Many financial and human resources were required to surround Florence completely, yet it had happened.

The armed forces of multiple European countries, both pro and against the current Maiden, plus Florence's population and whatever paramilitary groups were involved in its defense—and maybe attack, too—had created different levels of barricades to stop anyone from entering or leaving the region without their say so.

Cars and trucks, Humvees and war tanks, from brand new to carcasses, were piled beside concrete blocks and sandbags. Helicopters scouted the perimeter, providing air support to countless foot soldier battalions either defending the place or shooting each other. Multiple forward operation bases from many European countries were scattered in and around the city.

There were plenty of corpses too.

Florence had once been a beautiful city, but becoming a warzone had been its doom. Even as Shen approached, he saw jet fighters fighting in the skies, both sides supported by SAM batteries. A plane was hit and fell on one of the few still standing tall buildings—most of the others were entirely or partially destroyed. Fighting was also happening around the city, involving the armed forces coming from nearby cities or countries. An explosion in the middle of the town rocked the ground.

Countless white dots were on Shen's radar, some disappearing at the same time he heard or felt explosions. Neither side was willing to obey the Decree when it could be the difference between life and death for them.

It surprised Shen that no one had used a nuke there if the fight was that bad. France had been nuked in a failed coup attempt, yet Florence, a much more important place, still stood. That option was out of the table now, which probably had given the pro-Maiden side many new allies who had previously been afraid of nuclear escalation.

"Wow," Alicia said as Shen put her on the ground. They were on one of the mountains close to the city. "That's a fucking lot of death."

"Indeed," Shen replied, also impressed. He had not expected things to be so heated. There were about six and a half days remaining until the Maiden arrived, and it seemed both sides were going for a final push. "I'm curious about how the military is obeying their countries if things in Europe are supposed to be pure anarchy. I feel like social media and big media companies lied to me to make the US look better."

"Forget that. More importantly, how the fuck are we supposed to know which side to help?"

"We'll ask and kill whoever answers they are here to kill or capture the Maiden," Shen replied simply.

Looking at the armies' flags and insignias would help, but it didn't account for deserters. In a warzone, verbal confirmation was the least he needed to do. Double-checking and investigating things after one declared themselves allies was the never-ending next step.

Alicia snapped her neck as she quickly turned to look at him. "What?! Killing people for not answering what you want to hear?!"

"This is a warzone, Alicia. You'll find only allies or enemies among the deployed soldiers. If you don't want to fight, you can wait here, or I can bring you to a nearby country of your choosing."

She shook her head. "I want to stay, but I want to just defend myself instead of going on the offensive."

"Attacking amassing enemy troops is a form of defense," Shen countered. "It's better to reduce their numbers before they have enough to crush you. Not killing your enemies when you have the chance is the same as attacking your allies."

Shen had expected a lengthy argument, but he was surprised when Alicia bit her lower lip and thought about what he had said for a while. She seemed to be warring against herself about what she should it.

He waited for minutes before saying softly, "We don't need to reach a consensus. Different people, including best friends, tread different Paths, and it's alright if you want to defend even when it's unwise to do so."

She bit her lip harder and hugged herself. Then she sighed. "No, you're right. Gotta kill the baddies before the baddies kill you or your friends. Mercy to your enemies is cruelty to your allies and all that."

Shen rose his eyebrows in surprise. "Where did you hear that?"

She looked at him with surprise, then laughed. "You told me that, mister wise man."

He smiled back at her. He didn't recall saying that, and it also showed his D-rank mind or E-tier learning ability didn't give him perfect memory.

It had been easy for him to remember contact information about Pioneers back in the tutorial. He also felt he had a much easier time recalling almost everything that happened to him, but it wasn't eidetic memory. He could still forget things, especially minor ones.

"Let's go?" he asked, motioning for her to go first.

He wouldn't carry her anymore unless he decided they needed to run. This was a warzone. He might need to attack or defend without warning, and having Alicia in his arms would get in the way. Grabbing her at short notice was much easier than getting rid of her.

Alicia stepped ahead, going down the mountain with the grace and speed expected of E+ agility. Shen followed.

They were at the base in moments, and then they kept going.

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Gyula Geőcze hated being in Italy. He hated the war. He hated the heat.

But he loved his country.

His commanding officer said war was needed. The current Maiden had to die so Hungary could get some sort of deal with another country that would be better for everyone. Gyula understood his duty better than almost everyone. He had stayed behind while disobedient soldiers went to the tutorial, and he didn't regret it. It had let him save his wife, who now waited for him back in his country.

He heard some commotion from the FOB's access point. They weren't shooting but rather yelling. Probably yet another negotiator.

Gyula didn't leave his tent, which he shared with seven other soldiers. He was alone there, trying to take a nap before going to the night watch, but it was hard. It had been two weeks already, and his country was nowhere near winning the war as far as he could tell. It was making him stressed—

A loud siren sounded. They were under attack. He stood up—

There was a blur in his vision and then darkness.

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Shen went through the first forward operations base he came across like a hurricane. They had said, "Hungary will kill the Maiden," when asked, and that sealed their fate.

He killed everyone he saw without mercy. He had no way of dealing with prisoners, and he wouldn't believe anyone who might promise they would just leave.

They tried to resist, to fight back. There were some Guardians there too. But that place was likely not very important because everyone was weak.

They shot him, and he confirmed that surrounding himself with Zephyr made him immune to bullets. He redirected them almost effortlessly, though there was a cap of doing it to around twenty bullets simultaneously. The ones that hit him deal minimal to no damage.

Killing those people was like stepping on ants until he found an obstacle he couldn't overcome.

The tanks couldn't zero in on him to shoot, but Shen found out he couldn't kill the people inside either. The people manning the mounted machine guns were swiftly dealt with, but when Shen tried pulling the hatches, he only broke the external handles. Even with the Concept of Sharpness, his spear wasn't enough to penetrate the tank's armor more than a few millimeters on each hit. While he could theoretically get to the people inside with enough time, the tanks started retreating, and he didn't want to go with them.

Shen asked Alicia if she had any idea on how to destroy the tanks.

"Mana goes through non-magic objects," she said, though clearly unwillingly. "Doesn't qi?"

Unfortunately, the answer to that was no. Qi was a form of energy, like mana, but they weren't the same. It was like how the visible light spectrum could go through transparent things that might block infrared light instead.

Maybe the difference between qi and mana had to do with their metaphysical frequencies or something?

Shen looked at Alicia, but a single glance was enough to determine she wouldn't kill the people inside. She had attacked with him, but killing retreating people was something else entirely.

He got another idea, but she would definitely want to cook the soldiers inside by surrounding the tank with fire. That was even crueler than creating a fireball inside the hull.

Throwing grenades down the tanks' gun barrels also proved ineffective. Shen didn't know how to operate anything fancier than that—not explosive charges, not tanks—and Alicia, who might know, didn't want to help. So Shen ended up just sighing, and they moved on.

They left about one thousand corpses in that place.

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They destroyed two other FOBs after the first one. Shen credited finding so many enemies in a row to sheer unluck. They had probably simply come from the wrong side because Florence would've fallen much earlier than this if only enemies were on all sides.

Shen was finding out he cared less and less about killing each time he reaped lives.

War was part of his Path, of his very self. To be against killing enemies in such a situation would be to deny himself. However, he felt no joy in killing those people. He liked overcoming challenging enemies, but killing weaklings was just a dull task that needed to be done. He took satisfaction from taking human resources from his opponents, from acting in a way that pushed him closer to victory, but that was it.

The thrill of a good battle that he had frequently found in the tutorial was nowhere around.

They reached the city proper after the last FOB. Everything was blown up, from the road to vehicles to buildings. It was like a scene from an apocalyptic movie.

There were corpses in the open, but unlike the ones Shen had left behind, most were not from soldiers. Some were covered with blankets, but the populace had either run out of blankets or given up after a while.

"Fuck," Alicia summarized, and Shen agreed.

Shen activated his War-Combat ability to better avoid ambushes. The War part of it linked him to some people inside the broken buildings. They were few and far between.

Because they were also potential enemies, the Combat part of his ability—which he decided to call Battle Sense—also let him feel more minute details of their existence. One such detail was whether they were armed. That's how he felt five soldiers in a house's basement.

Shen approached them, and they reacted instantly, meaning they had been watching him. When he got to the place's door, all five pointed their guns at the entrance.

Instead of invading, Shen knocked and said, "I know there are five people inside. I'm the Human Rising Star. I'll ask you a question, and if you answer wrongly, it'll mean you're my enemies, so I'll kill you. If you ask correctly, I'll ask you to take me to your people. If you lie and lead me to an ambush, I'll kill you anyway, plus whoever is involved in the trap. So it's better for you to tell the truth and hope you answered right.

"Oh, and not answering will also make me attack.

"So, are you trying to save the current Maiden, kill her, or capture her?"

There was a long silence. Shen felt them looking at each other before nodding, and one of them said, "We're armed and will shoot—"

Shen moved. He crushed the door with his body, got inside, and in a moment, had disarmed everyone, broken their guns, and thrown the soldiers against a wall.

They fell harmlessly to the ground.

The basement was small, filled with boxes on one side, and sleeping bags on the other. It had no windows, but Shen saw a few small pipes going through the walls. The soldiers could look through them to check what was happening outside.

A radio was on a corner, and one of the soldiers had been sitting beside it when Shen invaded. He had kept silent, but Shen had heard him whisper something when he started walking their way—probably that they might've been compromised.

The soldiers had no insignia or flag on their uniforms.

"Now, let's try again," Shen said. "Are you pro-Maiden or against her? Remember, silence will cause me to attack anyway."

Alicia entered the place then, looked around, and closed her arms close to the door.

Shen looked at the soldiers, five young people no older than twenty-one. They were inexperienced if their utterly terrified faces were any indication.

Though he had threatened to attack if they didn't reply, he wasn't sure what he would do if they just kept silent. Could he kill potential allies just because they refused to answer a question? Probably not.

Fortunately, one of them stood up defiantly and said, "France stand by our Italian friends to the very end," he said in French, then spat on Shen's foot. "Fuck you."

Shen was curious about the free offense, but Alicia breathed in relief. Her entire body relaxed from relief for not having to kill or witness Shen kill five more people.

"Oh, thank God," she said.