Chapter 96 - Seeds

In the land south of the Forest of Jura, the tribes of lycanthropes continued their endless fighting and rivalries, even after hundreds of years. Some unfortunate tribes had gone extinct, either due to being too weak to survive the wars or because they were purged through alliances formed by their enemies.

During this turmoil, a figure emerged, proclaiming himself a demon lord, even though he had not been chosen by any of the current demon lords. He was a descendant of the tiger lycanthrope who had led an alliance against Amarita in the past and had died bravely. "I am chosen by the spirit of Demon Lord Taiga and will conquer all the tribes!" he declared.

"I, Demon Lord Shere, will defeat you all!" he roared as he marched into battle, his large halberd covered in blood as he and his men invaded the settlement of the elephant lycanthrope tribe. While the opposition showed some resistance, the invading army consisted of both cooperative and conquered lycanthropes.

Each elephant lycanthrope warrior was outnumbered ten to one, and in less than an hour, the settlement surrendered after half of their warriors perished in battle. The lycanthropes remaining in the settlement bowed their heads and swore their allegiance.

"Hahaha! No one can stand in my way!" Shere boasted as he plotted his next invasion of a nearby tribe.

"My Lord!" a deer lycanthrope kneeled before him. "Someone has come to challenge you."

Shere raised an eyebrow as his subordinates began to murmur. They were curious who would be foolish enough to challenge Shere, the conqueror of several tribes and a descendant of Taiga. "Hohh~ Bring them here," he grinned, striking his halberd against the ground.

As the servant went to get the challenger, the news spread, and everyone began to discuss the impending fight. Most were confident in their lord's victory, while others, forced into servitude, silently wished for his defeat.

"Yo." A blonde-haired man walked forward, holding his curved blade. "I heard there is a powerful warrior here." He scanned the gathered lycanthropes, who began to step back to give space for Shere and the challenger to see each other.

"Just a brat," Shere clicked his tongue, seeing the young man. "And here I thought I could have a real fight. Go home, boy."

"No," the young man replied with a grin. "Or are you that scared to be beaten by a brat?"

Shere gripped his halberd tightly. "Brat, what's your name?" he demanded, walking toward the disrespectful young lycanthrope.

"Carrion," he replied, raising his blade and pointing it at Shere. "And I hear your name is Shere? Never heard of a Demon Lord Shere before. Are you new to the Council?"

The surrounding lycanthropes went silent. 'Ah, he's dead,' they all thought in unison.

Shere pushed off the ground and dashed toward Carrion. "You damn brat!"

Carrion grinned, his taunts having worked. He quickly used his blade to block the large halberd, diverting its direction to the side. He then kicked Shere in the stomach, forcing him to stumble back due to his poor balance.

"Come on, self-proclaimed demon lord! Show me more!" Carrion roared as he swung his blade toward Shere's throat. Shere leaned back and thrust his halberd in response.

The exchange of strikes continued, leaving the soldiers in awe as someone managed to compete with their lord for this long. Normally, Demon Lord Shere was capable of taking on more than five lycanthropes at once, even if they were fully armed. Yet right here, right now, there was a young man—barely half Shere's age—able to counter him blow for blow, strike for strike, even gaining the advantage at times.

Growing increasingly impatient, Shere gritted his teeth and pulled back his halberd, channeling as much magical energy as he could. "Tiger's Claw!" he shouted.

Launching his halberd, a manifestation of a tiger surged forth, created by the powerful aura of the blade as it flew toward Carrion. People could even hear the blade roar as if a tiger were pouncing on its prey.

"Heh," Carrion grinned, raising his blade high into the air. "Beast Strike!" Swinging his sword in a downward arc, he met the halberd's fierce attack.

"Hah! The brat is being suicidal!" Shere laughed, watching Carrion struggle to block the onslaught.

Carrion gritted his teeth as he felt his blade beginning to crack. "AH!" Just before the blade shattered in his grasp, he redirected the halberd to the side, letting it fly a certain distance due to the remaining force it had.

Carrion dropped the hilt that remained of his blade, clutching his side as blood began to drip from the injury he sustained.

"Don't think you can surrender now after everything you-" Before Shere could even finish his words, he felt a fist making contact with his face.

Due to the suddenness of the attack and the force of the punch, he stubbled down and fell to the ground. Carrion jumped on his stomach and, with his hand wiping the blood coming from his lips, smirked, looking down at Shere.

"Who cares about the weapons? Beasts should use what they were born with." Carrion began slugging Shere's face on the ground, not stopping even if Shere ordered him to stop.

"Come on, aren't you the demon lord? Fight back!" Carrion laughed as Shere couldn't even bother to guard his face as he was switching from being awake to being unconscious.

Carrion stood up from Shere's stomach grabbed him by the head and continue bashing it into the ground. The sound of broken bones and the tremor of the ground reverberated the entire area. After Carrion was satisfied, he let go of Shere's face and began walking away. The soldiers who had already understood their previous lord's defeat made sure to show respect as Carrion walked towards Shere's halberd.

Grabbing it from the ground, he looked at his reflection from the blade and, with a satisfied smile, began to stroll back to where Shere lay.

"This is your defeat, Self-Proclaimed Demon Lord Shere." With his words, he thrust the halberd at Shere's chest, raising the blade with the tiger lycanthrope still impaled.

"Anyone else wants to challenge me?" Carrion turned to the soldiers as they watched the blade begin to be soaked from Shere's blood. From the blade down to the handle reaching Carrion's hand.

""My Lord!!"" They all bowed in unison; Carrion nodded in satisfaction.

At the top of the mountain bordering the Forest of Jura, a place chosen by the harpy race for its height, a young harpy with white hair stood. Her right arm hung limply, blood trickling down and falling thousands of feet to the ground below.

In front of her stood the Harpy Queen, her talons covered in blood.

The young harpy watched with an apathetic gaze, analyzing the Queen's movements. Just as she expected, the Queen disappeared from her sight and reappeared behind her, talons poised near the young harpy's neck.

In quick succession, the young harpy craned her neck to the side to avoid further injury and flew away from the Queen.

Unfortunately for her, the Queen expected that, and she appeared in front of her. The young harpy decided to attack, but the Queen disappeared again, where she appeared behind and carved three new wounds on her back.

The Queen grabbed a hold of her shoulder, piercing her skin and not letting go. She sent a wave of shockwaves at the young harpy's body.

"Ahhh!!" The young harpy screamed, not being able to hold her voice. "R-reflector..." As she uttered, she began to drop down to the ground.

The Queen began to feel something wrong with her body; "Ah, Ahhh!!!" injuries and shockwaves began to appear on the Queen's body. Due to the sudden damage, she almost lost her balance at flying.

As the Queen managed to regain her composure, she sighed, covered in wounds from the injured arm to the three claw marks on her back to the piercing on her shoulder. She began to fly back to the castle until she felt three sharp talons piercing her chest.

The young harpy emerged from behind her and threw her body to the floor of the castle, where the rest of the harpy race watched. The young harpy wiped her lips as blood leaked from the edge of her lips; she watched as the Queen looked at her with surprise before losing light.

She lay on the ground dead, as three punctured holes could present themselves in her chest. Blood continues to leak out even as the light has long since disappeared from her eyes.

The young harpy descended to the castle and turned to the others. "Now then, as the new Queen, prepare for the next Angel invasion!"

"Yes, Frey-sama!" the harpies replied, having witnessed the fight to the death for the position of Queen. They bowed their heads before leaving to prepare.

"If what the previous queen said is correct, it will be less than two years from now. We need to strengthen our home and increase our power for the battle in the sky."

Since then, Fulbrosia, the home and territory of the harpies, began to enhance their security and weaponry. Frey started creating formations and strategies to minimize the deaths of her kin while maximizing damage against the angels.

Then the day finally arrived, just as the old monsters and prophecies left by the ancestors of surviving humans had foretold. Once every 500 years, the angels would descend and strike down all modernity and monsters alike.

While Frey was confident in her strategy, with the angels only leaving a small fraction to fight the harpies, it was easier for her side than for others.

"Claire, switch with Lusia's group for now; they need to care for their injured," Frey ordered as she watched Lusia's group of harpies being overwhelmed by the angels, forcing her to intervene.

Claire, Lusia's twin sister, quickly followed her orders, bowing before moving forward to allow her sister's group to retreat slowly.

"Just a few more hours! Hold your positions and make sure they don't enter our settlements!" Frey commanded as she seized angels by their necks with her taloned feet. As they tried to fight back, they felt electricity coursing through their bodies.

Due to the power she wielded, their skin was charred. Noticing their loss of life, Frey let go of them, dropping them to the ground.

"If only I had more time to prepare," Frey grumbled to herself as she flew at high speed, slashing at the angels with her talons.

Meanwhile, Carrion was enjoying the fight. "Come here, you angels!" He grinned as he held the halberd with vigor. What better practice for his new weapon than facing a large number of enemies?

Flying through the sky, Carrion rushed at a flock of angels and began slashing and severing their bodies. "Who else wants to die?" he shouted, pouring a large amount of magicules into the halberd and aiming at a new flock of angels approaching him.

"Beast Roar!" With the face of a lion, the halberd roared loudly as it disintegrated the flock. "Hahaha, this new form, Royal Beast Form, is really something!"

As they fought their way that day, inside the meeting room of the demon lords a small portion of them watched the two magic orbs showing Carrion and Frey. "I like this one," Milim shouted with excitement seeing Carrion's transformation.

Guy had his hand on his chin agreeing silently, "Not bad, still young but if he keeps it up he can awaken."

"Ah also Guy, the harpy is also pretty strong." Milim added seeing Frey defeat several angels at high-speed. 

Guy turned to the orb, "The Harpy Queen? I don't know.. she seems too weak to me. Her potential is slightly above average from the old weak demon lords. Still, I guess it won't hurt to see how far she can raise her strength, her culture is very open to challenges, kin slaying, and usurpations." He shrugged, if she doesn't survive then that's all she was. If she can maintain her status as demon lord and gain strength from it, then that was good too."

"Uhm..." Kagali, who had been silent the entire time, raised her hand shakily. "I-I also vote for their acceptance to the council." She lowered her head as Guy's gaze turned to her.

Meanwhile, Rimuru was smiling, his hand resting on Kagali's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Kagali, if Rimuru is forcing you to do this..." Guy's glare turned to Rimuru, who pointed at himself with a confused expression, pretending to be bewildered by his name being mentioned.

"Just tell me, and I'll—"

"No, uhm, this is my choice," Kagali quickly answered, her voice firm, but she couldn't hide the slight nervousness in her tone. "I'm just not used to being in the presence of such powerful individuals."

"Hm? You say that, but you can defeat those two together," Guy pointed at the magical orb showing Carrion and Frey. "I mean, sure, you're more of a magic-user, but in terms of overall strength, you can create powerful magic and golems to beat them. Not to mention, your subordinates are strong as well."

"Thank you..." Kagali muttered, feeling a bit overwhelmed by Guy's praise, but she appreciated the sentiment.

As the meeting concluded, Kagali walked up to Rimuru and punched him repeatedly in the side. "Stop using me for your selfish schemes!"

Rimuru laughed, ruffling her hair playfully. "Now, now, you agreed to help, didn't you? Besides, I'm not forcing you. You can quit whenever you want."

"We-well, it's not that bad..." Kagali stammered, crossing her arms defensively. "I just want you to tell me in advance, instead of suddenly dragging me into these things."

Rimuru grinned, his eyes glinting with mischief. "Sure, sure. I'll try to give you a little more warning next time."

Kagali turned, her expression softening into a slight smile. "By the way, can you look at my new golems? I want to do a few tests."

Rimuru's smile grew wider. "Sure, your golems are always so complex and versatile. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've come up with."

"Thanks," Kagali said with a grateful smile, her tone lightening as the tension from earlier melted away.

A/N: A short chapter as an introduction to Carrion and Frey who will probably never be mention again for the next several chapters other than on the background.
Edit: I stand correct, they won't appear again for several chapters lol.

Fun fact: Chapter 100 coincidentally (No joke) is the starting point of the tensura series. Like the start of Rimuru staying in the forest and building his nation. It was an amazing coincidence when I was making chapter 99, I was like wait...! that means 100 is the start!

A big thank you to Trashboy for becoming a Ko-Fi supporter!