Tree of Aeons

306. Border Control V

Year 278

“For the worlds that we don’t intend to spend much time on, let’s just go in, destroy the demons and the demon king. The locals wouldn’t realize anything’s different, and we fulfill our end of the bargain with Hawa.” Lumoof repeated. “For those where we intended to deploy a node, we’ll work out a more detailed plan.”

“Got it.” The heroes and the domain holders nodded. 

“Okay, come. Now let’s go-”

Sarlpi

Lumoof and Stella led the way, and they landed on the world of Sarlpi. Once Lumoof went through, the rest of the heroes and domain holders followed, transported through my clone-teleportation ability. 

The demon king of Sarlpi was a fire demon, and it waited. The world of Sarlpi was heavily battered, though the few Order operatives on Sarlpi managed to create a safe space for the fire people that still lived. 

A few of them would stay back to protect the fire people, in the event that the ice people of the north and south decided to expand, though the unfavorable terrain meant it was unlikely that the ice people would be interested in the lands.

It was fairly easy to find the demon king, and the battle was now trivial. 

Sarlpi’s Demon King died in a fairly quick battle. The might of nine domain holders and seven heroes meant what was a formidable challenge for a single hero was thoroughly trivial. The heroes could not believe how easy the battle was over. 

“I like that this is easy.” Samuel breathed a sigh of relief. 

Prabu and Colette nodded. “It’ll be great if all demon kings are like this, but we have to prepare for demon kings that are like the one on Gigantadragon or Multipus.” 

The heroes gained a level or two each, and the lower leveled domain holders did as well. But for the three of us that reached Level 200, we didn’t gain a thing. 

It was fine. We had to keep moving.

***

Capra

The force landed on the world of Capra, through one of my node trees. The Node Tree was safely placed in one of the Capran Mountaintop Cities.

The Caprans were hospitable, and they were more than happy to send a party with us to witness the battle. The agreeableness of the Capran rulers made it easy for us to work with them, though a part of me wondered whether there was something we didn’t see or realize. 

On some level, I suppose it didn’t matter. As long as the Caprans cooperated, provided resources and talent towards our end goal, I didn’t see a need to expect more from them. This was their world, I was just their temporary protector. 

Just like on Sarlpi, the battle against the flying demon king of Capra ended quickly. The moment both Lumoof and Edna got on top of the flying demon king, and properly locked it into the ground, the battle was mostly over. Without the incredible mobility of the flying demon king, the rest of the heroes and domain holders hammered the demon king to death. 

It was a very different style of battle compared to what the Capran literature depicted. According to their old legends, the battles between demon kings and heroes often brought them across large areas, as their battle crisscrossed the valleys and the towering mountains. As Capran attracted flying demon kings, and the heroes have flight abilities of their own, the old legends were pretty much aerial dogfights and chases through the valleys. 

The brutal, up close and personal nature of our forces were a shock, but victory was victory, and we were ready to move.

Capra was free, and we would shift our direction here. On Capra, it was a time for recruitment and reconstruction.

***

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Magisar

Lausanne requested that the battle against the demon king be a fairly quiet affair. 

The quelling of the rebellion left a visible mark on the way the mages conducted themselves. It was as if the fire in their mage society was suddenly robbed of their fuel. Depression and a sense of sadness seemed to permeate the towers. Those that didn’t participate in it thanked their lucky stars, and the stories of how the rebellion was quelled turned more outlandish at each subsequent revision.

It’ll take some time for this sensation to fade. 

“Join us, Lausanne. As well as Blackmoore. Those level 140 and above should join the final battle.” Lumoof offered the Valthorns. It was voluntary, but in the end everyone who was Level 140 accepted.

We knew from experience that those close to the domain needed it. Edna, Roon and Johann fought in numerous battles against the demon kings before they broke through that unknown barrier. 

The battle against Magisar’s golem demon king also went smoothly, and quite a few participants gained a level or two, but sadly, it wasn’t enough to make anyone a domain holder. 

It was disappointing, but it made sense. 

“Our presence is making it too easy.” Lumoof said. “But I don’t see why we should stop doing it. There will be many other worlds to take more risks.” 

With Magisar’s demon king defeated, the group moved on to the next world. 

***

Great Steppes

The Armataurs and Lancias were incredibly helpful, and the way they treated the heroes were as if they were the walking embodiment of god itself.

The priests of the two centaur subspecies were gifted with a way of noticing the presence of those who bore the touch of their gods, and so the presence of so many heroes created a controversy among the faithful. 

The treehome heroes were not summoned by Hawa, and neither was Khefri or the other heroes. In the first place, their ability to locate ‘their’ hero only worked specifically to the hero summoned to the Great Steppes, and not elsewhere, but this was a matter that still confused them. 

The Armataurs, which worshipped Hawa, and the Lancias who worshipped a god I’ve not met named Zulfa, and in both their religions, they only received two heroes during each and every hero summoning.

One by Hawa, one by Zulfa. Thus, the presence of seven heroes meant the existence of many gods beyond what their creation myths stated. It was a cause of great debate among the priests and faithful. 

Some of these priests tried to explain it by some kind of exceptional summoning. Some of them spoke about the coming of a third god, which only made these bunch seem blasphemous to those who believed in the primacy of the twin centaurian gods of Hawa and Zulfa. 

In the end, the great leaders of the two centaurs decided to order an embargo on all information about the presence of so many heroes, in order to prevent any widescale consequences, and restrict the knowledge only to the small group of leaders from both sides. 

On our end, it didn’t matter. Their decision came from the desire to maintain peace, prevent unnecessary discord, and protect the current social order of the world. The Hawa and Zulfa faith didn’t need their followers questioning them, and since we’ve decided to let them be, we allowed them to do what they wanted. 

We fought the demon king and won swimmingly, and the Great Steppes returned to a time of peace. 

***

Treehome

“How many demon kings are we planning to fight this year?” Samuel asked, slightly unprepared for how frequently he was moved from world to world. The few heroes met in a massive, luxurious lounge set in a mansion, and it was Prabu and Colette’s family home in Freshka. The heroes.

“I don’t know.” Colette answered, while she briefly glanced out of the large glass windows. Prabu was chasing their daughter Rohana in the fields. Rohana invited some of her school friends over to play, most of them were children of the Valthorn elites that decided to have kids. “But we should be moving soon.”

“Is it always like this?” The hero from Landas asked. “Like- can we have some breaks in between?”

“Not really. We’ve not had so many demon king battles in a single year, but the peripheral worlds are a relatively new phenomenon.” Colette clarified. “But if you want to clarify the schedule, I think you should just ask Kei- and speak of the devil, she’s here.”

Kei walked in and waved. “Oh, hello. I’m late, apologies for that. I’ve got the details on the next battle-” 

Colette cut in. “Samuel’s getting tired of the demon king battles. Could you suggest a way we can build a schedule, that way we get enough advance notice, and I can still arrange time for my kid’s parties?”

The crystal golem girl stopped and looked at the mage Colette a little bewildered. “Seriously? You want me to schedule an appointment for each demon king battle?”

Samuel stared at Colette. “That’s not what I meant!” Maybe he was a little annoyed that Colette just used his question as an excuse to advance her own interests. 

Colette shrugged. “I do think schedules are a good thing. For the peripheral worlds we pretty much have all the information we need, and with both Lumoof and Edna- hell, can we suggest that the domain holders take the battles on their own?”

The former hero couldn’t quite believe the words she heard, but then again, Colette as a [Liberated hero] is probably the only one who could say such things. The idea of not fighting demon kings is something that gives all the other heroes a great big headache. Kei looked at Colette, no, she stared at the hero, and the mage smiled. 

“I mean, I get that Aeon wants to spread the levels around, but I kinda think it’s experience that’s wasted on us heroes? It’s not like more levels for us actually help the greater cause.” Colette said, once again something only she could say.

Kei rubbed her temple, unsure why her golem body still gave her the same kind of migraines a biological body would experience. Maybe it was a shadow of her soul, a headache felt in her spirit so it is then replicated in her body, whatever it was. “I will bring it up.”

“Great! I think a good ratio would be one-in-three. We’ll participate in one third of all demon king battles, and the domain holders can take the rest.” Colette suggested, more than happy to get out of demon king battles.

“Wait!” Samuel cut in, his face looked partially in pain. “Why are you suggesting such a thing-”

“Because I can.” Colette smiled. “Live a little, Samuel. You should find a wife, too. Maybe Khefri.”

Khefri rolled her eyes, somehow a little more resistant to the hero class’s effects. “No thanks. I’m gonna head back to Threeworlds once we’re done with the demon kings.”

The two newer heroes, Wira and Rajah, still adopted Gigantadragon as their home, but they too occasionally visited Freshka for a taste of modern life. 

All in, seven heroes. Prabu, Colette, Khefri, Adrian, Samuel, Wira and Rajah, all would have to work harder. 

Kei frowned. “Well, there’s two demon kings to hit in the Three Ringed World next. I suppose you want a break?”

Samuel clearly looked torn, the effects of the hero class trying to exert itself. So Colette answered for him. 

“Yes. A break. Let’s battle the rest of the demon kings next year. The domain holders can handle it.”

Kei nodded. “Guess I’ll see what can be done, there’s only the demon kings on Three Ringed World, Twinspace and Shasan left, a total of four demon kings. The rest are all freed.”

Colette nodded. “Great!”

***

Three Ringed World

“And so we are here after all.” Lumoof smiled as the Valthorns followed. There were at least fifty level 140s, Lausanne and Ebon among them. “Since the heroes opted to sit out the next demon king battles, it is thus appropriate for us to try and get some of you to be domain holders.” 

Everyone knew that already, and yet, it still frightened them. As level 140s, they were decently strong, and could generally survive lesser wounds. Their attacks were also fairly powerful, since they came well equipped with powerful weapons created over the decades. 

But death was a possibility, even with Edna’s [Three Strikes] and various protective abilities mitigated quite a few of the risks. 

“Well, let’s go. Enough models and simulations, it’s time to test out our abilities.” Lumoof said, and my forces descended on the demon king.

In Avatar mode, through Lumoof, we could single handedly wrestle with the demon king’s strength, and together we drained the demon king of its magic. With Lumoof around, we pretty much pacified the demon king Edna, Alka, and all the others went all out and the demon king died fairly easily, even without the heroes.

It took us way longer, though. Instead of a battle that finished in two hours or less, fighting the demon king without the heroes now took us a full day. 

But we still saw that as a win, since we achieved this without using bombs. 

With one of the demon kings defeated, we rested for a few days, and then replicated it with the second demon king. 

It was quite a relief that the two demon kings did not assist each other, and instead, somehow operated independently. If we had to face two demon kings at the same time, that would make our battle slightly harder. 

So, we freed the Three Ringed World from it’s demon kings.

My Valthorns mostly gained a few levels here and there, and yet, sadly no new domain holders just yet. 

Maybe a few more.

***

Treehome

The Holy Empire of the Southern Continent

“You’ve got quite the place for me to go to.” Emperor Erranuel said as Lumoof arrived in his main chambers. The news of Erranuel’s intention to expand to the other worlds made the nobles that had been eying for more power confused. 

Erranuel’s holy empire was politically fractured. It always was, even though he tried his best to hold them together. 

But there were far too many vested interests, and Erranuel still felt like he had too much to lose by taking action. It was something Lumoof found pitiful. Maybe he didn’t have confidence in the support he had amongst his own nobles. The Holy Empire’s origins were the cause, the Empire in itself is a cobbled nation, forcefully fused together by the acts of the churches in order to resist the merchant guilds and also the Order’s power. 

This complicated history merely papered over old faults and grudges among its member states, and so, Erranuel’s role was chiefly as the mediator.

He hated it all. Or maybe he was just tired of it, and desired something new. 

So, when Lumoof returned with a destination, we could see it spurred him into action. He nominated one of his trusted senior dukes as Regent, and then quickly rounded up a group of nobles, both loyalists and traitors, for the mission.

“Shasan is one of the worlds that didn’t quite fit our needs, but it is a fractured world with desert  and part oasis type of terrain that you should be fairly familiar with.” Lumoof said. 

“It’s one of your leftovers.” Erranuel countered flatly, there were a few nobles seated around the Emperor. 

“You could put it that way.” Lumoof continued without stopping. “But it is a world that doesn’t have a unified nation, and each of it’s nations are fractured. They also follow Hawa, even if only at a limited level. With the right motivations and resources, I think you could do a great deal.”

“Hah.” Erranuel chuckled. “Since you put it that way, then I must live up to my reputation. But first-”

Erranuel glanced at Lumoof and back at his own people. 

“First, will you lead me to Hawa? My people wish to meet their god. I too, have many questions.”

“If you accept, we’ll drop by one of Hawa’s core world of Satrya. Whether Hawa graces you with his presence is between you and him.” Lumoof nodded. “Your men and priests can come with you, though the very presence of your god would likely be overwhelming for most of them.”

Erranuel shook his head. “I believe my men’s faith is stronger than that, but I’ll take the challenge. Maybe, it is just what they needed.” 

“Well, then get ready, we’ll arrange for all of you to be sent to one of the weaker, chaotic towns after that on Shasan.” 

The Emperor would not be starting from scratch, because he would make the journey with a decent sized selection of soldiers and leaders. Maybe he was getting bored, and so the prospect of building a new nation thoroughly excited him.

I wanted to see what others could do, on other worlds.