Ancient demon lords did not move that quickly, it turned out. While we had gotten reports of them preparing for months now, they still had not deployed their armies. Lilith kept working behind the scenes with her spies while I started working on our defences.

  My tower idea was discussed with my friends and allies, then we brought in some architects to start building the first towers. The building itself was nothing special and comparable to the normal defensive towers. The inside was the key. A long metal rod, which worked like a mage's staff, was the actual weapon. It was connected to our electrical root network in the ground.

  The base of the tower held several crystals to store magical energy. We added several ways of charging them. The first were the roots, the second was a ritual where you could feed the tower with spell slots and the third was mana gathering formation inside the tower.

  The top of the staff held a large topaz which unleashed the lightning. A scrying spell conjured a magical eye which allowed the operator to aim. It did need a mage to operate as being capable of tier one spells was enough. The bottom of the tower featured a control room for two people. While one was technically enough, I liked redundancy. The second operator could access the scrying spell as well and help pick targets.

  Because Haruka was our only dryad in hell we had to build the first towers near her tree. It was not ideal, but their range should be enough to provide some fire support. And they would help to protect the portal.

  Before our preparations were completely finished, we finally got word that the enemy had moved out. Lilith called an immediate war council.

  "I have received an official letter with demands from Abaddon." Lilith announced. "He declared the formation of a new kingdom of hell and demands our surrender. He has declared the gate his property, and will graciously allow us to serve him."

  Lucy snorted.

  "Oh, it gets better." Lilith added. "He is offering me to join them, as his queen. He only demands Amaya's head in return. Apparently she has to die for her crimes against demonkind."

  I scratched my head. "Does he actually think that will work?"

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  "Before I met you I might have considered such a proposition." Lilith admitted. "Power is a great lure for demons."

  "What do we know about their armies? Are Ashema and Pazuzu with them?" Iris asked.

  "Focalor leads the main army. Abbadon's troops seem to be guarding the flanks and I believe Levathius will try to hit us from the rear. Ashema and Pazuzu are not part of this alliance. Sadly my city is not the most defensible. Battles between demon lords are not often decided by walls. Amaya, how are the towers coming along?"

  "We could get three operational with some luck." I replied.

  "I will evacuate all civilians through the gate and only leave fighters behind. This battle will be destructive. If the buildings get destroyed, so be it. I believe it would be best to simply focus our defense around the tree and the gate. My palace itself has some nasty surprises, I will leave some guards behind there as well." Lilith suggested.

  Iris studied the map, then nodded. "So we send our hard hitters against the main force and fight them slightly out of the city. Then we have our main succubi force guard the tree with Lucy and Kira to engage Levathius. I suspect when Amaya engages at the front it will be rather devastating to the enemy legions."

  "Can we sabotage them along the way?" Minerva asked.

  "Risky. I suspect the demon lords will be with their force." Iris replied.

  "We could confront them in the field, however we might risk the portal by doing that. Ashema and Pazuzu might move in behind us. We don't want them getting a foothold in the mortal world. And we can't bring the dryads to the front. They are a considerable force." Lilith said.

  "I guess hit and run tactics against ancient demon lords are risky. Anyone we send to sabotage them on the way might be caught. Unless we could rig the ground. Prepare explosives, or something." I mused.

  "It would have to be well concealed, or they would spot it." Kira said.

  "Maybe we can prepare a trap right here. Something we can unleash once they attack." I mused.

  "How would you hide it?" Kira asked.

  "Well, we could trap some buildings, or place magical mines on the streets. If we assume it will end in large scale destruction and we evacuate all the civilians…" I suggested.

  "I like the idea." Iris said.

  Lilith nodded. "We can rebuild the city afterwards. If you find good places to trap, do it."

  "We should take all their blood and build a lake!" Shani suggested.

  "You want a blood lake?" I asked.

  Shani nodded enthusiastically.

  "Do you have an actual spell, or idea on how to get their blood?" I asked. Maybe she had a large-scale ritual?

  "Stab them a lot! Or slice. I'm more about slicing." Shani replied.

  I sighed. "Any other ideas?"

  "Not an idea but a reminder. We are facing ancient lords. Their aura will compete with ours. For once it won't be as easy to cover the entire battlefield." Lilith cautioned.

  I smiled. "Ah, but our auras like each other, they reinforce each other. I do believe those demon lords won't be such close allies. They might even split up because they interfere with each other."

  "Hm, I had not considered that." Lilith admitted.

  They might be ancient lords, but I doubted that they had ever faced a strong united force like ours. With Lilith evacuating the civilians I could unleash everything. They would regret challenging the storm.