Warp Mishap: Igniting the Demon-Human War
"I don't know either~ 'Where the hell is this..?'"
"...Hey, boss. If even you don't know, how the hell are we supposed to?"
"What kinda mess did the boss get us into this time?"
"Did we get lost or something?"
'Damn it!~ I don't know either!~'
Sowing seeds of doubt among the mages and holy knights, then slipping away in the chaos with a spatial transfer spell—that part had gone perfectly. My calculations as the 'me' disguised as a mage were flawless. I'd had Estelle pre-weave her spiderwebs to block any pursuers, set up a massive long-range teleport array, and planned to warp us to one of Magus Civitas' overseas outposts...
But no such luck. The other 'me'—the personality tied to the mage's face skin—had hijacked the equation midway, unconsciously trying to drag us back to Magus Civitas. Their headquarters. The lair of the enemy.
Was it some unconscious habit from thinking of myself as a White Tower mage? Or resistance from the original owner's lingering ego? Whatever it was, that remnant personality had nearly shoved me straight into the jaws of death.
Shocked, my 'main personality' had intervened right before the warp activated, wrestling for control of my body and mind against the 'mage personality.' The internal tug-of-war mangled the [Warp] equation, flinging us to gods-know-where!
'Talk about embarrassing. I nearly got my personality erased by some old geezer's remnant?!'
"Boss? Care to explain? We're all dying to know."
"...Sorry. I really don't know~♪"
......
"““If the boss doesn't know, what the hell are we supposed to do?!”””
"I'm really, really sorry!!~~"
And just like that, we'd crash-landed in some unknown wilderness! Because of me! What a shitty world!
**
......
"We're so sorry. Because of us, you got tangled up as heretics and..."
"Nah, no worries at all. Thanks again for saving us. Honestly, I thought we were goners back there."
"Oppa, you coming with us again this time?"
"Let's travel together again?"
"Heh... yeah. Looks like we've got no choice but to stick together now."
"““Yay!~♪”””
'The kids don't get how dire this is, so they're all smiles...'
The Romaani adults and the families of Tucker and Malcolm wore bitter expressions, half-resigned to their grim fate. But their children, pure and untainted, beamed with innocent joy.
They begged Estelle to let them ride on her spider legs or had Rina hoist four of them effortlessly onto her thick, muscular arms. My kids seemed reluctant to part with them too.
'Sigh~ Fate's such a cruel bitch... What did these kids do to deserve a life worse than a stray dog's?'
Born unwanted beggars, scraping by on handouts, dragged into gang fights as meat shields, sold into slavery only to become guinea pigs for some evil mage's rituals and experiments—twisting their bodies into monsters. And now, hunted as heretics by temples and Magus Civitas.
No common ground for talk. The mages lusted after that damned lich Pladeus—their (former) elder—and his forbidden tomes. The temple branded us devil-spawn and monster-freaks, hellbent on 'purging' us (by force).
We were persona non grata anywhere on this earth.
I'd considered asking Allen for aerial recon, but worried it might draw temple humans and lead them right to us. Just in case, I asked if he could cast invisibility.
Allen, uh...
"Invisibility? You mean, like, making stuff not show up?"
"Yeah. Can you do it?"
"Uh... nah. I don't know jack about casting spells."
......
"““You weren't casting spells this whole time?!”””
"N-no! It was just... stuff popping into my head, and my body reacted on its own, spitting out lightning and fire!"
......
Looks like Allen had no formal magic knowledge—just instinctive use, like Jean and Pablo when their bodies changed. Later, I'd have him study from Pladeus's legacy and all those magic books.
Jean and Pablo could wield fire and ice instinctively too. Teaching them fire and ice spells might let them tap in. Their current one-note blasts—pure flame or frost—were useless against veterans like the holy knights beyond initial ambushes.
Raw power means nothing if it's predictable. They dodge it easy. Even without full spellcasting, seeing varied magical forms might inspire them to adapt their powers.
Knowledge builds from experience. We were still kids, with nothing but begging and pickpocketing under our belts. Our lives lacked variety.
'If only we could live normal lives... Fat chance now.'
Branded by the Holy Kingdom and Magus Civitas—twin powers of the Central Continent—we had to flee to another land.
Wherever 'here' was, dusk was falling. Time to camp.
"Phew! Alright, good work everyone. Food first! Gotta eat to live! Tucker, mind whipping something up~?"
"Of course. Thanks again for the rescue. I'll make my secret stew this time!"
"Yay~!"
"Stew~!"
"Food!~♪"
Food first! After years begging, I couldn't stand hunger anymore!
**
......
We found a safe spot, ate our fill, and crashed. After a day of life-or-death battles, peaceful night fell. Trusting Estelle's web-traps, we all sank into deep sleep.
I was wiped from battling that mage personality for body control—passed out cold.
That night.
Woooong—
"Huh? Where's this?"
[[[No need to flail about. 'Tis but a dream.]]]
"Dantalian?!"
[[[You've stirred up quite the fun. Not bad at all.]]]
In the pitch-black void, a colossal pillar of writhing flesh emerged, speaking through thousands of mouths. The Manbianja, Dantalian. The demon I'd contracted with. Manifesting in my dream.
'But... his tone feels a tad softer than before?'
[[[Kekeke... You've done something amusing, so I'm in high spirits. A reward for evoking such rare feelings in me after so long. I'll overlook your insolent stunt this once.]]]
"Insolent stunt? Oh! You mean impersonating you? They jumped to conclusions on their own—I just rolled with it!"
[[[Yet you seized the opportunity without denial, didn't you? Kekeke... But since it birthed winds of change, I'll forgive it.]]]
"Winds of... change? What the hell are you—"
[[[You wouldn't grasp how this world turns yet. Reincarnate from another realm with past-life memories or not, you're barely six here—a greenhorn.]]]
"...What exactly did I do?"
[[[Unaware, eh? Kekeke... Kuhahaha! Masterpiece! I'd call you cunning if deliberate, but unwittingly sparking such chaos? You're a harbinger of disorder incarnate! Utterly delightful!~ Kuhahaha!!!---]]]
Woooong—
"Guh!"
Dantalian's mad laughter shook the space, rattling my eardrums. Thousands of faces unleashed a cacophony—mocking? Joyful? Sorrowful? Indiscernible.
'Gah... This psycho! His laugh alone could kill!'
[[[Kekeke... That's the gulf between you and me. I could erase vermin like you without lifting a finger. Remember that.]]]
......
[[[That seed of discord you sowed escaping the godlings and mages? Know of the feud over the forbidden tome penned by that fool lich who tried summoning me?]]]
"Ha! Yeah, I know! Who attacked us first without even talking? Let 'em kill each other!"
[[[And from that brawl, your mid-realm erupts in all-out war. The mages vs. temple—the Demon-Human War reignites.]]]
"Huh?"
'What bullshit is this? War outta nowhere? Over one book?'
[[[Recall the lore I implanted. This Northern Continent—once human-dominated—was razed by a single demon contractor!]]]
"W-wait! This is the North Continent? The massacre site?! We warped that far?! No way! First long-range warp or not, I didn't plan for that distance—didn't even have the mana for it..."
[[[Your mage personality nearly devoured you, warping to nonsense coordinates. I tweaked it from behind. You'd have been crushed underground or dimension-drifters otherwise. Couldn't let my amusing pawns die pointlessly...]]]
"You mad bastard?!"
We'd nearly all died pointless deaths—because of my personality clash mangling the equation! Dantalian fixed the coordinates, ultra-long-range warping us to the North Continent, the world's edge.
"Whew~ Gotta seal the mage face-skin for a while. My mental strength can't control it yet..."
[[[Wise choice. I won't let you die easily.]]]
"Gee, thanks a ton!~ So what 'amusing' thing did I do? Demon-Human War?"
[[[Indeed. Temples existed here once too. To fight the contractor of Justice's Great Demon, they threw everything—and lost. In the end, sacrificing archangels embodying God's Seven Virtues. But! High priests offered themselves as vessels, manifesting an archangel on earth... only to fall in the final clash. Thus, the North Continent perished.]]]
"Fuckin' insane?! Demon contractor or not—an archangel? On their level?! And he won?!"
[[[Justice's Demon was once an archangel—God's right hand. The fallen morning star rules Hell's 666 atop even now; only peer archangels dare face him. That manifestation was but an imperfect avatar. Yet beyond mortal challenge.]]]
......
[[[Temples remember that power—an archangel's manifestation felled. They dread demon-summoning above all.]]]
"...And I casually summon demons, expose Magus Civitas' ugly secrets chasing forbidden knowledge. So the Holy Kingdom won't forgive them, huh?"
[[[Precisely. Temples are greedy too—you know that. 'Liquor is God's grace,' they say? True enough. But think humans long tolerated those raking massive liquor taxes?]]]
......
Even Colorado barony brews bootleg hooch. No need to say more—most kingdoms probably do it on the sly. Like Prohibition America, speakeasies boomed. Pious or not, who'd snitch on booze that pairs with every emotion? Folks dodge taxes, sell under the table, or pay up crying if caught.
That absurd liquor tax bred resentment, god-backed or not. Humans gonna human.
"And I poured oil on that fire."
[[[Yes. Temple-backed kingdoms vs. Magus Civitas allies—gearing for total war. Can't let the catalyst of such upheaval die in vain.]]]
......
To survive, I kill. I was prepared. But sparking a continental-scale apocalypse—like Earth's World War I?
The Sarajevo shot all over again.