Duterra II

The demons' invasion of Duterra was not an overt assault, at least not at first. These beings, originating from the Demon World—a realm teeming with malevolent energy—were cunning and patient. Their leader, the *Demonic Emperor*, who had once usurped the Leviathan's Abyssal Energy, orchestrated the infiltration with strategic brilliance honed over millennia. Rather than launching an all-out war, the demons chose to sow seeds of chaos, manipulating the cracks and weaknesses already present in Duterra's governance, especially after learning about the dragon king's situation.

Their plan was to unravel the world from within before striking a final, decisive blow to conquer Duterra.

The demons began by infiltrating human governments, military organizations, and influential guilds. Although they were initially unable to infiltrate Duterra directly, once they discovered how to bind humans with their thirst for power, they slowly gained control and started releasing their malevolent energy into Duterra. They whispered lies into the ears of leaders, fueling dissatisfaction and paranoia among rulers, and stoked rivalries between nations already on the brink of war. Their goal was to turn humans against one another, weakening their unity.

Some demons offered forbidden knowledge, tempting early scholars, elemental magicians, and alchemists with promises of power beyond their wildest dreams. These greed-stricken humans never imagined that the knowledge offered by the demons was nothing but poison—one that would enslave them and their descendants. Ambitious or desperate, these individuals were lured by the potential to control vast amounts of malevolence or to wield scarce elemental mana. Little did they know these dark gifts came with a price: the more they relied on demonic power, the more their minds and souls became corrupted.

Entire institutions began to rot from the inside. Once-noble establishments turned into corrupt cults, prioritizing personal gain over the welfare of the people. Kingdoms, driven by fear and mistrust, started arming themselves for war, convinced that their neighbors were plotting their downfall. The peaceful equilibrium of Duterra began to fracture under the weight of these hidden demonic influences.

The demons also turned their attention to the domains left behind by the Elemental Dragons, whose extinction had marked the pivotal point of humanity's ascent to power. These once-forgotten domains served as anchors that maintained the balance of Duterra's elements. Although the dragons had already gone extinct, the demons knew that disrupting the elemental balance would lead to natural disasters, further weakening the world.

To achieve this, the demons manipulated elemental forces indirectly. They corrupted the Earth and nature domains left behind by the dragons, Terralon and Sylvana, by planting demonic crystals in the forests and mountains near their domains. These crystals slowly poisoned the earth, causing the land to become barren and unstable. Earthquakes and landslides began to ravage nearby regions, making it harder for people to farm or build.

The Water Dragon, Aquaera, was affected next. The demons tainted the oceans with abyssal energy, turning sections of the sea into dark, polluted waters. This caused massive storms, floods, and tsunamis, devastating coastal cities and disrupting trade routes. Pirates and rogue naval fleets, now influenced by demonic whispers, took advantage of the chaos, further destabilizing human society.

By attacking these elemental forces, the demons sought to create an environment where humans would be too distracted by natural disasters to notice the larger invasion unfolding beneath the surface.

As chaos spread across the world, the demons began their most insidious scheme: the creation of the Cult of Abyssal Devotion. This cult, disguised as a religious and philosophical movement, preached that the only way to bring true peace to the world was through total submission to the Demonic Emperor, or as the sought to call him Azdorath. They claimed that the elemental forces were no longer capable of maintaining balance and that the Dragon King had abandoned the world.

The cult rapidly gained followers among the desperate and the disillusioned—those who had lost homes to natural disasters, families to wars, or livelihoods to corruption. The cult promised salvation, offering rituals that supposedly granted strength and protection. In reality, these rituals slowly turned the followers into vessels for demonic possession, their minds warped, and their bodies prepared for transformation into demonic soldiers.

As the cult grew, it gained influence within several key civilizations, further spreading the demons' corruption. Politicians, military leaders, and mages began to openly align themselves with the cult's teachings, further destabilizing the already fragile political landscape. They passed laws restricting the use of elemental magic, spreading immoral laws, and imprisoning anyone who opposed the cult's rise.

The cult also worked to sever the connection between humans and mana. By promoting the demonic energy known as melovelencia as the only true source of power, they created a schism within the magical community. Mages and scholars who once sought to understand and protect the elemental forces were now pitted against each other, with some turning to dark, demonic magic.

As the world descended into chaos, the demons finally prepared for the next phase: a full-scale invasion. The Demonic Emperor, now in full control of the Abyssal Energy he had usurped, opened massive rifts between the Demon World and Duterra, allowing legions of demons to pour through due to the now abundant demonic melovelencia. What had once been subtle manipulation and sabotage now turned into open warfare.

The demonic legions emerged from the abyss, wreaking havoc on already weakened cities and kingdoms. These demons were not the subtle infiltrators of before but massive, monstrous beings bred for war. Entire armies were overrun as they marched across the land, sowing destruction and despair.

The Cult of Abyssal Devotion played a key role in this invasion, opening gates for the demons and turning their own followers into foot soldiers for the dark army. These twisted cultists, now fully possessed by demonic energy, were no longer human—they became creatures of the abyss, their bodies twisted and malformed, their minds lost to darkness.

Even worse, the demons began targeting mana veins—the lifeblood of human civilization. These sacred places, where mana flowed most strongly, powered the great cities and magical institutions of Duterra. By corrupting these wells, the demons sought to cut off humanity's access to mana, further crippling their ability to resist.

With the demons' schemes finally seemingly reaching fruition, the world of Duterra teetered on the edge of destruction. The once-peaceful lands were now plagued by wars, natural disasters, and demonic incursions. The elemental balance was in tatters, and the dragons' slumber was disturbed by the damage to their domains. The Dragon King remained silent, perhaps due to containing the wrath of the Leviathan and Phoenix taking a great tool on his strength or waiting for the right moment to intervene, but his absence left humanity vulnerable.

The Demonic Emperor stood poised to conquer Duterra completely, his armies spread across the land, his abyssal energy corrupting everything it touched, and his cult spreading his dark gospel to the terrified and the broken.