The triumphant celebrations of the human alliance were irrelevant to the true source of the invasion. Deep within the chaotic heart of the demon realm, the reality of failure was being judged.
The setting: demon realm portal site, was a landscape of swirling shadows, jagged obsidian structures, and boiling rivers of dark mana. General Verath, having retreated through the final, sputtering remnants of the collapse, stood before his master.
Verath was physically intact but spiritually humbled, reporting failure to the being whose power dwarfed all other existential threats.
He faced Demon Lord Azaroth, an entity who existed beyond the power scale of the mortal realm, an ancient being of pure, consolidated malice. Azaroth was a massive, draconic figure, his body composed of shadow, bone, a
