Dawn of Disaster

Much to his annoyance, Mímir’s fears had been realised.

Mania had followed the Sons of Tartarus and killed them all.

Had he been a moment too late, some of them could’ve escaped and put the entire operation in jeopardy.

Thankfully, he’d easily found Mania in time and made sure there were no survivors.

However, there was a much greater issue at hand.

Ryan’s men weren’t even a hundred metres from the Hierophant when they’d been slaughtered.

“Why couldn’t you hold it in?” Mímir asked as Mania drove her heels into her victim’s skulls, twisting it inside before removing it. “You’ve violated the Dark Lord’s orders.”

“I know that!” Mania cried, wincing a little as she finished off the last victim. “But I just couldn’t hold it back any longer. I was able to for most of it, but then they-”

“Mentioned a lover?” Mania nodded. “Mania, you can’t let every little insult trouble you this much, not when we are preparing in the shadows.”

“I know that,” Mania whispered weakly. “I know I messed up and it’s worse than what you guys did, but.” She showed Mímir a pathetic smile. “Is it wrong to get upset for the one you love?”

So that’s how it is.

Mímir's suspicions about Mania’s affection for the Dark Lord had been confirmed, and why she was happy to be favoured by their master.

It hasn’t even been a month since we were first summoned and yet she has already fallen for him, Mímir thought. This is something I must take into greater consideration moving forward.

“You didn’t leave any traces of our false identities on the bodies, did you?”

“No,” Mania firmly replied. “I did shred my clothes but.” She snapped her fingers and small bats appeared in the air and began to feast upon what remained of the fabric. “That’s been taken care of. Should we leave the bodies for the wolves or try to dispose of them?”

Mímir shook his head. “I’ll string them up here and leave them as a grotesque warning.”

“A warning?”

“I’ll explain it once we’ve reported back to the Dark Lord.”

“…Right.”

Once the bodies were left hanging across the alleyway, like laundry left out to dry, they returned to the Hierophant.

They went into the office. Mímir locked the door and let out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m sorry,” Mania whispered pathetically.

Actually, this might be a good opportunity to bring us generals closer together.

“Don’t be. Even if you struck first, I'm also at fault. I was going to kill them myself once they started insulting the Dark Lord; however, I don’t think that he will be happy to hear that we disobeyed his orders for such petty reasons.”

Mania dug her nails into her arm. “He’s going to be furious with me.”

“Indeed. However, as I have already said to you and Abaddon, we three must learn to work together to ensure such things don’t happen again.”

“…Right.”

While their failure was a great one and one that would no doubt end harshly for them both, Mímir’s mind was already thinking through a thousand possibilities and eventualities of what was to come.

Of course, it would mean that Mímir’s opinion would fall again in the eyes of the Dark Lord, but it was a sacrifice that he was willing to make if it bore a greater benefit in the long run.

“Before we return, might I ask one final thing?”

“…What?”

“Why do you love the Dark Lord so much?”

Mania smiled faintly. “His strength. His power. The way he commands absolute control over everything. For a succubus like me, there’s no one greater than he to serve and love.”

“…I see.”

***

The corpses of the Sons of Tartarus members were discovered just an hour after Mímir and Mania had hung them there.

Once they’d been found, news spread throughout Stonefall like wildfire.

Rumours, whispers and mumblings gave life to the first signs of a looming disaster approaching the Holy Empire of Themis.

At that time, none of them knew that this was the first sign of the Demon Emperor in this world.