text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, war]
  
  "Cistagonija, I was wondering when you'd finally stop serenading me with the screams of my minions and just enter my bedroom. See? It's all prepped for us. You were always welcome you know. I like a lady in armor. It's the right blend of masculine femininity. You're making me wet just standing there like that." Sinthinia remarks pointing to her very fancy comfortable looking bed.
  
  Without a word, you raise a hand unleashing a blue beam of magic and disintegrate it.
  
  "I see. Well we could always do it on the floor if you prefer." Sinthinia remarks hopefully.
  "The only thing you're going to be doing on the floor is dying." You reply.
  "Fine. But know this Cista, you're on the losing side of this war!"
  "Really? Because recent events show otherwise."
  "Hah, short sighted bitch! All of this has only been a minor battle in the larger scope of a war you can't begin to comprehend! The infernal realm will NEVER submit to your perverted desires of order!"
  "Peverted? Amusing words coming from one of the biggest succubus whores known in hell."
  "I am TRUE to my nature. YOU on the other hand are an abomination that should have NEVER been allowed to survive this long! Time to correct that mistake!"
  
  Sinthinia unleashes a spell blast, which your armor easily shrugs off. You don't even know why she's bothering. She's no warrior, she's a whore and the only things whores are good at are opening their holes.
  
  Time you made more of those in her; you continue to advance with your flaming sword in hand. You're really going to enjoy widening this infernal harlot's diseased slit to her equally diseased throat.
  
  You can sense the fear in her. She puts up a pitiful force field that isn't going to protect her for long. You know she'd beg you to spare her if she thought it would do any good.
  
  Just when you're about to break the field, a blinding light engulfs the room and a portal appears behind Sinthinia! You took measures to ensure such a thing was impossible so she couldn't escape, though looking back over at Sinthinia, she looks as confused as you are, though she also looks like she's experiencing pain from the light emanating from the portal.
  
  The light from the portal is actually causing you a minor bit of pain as well and your eyes are still having a difficult time adjusting to looking at it head on. You're also feeling a powerful force holding you back.
  
  "Come into the light Sin! Hah, I've always wanted to say that." You hear a voice chuckle from the portal.
  "Red? What is this? Argh! I'm fucking burning!" Sinthinia remarks.
  "It's your best chance at a rescue so quit your bitching and take my hand, this holy light won't bother you for long and it isn't going to hold back your friend for long either."
  
  Red or "Big Red" is certainly an infernal you've heard tales about, but you've never actually had any direct conflict or interaction with him. Looks like that's about to change if he's insisting on getting in your way.
  
  You can barely see him within the glow of the light, but he's completely covered in some sort of white armor and wearing goggles, which presumably is what is protecting him from this obvious holy light.
  
  Sinthinia looks over to you and wastes no time in grabbing Red's gauntlet. She'd rather burn than face you, though if the roles were reversed, you might pick the same choice.
  
  You push forward with some difficulty and see Sinthinia's burning ass (literally) run into the portal behind Big Red who is now addressing you.
  
  "Hm you ARE a powerful one. Maybe Sin is right and you are an actual threat to the infernal realm. I'll definitely have to keep a closer eye on you in the future. However, I'd advise you NOT to follow for even as powerful as you are, I don't believe you're prepared. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll get another chance to kill Sin assuming she even survives this trip of course."
  
  With those last words, Red steps back into the portal, which is now beginning to flicker and the holy light isn't as powerful anymore.
  
  You could easily run into the portal now, but you have no idea where it is going to take you. The fact that holy light was coming from it doesn't seem like it's heading any place you'd enjoy. Not that you ever enjoy anything other than perhaps utterly destroying your enemies which are becoming more and more numerous nowadays.
  
  Of course this also leads to more questions of the situation between Red and Sin since he didn't exactly imply good things for her either. You suppose it's possible he's just robbed you of your kill and her fate is sealed anyway.
  
  While this is going through you head, the portal is beginning to disappear.
  
  Completely abandoning any sort of caution, you run towards the portal, which then disappears.
  
  "Fuck!" you shout and punch a hole in the nearby wall, destroying enough of it to create a new window in Sin's former palace.
  
  While your cursing your hesitation, a familiar voice is heard. It's your chief engineer.
  
  "Um, mistress?" Zeljenir utters.
  "WHAT? And I told you not to fucking call me that! Only whores are mistresses! You will address me by my proper military title, do you understand?" you reply.
  "Yes general."
  
  While you know she understands and you can sense the fear, you just don't feel properly satisfied with this compliance.
  
  You immediately walk over to Zel who just looks on in fear and offers no resistance. You grab her by her neck and slam her against the wall. You look at her with disgust as she continues to display her body like the infernal seductress she really is.
  
  "I don't think you do. Address me other than general again and I will cast you down from your privileged position to the deepest darkest pit of degenerates in Hell and I guarantee you will NOT enjoy it. Am I making myself clear?" you threaten.
  "Yes general. I will obey!" Zel chokes.
  
  Good, that's the proper amount of respect and fear. You release Zel and ask her why the hell she's here since it isn't like her to be anywhere near the frontlines. You certainly don't keep her around for her fighting abilities. Her mind for engineering is what is important. She's been very useful in designing siege weapons and such.
  
  "I'm here because you told me to let you know directly if I had any major problems with other members on your staff." Zel remarks
  "You came all the way here now to tell me this?" you say.
  "Well I didn't intend to, but...well during the siege when I was overseeing the juggernauts, Captain Spolnapad and some of his men..."
  "Oh for fuck's sake, I fucking warned him about this and in the middle of the damn battle? No wonder the east side of the wall wasn't brought down when I predicted it to be! Fucking chaos. So did they get you?"
  
  Zel looks down.
  
  "I didn't enjoy it I swear."
  
  Zel looks up at you and feels your judgmental stare to tell the complete truth.
  
  "Well I mean maybe a little at first, then I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't stop and I barely escaped! I beg forgiveness general."
  
  You shake your head. You can't even be too mad at her for this. She's another succubus and the whore within her is always there, but fortunately you caught her when she was relatively new to the infernal plane and can be molded. She'll change completely in time. Change is always possible.
  
  But it's not easy when you're dealing with rapey lustful demons.
  
  "Fine. I'll take care of it. But from now on, YOU need to start fucking covering up! You may have the body of a harlot, but you weren't given this position because of your dick sucking skills. You were given this honor because of your skills as an engineer. I don't want to see you running around fucking naked. Those days are long over! I will see you in a uniform from now on!"
  "We have uniforms?"
  "No, it's a figure of fucking speech. What I'm saying is cover the fuck up. I don't give a shit what you're actually wearing as long as you don't have all your fun bits exposed all over the place!"
  "Yes general."
  
  With that out of the way, Zel proceeds to give you an updated report of what's been going on outside the palace. All your forces have of course completely destroyed Sin's remaining minions. It's a victory, but not really since Sin escaped. You're still pissed about that then you remember that Zel has helped in forcing open portal to the mortal realm at times, you wonder if she could do that with this after explaining the recent situation.
  
  "Hm, that explains that faint smell of celestial in this room. Yeah there's enough residual energy to do it, but we'd have to be quick before is disappears. I'll need to get all the equipment in here." Zel remarks.
  "That's no problem. Go get all your machines and shit. If you need help, let whatever grunts you need that it's a direct order from me to help you move it." You say.
  
  While you're expecting Zel to move, she hesitates.
  
  "You better have a good reason for not flapping those little wings and moving your ass as fast as possible right now." You say.
  "It's just..." Zel begins to say before trailing off.
  "Just what? What?! Pretend you've just sucked dick for three hours and spit it out already!"
  "I'd be a little concerned about you going."
  "Concern? This should be good. What do you mean?"
  "Well from the description you gave it sounds like the place is filled with celestials or at least aligned with such powers. I mean the portal gave off enough of the energy that it's still lingering even in this place. In fact, I'm not sure how Sin is going to survive being in such a place. I'd say you'd be better off focusing your attention on other matters. I mean your presence is needed to maintain order. If you disappear to who knows where for who knows how long, chaos could break out and I know you don't want that."
  
  You smirk a bit at Zel's transparent "concern." She has it all right, but it's more for herself. She's mainly concerned about her position if you suddenly got killed or something similar.
  
  She does enjoy the perks of having some of your protection, without it she'd probably be some demon lord's fuck toy because even as far as succubi go, she's still young and not nearly as hardened as she needs to be for the infernal realm.
  
  Still, even if she's worried more about herself, you admit there is a certain element of unknown danger involved. Indeed, you hesitated before your late rush to the portal. Zel may also have a point not just about the danger to you, but also the potential for having to clean up a massive amount of shit if you're gone for too long.
  
  After all, even when you're around you STILL have to clean up shit. (Like the mess with Zel and Spol you'll have to address for example) The burdens of being in charge you suppose.
  
  > Don't open the portal
  As much as you would like to personally deliver justice to Sinthinia, you've got a lot of other matters in the infernal realm to worry about. In fact you've got ALL of the infernal realm to concern yourself with.
  
  Zel's self-preservation of keeping you nearby aside, she also made some good points about the potential danger. She may even be correct in that Sinthinia is already dead. She was screaming and burning when you last saw her, perhaps it was some twisted joke by Big Red to disfigure and weaken her while he made her his bitch or something.
  
  You suppose if you come across her again, you'll just have to be more thorough in her destruction next time.
  
  "Very well, you make some good points Zel." You remark.
  "I do? Oh yes, well thank you general!" Zel answers surprised that you took her advice.
  "Mm, don't get too excited, I need you to start rebuilding war machines for our next conquest. So get back to your workshop and if you see Captain Spol tell him I want to see him immediately."
  "Yes, general."
  "And try not to suck his dick or anyone else's on the way."
  
  Zel nods and bows before leaving.
  
  While Zeljenir runs off to go do your bidding, more of your officers start finding you to give various reports. It's all very routine, when Captain Spolnapad shows up, you verbally and physically threaten him to not bother Zeljenir again. He complies and is full of promises to obey, though you suspect you'll probably have to do something more permanent to him in the long run.
  
  After the traditional allowance of a victory celebration, you solidify your position before moving on to the next target. Should be a more mundane campaign than the one against Sinthinia.
  
  The Future...
  
  "General, we're losing ground to the abominations. We have to retreat! We can regroup at the Fortress of Torment, our position is strong there." One of your commanders exclaims.
  
  Retreat, regroup, repeat. That's all you've been hearing for the past few years. You're sick of hearing it and you're even more pissed about it always being true.
  
  You can't believe all your years of hard work has been undone within weeks by these unnatural invaders. They knew exactly where to strike and it was so fast and sudden, you'd lost nearly a third of your territory before you could even mount an offense.
  
  Sinthinia lead the first attacks against your territory. She did indeed come back, though not the same at all. She was no longer a succubus or even infernal, she had been transformed into some sort of eldritch puppet spreading corruption to the land. It wasn't too surprisingly that you were targeted first given your past with her.
  
  Even now Sin is one of the top commanders on the opposing side focusing on your holdings. You've tried to face her in one on one combat, but it's only resulted in stand offs and in some cases your near death.
  
  Meanwhile underlings who feel they would be better to lead have made a few assassination attempts on you. You still wish that Zeljinir hadn't been such a stupid whore and fell under the spell of the treacherous Captain Spol's empty promises. She had much potential, but an example had to be made to ALL traitors.
  
  Between external and internal strife, your shortsighted infernal rivals took advantage and you lost another third of your territory
  
  Of course it didn't help them since these horrors attacked them as well, in fact the entire infernal realm itself is under attack. While the infernal realm was never a bastion of order, it still at least had some sort of consistency and you were on your way to bringing stability to it. All of that is gone now as this place gives way to more chaos every moment.
  
  Large portions of it have begun to warp into something completely different. Something more akin to the invaders' liking. Even native infernals are starting to transform if they aren't killed outright.
  
  The only glimmer of "hope" (Ironic in a place like this) is the unseen (and almost mythical) so called "Lords of Hell" are supposed to be setting things in motion to repel this invasion, but you aren't holding your breath on that, and with the way things are going, you will have lost nearly all your territory before they get off their asses.
  
  And the thing about all this that pisses you off the most is YOU might have been able to prevent all this if you'd just pursued Sinthinia into that portal and put an end to her when you had the chance.
  
  There's nothing for it now of course.
  
  You run your hand over your face and nod at your subordinate's words.
  
  "Very well, take the majority of our forces to the Fortress. Send a couple of small detachment as distraction to the main abomination horde. Hopefully they'll draw enough of unnatural bastards away before they're all killed." You order.
  
  With your orders acknowledged and to be carried out, you start to make your own way to the Fortress of Torment and try to keep your mind dwelling on a plan for eventual victory in this war as opposed to the grim reality that the entire infernal realm is losing.
  
  Your own goals of uniting the infernal realm under your command have been abandoned in favor of survival.
  
  But then you've always been good at that at least.