Parley

The Empress had exterminated the aesh thousands of years ago during the Assimilation War. She was been extraordinarily thorough as well, according to Fate's history book.

Accounts from that time had said the aesh were so violent, so murderous, that even the benevolent Empress could find no means of redemption for them.

And their Mana-confounding abilities that all demons had a variation of were far too strong to let them live in solitude, for fear they'd retaliate.

The aesh was the most powerful demon race for a reason.

While imps and kitsubi could absorb Mana, and the fregog could eat it, the aesh burned Mana, which was what the red haze around them was.

They were quite literally setting fire to the small amount of Mana present in the air. This fire was heatless and harmless to living creatures, but the Mages' Spells would be even more useless than against the imps.

And if you were within that ten-foot range, the haze around you was the least of your concerns.

Aesh grew stronger, physically and in terms of Tiers, by burning Mana. And that Mana didn't have to come from external sources, either.

Aesh had the unique ability among demons to generate their own Mana. What did this mean?

It meant that even with no Mages or Magical Beasts to steal from, they could still burn this Mana to advance their own strength!

Demons were the only creatures on Ziobrun that could reach the peak just by existing, and aesh took this to an extreme.

Even dragons, widely regarded as the strongest of Ziobrun's Magical Beasts, had to work diligently to unlock their bloodlines to progress through the Tiers, but demons just needed some Mana and time.

Imps, kitsubi, and fregog needed to take Mana from elsewhere, but aesh?

All they needed was themselves.

It was easy to tell, then, why the Empress had decided to exterminate an entire race.

But despite her best efforts, it seemed a few had slipped through the cracks.

The Mages instantly put their guards up.

Many of them were mere Adepts, or Journeymen like Fate and his friends. The humans had one Arch-Mage and ten Masters present, along with four dozen Mages of lower Stages.

In comparison, the aesh were all at Tier III, matching the Master Stage, except the woman aesh, who was Tier IV.

While these odds sounded favorable to the humans, would the aesh even step foot in here if they weren't confident?

A single Tier III aesh could overpower a group of Masters with Master Bodies, which was the physical increase in power resulting from this Stage. As for the Tier IV, Fate shuddered to think of what she was capable of.

The female aesh strode out from her encirclement, the Arch-Mage doing the same. The war drums quieted to the demon's back as the two stopped twenty feet away from each other.

They regarded each other with calculating looks, the Arch-Mage having to cock his head back to meet the aesh's gaze.

"I had heard that it was customary amongst your kind to send a declaration of war before attacking," the Arch-Mage said stoically. "The only real shred of 'honor' that can be found within your race."

"We left our honor with the millions of aesh you slaughtered during the war, human," the aesh replied with the same stoicism. "Now your kind will feel the sorrow you afflicted on us."

Contrary to one's expectations, it wasn't a garbled mess that sounded like gravel tumbling down a slope. Rather, it was pleasant and sweet, a voice one would expect from a talented singer half of the aesh's size.

"So the bloodthirsty beasts' first instinct after leaving with their lives is to attack again?" the Arch-Mage laughed mockingly. "You'll fall as your ancestors did, demon. Alone and forgotten. You shouldn't have taken your salvation for granted."

The aesh woman didn't seem to register those words, her head turning from side to side as she appraised the humans' infrastructure.

"A hundred thousand years," she wondered. "And yet so little progress. While we were sharpening our knives, you humans grew complacent. It's no wonder those bumbling imp buffoons have caused you so much trouble."

"And what have you been doing in that time?" the Arch-Mage asked. "Breeding like rabbits and making weapons for your little coup d'état? We've built cities, mastered communication across the planet.

"Life expectancy is over eighty for our mortals. No disease, plague, or virus can threaten us. We've adapted; evolved. What have you done?"

The aesh snorted, a deep, rumbling cackle coming from one of the demons behind her. "For this city, perhaps. But on our way here, we passed by many villages.

"Don't worry," she grinned. "They're fine, for now. There was no need to expose ourselves early. But those benefits you espouse were not present there.

"We saw hunger, thirst, poverty. Out of tens of villages hundreds strong, we saw only three humans old enough to have white hair and wrinkled hands. Where is your 'progress' for them?"

"Enough idle chatting," the Arch-Mage replied. "State the terms of your army, so I can put you in the dirt."

Such information would typically be within the declaration of war, but for obvious reasons that that wasn't available.

The terms the Arch-Mage spoke of were threefold. First, the attacker would list the reason for the war they had ignited. Second, they would list the terms of their surrender or cessation of hostilities, if any.

The third was the most important, and was the reason the Arch-Mage bothered to ask at all. The aesh wouldn't surrender or stop, he could see it in their eyes. The first had already been revealed.

This third part would reveal none other than the leader of the aesh, as well as their Tier or Stage, and their species or Facet.

The Arch-Mage had a sneaking suspicion he knew who had organized these demons, the root of such thoughts currently battling with the Empress to his back and shaking the sky, but protocol dictated he hear it from the aesh's mouth before jumping to conclusions.

The aesh woman grinned, her pearly white, pointy teeth displayed for all to see. It was far prettier than anyone expected it to be. Now that Fate thought about it, the same could be said of the aesh woman's face.

She wasn't ugly by any stretch. If anything, she was the opposite. Even the menacing points of her teeth couldn't diminish the mature beauty her face held.