As time passed by Lord Alastor was as happy as he could be. Things were going his way, more perfectly than initially imagined. He send Lucas on a wild goose chase, got Alastor to step down for the moment and Astaroph was almost finished.
It wouldn't take long before all the pieces were neatly prepared for the coming storm.
"I believe we should be ready when the time comes," Lord Alastor said as he smiled to himself, happy with his results.
"Only if they stick to the information we received. For all we know, she'll send one of her dogs after us," his dear friend didn't think so optimistically. The Duke had seen plenty of plans go awry, why would this one work?
It wasn't his usual reaction to doubt the plan of his friend, but considering the circumstances, he couldn't help but worry. Sitting on a chair opposite his buddy, there were a couple of mugs of alcohol on the table in front of him.
Of course, most were empty by now, but a handy butler knew when to refill them.
"If one of those hounds come, no matter the plan we created, we would be finished. If they follow the laws, we should be able to handle it."
"That witch doesn't care for rules, she'll just twist them to her hand. Nobody would dare to stop her in the first place anyway."
"Don't worry about it. Once Astaroph is completed, he'll have the power to go up against Rank 4 mages. Combined with Alastor and Agareth we will have fulfilled our quota to the Demon King."
"Exactly, my lands might produce a few good pieces, but do you truly believe the others would be able to follow my example?"
"I know of a few Dukes that have succeeded before we have. There's a couple left that need to finish up their preparations like us and then we'll be set."
The Duke shook his head. "It's not enough. We need more."
Lord Alastor couldn't help but look at his friend with a strange look. "If you expected us to mass produce Rank 4 mages like a farmer does you would be delusional. It's already rare for such a small plot of land to give us this many. Besides, we have the Undead with us as well."
"Tch, those piles of bones won't be of any help, they're all too focused on their own survival," The Duke wasn't of the belief that the Undead were weak, he just knew they were too scared. Having died once, they seemed to have gotten addicted to living.
"But in the face of a greater enemy, they'll surely start to join us. Besides, Light isn't their weakness in the first place. Those mindless soldiers wouldn't think twice about what to use."
The Duke took a large sip from his drink before roughly placing it back, hard enough for the liquid inside to jump above the rim. "No, we'll have to forcefully drag them out."
"Fine, I'll set something up to get them to join the fight. In the end, they're still mages, deals are something they can't ignore."
As they continued to discuss their current plan and the accompanying worries, the butler suddenly stepped outside their room and returned with a simple piece of paper.
"Excuse me my lord, but you have received an urgent message," handing the document over with both hands, Lord Alastor grabbed it and quickly went through it.
"Shit," hearing that, the Duke looked away from his drink to look at his friend with a most serious look. Tons of things were unaccounted for in their plan, too many for the Duke's liking, and it seemed one of those things was about to bite them in the ass for ignoring it.
"What happened?", holding his breath, he hoped for the second worst thing.
"Lucas is still alive."
The Duke slacked a sigh of relief, it wasn't even an important factor. "Whatever, his state of being matters little. He has completed his job, the piece is useless now."
"Well, the issue is that he's figured it out."
"How much?"
"Most likely everything."
The Duke rolled with his eyes as he waved it away, "He can't do much anyway, I'll arrange the Guardians to take care of him for suspected murder of some folk I killed some time ago."
Lord Alastor took a moment to mellow his options a bit more than the Duke. Sure, killing Lucas would remove an annoying thorn in their side, but at what benefit? He was irritating, but not an actual roadblock, just a pesky fly that kept circling their food, a harmless pest at best.
"What if we just make use of him? He's a pretty decent fighter on his Rank."
The Duke crossed his arms as he stared at him, "We don't need Rank 3 fighters, Al, we need Rank 4's."
"I understand, but didn't one of your Guardians mention him as a potential powerhouse? He might not have reached the threshold yet, but he's close , isn't he?"
"Are you suggesting to support his efforts?"
"You were worried about a potential shortage of available commanders, isn't this a suitable reserve? He's very loyal to your son, they would be able to work well together."
"If you didn't use his voice to manipulate my son, sure, but that boy will be filled with hatred. That bridge has been burned and smashed apart. They won't ever be able to connect again."
Sighing for a moment, Lord Alastor was grasping at straws. "That won't stop Lucas from aiding his friend."
The Duke frowned, not agreeing with the idea in the slightest. Then again, it wasn't the worst option from a list of bad ones. They needed more capable manpower, and the well was more than run dry.
Trying to understand the potential of it, he first had to understand what the next moves would be. "He knows we set him up, is that what he mentions in that letter?"
"No, it's a letter for the fake Guardian of Space we let him meet. The letter has clear descriptions of his wife, down to the details of her private parts. It's clear he's trying to lure the Guardian out to interrogate him."
"I thought we had a pretty good stand in, how did he notice?"
"He didn't at first, but the device he received always led to the same place. Knowing his stubbornness, I bet he checked the location of the banquet as well, which of course would give it away."
The Duke shook his head, "If he was just a bit more powerful, I would love to play along, but I'm not fond of wasting resources unnecessary. Can you promise me that he'll be ready to face up against a Rank 4 by the deadline?"
Unable to give him any kind of assurance, Lord Alastor didn't bother shaking his head as his expression did the work for him. The Duke took a sip from his drink, "What's the Rank of that woman?"
"Rank 0, I believe."
"Let her die, and keep Lucas on a wild chase until it starts. If his potential is as good as you assume, he'll be a valuable asset, if not, he'll just perish in the coming fight."
Concluding their meeting with this, the Duke left with much haste as their plans were too unstable without him correcting where possible. Left alone with his butler, Lord Alastor had dozens of ideas coursing through his mind, none all that attractive.
"What do you think?", turning his eyes towards the butler, he expected a down to earth answer. It was his personal butler slave that has seen many of the extremely confidential meetings between him and his friend.
The butler needed a moment to think things through. He wasn't often asked for his opinion, but when that was the case, he always tried his hardest to help out. "He's still a formidable mage, is he not? Even if his loyalties are questioned, I don't believe he'll be able to side with them at that time. So either way, he will join us in the fight. If it's not too expensive, a slight push in the right direction might be enough for him to bloom."
Using his most diplomatic tone and slightly bowing while giving his explanation, he hoped that it might steer his master to a different stream of ideas, one good enough to open the gates before him.
Mulling it over and over, Lord Alastor already knew the butler was right. 'It's not that expenses matter in the current state. If we don't get out of it alive, none of it would've mattered.'
"Do we still have that Rank 4 magic crystal?", it was a simple question, but it made the butler smile as he was glad his master found a path forward.
---
Lucas knew he had walked into someone's carefully prepared plan, and he even knew exactly who did it in the first place. That's why he sent quite a peculiar letter to the director of the orchestra with the goal for him to pass it along, but knowing he would read it instead.
Now, he just had to wait until he received a reply. Sitting in the same inn as usual, he ordered a drink or two but didn't bother drinking. Hanging around, he awaited the letter from Lord Alastor, but unexpectedly, his tactic lured someone else entirely to his doorstep.
Sitting down in front of him, a noble demon took one of the mugs and started to drink. Lucas stared at him without prejudice.
"Descartes, I wasn't expecting you to visit me. I thought you were busy with the Undead?"
Placing the mug down, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, something only mortals did as mages could easily remove it in a myriad of ways, but never as brutish as that.
The look in his eyes felt desperate and his posture held a certain unease. Like he wanted to leave as soon as possible, Lucas checked his environment for any assassins or the like, only to find nothing.
Descartes completely ignored Lucas' question, as much bigger things were haunting his mind. "Lucas, I respect you, I do," his rapid speech, almost tripping over his own words, Lucas felt like something was clearly wrong, but the demon kept on going, "as a friend of Astaroph, I'm willing to help you out. You are clearly powerful and smart enough to adapt to your environment. So I'm holding out my hand to you, whether you take it or not depends on you."
Lucas didn't understand what he said in the slightest. He didn't know if this was meant to be an elaborate trap made by the Duke and Lord Alastor or he was going insane. The jittery movements, his darting eyes, he looked like he was on drugs. Lucas frowned as he didn't know what to do.
There was no harm in accepting his stretched out hand, but it could be a trap. Then again, he was just waiting for a letter from Lord Alastor which would probably land him in a different trick. Either way, he would have to face the unknown.
Going forward with the idea it was all a ploy to kill him again, Lucas grabbed Descartes' hand. He smiled slightly as he quickly let go and left the inn. Rushing to follow behind him, Descartes started to fly through the sky without mouthing a single word.
Chasing in silence, Lucas started to recognize the lands slightly as they were heading to his county.
'The hell is going on with that little bastard?'
'Can't say, he looks extremely nervous.'
'Was he threatened with death or something?'
'Would he collapse so easily?'
After flying for a few hours they arrived at the mansion Descartes was proud of, but this time, that didn't seem to be the case as he flew trough the window and entered as quickly as he could. Not thinking too much of it, he floated in front of the broken pieces of glass only to see a large room behind it packed with people.
Scanning them slightly, most were below his Rank or not even a mage. Entering cautiously, Descartes pushed his hair to the side as he stared at a single demon that stood in the center of the room. He was dressed in all black with two white gloves. He had a light smile on his face, which contrasted all the worried looks around him. Plenty of women and men were frowning, crying, or holding back whatever emotion that was grasping them.
Descartes stared daggers at the suited man, who nodded slightly, "You still have 20 minutes left over. You made it in time, congratulations. Are there any others you would like to join us?"
Many of the people in the room approached Descartes to ask for someone they knew, a friend, partner, lover, all who had to be with them. The others tried to dissuade them from continuing, letting Descartes rest. "Shut up!", waving them away, Descartes made his stance clear, "Nobody else is joining us, understand? We don't have any time left. Sir, please."
Almost bowing to the magicless servant, many felt it insulted their standing, but Descartes was in the know. He might not have any magic, but the man in front of them held the power to save their lives.
"As you wish, good sir. With this, our cooperation has ended. If you so desire, you can always contact us once more in case you want another trade," the man was all smiles, happy to end a deal they had going for some time.
Clapping his hands, a large portal opened up behind him. Lucas couldn't detect the slightest bit of mana from his movements, but no artifact was present either. It could only mean one of two things. Either he was a Rank so high that Lucas couldn't even measure his powers, or there was someone similar to that around them.
People rushed through the portal, some were even pushing others out of their way to get to it first. Descartes tried to take a deep breath, failing the instant he bothered to try.
"Where does this portal lead?", Lucas asked to Descartes, but the neatly dressed demon answered instead, "This portal leads to a planet called Kirvia, it's a beautiful place visited by many mages and archmages alike for the very soothing views."
The man described it as if they were going on a vacation. Descartes quickly made it clear.
"It's an escape route, Lucas. Like the man said, in only a few minutes everything on Sabaoth will change. I can't reveal any details," he said as he felt the stare of the demon on his back, "but it's a way out of harm. I wanted you to join us, because you didn't hold any prejudice against us demons despite our harsh treatment. And I'll be honest, I could use your power and mind to forge us a place at Kirvia."
Lucas felt like he wasn't lying, no, it felt all too real. Something was going to happen, but what in the world would push Descartes so hard to escape from the danger.
'Unless the danger is bigger than the Duke.'
'The Undead? They're strong, but not that great, those piles of bones would be wetting their pants if they could when faced with that Duke.'
"I don't-", Lucas was about to ask for more details, but the servant interrupted him without any shame. "Time is running out, you have 15 seconds left."
Descartes turned around in a panic, "You said!"
"Plans moved up," the man smiled lightly as he hunched his shoulders.
"Join me Lucas!", Descartes didn't take any chances and jumped through the portal, hoping Lucas would follow. The servant stood at the side with a calm expression.
"You don't look all that hurried," Lucas didn't like the demon. Not because he was a magicless mortal, but because he closely resembled someone he knew.
"Oh, we still have some time. I just wanted to make certain Descartes made it to the other side, otherwise our deal wouldn't be completed. I couldn't take the risk, I'm sure you understand."
"Are you...," Lucas didn't know how to phrase it, but the strange confidence in his stance, the knowledge only held by extreme few despite circumstances made him think of multiple people in the past.
The demon slightly chuckled, "I do not deceive, young friend. I am a Contact, nothing more, nothing less. There is one question that needs to be answered at this point in time. Do you want to save your friend, Astaroph the 52nd?"
Despite his calm demeanor and approachable aura, Lucas felt anything but relaxed. He was the mage here, he should've held the initiative, but he felt so small against this man in ways he'd rather ignore. "I do."
"Then I suggest staying here, and put aside your feelings for the moment," the demon turned to the portal and slowly stepped in with a single leg before turning his head once, "I wish you the best of luck, dear heir."
And with that, he vanished into the portal, making it disappear right after. Standing in the room, Lucas didn't know how to feel, but one thing was certain. Pressing his hands on his face, he slowly brought them downwards, pulling his face slightly down with the movement as he regained his rational force.
'All plans are scrapped.'
'Agreed, if they're all so panicked, no fucking way we'll be able to get that space fucker out.'
'Do we create defenses somewhere?'
'That neat little freak said we had to save Asta, remember?'
'Save... Dammit,' Lucas didn't dare think it, but if they were meant to save Asta, it could only mean he was in danger.
'Ya don't got to tell me, this shit's already worse than I expected.'
Stepping close to the window, he stared into the distance, trying to find a new path forward.
'They were running away to safety. This place is going to turn into pandemonium. I don't think there's something here that could rival the Duke right away.'
'Meaning ya think that bastard is the threat in the first place? Cause I love a good fight, but ain't no way I'm going against that.'
'Of course not, I'm not including our death into our plans. We just need to know who to avoid and who to approach right now. If it's the Duke, Descartes would've tried to get to the other Dukes and go against him.'
'Or they're all in on it.'
'Exactly, that's why he had to run. If all the Dukes are planning something similar, we're not going to find any help in official channels.'
'Beggar market?'
'There might be some useful intel, but he said 20 minutes. What can even happen in such a short span of time?'