Wailing sirens swept through the fortress, disturbing anyone who was somehow able to take a nap in the aftermath of the battle between the Stabiliser and Demon Sovereign Asteria.

Rubbing some dust out of his eyes, Aziz shot up from his bed, stirring up some dust within his sparsely decorated one-man bunk. Pulling on his combat uniform, the colonel listened to the wailing sirens, and then relaxed. The sirens were for infantry troops to man the fortress guns.

“In support of the fortress’ expansion, eh?” Aziz murmured.

Sighing, he checked his inventory. The troops stationed at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress were not, by any means, going out for long periods of time, which meant that a full load wasn’t required even when responding to sirens. It didn’t seem much, but it was one of those short mercies that added up over time.

The First Aerial Division had its own division lodgings, which amounted to three complexes made up of four buildings, and a division headquarters. Each building corresponded to a company, and every battalion had a battalion square for emergency assemblies.

Aziz could see that these squares were already filled with troops, each of them a flier armed to the teeth. Roll call was being conducted, as usual, and at that routine sight, the colonel relaxed further. If something major had happened, roll call wouldn’t be that relaxed; it was a stark contrast to yesterday’s events.

A voice spoke from behind him. “Fairly impressive, isn’t it?”

“It’s not as impressive as my reaction when I found out that my bunk was to be moved here,” Aziz replied. “Is it lonely over at the command centre, Marie?”

“I thought you didn’t like it over there,” the marshal replied.

“That was until I realised that I alone occupy this entire floor,” Aziz replied. “So, what’s our latest instructions?”

“Nothing much, other than to be on standby,” Marie replied. “The demons are still well within firing range, but we don’t want to waste our tactical advantages.”

“When are the main troops arriving?” Aziz asked, referring to the Republic’s infantry forces.

“Ten days, at a fast march,” Marie replied. “Fortunately, they’ve sent an advance party in the form of a Locomotive.”

“A Locomotive?” Aziz asked, curious. “Since when did we have one?”

“When the Great Divide fell,” the marshal replied. “Turns out that Pauline and Eventide have been hiding some things deeply. Very deeply.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“About the North’s Locomotives…”

“They should arrive in six days,” Marie replied. “In that case, we just need to hold on until then. Once they arrive, even the Demon God himself would be wary of taking the field. The only worry is if the fight up there ends before then.”

The elemental gods’ battle with the Demon God was still ongoing. Now that it was broad daylight, however, Aziz couldn’t see the battle between the great gods and their Divine Kingdoms. From how the elemental gods hadn’t returned yet, the colonel could tell that the Demon God was either putting up a good fight, or the gods of the Five Lands were.

It went without saying that the first possibility was infinitely preferable, but something told Aziz that the Demon God was far stronger than any other existing god on Orb right now. Even his chosen, the Demon Sovereign, was an equal match with that of the Sentinel of Space…despite the prevailing consensus that Asteria was made up of only one Constellation.

Almost everyone in the know had posited that the Demon Sovereign was far weaker than the one in the Phantom Blade’s timeline, solely because there was only one Constellation involved in the birth of the Demon Sovereign. There were many competing reasons, but all of them were focused on how there was only one Constellation.

No one was going to stop these soldiers from making such guesses, though. For one, it was good for morale, and secondly, gossip about the enemy was infinitely better than gossip about one’s allies. News about how the First Aerial had nearly been screwed over by the Speaker of the Southern Assembly during the opening battle of the Great War wasn’t all that prevalent, compared to the outlandish rumours about the Demon Sovereign.

“It would be horrible if the great gods…ahem. Never mind.” Aziz decided not to complete that sentence.

“What’s wrong, colonel?”

“Just thinking about something,” Aziz replied. “Anyway, why did you drop by this empty headquarters?”

“There’s some paperwork that you left behind in your move too. I’ve dumped them in your new office; you can take a look at them later. Routine stuff, but I’ll have to scold you if you don’t get it done.”

“You could just do them yourself, right?” The colonel rolled his eyes. “Anything else?”

“To check on everyone’s mental state. Everyone seems okay, despite the fact that the sky was destroyed, the Demon Sovereign nearly killed us and the Great Divide fell.” Marie clicked her teeth. “All these in one day, but everyone’s still going about their routine stuff once they returned to the fortress. What do you think about this?”

Aziz felt somewhat embarrassed that he hadn’t made his rounds around the battalions yet, but there was no point in making up for that now.

“Aziz?”

“Sorry. Just thinking about something,” the colonel replied. “Maybe they’re all resigned to their fate. The battle we saw is not one we could have reasonably interfered in. At this point, they might be thinking that there’s no point in despairing.”

Marie looked out the distant squares full of troops. “That’s disturbing.”

“That’s the reason why discipline is so important, isn’t it? Hope is an expendable commodity. Discipline isn’t.” Aziz sighed. “When the Second Extermination was at its peak, what kept us going was not the hope that we would survive. It was our instructions, the discipline we held from years back.”

“You’re saying it’s the same here?”

“Almost the same,” said Aziz. “None of them expect to make it out alive. Can you see it?”

“Almost.” Marie sighed. “It would have made for a better story if hope was the motivating factor.”

“Stories are just stories,” Aziz replied. “And we’re contending with an enemy bent on wiping us out. An immortal one, backed by mighty gods from legends millenniums old. Can’t blame us for feeling despair.”

“You’re right. Anyway—”

Her next words were drowned out by a sudden volley of explosions.