At the upper decks of the command ship S.S Anne — one of the most common names for a ship — Aziz leaned on a railing and looked at the roiling waters of the Never-ending Ocean. To the north was the ominous silhouette of a mighty forces, as well as an impossibly tall tower that towered into the heavens. The expeditionary fleet was close enough to see the details of the newly renovated Central Circle in person, which did absolutely nothing to raise their morale whatsoever.

“Looks like we’re in a hurry,” Aziz observed quietly. “Hasn’t been a day since that bombastic announcement, and we’re already advancing. Did something happen within the fleet?”

“We’ve tallied our losses. Seven percent of our troops have defected by turning into balls of white light,” Marshal Marie replied, her face impassive. “Fifteen percent of our ships were destroyed in our approach, with very few survivors.”

“And the former statistic is bound to increase over time, as conditions worsen and morale drops.” Aziz clicked his teeth.

“Yeap. We’ve even slackened disciplinary actions, only maintaining law and order to protect people.” The marshal gripped a nearby railing. “Sucks to be us, eh? Curfew’s now in full effect, and we’ve issued orders to prevent soldiers from interacting with people of other nations, so it’s not that bad…yet, anyway.”

Aziz snuck a glance at the shadowy globe hanging high above the Central Circle. “A truly well-played move.”

“The Five Lands seems to be on the receiving end of good moves recently,” Marie noted wryly. “The Demon Sovereign checkmated us by showing mercy, while the Abyss Sovereign is forcing us into an outright defeat by sapping away at our numbers with absurd ease.”

“We’ve managed to get this far, though.”

She took a few steps forward, and then turned around to face Aziz, her arms opening up. “Look around you. This entire expeditionary fleet only managed to make it this far because Hereward made it so. Without the great gods, we would have been torn to shreds this close in. You’re too optimistic, dear colonel.”

“You’re calling me optimistic?” Aziz chuckled. “Well, to be honest, I really want to see the Central Circle’s defences clash against the North’s Locomotives. Ark City is also not too far behind, right? I hear they’ve finally broken out their original Locomotives too and stuffed them full of artefacts.”

“The ones that were used to transport the people of Ark City out of the Wildlands, right?” Marie snorted. “I mean, you did see what happened at the end of the journey for yourself. They were belching out smoke and blowing up. I don’t think placing confidence in those things are actually a good idea.”

“You do know that the North did send some artificers over to help, right?” Aziz looked away from Marie, directing his gaze at the rear of the still-enormous fleet. Liamar’s Divine Kingdom was trailing behind the expeditionary forces, sharing the airspace with the odd, pinecone-like structure of the new Ark City.

The latter, however, looked like a small dot when placecd beside the red, crystalline diamond that was Liamar’s Divine Kingdom. The Worldshaper’s palace could be vaguely seen in the middle, but even after spending some effort, Aziz himself couldn’t spot any godkith, the red humanoid lives that accompanied the great gods.

“I know,” Marie replied, “but we haven’t heard hide nor hair of Ark City’s Locomotives ever since their escape from the Wildlands. Even during the Great War, Ark City itself drifted over. But they didn’t send any of their Locomotives.”

“True,” Aziz conceded. “However, they might just come swooping in our greatest time of need, and then blow up afterwards.”

“That would be a very tragic scene,” Marie noted.

The two stared at the red crystal in the sky. Aziz didn’t know what Marie was thinking about, but his thoughts drifted over to a certain familiar spirit.

How was Rene doing? He hadn’t seen her ever since the Demon God passed away, and Aziz couldn’t help but feel some worry. The only thing Colonel Aziz knew about the familiar spirits’ involvement in this march on the Central Circle was that they had been fighting in the upper airzone, far higher than any Paragon could conceivably hope to reach.

Apparently, they wanted to check on what the crimson sky did. The Abyss Sovereign — well, the kid Gaius, if Hereward and the War Council was to be believed — was the person responsible for creating this crimson firmament. No one knew what it did so far, but everyone was certain that this sky would eventually serve some deep purpose of the Abyss Sovereign and his festival of creation.

The questions that truly mattered were simply ‘how’ and ‘what’. No one cared about ‘when’, since it was definitely going to activate at the worst timing possible.

“One gold for your thoughts,” Marie asked.

“Just wondering about our mutual acquaintance in the Worldshaper’s Divine Kingdom,” Aziz replied. “The familiar spirits have been fighting for some time, apparently, and there’s no news about them.”

“No news is good news, that’s what the sages say.” Marie looked up into the sky. “And I think they stopped going up there after a while. For one, there was apparently this terrifying Demigod-rank spectre that ate familiar spirits for breakfast. Second, the great gods themselves had tried to analyse this red sky themselves, but given that there’s nothing about their discoveries…”

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“They must have failed, then.” Aziz shook his head dramatically. “I suppose even the great gods are not omnipotent.”

“If they were, they wouldn’t have taken such losses against the Demon God,” Marie replied. “Four to one, and the God of Earth was somehow still killed. I don’t even understand.”

“The great gods haven’t exactly held a weapon after the First Extermination, though.”

“Neither did the Demon God, so what’s the point you’re trying to make here?” Marie asked.

“Well, maybe they should leave war to the professionals,” Aziz replied. “I’m betting that the great gods’ forces are just going to charge into the firing lines of the enemy and take all their shots head on. Still remember how the Republic defeated the Assembly in the final battle of our liberation war?”

“…I’m sure the familiar spirits won’t just charge into a killing field, right?”

Aziz glanced at her. “What do you think?”

“Fudge.”

After exchanging some more words about the alleged capability of the great gods and their divine servants, Aziz glanced at the enormous defences of the Central Circle. The whole thing had been built without any modicum of common sense whatsoever — there were so many walls and towers that the Republic would probably go bankrupt from trying to man and maintain these defences.

Marie closed one eye and stared at the imposing walls. “Gets scarier when you look at it up close, right?”

“Anything that defies common sense is scary,” Aziz replied. “But at least I’m certain this has to be Gaius’ work. The kid doesn’t follow common sense either.”

“Makes sense.”

The colonel stared at the walls that surrounded the Central Circle. From their scouting, he knew that there were at least five lines of defences, demarcated by walls. From up high, it would look like a concentric circle, except that said circle could belch out death and destruction over and over again.

Perhaps, after this war was over, the survivors would all gain some sort of geometry-related trauma.

“Say, is it possible that the Abyss Sovereign’s strength is actually more limited than we know?” Aziz asked.

“Dude held off multiple gods with a few moves and even powered up at the end of it,” Marie replied. “I don’t know where this assessment of yours is coming from, but you should really refrain from daydreaming while on the clock.”

“No, no.” Aziz folded his arms. “Look, even if the Central Circle’s long-range defences are blocked by that ominous wall of cracks, the sound of them firing should still work wonders in demoralising us. I refuse to believe that the kid doesn’t know that. In that case, why are those defences not firing? After all, the lower our morale is, the more likely it is for the common soldiers to defect.”

Marie blinked. “Huh. That does make sense, now that you put it that way.”

“We should tell Pauline about our deductions. It’ll definitely help to keep our flagging morale up.” Aziz paused. “And…well, the spectres haven’t shown up at all either. Maybe it’s related too.”

“Do you think we’ll get a pay rise if we tell Pauline all these?”

“Do you, the Chief of Air, really need a pay rise?” Aziz rolled his eyes. “I’m the one who needs it. My progression has been marching on the spot for a long time. I’m still not a full colonel, despite my immediate boss being the top dog of the air forces.”

“Are you hinting something to me?” Marie’s eyes glittered. “I don’t mind, really.”

Aziz chuckled. Full colonel or not, the paperwork on his table would always be a mountain, courtesy of Marie. Even if he was a colonel, things wouldn’t change. “Maybe.”

“Hmm. Well, let’s put that aside for now.” Marie sighed. “What time is it?”

The sun hanging in the sky looked like late afternoon, but ever since the Primordial Sky was destroyed along with Orb’s sun, timekeeping had taken on a complex dimension. However, since the War Council failed to address the issue of hours, the current consensus was to ignore the sun and continue on with the old system.

It was simply proof that the Five Lands hadn’t quite gotten over the effects of the Great War yet.

“Uh, it’s noon.” Aziz checked his timepiece, before shrugging. “Yeah, I know. We haven’t dealt with this either.”

“I wish we had more time to worry about pointless stuff like this,” Marie muttered. “Wouldn’t that be a hallmark of peace? Where have my days of pushing work on Aziz gone to?”

“I don’t know, but I hope that they’re never coming back. Ever.”

“Oh, come on. You also miss those days, right?” Marie shook her head. “Right, the technicians behind the Exo-Skeleton will arrive soon. After we get fitted with the Exo-Skeleton and try out some upgrades, we’ll go find Pauline. We definitely need something to raise morale.”

“Alright. Are we going now?”

“We should, now that I think about it. The poor technicians have to run around the entire expeditionary fleet, since the Republic’s Knights are scattered all around the place.” Marie looked around. “And after we tell Pauline our deductions…I suppose we should visit the kids.”

“Where’s the First Aerial now?” Aziz asked.

“There’s a reason why we’re doing that after our visit to Pauline, not before,” Marie replied.

“Oh, okay.” Aziz shrugged. In lieu of the fact that the First Aerial was stationed at the back, the two of them had officially appointed Hans as the interim commander of the Republic’s elite aerial troops. The distance between the frontlines and what effectively was the rear echelon made commanding by both Aziz and Marie impossible, and the expeditionary forces weren’t going to let two Knights hang around at the rear.

It was possible that he would assume full control too, since the path to becoming a Knight had been cut off permanently. The briefing by Hereward yesterday had confirmed this fact; as it turned out, one’s ascension in the hierarchy of life involved a trade between the ascender and the Abyss. With the Abyss now part of the Abyss Sovereign, such trades were no longer possible. Furthermore, with the recent spike in the Abyss Sovereign’s strength, even existing trades — the Fiefs of Lords and the Dominions of Paragons — had been completely nullified.

The only things that remained were the enhanced physiques and qi capacity, but even these boons were now a shadow of their former self.

“Alright, enough moping around.” Marie looked around. “Let’s get below decks and welcome our technicians. The Five Lands haven’t quite understood yet, but our war now will be very equipment-centric from now on. Best we get intimate with our Exo-Skeletons and whatever new upgrades that came with it.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

“Also, I’ve applied for some Sigil Printers too. For the both of us. They should come with our newly-repaired Exo-Skeletons,” Marie continued. “Hopefully, they should enhance our survivability; these Sigil Printers are preloaded with defensive sigils.”

Aziz smiled. “Thanks, boss.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s not keep our lovely technicians waiting, okay?”