A Castle divided

The Castle grounds were home to three castles and the Royal court just behind them.

It was the most guarded place in the realm, with fifty soldiers stationed along the foot of the walls and a hundred archers mounted on the decking. The only place that wasn't guarded was the back of the Castle outside the walls due to the presence of the Forest of Gold.

The Castle to the left housed the members of the Demon council and the one to the right gave accommodation to the Order of Priests, while the Castle at the center which was the biggest belonged to the Royal family.

There was a meeting at the court, which was attended by the Demon council and the Order of Priests with the Demon Lord presiding.

Vermont called the meeting to divulge his plans and seek advice on the matter of the invasion of the human world.

"For those of you who didn't know why this meeting was called. Well I plan on attacking the human world and I'd like to hear your thoughts," Vermont said.

"The boy, My Lord what are we going to do about the boy?" Lord Bertholdt asked.

"Let him keep playing hide and seek I'll get him later, for now, the human world is of more importance," Vermont said as he moved to the back of his throne clenching it at the crown.

"My Lord, this is madness. We've lived in Harmony with the human race since forever, why break the peace now?!" Lord Amishet asked as he raised his voice.

"It seems you consider yourself wiser than I am, My Lord," Vermont said in a surprisingly calm tone with a sinister smile on his face.

"It's nothing of that sort My Lord, but what would your Father say if he were here?" Lord Amishet asked.

"But he isn't now, is he?" Vermont said, "and besides My old man was a fool. In a feat of rage, he attempted to kill us all when his nomag mistress died, but unfortunately for him the curse came into effect and killed him".

The Demon Lord Nazario, after he found out Peter's Mom had been killed by the demon council, was in so much pain that he wanted to destroy the Demon council, but sadly there was a curse placed by the first Demon Lord on his Lineage, that in the event any of the successors of the great Demon power, tried to use it in a feat of rage, it would destroy him and the power would go to his successor and that was the fate Demon Lord Nazario faced.

The curse was enforced because, the power of the Demon Lord was so powerful that if a user used it in anger it could destroy the entire Demon realm.

"But My Lord, why move against the human realm? a member of the Demon council asked.

"Because I can!" he thundered, "why be the Lord of one, when you can become Lord of all," Vermont said as he wore that sinister smile once again.

"I don't think the Angel race would be pleased with this act of war your majesty," a priest said.

"Then we'll crush them underfoot also and for that, I'll need my father's power, after all, it should be mine," Vermont said, as he sat back down on his throne.

The sound of a great murmuring could be heard in the court. Few were happy with the decision, but a majority of them were of different opinion.

"I see not all of you agree with this move, but the truth is I don't need you to agree I only need you to follow orders and start making preparations. Vermont said.

"My Lord, I beg you to please reconsider, let's stop the chase on the boy and kill this murderous idea," Lord Barthez said.

"Ooh my good friend Barthez, you dare speak to me of leaving the boy?!" Vermont thundered leaving the throne with his face instantly turning red, as he ascended the flight of stairs to meet Lord Barthez, when he got to him he whispered in his ear "I know your intentions with the boy old man, ooh you think I wasn't aware of the dark ones you sent after him? I will fish all who conspired with you to betray me and I will drag your bodies through the street, with your legs tied to my fastest horses and then I'll hang your bodies on the walls and call your families from your Estates, to see your bodies rot and after, I'll kill them too and hang their bodies for the Realm to see," he said, after which he walked down to his throne wearing that same sinister smile.

— "Any form of disobedience and complain will be treated as an act of treason and I'll handle the defaulters accordingly," Vermont said as he adjourned the meeting.

The Demon Lord Vermont, even though not possessing his father's powers was unbelievably strong, he was so strong that people of the realm thought him to be a god.

He was an A-class Magic caster and a master swordsman, taking after his father, but he hated his father as he broke his mother's heart.

His mother was a very kind, beautiful, and gentle woman. She was an elf and a skilled sorcerer but she was also a heartbroken and distraught woman because of her husband's unfaithfulness and the death of her daughter Hilda, who found out she was a witch and killed herself.

Witches weren't treated with respect as the realm thought them to be vile creatures, so they were often segregated, laughed at, abused and scorned.

The thought of the discrimination she would face haunted her and she killed herself, which plunged her mother into a state that eventually led her to commit suicide.

All those tragedies turned Vermont into the spiteful monster he was and it made his enmity with Peter personal.

Later that night, a faction of the Demon council that conspired with Lord Barthez, planned on fleeing the realm with their families, so they left In the dead of the night, but a member of that Demon faction out of fear betrayed them and told Vermont.

He let them leave the Castle as he relished the thought of a hunt. He sent word via telepathy to the Priest of Priests telling him to block off Transportation magic within the realm just for that night, while he quietly made arrangements with a few of his special squad of soldiers to pursue them.

"Barthez! Barthez! what do we do?" Lord Szalai whispered, as they found out that they couldn't open Portals.

"I have no idea, it seems that stupid child has figured us out," Lord Barthez responded

"We'll have to leave on horseback then. I won't be a sitting duck," Lord Szalai said.

The nine members of the Demon faction who sought Peter ran towards the stable, behind the soldier's base undetected and stole horses and proceeded to ride out of the castle, which surprisingly was wide open.

They rode as fast as they could through the streets without being met with any opposition.

"it seems we've outpaced them," Lord Szalai said, smiling proudly.

"I wouldn't count my eggs before they hatch Szalai," a member of the faction riding beside Szalai said. "He could be right behind us for all we know or he might've given us a headstart so he'd hunt us for sport".

Lord Szalai's countenance immediately changed, as a sad look tarnished the smile on his face. They kept on riding for miles without meeting opposition, which made some members of the Escaping Demon faction try to convince themselves that they had escaped successfully.

Just as they were approaching the borders which Led out of Xernia, a bright surge of red light came from the sky, striking the ground like lightning in front of them and their horses neighed loudly as they fell to the ground, throwing their riders off their backs.

"You wouldn't think I'd let you leave so easily now did you?" The Demon lord Vermont said, as he came out of the smoke produced by the impact of the strike, wearing his signature sinister smile on his face, heavily clad with his hunting armor and behind him were four members of his special unit.

Lord Barthez, at the sight fell on his knees to plead for mercy, which made Vermont very angry.

"I haven't come all this way to see you on your knees old man," he said with a look of disappointment on his face.

He walked up to kneeling Barthez and with a lightning-fast strike with his hand, he slit the kneeling Lord's throat.

Szalai went Into an attacking frenzy to strike the Demon Lord, but a member of the special unit blocked the strike, which provoked Vermont.

"I told you I'd handle them, so stand there and just watch! I'd have had both your arms served to your wife on a plate, but they'd be more useful to me on your shoulders," Vermont snapped.

As he turned to continue with Szalai, a flash of light struck him and hurled him across the ground. He smiled as he felt excited, he got up on his feet and this time two simultaneous bolts of lightning were shot at him, but he absorbed them and cast them back at the attackers, with the strike amplified.

The strike hit them, instantly killing a member of the Demon faction. Lord Szalai attempted to pick up his horse and run away, but as he got on the horse, Vermont used a spell that made the horse uneasy and it threw him off and Szalai landed on his neck and died.

A combined paralysis curse was cast on Vermont by the remaining six members of the faction, which brought him to his knees as he struggled to breathe and even move his hands.

It was at that point his special unit swooped in with lightning speed and cut off their heads. If they were a moment late in intervening, Vermont would've died of Paralysis.

They gathered the dead bodies of the councilmen and left for the castle the following morning. Vermont did as he promised Lord Barthez, dragging their bodies along the street but out of mercy, he spared their families.

He hung their bodies on the walls of the castle, and invited a bard, who sang a dirge besmirching their names as their families were made to watch.