New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Looking at each commander in turn, Astaroth watched as they all smiled, tacitly accepting his challenges, and walked into their respective portals.

Astaroth turned his head to the mage.

"Have the portals opened for each regiment as well?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Each regiment is already entering their respective portals and getting ready for battle."

The mage looked more excited than himself, and this almost made Astaroth laugh.

Facing the still shimmering portals, Astaroth raised his hand parallel to the ground.

'You guys know what to do,' he said mentally to his companions.

Three orbs of white shot out of his chest, as well as an orb of red from his hand, entering the portals before him. Two of them into the sky blue portal, and two of them into the gray portal.

The portals closed as soon as everyone who should have been inside the training pocket dimensions had entered. This left only the dark green portal open.

Luna appeared beside him since she didn't need to be summoned anymore, now that she had a body.

"Is this one for us, papa?" she asked, her little head tilting to the side.

"Yes, Luna. Once we get inside, meld with me, and we need to eliminate everyone inside the area as fast as we can. Can you do that with me?"

Luna nodded her head, a smile appearing on her lips.

"Then, let's go!" he said, jumping into the portal.

Luna followed immediately behind him, and they felt the swirling sensation of the portal taking them somewhere, before reappearing inside a forest.

In the distance, through the thick canopy, Astaroth could see the rising tree that was Bastion City's center.

He grinned, as Luna's power washed into him, changing his appearance into the androgynous one he now got from melding with her.

"Royal Protection," he whispered.

His power, which had already multiplied manifold, rose again, shooting way past his normal power level.

A few miles away from him, Commander Alena was getting her troops into formation when she felt a massive surge of power coming from the western forests.

Some of her men almost directly fainted from the sudden pressure, and her face paled.

"What in the fuck is this power?!" she blurted out.

Had she misread the situation? Was the king not being cocky?

"No. That can't be. It must be a subterfuge," she mumbled to herself.

She reformed her panicking regiment, reasserting control, and started giving out orders.

But they were in for a rude awakening.

Alena felt a tingle on her nape, and she reacted instinctively. Raising her sword behind herself, she felt something slam into it, as she shot into the ground below her, eating dirt and grass on impact.

Her body hurt all over, and she could tell her sword arm was in awful shape.

Jumping to her feet, she also noticed half her health was gone.

"What the fuck!?"

"Your reflexes are very impressive, commander. Unfortunately, you only delayed the inevitable by a few seconds."

Lifting her head toward the incoming voice, which was familiar yet unknown, she saw a person floating in the air where she had been, with a clenched fist still steaming from the friction of an impact.

The impact on her sword.

"King Astaroth?!" she asked, confused.

Astaroth disappeared from the air, reappearing behind her again. He wasn't teleporting, but just moving much faster than her eyes could follow.

Astaroth stretched out his leg in a kick, but instead of hitting the commander, a thick golden veil appeared between his attack and its intended target. The blow shattered the shield but gave Alena enough time to back away, slipping just out of reach.

"Men! On me! Take him down!" she shouted, retreating behind her charging Sentinels.

Astaroth snickered to himself.

'Good. Smart move, going behind them. But not nearly enough cannon fodder to protect you from me.'

Raising his hand at the incoming soldiers, Astaroth smiled at them. The next moment, a cone of white light, the size of a building, flashed out of his extended hand.

And with the white light disappearing, so did the soldiers in its path.

Of course, it wasn't a large enough attack to take everyone out, but its power was unmatched.

And Alena was already sweating bullets in the back, having dodged out of the beam just in time.

A part of the forest in the beam trajectory had vaporized, trees, roots, and ground gone. All that in a mere second.

The commander looked at Astaroth, who was grinning back at her from afar.

"Scatter! Flee! Whoever survives five minutes, I will promote!"

Astaroth heard her command and wanted to laugh.

Stepping in front of her again, he flattened out his hand and swung at her neck.

Her head lobbed upward, severed from the neck.

Before she disappeared, Astaroth whispered her a few words.

"Good thinking. But this is not a game of cat and mouse. I will raze this forest to the ground, Bastion City included, to win this."

The calm with which he said those words sent a shiver of terror down Alena's spine as she reappeared outside the portal, back in the training floor's office.

The old gnomish mage was watching displays, a bag of snacks on his legs, and his expression filled with glee.

"Welcome back, Commander!" he shouted to her, keeping his eyes riveted to the displays.

Alena couldn't believe how easily he had taken her out.

"Enlarge the displays. I want to see the rest of the fights. All of them."

The mage shook his head.

"No need, Ma'am. The three simulations are already being displayed in the throne room. If you make it there fast enough, you can catch the beginning of your own match. He made me delay the display by a few minutes."

Alena cursed at the words.

'He's mocking us. How many people is he going to show this to?'

She hurriedly sprinted toward the throne room, taking a shortcut through the fifth floor.

Rushing into the Sentinel's' mainstay, she shouted to the druid, "Throne room! Now!"

The man barely had enough time to pick the pillar she was heading to and input the portal command before she slammed through it.

But when she reappeared inside the throne room, half expecting all the councilmen and new nobles to be present, she instead only found an empty room, with Queen Phoenix lazing on her throne.

And before her, three white screens, with nothing shown.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow at Alena's presence.

"Come. Sit next to me. The fights haven't started yet. You will get to see how your troops fare," Phoenix said.

Alena's stomach dropped.

'How much did he plan? How did he know he would win this fast?'