"Alright guys, here we are. As I stated before, the two groups that were instructed to wait behind me are yours to lead, according to the Grand Counselor's orders.", Reina stood before the soldiers, "Take your pick and lead them well. All have the exact same training and all have been asked to volunteer for this."

Tiki took the initiative, checking out the two groups of soldiers who firmly held their positions with air proudly pumped to their chests, and guns held above their waist and ready to be used for war. However, a particularly quickly grabbed her attention, something that was almost completely out of her water.

"Hmm. Hey, Reina. An awful lot of female soldiers here, wouldn't you agree?"

"Ah, yes, the Sandaco traditions and all...surely, that won't be an issue, right? Though the mandatory training forces males of 18 or more only, these gals also wanted to make the military their career, thus deploying today. But that won't be an issue, both groups have of course gained a distinction from the court for their capabilities before being brought before you today. That said, you were also dubbed very, very adaptable during most reports of old skirmishes and battles between Victoria and Sandaco that realized you were a leading figure on the opposite side. To tell you the truth, I somewhat advertised your name specifically to get them excited to volunteer. Your fame from the old days, even at that age, follows you. for better or for worse."

"I see. I have no issue, no. A meaningless particularity anyway. As for who I choose, I'll let Dante and Isabella have their pick, but it shouldn't matter."

Dante swiftly answered, "I'll go left then."

Reina was surprised at his fast answer, "Something caught your attention too?"

"No, they're just adjacent to me. That's all.", he shrugged.

"Alright, fair enough then. I'll drop you guys off here, and go check with everyone else. We'll fill you in very shortly, since some preparations are still in need of supervision.", Reina backed away.

Tiki then firmly raised her axe as she went ahead to the center of the two groups, slamming it down as she placed one foot around the bottom of the blade and looked at them. Reacting to their training, the soldiers then proceeded to slam their left feet down, causing an uproar as they looked right at her.

"Alright, listen up! I'll skip over the introductions and cut to the chase. Today, you've been brought here by force and chose to stand before me by choice. The monster issues are no secret anymore and today, a big one will appear. Bigger than what you're all used to facing. Before I continue, with that simple fact, I'm giving you another choice since you are under my command. If you wish to leave, line up to my right, and I will personally forward your names to the Grand Counselor. Simple as that, now go.", Tiki sighed as she looked at the crowd.

A couple of dozen young men then stepped away from the crowd and next to where Tiki pointed at, almost looking confused between each other, while desperately avoiding making eye contact with the rest of the squad. Before they could even lay their eyes on said comrades, both groups started having heads turned at them, something that among many other things, agitated Tiki.

"What's that, curious drama queens?! Do you want some coffee and a cigar to talk over this bullshit?! Heads forward, now!", she quickly put them back in line, "There's no excuse for 'distinct' soldiers, got that?!"

Silence briefly followed her harsh words.

"I said, *got that*?!", she emphasized.

"Yes ma'am!", the two groups roared.

"Damn right you did. You are on the left, with Dante, Isabella, and Yuno. You on the right, with Terna, and I'll join you in a bit. The battalion you split up with from your combined total will also be led by Magi of Insinia. As for you besides me, come with me.", she took the frightened young soldiers with her.

Dante took his part of the battalion and moved to the side, aiming to get them ready according to the first few orders received. Meanwhile, Isabella, Magi, and Yuno were quick to be awed at the decree of power and command Tiki exerted once in her natural habitat, filled with not rookies, but real, hardened soldiers.

"She really wasn't kidding about what she could do to mold an army.", Isabella folded her arms, "That right there only gives me hope for the better."

"Don't worry, your buddy isn't going to hold back either. The Silverlance training he got definitely pours over to the command section, especially given Cecilia bringing him up as a leader for it."

"I want to make something perfectly clear, he is not my 'buddy', and don't even try to playfully turn this into anything else. The fact I'm as composed around him as I am, is out of the same respect I feel he garners for me. That being that we cast whatever was between us aside because of this day, this battle. Nothing more to it. That guy...I don't know what the hell he is. But Dante is dangerous. A very, very dangerous person."

"You couldn't really understand the extent of what he's going through.", Yuno sighed, "The things he says now, I swear, it's not-"

"I can't understand the full extent, but to what I can...I empathize with him. And he will hurt not knowing where to go. And the things he says and does now...I fear for the day he will come to realize what he actually did. What he did by then, as he will start doing now until then."

"So you won't kill him now?", Magi asked.

"Kill him now...no. All this time, with one day to ponder, everything became clear to me. He's not just any Dante. He's the Dante I grew up with, an old friend just as lost as mine. Right now though? Not only do I not know what to do with him, or for him...I don't want to be anywhere near him.", Isabella silently coughed.

Yuno started worrying, "What he's doing...is he actually succeeding? His plan is unironically succeeding? Please, stop him.", he whispered.

"Tell you what, what he needs right now is Anya and a hug from her. That girl has a different chemistry going on with the kid, and from personal experience, she's a good and timely hugger when you need one. Though, for me, most hugs were over tears about a random bozo at the bar, but still counts."

"Well, Anya isn't here. Better like that, given how he reacted in Dirunon, I'd feel anxious as hell having to take a hit of that magnitude for her.", Isabella scoffed.

"You should know better than anyone that if we stood by everything we've said and done, then we'd be left without a brain from confusion. And given what I know...he doesn't even know what he's doing.", Magi patted Isabella in the back.

"He does to an extent...and that's the worst part. He can see his options.", Yuno frowned.

Back on the right side, Terna happily gathered the soldiers around as they started realizing who she was, playing music to pass the time as they waited for Tiki. Terna herself had a go at her singing and creating a climate of relaxation, even giving away autographs while laughing along. Almost confused from their routine, the soldiers started to somewhat relax and even attempted to join in Terna on the singing, which was something that would have left any general completely dumbfounded, for their soldiers to be broken that easily.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A situation that quickly changed amidst the very, very quick return of Tiki, who upon simply glancing over, had the entire unit giving their attention poses within the span of a few seconds, with her realizing very quickly what had happened, only to grit her comments right between her teeth so that no one would hear.

"Terna, I'm gonna...oooh. I'm gonna-", she silently and angrily spoke, being like an earthquake about to cause an extinction event, "Gonna [REDACTED]."

Terna quickly turned around and stopped everything she was doing, "Hey, I did...not expect that you'd be back after going to take care of a couple dozen people."

Tiki took deep breaths, "I understand your charms, and charisma, as much as I do your degree in music. But this, is, war. The military works pretty much on auto. I forwarded them to Reina, and she did as I asked. Now, I know they said 'we' will lead, but because I can clearly see that you aren't exactly military material, excluding the fanfare at Delpha City, how about I turn our 'we lead', into my 'I lead'."

"But I could add my splash of creativity to our tactics, right?"

"Add whatever toppings and sides you want. But before you do *anything*, you pass through me, ok?", Tiki asserted herself.

"Got it!", Terna dared not oppose her.

"Good. I'm not having another shitshow like before. And since I can gauge as almost perfectly now, I sure as hell will take every precaution I physically can to prevent it from happening so.", she turned to the soldiers, "In line, now!"

Doing as told, the rest of the now relaxed soldiers tensed up again, scurrying in their position and once again halting before Tiki, who took her time inspecting almost every one of them with her naked eyes. Reina, calmly approaching from behind gave Tiki a thumbs up as she nodded back, turning to inform her remaining forces.

"Like I said, those who didn't want to fight have officially been sent back home under my command. Listen closely to what I'll say following this. It's not me wanting to showcase the weakness of Victoria and her people. It's a simple question you would damn well wish was able to be asked without controversy a mere few years before. If you are to fight for something, you need to find what that something is and what it means to you. Families, friends and lovers, doesn't matter, so long as it exists for you to fight for it. Making the mistake of throwing yourself into a fight for the honorifics of it, while not extinguishing your natural fears with the reason to fight for, is just creating pain for what you leave behind."

A young man raised his hand, "May I?"

Tiki nodded, "Go ahead."

"That coming out of someone with your background, when from a young age you've been known to invoke fear into your enemy's hearts...it doesn't add up."

"Did anyone ever bother to check what that 'invoker of fear' had to lose when they went up against it? But weighing what you have to lose while you simply kneel and give up instead of fighting is also why you are left here. That mistake, however, needs to also be explained with words for you all to understand, before I ask you the same question again. The explanation is: reason to fight, reason for anything, is found in the mind. The meaning of fighting, the meaning of anything, is found in the heart. Let those words sink in, please. Because when I began asking them, no matter how well and robustly my name was advertised to you all for taking this leap, it was already too late. And if there's no reason, then it's just meaningless deaths, while if there's no meaning, you might as well already be dead. No one knowing war as I do, like you hopefully never will, will look down upon you for laying your arms down and choosing to act differently. That action ranging from being with family, or a loved one in general, or otherwise what is important to you. Fighting without gain, without reason or meaning isn't war and the prospect of honor or glory. It's suicide, portrayed as something better than what it really isn't. That's all. My question still stands for you all at any time before preparations are complete. Do you want to go back home? Find me if you do. Stay within range regardless, until we need to inform you for anything else."

Tiki stepped down, followed by a Terna who was most astounded by what she saw and heard, never once believing that Tiki would be able to utter such things. As Tiki sat down to see the horizon up ahead, Terna sat beside her and joined her, getting a first-row seat to witness Tiki's somber look toward yet another battlefield. For what battles were fought there even on the same day didn't matter, as in her eyes, the battlefield would always take a different form with each one.

"That was a...really good speech there, Tiki."

Tiki cleaned her axe, "Like I said, Terna. It's war, and I know the insides and outsides of it better than anyone here. Had I had the chance to utter those words to the previous soldiers I led...but no. It wouldn't have mattered."

"The fall of Corosta, did you not say anything that day?"

"Amidst the chaos, I could have, but what for? Like I mentioned to these kids here. But that day, there was a reason and a meaning. Behind our country, our homes, and our families, those of us lucky enough to have them. We fought until the last breath, until death, because there was reason and meaning behind it, never opting to surrender. With a fight, what'd follow was going down in history either way, which we did, probably fended everything we knew and loved by winning or being slaughtered after losing. Surrendering? That would just skip to us being slaughtered. At ages as young as the ones our soldiers died in, can you imagine the sorrow over every mother behind those borders? Weighing something in war is how you fight more fiercely, as you resonate with that cause you found acceptable to follow, along with others who weighed it over other things. Those sons who died, did it so that their families would prosper and survive from the warmonging. Those mothers, the women drafted once the requirements were met for them to be able to do so? They did it for every child that would follow, every soul of their people, and to eventually be reunited with all that they have lost."

"Yeah. I'd imagine that's how it'd be.", Terna looked along with Tiki on the horizon.

"That's how it's supposed to be, but never isn't. A bunch of scared kids in battle, that's throwing bodies at a personal cause. Nothing will come out of it. If they themselves cannot find a reason to fight under a leader whose goals they resonate with, with threats like ridiculing or being executed for treason like with Sandaco...that's not an army, following its leader. At best a militia. At worst, cows lined up for the slaughterhouse, one after the other. I always tried to portray that I did the right thing, what I was asked of me by my superiors. In reality, who am I, with authority or not, to force anyone who hasn't put their faith, trust, and being in me to do something I want? Who am I to send them off for execution by reporting them for doing so, or worse yet, being told to put that bullet in their heads myself? I always had something to gain from playing the 'follow orders' game. At least I thought I did. And collateral damages, in any form, are not something I'm willing to let slide by, if avoidable."

Just then, a frantic soldier came up to Tiki and struck his attention pose before skipping over formalities to report in a panicky manner.

"Ma'am! There's an entity that just appeared out of nowhere within the group! Everyone is frozen at its sight, it's full of blood, it keeps moving at a steady pace, it looks like a woman, she hasn't attacked but we don't know what to do and she's coming this way!", he stuttered and mixed his words.

Tiki calmly replied, "Do calm down, as I can already tell this is an overreaction. Had there been danger-", she looked behind the soldier.

A Luna, absolutely drenched in blood with a heartless cold look in her eyes walked right up to Tiki as the soldier was dismissed. Her blue eyes between her silver hair pierced right through the soul, but not Tiki's, as she had nothing more than faith in Luna being a friend. She wiped her face of all the blood as her clothes briefly lit up to clean the remaining mess, having gotten Terna horrified as Tiki simply looked on, and waited for Luna to finish.

"Hi, Luna. New M.O.D.?", Tiki calmly asked.

"I have attained a new frame, analyzing all available and personally known data in my detailed report. Drima requested that I shut the reactor down, and therefore, I used the frame's capabilities to eliminate the remaining scientists in the middle of the battlefield, from the area the monster is suspected of rising from."

"Scientists? You killed...", Terna got worried.

"The same scientists who tortured me and Lina. It would have been personally preferable for me to capture and further interrogate them instead, but priorities have always been rerouted to favor the protection and survival of humanity first. They were nothing but a risk to humanity's survival. Now, I have been assigned to assist with a potential Overseer threat alongside you.", she coldly answered.

"Would've had me jumping left and right to ask you about everything.", Tiki softly exhaled, "But you caught me in my battle mood preparation state. I'm expecting Reina to come annoy me with what needs to be done any second now, I guess, since you were told to flip the switch on that thing."