Alaster had wanted to systematically eradicate the Coalition. To slowly cleanse the world of them. To fight on one front.

Those bugs had ruined that plan.

Now, he stood before the walls of Zolis, still as tall and magnificent as they were even before a bunch of Demons had taken them for themselves. The Lissurian city of Calaren, still lay occupied by Demons, to his rear and only about an hour or two march away. To the west, the Lissurian city of Illia, also occupied, was only about an hour away.

He was practically surrounded, despite the large swaths of empty fields around him. Yet despite that knowledge, and the sight of all the massive Siege Weapons atop the wall being pointed at him alongside a few hundred arrows, Alaster found himself cleaning his fingernails.

Blood did tend to get stuck beneath them and dry. One of the nuisances of a massacre.

With the Demon Portal still open in the throne room of Lissura, the city was no doubt chock full of Demons. It was for that reason that Alaster planned on leaving it for last. Especially because the longer the Portal was open, the more Demons would come through, therefore giving him more to kill.

For the hundredth time, Alaster found himself cursing the Zylacs. Not for setting their sights on his world for their consumption, but for interrupting his genocide.

It was quite rude of them.

He could of course ignore them and continue to slaughter the Demons, beside his sister, he did not care about anyone else, and had no bounds to this world in general. If the bugs wanted it, they could have it. Unfortunately, the insects would also consume the people, which would endanger his sister.

And her beloved Alaster begrudgingly added.

So in the end, Alaster would once again have to stand on the frontlines for them to have any chance of survival, let alone victory.

Of course, this was not his job, it was the Demigods'. Yet Alaster had not seen them for over a year. At first, they had participated in the war against the Demons, helping to hold the line long enough to get civilians and supplies away before the line eventually collapsed. They refused to aid the mortals in any planning, and only showed up on the battlefields themselves whenever they wished.

Something that even back then, Alaster found to be incredibly foolish and selfish.

But they had disappeared. They had not been defeated, which only fed the confusion of where they went. Though Alaster suspected that the world itself had begun to restrain them for being too powerful. Alaster himself had begun to feel that pressure, but strangely, that pressure only seemed to feed the Seed within his Soul, strengthening him even more while not limiting him.

Alaster looked to the Devil shivering at his side. The very same Demon he had forced to escort him to Zolis all the way from Krilla, where the Zylac scouting party showed up. Alaster had been forced to drag him most of the way because he was too slow, and it appeared to have negatively affected him.

"Go. Tell the War Masters I demand their presence. Inform them of the Zylacs. Tell them that if they are not in front of me within one hour, that I will head for the Portal."

The Devil's eyes widened despite his still shaky legs and took off as fast as he could for the massive gates.

Alaster heard him shouting and eventually one of the gates opened slightly to allow the Devil through before quickly closing again.

To his credit, Alaster conjured a few chairs and a table out of bone before pulling out an awning over them, creating a nice shaded area from the sun overhead.

Finally set up, Alaster sat down, kicked his feet up onto the table, and pulled out a watch. Minute by minute, he watched the Coalition's time fade away.

With just a few minutes remaining, Alaster stood up and began to stretch. When there was just one minute left, Alaster summoned his halberd to his hand.

A rush of air followed and seven Demons stood before him, one of which he knew.

"Good. And here I was thinking that you did not take my threats seriously. After all, I gave you a chance to end the war and you ignored me."

And they continued to ignore him, instead glaring at him with daggers in their eyes.

"Sit. I'm sure my little messenger told you about the Zylacs, and despite my fingers itching to crush your throats, even I can see when a bigger threat arises."

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Alaster turned away from the War Masters, the leaders of this war, and sat down in the only chair on one side of the table. If he killed them, the war would end, but the Coalition would be thrown into chaos and be unable to mount a proper defense against the bugs.

Hesitantly, the War Masters took their own seats.

Alaster noted that there seemed to be a hierarchy among the War Masters, evident in their seating arrangement. He also spotted Belgroth seated at the edge.

"What does a monster like you want?" The one in the middle began.

"Monster? I'm sorry, who was it that invaded? Who was it that ordered the slaughter of innocent children? Who was it that turned down my offer of peace? Oh, wait a minute, that would be you. From where I am sitting, the only monster is you and the rest of your idiots. You might have held the morale high ground during the first war, but now? Get off your high horse and see yourself for what you are. Don't delude yourself into thinking you are the hero. Hell, with my offer of peace being rejected, your own people are beginning to see you not as a hero, but as the selfish pricks that you are.

But I am not here to discuss this matter, because quite frankly, it would eventually end up with my hand around your still beating heart," Alaster leaned in with a cruel smirk, "And you know it." Alaster leaned back again, "Instead, we are here to discuss the coming invasion of Zylacs, creatures that pose a significant threat to both of our races.

Your own soldiers tell me that the Zylacs first send a scouting party. Then a week later, the invasion begins with Portals opening up everywhere and only growing in intensity until all opposition is eradicated. In case you still haven't figured it out, we are the opposition.

Now, I have already dispatched the scouting party, and sent a lovely gift back to through the portal. I imagine they are still enjoying it. My gift might delay their invasion a day or two, though if the numbers your own Soldiers believe are accurate, I doubt it.

Seeing as how your people have more experience fighting against the Zylacs, what strategies have you formulated?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Alaster spotted Belgroth grown and rub the bridge of his nose.

The Argalon in the middle took a deep calming breath before responding, "You seem to believe we will point our weapons away from the Humans and instead fight alongside them against the Zylacs. What makes you believe we want anything to do with you?"

"Because if you don't, I will kill you and ask the same question to your successor, and if they refuse, I will merely repeat until there is one who will answer me."

For the first time, someone other than the middle one spoke, one of the two Devils in fact.

"While you hold considerable power, perhaps even enough to kill our Chairman, you do not speak for the entirety of Humanity."

"No, but they will obey me. If they don't, then they won't be included in whatever defensive measure we come up with and I will watch them be devoured while I snack on some sweetrolls." Alaster pulled out a plate of sweetrolls and placed them on the table to make his point, "Fancy one?"

They ignored his offer and the Chairman began to talk again, but Alaster noticed one of the sweetrolls hover off the plate and slowly hover over to Belgroth.

"My people will not take working with the Humans well."

"My people? I thought you Argalons always referred to your race as our People, with a capital P. Are you claiming ownership over the Argalons? I imagine many of them would refute that. Besides, the Devils have already had to flee from the Zylacs once before, and your entire Coalition is struggling against a Zylac incursion on your other world.

Already, it has been proven that you fail to repel the beasts. Already you have proven to be of insignificant strength. However, I have no doubt that my own race will match your own performance. Together, however, we might stand a chance."

Belgroth finally spoke, but not before swallowing the last of the sweetrolls, the plate now empty, "You all already know my viewpoint on this matter. We already needed to seek a peace with the Humans, now, we are all but being forced to do so, lest we doom our People to extinction. Besides, now that we have a powerful enemy fight against together, we can improve relations much quicker.

Who knows? If we survive the Zylacs, instead of facing a few centuries of open hostilities and several smaller wars with the Humans, we might even be able to trade with them after only a few months."

The Chairman rolled his eyes, but Alaster noted that two of the other Argalon War Masters seemed attentive to Belgroth's words.

"Don't be an even bigger idiot than you already are." Alaster sighed, speaking to the Chairman, "Get your head out of your own ass. Ignore your feelings, they don't matter. Look at the facts. Alone, neither of our races stand a chance against the Zylacs, we would either be eradicated or be forced to flee this world, which I imagine your People have grown tired of doing.

But together, we might stand a chance, at least a greater chance of ensuing our young can get away from this world."

The Chairman smirked with a chuckle, "What would you know of it? Your own mate died before you could have a child."

There was no sound. No bright light.

One moment, a gentle breeze blew through the trees and the grass, the next it was still and silent. The grass turned yellow before wilting and crumbling away. The trees far behind lost their leaves before the trunks cracked and split, no longer capable of holding its own weight.

Far away and high above, the Demons standing atop the walls of the city collapsed. Many painted the battlements with their last meals. Some perished outright.

But the War Masters paid none of it their attention.

Before the Chairman could even close his mouth after speaking, Alaster was in front of him, the table molded itself around him as if mere water, his hand already in the Argalon's chest.

The Chairman looked up at the Human's eyes, now pitch black with rings of Necrotic Green, with a pained gasp.

Alaster tightened his grip and yanked, removing his bloody hand from the Argalon. In his grasp, he held a massive heart, still beating for a moment before finally going still.

Alaster returned to his seat, but not before dropping it on the very same plate the sweetrolls had been on, in the middle of the now repaired table.

"And here I was hoping to negotiate and strategize peacefully." Alaster sighed, already beginning to wipe his hands on a spare towel, "Shall we try again?"

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