As Jin was reinforcing the City with the 'aid' of the Pandarens, the acclaimed fox overlords of all Overlords, was already on the move to prepare the defences of Demopolis for a simultaneous strike against the Seven Cities.
He already had information on those seven cities and he was appalled that the Church of the Afterlife were using such weak pawns against the Demopolis. With the exception of one particular city, Kraft had determined that the rest were equivalent to warm up exercises.
This was because Demopolis had previously dominated these cities during its prime. They had been defeated to a plum and had been raised with so many resources that Kraft who had checked the Dungeon Core's directory of cities learned that they amounted to nothing.
However, he was still wary of them mainly because of the Church's support. He spent enough time within the organisation to learn that they had been doing illicit experiments to artificially strengthen soldiers for their fight.
He even managed to procure one set for Ayse to study and she was shocked how ravenous the Church Agents could be when it came to sentient experiments. "Their serum will strip the user of every bit of intelligence they would have and rampage crazily. And the set you gave me seems to indicate they have catered the serums based on their elements. From basic ones like Wind, Fire, Earth, Water to advanced ones like Light and Darkness." Ayse said as she placed on the System's replicator to reproduce the exact same serum for further testing.
She was annoyed that the resources required were a little obscure and she had to spend money in the black market to duplicate the exact ingredients. (Even without showing it, the System was pleased Kraft was able to steal a sample set.)
"With the Church of the Afterlife monopolising the deaths of billions of people and monsters, they no doubt have sufficient samples for those who were not able to pay the fee to resurrect. This is indeed a horrible organisation that these people had no idea how much crazy batshit these people are overcharging for a resurrection." Ayse said as she showed the results to Kraft.
"Isn't that why we are working to put up our own religion aka the most legitimate business? The bigger the competitors, the sweeter the victory when we bring it down. Oh when you think about it, Jin sure found a loophole of using Peppers and Milk as the goddess of saviours since they did not have to be around all the time to entertain their followers." Kraft chuckled to her as he read the results and prepared for such scenarios.
And today's the day he was able to show the result of his preparations. (Though to be honest, he never really prepared much against a rampaging horde of insentient monsters.) Kraft did however take the effort to place signs at the borders of Demopolis, including large floating billboards in his seas to tell the armies to back off or be killed mercilessly.
The Seven Cities never heed the warnings and ignore them as empty threats as they trampled the signs or for the naval fleets invading, blasting the floating billboards away. Now that the Seven Cities were in their territory and had ignored the warnings of Kraft the kind gentle fox, they were ready to retaliate.
"As per Dungeon World's PROPER rules of engagement, we had warned our enemies to not step into our territory. Yet, they refused to heed our pleas of peace and even showed force on my terribly beautiful billboards. So, we now have the right to engage them in battle and chase them out of Demopolis." Kraft said as he sat on his oversized throne and played a jack in the box. A fox plushie came springing out of the box instead and that indicated to the War Room staff to start the retaliation process.
"Try not to kill all of them or else I have a sparkling new Stronghold without any scars on it. Would not look nice in the resume of any Stronghold builder." Qiu Yue said as she started to coordinate for the north eastern and western part of Demopolis where there was sea and land to contend against the invaders, and also assuming Kraft failed to stop the sea invasion. And when that happened, this would be the hardest to contain if the commanders handling the north and south failed.
"Please, it would be best the new Demopolis City was unaffected and we would save more money reconverting it back to a functioning city." Moloch replied as his focus was at the south against the incoming naval fleets. "We should send the Pandarens to battle rather than letting them stay in the cities. The Mafias and other remaining Demons would subsequently see them as allies for King Rex too."
"You think too much Moloch. Just convert the entire city to a Military stronghold and naval base and we can use it to raid on a regular basis without other cities even thinking of attacking us. You had forgotten that we would be angering the largest and most advanced organisation in the entire world. You think they would give us a chance to rest and prosper when they could counter within a whim?" Nubwort commented while handling the northern lands and he was not wrong.
"What do you have to worry about? We have always been the underdogs fighting against the big guys. From the Orcs to Rats and even my world's Tigers. Even if we have to lose, we won't lose with grace." Jin said. "We will be winning this battle and win even more in this war as long as we play our cards right."
"That's my boy!" Kraft said as he pointed to Jin and gave him a love sign with his two hands. Then his face turned dark as he turned on the multiple holographic screens right in front of him.
"Don't you worry, this fox will make sure the Panda Clan not only wins but have its name be heard across the various worlds," Kraft said as he fiddled his chair and a keyboard with a tablet attached, emerged from the sides. He then typed a few commands which he sent to his Night Foxes for them to commence with their current operations.
It was a guarantee the Seven Cities were going to fall. It would be up to Kraft how hard they were going to do so.
