The Fiend's Creation System

Demons’ Difficulties

With this bit of information about the demons’ movements, Julius saw many ways he could use it as an opportunity to incite conflict and violence between them and the members of the Harrdigor races’ light alliance.

Julius and his fiends thrived on this so it was only natural that he seeks it out.

“Heheheh...I’ve got a plan…”

Julius began directing his fiends without knowing that the demons were actually here on the continent looking for him. 

Of course, even if he knew this, Julius wouldn’t care. He was going to sit on the bench between the two major alliances of the world and act as a neutral party that would ‘occasionally’ meddle in the business of the two sides.

“This is a chance to move some of my fiends over to the Lothur Continent!”

Julius read through the memories of the mimic that had brought this juicy piece of information to him and soon found out that the humans working for the fiends were actually shady businessmen that dealt with slave trading and other illegal businesses.

He reckoned that the best way to infiltrate the Lothur Continent was by taking advantage of the demons’ need for slaves and slip in a few of his people into a slave trader’s ship bound for Lothur.

The body of the person Julius’s mimic was disguising itself as was one of these shady businessmen but unfortunately, he dealt more with trading forbidden drugs and medicines, not slavery.

Thankfully, this person knew another that dealt in the slave-trading business.

“We’ll use this one as a proxy… but first, I should let the light alliance people know about the demons who have set foot on their lands.”

It wouldn’t be until a week or two later that rumors of the demons arriving secretly on Harrdigor circulated among the common folk which the various intelligence agencies of the light alliance soon picked up on.

They weren’t able to confirm the validity of these rumors but whenever there was smoke, obviously there had to be a fire behind it. Rumors didn’t just suddenly appear without there being some truth behind it.

Naturally, the rumors had been blown out of proportions like now, people were saying that a hidden legion of demons was already on the continent and was just waiting for the opportune time to strike. 

Another version of the rumor also went differently. Instead of a legion of demons, there was just a small but elite squad of them led by one of the 66 Great Demons. There were many other versions of the rumor but these two were the most notable and most circulated ones going through the common public.

The rumor alone incited worry and panic among the common populace but the authorities of every respective kingdom on the Harrdigor Continent were trying to quell the public’s insecurities.

Each intelligence agency of every power on the continent was trying to trace back the origin of the rumors but they were never able to pinpoint an exact source and that was because Julius had spread the rumors on the same day and time all at once in multiple locations and right after spreading said rumors, the mimics would undo their transformations and transform into a different person.

This way, anyone that may have remembered who it was that started the rumor wouldn’t be able to find said person because they would have obviously been dead already.

With no way to trace the source of the rumor, people began suspecting that this was actually something true and people may have already encountered sightings of them but due to their fears, the rumors were embellished.

Now, the intelligence groups only need to find the exact location of these demons and swiftly deal with them before any more hysteria ensues.

The vigilance and wariness of every person on the continent were raised so entering in and out of any place, one would have to go through layers of security checks and inspections. 

This impeded Great Demon Bael and his band of demons from quickly arriving at the Shifting Hallows. The place they had first arrived at was the hidden port of Entiro, the place where Julius had first seen them at.

After they disembarked from that island, Bael went to the port city of Celt which was located in the north-central area of the Harrdigor Continent. 

Unfortunately for him, the Shifting Hallows were in the southern area of the continent. Reaching anywhere further south from Entiro, there was no such hidden port that he and his team could land at because the oceans starting from the central part and going south was far too turbulent and dangerous for any normal sea vessel to pass through.

Due to the turbulent and dangerous seas, the kingdoms from the central to southern parts of the Harrdigor Continent weren’t as rich compared to the rest of the continent because one of the largest and easiest modes of trade had been barred for them.

However, this was fine and all because the central area of the continent was where the great elven city of Alvendor, home to the World Tree Yggdrasil, was located. Further down south was where the dwarven kingdom was located and this part of the continent was rich with minerals and ores.

The vast resources of the continent were what kept the other kingdoms, not in contact with any sea trade routes afloat. 

“Damn! These humans are such a bother! If it wasn’t because I want to discreetly make contact with the fiends, I wouldn’t need to sneak around like this!” Bael cursed, his face contorted in anger underneath the cloak he was wearing.

The horned demon beside him quickly tried to calm him down, “My Lord, have patience, please.”

“Patience? I’ve been patient long enough! How many times have we already done this? Why are these humans so cautious all of a sudden? It’s like they’re looking for something… or maybe they're looking for us!”

The demon who had spoken out earlier was Kut’suk. He was supposed to be the leader of the diplomatic team the demons had dispatched to make contact with the fiends but with his master Great Demon Bael being here, he was now just the team’s advisor.

Kut’suk had been looking and listening to the latest news from the streets and what his master had said was true. The humans as well as every other race from the light alliance were somehow aware of their presence on the continent.

He didn’t even know how it was leaked because this operation wasn’t known to anyone except for Great Demon Bael. Unless his master was an i***t, there was no way that there would be a leak regarding their whereabouts.

“My Lord...unfortunately, what you said earlier, about the humans looking for us...is true.”

Kut’suk reported this and expected to be scolded but Bael only asked him a dumbfounded question. 

“How?”

“I’m not sure, my Lord.”

“Damn! This operation was supposed to be a secret! No one knows except for me, you, and the rest of the members present! You’ve all been soul-shackled by the contract stating you would never leak anything so how could they have known?!”

“...”

“We’re also in disguise so how could they know?”

Bael and his subordinates all had a disguise spell placed on them before they arrived at Celt. It’s been a few weeks since then and things had been progressing quite swiftly and without any obstacles, until a few days ago when suddenly, the humans began increasing the security for those crossing from one kingdom to another.

Anyone that failed to comply with inspections or identity checks was immediately placed under arrest until they could prove their identity and the purpose of them crossing from one nation to another.

This caused things to be more problematic for Bael and his demons because he wouldn’t be able to bribe the guards anymore since the usual ones were replaced with those that were much more disciplined.

“Apparently sir, there’s a rumor that's been circulating about a legion or small squad of demons already here on the continent who are currently buying time before they attack.”

“Another demon has been here before us?”

“I’m not sure, sir...but based on those rumors, I believe there may be another force that’s been dispatched here even before us!”

“...Dammit, way to ruin my plans...Unless they’re also here for the fiends…”

“What should we do sir?”

Bael looked down at his lieutenant and said, “Isn’t it obvious? Our plans haven’t changed but we’re going to go looking for these demons while we’re on our way to the fiends. If the rumors are true and there’s another group of demons already here...I bet I know who sent them!”

“And who may that be, sir?”

Bael shook his head before saying, “I’ll have to see first with my own two eyes how these demons look like and how they behave, however, I’ve already got a good idea as to who it is among my brothers and sisters that’s trying to screw with me.”

“Our plans haven’t changed...but how do we―or you, sir―make it past the border patrols?”

Bael clicked his tongue before pointing at a tall mountain and said, “If worse comes to worst, we’ll just have to go the long and hard way.”