Ignite the Sun

They all say in silence as Greg finished his story.

"Isn't it counterproductive to keep slaves who can activately rebel against you?" Alfred frowned. "Couldn't they just make their own equipment by, I don't know, expanding the population and making some people into artisans?"

"Serakhiin want conquest and glory – you want get those two things by sitting in a workshop, no matter how good your craft is." Greg shook his head. "They want to be warriors, so they will make others do the menial tasks no matter the cost."

"Did they enslave any other species?" Elira asked.

Greg nodded.

"My kind, the Asmarii, were used only for heavy labour and crafting – there were many other... undesirable jobs someone had to do. For bookkeeping and storage organisation they captured a race of small creatures called Buth. In terms of appearance they are reminiscent of the goblins from your folklore – well, they are now, I don't really know what they looked like before they were corrupted."

"Are they also only partially corrupted? Their job would suggest they need some degree of intelligence."

"They aren't fully overtaken by the Blight like the Serakhiin, but their corruption is heavier than that of my kind."

"Come to think of it, why does the Blight work differently on some creatures then others? The mindless beasts can become more cunning after evolving, but a sapient creatures lose their intelect and free will after corruption – or at last some of them do."

"Some?" The devil raised an eyebrow.

"We purified one of the Serakhiin." Calen stated. "Afterwards he turned to an elf. We don't know what exactly does it mean, but combined with what we learned from you it's safe to assume the Blightborn were corrupted in a different way than other beings."

"It probably has to do with the Blight Queen." Greg nodded carefully. "She seems to have a strange relationship with the Blight."

"So she's real... have you ever seen her?"

"A few times, but from afar." The devil shivered at the memory. "She's like the Serakhiin, but also... different. If there's anything beautiful about the Blightborn, it's her – even if it's a poisonous kind of beauty. Just looking at her from the distance I could feel she was simply more than anything I've seen before. It was like looking at a..."

"God." Calen grimaced. "So the Blight Queen really is a deity."

"I suppose it does make sense." Isara admitted. "If there was someone capable of turning an entire race into a twisted version of themselves without destroying their minds, it would be a god."

"So we're up against a divine being?" Leon exhaled sharply. "I don't like those odds."

"I don't think it's that much worse than just an interdimensional empire. Besides, it's not like we're going to be the ones directly fighting the god – only Cal will be able to do that."

"Assuming I don't die before that." Calen pointed out."Fortunately we probably don't have to worry about that until we take the fight to them."

"I'm not a fan of forgetting about future problems." Cassian commented, and looked at Leon. "Are we actually planning on on hunting on this trip, or was it all just a ruse to expose the mimic?"

"We will hunt a few small creatures, coming back empty-handed would be much more suspicious than the fact that 'Harold' died on this mission."

"So you're not going to reveal the truth about Harold."

"Not now, I'll tell everyone what really happened once all of this is resolved, no need to advertise to Arthur that we're onto him."

"I suppose it makes sense." Cassian agreed. "What are we going to be hunting?"

"Greyfangs, they have a den nearby and are rather weak."

"Small and weak are not the adjectives I would use to describe Grayfangs." Alfred crossed his arms. "A pack of them can take down an adult Mycotross."

"I think you're forgetting who are you traveling with." Leon chuckled. "Damien and I would be probably more than enough to kill hundred of them – not to mention Greg..."

He frowned and looked at the devil.

"How are your physical capabilities now? Before your strength came from the Blight, but you don't have access to it now, and you couldn't cultivate aura because of the suppression..."

"Correction, I couldn't use aura because of the suppression." Greg took out his sword, and the blade immediately lit up with crimson aura. "Nothing was ever stopping me from cultivating it."

"How did you know how to do that?"

The devil rolled his eyes.

"Please, do you even know how old I am? I've been to a dozen different worlds and studied their battle techniques and equipment to perfect my craft – I can figure out how you're supposed to move your inner energy in two centuries, especially when everyone around me is doing it."

"Forget I asked." Leon looked at Alfred again. "Anyway, as you can see we have three people who mastered aura and been steadily getting stronger for hundreds of years – nothing short of an avatar of an ancient one could kill us."

Calen frowned – either Leon was boasting a lot, or something didn't add up.

"If you're this strong, shouldn't it be a breeze to defeat the Serakhiin? They're only slightly stronger than regular humans."

Leon's face fell.

"Maybe if we were talking only about the infantry and scouts in limited amounts. Yes, our aura blades could cut through them, but we are still mortal, and would get tired before they use all the foot soliders in a single fortress. And that's just the weaker force being stationed in the Sun Kingdom – the invasion force is a completely different beast."

"...how many Blightborn are even stationed in the sun Kingdom?"

"We don't know the exact number, but from the supply chains and number of their fortresses it's can't be less than fifty thousand – it's more than all of humanity combined."

That would explain things, the three of them were strong, but in reality there were only two or three dozen people who could match them among humanity.

If they ever truly hoped to overpower the Blightborn, they would truly need someone with god-like strength.