Mad God

Zelig was sitting inside his room, behind a huge wooden table, in an oversized leather chair, holding its handles with both hands as he looked at the dozens of urgent reports scattered all over the top of the desk. He had the urge to stand up and destroy everything in his vicinity. He was sure if Frode came back alive, he would tear his head off his neck and turn it into a urinal. 

"Fucking incompetent bastard…" he said through gritted teeth as he was still unable to conquer one single city. He even lost Zelig's own men in the process. Not to mention the constantly coming, urgent cries for help from the north as multiple troops of high-level demons descended onto the land, not just wholly obliterating the remaining outposts but they were marching right into human territory. There were already four villages and two smaller cities that had fallen. Going by the reports, those who resisted were killed while the civilian population was spared, and the humans who surrendered were taken in as prisoners. "..." looking at the reports with a cold eye, he was blaming Ren's existence for it, being sure she was the one who trained the savages how to act like humans. 

Their armies seemingly split in the process, one significant chunk heading towards Skarta, facing little resistance as most of the army was with Frode, besieging Paoma's city. What worried him was the part that was heading toward Heaven's Gate, as it was clearly reported to be led by a nine-tailed white fox. 

"FUCK!" He kicked the table in the end, sending it flying and flipping in the air multiple times before it crashed and cracked into numerous pieces. "I leave; the bitch destroys Heaven's Gate! I stay; they conquer Skarta! And that bastard undying still did not show himself!" he stood up, walked to the window, pushing it open, huffing like an enraged bull. He was breathing in the cold, salty air as a wild storm was raging outside, just like his feelings inside of him. "I bet he is just waiting to jump in and rescue his little, precious whore of a disciple! BITCH!" He shouted, sounding like thunder, echoing throughout the city. "Where did these damned freaks come from?! Did he bring them back just to establish his sect? From the other side of the desert? What the hell is on that side…." Zelig covered his face with both hands, trying to calm down. "Maybe I should go back down south? Kill those traitors and let everything be destroyed? Can't even handle something this simple and saying they stay neutral… I should've dominated their minds! Tsk… No… not good! I'm sure if I leave, Aerthus will show up, flanking me with that furred sex doll of his! Another rotten whore, slave to his dick!" He held onto the windowsill, cracking it alongside the building's walls, feeling completely trapped and helpless. 

This was not supposed to happen. It should have been Aerthus and him reliving the old days, battling and growing strong in the process. It should be the natural order as it was 2000 years ago! What the hell happened…? Where did it go wrong? He stood there, watching the storm for long and silent minutes until his breathing slowed down. He was finally regaining a slight resemblance of calmness and a clearer head. Raising his palm, the formation disk resurfaced from under his skin as he gently caressed it.

"I won't go down like this…." He murmured, watching the city, already seeing every human present as nothing more than walking energy sources. "While they are busy fighting, I can set it up… and when that fox and foxfucker shows up, they can accompany me to hell… hehehe…." He flashed a clearly relaxed yet insane grin before disappearing. 

…

….

…..

In the city of Skarta, Reignar, Lacuss, and Poli were sitting inside their courtyard's gazebo while the sun was setting behind the horizon. Lacuss was standing there, calmly explaining the news, circling around the city.

"If the rumors are true, and by the judgment of Orsi's powers, examining some of the guards' souls, it is… then the demons are going to reach the city close to dawn."

"We should be ready by then," Poli said, wearing a small, relaxed smile. 

"It would be the best." Lacuss nodded, laying out a hand-drawn map on the floor he had drawn up in the past weeks. "I identified the targets. I'll take on the western wall and gate, closest to the direction of their arrival. Reignar, your target is going to be the city's barracks."

"Can one person do it?" Poli asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"He can." Lacuss nodded, sure of his younger brother's strength. "Your target is going to be the palace." he continued, looking at Poli.

"Nice!" Poli chuckled with excitement in his eyes.

"Take Kyu with you. The remaining royal guards could pose a hindrance, and we need to generate as much chaos as possible to prevent them from raising an adequate defense against the demons' army."

"Sure, she is a wrecking ball anyway! We will keep them busy so you can sweep out the weaklings."

"Good. Orsi's main job is to ease the civilians' mind. We need panic amongst the soldiers and not the civilians. We are not here to butcher innocents."

"I don't know… didn't you see how they handle each other?" Poli leaned back in his chair as Reignar nodded a little, agreeing with his thoughts. "Women have no rights; they are handled as two-legged objects. Like cattle for breeding!"

"I saw it." Lacuss nodded, looking at them. "I also saw families that lived just like ours back home. Not everyone treats their women like what you described. If they did, their society would have collapsed long ago. Plus…" He looked at them seriously. "The normal people are just like that. Normal people. They need their homes and their opportunity to change. We must avoid mass chaos that would render hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost."

"Consider it as if I never said anything!" Poli raised his hand, not arguing, "Will Orsi be fine?"

"She will be." Reignar nodded. "She is strong! Stronger than you imagine," he said with a proud smile. "So… today is the day then?" he stood up, stretching and cracking his shoulders.

"Seems like it!" Poli laughed as he also sprung up. "I'm excited!" 

"Do our job well, and the city will fall by sunrise. After that, we need to hold it and let the others know. It should create such a disturbance that they can counterattack and smash the armies at the frontline into pieces." Lacuss finished as he crossed his arms, "After that, only Heaven's Gate remains."

"That is going to be our sister-in-law's problem!" Reignar shook his head, looking at the setting sun, his eyes turning slightly distant.

"Leinor should've been a bit more like you," Lacuss said suddenly, surprising them with his words. 

"Hm?" Reignar blinked his eyes as he turned towards his older brother with question marks appearing above his head.

"To leave behind a nephew for us." He finished his sentence, also watching the sunset.

"Yeah…" Reignar sighed, "That little idiot…." He murmured as Poli walked beside them, slapping onto Reignar's shoulders, knowing precisely what they meant as he looked up at Leinor like a true brother. 

…

….

…..

It was deep into the night, and most of the city's residents were already profoundly asleep; only the on-duty guards patrolled the streets. Looking forward, they saw only as far as their torches, and the oil lamps alongside the streets let them. Above them, high in the air, multiple owls were circling around in complete silence.

"The city still seems to be in order." said one of the owls to her commander, who was Uhure, the leader of her people. 

"Mmh. Send word back to the army to keep a low profile and only start sneaking forward under the guise of the darkness! We are going to wait for the signal from the inside! These walls are not like the ones surrounding the previous villages. We need it opened for us!" she replied calmly, knowing they had no siege weapons at hand.

"How are we going to recognize the signal?"

"They said we will. Let us trust them!" Uhure replied with a smile.

Only another twenty minutes later, a flash of bright, blue lightning suddenly flashed towards the sky, visible from even dozens of kilometers away. It was followed by an earth-shaking rumble as the thundering blast broke out dozens of houses' windows. Even more unbelievable was that the lightning had the shape of a sword, and the royal palace's three sharp, pointy towers were cut into two halves. They simply slid off, collapsing downwards, smashing onto the roof, followed by multiple, continuously ongoing blasts and a weird, girly laugh as chaos ensued, destroying everything inside the palace.

"There is our signal!" Uhure laughed, hooting loudly, overshadowing the chaos below that spread quickly amongst the city's people. 

Next came the northern walls; just as the soldiers were leaning over, watching what was happening inside the city, a silent figure appeared behind them, wielding a huge saber. Before they could turn around, their bodies fell over the edge, leaving only their lower torso standing there. When their lifeless torsos landed with a loud thud down below, Lacuss was already standing above the massive iron gate on the western side of the wall. Stabbing his blade into the ground, the energy he sent forward flashed with a bloody light, cutting the 20 meters tall, robust gate into two. His work was not as smooth as Poli's job on the palace, as the left behind debris was rugged and zig-zagged, where the wild energy coming from him simply destroyed everything it had to go through. 

Flying up, watching the gate and the walls crumble, he brandished his saber once again, cleaving out another vast opening in the wall, sweeping away dozens of shocked guards who could not even figure out what was happening. Even if they cried out, sounding the alarms that were now going out all over the city, no help could come. While Lacuss was dismantling the wall, opening it up for the incoming army, the city's garrison was already on fire. Reignar, floating above it, formed a whirling tornado with one hand, literally blowing away the building alongside the sleeping soldiers. From his other hand, fire rained down, combining with the wind, forming a spiraling column of a fire tornado. 

Even those posts which were spared knew not where to scramble to. Go to the palace? Help defend the seat of power? Or go to the walls? Or to the barracks? What if other places get attacked? Who is even the one who struck them? What was going on? Soon panic spread amongst the soldiers, yet a weird, surprising calmness prevailed amongst the civilians, leading them to their basements for shelter. It was all thanks to Orsi, who was sitting in the rented-out courtyard's gazebo, spreading her senses and soul all around the city, calming down the masses, and reinforcing the panic amongst those who grabbed weapons to go and fight. 

Those who still retained their calm, remembering their training, rushing onto the walls, were soon faced with dozens of glowing eyes. They were hurrying towards the city, looking like a swarm of fireflies, yet they brought dread to those who saw them. It was the eyes of demons, in their actual forms, running forward with inhuman speed. The first to arrive was surprisingly Shadow, blinking ahead in the darkness, completely unnoticed, appearing where the western gate once stood, looking up at Lacuss.

"Master!" He shouted proudly, wagging his tail while he just nodded, looking down at him.

"Clear the walls, take control of the other gates, and open them up!"

"Yes, Master!" Shadow nodded, zig-zagging up on the debris, landing atop the wall, and rushing along while more wolves arrived. 

"Two of you go and follow him!" Kago barked, who was second to come, accompanied by two other wolves, a tiger, a lioness, and a black panther. "The rest is with me!" He howled as a wolf, and the lioness went after Shadow while they split in the opposite direction atop the circular wall. 

Those fortunate enough to survive the sudden first wave of attacks saw the talking-walking, 4 and 5 meters tall demons appear, followed by a sea of others rushing into the city. They felt like they were stuck in a nightmare. When the even bigger gorillas appeared, led by foxes, serving as their eyes in the darkness, they finally lost all will to fight, simply dropping their weapons. The demons ignored them after it, starting to clean up the debris for their less agile comrades of theirs to get in. They were throwing the heavy rubble away like nothing yet weighing multiple hundreds of kilograms.

"How is it going?" Lacuss picked out a voice transmission talisman while Reignar's voice returned from it.

"I'm done. The first wave of tigers has already arrived, and they are starting to mop up the still resisting guard force… damn they are savage. Their claws are as big as a man! Poor bastards, they have no chance to live!" 

"I'll need some help!" Poli answered, and as they turned towards the palace, they saw he was wielding an electric blade in his only hand, fighting off an older soldier. He was exchanging blows in the air continuously. Clearly, his veteran enemy had ample experience to battle against Poli's stronger cultivation. Not to mention he was surrounded by five others. Poli was fending them off with his real sword, flying by itself, protecting his back.

"I'm coming!" a female voice echoed, and Emi was flying through the sky like a bright red comet, arriving in her fox form. By now, six tails were spread out behind her, flowing in the wind. Opening her mouth, she breathed out fire like a mythical dragon, burning away one of the soldiers, leaving only a smoking corpse behind, immediately throwing them into disarray.

"Hahaha! Thanks, babe!" Poli laughed, now drawing back his physical sword, changing it from defense to attack, making his enemy feel like he was fighting against two men simultaneously.

"Hmf! Who do you call babe?" Emi snorted, swiping away one palace guard with one of her tails while spewing out tiny fire needles, assaulting another relentlessly, making a porcupine out of him. 

"Okay, then, what about me calling you my wife?" Poli laughed as he cornered his enemy. The old guard captain felt stifled inside, feeling he was played for a fool. At first, he clearly felt like he could hold his own against the younger enemy of his, maybe even win if he remained calm and forced an error out of him! Yet right now, he was not even looking at him! Not even focusing on the fight and was flirting with a demon?! Yet he could not voice his grievances as he had to dodge a flying sword one time and a fully electric one the next.

"Wife?" Emi stumbled a little, letting one of the guards stab her with a polearm he held. Yet its blade just shattered after hitting her fur, sending an intense, trembling backlash through his arms before being blown apart into a bloody ball of mist by a swinging foxtail. 

"Yeah!" Poli chuckled, dispersing his electric sword and turning away from the old soldier.

"Opening!" his opponent thought, but before he could attack, Poli's true sword blocked his movement, finally disarming him. Literally. 

"What do you say?" Poli asked, ignoring the screams coming from behind him, from the now armless warrior as he flew before Emi's fox form, picking out the ring he made. "I can't put it on your paws in this form, but…." 

As Emi saw the ring, she immediately turned into her human form, standing before him with a stunned expression. Poli just chuckled, grabbing onto her hand and slipping the ring on her finger.

"You did not say no~" he kissed her cheeks with a grin.

"No… I did not." Emi nodded, breathing heavily, and soon just hugged his neck, kissing him passionately amongst the chaos that was going on around them. 

"DIE!" screamed the desperate, armless guard captain, trying to blow himself up to bring the two insane lovers down with him, but before he could go supernova, a giant, black and white bear appeared below him. Opening her mouth as wide as a snake, he only felt a tug on his body before he was swallowed in whole, making Kyu barf out a bit of smoke, smacking her lips.

"Mhhm, spicy food is the best!" she giggled, looking at the kissing pair above her. "Um… don't tell Mom I ate people… okay?" She tilted her head like a kid who did something terrible.

"Our lips are sealed~" Emi chuckled, entirely in her own little world now, looking at Kyu while Poli just laughed.

"Literally~" Poli nodded, drawing out happy laughs from Kyu, too, while the city below them was overrun by demons. When the sun finally rose from the east, the city of Skarta was under the rule of demons without losing any of their own. Gorillas and chimps took over as organizers, while the big cats and wolves had the job of guarding against a possible uprising. Foxes, alongside fairies, sitting on their heads, patrolled the streets, herding the people back to their homes until the city was deemed entirely 'clean.' Even when some still resisting groups wanted to act and engage in guerilla warfare, they soon realized the invisible, all-seeing eyes of the owls. They watched them from high up and were onto them before they knew it. When a loud hoot echoed along the streets, everyone knew another resistance group was exterminated.