"What?" the others cried in unison.
"Hellhounds draw their power from the pack. It might be possible to weaken the alpha if we weaken the pack. We aren't going to be able to do anything if the alpha is on the battlefield," Yuya said. "I can distract the alpha until Dominion and the Obsidian Kingdom are able to defeat the others."
"And just how are you going to do that?" Yuri asked. "That thing's the size of a young dragon and considerably faster. It's also a lot smarter than the other demons. It might not even be a hellhound!"
"It has to be. Wolves won't follow a bear just because it's stronger," Yuya replied. "More accurately, Vendetta and I can handle the alpha for a while."
"This is true," Vendetta said. "If your idea is the same as mine."
"How?"
"In between the pack's current position and here, there is what appears to be a crack in the ground next to a small river. It is large enough for humans to fit inside, but far too small for a hellhound. Vendetta will get the attention of the alpha and lead it there. She will shift once we get there and I will try a spell that requires the target to be close," Yuya explained. "It won't give up the chance to kill a dragon, especially when she's in a weaker form."
"What are you going to do?" King Yuto asked. "Won't it just become whatever you use?"
"Actually, the spell would take away that ability- assuming that it worked. Then we could kill it like the others."
"It's too risky."
"It's the best chance that we have. If we can take its absorption ability, the dragons could, ideally, kill it without too much of a problem."
"There's too much, 'assuming that this happens' and 'hopefully' in this plan."
"Yuto," Yuri said. "This is our only option; he's right. With its ability, it's completely invulnerable to our attacks. Heck, we'd only make it stronger."
Yuto sighed.
"King Declan? Any objections?"
"I would like to start with acknowledging that you are all insane. From there, I have nothing to add to this plan. It's crazy to a point that it might work."
"Taking an ability from a demon can't be easy," Yuri said. "What will you need for the spell?"
"Just this," Yuya replied, nodding at his necklace.
"It's settled then."
24 hours.
The preparations were complete. Everyone waited, fear and tension crackling through the air like lightning.
At this very moment, there were well over a hundred literal demons approaching the kingdom. Everyone knew that.
Yuri was incredibly bored, having just won the 18th game of cards in a row against Yugo.
"How did you win again?" the knight exclaimed, quite annoyed.
"Try strategizing," Yuri said with a yawn.
"Look at the combinations of cards rather than just the best one," Yuya suggested.
"I'm going to go find something else to do," Yuri said, standing up.
"But I haven't won yet!" Yugo yelled after him.
"I'll play," Yuya said, taking Yuri's spot.
Yuri found Vendetta outside the kingdom's walls, waiting for the rest of the dragons to arrive.
"How many are coming?" he asked.
"Only the most powerful of us. The council and one other warrior. They shall arrive soon."
"That's good. You play a crucial role. The kingdoms have numbers, but you dragons have the sheer power that will decide the battle."
"I hope that it's enough," she replied, sighing heavily. "If one of us dies, then we all die. Life on this plane will cease to exist, destroyed by the creatures of Hell. It's kind of a lot weighing on all of us."
"I know."
The necklaces. The Pendants of the Broken Heart. If the spell worked, both halves would be destroyed and he would be trapped like this forever.
That was a sacrifice that he would have to make- literally for the sake of the entire world.
Any other would have thought him crazy. Maybe they still didn't know.
That would be ideal.
"Hello?"
Yuya snapped back to attention. Sir Yugo was staring at him.
"Are you going to play a card or not?"
"Sorry," Yuya replied, intentionally playing the wrong card.
"HAH!" the knight yelled, slamming his hand of cards on the table. "I WIN!"
"Good job," Yuya congratulated him, laughing at his enthusiasm.
Humans were so amusing.
Stress. That was the simple term for it.
It was a feeling that made the King want to both scream at the top of his lungs and go curl up and die at the same time. This past week and a half had been an absolute neverending nightmare.
Ascension falls, a random person with amnesia gets brought to Dominion, Yuri falls unconscious for two full days, Ascension was destroyed by forces from Hell itself, Silverwood falls, apparently Yuri's messing with some sort of dark magic, and now the dragons, the Obsidian Kingdom, and Dominion are working together to stop the destruction of the entire world.
You know, the stuff that a new king always has to deal with.
His head hurt like he couldn't have imagined possible. It had been… two days? When had he slept last? Dominion's soldiers were afraid; he couldn't blame them. None of them had ever actually fought a creature from Hell.
Life was good.
He had just won a strategy game and he would get to kill evil things tomorrow.
They were just like big wolves, right? Wolves weren't hard to kill; this would be a piece of cake. He wasn't sure why they needed the dragons.
Or why Yuto looked like he was going to drop dead at any moment.
I mean, it's just a fight.
The dragons stood in front of the castle, watching the horizon.
"They are near," the warrior named Rungrim growled.
"I know," Vendetta replied quietly.
They spread their wings as the horizon was swallowed by a writhing mass of monsters.