The mansion stood unnaturally isolated in the heart of the dense jungle. Reclining on a couch in its study, Loki, one of the Six Great Generals of the Evil Army, was deep in thought, an uncharacteristic scowl on his face. Naturally, his brooding concerned the recent series of unforeseen developments.
The game between Heaven and Evil in this world was supposed to conclude in victory for Loki and the Evil Army, now that three of the Six Great Generals had achieved complete Incarnation in this land. That was already an established certainty; everything else was meant to be mere child's play. In this regard, the demon race possessed the ideal aptitude to serve as vessels for the Evil Army's Incarnation. That was precisely why he had used a demon named Neimu in an attempt to secure more of them.
Specifically, he had implanted the Seed of Frenzy into Neimu to track her. The seed had two functions: it allowed him to perceive Neimu's location and state of mind, while simultaneously corrupting her sanity and stripping away her rational judgment. Fed on negative emotions like fear and anxiety, the seed would eventually bloom, transforming her into the perfect vessel for Incarnation.
Up to a point, everything had gone smoothly. Neimu's seed had steadily grown, gorging on her terror.
Then, Neimu had holed up at an inn in the city of Balse and completely stopped moving. The Seed of Frenzy was designed to rob its host of their sanity through fear and distress. If she had paused for only a short time, it wouldn't have been particularly unusual.
Yet when that pause stretched to nearly a month, it became a different story entirely. If she were paralyzed by enough fear and anxiety to keep her from moving, the seed should have blossomed long ago and mutated her into a monster. Furthermore, it made no sense why a maddened Neimu showed no sign of returning to her homeland, the Dark Country. Taking the simplest interpretation, she must have believed that going home would put her under Loki and his allies' control—which meant Neimu was currently in her right mind. That was effectively proof that the Seed of Frenzy had lost its hold on her. Resisting that seed was impossible even for high-tier gods, yet its power had been neutralized. That could only mean one thing: someone was actively canceling the Seed of Frenzy's effects. In all the vast world, only one force was capable of such a feat—the Heavenly Army.
As if to confirm that conclusion, reports reached Loki's ears that a new nation of monsters and demons had been established in Northground. The founding of such a country offered zero benefit to the Evil Army. He immediately attempted to send a telepathic message to Northground, but failed to make any contact. Up until then, regular transmissions from the Evil Army's officers had arrived like clockwork, but the moment Loki tried to reach out, they ceased entirely. Losing his patience, Loki tried to return to the castle of the Evil Army Garrison, but found it impossible to reach. He tried by land, by air, and even from beneath the earth, but every attempt looped him right back to where he started. Space itself had likely been warped and redirected.
Naturally, Loki had already taken ample precautions, utilizing arts and items designed to cancel conventional spatial manipulation. Yet none of them had any effect whatsoever. It was then, for the first time, that Loki realized he had made a fatal miscalculation.
"Our enemy isn't the Heavenly Army. It's something far more gruesome!"
For a barrier this absurd to be in place, the Evil Army Garrison had likely been wiped out. And that meant two of the Six Great Generals—Asura and Anra—had been defeated. What was worse, they had lost despite having achieved complete Incarnation.
While the Heavenly Army was indeed a supreme faction that divided this world in two, they were by no means superior to the Evil Army. For them to conquer those two would require the Heavenly Army's main force to manifest in this realm. Above all, if Heaven and Evil clashed head-on, a tiny world like this would be reduced to a sea of flames. Since that hadn't happened, it was safe to assume the Evil Army had been annihilated without even being allowed to mount a decent resistance. That was a feat far beyond the Heavenly Army's capabilities.
"Could it be the old generation...? No, making assumptions is dangerous..."
That was the worst-case scenario. If it were those monsters of the old generation, the Evil Army's defeat wouldn't be particularly surprising. But those beasts were supposed to be sealed away in an alternate dimension following that hellish Great War, unable to cross into this world. Still, that seal wasn't absolute.
"Are they jamming communications this heavily...?"
He needed to report this to Evil Army Headquarters immediately. Yet not only was he unable to return to headquarters in the other realm, he couldn't even establish contact.
"So, I'm completely trapped in this world, am I?"
At the same time, whoever had been sending those regular reports had likely been nothing more than an enemy diversion.
"Khaha! To think I'd be played for a fool so completely!"
Giving in to his fury, he crushed the armrest of his chair to splinters.
"I can't afford to take my time anymore."
From this point on, the slightest misstep would mean instant death, even for Loki. He no longer had the leisure to toy with small fry like Neimu. He had to summon the rest of the Evil Army's main forces to this realm immediately. And if he wanted to slaughter the enemy without risking defeat, the Incarnation of that Great One into this land was an absolute necessity. Achieving that would require drastic measures—nothing short of utilizing multiple Singularities would suffice.
"I need to gather information."
Loki stood, grabbed his staff, and muttered a few incantations. In an instant, his form shifted into that of a young Human Race magician.
He had never been particularly close to the other Six Great Generals, nor did he feel any deep affection for them. Even so, they were comrades walking the same path of Evil. He would never forgive whoever had done this. He would make them taste true despair.
"Asura, Anra... I swear I'll avenge you."
With that solemn vow, Loki set off.