The 100 Days War - Chapter 8

“You’re late, Lord Harrow.”

“Apologies, Duchess Patha, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t followed.”

“Has the Demon Emperor started to suspect you?”

“I’m not sure, but he keeps his soldiers close even to those who ‘bent the knee’ to him.”

“And you’re sure you weren’t followed?”

“I was not followed, I assure you, Duchess. I took great lengths to make sure his majesty was none the wiser.”

“Good. Then, let’s begin. Walter.”

“Thank you, Duchess. Now, I’m sure some of you have heard that Baron Tian has recently disappeared and, unfortunately, that’s not all. He was discovered by the Satyr Knight at a rebel hideout during a raid, and his estate was seized by the Demon Emperor. Worse, my sources tell me that they broke into his safe and uncovered documents containing information about the small rebel groups in his territory.

“Needless to say, all three hundred conspirators were captured and half of them were executed.”

“What happened to the other half?”

“Enslaved and sent to work in the goblin mines for the next ten years.”

“Is it possible to rescue them?”

“That’s impossible. After a few failed attempts by the remnants of the Holy Legion in the Northern Hills, the number of guards has tripled, and they have Machai with them now too.”

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s not the worst-case scenario. As long as the Demon Emperor believes that Baron Tian’s cell was a small, isolated one, then that’s fine. If anything, it’s because the smaller cells have been hit that the Demon Emperor hasn’t realised how many of us are conspiring against him.”

“…While the Duchess speaks harshly, she speaks truthfully. Baron Tian’s capture is the largest scale incident so far and the rest have just been handfuls of people across the empire. Have we received word from Count Arlan yet?”

“We have.”

“…What’s the verdict?”

The Duchess smiled. “He’s got the support of the prince.”

At that, the thirteen lords and ladies of the rebel alliance cheered.

“Thank Themis!”

“Duchess, this is the happiest news I’ve heard in a long time!”

“Yes, but it still isn’t our time to act.”

“Did Count Arlan say when he’d strike?”

“Soon, was all he said. I imagine he wanted to keep it vague in the event his spies were intercepted and tortured for information. Regardless, he did say we’d know when to act, so I suppose all we can do is wait and prepare as we always have.”

“Still, it’ll be hard for us to coordinate our efforts when the war begins in earnest if we don’t know when to start the rebellion.”

“Count Arlan knows this too, but he also knows that the Demon Emperor will be too busy defending the west and attacking the north to notice our movements.”

“I hope to the Great Goddess that you’re right.”

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, with that all out of the way-”

“Duchess, before we conclude today’s meeting, might I ask one question?”

All eyes turned to one lord who had, until this point, remained silent.

“What is it, Lord Valeria?”

“I just wanted to ask if you had a preferred way of dying?”

“…Excuse me?”

Lord Valeria grinned as his fangs slowly descended from his mouth and then the Ravens descended from the rafters.

Mímir, accompanied by a handful of vampire knights, burst through the double doors to the conference room.

The Duchess’s twenty guards quickly reacted and went to draw their weapons, but the Demon Emperor’s forces were much quicker and killed them before they could even put up a fight.

Lord Valeria started laughing as he rose from his seat. “Thank you, dear Duchess, for calling today’s meeting. I have always taken great pleasure in working with traitorous lords in order to remove the filth from my emperor’s country. Black Port helped me clean out the south and now I have cleaned out the north, east and west.” Lord Valeria then dropped to one knee and respectfully greeted his superior.

“Lord Mímir, as promised, I have brought the Demon Emperor’s enemies together in order to pull them out, root and all.”

“Excellent work as always, Valeria. I’ll be sure to tell his majesty and ensure you are given a reward equal to your deed.”

“Thank you very much!”

“Take command of your forces outside and put down the rest of the castle’s guards. I don’t want a single one of them to be left alive.”

“As you command, my lord!”

Valeria obeyed immediately, but not before giving Mímir a polite bow.

The vampires cleared the room, leaving the twelve rebel leaders, Mímir and his eight Ravens in the room.

“…Lord Mímir.”

“Duchess Patha.” The general sighed and slowly pulled a knife from his belt. “I had hoped a woman as intelligent as you would’ve realised how foolish it was to rebel against his majesty, so it saddens me to see you a traitor.”

The Duchess scoffed and took out a dagger from beneath her dress. “I couldn’t call myself a noble if I didn’t stand against such foul evil.”

“And yet, many of your fellow nobles fell in line so easily.”

“No matter what you do, Lord Mímir, I will never bend the knee.”

“I know, which is why this saddens me.”

Mímir threw his knife at Duchess Patha and it pierced her skull, killing her instantly.

Before she fell to the ground, Mímir flew across the room with great speed and caught her body, holding her gently in his arms.

A shame to lose someone so talented, but perhaps she could be revived as a strong undead of some sort.

The Demon Emperor and Mania were still actively testing their necromantic abilities and had managed to raise undead giants and liches from the corpses of the powerful, so perhaps Duchess Patha could serve the Demon Empire even in death.

Mímir placed the Duchess’s body on the table, removed his blade from her skull and shut her eyes.

Then, he turned to the remaining lords and ladies.

“Right now, the rest of you have two choices. You either surrender yourselves and your information to me, or you die slowly over the next few weeks.” Despite the dread on their faces, not one of the nobles broke at his threats. “Interesting. You would all still choose a painful death over your comrades. I admire your loyalty to your cause, but I can’t help but wonder how strong that conviction is.

“Your lives might not mean much in the face of your rebellion, but what about those you hold most dear, say your spouses? Your parents? Your children?”

All but two faces had gone ghost white.

“Perhaps you’d be more willing to surrender the information to me if I threatened to make your families suffer an even worse fate than you would.”

“They aren’t related to this at all!”

“Oh, but they are. A blood relation is a much stronger tie than you might think. I will say this once more; this offer of mercy only extends to one of you. So-”

“Lord Mímir, please, I’ll-”

“No, not him, my lord, please me! I can tell you much more than-”

“Please, spare my children! If you do, I’ll give you everything and more! Ah, I’ll even give myself to the Demon Emperor. I understand that he enjoys pretty women and-”

Only three broke in the end? Mímir thinly smiled beneath his scarf. It’s not as many as I’d hoped for, but it’ll do.

“Ravens, take those who didn’t want to talk away. I want them hung by their wrists above the gates; they are not to be taken down even after they die. As for you three, I shall escort you to the Dread Keep personally and then I will spare the lord or lady who gives me the most useful information about your rebel alliance. The other two will meet a similar end to these traitors, so I suggest you get ready to spill everything you know.”

***

“Are you dissatisfied, Valeria?”

“Dissatisfied isn’t the right word, Lord Mímir. I’m just a bit confused more than anything.”

“What about?”

“Well, we know where the rest of the rebels are. We know where they’re bases are, their numbers and we’ve already made preparations to withstand Count Arlan’s attack. We’ve known all this for more than a month now, so why bother to take any hostages for intel?”

Mímir laughed a little. “That’s not the point, Valeria.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Demon Emperor wanted his enemies to be emboldened so that we could more easily crush them.

“It’s as you said. Ever since the Holy Empire fell, we’ve expanded our information network greatly, in part thanks to the Vampire Court and Jorōgumo’s brood, but we don’t want our enemies to know that. There’s a quote that the Demon Emperor shared with us not to long ago that has since resonated inside my heart and soul:

‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.’

“Did the Demon Emperor write that himself.”

“He did.” Mímir chuckled a little inside. That’s a small lie as I and the other generals all know of the original author of that quote. However, it doesn’t hurt to add to the image the Vampire Court has of his majesty. “As long as the enemy does not know what we’re fully capable of, then they cannot ever touch us.

“They might be some strong soldiers and wise leaders among them, but they can only act on what they know.

“Right now, the enemy believes that we are thinly spread across the north and south-east. They think there are large, exploitable gaps in our defences, chances that they can jump at and use to defeat the Demon Empire before we’ve properly established our control over the east. They are, of course, misguided.”

“Though not entirely inaccurate either, Lord Mímir.”

“Annoyingly so. We are thinly spread militarily at the moment, but we are starting to amend that. Mania and Hilda are both seeing to it.”

“Forgive me for being so ignorant of his majesty’s greatness, Lord Mímir. I thought myself intelligent, but have once again been reminded of my short comings.”

“Don’t take it too hard, Valeria. All of us come up short in face of his majesty’s intellect and strategy. All we must do is follow his orders and we will see victory after victory.”

“Of course! My loyalty to the Demon Emperor is absolute.”

“Then, let’s not disappoint him. Let’s give the rebels one last light of hope before we extinguish it.”

***

Blood trickled out the figure’s mouth.

Their eyelids were heavy, their arms, bound by chains to the ceiling, had lost all feeling, and their body was covered in lacerations.

Still though, the figure endured their torture, denying their captor the satisfaction of their reactions.

The figure vomited as he slipped out of their intoxicated dream state for the fifth time that day, before swallowing the remnants in their mouth.

“I’m impressed that you’ve lasted this long.”

The figure didn’t have the strength left to look up at their captor.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect anyone to beat Jessica’s record, but you are tenacious if nothing else.”

The figure thinly smiled and tried to spit onto the floor, though nothing came out.

“If you think this is enough to break me, then clearly you don’t know the hellish training I’ve been through.”

Their captor giggled, then knelt down before the figure, roughly gripping their chin between her fingers.

With a lick of her lips, Mania bared her fangs and said, “You’re probably thinking that you’ve withstood the worst I can offer you during the Awakening, right? You’re thinking that she’s run out of ideas and has to keep forcing me into that dream state to see any effect. Well, my poor captive, you’re wrong.”

She brought her lips close to his ear and whispered, “We’ve only scratched the surface.” Mania let go of the figure before touching the figure’s forehead with two fingers. “Jessica’s group were oh so educational to me. I learnt the limits of you humans, I learnt what tricks break you down how I want you to, and which shatter you into a million pieces. Jessica’s old lover was very useful in that regard.

“I assure you, my dear naïve prisoner, it’s only a matter of time until you awaken.”