Year three of the fourth age of demons.

  Forty-seven years until the second demonic invasion.

  Simulated Evening, Abyssal Sanctuary.

  The creation of her first microbe was only the first step of Hifumi’s new journey. Since then, she had dedicated herself to manipulating its evolutionary path.

  However, if she wanted to make her own universe, and control it as the Grand Creator did, she could not be heavy-handed. She could not create on the same scale, or with the same ease, but she could still create.

  She started with the container. A table-sized pond she made in the courtyard would serve nicely. As for the miniature universe itself. . .

  Magic could do quite a lot. Theoretically, it didn’t require anything other than the user’s own will to bend and break the rules of existence to get whatever it is they want. In practice, however, it helped to have more. Something to compare to. For example, when casting a tracking spell, it helped to know where one was. When casting a fire spell, it helped to have something cold on hand. They weren’t necessary, but they did help with the ease of casting.

  In the realm of spacial magic, the most useful comparator was water. Water would fill any space it could, changing its shape to do so, and as such, was practically perfect for spells concerning size or space.

  Hifumi filled the pond with water and dipped one of her hands slightly below the surface, extending her godly senses through the liquid.

  She imagined it– willed it– to change. To let the water become a universe, to let the molecules become stars and planets, nebulas and black holes. To contain the new universe to the water of the pond, and remain.

  She felt herself black out, the sensation of water becoming something else lingering on her fingers, and the feeling of Nahi’s hands laying her down to sleep staying until she left the realm of consciousness.

  Year sixteen of the fourth age of demons.

  Thirty-four years until the second demonic invasion.

  Year 12,096,774 AAL, Terra Galaxias.

  Avai drifted through a young star, bathing in its blistering heat.

  The sensations that he had experienced had not lessened in wonder in the slightest during his tenure as the watcher of the developing cosmos. The sights, the sounds, the feelings– none had lost their glitter.

  Life, unfortunately, was still scarce and limited to only microbes, but he had seen many types on many planets, each unique in their own tiny ways.

  However, he had gotten to share his home with a few others. The Dark One had been so kind as to allow Avai’s friends to visit him, and they had engaged in many a fruitful discussion while patrolling the galaxy. Of course, the perception of time was very different for them, but Avai credited that to simply the whims of the Dark One.

  Avai allowed himself to float on the gravitational current, lazily drifting away from the star, and into open space, heat giving way to freezing cold.

  Why grow tired of waiting, when there was so much to see?

  Year twenty-two of the fourth age of demons.

  Twenty-eight years until the second demonic invasion.

  Noon of a High Second Moon, Eastern Munov Sea.

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  Hanqui’ll shivered in the cold water.

  She had only recently reached the age of middle-adulthood, and the responsibilities were already weighing her down. Whether it was finding a suitable mate, bearing and raising children, improving the living coral tool designs she had made, or the dangers posed by hatching karkinokhora juveniles.

  She had felt unprepared years prior when she entered adulthood for the first time, and even now she felt the same. She envied the young guneikhthus learning how to effectively pick phaosphuton, for they had little to worry about in comparison.

  But even as unprepared as she felt, it wasn’t as though she wasn’t getting better. She was far more skilled and capable than her younger self. Far more beautiful too, if the stares of her peers were to judge.

  Her ideas for living coral tools and defenses had been a resounding success. With their introduction to the protection methods of the dwelling, even the oldest karkinokhora hesitated to attack. They weren’t perfect of course, but they were a large improvement over using only stone tools and defenses.

  She kept an eye on the distant guneikhthus fussing over a baby selakhoapetra. He didn’t seem botched by the cold at all.

  Year thirty-five of the fourth age of demons.

  Fifteen years until the second demonic invasion.

  Early morning in the city of Axalara.

  Planning an assault was always harder than putting one in action, at least in Balta’s experience.

  On the field, decisions were made at the moment and adapted to the circumstances. Plans would fall apart, as more and more unexpected factors were introduced. It wasn’t that she didn’t like planning, but more so that the plans were more often than not unreliable, even in the best of times. She could plan for hundreds of possibilities and still be forced to improvise.

  Still, having plans was useful, even if they did fall apart.

  Balta had been given a force of bestial fish-like lesser demons, ranging in size and specialty. Her favorite type could force water out of bodies, allowing them to move faster and with more agility than other demons, even being able to bring themselves to a complete stop in the blink of an eye.

  As far as engaging in the cramped tunnels she had scouted on the planet, they were not capable. They could trap the locals inside with ease, ambush them from dark shadows at any moment's notice, or swim them down in open water, but they could not fight effectively in the tunnels.

  Which is where her second favorite type came in. Instead of expelling water to boost movement, this sort heated water to boiling temperatures and then pumped it through its vent-like mouth to cook opponents alive. So instead of just waiting for the locals to starve inside their hovels, Balta could flood their hiding places with boiling water and kill them that way.

  Krika had been given an. . . interesting force. A ravenous swarm of tiny demons similar to animals known as ‘krill’, complete with sharpened legs and mandibles to bite and claw through anything in their way. Individually they were all but worthless, but she had watched as Krika directed them to consume a lesser labor-demon, leaving behind not even scraps when the swarm left.

  She had overheard what some of the other generals had been assigned as well, though she wasn’t nearly as familiar.

  Kranua had evidently been impressed by Spiriah’s siege of the beastkin capital on Asyke despite his previous failures, and had given him a bulky and tough force best suited for such warfare. The demons themselves were enormous and in possession of an odd shape, appearing a mix between seastars and anemones with a touch of something tetropodal, and hadn’t shown themselves to be particularly fast, but she couldn’t imagine their skin being pierced by any of the weapons the natives had.

  Meno had been very excited to practice with the force she had been given, and from what Balta had seen, it seemed mostly based around fighting in the caves and tunnels, making it invaluable considering what she had seen.

  She watched entranced as a lesser labor-demon was boiled alive by the circling demons of her aquatic regiment. It struggled at first, but as the temperatures rose, it moved less and less, until it floated still in the boiling water.

  Oh yes, she was very excited.

  Year forty-nine of the fourth age of demons.

  One year until the second demonic invasion.

  Nowhere.

  Smash. Crush. Break.

  The thing stirred in its sleep.

  Smash. Crush. Break.

  It slid its limbs over itself, feeling the power it held within itself.

  Smash. Crush. Break.

  Soon it would be free. Free to smash, crush, and break.

  Smash. Crush. Break.

  But not yet.

  Smash. Crush. Break.

  But soon.

  You are my weapon. You will smash. You will do so in my name.

  You are my tool. You will crush. You will do so in my name.

  You are my pawn. You will break. You will do so in my name.

  Smash them. Crush them. Break them. Show them no mercy, for you will receive none.

  Year fifty of the fourth age of demons.

  The second demonic invasion begins.

  that, the events of chapters 35-40 take place.