Legendary Beasts

On the morning of his one hundredth day as the Demon Emperor, time froze and David was sealed inside a grey dome, just like he had been when he first arrived in this world.

It was time to choose his next general.

All David could think about, though, was how little he’d achieved in one hundred days.

He’d only taken one castle and was nowhere near ready to establish an empire.

If I keep going at this pace, I definitely won’t be able to overthrow the Holy Empire within a year. Even if I could do it, what then?

I need more!

If David didn’t hurry, Eris’s summoned heroes would arrive before he was ready and then he truly would be doomed.

“I can’t afford to skulk in the shadows much longer,” David mumbled with a heavy sigh. “I need to be bolder, but.” He frowned. “That raises the chances of us being discovered too early and ruining everything. How do I-?”

Before he could finish that sentence, three stone tablets fell onto his lap, bouncing off his legs and onto the bed.

Only three?

Eris had given him twelve tablets to choose from last time.

Worse, he would only get to pick one this time.

That, however, wasn’t what concerned David the most.

“Why does each tablet have two names written on them?”

Arion and Pegasus - The Loyal Steeds of the Mighty

Cerberus and Cu Sith - The Hounds of Darkness

Scylla and Charybdis - Beasts of the Oceans

Beneath each were a series of printed statements that raised even more questions.

1. Whichever tablet you choose, you will receive both of the listed generals as your servants.

2. - This is the only time where you shall be given two generals in a single tablet.

3. - While each of these generals are inherently monsters by nature, all of them are able to transform into humanoid beings.

4 - The general lots Lady Eris drew up are always fixed but the order they come up in is completely random. It is not based on your immediate needs or your performance, so do not attempt to manipulate the lots and try to trick Lady Eris.

5. - While it should be obvious, you will only be allowed to choose each general during their selection process. Any generals you don’t pick you will not get to pick at a later time.

David scoffed.

Lady Eris? What a joke.

“I can only pick one tablet but, no matter which I choose, I get both generals listed on it? Eris says they’re all monsters, but they can all transform into humanoids too? Meaning I don’t have to leave the castle before I can summon them or risk losing my roof?” He smiled bitterly. “What a considerate Goddess you are.”

David lent back and stared up at the ceiling. Where the hell do I begin this time?

With the original twelve, David had three main priorities in making his choice: his immediate safety, the ability to gather information and to see whether or not the unique text on the tablets would give him stronger or weaker generals.

Abaddon was there for his immediate safety, Mímir existed to gather intelligence, and Mania was David’s final pick to see the effects of the unique text.

Given his current situation, David wanted to pick a general to either fulfil one of those roles or that could give him an army, like Legion could have. However, based on the names he recognised on the tablets, he was limited to only two single monsters this time.

They could be powerful monsters, but that might be it.

Cerberus never had the ability to summon kin to its side and Greek myths only ever talked about one dog. Further, at the end of the day, Cerberus was essentially just a three headed dog that was easily defeated by Herakles as his final labour.

That didn’t inspire much confidence in David.

To David’s recollection, Pegasi were in a few myths and so there was a chance he could get a whole pack or even an army of them, but, ultimately, they were simply flying horses. Having aerial superiority sounded interesting initially to David but then he remembered that the summoned heroes would be people from his world.

The second they hear about my air force, they’ll start advising the other nations on anti-air weapons and the like. The moment they start to be able to shoot my Pegasus out of the air effectively, they’re dead; though, that’s if I even get more than one of them.

David didn’t know who Arion or Cu Sith were, but he did know a tiny bit about Scylla and Charybdis.

They were great sea beasts in ancient Greek mythology that terrorised sailors. Some spoke of Scylla as a hydra-like beast with many heads and others said that Charybdis was a gigantic, underwater monster that swallowed ships whole.

He’d first learnt of them during an English lesson when he was fourteen.

“How many of you have heard of the phrase ‘Between a rock and a hard place?’” His teacher had asked. Naturally, everyone raised their hands. “Then, what about ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea?” Only a few people raised their hand, making Mr Graham smile.

“Even though both of them mean the same thing, you don’t often hear the Deep Blue Sea idiom used unless someone is in a much, much more dire situation than a tough decision. It’s a phrase that’s begun to fall out of use over the years because between a rock and a hard place is a much simpler, and much faster, way of conveying the same feeling.

“This idiom’s meaning is a rather timeless phrase in a lot of ways. Unlike the Deep Blue Sea idiom, it’s still widely used and some scholars have even traced its origins back to the ancient Greeks. There used to be a saying between people like this which was: ‘Between Scylla and Charybdis’.

“There is a region in the Mediterranean called the Strait of Messina where a large whirlpool is located which is where many people think the phrase originates. Scylla was the name of a rock formation just opposite which we call today the Rock of Scillia and so the phrase related to the decisions sailors had to make when crossing the region.

“Between Scylla and Charybdis, which fate is worse?”

David had never been so happy that he’d been paying attention to Mr. Graham’s long-winded explanations.

He’d looked them up shortly afterwards to learn more about them and that’s where he encountered the myths regarding them.

However, even with that knowledge, David hesitated to choose them.

Given what’s happened with Abaddon and the others, there are a few things I can be certain of. Each general has some sort of personality issue or flaw that could cause me trouble, and I haven’t seen any of my current generals overcome them yet.

If those two turned out to be massive gluttons due to their beast-form size, they could run our limited food supply dry. What if they couldn’t fight on land? What if my enemies didn’t attack by the sea? If their only strengths come from their monster forms, then what good are they to me?

I could say the same about the others, although they’d definitely have some uses on land at least. David picked up the Scylla tablet again and exhaled. Should I just pick the ones I know best and compensate for their drawbacks later?

Wait. David glared at an empty space beside him. What if Eris knew that I knew the most about these two and put them in here to mess with me? What if she put these two in here to tempt me into taking them and then she gives me the two weakest, most useless generals she can?

I definitely wouldn’t put it past her, and I definitely don’t believe everything that she’s written on these tablets. All of the information on here could just be a trap to make me think everything she says is true.

David winced a little and grasped his heart as a sharp, stabbing sensation hit it.

“I won’t accept it,” he muttered, remembering her cruel words from the Shadow Tombs. “I won’t blindly believe whatever you try to spin, Eris.”

Maybe I’m overthinking this, he thought, his mind growing wearier and wearier as he tried to wrap his head around Eris’s logic. Is there any point in trying to understand what Eris is thinking? She’s cruel and sadistic, uses twisted logic to justify whatever she does and commands absolute fear and power.

Could anyone, even another God, understand what goes on inside her head?

David closed his eyes and tried to get his thoughts back on track.

Until he picked his generals, he wouldn’t be able to leave this space and David worried that if he spent too long deciding, Eris would get angry and he didn’t want to imagine what she’d do if she did.

“I’ll just pick one.”.

He looked down at all the names again, their titles, and quickly summarised what he knew of them all in his head, before finally settling on Scylla and Charybdis.

Like last time, the tablet cracked and the other two vanished but, this time, two sparks of energy appeared, shooting at the ground and summoning his two generals before him, kneeling.

“Scylla, Beast of the Ocean,” the one on the left said, raising her head with a wide smile. “I present myself to the Dark Lord.”

The woman who had introduced herself as Scylla had turquoise coloured hair tied in twin tails and red eyes. Unlike David’s previously summoned generals, Scylla had no obvious weapons on her person.

“Charybdis, Beast of the Ocean,” the other woman said, raising her head with a gentle smile. “I present myself to the Dark Lord.”

Charybdis had long dark blue hair and red eyes, with a bow in her right hand and a quiver of pure white arrows strapped to her back.

They were both wearing tunic-like dresses with short skirts and sleeves, an outfit David deemed impractical for battle, just like Mania’s.

It might be worth trying to make the generals some armour. It couldn’t hurt, even if they’re skin is as strong as scales or whatnot.

“What are your orders, Master?”

Before he could say another word, Eva knocked at the door.

“Excuse me, Lord Allaric, but you haven’t had breakfast yet and-” She stopped halfway through the door when she saw the two women kneeling before David.

“My apologies, your majesty!” Eva cried, bowing low to him. “I didn’t know you-”

“Don’t worry about it, Eva. Instead, gather the council members in the throne room, and Hilda too. I want to introduce you all to my newest servants.”