Harbingers of Change

Chapter 11

Failure had always been his biggest fear. Nothing terrified Mare more than the possibility of failing tasks entrusted to him, particularly those entrusted to him by the Supreme Ones. Now, he was entrusted with subjugating several uncivilized species and bringing them under Tempest’s control.

Unlike his sister, who often preferred flashy entrances and improvising on the spot, he methodically planned out his approach beforehand. With all the tactical data provided by the scouting forces, he was aware that the leader of the Gozu was proud and stubborn, befitting his bovine nature. The cowlike species thrived on domination and violence and would understand nothing else besides raw power, negotiations of words and currency meant nothing to them.

He had also been itching to unleash some of his true power as of late, ever since his girlfriend had begun improving herself in her efforts to somehow make herself worthy of him - foolish in his opinion, since she was always adorable and lovable no matter how she acted - and wanted to test how he had grown from his daily spars with the dryads who were experienced in the world’s spiritual magics. 

With that in mind, Mare teleported right into the middle of the Gozu’s main settlement and strode toward the leader and his two bodyguards. The nearly two-meter-tall creatures watched him with confusion and initially didn’t react to a lone elven boy approaching the leader, not even lifting up their axes and shields.

They had no reason to be wary of him, as all the elves they had encountered before were weaklings who broke with a gentle tap from their superior brute strength. Mare used this fact to his advantage and gave no demands at first, continually walking forward.

Only when he was less than four meters away from the leader, did the two guards react and effortlessly try to swat him away, given that they were still bodyguards who had to protect their leader. He avoided their clumsy attacks with the massive axes, and with a precise swipe, he struck the nearer Gozu in the chest, sending the creature into a collision course with his peer as their weapons went flying. The leader didn’t properly register what had happened when the two dead bovines landed over twenty meters away, crashing into one of the wooden huts the primitive creatures lived in and said huts collapsing upon them.

Mare continued his walk just the way he had planned out. The leader of the Gozu tribes finally realized he was dealing with a real enemy and tensed up, putting up a defensive pose with his massive weapons and shouting, “You have come to the wrong-”

He had no time to deal with empty threats. Without any hesitation, Mare drove his staff into the massive bull’s kneecap, forcing the creature to let out a bellowing moo and fall to one knee as the other bent inward. The next hit landed on his back shoulder, turning his right arm into mush as his nerves went slack.

Well aware that the strong Gozu had Self-Regeneration, Mare knew he needed to drive the point home fast. As the creature landed on his stomach, screaming in pain, Mare drove his weapon down at the base of the creature's spine, shattering it in an instant.

“I would appreciate it if you surrendered now. I am on a tight schedule,” Mare stated to the Gozu leader who was screaming in pain.

“I am not so-”

‘Why do they have to be so stubborn?’ Mare internally panicked, and in rapid succession, he broke all four of the creature’s extremities, hearing bones crumble to dust.

“I will need for you to surrender. O-otherwise, I need to find the next in line and do all this again, and that wastes so much time. Could you give up please?” Mare inquired timidly as he continued to break the bovine’s bones one by one from the hands and feet inward.

Only then did the Gozu leader understand what sort of danger he was in. The elven boy didn’t spare him because he was afraid to kill. To this absolutely monstrous creature even above him, killing came as naturally as breathing. The reason he still drew breath despite shattered bones was that the boy didn’t want to waste time and torment more of his kind to get unconditional submission toward him. A crippled leader was still a leader after all, but a dead leader meant a new leader had to be found and cowed into submission. 

“I surrender!” He screamed. “My people are yours to command!”

“Oh, thank the Supreme Ones. Can you gather all your people and welcome the new administration?” The elven boy asked with an audible sigh of relief.

“Everything you want. I will do anything you want. I will accept your servants personally and make sure no one raises an arm!” The Gozu leader shouted, still reeling in pain. Not even in the most brutal battles with the Mezu had he been injured so severely, even as he quickly bellowed for a rare healing potion stolen from the uncommonly seen kobold merchants to be brought to him. Their leaders wanted to waste no time, the expenditure of such a rare substance was necessary.

“That’s great. I’ll be moving on now. Please behave, ok?” Mare dismissed his staff and opened a gate for liches to arrive, who soon emerged in droves with their obligatory military detachment of death knights.

His part in the cow people’s subjugation was done, and he could move on to the next target. The next to be dealt with was a splinter dryad faction that had broken off from the main one centuries ago, refusing to serve Veldora compared to the dryads he knew of back in Tempest.

Knowing their weakness of being tied to the trees that housed their spiritual bodies, he teleported to the scouted-out grove and, before any of the dryads could arrive and stop him, Mare tossed a vial at the tree housing their leader. The massive ancient tree burst into flames instantly, thickly coated in a near-inextinguishable concoction made by the science department, supposedly based on a Supreme One’s flames called “Greek fire” and “napalm.”

The dryads, predictably, tried to use nature against him, but when his ultimate skill, which provided him with absolute control over all things vegetation, stopped them in their tracks, the leader frantically summoned a medium water spirit to douse the fires of her tree.

Mare casually put a shield around the tree and himself, preventing the water spirits from stopping the fires or attacking him. The lead dryad started to shiver in horror and dropped to her knees in front of the elven boy, beginning to plead.

“Stop it. Please! We have done nothing to you. Just tell me what you want!” She pleaded as her physical form rapidly burned away.

“I need for you all to pledge your servitude to Lord Momonga. Can you do that?” he questioned the translucent woman who was in tears, groveling at his feet.

“Yes! Anything. We will serve you and whoever this Lord Momonga is. Please stop the flames! It hurts!” Her pleas became more frantic as more ineffective water elementals were summoned.

“Stop hurting Ati!” “We will serve!” The rest of the twenty or so dryads joined in shouting over one another after realizing the futility of trying to stop this monstrous creature with violence, who had cowed their leader and was more than willing to kill their precious material forms.

“That’s great.” Mare smiled at her. Now that he had gotten what he came for, Mare removed the shield and tossed another vial at the tree, instantly suffocating the flames as Ati silently stared at her charred form, trembling in both pain and fear. Even the Lord of the Forest, Veldora, was not this brutal when they had refused to serve, instead telling them to just not disrupt his realm, which they were more than willing to accommodate. Whoever the small boy and his mysterious master were, the point was driven home in spades what would happen should they ever dare to disobey.

Mare, meanwhile, satisfied with the results, procured his staff from his inventory and gently tapped one of the tree roots, restoring the ancient tree to its former glory.

“Does it still hurt?” He asked with slight concern behind his voice, more healing magic at the ready.

“Master, you… healed me?” Ati gasped as she flew closer to her physical form and stroked the tree’s freshly restored bark, as if it had never been torched in the first place. “I don't understand.”

“I needed you to submit. That’s all. Now that you have, there is no need to keep you damaged,” Mare explained with a sigh of relief, sending out more magic to heal his surroundings in case some of the flames splashed beyond just the tree.

‘I see. This was nothing but a demonstration,’ Ati realized. ‘If we disobey, the young master would not hesitate to punish us, but if we do as told, he will keep us safe.’

There was something intangible in the boy that connected him directly to nature itself, something they all felt. The fact that the grass and roots refused her request to attack was proof of that, that they regarded this elf higher than her on the totem pole. Understanding how to behave, she timidly inquired, “What are your orders, master?”

“You and all the lands you control will be included in Tempest Hegemony. The new administration should arrive any second. Please listen to them,” Mare replied.

His part of the job was done, and by reports coming in from the shadow demons, he had done so faster than Aura, thus completing his mission in a timely manner. All that remained was to return to the mobile HQ and report to Cocytus, who, in turn, would send an overall report back to the capital of his victorious subjugations.

<X>

The Eastern Expansion ended in flawless success. In a short period of time, all unaccounted parts of the Jura Forest were added to the Tempest Hegemony, which now fully bordered the Jistav puppet nation and the Eastern Empire.

Momonga, followed by his consorts, approached the three leaders of the expansion force and the representatives of the new races and groups. Milim, who wasn’t supposed to intervene, was sitting on a massive wyvern with the rest of its kind circling above the city, beaming with pride.

Since he hadn't actually forbidden her from directly assisting Cocytus and the elven twins, there was no reason to reprimand her. The insectoid reported that Aura had voiced a minor complaint about the Dragonoid girl taking away their work, but in the end, all tasks were distributed fairly, and everyone had their chance to shine.

In fact, the dragonoid had reportedly been the first to finish, having beat every wyvern into the ground and earned their loyalty that way. Suffice it to say, Demiurge and Pero were now generating plans to present to him about how to utilize them later. 

“Milim, you have done an excellent job in adding these majestic creatures to our ranks,” He paused as Milim puffed her chest in pride. “But as one of the leaders, you should take my side and help me reward our subordinates, not try to take away their chance to shine.”

“I know. But I wanted to spend some time with my friends, and I let them do most of the work,” Milim replied defensively while jumping down from the giant wyvern, which easily stood at least five meters tall and towered over them all.

The dragon-like creature let out a quiet whine and lowered his head. Milim patted the creature's scaly head between its rows of horns and joined Momonga’s side, standing between the undead overlord and Shalltear, who stepped further away after giving Milim a dirty look. Shalltear didn’t want to separate from her beloved, but it was a necessity for the time being. Even she didn’t want to piss off the ancient Demon Lord who was one of her superiors now. She would just have to bed her beloved harder tonight. 

Momonga approached Cocytus next. Besides the massive insectoid stood fifteen elves, small groups of halflings, hobgoblins, sprites, and a few lycanthropes, each representing the scattered smaller tribes found in the recently claimed territories.

“Excellent job, Cocytus. You may pick as many students as you’d like among the newly added people. I already spoke with Myrd about expanding the dojo,” Momonga stated. He was well aware that the dojo and the students housed there were the insectoid's pride and joy, as he spent every free moment as a teacher there, even if it was also his job.

“THANK YOU LORD MOMONGA. I AM GRATEFUL FOR THIS GIFT,” Cocytus responded with a bow, expelling a cloud of chilled air that visibly froze the grass around them, which reminded the nearby village representatives of how strong their new leaders were.

The next was Aura. With her stood a leader of the Mezu tribe with a few of his people and a group of werewolves forming a half circle behind the girl. As he approached, the massive wolflike creatures shrunk down and let out quiet whimpers as the silver-furred wolf took a step forward and partly stood between him and the elven girl, half-snarling.

“Behave! You are disrespecting Lord Momonga!” Aura shouted as loudly as her petite frame let her.

“There is no need to be worried, Aura. I’m sure your new subordinates mean well and are just protective of you. Is that right?” He addressed the silver-furred werewolf.

{ Forgive this old one, great bringer of death. We must show our resolve to our mistress even facing one as you. }

“I told you, you serve Lord Momonga as well. Seriously!” Aura jumped up and grabbed the wolf's ear bringing the werewolf to his knees. “Now apologize properly!”

{ I’m sorry! This old one serves Lord Momonga as well. } The werewolf whined, his ear crushed into a pulp between the girl's thin fingers.

“It’s alright, Aura,” Momonga reached out and patted the girl's head, giving a light brush to her messy golden hair. “You have done an excellent job. Ramiris created a village for your new pets to occupy just as you requested.”

“You are too kind, Lord Momonga. I tried to drill into these beasts that they should venerate you more than me, but they stubbornly refused. I’ll make sure they behave!” She proudly declared, not letting go of the werewolf’s ear as she dragged him back.

The last one was Mare. As Momonga approached him, the Gozu and dryad representatives prostrated, exclaiming in unison. “Thank you for your kindness, Lord Momonga, we wish nothing more than to serve you!”

‘I think he might have overdone it a bit with subjugation. But he looks so proud. I can’t take this away from him.’ “Excellent job, Mare. As your reward, Ramiris has expanded the treehouse to make room for your private Library, and Titus with his team has made copies of all your favorite books. Ramiris even made sure to create a cozy reading corner for you both,” Momonga patted Mare’s head as well, glancing over the new dryads. He’d have to ensure no conflict happened between the two dryad groups with Mare later, given their longstanding conflict, but that was for later.

“T-Thank you, Lord Momonga,” The boy's eyes lit up like the midday sun.

Before ending the ceremony, he noticed that both Cocytus and Milim were giving him sideways glances, their eyes filled with longing.

‘There’s no helping it.’ He returned to Cocytus and patted the kneeling insectoid on his carapace-clad head, and then did the same with Milim standing by his side. No matter the effort to dismiss the misunderstanding, most servants still considered head pats given by him the highest reward they could receive. Albedo had mentioned something about direct contact with his supreme form, but he was made of skeleton, not flesh and meat. How that was comfortable was beyond even Omniscience’s analysis. 

Editing by aidan_lo. 

Proofreading by Sluethen, clagan, aidan_lo, FantasyTroll, Cay, shynavyseal, NuggetLover, CakeEight, and Nervy.

Link my discord server (https://discord.gg/WmGKVU3XG2)