Kaelgor had given his two 'comrades' a mission that sounded important but was ultimately a glorified guard duty, all while hiding the truth.
They saw an opportunity hidden within a tedious chore. He knew he had just made them the first line of defense against a potentially catastrophic situation. Even if they didn't want to partake in the event, they had not choice, since Lord Gorael's name was attached to the order.
It was manipulative, scheming to achieve his goals.
The grim satisfaction of manipulating his rivals was a lingering satisfaction within Kaelgor, as he gathered his forces to lead them towards Adam's basin for what he hoped was the final time.
Beneath the facade of the dutiful servant, a torrent of hidden plans churned.
Let Vorlag and Malgrim be his buffer, his shield against the newborn's forbidden power and, more importantly, against the gaze of any higher entities that might be drawn to it.
His real mission, the teleportation magic burning in his mind, was his alone.
It was given to him to remove Adam, but if things didn't go as planned, then he could always use it himself!
He would wait and watch, but if the situation got out of hand, then he would simply disappear; passing that responsibility to someone else.
A coat of demonic mana followed his steps as he went to gather his army.
The armies were swift.
As the hellish day waned, deepening the perpetual twilight into a more suffocating darkness, the three forces took their positions.
It was a terrifying display of power for surrounding the encircled basin. The instincts of the roaming demons screaming at them to run away and avoid partaking in what ever was going on.
Of course, there were still some stronger demons, those with agendas, or hidden devils that only grew more interested in the large gathering…
To the north was Kaelgor; a disciplined, silent phalanx of five hundred berserker demons.
They were silent rage incarnate: hulking, muscular brutes clad in various, custom plates of abyssal steel, their faces hidden behind shrouded helmets. They stood in perfect, menacing ranks, their blood-crazed eyes glowing in the dark; a wall of contained, explosive violence ready to erupt at the given order.
To the south-east was Vorlag's legion.
If Kaelgor's force was a silent, sharpened blade, then Vorlag's was a barbaric cudgel.
A roaring mob of a thousand demons, dominated by massive, bull-like creatures with thick hides and glaring horns. Among them lumbered hulking behemoths whose backs were natural platforms for crude ballistae, crewed by shrieking, imp-like creatures.
It was a force of raw, wild power, echoing with the sound of moving steel and bestial roars.
'The fool brought his entire siege army…' Kaelgor noted.
To the south-west was Malgrim's forces, the most unnerving of the three.
There was only a chilling silence.
His forces were fewer, perhaps five hundred, but they moved with an eerie, synchronicity.
Slender, insectoid demons with many limbs and chittering mandibles skittered at the front. Behind them stood rows of gaunt, robed figures, wraith-like demons who seemed to drink the light around them, their forms flickering at the edges. Pale flames danced above their ranks and the air crackled, lighting their ethereal figures with glints of blue and orange.
It was a combination of insectoid frontlines, backed by specters.
The basin was now surrounded by a trifecta of hell's might: disciplined strength, brute siege force, and the strategic knights and mage combo.
2,000 demons armed with demonic arts, cold steel, and siege warfare held the blissfully unaware newborn in a cage.
Kaelgor observed the positioning from a rise, ensuring Vorlag was preoccupied with bellowing at his demons and Malgrim was engrossed in some secret meeting with his subordinates.
None were paying him any attention.
"Perfect." Kaelgor's said in a low mutter.
Under the cover of the darkening night, and the distracting presence of two entire armies, Kaelgor moved.
He descended the slope alone, a single, massive figure in black steel, leaving his own berserkers at their posts. He walked with a deliberate, unhurried pace across the scorched earth, directly towards the shimmering black barrier of Adam's domain, only the faint light from the barrier making his figure visible.
He stopped a mere few feet from the humming wall of energy, close enough to see his own distorted reflection in its surface.
He simply stood there, a silent, behemoth in steel, hidden in the dark, waiting to be noticed, ready to talk.
This time around, he had nothing left to prove, and everything to gain by appearing… reasonable.
"Shinggg~"
A final, intricate line of a stabilizing rune flared with abyssal light under Adam's delicate hand, before settling into the gate's grand rune structure.
A deep hum of power resonated through the platform as another rune joined the complex array.
He straightened up, a faint ache of soreness in his shoulders.
'It was enough for today.' The thought was a trigger, releasing a wave of pent-up, predatory desire that had been simmering beneath his focus.
Adam had been forcing his mind to focus the past several hours.
His mind, freed from its work, immediately conjured vivid, intoxicating images.
Lyra, his silver-haired queen, pinned beneath him on the furs, her defiant spirit yielding to raw sensation.
Agri and Blair, his eager maids, their soft, familiar bodies awaiting his attention, ready to worship and be used in any manner he so desired.
The lust was a physical heat in his veins, a reward for his labor.
It was in that moment of lustful anticipation that he felt a cold, ominous pressure grazing the back of his neck; a psychic touch as subtle and unsettling as a spider's thread in the dark; it's powerful demonic signature evading the hundreds of demons and landing precisely onto Adam.
It was a gaze heavy with intent and power, with the arrogance and nobility that only devils had.
Kaelgor!
His head turned, his gaze piercing the gloomy miasma beyond the barrier.
He saw him there, the massive devil was standing alone at the very edge of the barrier, his form hunched and partially concealed in a natural dip in the land, making him a shadow amongst shadows to the casual observer. Only by looking directly at him would one maybe see the outline of his figure.
Hidden to all, but except for Adam, as he was a beacon that radiated danger signals.
The peak-tier strength eclipsing Adam's current strength.
It was only then that an hint of realization occurred in Adam's mind, his perception expanding beyond Kaelgor. It was only done as he noticed that the surrounding demons seemed to have… structure?
He truly saw the basin's perimeter for the first time that evening. It was no longer just Kaelgor's berserkers, as the cliffs were now lined with a terrifying array of forces.
To one side, a roaring, brutish horde of grotesque giants and beasts.
To the other, a silent, unnerving host of insectoid and wraith-like creatures crackling with arcane energy.
They weren't preparing for an assault.
They were digging in and… establishing a perimeter!