Here is it, an interlude chapter. Like I said, these kind of chapters will be focusing on the "Dark Side of the Force", meaning we will see what the other characters are doing while our heroes travell across the globe.

Since this isn't an actual chapter in the story there will be no skits here.

Don't worry, I have one skit planned for the next chapter.

Interlude:

Between Demons

The Path of Ascension, one of many areas on the path to the Ginnungagap, the portal between Aselia and Niflheim, was now the domain of the demonic invasion horde, just like everything inside the Ginnungagap. The Path had been expanded in the last years, adding more platforms to its design. One particular and isolated section of it was used as a meeting space for the leaders of the demonic forces and the Desians.

"… and that is all I have to report to you, my Lord," a green haired woman using a skin tight, red suit spoke to a red haired figure that was standing at the highest platform.

Nebilim nodded to Pronyma and looked to all the present Desian Grand Cardinals. Though the platforms on which they were standing were at the same level, one could sense the atmosphere of superiority one Cardinal tried to pass over the others.

Nebilim looked from one Desian to the other, wordlessly invite one of them to talk if they had anything to say. The blue haired Cardinal, Rodyle, took the chance and spoke:

"I would like to pass you the latest advances we had regarding our special project, my lord."

Rodyle then took something from under his shirt, below his cloak. At first it looked like a hexagon-shaped pendant, but, looking closely, one could see the glass surface at its top and the circuits inside it. That pendant was Rodyle's personal data storage. It was of common knowledge to the Grand Cardinals that Rodyle never went anywhere without bringing it along and all data regarding his experiments and findings in the outside world were recorded in the little device. The only person Rodyle ever let touch his data storage was Nebilim, since the demonic commander was also the one that helped Rodyle to develop it.

Ever since Nebilim discovered Rodyle's knack for "questionable" experiments, which was the reason why the half-elf had been banned from the former academic city of Sybak, the demonic commander had been commissioning several researches from Rodyle, some which he took part directly, others that were passed to him by the Grand Demon Lord that envisioned the invasion in Aselia.

Rodyle then threw the data storage to Nebilim, who caught it with ease. The powerful being then activated the projector imbued in the device and analyzed the archives, reading all information contained in them. Thanks to his photographic memory, Nebilim didn't need to keep any reports. He then threw the device back to Rodyle, saying:

"It seems you've made quite some progress, Rodyle. However, looks like you still yet have to find suitable test subjects."

"Yes, my Lord. That is actually the reason I wanted to…"

"Speaking of which…" a voice interrupted Rodyle, who looked to its owner with a look of utter disgust. Kvar, the silvery-blond haired Grand Cardinal just smirked back at his fellow half-demon. "I also would like to present my Lord with my achievements in the project."

"You what?" Rodyle exclaimed.

Magnius and Forcistus, a green haired Desian with a golden cannon in the place of his right hand and a golden and red eye patch, snickered at Rodyle while Pronyma had a smug smile on her face. The scientist Grand Cardinal often bragged about being the only one in their ranking that was capable of help Nebilim to further strength their forces. But ever since Kvar had ascended to their ranks, thanks to a certain slip from his predecessor, the newest Grand Cardinal had been making a fool out of Rodyle, proving he could be as cunning as the Desian chief scientist.

"Here," Kvar said, throwing a report to Nebilim, who caught it and read with his eyebrow raised.

The powerful being was very aware of the competition between the heads of the Desian troops to earn his praise. However, he couldn't care less about it as long as that didn't stand in the way of their duties. If anything, that just motivated them even more to get their assignments done efficiently.

"Very interesting I must say…" Nebilim spoke.

Kvar shot a smirk to Rodyle, who seemed to be constipated. The blue haired Desian spoke:

"My Lord! You can't possibly accept that this… this thief who stole my research data is worthy of the assignment that was passed to…"

"Really?" Pronyma spoke, attracting the attention of the Desian Grand Cardinals, as Nebilim continued to read the report. "If you held this research as your highest priority, shouldn't you have taken better care to see if there wasn't a leak of information?"

"S-shut up, Pronyma!" Rodyle exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. You even went as far as to attack Asgard without consulting us first," Magnius sneered. "Very daring of you to invade the territory of another Cardinal, Rodyle. A pity you were stopped by those Vanguard vermin. You almost gained my respect."

"Like I care about gaining the respect of such a primitive brute as you."

"What did you say?" Magnius roared, drawing his war ax.

"Chill out, Magnius," Forcystus said, with a carefree tone as he waved his left hand. "Considering this guy barely leaves his tubes alone, you might break him before he can even put up a good fight."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rodyle questioned.

"My, my. For someone who brags so much about being the most cunning among us, you sure lack some manners," Kvar sneered.

"SHUT UP! I'M GOING TO…"

"Enough!" the air around the meeting area seemed to raise its temperature when Nebilim spoke, his aura agitating like flames. He turned to Kvar. "It seems you added quite some advances on the project."

"I could have too, if I had the right host bodies!" Rodyle insisted, but was ignored.

"Thanks, my Lord. I am here to serve you, after all," Kvar said, bowing to Nebilim with a grin plastered on his face.

"In that case, seeing as you are well informed about the advances and details of the project, you and Rodyle shall work on it together to speed its completion," Nebilim stated.

"WHAT?" Rodyle exclaimed. The other Desian Cardinals couldn't contain the grin that came to their lips at seeing the humiliation Rodyle was facing. "BUT… but… you can't be serious, Lord Nebilim! This… this is… !"

"I expect you two to work having in mind the true objective of the project," Nebilim cut in again, making Rodyle almost jump. "The Great One has been quite impatient."

"In that case, we shall work twice as hard, my Lord," Kvar said, his sneer never leaving his face.

The Grand Cardinals and Nebilim looked to Rodyle, who was still stunned by the news. He couldn't believe he had been outsmarted by an upstart fool like Kvar and was now stuck working together with him. The Desian scientist would have called it an absurd, but he knew questioning Lord Nebilim's decision resulted in only one outcome: his demise.

"Rodyle…" Pronyma called, making the blue haired Desian look to her. "Lord Nebilim has spoken. So, it's up to you carry out your orders or face the consequences."

After a few moments of reluctance, Rodyle bowed to Nebilim and muttered a "yes, my Lord" under his breath. He would make Kvar pay for that humiliation.

It was then the group sensed a new aura approaching their meeting space. Turning to the bridge that gave access to that area, they saw a red haired half-demon coming, a stoic expression on his face at being back to the place he most despised in all over Aselia.

"Ah, Richter. You arrived just in time," Nebilim spoke with a malicious smile on his face.

"I've heard you wanted to talk with me… Lord Nebilim," Richter said in an emotionless tone, struggling as he didn't want to say that last part, though his demon blood commanded him to do so.

"In fact I do," Nebilim said.

The Desian Grand Cardinals all turned to Richter. That was something all of them enjoyed: seeing Nebilim torture the half-elf who had been trying to resist the demonic commander's will since the day he joined and force answers out of him.

"You've completed your last assignment two days ago, yet you didn't return to us. Was there anything you were doing during that time?" Nebilim asked.

"Nothing particularly special," Richter answered, knowing he wouldn't be able not to respond to his superior.

"Really? Because I heard an interesting tale; that you've been meeting with Ratatosk," Nebilim said, launching the bait and smiling.

The Grand Cardinals leaned forward to take a better look at Richter's expression. However, the reluctant half-demon didn't show any reaction in the least, his stony expression never faltering. Richter then answered:

"That is a lie. I haven't gone meet Ratatosk."

Richter wanted to smile at seeing Nebilim's now serious expression at not getting the direct answer he wanted, but kept his stoic facade on. The red head had much time to practice giving half-answers and keeping a straight face the entire time. Richter never considered himself a liar, but he was very good at hiding things from people.

"Really? Then what have you been doing while you were out after finishing your mission?" Nebilim asked, his expression turning analytic.

The Desian Grand Cardinals shot looks of disgust and anger at Richter, but the red head paid them no heed. He stated since the beginning he would never be part of their little "gang", but since he was forced there and couldn't strike them down, it didn't mean he had to make their lives any easier.

"I went to see a friend of mine," Richter answered in a vague manner.

"Who?" Nebilim inquired.

"Not a member of the Vanguard or the Renegades if that's what you're asking."

"Then who?" Nebilim asked, starting to lose his patience.

"Someone who knows of my hardships," Richter answered, throwing one of his red bangs to the side.

"You impudent!" Pronyma spoke. "How dare you defy Lord… ?"

Before Pronyma could go on and scold Richter (something he was used to) Nebilim held his hand up, stopping her from any further yelling at the other half-demon. The Grand Cardinals looked to Nebilim, who had a cold expression on his face as he spoke to Richter, with an undertone that promised a severe punishment for that latter:

"Alright, you may go."

Richter knew he would pay for that latter, but he could care less, he was getting used to the punishments he was put through every time Nebilim decided he needed to be "disciplined." They would make him taste intense pain for several minutes until he either passed out or told them something really useful, but since the latter never happened, Richter could just brace himself for what was to come his way.

The demons and Desians couldn't believe somebody could resist their lord for so long, even more one of them, who was supposed to follow his orders unquestionably. Some thought there was some kind of secret behind Richter's resistance, others thought the former half-elf had some kind of special ability. However, only Richter knew why he was capable of resisting all of that. He could even tell them, but no one would ever understand what he spoke of.

These fools don't have anything to fight for, anything to protect. They can even kill me, but that will only mean I won and was able to keep Emil and Marta safe. And since they gave me this demon blood, I might as well put it to good use. those were the thoughts that kept Richter going on.

The red head gave a brief nod to Nebilim and left the meeting area of the Path of Ascension, leaving the Grand Cardinals and the demonic commandant alone once more. Kvar then turned to Nebilim once Richter was out of sight and spoke to their lord:

"Surely you don't believe in a word that traitorous rat has said, Lord Nebilim."

"How can you even doubt something like that?" Rodyle exclaimed, pointing to Kvar. "How someone who doesn't have faith in our great leader has gained a place amongst our ranks is the only question here."

"Licking Lord Nebilim's shoes won't get you to where you want, Rodyle," Forcystus piped in, his smile returning at poking fun at the blue haired Cardinal.

"S-shut up!"

"I know he's hiding many things from me, about that you can rest assured, Kvar," Nebilim said to Kvar, like nobody besides the newest Cardinal had spoken. "However, forcing it out of him has proved to be ineffective until now."

"Then why keep the vermin around?" Magnius asked. "It would just take your order, my lord, and I will cut him down without hesitation."

"Richter is useful, that's the only thing that keeps him breathing," Nebilim said. "Now, Rodyle, Kvar…" the powerful being said, looking from one Desian to the other, his tone indicating he wouldn't discuss about the previous subject any further. "I want each of you having total access to the other's research data. See for the project to advance to the next phase."

"But… but…" Rodyle mumbled.

"Meeting adjourned."

With that, Nebilim gave his back to the Grand Cardinals and walked to the extremity of his platform, disappearing in an explosion of hellish flames. Kvar teleported out of the meeting area with a smirk on his face. Magnius and Forcystus also left the local. Just Pronyma and Rodyle were still there, the latter devastated at the turn of events. He heard a chuckle from Pronyma and turned to her, asking what was so funny.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking: for one who claims to be the brilliant mind in our group that was quite disappointing, don't you think?" Pronyma replied.

"Get out of my face, you wench," Rodyle said, teleporting away.

Normally, Pronyma would have killed on the spot anyone who as much as raised his voice to her, but considering Rodyle never used such low language, just proved how destroyed his pride had been, so the whole situation amused her more than anything. The leader of the Desian Grand Cardinals teleported away with chuckle.

Nebilim reappeared in the depths of the Ginnungagap, in Ratatosk's domain, where the portal was located. Normally, the gate would be closed, but ever since the end of the Kharlan War, Nebilim and the demons had kept it open. Without mana or Ratatosk around, it had been very easy to render the lock useless against the spread of chaos energy around the world. Now they had the main road between the two realms completely unblocked, rendering them limitless enforcements from Niflheim.

And yet, that didn't satisfy Nebilim. There was still a threat, a small one, but a threat nonetheless. If he were to carry out the wish that both the Grand Demon Lord and he shared, Ratatosk had to be destroyed.

The demonic commandant then opened his arms looking to the bottom of the endless spiral of energy that was the rift between the two worlds. It was time to communicate with the Grand Demon Lord that issued the invasion and ask for the next instructions. Nebilim hated having to ask to do anything of relevance, but it was necessary, otherwise, the former elf would never reach his ultimate goal…