Alaster looked up the walls of Krilla, his army ready to wipe out any Demon within, yet they did not move. For atop the walls, no banners depicting the Coalition flew. In their place, flew flags of white.

'Vivian?'

High above the earth, flanked by a flock of her personal Minions, Vivian observed the walled city, 'I don't see anything suspicious. They are definitely prepared to fight, but they aren't making any moves. Wait, scratch that. They are opening the gates. Looks like they intend to send someone out under a white flag.'

True to her word, the gates did open and a lone Argalon stepped out waving a white flag.

Alaster growled. He was sick of all these talks. The only reason he even marched with his army as they eradicated Demons city by city was to inflict the most fear possible. His army could destroy cities on its own, he could even summon three more armies just like this one without hindering the war below.

However, if they continued to come through the portal, and spread out like locusts, it would take Alaster ages to hunt them all down. He needed them to feel terror and hopelessness. Only then would they stop coming to his world. He could kill the rest at his leisure then.

Unfortunately, a sad side effect was that as they were consumed by this fear, they would attempt to negotiate. Belgroth had already attempted this.

The only reason Alaster gave an alternative to war, let alone bothered to listen to the idea of peace, was because of his prior relationship with the Demon.

Regardless, Alaster motioned Nightmare forward and met the Argalon in the field.

Despite the large height and muscle difference, the Araglon was shaking in panic as the tiny Human approached. Yet he stood his ground, even as his knuckled turned white around the shaft of the flag.

"Speak." Alaster commanded.

The Argalon swallowed loudly and stammered out, "W-We have heard your d-demand for peace. All of our People have. We also want peace. But our War Masters have r-refused. There is now open rebellion in the other world and many officers and enlisted are refusing to obey."

"I don't care."

"We know that you said that you would continue to fight the war until the War Masters surrendered themselves to you. We ask that you spare us until our People can force them to do so."

Alaster closed his eyes and leaned back in the saddle.

'Of course Belgroth had to make it complicated.'

Even deep below the earth, serving as his vocalpiece on that warfront, Fenrir responded, 'You can't possibly be surprised by this. I'm not, so you're not. However, the Argalon is speaking true. The Demon Lines have been chaotic at best. They refuse to move forward even when we do not oppose them and are all to happy to retreat backwards.

Whatever Bel did, it really caused an upset.'

Alaster turned back to the terrified Argalon, "I will give the Coalition one hour to vacate Krilla. They are to immediately retreat towards Zolis, if they attempt to go anywhere else, they will all be wiped out. Do you understand me?"

The Argalon furiously nodded, "One hour, immediately to Zolis. Understood sir."

"That hour starts now."

The Argalon dropped the white flag and sprinted back to the gates. Alaster heard his shouts well before the gates reopened.

'Well, they are definitely taking your timelimit seriously. They are pretty much abandoning everything that is not within reach and booking it towards the Northern Gate.' Vivian chuckled.

Alaster commanded his army to surround the city, leaving an opening in the North to allow the Demons to flee. As they moved to obey, he moved forward and walked Nightmare through the gate they had left open. The Demons looked at him with terror, but upon seeing that he was not attacking them, immediately returned to grabbing what they could and running for the far gate.

Just like that, Alaster had conquered yet another city. It would have been boring, if something unexpected had not happened.

Alaster felt it before he saw it.

The same feeling he had experienced when the portal opened up in the middle of the Lissurian Throne Room.

A rift opened. A split seam of reality. A seam that could be used to traverse worlds or even dimensions.

But this rift seemed different from the one the Coalition used to begin their invasion. That rift had been refined and precise, like a scalpel wielded by a master physician. This rift was crude.

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Mana oozed and spilled out. Sparking so much it was visible even by a child.

The rift was opening right in front of him, just ten feet away.

Alaster glanced over to a nearby Devil whose red face turned deathly pale.

"You! You know what this is?"

The Devil did not turn away from the gradually growing rift, "This is impossible. It should have been impossible."

Alaster dismounted and walked over to the Devil, grabbing him by his collar and yanking him close, forcing his attention onto him, "Explain."

"The Zylac. That's a Zylac Portal. First comes a single portal, which a hundred Zylacs will flood out of, consuming all sources of Mana around them. Every difficult to kill, but they are just a scouting party. All information they gather is sent back through the portal to the rest of their Hive. Then, within one week, thousands of portals will open up around the world, constantly summoning thousands upon thousands of Zylacs until the world is purged of all Mana."

"What is the best way to defeat them?"

The Devil blinked, "There is no way to defeat them. Even if you kill one, a million more will take their place."

"Do they have any weaknesses?"

The Devil shook his head, "Fire works when they are crowded together, but they are quick to react. They target the strong, Mages especially. Anything that has Mana is a target for them, from organics to common rocks. If it has an ounce of Mana, they will eat it."

Alaster let go of the Devil, "How powerful are they individually? What do they look like? How do they fight?"

"Each one is generally around a high Adept or low Expert in power, they look like bugs the size of a cow, some can fly, most can't. They charge forward in a hunger-induced frenzy and tear their enemies apart with their razor-sharp claws and teeth. As the Hive presence on a world increases, a rare variant of Zylac will appear, the size of a mansion capable of spitting explosive acid across great distances.

No one has ever seen the Hive Queen, she never goes through a portal so no one knows what she looks like or what she is capable of."

"How do you know so much about the details of them? You are only a common soldier."

The Devil looked up at Alaster, "All Devils know of them, our world was consumed by the Zylacs. We fled to this world, where the Argalon took us in and raised us back from near extinction. Then your people cast both of our peoples from this world. We eventually settled on another, but were too hasty, drawing the attention of the Zylacs to this new world. Our strongest soldiers and Mages are attempting to hold them back long enough for us to ecaspe to this world.

But if the Zylacs have found this world, then all is lost."

Alaster stored away the information about the Devils' origins for later. As interesting as it was, it was not important whatsoever.

Looking over at the growing rift, he saw that it was roughly twice the height of him now and finally beginning to grow wider.

"Why did the rift appear here of all places?"

"The Scouting party always appears wherever it senses a large amount of Mana in one place."

'Well, you certainly fit that criteria.' Vivian chuckled.

"You will stay here while I deal with these pests. I have further questions that you will answer. If you run, and I have to catch you, I will remove your legs so you can't run again. Do I make myself clear?"

The Devil rapidly nodded.

"Good. Now wait over there."

Alaster pointed a fair distance away from the rift, and behind him.

'So what's the plan?' Fenrir asked.

'Killing them, dissecting them, and if their anatomy allows it, infecting one of them with that plague Vivian has not so subtly been creating and sending it back through the portal.'

The two men ignored Vivian's indignant cry.

'How do you know that will work?'

'I don't.'

'The portal might not allow the Zylacs to return back through it. Seems to me like these scouts are disposable at best.'

'Won't hurt to try.'

Alaster summoned his halberd and prepared to fight as the Rift stopped growing and changed colors from a constantly changing rainbow to a slowly changing yellow and green.

It had been a while since Alaster had fought personally, and these opponents were not worth calling up some of his Undead from outside the city.

Alaster soon caught his first glimpse of a Zylac.

The Devil's description of them was not wrong.

Slightly larger than a cow, with four spear like legs piercing the stone street below with ease. Thick chitinous plates overlapped the soft flesh beneath. Three pairs of eyes looked around as its thick head moved from side to side as its mouth watered at the sight of so much Mana all around it.

Alaster did not allow it to take another step. With a casual thrust, much like he was merely pointing, his halberd pierced the chitin plates of its face and settled deep in its skull.

Its didn't even have the chance to scream, let alone react in any way.

The others did.

Ninety nine others stormed out of the rift, only to meet Alaster's weapon and spells. As he danced around, calmly carving them apart, he did so with meticulous care. Each part he removed, he studied, even as he was already moving onto the next. Soon, he understood the Zylacs on a anatomical level.

'What do you think Vivian? You are the one who studied diseases. Will yours work on them and spread?'

'I believe so. The gestation period will likely be a day or two longer, but I do think it will spread. But if what that Devil said is true, I don't think my Plague will wipe them out.'

Alaster smirked, 'Never intended it too. There are too many. But your Plague causes them to explode in Necrotic Fire if they die while infected, correct?'

'Yes?'

'The Devil said fire worked well, I imagine Necrotic Fire works even better.'

Alaster left the last one alive and unharmed, even as it charged at him, attempting to bite out his throat and claw open his chest with its spear like legs. He merely held it back with one hand while Vivian helped him crafted the spell in his other through the mental link.

'All I have to do is make it eat the ball of Mana?'

'Yep, and according to the Devil, it should be all too eager to eat it.'

Shrugging to himself, Alaster finalized and cast the spell. An orb of nauseous green Mana the size of his fist appeared in his palm. Alaster casually tossed it on the ground next to the portal.

The Zylac immediately stopped trying to attack him and dove for the Orb, placing it in the perfect position for Alaster to lightly kick it back through the portal. The portal closed by itself a moment later.

Turning around, Alaster glanced at the mess the Zylacs had made. Pale green goo littered the street and nearby buildings. The Zylac bodies themselves lay scattered around, each one in more than one piece.

"So," Alaster asked the Devil who stood stunned far away from the short battle, but close enough for some of the goo to land splatter his face, "Why don't you escort me to your War Masters? Seems neither of our Peoples have the luxury of waiting."

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