Imminent War

After reaching the headquarters with three injured people in tow, there was a lot of commotion there as they wondered what had happened.

Vanitas took the three of them to the infirmary with Melfina's help (who also helped to control the crowd that had formed) and left them for treatment as he went back to the main office together with Melfina to give a rundown of what had happened back in the forest to the General and the other four Lieutenants.

Vanitas had already met two of them; namely Elvis and Melfina. He was meeting the other two for the first time today.

The one sitting in front of him with his legs crossed elegantly was Praxis. He had blonde hair with a pair of sharp, blue eyes. There was a strange pressure around him as if the gravity was distorted around him and Vanitas could feel it. With how he talked during the whole information exchange, Vanitas felt that his attitude was a bit cocky - he felt like the sort that deliberately and cunningly riled others up inching for a fight and making them look like a bad guy in the end.

The other, who was sitting with her posture upright next to Praxis, was a girl that looked roughly the same age as Melfina. She had long black hair that cascaded down to her waist. Her skin was white and her face calm and serene. During the whole exchange, she spoke not a single word that made Vanitas think that she was not the type to talk much or rather, didn't talk at all. She did introduce herself as Olivia but that was it.

"I see. So the demonic essence grew stronger." Edward crossed his hands on the table as he said that. Everyone turned their attention to him.

"That means Gregronor has realized that we are on the move and he is preparing his legion of an army, is it?" Praxis spoke with venom in his tongue. He had made it abundantly clear that, for some reason, he hated the demons to his core.

Out of the seven great demons, Gergronor was the one ranked 7th and the one who was currently residing in the now ruined Kingdom of Belfast outside the dungeon in the west.

The scouting mission that Vanitas and the others were sent to was to check for signs of anything suspicious in the forest. The forest that had looked fine had suddenly given birth to countless monsters and not to mention, powerful ones, suddenly, along with a burst of strong demonic essence. Vanitas had thought that the essence was coming from a fairly powerful demon but to think that it was one of the seven great demon's...

"Hey, young boy." Praxis turned to Vanitas as he said that. Although surprised at being called a 'young boy', Vanitas responded.

"Yes?"

"You said there were no signs of anything suspicious during your initial investigation, right?"

"Yeah." It was only when they had finished their scouting and were thinking of returning that everything changed suddenly.

"That means the preparations had begun not too recently. It will probably still take some time for him to fully get ready in anticipation of an attack or attack us himself. We should get everything going as fast as possible and strike before he could make a move." He slammed his fists together and with a ferocious smile let out his desire to fight without hiding.

He was talking about a surprise attack. An attack with no forewarning and pretext. One of the most popular strategies used in war to get an upper hand against your opponent.

"But isn't it also possible that he has already finished all his preparations, and the surge of demonic essence was meant to be a signal to us that he is expecting a battle?" Elvis laid out his logical statement.

"Yes, that may be true." Praxis did admit that Elvis could be right but then continued on to home in on the war, "But, that doesn't change what we have to do, does it?"

The preparations for a war against the rank 7 archdemon was being made for a long time now. Soldiers were continuously sent to the forest to check for signs of suspicious movements and gain more intel on the enemy. Praxis and Olivia had been absent from the headquarters for quite a while as they had invaded the heart of the enemy territory to gather more intel on him. They had only returned yesterday with quite a bit of useful intel on Gregronor - all of this he had learned only now after hearing everyone talk.

"That is true. A war is inevitable. We have been training our soldiers and raising our ranks with that in mind for a long time."

Vanitas didn't know for how long the preparations were going on as he had only been a part of the corp for about two to three weeks. But, judging by how none of the four other lieutenants present raised an objection against a war that could result in the loss of a large number of their soldiers, it was reasonable to conclude that they were all aware of this to some degree.

Edward closed his eyes, his long eyelashes casting a dark shadow on his face.

"It has been about twenty years since the seven demons first appeared in our world and snatched from us - our land and our lives. They wracked havoc and left us with no choice but to confine ourselves to this small land. And for all these years, we have done nothing but struggle pathetically and defend ourselves. We have done nothing but continued to live while fearing for our lives. But, I guess it's time for us to change the game.

"It is time now that we humans strike back at those filthy demons and let them know that we are not going to sit idly by and watch them bring chaos and destruction to this world - to our world - again."

Edward's eyes fluttered open and revealed the steely resolve in them.

"Guess, it's time to go to war."

The way Edward spoke his words -neither was it spoken in a loud voice nor was it too passionate or emotional that aroused determination and resolve in the listener by appealing to their emotions.

He spoke in the same way he usually did. No, maybe an octave lower. But, his words were straightforward and to the point. The war with the 7th ranked among the archdemons was inevitable and thus we were going to instigate it before he had the upper hand. '

There was no need for false pretenses and no need to show the world the emotions we carry. Let it be buried deep within and let it nourish in silence so that it can be the fuel that drives us ahead in the battle and burst forth in thunderous noise in the place and time where it matters the most.' That was what Edward's words seemed to imply.

"You all are dismissed for today. I will call all of you later to discuss and decide, how and when we are going to proceed."

Upon those words from Edward, the five of them stood up and started going out.

The first to leave was Praxis followed by Olivia and Elvis. Melfina was about to head out next when Vanitas stopped her.

"Melfina, can I have a word with you?"

She turned around with her hand still on the door handle and pointed at herself. "Me?"

"Ah, yes."

Although she didn't know what it was that Vanitas suddenly wanted to talk about, she still walked back and sat on the sofa next to him.

"I will like to ask for some of your time as well, General."

Edward looked at him for a while before replying with a short 'Okay'.

"Thank you."

Vanitas himself sat down and started speaking.

"I want you to keep what I am about to say to you two a secret at any cost. I don't want the content of what we discuss here to go outside these four walls."

With that preface, he burdened the two with his secret.