Chapter 154: Lundenwic
Lundenwic
~492 AD
Lundenwic, an Anglo-Saxon settlement of around 50,000 people that was founded after the abandonment of Londinium and the collapse of Roman rule. The city was founded by a group of allied tribes after they, and many other tribes who accepted Vortigern's invitation to Britain, were defeated and their leader, Vortigern, was killed by King Arthur. With the death of Vortigern, many of the tribes saw no reason to keep themselves allied with one another and went their separate ways. From there, a period of bloodshed and war swept through southern Britain as the tribes fought each other for the lands to settle.
During this period of war the city of Lundenwic was founded by an alliance of Anglo-Saxon tribes and remnants of people who used to live in Londinium, Roman London. Since the tribes who followed Vortigern had faced drastic changes to their culture during their years with him, such as converting to Catholicism, the Anglo-Saxon tribes found that integrating themselves with the remnants of Roman London to be an easier task than expected.
While both groups certainly had their differences in terms of beliefs and culture, such as the Anglo-Saxon's more warrior-like lifestyle as opposed to the more merchant-like lifestyle of the remnants of Londinium, the threat of enemies from the outside forced them to not only adapt and tolerate each other, but to also cooperate with each other to the point of their culture slowly merging until they became one group as opposed to two different groups cooperating. With the founding of this new group, the city of Lundenwic was founded where Londinium used to be and quickly grew to become a major port town of southern Britain. Due to this however, it quickly earned the attention of the more barbaric tribes as well as the attention of settlements created by other Anglo-Saxon tribes, forcing Lundenwic to quickly adopt a militaristic force to protect itself.
Despite not having faced King Arthur themselves, the leading generation of Lundenwic have seen the impact that his military prowess has left on their forefathers and thus decided to adopt a similar structure in the hopes of creating a similarly powerful force. This decision proved to be the correct decision when the many Knights of Lundenwic forced a powerful coalition of Anglo-Saxon tribes and settlements to retreat while only incurring less casualties than they had anticipated. Not only did this bring Lundenwic fame due to many comparing them to the King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table, but it also dramatically increased the popularity of Catholicism in Lundenwic and many of the surrounding areas due to the majority of the Knights claiming that they owe their victory to none other than God of the Bible himself. This increase in popularity made Lundenwic a hub for Catholicism with the potential to reach Camelot's level. Or at least it used to before the arrival of the devils.
Sometime around the year 482, Lundenwic began to experience an increase in activities that the most devout members of the church would consider sinful. People drank more, partied more, and submitted to their base desires more often than usual. This eventually led to an increase in crime that started out small. At first it went unnoticed by all since the crimes were either minor or were in secret. A theft here, a bribe there, or the occasional murder that occured when a drunken fight took place, but eventually the crimes grew in number and frequency. Murders began to take place more frequently and without the culprit being drunk, the number of thefts, bribes, and blackmails increased, and even rapes became more frequent. This quickly drew the attention of the church who correctly deduced that the city is under attack by devils, but unfortunately for them they were too late.
The leaders of the city had already turned to the devils, and so had the Knights and the majority of the leaders of the church. Those who had not succumbed to the temptation of the devils were swiftly taken care of before they could escape. From there, the city quickly became the capital of the devils in Britain as well as their staging ground for their invasion of the island.
With the devils taking over the city, life quickly changed for the humans who lived there as they found themselves to be second class citizens at best for the devils who occupy the city. The first major change that the city experienced was expansion. Using the humans as slave labor, the devils went about expanding the city towards the west while also attacking all minor settlements in the surrounding areas that are not Catholic and converting those that are Catholic. Soon the entirety of south Britain fell to the devils, leaving Briton, the kingdom of King Arthur, as the remaining bastion against the devils in Europe.
Leading this successful invasion of Europe is Pruflas of House Satanachia, one of the Six Houses of Lucifer that is known for their mind control abilities as well as their skills in subjugating others. Like all members of House Satanachia, Pruflas is a master of mind control and subjugation, unlike the rest however he takes it to a completely different level. He has an innate power over all women, capable of subjugating them regardless of age or power and doing with them whatever he wishes. He has shown to be able to improve the mental sharpness of those he wishes as well as the flexibility of their body. He commands thousands of witches who he uses to manipulate others as well as turn against God, and has shown the ability to create even more. Despite this however, none of those reasons are why he was chosen specifically to conquer Europe.
The reason why he was specifically chosen to conquer Europe is due to his greatest ability, the ability to raise sacred spaces that can block out God and his Hosts' influence while also weakening any enemy that enters his sacred space. Similar to how the interior of any church is considered God's property and is capable of weakening any devil that enters, the sacred spaces of Pruflas is his property which he has absolute control over. With it he can weaken God's influence over the area while blocking it from his senses, allowing the devils to do as they please without having to worry about God finding out.
Currently, within a massive castle in the city of Lundenwic, one can find a devil sitting on a black throne inside of a room filled with other devils. The devil appears as a strong soldier with blonde hair and red eyes, wearing the armor of a Roman soldier with an orange colored breastplate. Like all devils of his House, his face is handsome and contains a certain supernatural charm to it that makes any who see it want to submit themselves completely to him. This man is none other than Puflas Satanachia, Head of House Satanachia, and leader of the devil forces in Europe. He is the one credited with the current state of the continent as well as devils successfully getting a foothold in Europe while also tricking the Fallen Angels to focus most of their efforts to defeating the Angels.
As Puflas makes himself comfortable on his throne, a tall bearded middle aged man approaches him while ignoring the tense atmosphere in the room and bows.
"Trimasel, you have the nerve of showing your face here after your failure in Dyfed." slowly says Pruflas.
"My apologies Lord Satanachia, I did not expect for the Edenians to ally themselves with the Fallen." replies Trimasel as he deepens his bow.
"Your last report indicated that they allied themselves with the Angels; now you claim that defeated you with the aid of the Fallen, which is it?" calmly asks Pruflas.
"Both. They first attacked by themselves and liberated Haverfordwest before using the town as a foothold for their forces. Then they slowly chipped away our influence in the surrounding areas which allowed the Angels to descend upon us. While we defended ourselves from the Angels in the west, another group of Edenians assaulted the East along with the aid of the Fallen." reports the devil.
"Are the Angels and the Fallen in alliance?" questions Pruflas while the other devils in the room uncomfortably shift in their position at the prospect of the Fallen and the Angels allying with each other..
"No. The Angels seemed unaware that the Fallen were also attacking from a different front." he replies, causing many of the devils to silently sigh in relief.
"That's not much better, we are still fighting a war against three opponents, and our most dangerous one seems to have no issues with allying themselves with the other two." claims Pruflas with a slight frown on his face. Ever since the introduction of the Edenians, things have steadily gotten worse for the devils. First they lost thousands of devils in a reconnaissance mission to the island, which led to the loss of five Pillars when the Edenians retaliated. In an attempt to wipe out the Edenians before they can become a problem as well as to avenge the wiped out Pillars, Lucifer sent an assault squad led by Satan Leviathan to Edenia. The resulting losses were far worse than anything devil society has ever faced.
In that battle not only did they lose hundreds of thousands of devils, but they also lost eleven Pillar heads as well as Satan Leviathan herself. What makes it all worse is the fact that they have no idea what happened since there were no survivors. As retaliation for attacking their island once again, the Edenians wiped out another five Pillar clans before going on to lead a campaign that freed Ireland from the devils.
"What squad led the charge?" asks Pruflas, depending on which squad he has to face will determine how much reinforcements he will need from the Underworld.
"S-Squad Alpha." stutters Trimasel, causing an atmosphere of fear and uneasiness to fall on the room.
"Did you say Squad Alpha?" questions Pruflas as he leans forward.
"Yes." confirms Trimasel with a nod.
Hearing Trimasel's answer, Pruflas leans back on his throne with a heavy frown on his face while the other devils fearfully whisper amongst themselves. To the devils, the Edenians are the perfect counter to their magical prowess. While their magical abilities allow them to face most supernatural races and come out on top, using it against the Edenians tends to be more of a hindrance than an aid. That is all most Edennians are to the devils, a perfect counter to their magical prowess.
However, there are quite a few exceptions amongst the Edenians that go from being a perfect counter to being the worst possible enemy to all devil kinds, and Squad Alpha is one of those exceptions.
Made up of four Edenian Warriors like every other squad, Squad Alpha does not seem to be anything special from a first glance, at least not until they join the battlefield. Like all Edenian Warriors, they are very skilled in hand to hand combat, weaponry, can all use touki, something that should not be possible, and are all powerful enough to be considered Ultimate Class. Unlike most Edenian Warriors however, anyone who survived a battle against them only survived because they were allowed to survive. To most devil society, Squad Alpha is infamous for leading the charge that wiped out the first five Pillars out of the ten that were destroyed.
"Did you recognise any of the others?" asks Pruflas.
"I did. Squads Beta was also present." informs Trimasel, causing the devils to become even more uneasy. While Squad Alpha is known for not leaving any survivors simply due to their efficiency, Squad Beta does not leave any survivors due to two of their members' battle lust as well as their bloodthirsty nature.
"I see." comments Pluflas to himself before turning to a dark corner of the room. "We need to accelerate our plans." commands the devil as a woman wearing a tight red dress and black veil over her face steps out of the shadows, her steps so light that she seems to glide over the floor.
"The boy is not completely disillusioned with his king yet." replies the woman with a soft, sultry voice.
"Then make him." orders Pruflas.
"Very well." replies the woman, as she steps back to our corner, her body seemingly melting into the shadows. "Prepare to return to the Underworld, if the Edenians are led by Squad Alpha then this city may not last long." says Pruflas to the devils in the room.
"Excuse me Lord Pruflas, but why should we be worried? Surely your sacred space will surely block the devils like it blocks Him." says Trimasel.
"Trimasel, you are a disgrace to House Barbatos. My sacred space does not block Him or his Angels from attacking us, it merely stops them from sensing what is going on inside. If he wanted to he could attack us anytime he wants, but since we were willingly given this city by the humans he won't. After all, he believes that the most important thing for humanity is for them to have freedom of choice." explains Pruflas.
While the major weakness of the devils is anything deemed Holy by God, or blessed by a believer, the major weakness of Angels is the constraints that God places on them and himself. If a city falls due to the leader giving in to the temptation of the devils, God and his forces will not attack the devils and will allow them to stay in the city. That one constraint is what allowed the devils to be able to possess Lundenwic without fear of being attacked.
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AN: Here's the chapter. As usual, tell me what you guys think.
Also the fourth chapter of my Campione fic is published. The name of it is The Godslaying Pharaoh. The fifth chapter is already available on my p a t r e o n The link is, (p a t r e o n . com / servantambrosius), minus the spaces. That story will be updated once a week and patrons will be able to read chapters a week in advance along with other ******* exclusive content such as the Authorities that I have come up with and are considering for the main character.
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