Tree of Aeons

238. Instreetutional Display (AND BOOK LAUNCH)

Year 240

The Crystal King didnt like us on his land, and he knew we were coming. He could see it, and so, he sent his men to harass us. 

The harassment involved attacks with magic. His mages and his golems. His vassals stonewalled our attempts to reach the demon kings spawn point.

Despite the demons from the rifts spawning constantly, the Crystal King treated it everything as if it was under control.

After a long and thorough discussion with my Valthorns on how to deal with this annoying but powerful piece of rock, weve concluded that he likely respected strength, and any soft approach would not work.

If we wanted them to give us space to do what we did, I had to show we have every right and power to crush everything that stood in our way.

This applied to all three factions of Mountainworld. 

My centaur spies told me that they wouldnt respect anyone without strength. The centaurs, who had trials by combat to select their leaders, also respected strength. Eudoxus lamented that they even have options for judgements and trials by combat, instead of the more logical, evidence based judgment we applied back home. 

For the Sandpeople and Zhaanpu, I also needed to let my fellow immortal see what I was truly capable of. He had heard stories from Khefri, and felt some of my powers, but I decided a demonstration of my might was in order. 

I didnt like this. It was against my insular, turtling nature. Im also generally quite paranoid and dislike showing off my abilities too much. My favorite strategy was that of a camper. Id build and tech up. 

But time and again, my experience over the last century or two had provided me with evidence, with moments where I realized so much shit couldve been stopped. So many pointless wars, and also the whole silly vassal war shenanigans. 

I needed to flex my powers every now and then. 

A reminder of how high the heavens go, and how tall the tree can grow. 

Remind the common folk that I stood above. Even if I didnt intend to. 

It was the path of the tyrant, and the rice was already cooked. The timber has been made to a boat. The nice tree has been chopped by reality. 

Thinking back, I was rarely nice. I thought power afforded me the luxury of being nice. 

But it was also only true, if the other people realized I had power. If they believe I am powerless, they would be so tempted to cross me. Treat me as if Im not there. A nonfactor. 

The Crystal King once said I came to invade.

Well, he was right. 

***

The site of the demon king wasnt located close to the crystal king, but well within his territory. There were fifteen kingdoms in the way, all human, and all vassals of the Crystal King.

They had fortified the entire path, and then, beetles appeared everywhere.

I couldve just used [Root Tunnels] and only invaded the chosen location, but I didnt want to reveal that card. I decided to just invade the normal way, and clear a path in the process. 

It wasnt necessary to clear or attack everything along it. There were segments that we could easily take detours, so we did. But I decided to attack about five fortresses along the path simultaneously for the spectacle.

Milord! There are beetles attacking all our fortifications! The defenders shouted.

But where are they from?

The trees, sire!

Which one?

All of them!

But- how? 

I dont know! 

My beetles overwhelmed the defenders easily, and I equipped a variety of beetles. Some only injected paralyzing poisons, some more lethal. We had to be, some of these defenders were frankly trying to destroy the beetles, but for most, what we did was we flooded the area with so much beetles, paralyzed everyone, and then the beetles moved everyone out. 

I decided to go even further, sending Hytreerion over. Hytreerions combat abilities, as I experienced in earlier battles was lackluster, but against human kingdoms, the Walker was a walking fortress that signified death. 

He was a walking icon. 

This action naturally invited a response from the Crystal King. It wasnt even hard to detect the magical spells that formed, and they launched magical projectiles toward my Titan. 

They were slightly more powerful that the magical blasts used by the demon champions during the Sabnoc era. Those projectiles smashed into my wall of wooden shields. It was powerful enough to destroy a few layers of my shields, but my Titan emerged unscathed. 

***

Having fun? I asked Zhaanpu, who was obviously scrying the entire battle. He was curious and couldnt help himself. I also knew the centaurs were watching.

Id say the same to you. That giant creature- 

A former demon champion.

Ah. That explains the similarities. You have the power to reclaim them? 

I wouldnt call it reclaiming, if you know and have seen how they are made. Ive converted them.

Semantics. Zhaanpu shrugged. If no one has heard of you before, they will now. The Crystal King will take this as the cause for war.

One can find a reason if thats all he looks for. If its a war he wants, then he shall have. I intend to demonstrate a few more of my abilities and minions, just to show that Im not to be trifled with. Ill take a tense peace over this constant annoyance of warfare.

For a tree, you sure have a lot of grudges. Zhaanpu smirked.

Its carved into my being. 

***

I flooded the area with beetles, with enough beetles to make the horizon a line of darkness. It was a spectacle, even if it wasnt the most efficient.

It wasnt even the way I wouldve fought. 

Instead, my strategists called it a parade, and Hytreerion was the big nuclear missile I showed off. I had Hytreerion shoot a few magical blasts, and I intentionally didnt interfere with any attempts to scry or spy. 

We wanted them to see, and they did.

***

We didnt need to block scrying at where the demon king was supposed to land. The magical energies once the battle starts usually cause all attempts to scry and view the battle to go crazy. Too much magical energy interfered with such spells. 

But, that did mean everyone could see all the teleportation that occurred, and all the crystal bombs and trapped that were deployed at the soon-to-be ground zero.

Impressive preparations. Zhaanpu praised as he checked the area. Khefri sung praises of your organization, and I see its not unfounded.

Its the work of an institution, not mine alone. My job is merely to set the direction. In time, your men can participate in this, and gain levels. In fact, if you joined my pantheon and gained an avatar, you could even participate in the battle yourself.

Zhaanpu thought, and didnt respond to my attempt to convince him to join the pantheon. 

The area was rigged with our usual stuff. Bombs, bombardment towers, ballistas, traps. Snares and harpoons. The seven heroes all rested in a nearby makeshift dwelling, while they waited. 

We had some Valthorns sneak to the other side as usual, to watch for the signs, and plant our listening devices. It felt like we were beginning to develop a set of standard operating procedures on how to deal with demon kings, and I felt cautiously confident.

The heroes were flat out confident, but both Ken and Kei tried their best to talk them out of it. They still needed to prepare, and the demons could easily spring a surprise. 

Our biggest problem, essentially, was we didnt know what we didnt know. 

My Valthorns on the demonworld tried to spy and get some ideas, and it does seem fairly typical. The wildcard that I had to deal with, was the countermeasures. I didnt know what, and where that was. 

Anyway, for now, ground zero was a large, mostly uninhabited valley filled with trees and animals. It wasnt hard to ensure the place was evacuated, and we were, after all, dealing with a typical demon king. 

***

The Crystal King was annoyed. He sent very harshly written missives to Zhaanpu, which was meant for me, because, well, they assumed I was in cahoots with the pyramid-immortal. 

Which wasnt wrong. 

He was fairly amused. One of my Valthorns activated the item, which was imbued with his domains energies. A missive in crystal form, and a holographic memory. It was quite a bit like those crystal image storage devices commonly found in Xianxia fiction.

The pact of the Three permits no intruders. Pyramid, if you know better, break off your alliance with this foul invader. His presence threatens us all. 

Zhaanpu laughed. Hes taking some legal liberties there, interpreting your presence as an intruder, on par with the demons.

From his point of view, the difference in our nature is merely in form and methods. We are invaders either way. You three, are the locals, the natives. Its a nativist approach to things. I countered. But Ill say it makes all the difference. It is differences in form, methods, and how we interact that separates friend from foe.

Again, differences in perspective. Zhaanpu shrugged. I look forward to witnessing this great trap of yours. You seem to have utmost confidence in your prediction of the demon kings location.

Well, we hope we dont disappoint.

***

My diplomat to the Centaurs, Kinnara, was suddenly a very busy lady. Everyone wanted to talk to her. 

Again, as a spectacle, there was a sizable centaur contingent preparing for the invasion of the demon king. They wore ceremonial armor, flashy, colorful, not-as-practical. The centaurs wanted proof of the existence of the other worlds. 

The centaurs themselves were fairly fragmented. Each tribe or village was a small nation on its own, with minimal oversight from Hoofhall, and this was especially so for the far out tribes. The centaurs, as naturally fiercely independent folks, didnt really like bothering each other, though, like tribal clans, they often banded together to fight off the humans or the sandpeople.

Just like what I wanted to do on Treehome, I decided I needed to give the leaders perspective. 

To open their eyes to the multiverse. 

All in due time, though, I suspect once I do so, the Crystal King and the leader of the Centaurs would take this perspective as an affront to their authority. 

Zhaanpu didnt care as much. Or maybe, he was just hiding it. But I have a sense that hes not really bothered with ruling over people. He often just has to rule, because that leads to the best outcomes. 

***

[The Demon King Malthusian descended]. Right at the location we predicted.

The traps activated, and in a sudden, the entirety of Threeworld shook from the explosion. The ripple of magic was so intense that even those not normally sensitive to magic felt it. 

The demon king took the form of a large ten-winged demon with four massive arms. But all of that didnt matter when the bombs detonated and its first form was destroyed. 

It transformed into something smaller. 

The seven heroes engaged. But before that, a massive rift gate opened above the battlefield, and demons poured out by the tens of thousands. 

A second wave of explosions and bombardments thinned the demonic horde, and the seven heroes focused on the demon king. 

It was a fairly short battle, all said and done. The seven heroes have gained strength after each battle, even with their weakened star mana abilities.  

The battlefield was littered with magical explosions, and those who sought to spy on the battle soon found the connection to be choppy. Quite like trying to watch a football match on satellite TV when theres a storm outside messing with the reception. 

The heroes won, it tried to detonate itself once more. They teleported out just in time. 

The battle was won.

More of my Valthorns gained levels. Yet, still none at the domain.

Maybe not yet. 

Weve got a process. I wonder whether its worth it to replicate this in every world we visit. For the levels and for the spectacle. 

Spread some goodwill, as a dimensional anti-demon force. 

***

The domain holders were impressed, but not shaken. But the spectacle was seen by many others. Smaller kings, the vassals of the three Overlords of Threeworlds, all now considered the implication of a fourth force. They were shaken, and many made covert attempts to communicate with us. 

Against the wishes of their Overlords.

The questions on their minds were simple. 

What did we want?

What are we willing to give or trade?

How would this affect the dynamics of the Three-party-state?

Were we stronger? 

Many have seen the presence of the Seven heroes, six humans for another world, and one Khefri. It bolstered Zhaanpus reputation, as a wise, farseeing partner able to ally itself. 

My diplomat was frank. We wanted unique resources, talents, and abilities. Powers to help the fight against the demons throughout the world. Kinnara, referred to her office as a recruitment and marketing platform, to pitch the idea of joining the fight. A promise of a fight greater than the world.

If the people of Treehome grow soft, the net must widen. 

Treehome was akin to an oil well, where the composition of its reserves has changed over time. In the past, we dug out more black oil, more gasoline. But over time natural gas would form a larger part of the extracted resources. 

On a long enough timescale, there are no permanent reserves, even if I try my best to preserve and prolong them. 

***

Wait. Were invited to visit the other worlds? I had the Valthorns send invitations to all the leaders. Is this a trap?

The Valthorns who sent the messages to the various lords, and for the interest of things, Ive sent the same invitations to the [Holy Emperor] and [Holy Empress] of the other continents. 

A trap. 

The priests who returned didnt know what to tell them, at least, at first. It was eye-opening, but also horrifying. They generally advised the [Holy Emperor] and [Holy Empress] no. They were too important. They were rulers of an Empire. 

An Emperor does not take holidays.

But it was no place for a priest to tell an Emperor what to do. 

An Emperor does what an Emperor does, and one of them was fascinated so much. Holy Emperor Erranuel read the document, and laughed. 

Aeon invites me to visit the other world. He laughed to his Court. He taunts me, if he thinks I wont accept.

The Valthorn was a fairly high leveled individual, at level 100. I could sense he was inwardly annoyed, but the Emperors aura was a strong one. Such was the nature of ruler classes. 

Tell Aeon I am not afraid of him. I will go. Men! Prepare to set sail for the central continent!

My Valthorn shrugged. That wont be necessary, Emperor Erranuel. A portal will be opened to send you and your entourage across. Along with all the other folks we invited.

***

I think we need a formal tour guide division. My void archmages privately petitioned. Were tweaking the rift gates to make it more of a standardized trip. Theres also the issue of these [ruler] classes. Some of them are using their powers on my people, attempting to sway us to their side. 

Escorting nobility was a common task of spies and diplomats, and thus, I approached the FTCs graduates, the Lords and Ladies of the Central Continent for candidates. 

There were quite a few takers, especially some of these noble classes that didnt want to actually go down and deal with the nastiness of politics. A formal role as Freshkas Inter-Dimensional Tour Guides for these foreign dignitaries was respectable, well paid, and none of the risks of assassinations commonly associated with war. 

Spaizzer

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