I took a step forward and crossed the plaza in an instant, appearing before General Kharzun.
The demon general stood unmoving. The crimson lines carved along his armor glowed faintly as he looked down at me, and then his deep laugh rolled out across the clearing.
"Hahaha. Your name is spreading far and wide, Mr. Billion," he said, his voice booming with amusement. "I was dying to meet you, and who would have thought fate would bring us together like this."
I smiled slightly and inclined my head.
"It is good to see you again, General."
His gaze studied me for a moment, clearly measuring the change in my aura since the last time we had crossed paths. The look in his eyes sharpened with interest, though the smile never left his face.
I shifted my attention slightly to the figure standing beside him.
"Commander Saleos."
Saleos stepped forward half a pace. His eyes gleamed with something close to excitement.
"Mr. Billion," he said with a respectful nod. "You have grown strong again."
I chuckled softly.
"Great battles require great strength, Commander."
Saleos nodded immediately, clearly agreeing.
"It sure does."
Behind them, Primus watched the exchange with folded arms, while the three other demon transcendants stood silently. Around us the assembled armies had finished forming their ranks, tens of thousands of warriors standing in disciplined silence.
Finally I turned my gaze toward the one person responsible for all of this.
"Lyrate," I said calmly. "Would you explain?"
She floated forward slightly, the hem of her red dress shifting gently in the air as she moved. The smile on her face remained bright, and there was no mistaking the pride in her expression as she glanced over the massive gathering of forces filling the city.
"You asked for people," she said lightly. "So I brought them."
Her eyes sparkled.
"Well," she said, gesturing lightly toward the armies surrounding us, "Primus was very enthusiastic when he heard the idea."
Primus snorted faintly but did not deny it.
"The moment she mentioned seventy-two targets," he said, "I decided it would be a shame if we didn’t participate."
Kharzun let out another booming laugh.
"The Demon Monarch’s army does not often receive invitations to such entertaining wars," he said. "When Commander Saleos informed me of the opportunity, I decided it would be foolish to miss it."
Saleos inclined his head slightly toward me.
"And once word spread through our command structure, volunteers became... plentiful."
I glanced across the plaza again.
Ten thousand demons stood in ordered ranks. Beyond them were the tiger-tribe Ferans and the insectoid warriors, their formations stretching across the cleared city blocks like an army assembled for a continental war.
"Well," I said slowly, "I understood how the demon forces gathered after seeing you, General, but I am more interested in how the Ferans and—"
I raised a finger slightly toward the insectoid ranks spread across the plaza.
"—they ended up here."
Lyrate nodded as if she had expected the question.
"Well, I had an idea," she said casually. "I thought it might be worthwhile to convince Kael Sharka, the Sharka tribe general from Feradros. Right now Feradros is in a bit of chaos because certain someone killed their top forces."
General Kharzun and Commander Saleos both looked at me at the same time.
Neither of them said a word.
I pretended not to notice.
"When I met him," Lyrate continued, "he was reluctant at first. Understandable, considering the situation. But after a brief conversation that I had he agreed to assist. All these tiger-tribe grandmasters you see here are from the Sharka clan."
She finished speaking as if she had merely arranged a small meeting rather than mobilized five thousand Feran warriors across the galaxy.
I looked at her for a moment, trying to decide what exactly she had done to "convince" a Feran war general.
In the end I decided it was better not to ask.
"Great work, Lyrate," I said with a calm nod. "That’s a very sound judgment."
"Thank you," she replied immediately, placing a hand lightly over her chest. "It means a lot to hear praise from you, Leader."
As she said that, her eyes slid briefly toward Aurora.
Aurora’s expression remained perfectly neutral.
I cleared my throat.
"And the other force?" I asked, glancing toward the insectoid army.
For the first time Lyrate’s expression faltered slightly.
Only slightly.
"Well," she said after a brief pause, "the teleportation portal here connects to a trade hub called Bbookair. That hub happens to be under the administrative control of the Insectoid race."
She lifted one shoulder lightly.
"On our way back through the hub they tried to punish us for rushing through their territory."
Silver muttered under his breath behind me. "That was probably a mistake."
Lyrate ignored him.
"As you know," she continued calmly, "I was simply following your orders. Therefore I had no choice but to go meet their leaders and convince them to join our mission."
She gestured lightly toward the massive insectoid army standing across the plaza.
"And they agreed."
For a few seconds no one spoke.
Knight leaned slightly toward Steve and whispered, just loud enough for several of us to hear.
"I feel like the word ’convince’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence."
Steve nodded thoughtfully.
"Extremely flexible word."
Kharzun, however, laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! I like Lady Lyrate," the demon general said approvingly. "Efficient negotiations."
Saleos nodded once.
"Very efficient."
I rubbed my temple briefly, then lowered my hand and looked across the massive army now occupying the city.
Twenty-five thousand elite warriors.
All gathered in one place.
I let my gaze move slowly across them before speaking again.
"Well," I said calmly, "that solves the manpower problem."
My eyes shifted back to the group in front of me.
"Which means we can begin planning the real operation."
Primus stepped forward.
"I have brought some of our rune masters as well," he said. "They can help set up portals directly between the bases so we don’t have to return here every time. They can also establish a portal that connects directly to Armus."
I nodded.
"Thanks, Primus. That will help us a lot. Of course, before we finalize all the logistics, I want us to begin the action immediately. The longer we wait, the more time they have to regroup, bring reinforcements, or abandon their positions. I want those bases destroyed and brought under our control before that happens."
Primus nodded in agreement.
General Kharzun spoke next. "How do you want to proceed?"
"Each transcendent will take a portion of the forces and move through the portals to the bases," I said. "Clear them out and leave soldiers behind to take control of the location. Once that’s done, move to the next one."
I paused briefly.
"With the number of forces we have here, we should finish this in only a few rounds. And lets call this operation : Dead Star."