had flown from the tip to the rear of her sword where a little magical circle was situated. Meanwhile she had pumped mana in the circle and was now ready to activate one of her especially nasty hidden weapons. "Blood magic - [Burst]" It was as if time has stopped. The arch demon looked at Luna with wide eyes and then *splash*. Blood bursted from all of his small wounds as if his innards were exploding pressing out all his blood. *sign* ''Now I need to bath again. Carla will probably be very mad if I bath in the river again, so I should give in this once ... oh yeah'' "two hundred eighty-six" 260 vilagers during the initial attack + 25 caught by Max + 1 lord = 286 demons "I have collected all of Irk" She formed a victory sign with her left hand. Nobody saw it but she didn''t care. It was a demon from Irk after all that had killed and eaten her mother in front of her eyes when she was five. Luna didn''t really feel satisfacation but she had at least fullfilled one of the oaths of her five-year-old self. ''Let''s go back'' Chapter 5 - Vegan army Luna began to write the second chapter after a quick bath in her tent with the help of Carla. [Chapter 2 Time feels really strange when you are restricted to spend all your time in a single room. I counted days but stopped when I reached hundred. What was the meaning of measure time anyways. The sun rises and sets, the moon rises and sets. Sunlight shines through the fissures in the walls on one day and rain would fall through the holes in the roof on an other day. Slowly I managed to learn crawling, than walking, than speaking. Sometimes mother would watch me as if I was an especially interesting insect and sometimes she would hug me or even smile when she saw me. Did she has awareness or was it just the instincts of a mother? I couldn''t tell. But I found out why she was so apathetic. One day I raised my arms to reach the collar around her neck - maybe I could free her from it one day. She lowered her head while watching me trying to understand what I did. But when I touched her collar I finally understood everything. It was as if my mind had completely become blank. What did I want to do again? Who was this woman? Who was I? I did not even understood those questions. They were just sounds that gave me a headache. I stopped thinking - ah, that was better - and looked with uncomprehending eyes at the woman whose face was centimeters away from me. And she looked back with equally empty eyes. How much time passed? A second? A minute? An hour? I do not know. At one point in time the woman probably gave up in studying me and raised her head so that my hands disconnected from her collar. It was like awakening from a deep slumber or like emerging from a deep ocean. How horrible. All those women who wore those collars who looked with empty eyes in some random direction. That was most certainly a fate worst than death. I know since I died before after all. At that moment I decided that I would rather die than ever wear such a collar. Then I thought about my mother who has spent her whole life in this state and my heart hurted so much. I wanted to save her or to wake up from this nightmare. But time just continued as slow as before. After two hundred or maybe three hundred days came the day when mother stopped breastfeeding me. Was it a conscious decision or just instinct? Probably the later. But from now on she would bring me the green vegetables every day. The first time a ate those vegetables (I would later learn that they are called Callio kale) was really strange. It was not the taste - that was awful as expected - but that I felt some kind of fluid power flowing into me. It did not really make me stronger but I somehow knew that it was power. I tried to move it and failed, tried again, again and again till I finally succeeded. Was this what they called mana? My former world did not have any mana so I was not sure but I decided to give it a shot. From then on out I would eat the Callio kale and train to move my mana till I got a headache. Then I would train to move my body. The women and other babies all watched me not understanding what I did but I did not care. I trained relentlessly. I did not know at that time but I was probably the youngest human ever to begin cultivating mana.] This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it She laid down quill. ''Good enough I guess.'' Her stomach hummed. ''I guess I''m hungry. I haven''t eaten anything yet. First the fight with the arch demon and then my book - I totally forgot about eating. Where is Carla?'' She looked around but couldn''t find her childhood friend. ''I guess I go through the camp and search for something to eat.'' She went through the camp and in the supply tent. "General!" A soldier from the provision unit saluted. "Stand at ease. Do you have anything warm to eat?" "Yes! The cooking unit just finished the potato soup. I bring you a portion at once." He said and ran away. The army under Luna was the only vegan army of Namar and probable in whole Kalar. The reason was pretty simple. Luna was always reminded of her childhood when ever Luna saw anyone eating meat or drinking milk and this annoyed her. And there was nothing more dangerous than an annoyed Luna. Not even the royal family was safe from her. One time she was invited to a banquet and the result included hundreds of injured cooks, guests and guards as well as many destroyed palace rooms. ''How dare they open their disgusting mouths showing me how they munch cadavers. I hate cadaveric odour. As long as it isn''t a demon. But I would never eat a demon. They are too disgusting.'' thought Luna back then. All parties afterwards were vegan when Luna was invited. The people even became used to it and vegan food soon was something like a political statement symbolising that humans were more sophisticated than demons. Everyone in Luna''s army also knew what would happen if they eat meat in front of their general and nobody wanted Luna as an enemy. So it was only natural that her army was completely vegan. Side Story - A kings education method "Father! Why have you sent Luna on such a dangerous mission so deep in the enemy territory!" "For the last time. She is the human hero with the strength of ten arch demons and we don''t have anyone as strong as her." "She is just a small girl my age! Why do we have to attack the demons in the first place and endanger her." "John Namar!! Be silent and listen!" ''Since he first meet her eight years ago it is just Luna this, Luna that. I''m really getting tired of this.'' At first the king of Namar fundamentally opposed his son''s love for the little refugee girl from the demon continent, he met at the magic academy of Alinor. He tried to introduce him to different noble girls from influential families but it didn''t work. He snubbed them all. But the little girl turned out to be an unbelievable powerful warrior and the plebs even started to call her a hero so the king gave up on his opposition to his son''s love. Mabye it wouldn''t be so bad to have a hero worshipped by the people as a daughter-in-law. But unfortunately his troublesome son didn''t stop there. His newest idea was that humans and demons could form a truce so that the little hero Luna Rubra wouldn''t be in danger anymore. ''Oh son, if there is anyone that opposes a truce with the demons then it is your little Luna.'' "The human race can''t coexist with such vile creatures and general Rubra agrees with me on this point." "I will change her mind. If I give her a peaceful and happy life then she can overcome her past." The king knew that his son wasn''t aware of the details of Luna''s life but it wouldn''t change anything if he told him. Luna has to tell him herself. That was one of the reason for his request for general Rubra three months prior. He can''t allow this. The war against the demons is the holy duty of humankind. He will not abandon his duty to his forefathers and the goddess Numa. --------------------------- Three months ago: A white haired girl in iron armor with a sword at her hip was kneeling in front of the king of Namar in the throne room. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "You may rise general Rubra." "Yes, your majesty." "Recently war-weariness has spreaded in the normal population and there is even a peace faction of nobles who want to initiate peace talks with the demons." He could see hate flash up in Luna''s eyes. But there was no other visible reaction. ''Good, good'' "I want you to write a book. An autobiography to be more precise." "Huh?" Luna was gobsmacked. ''What an amusing sight.'' "We want you to write an autobiography about your life in the human farms on the demon continent and how you escaped. You are the first person to have ever escaped from that hell and I want that the people and future generation always remember why we have to fight those evil demons." "I understand your majesty." She had an unhappy look. "You looked unsatisfied. Why is that?" "You see I''m a soldier and not a writer." "It is about your experiences. It''s better if you write is" ''for various reason'' he added in his thoughts. "Is this an order, you majesty?" "Yes it is." "I understand. I will work on it whenever I have time to do so. How much time do I have?" "Let''s see. Six months. I want to see results in six months. All military affairs have of course priority above this order." "Yes your majesty." "You may leave.I believe you have to prepare our upcoming attack on the demon continent." "Yes your majesty." King Namar was very satisfied with his plan. A book about Luna''s life would ensure that future generation would always know why they must hate the demons, it would silence the noble peace faction and lessen war-weariness in the population if they read what their hero has lived through. There were two reasons why Luna had to write it personally. It would inflame hate for the demons in the heart of his useless son if he read her story and it would remind Luna herself why she fights the demons. He could not allow her to live a peaceful life. She was too important as a symbol and of course because of her strength. Chapter 6 - Strategy meeting Five demon ranger were running along the ''Great Demon Road'' from the coastal city Nark in the direction of the village of Irk. All five were arch demons and part of a special intel unit directly under the duke of Nark. A normal demon soldier on a horse would need at least three days to reach Irk but they were arch demons and could therefore use their mana for body strengthening magic. The mana coating their bodies gave off a dim blackish light which was only visible since the sun has already set. Yesterday, just two days after an important war conference in Nark about the imminent danger of a human attack, reports came in about smoke rising in the west. Could there have been a human attack? But how was this possible? The upper echelon of the demon army was in a state of panic. There were three big demon cities at the coast of Arkar. Nark, Ark and Kark. The three dukes of this three coastal cities decided to merge their armies so that they could overwhelm any human army that would attack them. Together they had an army of 100 000 demon soldiers and about 100 arch demons. The smallest city, Kark, situated in the south, provided 20 000 soldiers, the northern and biggest city of Nark 50 000 soldiers and Ark 30 000 soldiers, leaving only about 3000-5000 soldier in each city to defend them. The army camp was situated near Ark so that they could reach Nark in half a day and Kark in one day. The basic idea of the demon defence plan was that if one of the cities observes a human army or fleet they would send an arch demon messenger to the main army to ask for help. All three cities had city walls so nobody expected a city to fall before the main army would arrive. But their plan was foiled. There were reports of smoke rising in the west. Has something happened in Irk? The lord of Irk has left the war conference in Nahr just two days ago, half a day before fume was seen at the horizon. Irk was almost defenceless without their lord so it wouldn''t be supprising if even a small human army could defeat them. The fate of Irk was of course tragic and it was imperative to destroy them to get revenge. They have after all spilled blood of a higher life form. But this wasn''t the reason why the upper echelon was anxious. Why would a human army ignore the coastal cities and march west instead? They should know that they were trapped and cut of from their supply routes. What was west of Irk. There was the demon capital Arkarna with its rich surrounding area which was the core region of the demon empire and further west there were the human farms. It was not very likely that the human army was big enough to conquer the whole core region of the demon empire but maybe it was big enough to force its way to the human farms. The human cattle was fed Calio kale over their whole life cycle. They had a lot of mana so a human army reinforced by the human slaves could become a real danger to the demon empire. The dukes of Nark, Ark and Kark reacted to this conclusion with panic. They immediately sent five of their fastest arch demon rangers to Irk while mobilizing the army to be prepared for the worst case scenario. The five demon rangers easily found the human army camp after reaching the still smoking ruins of Irk. It was night but they used the magic [Night vision] to observe the camp on the hill while hiding behind nearby trees. "Captain, this camp is big enough to host at least 20 000 soldiers." (whisper) "Yeah, we need to report this at once. You two go back and report the position for this camp to duke Nark. You two stay here with me." (whisper) ""Yes, sir."" (whisper) Two of them left, while three stayed behind. None of them notice the smiling girl sitting on a tree branch above them. --------------------------- "I told you that our mission is to reach the human farms in the west of Arkar to free the humans there, as you all know. But this was a lie to ensure that the enemy would not learn of our true objective even if they catch some or all of us." Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Murmur was heard from the ten captains being present. "Mmh, I see." (whisper) "I told you so." (whisper) "Yeah, yeah but be silent I want to hear what she says." (whisper) Luna commanded an army of thousand soldiers. There were ten captains under Luna each leading hundred soldiers. "Silent! ... Our secret mission is to pretend that there is a human army in the interior of Arkar trying to free the human slaves so that the demon army leaves the coastal region. That is the reason why I burned Irk, why I ordered you to build an army camp that could host up to 20 000 soldiers, although we have only 1000 soldiers, and why we haven''t left this position up until now." Luna paused a few seconds to let her words sink in. The people present were silent waiting for Luna''s next words. "Just ten minutes ago I found five arch demon spies near our camp probably from Nark. Two of them turned back to report our position while the other three stayed to continue observing us. Of course I killed those three after the other two left. Soon the demons will know of our position so we have to act now. The first part of our strategy was a success. I have summoned you two explain the second stage of our plan since I will leave for a short time. Max will be in command in my absence." "What! General why me? And what about you?" "Be quiet! I will explain your marching orders. You will leave this camp tonight and begin marching north." Luna pointed at the symbol for the ''ruins of Nar'' on the map. "This is your destination: The ruins of Nar. The best way is to follow the nearby river upstream past the ruins of Irk and through the forest north of Irk. It is imperative that no demon sees you. Every soldier has a black hooded cloak in his backpack. I want them to wear them. Furthermore the supply unit has a barrel with black paint. I want all soldiers to apply it to their face and hands just in case a demon sees you. Understood!" """Yes!""" "You will need probably two or three days to reach Nar during this time it will be forbidden to use fire or do anything else that might draw attention to you. Max! I leave the unit to you. Do not disappoint me!" "Yes, general Rubra! ... but what about you, if I may ask this question." "I will go west and destroy the next two towns, Kirk and Jul, along the ''Great Demon Road''. Then I will meet you again in Nar. You will wait in Nar for one week and lead the troops to Nark if I don''t arrive in this time to join the main army besieging Nark. Now go and prepare everything. You have one hour. Dismissed!." """Yes!""" All ten captains left Luna''s tent leaving only Max behind. "Is there something else?" "... please don''t do anything too dangerous." "Heh. You worry about me?" Luna asked teasingly but Max didn''t answer. "Don''t worry, it''s not a mission that will kill me." "Yeah, I know. But please don''t forget that you are alone on the demon continent. Please be careful." Luna''s face darkened while she looked with a deadpan expression at Max. "I spend three years alone on the demon continent. I don''t need your advice. You are dismissed." "Luna, I'' sorry I didn''t want to ..." "Yeah I know. Now go and prepare for your part of the strategy. We will see each other in four or five days." Max nodded and left the tent with a heavy heart. --------------------------- Author note: What do you think, should I concentrate more on the present or the past of the storyline? Which is more interesting? Edit: I changed the distances. Irk-Nahr is now 3 days by horse Chapter 7 - Lunas love life "Luna ..." "I know. You too." "Yes!" Luna and Carla stood at the entry of the camp. She had already said her goodbyes to Max. The soldiers were still preparing their departure. Some had already black colour on their faces and hands while wearing hooded cloaks. ''She will worry about me even if I tell her not to.'' thought Luna. Carla hugged Luna. Luna in turn closed her arms around Carla in an awkward way not knowing what to feel. Of course she was aware of Carla''s feelings for her. The first time that she noticed that Carla might feel more than friendship or sisterly love was four years ago. Carla was sixteen at the time and Luna fifteen or sixteen. Luna didn''t know her own age or her birthday. She estimated that she spent five years at the human farms and three years wandering around on the demon continent, which would mean that she was now nineteen. Other girls her age in this world would be married by now and even have children, but not Luna. She didn''t dare to form a relationship. Did she deserve to love and be loved? She knew Carla now for ten years. Would she stay with her even as a lover? ''The advantage of having Carla as a girlfriend would be that it would repel this dipshit of a prince'' thought Luna. She giggled at the thought of telling him that she is lesbian and that Carla is her girlfriend. Carla released Luna from her embrace and looked confused at Luna. "Is something wrong? Why are you laughing?" Luna immediately came back from her thoughts. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking of something." "What have you been thinking about." "Oh, nothing." ''Thinking about random jokes while I''m hugging her. Luna is such a meany. I know that I have no chance with her but this is ... sobering.'' thought Carla not understanding Luna a bit. "Fine~, keep your secrets. I don''t care." For some reason a warm feeling spread inside Luna. Carla''s reaction was too cute and her face still only centimeters away from her face. Luna kissed her on the cheek before she knew why. ''Why did I do that.'' ''Luna kissed me.'' Luna took a step back while pretending nothing was wrong. ''Pretend it was nothing major!'' Luna smiled a fake smile. "We see each other in four days. No reason to be so concerned." ''She wanted to take my worries away? But ... her behaviour is still strange. So unlike the normal Luna. Her eyes seem less cold and sad that usual ... but why a kiss. Well we are both girls but just kissing. But it was just on the cheek ...'' "Carla?" "Y-yes, Luna." "Is something wrong?" "No, I see you in four days." "Yes ... goodbye Carla." Luna coated herself in mana and vanished as fast as the wind. --------------------------- Luna ran on the great demon road while being deep in thoughts. ''Why do I act like a shy child. It''s not like I''m a virgin that never had a relationship.'' Her last real relationship was technically in past live but she did have sex in her new body before. So why was she so flustered when it came to Carla. Luna had been empty, numb and cold-hearted during the three years she had spent on the demon continent. It was just kill, eat and sleep. Kill, eat and sleep. But this slowly changed after she began to live amongst humans again. Especially after she meet Carla. The small child who lost her parents didn''t want to part from Luna, no matter what, when she heard that Luna''s parents were dead too. "I''ll be your family and you''ll be mine" mumbled Luna remembering Carlas words all those years ago. When puberty hit her body Luna had already changed quiet a lot. The memories of her past life probably accelerated that process. She stopped being numb and empty but her hate for demons still burned like an inexhaustible flame. Sexuality is confusing for all humans during their puberty. This is especially true if you are a little girl with the memories of middle-aged man. She remembered how it was to have sex as a man with a woman. What a wonderful feeling. She quivered. Why didn''t I thought about this during my second childhood? Stupid hormones. But was she into men or women. The person from her past life shouted that it must be a woman but she wasn''t so sure. Why not try it out. All humans are in the end just souls inhabiting bodies for a short while. She should know. All people were just in a, probable eternal, cycle of death and rebirth. Sometimes as men and sometimes as women. So why not try out how it feels for a woman to have sex with a man or woman. Her first and likely last time with a boy was with a shy but cute farmer boy named Alex she meet during a subjugation mission for the monster guild. She was fifteen and he sixteen and probably in love with her. She liked him too but not in a romantic sense. Luna had met him several times always telling Carla that she would go on a monster subjugation mission. She had to be remarkable proactive because he was so shy. But it wasn''t what she had hoped for. She just felt empty and numb. His disgusting liquid inside of her contaminated her. What an amusing thought from a psychopathic killer. But it was something she never wanted to experience again. She never saw him again after promising to meet him the next day. Shortly after that she realized Carla''s feelings for her. Carla would be shy and nervous on one day and possessive and clingy on the other day. She even saw her sniffling Luna''s underwear. But she didn''t confront the little pervert with what she saw. After all, what would happen afterwards? Could they still be sisters? Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Her second time was with a girl. Not any girl but princess Jana Namar, the sister of John Namar. Non of them were in love with each other. She doubts that Jana can fall in love at all. She might seem innocent and cute on the outside but inside she was cruel and manipulative. It was just a game for Jana and a pastime for Luna. Luna was seventeen by then and already a colonel in the imperial army. This was her pretext to visit the castle. I hindsight it was probably Jana that initiated their liaison but at the time Luna thought that she ensnared the cute, innocent princess. Well, Jana was a puppet master after all. But it was fun. Especially not getting caught was exiting. On night they did it even on the throne of her father. Every time Luna had an audience with the king she was reminded of that night. It is always hard not to laugh. Their affair ended after a couple of months without any hard feelings. By now she should be engaged to some noble boy. The most important lesson from this for Luna was that she now knew that she is lesbian. ''But it is completely different with Carla. It isn''t just physical affection. I just want to be together with her.'' She imagined a naked Carlas smiling at her. Her face became hot. But then the naked Carla turned in the naked and dead body of her mother. Her left arm and right arm were missing because two nearby demons had cut them off to grill them above their campfire. Her empty eyes looked to Luna while her lips formed the word ''Why?''. Tears ran down Luna''s cheeks. ''I can''t. Everyone I love will die a horrible death. It''s better for her. For Carla''s sake I must keep my distance.'' Tears were now streaming down from her eyes. She arrived at the first demon town, Kirk. Two demon soldiers at the gate looked baffled at the crying human girl that appeared seemingly out of nothing hundred meters in front of them. ''I should concentrate on what I can do best.'' She walked slowly in the direction of the two demon soldiers. ''This is the meaning of this life. This why I was born in that nightmare.'' She tightly gripped her sword. The demons woke up from their stupor, but it was already to late. --------------------------- Carla walked together with the army to the north. Her face was also painted black and she wore a hooded cloak. Her cheek burned where Luna had kissed her. ''Was this just a kiss under friends or sisters? I''m stupid. I know after all that Luna likes boys. I''ve seen her with that farmer boy after all four years ago. My love is hopeless.'' She remembered how much she cried that night and how happy she was when Luna stopped visiting that village. That was also the time when she realized without a doubt that her feelings aren''t the love of a sister but romantic feelings. ''Should I confess to her. No! I will loss her if I do that. I''m her sister. Well technically my job is that of her maid and assistance in this army. It''s fun to call her mistress when we are on a mission. She has already given up on correcting me.'' Carla giggled. ''I should do nothing. That way I can stay with her.'' --------------------------- Authors note: Too cheesy? Chapter 8 - Epiphany of blood She beheaded both guards with one swing of her sword. The gush of blood squirted out from their necks. While the heads were still in the air, blood was sprayed out of the two Carotid arteries forming not only two small geysers of blood but also a fine mist of small blood drips in the air. The orange light of the setting sun was refracted in the small drips of blood floating in the air. If it was water a rainbow would have formed but blood absorbs much more light than water. The drops of blood glowed in a otherworldly adamantine lustre. Luna watched absorbed by the view. ''So beautiful.'' was the only thing she could think. All her worries and sorrows were washed away by the beauty of this fleeting moment. The epiphany moment seemed to stop forever. But everything has to end. The bodies of the two guards collapsed on the ground while the blood flowing out from their necks formed two small puddles. Meanwhile the heads hit the ground and rolled away a few meters. Luna looked down at the bodies for a few seconds. She then closed and opened her eyes. She had calmed down. She was like the ocean after a storm. With a small content smile she looked up and through the open gate at the villagers nearby. She loved them all. She wanted to see them die. Who should she kill first? The clustered group of women on the left or the two small boys on her right. All demons nearby had seen the two guards die by the hand of a single human girl. They were struck by terror. What has happened and why? But Luna was happy. They all waited obediently for her to make a choice. It would be impolite to let them wait. So she choose the group of women to her left. Her holy sword infused with mana cut through them like a hot knife through butter. Body parts were flying in all directions and blood was gushing out again in an especially beautiful way. As if this was the cue, panic spread immediately. The were running screaming for their lives. Screaming for help. The massacre that followed was like hell for the demons. But for Luna it was like a dance. She tried to move as graceful and fluid as possible. Her body and mind was one. Sometimes she stopped in the middle of a group and rotated like a ballerina in the middle of a fountain of blood. Sometimes she would cut down people in a fluid motion one at a time. She paid attention to never stop moving. Not because of strategic reasons but because it would disrupt her dance. It was a different kind of dance when she was confronted with guards or civilians with swords. Gracefully averting attacks while cutting the enemy down was also a form of a dance. --------------------------- Duren was lying on the ground of the market place in a sea of blood pretending he was dead. Blessed be demon god Arka! But what was happening. The screams and moans of pain have stopped and deathly silence sized the whole town. He was so scared. ''I don''t want to die here.'' he thought. He has left the coastal city Kark two weeks ago and was on his way to the demon capital Arkarna, because of rumors about a human invasion. But he had never expected to be killed by a human this far inland. How could this be. A single human girl has annihilated the whole town. The soldiers and adventures could do nothing. She was just dancing through them like a death fairy. Duren thought of his family waiting in Arkarna. ''I can''t give up here.'' The silence continued. ''Maybe she went away.'' Hope filled his heart. Scared he looked up to confirm that the air was clean. What he saw scared him to death. In the middle of the field of blood and body parts stood the human girl. She was soaked in blood and neither her white skin nor her white hair was visible. Like a death goddess she was looking up in the sky to the moon. But suddenly she turned around and looked at Duren with a bone-chilling smile. Was this really the livestock of the nobles? How could they anger such terrifying beings? Were they crazy? Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "Hi there, little demon." she said in demon tongue. He startled up and, still sitting in the sea of blood, he crawled away from her his eyed fixated on her. "Do you really think you can escape from me?" she asked in an amused tone. He stopped. She was right he was sooo dead. But she spoke to him. Maybe he could talk his way out of this. He had nothing to loss. "Why are you doing this? Is it because the nobles are eating humans? That has nothing to do with me! I''ve never eaten human. I''m just a normal plebeian. Please let me go! I have a family. Please!" He bowed down in front of the death goddess. He wanted to see his wife and their child again. He didn''t want to die here. "Why are you so afraid? You are not real after all." she looked curious at him. ''Huh? Not real? What does that mean?'' He didn''t understand what she meant. "I don''t understand what you mean but please let me go!" "I mean that you don''t have a soul." "I don''t have a soul?" "Yeah, that is the reason why you can''t accumulate mana." "Wasn''t it the human goddess Nama that stole this from us because she was jealous of god Arka''s creations, the demons?" "The humans believe that Arka doesn''t exist and that the demons betrayed the one and only god Nama. But I''m not speaking about that.Just think about it logical. Animals have weak souls and accumulate only a little bit mana. Humans have stronger souls and accumulate more mana. And demons accumulate no mana." She talked patiently as if she would explain something to a child. "Demons don''t have souls. The don''t have consciousness. That is also the reason why the slave collars are not working on demons." She slowly began walking in the direction of Duren. "You are just illusions made by the gods to haunt the humans reborn in this world. The curse of this rebirth cycle." Duren was scared to death. "No!! I''m real! I have feelings, memories, everything! Please believe me!" "Can you prove that?" She slowly raised her sword while smilling. ''Prove?! That''s impossible!'' he thought in a state of panic. "You see?" Darkness enveloped Duren. --------------------------- Luna was not really talking to the demon. He was not real after all. She was talking to herself reminding her why it was ok to kill them without compunction. She used the term ''real'' but she didn''t mean that they don''t exist. Of course they do. She meant that they are nothing more than a computer program or a force of nature. Without awareness. Many religions in her past life described demons as the beings torturing humans in hell. She even considered that this world was indeed literal hell during her first eight years on the demon continent. She disregarded this idea after she met the first free humans. But she was sure that demons are indeed just an object imitating the humans being reborn in this world. But she didn''t know why they exist. Maybe there really is a goddess Numa and she created the demons to haunt the humans or maybe to test them. Who knows. The fact that they showed emotions so similar to humans was probably a trap trying to fool humans in thinking that demons are just like them just looking different. She looked around. The sun has setted and the moon has risen during her blood dance. The pallid bluish moonlight was now shinning on the sea of red blood and on the bodyparts scattered on the market place of Kirk. Luna smilled remembering a similar picture from her childhood. She was probably six when she saw such a scene and decided to give herself a name honouring the beautiful image. Luna Rubra, latin for Red Moon. Chapter 9 - Bad dream Luna dragged the unresponsive and apathetic Carla with her, closing her small hand around Carla''s big warm one. They were running from their demon pursuers through the woods. It was almost night-time and the demons were holding torches. If only she wasn''t trapped in the body of a six-year-old. If only she could destroy Carla''s slave collar. If only she could get rid of the demons pursuing them. But she has no time for such idle thoughts. She must save Carla. Then she saw a small cave. It would be more precise to call it a rock crevasse. Probably an empty wolf den. But she had no choice. She would leave Carla here and entice the pursuers away. "I''ll entice them away from here. You stay here and be silent, ok?" Carla looked at Luna with uncomprehending eyes. Luna didn''t really expect something else. In the six years of her life she had never responded to her after all. It was all the fault of this bloody slave collar. She felt angry and hopeless at the same time. "I will free you from that collar, I swear! I love you mom!" ''Huh, mom? Why did I call Carla mom?'' The sound of the demon pursuer could be heard. ''No time for idle thoughts. I have to attract their attention away from her.'' She ran in the direction of the demons and when they saw her she pretended to stop fearfully looking at them. Then she turned around and ran, ran and ran. As far as possible away from her mother. What happened next was blurry but she was able to outrun the assailants. She knew that. She went back in the direction of the cave, but then she saw a fire. ''No, no, no!! It can''t be true! Please!'' Panic gripped her heart and she sprinted with all her power to the campfire. Her whole world came crushing down. Carla was lying there, dead and without arms while two demons were sitting nearby grilling Carla''s arms above the campfire. Carla''s dead eyed were looking at Luna. ''No.'' Pale, lactic eyes. ''No!'' The gentle blue was long gone and no life remained. "No!!" Luna woke up with a scream. "Huh? Where am I?" She was lying in a cosy and comfortable double bed in an elegant bed room. The furniture, like the small table next to the bed or wardrobe looked really expensive. ''What happened ... I was at that town killing all demons that tried to run away or leave the town. Then I looked at the moon and killed the rest of the demons that tried to hide from me ...'' Mana was really useful if you tried to find someone. Luna used mana like a sonar. All living beings and even materials like stone or wood absorb at least a little bit mana if they are hit by a mana wave. Demons are the exception. The can''t absorb any mana from the air. So if Luna used a mana wave as a sonar she would feel empty spaces where demons are hiding. The funny thing is that the body of a dead demon can absorb mana. This also told Luna that killing demons was like reestablishing the natural order of the world. ''Ah, yes. I was tired and just went to some house to sleep.'' She felt a tear running down her cheek. ''I cried? I''m becoming more whiny as of late.'' Since her mother died thirteen years ago she hadn''t cried once, but yesterday when she arrived in this town she did. ''And now I even cry because of a bad dream?'' She couldn''t remember the dream but she knew that it was a nightmare. But this didn''t matter. Such weakness was unforgivable. She stood up. "It''s war and I have still one more village to destroy. No time to laze around." She walked out of the room searching for a bath and a breakfast. --------------------------- Natar was a hunter and a pretty good one at that. His village, Jul, was only small but situated at the Great Demon Road that begins at the coastal city of Nark and ends at the demon capital Arkarna. Jul was very small, only about hundred demons, but it was not poor because of merchants and travellers on the Great Demon Road. Today Natar went hunting, like every other day. Far away he heard screams from the direction of his village. ''What is the meaning of those screams?'' He took out his binoculars to look at Jul. Binoculars are a really rare and exotic product. Natar found them in a small shop in Arkarna, the last time he visited the capital. He sometimes used them to look for prey but it was more a toy for him. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. What he saw in his village froze his blood. There were dead bodies everywhere and a small standing figure with white hair and white skin. ''A human? How strange.'' Then he remembered a rumor from more than ten years ago. Travellers and merchants at that time as well as recluses and even small villages were attacked and killed and nobody knew why or by whom. There were stories at the time about the ghost of a small human child with white hair. Some said that she was eaten by a noble and swore revenge on the demon race. Some said that she was an evil spirit that only pretended to be a human to lure in her victims. There was even a story about a whole village being massacred by her. Of course Natar didn''t believe such stories. Ghosts don''t exist. But now seing the human girl in the sea of corpses reminded him of those stories. ''I will not go there no matter what.'' Natar was scared. He was of course sorry for the rest of the village but what could he do against a ghost. Luckily he was far enough away so the girl might not have seen him. He walked to a cave nearby and waited. He waited for hours and eventually felled asleep. The next day he walked back to Jul. Really careful and cautious. But there was no ghost girl just corpses. The whole village was dead. "I''m sorry you died. I had to save myself. Please forgive me." He then began to dig graves for the whole village. --------------------------- Carla was walking together with Max at the head of the army. She was walking next to the person in charge not because her job was to be the assistent of Luna but because she was strong. Very strong in fact. After Luna and Max she was probably the third strongest person in this army of thousand soldiers. This was mostly thanks to Luna. Luna has trained her in magic and close combat. She had even given her some of the Callio kale she had brought with her from the demon continent. So it wasn''t surprising that Carla''s mana reserves were larger than average. Luna had originally brought Calio kale with her to cultivate it on the human continent but it was impossible. The vegetable needs the high mana concentration in the earth you can only find in the Callio region on the demon continent. Max had asked her to walk beside him in case of an emergency. But at the moment Carla could only think about Luna. Two days had passed since she last saw her and she missed her very much. What was she doing? Was she missing Carla too? Suddently Max tipped Carla on the shoulder and whispered in her ear. "There are two arch demon spies hundred meters on the left hidding in the bushes. We need to kill them otherwise they will give our position away. We two rush to them and kill them at three. Understood?" She nodded. "One." The began to coat themselves in mana as discreet as possible. "Two." They both gripped their weapons beneath their cloak. "Three." And they rushed with drawn weapons to the two demon spies. Carla used two small daggers while Max had a short sword in his hand. The two arch demons immediately turned around, coated themselves in mana and fled in two different directions. It was obvious what they tried to do. Their mission will be a success even if only one of them survives as long as they can report about the human army. But Max and Carla could''t let this happen. "I take the right one." "Yes." Carla followed the arch demon that fled to the left. The demon and Carla both accelerted their speed. Carla put all her mana in the body strenghtening magic to become faster and slowly she closed the gap. Both were flying through the woods as fast as the wind, but suddently the demon stopped and turned around with his sword drawn to slash Carla mid air. She was caught off guard by this. ''No.'' She had no time to evade the slash. For some reason she saw Luna in front of her eyes. ''They do say that you see what you love before you die, don''t they.'' --------------------------- Author note: For some reason nobody writes a reviews or even rates my fiction. *sad puppy eyes* I would really like to read reviews you know, even if they are bad. That''s ok. So if you don''t want Carla do die: you know what do do ^^ Side Story - A bored princess A cute eighteen year old girl with blond hair and blue eyes stood at the balcony of the royal castle and looked down at the bustling city below her. The people of the capital of the human empire Namar were busily rushing in the narrow streets below her like ants in an anthill. ''I hate myself. This life is so meaningless ... For my father and brother I''m just a political chess piece and they want to sell me to the highest bidder like a slave or a whore. As if I would allow something like that. Mabye I should just end it and jump down.'' She looked down to the city with its uselessly hustling urban dwellers. ''It should be high enough...'' Jana loved to think about death and suicide but she wasn''t really suicidal. Why would she? She was beautiful, loved by everyone and a princess. But nobody knew the pain in her heart. She was so bored. Everything was meaningless. Sometimes she would find entertainment by manipulating people - humans were such lovely creatures - but this was not something to live for. Probably the only person who understood her was Luna. At first Jana had deceived Luna too with her disguise of a perfect princess but as time went by she had shown her her real self and Luna has accepted her. It was fun to be together with Luna and she felt save in her presence but in the end it was just an affair. Jana couldn''t understand the concept of love. It was too stupid to care for someone else more than for yourself. All those stories and books about love that a normal girl should enjoy bored her to no end. Human suffering and pain was much more beautiful. That was also probably the reason why she was enamoured by Luna. Her sadness and emptiness born from her tragic past were so delicious and Jana cherished, envied and hated her for it. Why couldn''t she have such a dark past? Everybody would understand her self-hatred and hollowness if she had Luna''s memories. But Luna had people with her, like this Carla girl, who would support her and try to heal her wounded heart. Jana had no one. She was alone. "Here you are princess Jana Namar." A familiar voice came from behind her. ''My new toy has arrived.'' It was the duke of Maluruz, one of the two great dukes of the empire. There were two dukedoms in the empire, Maluruz and Kunarar. The duke of Maluruz was a fat pig known for his affairs and shady dealings. He was ten years older than Jana. The people hated him but the king couldn''t do anything about him without any proof, since the duke was very cautious. The duke of Kunarar was the exact opposite of the vile duke of Maluruz. He was known to be a true knight. He helped the poor and weak. He was a true nobleman and the people loved him. He was only five years older than Jana and very handsome. Both dukes have announced their intention to marry princess Jana Namar, the only daughter of the king. Most people expected duke Kunarar to be successful with his proposal, since those two beautiful and kind-hearted souls seemed like a match made in heaven, but surprisingly duke Kunarar had died three days ago under mysterious circumstances. Jana began to empathize with her part as an innocent princess. A tear flew down her cheek. "Duke Maluruz" she said without turning back. "Why are you here." "You are my future wife. There is no doubt that the king will accept my proposal now that the duke of Kunarar is dead." "You shouldn''t speak so lightly about the death of such a kind-hearted, brave and chivalrous soul. I mourn for him." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. She turned around and duke Malur saw the tear on her cheek. He smile mockingly at her. "Oh, princess you are so pure an innocent that you would cry for everyone of your subjects. Or is it that you hoped to marry him, a chivalrous knight, and not me, an abhorrent duke, and are now crying because you have to marry me?" "Of course not! I know you are a good soul and nothing would make me happier than to marry you but I still mourn for the poor duke Kunarar." His eyes wandered down Jana''s body and he smiled ferocious. He really looked forward to enjoy this young virgin body. He would break her will and make her one of his puppets. "I''m really looking forward to our wedding night. I''m sure you will be pleased too." "D-duke, how can you say something like this in broad daylight." He bowed. "I beg your pardon princess, but I will now go to the king and tell him that you accepted my proposal." ''It''s so hard not to laugh! Play your role, Jana!'' --------------------------- Today was the day of duke Maluruz''s execution. It was only two weeks after the murder of duke Kunarar. Under ordinary circumstances it would have been impossible for a duke to be executed for murder but this time everything was different. Not only was the victim a duke that was loved by the population but he was killed so that duke Maluruz could lay his filthy hands on princess Jana Namar, the most pure and beautiful girl in the empire. Nobody dared to speak up for him when the king passed his sentence. He would be beheaded one week after the verdict in the royal castle courtyard. Even the princess will attend the execution. Of course her farther tried to stop her but she said that she has to see his end and pray for his soul since it was also her fault for not recognizing what was going on. Wasn''t it his misguided love that caused this tragedy? Nobody dared to correct their pure princess, though they all knew that duke Maluruz was a filthy womaniser. It was a good thing that this experience didn''t destroy the princess''s belief in true love. "I-I didn''t do it. Please have mercy!" "Are this your final words." "Please! I''m innocent! I ..." "Silence!! You dare to lie even now? The cook who poisoned duke Kunarar was found dead near your residence slain by your own men on your written order and we have found evidence with him and in your residence that you pressured him to do it!" "Lies!! Somebody tries to frame me!" He looked around and tremulously gazed at Jana. "Princess you know I''m innocent. You said yourself that I have a good heart." Jana looked at him with a pained expression but the king was furious. "How dare you speak to my daughter! You filth! Guards, behead him now!" The duke of Maluruz was beheaded screaming and struggling to the end like a small frightened child. --------------------------- Jana was now alone with her butler Albert. "My princess, did you enjoy the show." "Yes it was really amusing. Especially when he ask me for mercy. Good work." "Thank you, my princess. But it was just a petty little matter." "Nonsense. Poisoning duke Kunarar must have been difficult and especially framing duke Maluruz." "There were just minor problems. Nothing to concern yourself with." "Well, it was good work, thank you Albert. "It was my pleasure, princess." Chapter 10 - Reunion The region north of the Great Demon Road was a hilly and wooded region with many small streams, small lakes and springs. The groundwater flew out from several natural springs at the foothills forming several small streams. Somewhere in this region, seldom visited by demon or human, was a small waterfall plunging down into a crystal clear lake surrounded by cliffs and trees. Only very few knew of this isolated location. A naked white haired girls stood under the waterfall washing incrusted blood and other debris out of her hair. Her eyes were closed while she concentrated on her surroundings. She had already sent out several mana waves to confirm her suspicion. ''There are two. Probably spies or hunters. They seem to get ready to attack me. Good.'' Luna''s cloths laid nearby drying in the sun. She really didn''t want to pursue them naked through the woods, so she was happy that they decided to attack her. Her sword was in the water at her feet. This wasn''t the first time she was attacked while bathing. She had lived a long time on the demon continent always on the run so she was already used to it. They wanted to attack her from behind but something so simple wouldn''t work on the human hero Luna. She was one of the strongest and most experienced beings in whole Kalar. The two arch demons, coated in mana, attacked her. Their plan was to capture the weak looking human and get information out of her for their general, Arkor. But they severely underestimated Luna. She griped her sword lying at her foots and teleported directly in front of one of the demons her sword pointing at his heart. The demon hadn''t expected that the human would suddenly appear in front of him with a sword. He wasn''t able to stop his momentum and was skewered on Luna''s sword. She pulled out her sword from his chest and immediately attacked the second demon. He wanted to retreat but couldn''t under the relentless strikes of the human girl. They''ve exchanged blows several times and Luna had the upper hand but couldn''t land a fatal hit. The arch demon was already bleeding from several wounds and Luna would have liked to us ''Blood magic - [Burst]'' to kill him but unfortunately her sword was mired with the blood of the first arch demon so her secret technique couldn''t be invoked. "Blood magic - [Necrosis]" This magic destroyed the tissue around the open wounds of the demon causing sever pain in the process and slowing his ability to parry Luna''s sword slightly down. This gave Luna enough time to inflict a small wound on the wrist of the right hand holding his sword. "Blood magic - [Necrosis]" Now his right hand was decomposing. The next blow of Luna''s sword sent the demon''s sword flying. The now unarmed demon was quickly hacked to pieces in a fluent ultra fast motion of Luna''s sword. ''I need another bath...'' She looked at the former pure crystal clear lake. The blood of two demons slowly mixed with the water and two bodies, one in one piece and the other in several, swam in the water. It looked like the least appetising soup of all time. ''somewhere else.'' --------------------------- After her first encounter Luna met another group with two arch demons. By now it was clear that they were searching for something and this something was probably the human army that has destroyed Irk. ''They moved faster than I expected. It hasn''t been four days since the annihilation of Irk. I have a bad feeling about this.'' If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The original plan was to met her army at the ruins of Nar but she decided to hurry and find them as soon as possible instead. They could be in danger if arch demons are roam the region. Luna had expected that they would just follow the Great Demon Road and not search trough the whole region. She was now running through the hilly grassland into the forest south of the ruins of Nar. Originally she had planned to go across a secret mountain pass in the north since this was the fastest way to her destination. Then she saw to her surprise Carla following an arch demon. Suddenly the arch demon stopped and tried to catch Carla off guard with his sword in her trajectory. ''Oh, no!'' Luna immediately used her mana to teleport in front of Carla and activate defence magic. --------------------------- Carla saw Luna''s face in front of her eyes but this wasn''t an illusion or dream as she first thought but the real Luna. Her left arm was embracing Carla around her hip and she held her right arm protectively above Carla''s head directly in the trajectory of the sword. Her arm was emitting pale blue light, probably from a defence spell Luna has casted at a moments notice. But it wasn''t enough. The sword has dug deep in her right forearm. It seems as if it has stopped at the bone. "I''ve reached you in time." "Luna?" Luna was trembling and tears formed in her eyes. "Carla!! What are you doing?! You promised me to not do anything dangerous and let the soldiers fight!" Luna was angry. She had nearly lost Carla. If she would have been only a few seconds slower Carla would have died. She felt terror and fear well up within her. The arch demon was taken back and didn''t know how to react. Should he use the moment of distraction to kill both of them? But the mission was more important. He turned around and wanted to flee. Luna yelped a bit from pain when he pulled his sword out of her arm but she has been through worse. With a pained expression she took out a dagger from her belt and threw it to the neck of the demon that tried to escape. The dagger irrupted into the demon''s nape killing him instantly. "Luna! Your arm! We need to patch it up immediately!" "Don''t worry it''s just a little flesh wound." "No, it''s not!" Luna looked with a tired smile at Carla and suddenly hugged her with all of her strength she had left. "I''m so happy you are ok! I thought for a moment I would loss you." ''too'' she added in her thoughts. Tears flew down her cheeks. She ignored the pain from her badly injured arm, she ignored Carla''s anxiety about her wound and the dead demon as well as the whole situation. All her bottled up feelings like the fear of losing Carla, self-hate for putting her in danger and her insecurities surged up within her. ''I''m the reason Carla almost died. It''s all my fault. I allowed her to come with me on this mission. Why did I make such a stupid decision? I guess, subliminally I didn''t want to be alone. Why am I so weak? I don''t want to be weak anymore. I can''t be weak. I must protect Carla, even if it hurts.'' She used her left hand to rub away her tears. ''I cried again. You make me so weak, Carla.'' she thought with a wry smile. Side Story - Duchess Luna John saw his sister Jana standing at one of her favorite places in the castle, the balcony with a breathtaking view on the capital of the human empire Namar. "Sister, are you feeling better? It must have been horrible for you after what happened with duke Kunarar and duke Maluruz." "Yes it was really heart-rending. Poor duke Kunarar died because of me." Jana looked at her brother John with a sad and pained expression. "It''s all my fault. It feels as if I had poisoned him myself. It''s scary that I didn''t suspect anything. What if something like this happens again?" ''She blames herself! My poor innocent sister.'' John couldn''t take it anymore and hugged his trembling sister. "Don''t worry. It isn''t your fault. We all know that and don''t worry about other marriage proposals. Father and I will wait till you are ready for it." Slowly she calmed down. "Thank you, brother." "It''s okay." ''You try to conceal your sadness with a forced smile, sister, but that won''t deceive me. I know everything about you after all. I guess I should spend some time with you so you don''t feel lonely.'' "We haven''t spent much time together recently. Do you want to join me for some tea?" "Yes that would be lovely." They walked through the castle to the palace gardens where maids have already prepared a table with two chairs with tea and snacks for the two royals. Several maids stood in attendance in case Jana or John would want anything. They sat down and drank some tea without talking about anything till Jana broke the silence. "So what have you been doing as of late?" "Since the family of duke Maluruz fell into ruin many noble families tried to appeal to father and me asking what will happen to the dukedom of Maluruz. They are really greedy and it is obvious that they want the title of a duke and the landed property for themselves. It''s a good thing that father had forbidden them to speak to you after what you have been through." He looked at his sister. "I''m sorry, we should probably speak about something else." "No, it''s okay. It''s very important what happens to the Maluruz dukedom after all. I just hope that the next duke of Maluruz will be popular with the people. It''s a good thing when the people love and trust their leaders." "Yea, there are not many noble families that are loved by the masses. There is the family of Kunarar, of course. His younger brother Max Kunarar will probably become the next duke, but he is at the moment on the demon continent with our army. Then there is of course our family, but aside from that there are not many noble families that are revered by the people. If there is anyone the people worship it would be their hero Luna, but most noble families couldn''t compete with her if it comes to popularity." A smile formed on his face thinking about Luna. Jana did her best not to smile. "It will probably also affect you since father will urge you to marry someone from the new ducal family because you have snubbed all girls from the Kunarar family already." "I will never marry someone against my will!" ''Now, will you fall for it, dear brother?'' Suddenly his mood changed drastically. He seemed excited and couldn''t keep his calm. "What did you say before?!" "About you marrying..." "No! Before that!" "That the new duke should be popular with the people?" "Yes, that!" ''He fell for it, hehe.'' A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "What do you mean, brother?" "I will ask father to make Luna the new duke of Maluruz. Think of it, it''s a brilliant plan. If she comes back victorious from the demon continent it would be a deserved honour and the people worship her so nobody could disagree." ''Furthermore I can keep her from harm if she has to manage a dukedom in Namar and then her position is high enough to marry me. I''m so brilliant. That is the best plan ever.'' "Huh? I didn''t think of that possibility. Do you think father will agree to that?" "Of course! I will do everything in my power to make it happen. Sorry sis, but I have to speak with father immediately." He stood up and ran away. "Bye~" ''My plan is advancing smoothly. Luna''s reaction will be hilarious, but it''s her own fault for leaving me alone in a boring castle.'' --------------------------- A few days later rumours began to circulate about the succession ot the Maluruz dukedom. The rumour has been spread that the hero Luna would become the new duchess, while other rumours reported about greedy nobles that tried to take the dukedom away from the hero Luna Rubra or that the king hadn''t decided yet while the prince led a faction in favour of Luna succeeding duke Maluruz. This rumours were especially vivid in the dukedom Maluruz itself, since they lived under a corrupt and abhorrent duke and yearned for a shinning light like a hero as their duchess. The king of course wasn''t amused by this developement. His son had stormed into his office to convince him to give the dukedom to general Rubra as reward if the ongoing military campaign was succesful. He argued that the people would love her as a duchess and would praise their king for such a wise decision. He saw through those arguments. His useless son wanted to keep her away from the war and marry he, but this could be easily avoided by instating a ducal proxy if general Rubra was needed on the battlefield. The real problem were the other noble houses. Awarding titles was the best method to secure fealty of the noble houses and therefore stability. It was a difficult decision so he decided to postpone the decision and ordered his son to speak with nobody about their conversation. But rumour spread regardlessly. Has John disregarded his instruction and spoken with someone about this? Or has he even spread the rumours deliberately to force him to make this decision? He knew John had the idea during a conversation with Jana but he had told his daughter to not speak about this for the time being and she would never betray him or act against his orders. ''It seems I have no real choice. The population would be infuriated if I choose someone else as duke. I could suppress all protests of course but we are at war and I need all soldiers available.'' It wasn''t really a problem to ennoble the human hero Luna Rubra and award her with a dukedom but the methods of his son really suprised and even starled him. ''Unbelievable that he would act against me so boldly. Does he has the ability and calm to be a king? Wouldn''t he be just a puppet in general Rubra''s hands. Maybe I should consider making Jana my heir to the throne. It would be unusual since I have an older son but a female heir to the throne is not unheard of. I will have to think about it.'' --------------------------- Author note: Are you bored by he side story? The fiction needs it for later developments, at least if I follow my general plan for the story. Chapter 11 - Scar Carla was confused. Luna has suddenly appeared in front of her eyes rescued her, killed the demon and hugged her. But the most important point was that she was crying. Crying! In the ten years she knew Luna Carla had never seen her cry. You could see the sadness in her eyes when Luna spoke or thought about her past but she has never cried. But now she was crying. ''Is Luna crying ... for me? For me.'' Somehow this thought made Carla happy but she hated herself instantly for being happy about Luna''s tears. No, there was something more important than Luna''s tears. Her arm was injured because of Carla. And it would probably leave a scar on Luna''s beautiful skin. Of cause there was healing magic, but this magic was only fast motion of the natural procedure. So everything that leaves a scar without healing magic also leave a scar with it. And the wound in Luna''s arm was very deep. Furthermore they needed to apply healing magic at once, because waiting could lead to an infection. If there were germs in a wound healing magic would just close the tissue around those germs. It had been a mystery for magicians for a long time why there would be sometimes negative after effects of healing magic but then Luna came along with her knowledge about germs from her past live. Since then it was standard for army personal to have disinfectant highly concentrated alcohol with them to apply it on wounds before using healing magic. "Luna, please snap out of it! We need to heal you wound!" Luna wasn''t crying anymore already but she was still hugging Carla with all her power. "Luna, please!" "Carla, I''m so glad that you are ok." "Please let me treat your arm." They slowly released each other from their mutual embrace and Carla impetuously took Luna''s right arm in her hands, poured alcohol on the wound and applied healing magic. The wound closed but a big scar was left behind. Seeing this tears formed in Carla''s eyes. "Luna your arm!" She was now crying. "Your beautiful skin has now a scar just because of me." But Luna didn''t care about scars. She just petted Carla''s head and answered in a calm tender way. "Don''t worry about such a small detail. It is a small price to pay for your safety." But it was different for Carla. She had come along with Luna to help her but now she was just a burden again. She could never be together with Luna as long as she just cause harm to her. She had trained so much to be strong enough to fight together with the person she loves but she was just detrimental and this scar was proof of that. During this emotional scene Max came back. He had killed his arch demon and was now seeing Luna comforting a crying Carla. "Luna? What are you doing here? I thought we would meet in Nar." "You thought we would meet in Nar!? That is everything you have to say after putting Carla''s live at risk!?" Luna was angry. Very angry! Max understood immediately that he made a huge mistake. He had never seen Luna this angry and he was scared to death. suddenly Luna appeared in front of him. ''Teleportation?'' was the only thing Max could think before he felt an indescribable pain in his chest were Luna''s fist had hit his ribcage. Then all the trees began to move. In reality he just flew away due to the force of Luna''s blow. --------------------------- ''Fuck, that hurt! Luna is really scary when she is mad'' thought Max Kunarar. Max was the second son of the duke Kunarar. But two years ago his father died during the demon invasion, like so many other nobles, and his brother inherited the dukedom becoming the new duke Kunarar. Max had met Luna at the magic academy in Alinor five years ago, he was sixteen. There were rumors that she was a refugee from demon continent. At that time nobody had ever heard of humans on the demon continent. Were they hiding in caves or the dense forests in the south of Arkar? But the true story was much more horrible than anybody could imagine. They were used as livestock! Livestock!! How horrible. Max like many others hated the demons for their repeated attacks on villages near the coast and the many innocent victims of demon attacks but he had imagined that coexistence was possible as long as there is no war between humans and demons. But the story of Luna about human farms on the demon continent has changed everything. Suddenly it made sence that demon troop would kidnap children after destroying human villages. There can be no coexistence. The humans held in slavery as livestock by the demons need to be saved. How could Max enjoy the pleasant live of a noble as the second son of a duke while thousands of humans were held captive as cattle somewhere in this world. Max, who was sixteen at that time, would have dreams about white haired people, looking like Luna, being butchered and eaten by the dozens. At that time he decided that he would join the army and do anything in his power to save those humans. Could there be a more noble cause? Max also renounced his right to the Kunarar dukedom making his older brother the undisputed heir and future duke Kunarar. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Then two years ago the demons invaded Namar. It wasn''t a small attack like so many times before but a full scale offensive with the goal to annihilate the human race. The human kingdom has changed a lot since then. At that time the main objective of the humans was to defend themselves against demon attacks. Nobody wanted to invade the demon continent. It was simply to expensive. I would cost gold and human lives and what was there to gain? No human would want to live on the demon continent, so why would they want to conquer demon territory? The royal army at that time was very small and most soldiers were allegiant to their local lords not the king. The news about the sighting of a huge demon fleet spread like wildfire and panicked the general population. As a reaction almost all lords, dukes and other nobles gathered their private armies and waited for the demon army near the coast. But an army without a central leadership is easy to defeat. The demons, led by the demon king himself, obliterated the proud human army and many people, nobles and soldiers alike died. Even the two dukes of Namar, duke Kunarar, Max''s father, and duke Maluruz were killed and two of the most important positions in the kingdom were filled by two very young men. Humanity would have been wiped out at that hour of peril if it wasn''t for a young refugee girl named Luna Rubra. She collected the remains of the human army as well as volunteers and fought against the demon army. The raise of the human hero Luna Rubra and her duel with the demon king has already become a legend. Max heard bards sing about their duel in the midst of the battle at the last festivity at the royal castle he attended. He was after all still a noble from a ducal house. After the invasion was defeated the old feudalistic kingdom held together by the church became a centralized empire with only one army. The nobles and clerics lost a lot of power while the royal family became the central power in Namar. And now, two years later, humanity finally attacked back. Max was proud to be part of it. Not only was he part of the human army but he was part of the special force directly under Luna whose mission was central to the human strategy. ''Huh, did my live just flashed before my eyes? Luna''s punches are really dangerous.'' Max casted healing magic on his body. He could feel how broken ribs reconnected and inner organs repaired themselves. ''Wow, scary. If I had waited any longer I would have died from internal haemorrhage.'' Healing magic wasn''t a fast motion of what would happen, otherwise it would have no effect on fatal injuries. The mana stimulated the natural healing procedure of the human body. Therefore there was no time lapse internal bleeding in Max''s case just a closing of capillary vessels, regeneration of destroyed tissue and coalescing of rib fissures. Healing magic was staggering but it had its limits. If the body wasn''t able to regenerate something then healing magic wouldn''t help. Examples were missing body parts, like arms, legs or eyes, and organs that have no natural healing process, like the heart or brain. Broken bones had to be adjusted before using healing magic, otherwise they would reconnect in the wrong way. Max had used voiceless blood magic to bring his rips in the right position before he used healing magic. Blood magic was obviously magic to manipulate blood, but it was nothing trivial to do. Manipulating the blood of an enemy was unbelievable difficult and Luna was one of the few mages who mastered it. The problem was to manipulate mana in the blood of a different being which usually has a different mana frequency. According to Luna mana was energy, floating in different dimensions connected to the four spacetime dimensions through the soul in living beings, and was therefore a particle and wave at the same time. Max didn''t understand this at all but he had memorized this sentence. Luna had held lectures about magic theory. Most people found her theory of a ten or twentysix dimensional spacetime with an extra energy form limited to the extra dimensions ridiculous, but it was a fact that she was able to manipulate the mana in a different beings so her critics were silenced soon. "Max come back!! I haven''t punished you yet!" ''Huh? Nearly killing me doesn''t count?'' --------------------------- Authors note: This chapter is a little bit longer than normal. Quick question: Do you want more details on how magic works or on the demon invasion in the past or do you prefer that I concentrate on the present action? Is it annoying to have alternating chapters and side stories? Because I have some side stories left I want to include (side stories is everything that takes place parralel on the human continent during this war). I think that descriptions of magic and other details is often much too long and tedious. What do you think? Chapter 12 - A certain demon army It was the third day after the annihilation of Irk and the general of the demon army stationed in Ark was looking at a map of the region. Somewhere else Luna had just said goodbye to Carla and kissed her on her cheek. The report about smoke in the west were alarming. Was it possible that a human army has bypassed the coastal cities and their army to get farther inland? And if yes, what was their objective? "General Arkor. Two of the arch demon rangers have returned from Irk." "What are you waiting for! Bring them in!" Two arch demons entered the tent and kneeled in front of Arkor. "Speak!" "Irk was destroyed. We found a human army camp south of Irk with at least 20 000 soldiers." "20 000, hmm." mumbled general Arkor. "Ok. Colonel Nar!" "Yes sir!" "How are the preparations?" "We gathered 30 000 horses from the civil population of Nark and Ark. We have now 60 000 horses at our disposal. The quality of the confiscated horses is of course mixed so we expect that they will be much slower than our trained cavalry." "Good. Tell marshal Kar that he will lead the 30 000 soldiers on the civil horses while I will lead the cavalry corps. Two days ago general Arkor had already began to prepare for the departure of his troops, while he had sent out arch demon ranger to confirm his suspicions about Irk. The demon army was originally composed 30 000 cavalry and 70 000 foot soldiers. General Arkor had ordered to forcefully collect as many horses as possible from the two nearby cities Ark and Nark. The local population wasn''t very happy about this naturally, but only few dared to resist. Most of them probably expected to get their horses back in a few weeks or maybe some kind of reparation payment. The plan was to split the now 60 000 cavalry men in two groups. The faster professional cavalry men under his command and the slower soldiers on confiscated horses under Kar''s command. 60 000 against 20 000 might seem excessive but there were several unknown parameters. First he didn''t know whether there might be more human soldiers in other camps further inland. If they can secretly transport 20 000 soldiers in enemy territory they are also able to transport 50 000. Second the demons might need to split up to find them. So if they split up in two groups they would still have the advantage of numbers. The preparations were now complete. The rest of the 40 000 soldiers would stay behind under colonel Nar and wait fo further orders. "You two." "Yes sir!" "I guess the other three stayed behind to observe the situation?" "Yes sir!" "Good. Nar, how many arch demons do we have?" "92 sir. Excluding all higher ranked officials and army personal 27." "That should be enough. You two take 7 arch demons with you to observe the enemy troops. Nar, call the other 20 and tell them to forms teams of two and search the surrounding of Irk and the region west of Irk along the Great Demon Road for human soldiers." ""Yes sir."" "Dismissed." --------------------------- It was the sixth day after the annihilation of Irk. Luna had just rescued Carla. While the two human girls had a touching reunion the mood in the demon army was completely opposite. Yesterday, while general Arkor and his troops were still one day away from Irk, a message from the vanguard - the nine arch demons - had come back. The three rangers were found dead and the human camp was empty. Today Arkor and his army arrived at Irk. He ordered his troops to build an encampment nearby till he made a decision about what to do and walked through the burnt remains of Irk. The human troops had incinerated the whole village. Burnt corpses were lying everywhere. ''Such a small village had no chance against an army of 20 000.'' He looked around and saw the burned remains of a child. Undescribable anger had taken possession of him. ''This lower life forms! How dare they!'' He looked towards the soldiers who were riding behind him through the village. They all looked grimly at the remains of the demon village. "You! Get enough soldiers and dig graves for this poor souls. We have to wait for marshall Kar anyway. You two come with me to the human army camp." ""Yes, sir!"" He then also visited the remains of the army camp to look for clues. But he found nothing. So he ordered his soldiers to examine the surroundings, but they only found the remains of the lord of Irk, a very powerful arch demon. It looked as if he had exploded from the inside. Arkor has never seen anything like that. In the morning of the next day, seven days after the annihilation of Irk, reports came in that the next town, Kirk, along the great demon road was also annihilated. The arch demons that were sent out came back without investigating the details, since there might still be humans nearby and it was imperative that general Arkor would get the details about what they had discovered. A few hours later the rest of the troops arrived in the demon army camp near Irk. But the newcomers had no chance to rest at all. The camp was immediately broken down and the now 60 000 troops followed the Great Demon Road heading west. ''At least I know now that they are advancing on the Great Demon Road. That''s good. There is no reason to split our army up anymore. Three ranger units haven''t reported back yet, I wonder if something happened. But they were tasked with observing the region north of the road so it is rather unlikely. There is nothing there except the ruins of Nar and what should the humans want there? It''s still possible that the humans left some troops behind to ambush my rangers. Let''s wait ans see for now. Maybe they just found some important information and will report back in the next few days.'' --------------------------- Two days later they arrived at Kirk. It was the ninth day after the destruction of Irk and Luna''s group were just leaving the ruins of Nar heading in the direction of Nark. Tomorrow the human fleet would arrive and commence their attack on Nark and Ark. General Arkor of course didn''t know that. Otherwise he would have ordered his troops to immediately march back east. But instead he began to inspect the next town Luna had destroyed. Riding through the gate, passing two headless guards, he and his soldiers entered Kirk. A scene from hell greeted them. It had been five days since Luna''s dance of blood and death and the bodies of her victims already began to compose. Incrusted blood covered the cobbled streets and thousands of flies and maggots feasted on the decomposing bodies. The smell was deplorable. The soldiers and even general Arkor himself covered their mouths and noses with their hands to not throw up. The once thriving city at the Great Demon Road has become a city of ghosts. Was there any chance that there was a survivor? He knew that this was very unlikely but it was his duty to search for survivors. He ordered his army to build a camp outside of the town. He couldn''t ignore the town. Diseases might spread. Unsuspecting travelers on the Great Demon Road or looters might spread a plague from this city to the rest of Arkar. It was even possible that this was the main objective of the human army. He ordered 500 soldiers with respiratory masks to burn the corpses and search for survivors. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. A few hours later hundreds of funeral fires illuminated the ghost city with their gruesome light. The setting sun seemed to emphasise the light of the fires and smoke filled the air. The smell of burned flesh was everywhere and even the troops camping outside of the town felt sick. It was the most horrible thing general Arkor has ever seen. So many demons, even women and children, died here. Those despicable creatures! He was aware that this was probably the human revenge for the human farms in the west and their invasion two years ago. But he refused to acknowledge this. They were just lower life forms after all and it was the right of the stronger species to eat the weaker one. This was the right of the stronger! But deep inside his soul he was anxious. For hundreds of years no human had attacked Arkar, the demon continent. The demons felt certain that even the free humans were just cattle waiting to be eaten. It was just two years ago when the proud and arrogant demon king has amassed the biggest fleet and the strongest army Arkar has ever seen. General Arkor was still a colonel at that time. He remembered how the glamorous army had marched down the Great Demon Road. The army was so big that they needed several days to pass a town. Hundreds of flags were waving in the wind and dozens of trumpets and drums were playing music accompanying their march. All civilians were cheering for the troops. They were, after all, setting out to conquer the world for the demon empire. Not one of them expected their king and troops to walk to their death. The parade in a blaze of glory was in reality nothing more than a death march. The masts of the fleet anchoring between Ark and Nark was like a forest and the army camp at the coast like a new city. The civilians cheering the leaving fleet didn''t know that they wouldn''t see them ever again. Has their hubris awakened something they couldn''t control? Deep inside his heart Arkor suspected that the 20 000 human soldiers he chased were part of something bigger. What did the humans plan? Was the demon empire in danger? He knew that 20 000 humans were no danger to the emire but he couldn''t shake off his suspicion that something was wrong. Horrible wrong. For now he ordered his troops to rest for the night. It was a long day and they would continue their march heading west tomorrow morning. But during the night he was woken up. An arch demon squad came back from the next village. Arkor already suspected their findings but he heard them out anyways. "Speak!" "General, the next village, Jul, was raided too but we found a survivor who buried the dead villagers. A hunter named Natar has witnessed everything." "Good. What can you tell me about the human army?" "Ehm ..." "What are you waiting for, soldier?" "Yes! There was no army. There was just a single female human warrior with white hair that destroyed the village." "What!?" ''It can''t be ... lure us out to this town? But why? It can''t be! No, no, no!'' As if to answer his speculations a soldier charged in the tent. "General!! There is a light in the east!" Arkor stormed out of his tent. The whole horizon was glowing as if it has been inflamed by thousands of fires. Suddenly he understood his mistake but it was to late. The humans had already begun their attack on the coastal cities. --------------------------- It was the fifteenth day after the destruction of Irk, the attack that has started the whole tragedy. The demon army was now in the grassland west of Nark preparing for the next battle. They had marched day and night expecting to find a besieged city but what they found instead was much worse. A human army encamped outside the city. All that was left of Nark and Ark were smoking ruins. The human army had made themselves ready to fight and were now standing in battle position on high ground near Nark. They had formed an elongated formation with foot soldiers in front and archers at the back. Cavalry was stationed at the flanks and several catapults could be seen behind the archers. A single female warrior with white hair was standing in front of the army and holding an emotional speech in human tongue. She was using magic to increase the volume of her voice. At the end of her speech the whole army was cheering ardently and dozens of trumpets and horns were blown. ''White hair? This is probably the female human warrior that annihilated the village.'' The only advantage of the demon army was that every soldier had a horse and Arkor intended to use this. He stationed the 30 000 professional cavalry men in the front and the 30 000 soldiers on confiscated civil horses at the back. His plan was simple. The professional cavalry would cut wide swaths through the ranks of their foes and the rest of the army would trample down the remaining human soldiers. The demon army began to ride towards the human army. The human girl in front of the human army raised her hand with her sword. Trumpets responded and the catapults fired blazing projectiles through the sky at the advancing demon army. Chapter 13 - An important letter "Max, let''s train!" "Please, I can''t take it any more." "What are you talking about? You were too weak to kill the two arch demons alone and needed Carla''s help. So you need to get stronger, right?" "They split up! How can I follow two persons at once!" "How enthusiastic. It seems you are full of energy. Let''s train." Max has been Luna''s punching bag for the last few days. Luna''s army were resting at the ruins of Nar and watching their commander beat up their co-commander during so-called training. It was pretty obvious that Luna was still angry at Max for endangering Carla. Everybody pitied him but nobody dared to speak up, with one exception. "Luna, please stop. It was my decision. I wanted to help, Max didn''t force me to do anything." "What are you talking about? I''m just training my underlings. That is also my job after all." "Luna..." "Come on Max. It''s the last time." "Really?" "Yes. We have to depart afterwards." "Huh. It have no choice, do I?" "Nope." Luna smiled happily at Max. --------------------------- It was the ninth day after the annihilation of Irk and Luna''s mission was on schedule. Everything has worked out perfectly. She had been able to lure a significant part of the demon army away from the coast, so that the human invasion force could conquer and destroy the coastal cities Nark and Ark. Afterwards they would erase the returning demon army and then turn south to finally destroy Kark. The second phase of their special mission would begin now and the thousand men directly under Luna waited silently for their orders. Up until now their only task had been to build an oversized army camp near Irk and follow Luna or Max through the demon continent. They knew that their mission was important but it felt like Luna had done all the work up until now. They waited for their orders and hoped to finally be able to use their swords. The human fleet under admiral Drogo would come into view on the horizon tomorrow. Luna was standing on the ruins of the collapsed donjon tower of Nar while the soldiers, including Max and Carla, were standing in the castle courtyard waiting for Luna to give them their orders. "Soldiers! I know you can''t wait to kill some demons. Don''t worry, you will soon have the opportunity to eradicate those monsters!" ""Yeah!"" The men hailed those word. All of them volunteered for this special mission to contribute to the human victory. Many of them had lost family members and friends during the demon invasion two years ago and they were highly motivated to fight under the human hero, Luna Rubra, who saved the human race and get revenge for the suffering caused by the demons. "We managed to lure away the majority of the demon army from the coastal demon cities. The human fleet will arrive in two days. Till then it will be your mission to occupy the Great Demon Road west of Nark and kill every demon that tries to travel west. It is imperative that no demon manages to reach the main demon army and informs them about our fleet. You will be again under the leadership of captain Kunarar and in two days I will rejoin with you and we will attack Nark together with the main army. Do not disappoint me! Your role is essential for the success of our plan! Understood!?" "Yes!" "For humanity" "For general Rubra!" "Let''s kill those demon bastards!" ""Yeah!"" Luna jumped down from the pile of stones and beckoned Carla over. "Hey, Carla." "Are you really again running off alone? Please let me go with you! I can help." Carla was worried about Luna. She always acted reckless disregarding her own life, driven by her hatred for demons. Carla wished Luna would be more cautious. She would always wait anxiously for Luna''s return imagining Luna dying somewhere. She was strong but strength couldn''t protect you from surprise attacks. Luna understood Carla''s anxiousness but killing demons was her duty and purpose. How could she turn her back on her mortal enmity with demon kind. Carla just wanted to be with the person she loves and protect her while Luna wanted Carla to be at a safe place far away from her fight. They both cared for each other but their goals were diametrically opposed. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "No. I''m sorry, I know how you feel but I have an important mission for you." She took out a sealed letter. "I want you to deliver this letter to admiral Drogo. Only you, Max and me have enough mana and control over their mana to walk on water." It was true, only Luna, Max and Carla were able to walk on water. A magician who wants to walk on water would need to coat his feet in mana - this was the easy part - and then manipulate the water molecules inside the mana sphere to form a solid surface. The principle was very similar to ice magic but it was still different from just freezing the surface of the water. The mana crystallising the water molecules for a split second was also used as a buoyant force keeping the feet floating. It was not possible to stand on water with this technique but running was feasible as long as the speed was sufficient. "Max will go south to blockade the Great Demon Road. I want you to go east to the coast and wait till you see the human fleet on the horizon. When you see them run over the water surface and deliver this letter to admiral Drogo." "What about you! I can help" Luna was stroking Carla''s head with her right hand while smiling wryly. "Don''t worry about me. I''m strong. I can also survive without your help but I need you to deliver this letter. Drogo needs to be informed about all the details." Carla whose head was petted saw the scar on Luna''s right arm directly in front of her eyes. ''I''m just a nuisance to Luna. She is much safer without me.'' Luna saw the sadness and self-reproaches in Carla''s eyes while she looked at her scar. She didn''t care about something trivial like a scar but she decided to say nothing. ''Oh Carla, you should know that I don''t care about a scar but maybe you will listen to me once and go to the fleet where you are safe.'' ''She is right. She doesn''t need my help.'' "You understand why this is important, right?" "Yes ... can I come back after I delivered the letter?" "No. You stay with the fleet." "But ..." "How would you find me in the midst of battle? Don''t worry we will meet after conquering Nark and Ark." "Yes ..." --------------------------- A single human girl was sitting at the beach of the demon continent Arkar looking at the horizon and waiting for the human fleet. It was evening and the sun would set soon. She had run through the hilly grassland east of Nar for hours before she arrived her. Now she was looking east holding tightly a letter in her hands. ''I guess I can only help Luna by delivering this letter. Why did I insist to come with her? Luna was injured because of me. I didn''t help her at all.'' Masts could be seen at the horizon already. ''Let''s go.'' Carla didn''t know but the content of the letter was [Hi Drogo, Please protect Carla for me for a while. I will kill you if anything happens to her. Luna] Luna had already contacted admiral Drogo with a secret magical item about the success of her mission. She had created it based on her knowledge about cell phones but paid attention to keep it a secret from Carla. Luna had never considered to allow Carla to participate in a real battle. It was simply too dangerous. But she believed that Carla would be safe at the command centre of the human army next to admiral Drogo. --------------------------- Author note: Just out of curiosity, what do you think about my writing style/grammar (in general up until now)? Chapter 14 - Attack on Nark It was the darkest and the brightest moment in human history at the same time. The demon army led by the demon king himself was just defeated but many humans died, nobles and peasants alike, and many cities and villages were wiped out. Scouts, examining annihilated villages and towns, found mountains of gnawed off bones but they also found living civilians herded together like cattle. The losing demon army tried to kill them all in the last moment but the human resistance movement led by the emerging human hero Luna Rubra freed many of them. Humanity finally understood that coexistence with the demon race even on separate continents was impossible. They had ignored the reports about demon kind viewing humanity as nothing more than cattle and have paid the price for it. By now everybody knew the story of Luna Rubra, a human fleeing from the human livestock farms on the demon continent just to save humanity from the demon army. They sang songs about her duel with the demon king in front of the human capital, Namar. The human capital had the same name as the continent and the royal family since it was the first known human settlement ever to exist. The city was usually just called ''capital'' or ''Namar city''. And in the ruins of this said place a party was held to celebrate the victory and the new hero. Admiral Drogo was just a fleet captain two years ago. His fleet was patrolling the Caro Islands at the time searching for pirates that attacked merchant ships a few months ago when reports came in about a demon invasion. He decided to confiscate all useful ships and forcefully recruit sailors and soldiers to form a temporary fleet to destroy the demon fleet anchoring in the Bay of Nam. The Caro Islands were situated south of the human continent and the Bay of Nam was the closest point of Namar to the demon continent. Drogo at that moment had the highest military position in the margravate of the Caro Islands so he used his authority to concentrate troops. The margrave understanding the threat level helped him so he managed to arrive at the anchoring demon fleet just two weeks after the initial reports. By a fluke this was also the time when Luna''s troops were chasing the remains of the demon army back to the Bay of Nam. Drogo''s fleet set the demon fleet on fire and the encircled demon army was annihilated. And so it happened that Drogo was also hailed as one of the brave commanders that saved humanity together with the hero and he was invited to the royal palace in the capital to celebrate the victory. Was it because he was drunk or because he was happy about his promotion to the rank of an admiral or was it because he forgot that the cute white haired girl was in reality a monster? He didn''t know why but at said party he decided to make meat palatable to Luna. What a stupid and dangerous idea. After all wasn''t it ridiculous to compare eating humans to eating animals? In reality he didn''t really care what someone else eats but he thought that it would be a funny conversation topic. While luckily - or unluckily - sitting next to Luna at the banquet table Drogo initiated a conversation with her. "It''s a pleasure to meet the human hero Luna Rubra. I''ve heard so many stories about your accomplishments." "The pleasure is all mine. You are the captain that destroyed the demon fleet, weren''t you? Thanks to you non of those monsters escaped." Luna smiled in a non-committal way while they made some further small talk. "I''ve heard about your past on the demon continent. Is it true that you don''t eat meat because of your childhood memories?" he asked while looking at Luna''s dish plating only vegetables. "Yes, I simply can''t stand the smell and sight of meat. Eating meat is nothing more than munching cadavers for me and it''s smell is nothing more than burned cadaveric odour. I don''t force my view on others but I really hate meat." "This is because humans are held as cattle on the demon continent, isn''t it? But how can you compare animals with humans? Animals have no self-awareness after all." "The humans on the demon continent aren''t conscious too because of the magical collars they wear, but it''s not a matter of consciousness for me. I simply hate the idea of eating a deceased body." Luna''s facial expression was strained because she didn''t like this conversation topic but Drogo didn''t realize this. Instead he did the most suicidal action possible. He took some of the meat from his plate and put it on Luna''s plate while saying "That''s not good. A growing girl needs to eat meat. It''s not healthy to just eat ..." At first Luna looked disgusted at the meat on her plate but her disgust soon turned into burning anger. The shivering Luna slowly turned her head to Drogo and smiled ferociously at him. The next thing he saw was a fist coated in mana and then darkness swallowed him. He woke up two weeks later in a hospital. They told him Luna seriously tried to kill him and that it required several guards and even the king himself to calm Luna down and save Drogo''s life. Drogo''s body that flew away due to the force of Luna''s blow injured several other guests and even destroyed the wall behind him. The medical magicians told him it was a wonder he survived that hit. Fortunately, the king convinced Luna to not deliver a finishing blow to the unconscious Drogo. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. At that time Drogo learned one of the most important lessons of his life. Never anger Luna Rubra! It should be self-evident to not anger someone who can kill the demon king, but Drogo learned this lesson the hard way. --------------------------- Admiral Drogo was now holding a terrifying letter in his hands. [Hi Drogo, Please protect Carla for me for a while. I will kill you if anything happens to her. Luna] ''... I will kill you ...'' Drogo looked at Carla, at the letter and again at Carla while breaking out in a sweat. ''Dangerous. I won''t survive an angry Luna! I want to put Luna''s friend on a ship and sent her back to Namar just to be save. I guess if I order her to stay next to me on the commando ship nothing will happen.'' Thousand visions how Carla could hurt herself played in his mind. One time she slipped on the wet planks, fell into the sea and was eaten by a shark. Were there sharks in this ocean? One time she was eating a meal and because of a jolt of the ship she impaled herself with a knife. One time she was hit by lightning. This images became more and more absurd. ''This is ridiculous. Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen....'' "Is something wrong admiral?" "Eh? Oh no, sorry. You will stay here with me and help me with paperwork." "Please let me fight admiral. I''m very strong and I want to help." "No!! ... I mean ... you are needed here. You are the official assistant of general Rubra after all. This is an order, understood!?" "Yes. Please pardon my words." "No problem. My secretary will show you your cabin. Rest for now, I will call you later." "Yes sir." --------------------------- "Land Ahoy!" The next day land was in sight and at the horizon two big demon cities could be seen. Smoke was rising from several defence towers of Nark while Ark seemed unaffected. This was part of the human plan. They would concentrate their bombardment on Nark while Luna''s troops would lie in ambush between Nark and Ark in case they sent reinforcements from the southern city Ark to the northern one, Nark. The fleet was now splitting up in a bigger part sailing in the direction of Nark and a smaller fleet in the direction of Ark. What couldn''t be seen from the outside was that more troops were stationed below deck of the fleet going south. At the same time the catapults were readied. They were special magical enhanced tools but what was really outstanding were the projectiles. Many mages had pumped mana in them to ensure that they would explode on impact. It was a new magical technology developed by general Luna herself. They were filled with chemical explosive materials that would explode if they catch fire. The airtight shell with the magical circuits would inflame on impact resulting in an explosion of the interior while the magical circles would simultaneously enhance the power of the explosion. The city walls of Nark were in effective fire distance several hours later while the southern fleet stayed farther away from the coast. Admiral Drogo ordered to launch a signal fire to command the attack. Dozens of projectiles were launched at the walls and exploded on impact causing the walls to crumble. The demons in Nark couldn''t fire back with their catapults since the towers with the catapults were destroyed the night before by a single female human warrior. They could only fire arrows since arch demons couldn''t fire magic over such a long distance. But arrows had almost no effect on ships, even if they were ignited. The bombardment of Nark continued for several hours before the demon generals in Ark decided to send help to the northern city since the walls of Nark seemed almost ready to be stormed. The second part of the human strategy would begin now. Luna and thousand elite soldier lay in ambush waiting for the demon troops, in the woods near the road from Ark to Nark. Every soldier of Luna''s troop had carried a magical tool similar to the projectiles of the navy with him. The only difference was that they could be ignited through mana waves similar to a radio remote control. During the night they had buried them under and near the demon road creating the first minefield in this world. Earth magic was really useful for such operations. Every soldier in Luna''s unit could use at least a little bit of magic and several of them specialized in earth magic. Extra - Map of Kalar (Map of the World) Link to larger picture Human empire: The human empire Namar is a feudalistic kingdom and is divided in 20 regions 2 duchies: - Duchy of Maluruz - Duchy of Kunarar 4 marquisates - Marquisate of Kinur - Marquisate of Kanakar - Marquisate of Glug - Marquisate of the Caro Islands 11 Earldoms - Earldom of Zulo - Earldom of Lor - Earldom of Jamjar A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.- Earldom of Hom - Earldom of Pan - Earldom of Kolk - Earldom of Kurk - Earldom of Humir - Earldom of the Cantar Islands - Earldom of the Nart Islands - Earldom of Kar Islands 3 others - Royal Fiefdom - City State of Alinor - Calar Islands Military Zone Demon empire: The demon empire is a centralized kingdom. Every city has a local lord - most of them are arch demons. The most important Lords are members of the royal council. The capital Arkana is under the direct control of the king and is usually managed by the prime minister.