The battle preparations did not take long to muster. Sindra would lead the knights into battle, and Jill would lead the demons. When he stepped out of the Netherworld with his massive host, he could see a rather skinny-looking imperial with glasses was on the wall.
"So, what these peasants say is true... A demon army has come to destroy Nordberg! And my worthless brother has apparently decided to make himself scarce, and leave me to deal with his mess!"
"Oh, you mean Borius? Well, if it will cheer you up, he was actually very hands-on. So much so he worked himself to death!" Brann then held the severed head of governor Borius high, allowing all of the assembled empire troops to look upon the bloody stump in horror.
"NO! What have you done!? Legions of the empire, the company that brings me that demons head, will be given governorships to every surviving member!" All nearby empire troop companies soon formed up and moved on his location. But all this did was make Brann laugh.
"WELL, COME THEN! Show me what your skinny little army is made of. I'm guessing guts and blood, but I think I should take a look for myself!" Brann then charged the nearest group of soldiers, but found that their shield wall was too strong to just bash through. But the moment that Jill used her whip to slash the throat of the enemy's commanding officer, the shield wall crumbled, and was quickly dealt with. Brann then looked over the situation carefully. Charging the front was not an option. The giant ballista would gun them down too fast.
"Jill! I want you and your flying demons to run interference on that ballista! Sindra, I want you and all our non-minion ground forces to look like your readying a charge! I'm going to sneak around the back and flank the enemy forces!"
"As you command, my lord!" Both women said in unison as they went about their tasks. Brann didn't have much trouble on his front. Cutting through empire troops was easier than he thought. Most of the centurions leading from the front certainly helped. The moment they saw their commanders fall, they broke like helpless baby seals. With speed and brutality, Brann was able to get to the ballista and take command of it. Brann squared empire troops while his forces charged in, making short work of them. It was then that the sabotage kicked in, the town gates exploded from the inside, allowing his troops to storm in. To the shock and horror of the garrison of empire troops, the native recruits joined in on attacking them.
"For the dark master!" One of the mind slaves said as he tossed a firecracker at an empire soldier, lighting him on fire.
"The empire lovers were going to blow up the bridge, but we made sure the fuses were wet, oh lord of shadows!"
"Excellent work, my servant. You will be rewarded when the time comes."
"To serve is the greatest reward, sire!" Brann then marched through the town with his dark host, stalwart warriors, and locked gates were not enough to stop his new explosive throwing infantry. The glasses-wearing imperial was fuming mad, the look on his face, priceless to Brann.
"How dare you! You have insulted the Emperor... And my family! This will not go unpunished, mark my words!" Before Brann could get a joke in, the imperial teleported in a magical blue flash, which confused Brann.
"Hmmm, considering the empire condemns magic, that looked awfully magical to me!"
"Indeed it did Gnarl, a question for another time. Sindra, Jill, report!" Brann reached out with his mind to the two, and also, being magical creatures, they were able to talk back.
"I just cleared out the last ounce of empire in the city. Everything wearing imperial colors is dead from where I'm flying." Jill said in her usual cheery toon.
"I have good news to report as well. The native Nordbergiens have surendered. The only resistance left is the empire forces guarding their mining operations in the area. Want me to go take care of them?"
"Hmmm... No, I will take care of them. Have the heads of all of the centurions gathered and put onto pikes, as well as Borius's. I have an evil idea!" The knights and demons did as they were told, and as soon as he had them, he walked into the mining camp. The looks on the legionary's faces when he walked in, baring the heads of every one of their superiors except for one, quickly filled them all with dread. He stopped right in front of a shield wall, behind it was the last centurion, looking as smug as ever.
"All of your leaders are dead, surrender, and I will show you a limited amount of mercy, depending on your usefulness." The centurion shockingly laughed at Brann, hard.
"We are the soldiers of the Glorious Empire! We would rather die a thousand times over before succumbing to your rule!"
"Oh? And your men share your resolve? They are willing to die just to spite me after I already won?"
"They would sooner throw their own children at your feet than surrender, right lads!" The soldiers shivered and quaked with fear, clearly not as ready to die as their commander seemed to insist they were.
"We surrender! We surrender! Please don't kill us, oh demonic one!" One of the soldiers screamed as he broke rank, soon joined by all the others in his company.
"Traders! The Emperor will hear of your treachery!"
"Well, he certainly won't be hearing about it from you." Brann said as he willed his reds to burn the centurion alive. The former imperial troops looked at their former commanding officer burn like a roast pig with a mix of horror and relief that it was not them cooking. They followed Brann back into town. When he got to the town square, he froze. He saw a red-haired woman in a simple dress, she reminded him of something he had almost forgotten. A friendship that felt like it was from another life.
"Kelda..."
"Brann? Brann, is that you!?" She then rushed over and hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back just as firmly.
"When you were chucked over the wall, I thought that was the end of you! But look at you now, a proper raider king if I ever saw one!"
"I never thought I would see you again either. How have you been?"
"A slave, but looks like you took care of the lard ass who owned me. Didn't I hear somewhere that if you kill someone, everything they owned belonged to you?" Kelda moved up to Brann. From the look in her eyes, her crush on him had not faded over the years.
"I mean... In some parts of the world... Um..." Brann was happy that his helmet covered his face, as he was turning quite red from Kelda's advances. The matter was not helped by Sindra walking over.
"Ok, we took the prisoners down for interrogation, and the minions have begun to garrison the tow-" Sindra stopped in her tracks when she saw what was going on between Kelda and Brann.
"Hay, Sin... Have you met Kelda yet?"
"Who? Oh, the governor's slave girl. I see you've already made a mind slave of her, that's good. Because honestly, we need someone to help spruce up the private quarters."
"Um... About that..." Brann reacted to slowly to stop Kelda from standing up to Sindra.
"Now listen here! I don't know who you are, and I don't give a shit either! But if you think I'm going to spend my days cleaning up after sum butch bitch, think again!" Sindra was a little taken aback by Kelda's outburst, but it did not take her long to recover.
"Brann, would you be angry with me if I killed this ginger ice rat?"
"I would... Be strongly against you doing that." Sindra looked as though she was weighing the pros and cons of her next actions. While Kelda looked like she was ready to throw down any moment, the feral glint in her eyes would make anyone but Sindra back down.
"I suppose you want her to sleep in the same bed as us, right?"
"Oh, you are not letting this tin-plated skank in bed with me, are you!?" Brann felt the need to back away slowly as both of the wemen in his life were glaring him down.
"I... Um... You see... I thought..."
"Aw, great. You broke him! He's going to be like that for the rest of the day now!"
"ME! Your the one with the hell glare, maybe you ate his sole while I wasn't looking?!" Just then, Jill descended from the sky, landing between the two of them, making them jump back in shock.
"Ladies, please. Sindra, you know Brann is useless in these situations. And that as Overlord, he has the right to have as many mistresses as he wants. And as for you, young lady, you need to come to grips with the fact that Brann had spent his entire teenage years in the Netherworld with lots of other horny teens. Did you think he was just going to save himself for someone he never thought he was going to see again?" Both wemen simply looked down, somewhat ashamed of how they had to be talked down to like little girls fighting over a doll.
"Now you two go and have a nice long chat in the private quarters. I'm going to take care of Brann. The poor boy has just been standing there staring at us this whole time." Jill then took Brann by the hand and lead him back to the Netherworld to process his new love life in peace.