Chapter 62 – Conquest of the Crying Forest

The journey to the Crying Forest was over 20000 kilometers, not a short distance by foot.

The remaining soldiers of the Aristonia were a hardy bunch, marching diligently even though many were injured, towards the Crying Forest, led by Ulandir and Roland.

A second group joined them, led by Thundar. These were the survivors of the Four Elements Sect, but they too were a pitiable number, a far cry from being the most powerful and respected sect in the land.

The Avengers that liked hunting like Tauriel, Selene, Alice, Diana, Sif, Annabeth, Yuriko and Aeon went out scouting ahead in teams of 3 people.

The contingent was flanked by Trix and Cameron who were in Mech Suits while in invisibility mode.

Others like Rey, Quorra and Natasha were training Mindy, Chun Li, Buffy, Faith, Phoebe, Harley, Hermione and Mathilda how to fly around in their Gantz Flying Bikes while bike riders like Maxine and Selina zipped around in their Gantz Bikes.

High above the air Kara, Mary and Carol were in invisible mode as well, and provided air cover, taking out whatever enemy they saw way in advance before the contingent even approached.

Everywhere they passed, all they found was complete devastation. They didn't manage to find even one survivor everywhere they passed. There were no human survivors, no stray animals, no crows or vultures feeding on the dead, not even insects.

The cities they passed were all in ruins. Smoldering ruins and burn and eaten bodies were the only proof that humans ever lived there, that this was not hell instead.

Merlin sat in a carriage with Queen Serene, Princess Celeste and Princess Gwen as they looked around grimly.

"I've failed my people" Serene said sadly.

"I don't think anybody could have foreseen this your Majesty. Nobody could prevent this. If not for Samsara's Avengers, we probably would have no survivors, like Lathadar." Merlin said.

Day after day passed, and the survivors only grew more miserable after witnessing endless carnage wherever they went.

Finally they reached the edges of the Crying Forest.

"Indeed Magdalena made a deal with the enemy" Merlin said looking at the boundary between the lands of the Crying Forest, and whatever was left of Aristonia.

Aristonia's side was all burnt black, with not even single blade of grass left alive. On the other hand, the Crying Forest was completely unaffected, with even their strange purple grass growing abundantly all the way to the exact boundary with Aristonia, leaving a clear line between the lands, with one full of fertile grass, and the other a burnt wasteland.

Samsara's forces and the forces of Aristonia and the Four Elements Sect charged into the Crying Forest without hesitation, wanting to catch the enemy by surprise.

They easily dispatched whatever defensive forces were in place and arrived at Magdalena's tower in a short amount of time.

The tower had been magically reconstructed after Samsara ordered Trix and Cameron to tear it down with their Mech Suits.

"Who dares invade my lands?" Magdalena said, creating a huge illusion of herself floating behind the tower.

"We do. We now declare this land forfeit as punishment for treason, and declare Magdalena be branded as a traitor to be punished by death!" Roland the Paladin yelled in a loud voice, magnified by a simple spell.

Magdalena looked at them hatefully, then she suddenly saw the Avengers flying at her, some in Gantz Flying Cycles, some just flying from the air outright. And then, the two huge Mecha Suits appeared, preparing to destroy the tower again.

"No!" she said as she turned into mist. However, as she tried to flee, she found that she could not move and seemed to be trapped within a globe of invisible force.

She banged her body against the globe but found it nearly impenetrable.

Susan appeared on the balcony as if she was there in invisible form all along. Her invisible forcefield had trapped Magdalena before she even knew it.

"Good job" Samsara said, appearing next to her.

The Avengers swarmed the tower, eliminating all the hostile forces remaining in the tower, including Asteroth who also tried to flee in his shadow form but was similarly captured by Wanda with her telekinesis.

The remaining Heroes of Aristonia gathered in Magdalena's conference room, after taking over the tower.

"What shall we do with the traitors?" Susan asked, showing two globes of force, one with green mist, the other with a black substance inside, being Magdalena and Astaroth respectively.

"Is there any need to ask? They're traitors! Execute them" Samsara said.

"Not sure how to achieve this. They're both immaterial" Wanda said.

"Let me" Sabrina answered as she approached. She raised her hands and her eyes glowed in flames when suddenly both globes burst into flames within their force fields.

Both Magdalena and Astaroth screamed from within the globes.

Wanda and Susan struggled to maintain the integrity of their shields and was forced to let go as both globes exploded into nothingness, as everything within burnt with magical flames.

"Done" Sabrina said coldly.

The whole meeting room was silent, witnessing the cold execution by such a sweet looking girl.

"We have another problem" Roland reported.

"There is a portal in one of the rooms below which seems to lead into the demon realm.  We are unsure what to do with it." he continued.

"Bring us there!" Queen Serene ordered.

They were brought down to look at the portal. It was left open, but on their side, there were several dead demons killed by the Avengers immediately as they appeared on their side.

"Should we close it? Will it alert the enemy that this land is no longer controlled by Magdalena? That would defeat the purpose of hiding in these lands" he asked

"I think we have to scout the other side to see what we are dealing with" Ulandir said

"Yes, we must find out why are all the demons attacking our lands, and why all the other lands are being attacked by all these monsters as well" Queen Serene said.

"I agree, but you must know, the demons can smell the scent of all of you" Selene suddenly said

"What do you mean? How do you know this?" Queen Serene asked.

"Because as a vampire, I am technically a form of demon too. Even as a vampire, I can smell a non-vampire instantly. I can go in as I smell like a demon, but the rest of you can't." Selene explained.

"We can't let you go alone" Natasha said.

"She won't be alone" Samsara added.

The rest of the Avengers nodded, knowing what he meant as he disappeared into the Nexus.

Lying naked on the bed, he looked at Quorra and said "Lets summon a succubus. Quorra, I want to summon...."