The next day everyone gathered outside the city gates and with them were the graduates of the Common Demon Academy who numbered a little over three hundred. Augustus and Luna were sat under a tent waiting for the graduates of CD Academy to form groups of forty. Noir like most of the nobles was patiently waiting for the grouping to be finished.

  "With the grouping done, I will now assign 3 nobles to each group, each group will be a battalion".

  Said Xeta as he left the tent and began giving commands.

  "I the first prince will be assuming the role of colonel. RD academy students from day four and three of the sparring sessions will be given the rank of major. Day two captains and those from day one will be lieutenants".

  Xeta looked at Noir, a sign that what's next may influence him specificaly and he could guess it was not something he should get himself involved in.

  "The titled nobles among you, have the right to prove their strength and get directly promoted to lieutenant colonel, just defeat anyone of them".

  He pointed at three individuals who were sharing a tent next to Luna's tent. Noir recognised them they were the three who also did not participate in the sparring sessions and they had magic level higher than his own proved when he tried to analyse them but failed. They were without a doubt not your run of the mill noble, he did not believe being lieutenant colonel was worth the trouble. The fact that he wasn't aware of their background made him realise how unfamiliar he was when it came to other nobles. He gestured to Xeta that he would not challeng any of them.

  (Sorry first prince I don't think I'll be able to live up to your expectations).

  "It seems non will challenge our three lieutenant colonels, so in consideration of their title I grant them the right of independent action, unlike other battalions who will be reporting directly to me. Each battalion will be led by a major assisted by a captain and lieutenant."

  The first prince began his assignment of everyone.

  "Majors come to my tent".

  Inside the tent on the table was a hologram of the entire Slumbering forest, several places were marked indicating where they should place their base of operations.

  "... we leave today, I'll be watching the entire battlefield but remember to report any sightings of cardinals and the hero. Now go you are dismissed".

  The majors left the prince's tent going to their assigned battalion, Noir handed a copy of the hologram to Dutch, the battalion captain.

  "Captain here's the map teleport with the battalion, I will join you before sunset. Right now I have other matters to attend to".

  "Understood major".

  Dutch accepted the hologram artifact read the coordinates and teleported with the rest of the battalion to their destination. The other battalions also left, and he returned to his dorm. With the academy now closed he could no longer stay at dorms, and a new place to stay was the least of his worries at the moment.

  "This is how it is huh. When I first heard about the academy and the war I thought being here meant avoiding war participation. Nero let's go, we're not coming back here".

  He opened the door to his room and waited for Nero to come out. Aside from taking the uniform the dorm was left in the same state he found it in.

  (I'm sure they didn't mean for it to be returned after use, there won't be any complications from this, right?)

  "Since we're leaving the academy will you be teaching magic".

  "It wasn't even the place to learn magic in the first place but to learn how to be a mage and with my memories there won't be a need for you to learn yourself. Now hold onto to me I'll teleport us away from here".

  "Major how should we divide our forces, for an effective offensive defense".

  Dutch asked immediately when Noir appeared.

  "We'll divide the battalion into three, and form a spearhead defense".

  With a single snap of his fingers the ground rose forming a huge table and seats around it. He sat at the head of the table and asked for the rest to sit. He then proceeded to display a hologram of the entire area under their influence. Even now that he was moments away from engaging in combat against the holy empire, he could not shake the feeling that it all seemed like a kids game, everyone pretending to be at war.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "As I was saying we will form three units, cover more ground than we are now. My unit will be at the head comprising of me and four elites from CD academy. The other two units will have equal number of forces and led by the captain and lieutenant respectively. Anything else to be added?".

  He asked as he looked around the table giving them a chance to voice their opinions. When no one spoke up the choice to move out immediately or at sunrise was given. With futuresight they already knew the imperial soldiers would arrive before midday tomorrow. Even without such information they could predict the attack wouldn't be during the night, doing so would put them at advantage over the imperial soldiers. The two units eventually chose to leave immediately. At night inside a well structured house, Noir and Nero resting.

  "What do you think happens to someone when they die?".

  "I think you're asking the wrong person".

  This was a question they both could not answer and what made Noir ask such a question was because he understood what a demon was, but what about other self aware beings in the world, what does it mean for them to die. Bodies can be restored or made with magic and the soul was also not free from the influence of magic, then is death even an absolute, is destroying both body and soul a guaranteed way of keeping an enemy down for good?

  The imperial army had been matching all day yesterday now they had finally reached the inner parts of Slumbering forest. They were in no rush, so they matched their way in. Every now and then they would run into magic beasts, kill them and if they were edible they would add them to their rations. Prantian a plant type magic beast, it had no actual body of its own, it could possesse all types of plants and transform into its desired form once it has possessed them. For an army this large cutting down trees was a necessary and encountering prantians was an eventuality. When it was night it made its move it released its fragrant spores, at present the imperial army was sleeping with the exception of the night watch. Normally it would not attempt to attack such a group but the other magic beasts it normally fed on fled the area. It waited for its spores to cause the night watch to fall asleep and be paralysed by it. The watchers fell down, atleast that's what it thought. A tree it possessed took on a humanoid form and began to move toward the army camp.

  "So you have chosen to attack us instead of moving out of the area, a shame you were left alone not because we weren't aware of your presence, we're just not keen on killing anything that crosses our path".

  The watcher said as he and the other watchers got back up, to them the spores were nothing more than a sweet smell. It could no longer turn back and even if it did the watchers would not leave it alone. The first watcher unsheathed his sword ready to fight it. It's arms transformed into spear like limbs, long and thin. It raised its spear like arms and charged at the watcher but he was faster, he ducked while closing in to avoid its arms and cut it in half. The mana core jumped out and entered the ground, even without a plant body it could still move underground with no issue. The second watcher made a bullet of light and shot it into the ground destroying the core before it could go deeper and made a forcefield around it to contain the explosion.

  "Sigh. When you do a job do it thoroughly".

  The first watcher laughed half-heartedly at the matter and replied to the complaint of second watcher.

  "You know I can only be this careless cause you're here to clean up the mess. I knew you didn't like this type of magic beast, blending in with the environment then sneak attacking its prey. You'd never let slip away, when you know how it's victims felt when they had their bodily fluids sucked by it while they remained paralysed".

  "Just focus on the watch".

  Other night watchers faced similar attacks. Regrettably for the beasts the knights weren't slouches.

  "We're already a ways in the forest but there's still some distance between us and the demon forces, move out as soon as you finish packing"

  Shouted a senior holy knight captain, while moving around the camp.

  "Orders from the top all elite holy knights and paladins, will aim to get passed the enemy lines and aim for the base beyond the forest and cause confusion".

  The army was on the move again, first they would launch an attack on the demons in the forest and create an opening for the elite to possibly sneak passed while the others kept the enemy distracted. After failing to determine their exact location with magic they sent scouts ahead, even with locations provided by their superiors. When they were all less than a kilometer away from the provided location, that's when it happened. Everything within their surroundings was blown away, leaving them in the open. They were caught by surprise, miraculously the blast didn't cause them any damage in any way, if not they'd all be dead.

  "It seems the enemy doesn't want us to get lost. Knights what are you waiting for, charge!"

  Commanded the senior holy knight captain as he withdrew his sword and pointed towards the origin of the blast. In the next moment a battle had begun, though calling it a battle would be misleading, it was one sided slaughter. The knights at the front fell first then those that came after them but that wasn't the disheartening part, they were losing at such a degree against just four demons.

  "Do not stop, we have two bishops on our side there is a chance at victory".

  The senior holy knight captain said while leading the second wave to stop the demons. One would expect the four demons to be swammed and surrounded, but with their speed they were moving around the battlefield without any hindrance.

  (We have to hold out, atleast until the bishops have finished linking everyone's mana to the staff).

  With the speed the demons were moving there was nothing they could do, every one of them could use magic but they didn't possess the necessary knowledge and means to fight on even ground. But the popes did they weren't mages but magic attacks that manifested at their target coordinates, was something they could do. No matter how fast a person would be without foresight they could not avoid such attacks. The senior holy knight captain swung his sword when he was within range of one of the demons, shadows in the vicinity rose becoming as dark as can be and formed a giant sword.

  "Captain!"

  Shouted another holy knight while jumping infront of the captain intending to push him out of the way and block the darkness sword himself, the sword fell on both of them before they could do anything. Both were sliced in half, and the demon who caused this was already making another pile of corpses, as he traversed the battlefield.