I awoke to find myself in Yna's arms.

We were still in the war room and all manner of muffled noises made their way into the dimly lit tent.

“How are things going?” I asked with a yawn as I hopped off of Yna's lap.

“The line is holding strong and casualties are pretty low.” Yna said as she stretched her large arms.

“Give me an actual number.” I said while inspecting the map.

The squad I watched over from the dark realm was located far east in W10-N0 with the area from E20-N0 to W20-N0 being the Niki forest. An area of about forty square kilometers.

This was way too much ground to cover considering that we were outnumbered.

“Only ten soldiers have been killed and about fifty are injured, but are receiving treatment.”

“Only?” I snapped.

“Come on, you know what I mean. And besides, we should be sighing breaths of relief. Reports are saying that the MSDA-MK4 is performing marvelously. Fifty percent of all reported deaths were due to non physical causes like space magic and the like.” Yna said as she wrapped her arms around me from behind.

“And the Mark X?”

“It… I’m waiting for my boys to tell me.”

“Mmm…” I droned before returning my focus to the map.

“Are you upset?” Yna asked teasingly.

“About what?”

“The Black Legion.”

“No. I’m actually really happy you made a special anti knight group. Although I wish Farin, Han and I hadn’t wasted to much time trying on our own.” I said with a weak smile.

“Aww. Don’t worry. I’ll show you that my boys and girls are a capable bunch. Not quite as strong as a Golden Knight but a league stronger than a silver knight.” Yna said and I could tell she was smiling.

“And how did you get them that strong?” I asked and almost instantly after, Yna's heart thumped once, shaking me to my core.

Silence followed and the only other noise was from my breathing.

“Mmm… you know what? Don’t tell me. Just make sure neither I or anyone else knows.” I said with a sigh.

Yna gently squeezed me before letting go.

“I have to go. I can sense a silver knight nearby, by which I mean that someone is distorting space like a maniac. Umm… wanna watch my boys at work?”

“Sure.” I said before following Yna out of the tent where we were bathed in the light of the afternoon sun’s light.

The air smelled different for some reason. It was heavier and seemingly darker, but I ignored it as best as I could as I followed Yna past countless tents towards the tree line.

We passed countless soldiers. Their once pitch black uniforms and armor was now browned by wear and dirt.

They all allowed Yna and I to pass and we eventually entered the forest where I could hear distant screams.

“Where are they?” I asked as Yna placed her hand on my shoulder.

She then placed her sword on her shoulder before teleporting us to a clearing where I gasped upon seeing a silver knight fiercely fighting three black legion members or Kommáti.

The three dark warriors tried their best to strike the knight with their black swords, but with a speed that defied reality, the Knight blocked every attack and even managed to land a hit on one of the Kommáti, grazing his chest plate.

The other two responded by dashing towards the knight simultaneously.

This allowed their comrade to get away and he walked towards Yna and I revealing that although he had been struck, he had suffered no visible injuries.

“Lady Yna, Lord Katsíki.” The Kommáti said with a gentle bow.

“You got hit.” Yna said with crossed arms.

“I… I saw you a-and…” The Kommáti stuttered.

Yna sighed before pointing her sword at the Knight.

“Boys! Give us the floor.”

The Kommáti dashed away from the knight allowing her to turn and face Yna, who slowly walked towards her.

“Ah… Red Death. Pleasure to meet you. My name is Neä and I suppose I will be your opponent. Are these marvelous warriors a creation of your new master?” Neä asked as she and Yna paced around each other.

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“I am properly insulted. They are a result of my hard work!.” Yna yelled.

“Oh and I meant no offense, but I’m afraid the time for talk is short. Your army of worms is surprisingly competent, so eliminating you-“

A flash bathed the forest as Yna dashed towards Neä, but just as her sword clashed with Neä’s hammer, another knight appeared behind Yna, but before I could call out to warn her, the Kommáti dashed towards the knight before kicking him away.

“Hoh? A trap?” Yna asked before stepping away from Rinka.

“Yes. This will be the place your legend ends. Too bad you will be remembered for fighting alongside literal dirt but I guess that doesn’t really matter.” Neä said and I noticed that the space around her hammer’s head was twisted and turning violently.

Neä’s comrade engaged in a furious melee with the Kommáti, but it didn’t looked like any of them were fighting seriously.

Even I knew that if the Kommáti all attacked at once, they could easily kill the knight.

But they didn’t.

Yna dashed toward Neä who raised her hammer to block Yna’s attack.

Yna struck the hammer’s silver handle before raising her right hand.

“Katsíki!” She yelled and almost instantly after, a needle like dagger formed in her hand.

She tried shoving her dagger into Neä’s eye, but the silver knight narrowly avoided the attack before dashing away.

Yna dropped the dark dagger before dashing towards Neä once more.

She then, for the first time, held her sword with two hands as she raised it.

“Katsíki, let go!” She yelled prompting me to release the hold I had on the sword.

Neä raised her hammer to block Yna’s strike again, but Yna’s body flashed brightly with flares of light and just as her sword touched Neä’s hammer, the silver weapon shattered and Yna’s sword cleaved Neä in half.

Yna then turned her golden gaze to the second knight who was being held back valiantly by a Kommáti.

“Neä!” The knight screamed before throwing his fist forward.

A wave of force sent the Kommáti flying backwards, but Yna remained unaffected as she walked towards the knight.

“You bitch-“

The knight tried saying, but Yna teleported in front of him before kicking him in the shin, breaking both his silver armor and leg.

She then punched his shoulder with so much force that the armor crumpled inward as he let go of his hammer.

“AHHH!” The knight screamed as a glowing Yna walked back to me.

I held up the sword once more and Yna's body stopped glowing.

“Take him to Site A. Also, tell Umbris I’m looking for him.” Yna said.

The Kommáti grabbed the screaming knight and without saying a word, they left.

“Mmm… can I assist the front line a little?” Yna asked, but I narrowed my eyes.

“Why?”

“To… minimalize the number of casualties on our side?” Yna said with an awkward smile.

Her eyes weren’t glowing, so I knew that she wasn’t too excited or anything, but still…

“N-no. Lunësse and his men might be hoping for that. They might use your absence back here as an opportunity to deal major damage to our forces or even Coh itself.”

Yna’s face twisted as though she was in pain.

“But that’s what my Kommáti are for! They’ll inform me if any knights appear-“

“Also, this little encounter was an exception. We really shouldn’t be out here in the first place.” I said before glancing at the nearby corpse.

The knot in my stomach twisted but I took a deep breath before facing a pouting Yna.

“Come on. Let’s head back.”

Yna nodded before placing her hand on my shoulder.

We then found ourselves in the war room where Anda and Calëb sat.

It looked like they were talking about something rather serious, but they stopped as soon as they say us.

“What’s wrong?” I asked while hopping onto my chair.

“Tell him.” Anda said with crossed arms.

“I-I wanted to join my men on the frontlines.” Calëb said with a lowered head, but I clicked my tongue in response.

“The leaders of an army should be as far away from danger as possible. If you cut of the head of a snake, the body dies and that applies to the UEF. If any of us die, our respective Divisions would have lost their leaders and although you two are replaceable in terms of strength, finding someone new to lead the Ia and Foph will be a herculean task. Now, for the sake of the Expanse, I urge you to focus on the information we’re getting from the frontlines. What has it taught you and how do you plan on responding to the various situations our soldiers find themselves in?” I asked with a frown.

My frown deepened as I saw that Yna's eyes had begun glowing.

“A-alright. I’m sure you heard this before but our casualties are extremely low. The Mark 4 is performing extremely well. What I want to focus on is making more specialized versions in the future.” Anda said with wide eyes, but I dismissively waved my hands.

“Those specialized versions would end up being used by specialized squads and troops. We’ve had this discussion before.”

“True, but I think that, even for general soldiers, we could give them more options aside from the standard three.”

“Oh? What additions or subtraction do you propose?” I asked even though I knew I’d have to make all of whatever silly Anda proposed.

Not to mention Farin’s eternally long review process.

“Although the lightest variation is performing well, some reports say that some soldiers wish that there was an even lighter version.”

“Impossible.” I snapped.

“Wait-“

“Any less armor than that and you might as well be naked. So no, but you may continue with your suggestions.” I said.

“Mmm… other reports say that some soldiers were so impressed by the ballista’s that they wish they could somehow have them mounted onto their armor and yes, I already know how impractical that sounds, but this led to me thinking. Couldn’t we make the mark four more modular?” Anda asked.

“That sounds like the mark five to me.”

“I’m not talking about armor plating. What if we could make certain parts of the armor capable of receiving additional attachments. A medic could attach their supplies onto their armor rather than having to carry around a bag.”

“Wow. That’s actually a pretty good idea. Actually, rush over to Farin right now and tell him-“

“But he’s in the heart.” Anda said.

“Mmm… go anyway. Tell them that I personally sent you.”

Anda nodded before rushing out of the tent.

I then turned my eyes to Calëb, who’s head was lowered.

“What about you? What’s the situation with the Foph Troops?”

Calëb glanced at Yna before looking at me- well, she looked in my general direction.

“Casualties are in the double digits, but we are sustaining more injuries than the Ia. Food is also running out rather quickly on the front.”

“Hoh? Makes sense, but we will not send any more than they need. They will need to learn how to ration their supplies.”

Calëb nodded.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She said, but her eyes widened as someone entered the tent.

I turned to find a tall warrior clad in dark armor.

He was one of Yna’s Kommáti, but something was different about him.

The very air around him seemingly shivered, but I assumed it was my mind playing tricks on me.

“Hey, Umbris! What took you so long?” Yna asked.

“Tried looking for you in the forest. You were not there.” Umbris said. His voice was like a wheezy whisper, but then again, all the Kommáti sounded like this.

“So, how’s the armor workin’ out?”

“It is effective.”

“See, Katsíki? He said it’s effective.” Yna said with a grin but I rolled my eyes before resting my head on my crossed arms.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell me if you need any revisions or anything.” I said as my surprisingly heavy eyelids met.

“Sure!” Yna said unreasonably loudly.