This might be the last part of this story as I'm thinking of rewriting some of my older projects that had some good promises. This probably includes this one. It will be a different character than the original Cain giving me more creative liberty and letting me implement some of my more broad scoped ideas. I think I developed a character quite a bit different from this one with the same premise which could be entertaining. Just a little something I wanted to do for myself.

Also I wanted to clarify that this fic is inspired by the novels, it is in no way meant to represent the characters as they are in warhammer canon. Apologies.

I heard the wind blowing outside of my new palace. Unnerved I grabbed my blade laying on the counter next to me and pointed it at the window. The covers were billowing in the strong rain I crept up closer to who I thought was the intruder. It was an unnaturally dark night today and something is stalking me.

Suddenly I felt a presence enter but I couldn't see properly. Twisting around my spot I tried to feel for anything wildly swinging my sword. This is when I realised it wasn't just the darkness from the night. I was completely and utterly blind.

The deafening sound of air parting alerted me to an incoming object. I ducked forward and felt it pass just above my back. I struck at the intruder with the hilt of my sword only to feel nothing push back, but what I did notice is a slight shift of warmth from my right to left.

"I don't need eyes to find you…" I said and grimaced. This is one of the few times where my opponent didn't try to overpower me with strength and martial prowess. This was a dagger in the shadows, a delayed poison - The most vicious kind of warfare. They probably didn't expect my heightened senses to feel out the warmth a body naturally emanates. I kicked to my right expecting to hit something hard but again felt the warmth shift right behind me. I blocked a strike of metal with my runic sword and twisted around for a backslash. I felt the walls and books on my shelf get cut in half as I dragged my sword in a circular perimeter around myself.

"Useless." Said a voice in the dark before I was violently thrown through my half destroyed wall and straight outside. I fell for about three stories before smashing hard into mud.

Where is my security detachment? They couldn't have missed this! I rolled backwards from my lying position bringing my sword up to block another strike. I shook my head in an attempt to dispel whatever made me go blind to no avail. Another clap of air alerted me to a supersonic slash of a dagger that I moved in to block. I felt the air around me moving in currents with this knife using the path of least resistance to my body. Using the calculated optimal direction for an enemy dagger to pierce me I predicted where the wielder could be and counter attacked. I dodged and felt the blade pass a millimeter from my ear as I swung my great sword in a wide ark and felt it hit the mark. I felt as my opponent attempted to block my strike with their dagger only to be overwhelmed and fly off into a nearby shack from the force of my blow. I used this time of rest to light up my defensive wards around the palace and felt my being connected with the defence systems.

Five heat signatures in the bushes lying in wait. Ten are on the rooftop ready to leap down at any moment to assist whoever is my enemy and two are underground masked with dirt and mud.

As if in slow motion I felt all of them jump out from their positions and take up arms against me. They circled me like a pack of hyenas on their prey, saliva dripping from their mouths awaiting their opportunity to strike. Two of them jumped at me first, one wielding what I can assume to be nunchucks while the other one was using a serrated spear.

I managed to duck limbo style under the spear aimed for my heart and while on the ground did a leg sweep knocking both of my opponents down into the mud. Before I managed to deal the final blow to my incapacitated enemies I felt air rush around me and a sword pierced me in between my right arm and its shoulder blade. I felt blood draining from my arm as I slowly started losing control of it. Nerves cut in a surgical manner. My fingers, always unyielding held on to the sword until they just couldn't and dropped it to the ground.

I tried to ignore the teeth shattering pain and did a backwards elbow swing with my left arm to knock whoever is behind me. It worked to a degree. My blow was blocked but my opponent was forced to let go of his sword.

Before I felt the rest of these jackals pounce I leaped up in the air doing a backflip and landed on the roof. It didn't take long for them to give chase.

I jumped from building to building in a desperate bid to escape whoever my enemies were but to no avail. They were simply too nimble and quick. Who are these individuals? I would compare each of them to an eight winged devil. Such speed and magical potency I hadn't felt since the civil war. But they don't fight like the veterans of civil war. The moves are… New. Polished. They are not the rusty but experienced eight winged officers but something else entirely.

As I kept running I understood what they wanted. They were chasing me through tighter and tighter streets. I have a photographic memory of this entire town and I knew where these streets would lead me to.

A few blocks away where I assume they will pursue me too, there are ruins of an old temple where mystical powers are amplified. They probably have an artifact or another relic to do something horrible to me.

This might be my last chance to escape before.

"Huugh!" I felt my stomach get kicked into my throat as a punch landed straight into my organs. The force of the hit flung me into the side where I was stopped by a sturdy wall.

Several figures landed next to me in a semicircle preventing any escape.

Before I could climb out of the dent a spear forced its way through my liver like a knife through butter. I could feel how it entered out of my body through my back and pinned me to the wall.

"Aaaa-" I started screaming but a punch landed on my cheek shutting me up. My nostrils and mouth were filled with blood making it hard to breath. Several more followed making my head swing from right to left, my consciousness blinking out between every single one of them.

One final blow was a kick to my balls that made me vomit blood and whatever I had for breakfast.

"Old satan fucker. You killed Maya, you son of a bitch!" Another harsh punch aimed for my underbelly almost sent me into a pain shock. This poison… What is this? I can't use my magic and I feel like a train is constantly on top of me. Who has the resources to develop such a thing?

Another one, this time from a different person. This time the area of impact was my right kidney as a kick destroyed it. My mouth just silently opened and closed in an attempt to say anything, but nothing came out.

"Halt. We need this fucker alive. I put way too much time and resources into this for him to just die." A deeper voice. Clearly someone who was commanding this bunch of assassins.

I felt several harsh slaps on my face as the man strolled up to me.

"You ain't getting the luxury of dying here you son of a bitch. First, I'll have to mix you up with some dirt." I heard the man retreat backwards and signal something to his colleague.

"Captain? Don't hold out on him." All of my danger senses flared up but I couldn't act on any of them. The spear was firmly stuck in a wall and all I could muster was some pathetic squirming.

I felt it coming… The captain, that the boss was apparently speaking to, did a double side flip to gain momentum and then kicked with all his might at the spear.

I choked out litres of blood as the spear shattered the wall behind me and flew off landing inside the house. Meanwhile I was left with a gaping hole and my intestines hanging out.

After I unceremoniously collapsed on the ground bleeding profusely, I felt my limp body get grabbed by my assailants.

Where am I getting dragged to? I don't know. Am I losing my consciousness right now? Quite likely!

"Lord Cain?" I asked for the 500th time. I've woken up with an extreme headache. To my horror I wasn't the only one. One soldier after another slowly stood up from their daze, their pupils were dilated and their breath ragged. Some of them still laid unconscious on the floor while others tried to shake off whatever mist hit the camp.

As soon as I was capable of walking, I started searching for Cain. Knowing that now it was fruitless to find him this way I thought of the worst possible scenario. Everything added up.

Extreme damage to my lords room, signs of battle all across the village and this… Sleeping gas if I can call it that way. All of this in my head was an elaborate plan to either kill the general or kidnap him.

The search crews managed to recover several items. Multitude of weapons unused by our forces and ripped clothes not worn by either the villagers nor our own men.

I can conclude that whatever happened, was violent and sadly… Successful. General is nowhere in sight and it's all my fault.

Dammit!

I have several factions on my list of possible kidnappers/murderers. But none of them had the tact, nor the political reach to do something. An enemy from the shadows.

"Aul, where is Serafall?"

"Uhh, Commander, she is also gone but she left a note." I made a hand gesture signaling for him to hand it over. Upon getting the incredibly pink piece of paper filled with glitter I read it's contents.

'I will find him :)'

Something was extremely unsettling about this message but it did bring a smile to my face. That means we have some significant allies which we can use to put pressure on whoever did this.

Outside of that, I managed to narrow down our possible list of enemies to just a few. There aren't many factions capable of creating such a potent neurotoxin, that demands sophisticated R&D facilities. The power whiffs we were able to catch and the security system readings all point to a small but elite group of powerful devils that engaged Cain in combat and then proceeded to defeat him which is a feat in itself. Last is the movement our systems tracked. The assailants used the paths that lacked any severe surveillance and scoured the streets with extreme certainty. That concludes my deduction as such a degree of maneuverability requires a dedicated spy network concentrated around our forces.

This operation couldn't have been conducted by any others but the new devils…

The old satan faction lacks any such facilities and aren't nearly coherent enough to organise such an undertaking. That leaves us with the devil outriders that haven't been a thing for the last century and the new devil faction…

But why? It seemed like we made peace. Why would they betray us like that?

I'm not drawing any conclusions yet but the possibility scares me.

Should I contact Sirzechs and inform him about this? Is he in on this?

Damnit! Where is Cain when we need him!

Well, the course of action is obvious for now. We need to regroup and start our search.

"What are we going to do?" Asked Aul, his weight wings unfurled and his face dark with solemnity. I could see his eagerness for action. To do anything to save our lord.

Now that I look at our camp I see everyone looking up to me with expectations… And what am I supposed to offer?! I don't know everything! I'm in the same boat as them!

I sat on Aul's question for a good second. Well, nobody does it better than Cain but I can try. I gave a fake smile and looked at Aul expectantly. As if he had a revelation he smiled back.

"You mean you want to do the thing?" He asked without clarifying anything. I nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"I remember your lesson from yesterday about magical triangulation. You told me that it is useful for finding key support opponents and taking them out. Well, it isn't exactly limited to a battlefield." He brought out a piece of paper while drawing a triangle with several points across the underworld and the human world.

"We could use the artifacts imbued with Cain's powers exactly like we use targeting spells. They will be attracted to his energy and by using several of them in tandem with each other, we might be able to pinpoint his exact location." After drawing a cross in the middle of the map alongside a bunch of equations the picture started coming together. Wow, that is genius. My thoughts were to raid the new devil government building and torture as many of them as we could get away with. Although it is a bit shortsighted, it might have worked with a degree of luck. Luck that we have ran out of two hundred years ago.

"For too long have we been the defanged fox. Today, we take our rightful place under the red sun." I said to Aul as he was already making calls. I also had some business to attend to. We can't waste time or something irreversible might happen to Cain.

One month later…

Another hit, another…

"Where is he?!" I asked with menace behind my voice. Gone was my image as a small and aloof satan. Today many will die…

The devil under me, already broken and bruised merely whimpered as he tried to crawl away. Infuriated I stepped on his balls with all my might eliciting a scream well deserved. Like a small pig he kept squealing as his blood started dripping from his scrotum, soaking his pants.

He is useless… I thought as I was about to finish him off. In a desperate attempt to save his own pathetic life he raised one hand in a defensive move.

"I'w tawk… PWEASE! SPAWE ME!" All of his teeth knocked out but I managed to understand that he was finally broken.

"You lie to me, your family will be sold off to the outriders and to angels for war crimes." I smiled as I made this simple statement. He pathetically nodded as he took in the information before steeling himself to give me the knowledge I need."

"Dey took hwim undew the gwmowy estate where they keep theiw political pwisones." Huh. So they are keeping him in their dog kennel. There are a lot of rumors about the infamous gremory dungeons, a fact they desperately try to hide. After the disappearance of Herman of Glasya-Labolas those rumors were all but affirmed as he was their main opponent in the council, vetoing every legislation they tried to pass. His 'accident' was a bit way too convenient but upon being accused the gremories merely hid behind the 'Innocent until proven guilty' fact.

With no hard evidence they were let go with a slap on their wrist. If Cain is indeed there I don't know what is being done to him in those inhumane torture halls.

The broken devil under me smiled as he expected to live through this, sadly I can leave no end untied. I focused my power inside of my palm and as ice started appearing slowly covering the smiling devil, he realised what his fate was.

"But you pwomised!" He yelled as ice covered more and more of his body already reaching his neck.

"I never specifically said I'll spare your miserable life…" I saw realisation dawn on the man's face before resignation took its place. After the frost reached his nose and eyes he knew he was done for.

I kept looking straight into his dead eyes as frost finally engulfed him fully.

"I call this mercy." I said to no one in particular. He isn't the first death on my road to save Cain and he certainly won't be the last.

Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me. Calm and slow. I could recognise them anywhere.

No trade of words, no mockery.

Immediately a column of ice burst out of my opponents direction. I used my powers to unfreeze the water just a few centimeters away from me stopping the column in its tracks before it managed to pierce me.

I turned behind myself to see the person I expected to.

There in her maid uniform was Grafiya. Her eyes cold with murder intent.

"You are trespassing on Gremory property and killing hundreds of our servants, what do you plead in your defence?" Her tone was cold and unforgiving. Is she in on it?

"I have my reasons. Don't make me do it Grafiya." I gave her an ultimatum.

"I'm sad it had to be this way Serafall." A genuine expression of regret at what she was about to do but also conviction in her actions.

I dodged another one of her ice attacks but didn't counter it. Something is not right. This doesn't feel like it's right.

I saw a hail of icicles fly towards me which I stopped by using boiled water from a nearby cattle and melting them mid air by making a shield around myself with it.

So she is also not fighting full strength?

If we went all out there would already be nothing left of this palace.

"We can talk this out Grafiya!" I yelled as another hail of Icicles hit me. This time I swatted them apart with my hands quickly registering each one and deflecting. Afterwards I saw pieces of my hair fall out, a testament to their sharpness and deadliness.

"I think this situation is very self explanatory Serafall…" Before we started a full on brawl the main entrance door opened and there stood a confused red satan.

"What is going on here?!"

One hour later...

"So, you are telling me that Serafall broke into one of our secondary palasses and slaughtered everyone inside?" She nodded her face neutral. Grrr…. How she infuriates me.

"And you are saying that she is collaborating with the kidnappers of Cain?" I also nodded glaring at Grafiya, she didn't even dignify me with a look. Ah yes, the silent treatment.

"Alright, the jury 'Ahem' me will decide on your fates after both councils gave their side of the story…" From somewhere Sirzechs took a small hammer and banged his office table with it.

2 month later…

*Slap* *Slap*

I kept slapping him until he awoke. After a few minutes and after being dunked into a water bucket did the ex-generals half dead eyes coldly look at me. Don't give me that stare! Who the fuck does he think he is!

I swung as hard as I could and my arm met with his stomach. Again he ignored any sort of pain my punch might have caused. AHHH!

"You think you are hot shit? When will you realise that I'm in charge here. NOT YOU!" I started to slowly twist a metal rod that is going through Cain, making sure he won't be able to escape.

Finally this caused Cain to grunt in pain as he attempted to fight through it.

"Paying attention to me now?" I asked rhetorically. He merely glared at me but at least he was listening.

"You lost. I convinced all the major factions of your crimes… I even managed to turn some of the most ardent conservatives against you. And that took some effort." I couldn't help but feel pride. Finally, the bane of my family line will be gone forever and no one will miss him…

Now that I look at the fruits of my work I realised how impressive it is what I accomplished…

Here in front of me, is the infamous iron fox. Stabbed with metal rods through his tendons keeping him in place. It took me two month of tiring effort but it's done. Cain had signed multitudes of papers where he admits to all the heinous crimes against the devil kind he committed.

There were also verbal recordings where he admitted to being behind the assassination of Herman of Glasya-Labolas. With this I managed to rid my house of our shame and any future threats. Now the true test comes. I somehow need to hide all of this from Serafall and Sirzechs. My son, ever the optimist, still thinks the old satan faction can be reformed. I find it foolish but endearing in it's own way. He took the office as an idealist and will come out a hardened and experienced satan. Time for him to learn the true backdoor politics of the devils and his father will teach him that lesson.

I took a look at my wrist watch and saw it hit twelve. A loud gong rang out. Twelve times a golden plate was hit signifying the execution of another prisoner. A twisted smile found its way onto my face.

"Little general… I have good news for you. You are getting the pleasure of dying today." I said happily. And Cain's face also had one. I'm really glad both of us will be enjoying this moment together…

I saw tears flowing from his eyes… Are those of happiness? Or of grief? It matters not to me, Cain's days are numbered.

"So, this is the place?" Asked Jurgen. I confidently nodded and looked off towards a massive castle. The Atlantic guard and Cain's red guard, now together lie in wait around the fort. My effort combined with Sirzechs keeping both armies hidden.

"I still can't believe it, Serafall. Are you sure it is my-" Before Sirzechs said anything stupid I gave him a pointed look and he backed off. Me, Jurgen and Sirzechs called in all favors we had just to get us up here. If we back out now it might be too late.

My friendship with the crimson satan gave me some leverage when I tried to convince him of this. Initially he refused to even accept his father could do something like this, but as we brought more and more evidence to the table he agreed to back us and to keep the council busy while this is happening.

"Sera…" He gave me a pointed look.

"He is my father. He will get to live." Big balls of him to ask me that, but that is the least I can do after all of the political backing he got us.

"I'll try not to hurt him, too much." I added the last part as an afterthought. Sirzechs caught the implication and frowned at my words but said nothing.

Seeing as the conversation was now dead I looked again at the grey castle filled to the brim with gremory soldier levies. That will be a pain to chew through but we have two of the most disciplined and fiercest armies in the world. Many things could go wrong but victory is assured.

The problem is we can't just go in guns blazing, there must be a lot of tact and coordination to achieve the effect we desire. If we get stuck for too long breaching the defences Cain might be killed as a response. I tasked Falbium with making up reasons for my atlantic guard to mobilize.

Jurgen for his turn found Cain's location and brought in the entirety of the red guard eager for vengeance.

Sirzechs attempted to keep the council calm and flooded the media with different shows and false projects. It wasn't hard to get the Phoenixes to assist us in this endeavour. No camera will be looking here for a long while and the masses won't have a single idea.

"Jurgen? It's time." As soon as I said those words we jumped down from the hill and ran full speed to the enemy encampment.

Thank you for reading through this mess of a story, honestly, I'm not proud of it. My writing was filled with mistakes and dead paragraphs. That is why I plan a rewrite with OC's that would fit my vision much more than Cain from the novels. Many things will stay the same story wise but it will be much more serious and grounded than the wildness of this fic. Some parts of this story are very rushed or incomplete and it is a bit too late to change this spaghetti of a work so instead I will write a similar story with all the nuances but I'll be much more methodical with the flow of the story and attempt to make it better.

Again, thank you all for getting through this.