Resistance under the new invaders was entirely different than it had been under the demons, Troulon reflected as he traveled north. The demons had been more predatory in a spiritual sense, but less so practically: demons only targeted those powerful enough to feed on them, whereas these barbarians were debauched fools who targeted whoever their whims indicated.
It had also been possible to join the demons by becoming a demonic arts user, and that was simply impossible now. Not simply because the invaders' power couldn't be replicated; they were ideologically separated, treating one another like the only real people in a continent of dolls. After examining them, Troulon thought that they had been normal men once, but months of unlimited power and indulging their appetites had twisted them into perversions of themselves.
He was grateful that they were finally leaving the city of Traeton, even if not for the reasons he might hope. There had been a lot of collateral damage to the powers of the region - several members of the Crestguard had been killed as examples, and the invaders had slaughtered many who followed the Savage Creed when they refused to bow to them.
Of course, as the strongest and most savage, the invaders now had some Savage Creed followers on their side. Joining the others who had bowed to them... there were always people willing to collaborate with conquerors, as Troulon knew well.
But suddenly, in a development that no one could have anticipated, the invaders had abandoned their ideas of empire-building to rush north to assault the elves. It was encouraged by many other factions that wanted them out of the Commonwealth, or hated the elves after years of vendettas - but the truth was that it was entirely decided by the whims of their lusts.
Now they were all headed north in a vicious mood, and Troulon felt only sympathy for everyone in their path. There was nothing he could do but continue to monitor their route, warning those he could and waiting for an opportunity.
"There you are!" An enormously muscular arm wrapped around Troulon's neck and he froze. "Been a while, hasn't it?"
For a moment he was stupefied, then he realized that he had been grabbed by Gorutiel. "It's been years," Troulon managed to choke out despite the arm squeezing him.
"Ah, you got all spindly. Shame." Gorutiel grabbed his shoulders and held him off the ground to inspect. "But you can help a fellow demon take on these invaders, right?"
"I'm not a demon anymor-"
"Bah, you had the balls to become one, and you still have the balls to chase these invaders. Good enough for me."
"I see." Troulon managed to extricate himself and rubbed his shoulders from the grip. "I understand why you'd want to target them, Gorutiel, but I beg you, don't. They're much stronger than than they look... each one is like a great power on their own, and Jonijix is worse."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Gorutiel punched his shoulder irritably. "I can feel that strength, but it's all raw meat. If we manage to take down even one, we can feast. And except the leader, they don't have anything special, so if we equal their power, we can take them down."
"We?"
"Aye, I'm not the only demon with balls enough to come back to Rosemount. This is the opportunity of a lifetime."
There wasn't really a choice to disagree, not when Gorutiel could easily kill him, so Troulon accepted that this might be for the best. As they continued north over several days, shadowing the invaders' party, several other demons melted in and out of their path. They had been far from welcome in the Commonwealth since Matiavel died, but of course many of them had the strength to escape, and now they intended to return.
While Troulon was a bit skeptical about their ability to drain one of the invaders, he had to admit that the demons were better allies than he'd find on his own. Well, not allies, perhaps just assets. They wouldn't cooperate with him, but he could use them against the invaders if he could just pull together more allies.
How he was going to do that, he had no idea.
They'd made significant progress to the north when the invaders were suddenly interrupted by someone standing in their path. Troulon had been watching from a high hill, so he needed to strain his eyes to see that it was a woman... then he realized that it was Omilaena.
What had happened to her? She was far stronger than she had been before, but beyond that, she seemed to project an aura around her. It reminded him of the elves, except this was more potent and profoundly sexual instead of beautiful. All she had to do was put a hand on her hip and the image shot straight to the animal part of his brain, nearly overpowering his intellect.
Many of the locals in the group dropped to their knees in awe, while the invaders began to drool. Jonijix actually lunged forward and Omilaena danced away from him playfully. She disappeared ahead and the invaders charged after her, disappearing into the landscape.
"Godsdamn, that woman is sex on legs." Gorutiel stood nearby, shaking his head in admiration. "An elf, you think?"
"No, but an ally." Troulon wavered on his feet and rubbed his forehead, trying to regain his focus. "I hope she knows what she's doing. That's the first time Jonijix has shown interest in anyone except the elves, so he'll hunt her to the ends of th-"
"Nah, I lost him." Without warning, Omilaena was standing just beside him, leaning on his shoulder.
Up close, she was even more astonishing than she had been from a distance. It seemed like she had turned off the overpowering aura, seeming more like her normal casual self, but that had been the Omilaena that always tempted him. Even though she had cut off that possibility years ago, just seeing her again made him ache.
"Fuck!" Gorutiel leapt to the side, raising his fists in a defensive stance. "Where did you come from?"
"You have no idea how much faster we are," Omilaena told him playfully. "Jonijix and I had a whole chase while you were still staring at the afterimage of my ass. But don't worry, I left him behind way north from here."
"Damn, woman, you've got some balls on you."
Balls aside, Troulon was more concerned about the hard look in Omilaena's eyes. "What are you trying to do?" he asked. "Even if you think you can beat him individually, even if you can trivialize his local allies, the other invaders are all great powers."
"I'm not trying to fight him right now." Omilaena gestured to the northeast. "My secondary goal is to lure them away from the big cities in the northern Commonwealth, if possible. The main goal... well, he's not going to stop going north, but I'm going to make sure he ends up in a specific place."
Troulon swallowed, and this time it had nothing to do with Omilaena's beauty. He had no real idea what she intended to do, but it scared him.
.
..
.
Razz had always considered himself a merchant first and foremost, which meant taking on a variety of different roles. He had been willing to act as a servant for the invaders if that was what it took to get close to them, but he ended up acting more as a caterer. They said he could get better food for them than anyone else, so they were always demanding that he arrange feasts.
Truthfully, he thought most of the effect was psychological. He had a precious few items with phased energy from the elites, and a minority of goods with rich chakra or qi. Everything else was the same fare they scorned otherwise, but they'd decided that his food was better, so they tricked themselves.
In a bizarre way, he was both the safest and most threatened person in the city. The invaders all liked him, so they weren't going to kill him randomly, but there was always the risk that they would turn against him, and when that happened he would simply be dead.
Or he might die completely by accident. Razz winced as another shockwave of force tore over the ground and blew up a pile of boulders.
"You got any more of those?" Budajix turned back, thumping his fist against his chest. "This is fun!"
"Very sorry, Lord Budajix," Razz said with a deep bow. "It took workers days to set up all the stones that you destroyed in a few minutes. I can prepare more, but..."
"Nah, that's enough for now." Budajix raised his fist to everyone watching, and they all dutifully cheered, but then he closed in on Razz. "Hey, Razz. You ever seen power like that before?"
His throat was very dry, and Razz needed to summon his courage. At first he'd had a fantasy of stealing the invaders' phased equipment, which he realized was suicidal given their speed, and he had abandoned the idea of poisoning them due to their defenses. Acting now was risky, but if he didn't, then he would have been bowing and scraping to them for no reason.
"Your might is astonishing, Lord Budajix," he said. "I've never seen anything like it. Except for Lord Fodajix, of course."
"Eh?" Budajix frowned, glancing toward the city, then back to him. "Did Fodajix have you setting up tests, too?"
"I do whatever I can for all of you, my lord. But I must say, I much prefer to serve you. Lord Fodajix's tests are always so demanding."
"Demanding, huh? Who's would you say was more impressive?"
"I couldn't say, Lord Budajix, I'm far too weak to even try to compare any of you. You and Lord Fodajix are clearly the only ones standing at the pinnacle."
Budajix grunted and moved off, mollified, and Razz finally allowed himself to breathe again. It might have been his imagination, but he thought he saw a flicker of anger in Budajix's eyes as he moved away. Not the first.