The first things Gemini felt when he woke up was the wooden cube in his right hand, cold and chill to the touch, and a warm, springy sensation in his left. Sunlight was streaming into the room, and after spending a minute or so to play with Lila’s hair, Gemini got up and began to wash up, forcing himself to hum a song that Lila taught him some time ago.

Since the wooden cube was indeed in his hands, it could only mean that the Sentinel of Space did visit him at night. By extension, the other Constellations were therefore dead too, which left a rather sour taste in his mouth. How many of those like him had come to their senses, only to die without being able to even make amendments?

The warm shower did little to lift his spirits. After drying himself off, he headed over to the sink and let the water run. The cold water slapped his face twice, and the Constellation looked up from the sink to stare into the mirror. His usual upbeat expression was a bit stilted, and no matter how he tried to adjust it, Gemini wasn’t able to smile the way he wanted to.

Someone hugged him from the back, and a flowery fragrance entered his nose. “You’re humming that song. Had a bad dream?”

Gemini stopped humming. “Close, I guess. A great god came to make me visit his home. He had some news. And this thing.”

He held up the little wooden cube.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Lila asked.

“It’s called the Severing Cube. I’m supposed to keep it with me at all times,” Gemini replied. “I’m not too sure what that can do, but since Hereward said it…”

“Maybe make it a bracelet or something, I guess,” she replied. “But I’m getting the feeling that you’ve been fighting someone that’s not me last night in a more literal manner.”

“Had two sets of dreams,” Gemini said. “One of them was about literally fighting a creepy monster in a creepy place, and the second was about me visiting a great god’s home. But how did you manage to guess the first one?”

“Instinct?”

The pair looked at each other and shrugged together. Stepping back into his bedroom, Gemini began to choose his work attire for the day. Although he didn’t have much in the way of paper-pushing and stamping duties, Gemini was still a nominal superior of the administrative staff in Congress. He could choose not to turn up early — there wasn’t exactly a reporting time for Paragons — but not doing so made him feel like he was abusing his power.

It was a conundrum, all things considered. Other than the city’s defence, Gemini didn’t have much of a workload. After all, he was not an expert in anything related to city administration. Ten years of constant slaughter under mental compulsion had degraded most of his marketable skills; the him now would only qualify for menial labour back on Earth.

And besides, no one would dare to teach a Paragon how to do something. As a rule of thumb, people with his level of strength were elevated to a status of a mascot and a military reserve, only to be called upon in times of need. Besides, he didn’t have any foundation whatsoever. Unlike the others, he didn’t spend years doing work while trying to become a Paragon; he’d obtained that strength the moment he arrived at Orb.

Eventually, he decided to go for some breakfast first, then show his face at Congress and pick up some little things to keep up impressions. Having decided on today’s attire, Gemini was about to pull it on when a klaxon sounded.

His face darkened, and in a flurry of activity, the Constellation pulled on some combat wear. At the same time, Lila rushed out of the bathroom, the wet streaks on her clothes hinting at the speed in which she pulled them on.

“You’re—”

He nodded. “I am. Stay here. Keep an eye out. Wait for instructions.”

Lila grabbed Gemini’s hands. “Stay safe.”

The two exchanged a hug. Forcing himself to break it after a few moments, Gemini took a step back and flew out of the house. With his hair still slightly damp, he soared over to the small gathering of Paragons in the air, who were all looking in a certain direction.

Everyone nodded as he joined them.

“What’s the situation?” Gemini asked, his eyes on the primal demons that were gathering a few kilometres away from Ark City. There was only one road they could take to besiege the city, which was perched on an artificial cliff the strongest of Ark City had created. It was a fortress located at a dead end.

“Slightly less than a million primal demons are now our new neighbours,” Ortega, who had a grim expression, gestured towards Ark City’s main gate. “Our detection artefacts have picked up one Exemplar and three Lords. That’s not a lot, considering that we outnumber their aces a few times over, but they seem to have a different idea in mind.”

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“Different idea?” Warmaster Chamberlain asked.

“That’s what I think, anyway,” Ortega replied. “Gemini, do you still remember the closing battle of Ark City? The conversation we exchanged?”

Gemini thought back, and his brows furrowed up. “Did the Demon God discover something? Why would he treat us as a grindstone?”

“The Wildlands was the creation of the Demon God. We cannot discount the possibility of our true origin being uncovered by him,” Campmaster Magnus replied. “The Demon God might have realised that we at Ark City are the forefront of the Five Lands’ tactics and technology. After all…”

His voice trailed off for a moment. “But either way, we still have a chance to hold on. If we maintain the balance and not wipe them out, we can entice the commanders on the other side to play along.”

“And besides,” said Chamberlain, “whether the Five Lands face an impossible enemy or not is no longer our concern. Between our survival and theirs, I know full well which to prioritise.”

With those cold words, he stared at the gathering demons. “Let us prepare the welcome mat.”

At those words, a storm of qi rushed down the solitary road that led to Ark City, sweeping through every single primal demon who stood in the way. Bodies came apart moments after the horrifying barrage ended, destroying the entire force that had been dispatched in less than a moment.

Gemini gulped at the sight of that absurd strike. “That would have killed a Paragon or two, right?”

“Definitely,” Warmaster Chamberlain replied, light in his eyes. “Rumour has it that a Paragon of the Central Circle was killed by massed fire from an infantry battalion or division, during the Central-Northern War. Unfortunately, we were forced to escape here before our dispatched observers could return, but rumours are rarely groundless.”

The Constellation forced out a grin. “Where’s the tipping point between individual might and massed power?”

“I hope to never find out in the Wildlands,” the Warmaster replied. “The day we do is the day we take irreplaceable losses.”

He glanced over to the other side, where the enemy commanders were standing. Campmaster Magnus shook his head and sighed. “Looks like they’re trying to make an implicit deal or something, from how they’re actually paying attention and making notes. We could kill them all now, but we’ll pay for it in the next encounter.”

As if on cue, the demons began to retreat, dragging the wounded with them.

“Seems that way,” said Degurechaff. “What do you make of this, Eliza?”

Gemini turned to regard the woman the general called out. He’d seen her before some time ago, talking about random explosions and the little lecturer. Since she was here, standing with the other Paragons…

Clearing his throat, he asked, “A bit odd to ask this, given the current situation, but when did we have a new Paragon?”

“A new Paragon?” Campmaster Magnus held back a grin, exchanging looks with Chamberlain. “Well, we didn’t exactly have a new Paragon. I suppose I should make some introductions, I guess.”

He cleared his throat. “This here is Demigod Eliza, the last reserve power of Ark City. Don’t let her apparent youth fool you — she’s one of the oldest Demigods…wait, I didn’t say anything wrong!”

Warmaster Chamberlain snickered, and then picked up at where the insensitive Paragon left out. “Unlike us brutes who only know how to fight, Demigod Eliza is a capable administrator and strategist. Normally, though, she prefers going incognito, and every so often, a gifted young administrator would show up at some random department.”

“Helps to keep one’s mind fresh and sharp,” Gemini replied. “It’s a praiseworthy action, since you’ll be able to appreciate various points of view and understand the workers on the ground.”

“Exactly,” Demigod Eliza said, tossing a floppy Magnus aside. “And besides, war is bad. I’ll only ever show up if things are bad, or if they need me to analyse the situation.”

“They?” Gemini asked.

“The Congress,” she clarified. “Otherwise…well, the street stalls of Ark City are varied and multifarious. Even if you return to one sector you’ve already cleared, new stalls and food would have popped up by then. You’ll never get tired of spending your days.”

“Nice to know,” said General Degurechaff, “but we do need to pay attention to the matter at hand.”

“Nothing much to it,” she replied. “It seems that they’re trying to use us as a means of instilling discipline and to brainstorm a technique or two. You guys probably can’t see it from here, but the primal demons in the encampment don’t look all that happy to be here.”

“Is there a blood pool in the encampment?” Gemini asked.

“Describe it to me,” the Demigod replied.

“It’s…like a fountain, except much bigger. Around the size of a standard house in Ark City.”

“None there,” she replied. “If I recall, a blood pool’s where demons are reborn from, no? How does that work?”

“Demons register their core into a particular fountain. Three minutes after the body dies, their core teleports to the registered fountain, where a new body is slowly formed,” Gemini replied, reciting its textbook definition. “I call it a core, but as to what those things look like I’m not too sure. It’s…some kind of spiritual thing, actually.”

“Maybe it’s a little ball? We can play marbles or something with it. But I digress.” The Demigod’s joking tone faded away. “If a bloodpool isn’t here, does that mean that they’re intending to rotate entire armies to attack us on a regular schedule? Granted, they won’t need to make the return trip back to the Great Divide, so I can see the advantages…”

Gemini winced at that thought. Dying just to go somewhere really quickly didn’t go down with him at all. The sheer callousness behind that action was disconcerting, and for a moment, the Constellation wondered if they would apply similar tactics eventually, especially after the Great Divide fell.

He could see the advent of human…demon wave tactics swarming the continents. Even if they were qualitatively inferior, which they actually weren’t, the Five Lands would suffer from such a strategy. To be honest, he was fairly certain that the Demon God would win, purely because the Cardinal Champions were the only ones able to commit hissatsu without any short-term consequences.

But, like the others said, this was none of their business.

Under the harsh morning sun, everyone watched silently, their eyes trained on the retreating demons.