The Fiend's Creation System

A Donation

Julius began eating and surprisingly, the demons followed suit. They were a bit skeptical at first but they did come here straight from the Ecklewood Forest without any rest and were quite famished.

They could see that although the young man in front of them was dangerous, he also seemed quite trustworthy. And like what he previously said, he wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of doing all this if he wanted to kill them.

He could have done that while they were still walking through the dangerous fields of miasma. So with that in mind, Bael and Cali began eating and their subordinates followed suit.

“Hmm, I guess we can talk while we eat. I see no problem with that!” Julius said as he was eating his food.

His mannerism while eating was just like royalty. It was with proper etiquette and this was due to the lessons about imperial courtesy that were engraved into his bones from the time when he was still the Ephalerith Empire’s Crown Prince.

Julius looked up to see whether the two demon leaders approved or not. Seeing him look their way, Bael looked at Cali before the two nodded together at Julius.

“Alright. Well, I’ll begin then. Why have you two come so far from the Lothur Continent to come to meet with me? I can take a guess why, but I’d like to hear it directly from your mouths,” Julius opened up the discussion and fired his first question.

Bael stood up from his seat and faced Julius, “Before I answer your question, Fiend Lord King Julius, let me properly introduce myself. I am Bael, 1st of the 66 demons of Solomon.”

Bael turned towards Cali who similarly stood up and introduced herself, “I am Cali, 62nd of Solomon’s 66 demons.”

Julius nodded after hearing their introductions but he noticed that there was something off about their numbers. “Hmmm, so there are 66 Grand Demons in total, I used to think there were 72.”

“There were 72, but 6 of our brothers and sisters died during the first great war at the hands of the Harrdigor Alliance’s people,” Cali swiftly replied, there was a tinge of anger in her voice when she said this, however, Julius didn’t pay it any mind. It was only natural that she would get angry.

“Anyway, back to my question.”

“Ah, yes, of course. Our purpose in coming here...It’s to recruit you, my Lord, and your fiends into the Lothur Continent’s Alliance.”

Julius hummed for a moment before saying, “Hmmm, it wouldn’t work so well considering I’m a native of the Harrdigor Continent. What were you going to use to persuade me into joining?”

Bael and Cali were originally going to display their might and see what would happen, but now, they thought that it was a ridiculous notion. If they antagonized the fiends, it would definitely keep them from joining the alliance and their lives might be forfeit here.

Previously, Sammael was radiating such hostility towards them that they didn’t pay too much attention to him. Most creatures that did this would definitely be weaker than them but only wanted to put on an act of defiance to keep their fear-inducing aura at bay.

However, once they actually took a closer examination of his abilities and power, they noticed that this fiend was actually close in strength to them, possibly even stronger or just a little bit weaker.

They were inclined to believe the former because they quickly recognized Sammael’s face. He was a human champion who wielded power that was on par with them but after his transformation into a fiend, the man who was once the Holy Light Religion’s Champion had become much more unfathomable.

Unlike for the other races, the demons didn’t know a single thing about the fiends. They didn’t know about their abilities, their strengths, their weaknesses, nothing. All they knew was that this new species of creatures were ridiculously powerful and that was even when they only relied on the physical prowess of their bodies. 

If these creatures somehow learned to wield mana like the rest of the sentient races of the world, it would push their power to a whole new level and this wasn’t a pleasant thing to think about, for both the races of the dark and light alliances.

The humans saw this early on and wanted to get rid of the fiends before they had the time to develop themselves to that point. The demons, however, saw a different alternative and that was to ally themselves with the fiends. 

It was impossible to completely eradicate an entire species of people, especially if they were living in a land with a very harsh environment that was previously out of reach from any of the light alliance’s races.

The demons also saw that despite the harsh environment, the fiends were placed in a very strategic location. They were isolated from the other races of the light alliance so it was a good place to build a demon gate.

Demon gates were the typical mode of long-distance transportation for the demons. It was a gate that was connected to another gate that could be used to move from one point to another almost instantaneously.

If they could pull the fiends into the Dark Alliance, the demons would be able to build this gate which would lead to an easier invasion of the Harrdigor Continent.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t play the intimidation card since Julius had the upper hand right now. Bael was making swift calculations in his head but the only card he could use at this moment was the human army card which he was saving up for the final bit of their negotiation.

“On our journey here and even before that, we’ve heard about the humans’ plans to eradicate your species. We thought that it would be in our best interest to lend you a helping hand and fight these humans with you.”

“Hmmm, so we would owe you a favor, huh? 

“We don’t need the favor, recruiting the fiends into the Lothur Alliance is most important.”

“I see...so a selfless act of assistance. Well, did you guys think about what would happen if I said no?” Julius asked.

“Well, sir, although I definitely believe you and your people to be powerful, but fighting those humans...it’ll definitely lead to tremendous casualties. With our help, we’d be able to work together and minimize those casualties while maximizing the suffering of those humans, no?”

Julius began nodding in understanding and amusement.

“What you say does have some value...however, we really wouldn’t be needing your assistance.”

“Why?!” Cali abruptly asked.

“I’m glad you asked.”

Julius had a smile plastered on his face when Cali asked him why. “Let me give you a fun fact about my fiends.”

Julius pushed away his dish before standing up to explain, “When you walked through my lands, what did you see besides the emptiness?”

“...”

“...”

“The miasma, sir?” One of the demons answered. It was one of Cali’s subordinates and when the demon saw his leader begin glaring at him, the demon quickly lowered its head.

“That much was obvious, no? Well, like I told you, the plasm, or the miasma as you would call it, is a rather dangerous substance that’ll infect anything in its surroundings and turn it into terrain that’ll fit better for my fiends to live in. 

It infects not only the land but also the animals and vegetation. When exposed to the ‘miasma’, the vegetation mutates into something that’ll nourish the fiends when they eat them while the animals will also be similar.

However, the other creatures such as the monsters or anything else like humans, elves, dwarves...and even demons, will turn into fiends after long-term exposure! And by long, I mean only an hour or so.”

“The creatures… will turn into fiends?”

“Mmhmm, but you guys don’t have to worry. I won’t allow my guests to be harmed, especially since you were all very cooperative. However, and most unfortunately, I’ll have to decline your invitation to the Lothur Alliance.”

Bael frowned but after thinking for a long while, his face turned a shade lighter.

“They’ll turn into fiends… those humans, they’re practically coming here to bolster your numbers…”

Julius had a wide smile on his face. Any other person would be charmed by Julius’s smile and see him as an amiable person. However, when Bael saw his smile, the demon could only see that it was a menacing and evil smile.

“A million or so humans that walk into the miasma...they’ll all turn into fiends or die during their transformation. Those fools are only handing me their numbers. From the start, I never saw it as a war...just a donation.”