Well, demons can rampage across any land of Ashan, and the fact that they most often chose the Empire as their primary target speaks volumes about its strength and the fact that demons perceive it as their main enemy. The history of Ashan contains many examples of defeats suffered by any nation, and demons have also suffered defeats in all the Confluxes.
Demons suffered defeats, but they won the fourth Conflux. And no one won the war of the fifth Conflux, although the demons were cornered, they could not be defeated.
In the 5th and 6th Confluxes, there were retaliatory strikes against the demon invasions, and in both cases, the Empire was supported. As for the assault on Shi'o, it should rather indicate the madness of the attacker than his strength, as there is no point in this assault. What benefit is there in conquering Shi'o? Are they going to cultivate fields there, or does the Empire lack land?
What benefit? To try to inflict as much damage as possible, that's the benefit. And why is the assault on Shi'o madness? It was stormed 3 times, and it was not stormed by fools or madmen.
Okay, then why couldn't he defeat the Grey Alliance, which not only repelled the attack but also almost drove him out of Shi'o? Why did he suffer defeat from the four heroes? Did he underestimate them? This doesn't hold up to any criticism.
And why, in fact, should he pay attention to this prophecy? If he is so strong, why doesn't he issue his own prophecy and appoint the one who should give birth to the Messiah? Instead, he is guided by the words of a simple human mage.
But this is even less a sign of strength. Why wait if you are all-powerful? If you are all-powerful, you shouldn't wait - you take everything you want and when you want.
We have different concepts of the word "omnipotence." It's not in the sense that he can do anything.
And omnipotence only gives an advantage in strength and power, but not in determining the time of someone's birth, and so on. Kha-Beleth is powerless against dragons and their magic; he cannot control the cycle of life. But in relation to the rest, he is indeed omnipotent.
I don't know of any cases where Kha-Beleth suddenly falls asleep and utters prophecies.
But this is even less a sign of strength. Why wait if you are all-powerful? If you are all-powerful, you shouldn't wait - you take everything you want and when you want.
I said that the imp could have counted Urgash among the total number, and there is no reason to expect competence from some dim-witted imp in matters of the higher hierarchy of Shi'o, if even the demon lord Vayyar did not know this for sure.
And the number 7 seems more logical and justified to me, and there are many mentions of it on various forums, I just don't want to look for them. In general, this has a very vague relationship to our discussion, so I suggest we close this issue.
Весьма хороший попутчик... До первого перекрестка.