Peering closely, Solera could see this cloud was made up of numerous dark figures. His eyes widened.

Those were men in wings approaching them!

“What the hell…” Peng growled. “Why is the United Duchies’ Airborne division here?”

Abruptly, he turned back to all the children. “EVERYONE ON THE LIFT, NOW!”

The lift was packed to the brim. The cables creaked as the pulley hoisted them up. Everywhere he looked, Solera could see worried or confused faces. Even the soldiers were fidgeting.

The lift dropped them off at the top of the trunk, where all the main branches sprouted from the tree. Channelers stood by next to the heavy cannons mounted atop many of the branches, and several giant mosquitoes hovered in the air, their wings buzzing.

The ground vibrated as two Colossi, massive metal Golems, lumbered out. They were seven meters tall, and each had four arms, but no head. Red lines crisscrossed the Colossus in the places where it had been welded together, and a trench carved a ring above the four arms. This trench was the vision module, which allowed the Colossus’s controller to see without physically being present.

Solera and the others were quickly ushered into the Assembly Hall, a huge chamber below the main entrance. There was around a hundred children from various cities in Eden all seated in a corner. In the middle was a large table, where Selim and a group of four controllers sat, and next to it was a cache of control weaponry.

The controllers’ helmets covered their eyes, releasing a faint red glow. Selim was tapping his fingers nervously on the table.

“I really hope this is all just a big misunderstanding.” Selim fidgeted a little. “I have a foot rub to get back to.”

Guinness was sitting with Qiao and Chip, so Solera took a seat on the ground next to them. Chip had brought his bag from the room, and was rubbing a dark green medallion between his fingers. Seeing this, Solera paled.

That was a Crumble disc, one of Chip’s weapons! If power was channeled into that, there would surely be serious injuries for whomever came into contact with it. Solera scooted to the side, making sure to put Guinness in between him and Chip.

Selim’s face paled. Immediately after, several tremors ran through the fortress. The children were thrown into a panic, wondering what was going on.

“Lieutenant Fayvitt, take twenty men and reinforce the southern branch.” One of the controllers rasped, his face grim.

“Where are Leera’s imps?” Selim asked nobody in particular. “We’re thirty kilometers away from the border. How did the Airborne get all the way here?”

“Enough, Selim.” Another controller spoke with a melodious voice. “Manage your mosquitoes properly. One just got taken out by flamethrowers.”

“I know that.” Selim muttered, closing his eyes.

Taken out by flamethrowers? Solera’s face grew very ugly as he heard this. Were the United Duchies actually assaulting Eden? Ever since the founding of the two countries nearly two millennia ago, they had never gone to war, with all disputes between the two states peacefully resolved. Rather, they were strategic allies in many endeavors. This didn’t make any sense to Solera at all.

Another tremor ran through the fortress. A third controller took out a signal talisman from his helmet and tossed it onto the table.

“I need another explosive.” He ordered a soldier standing by, who hurriedly retrieved a strange object from the pile. Solera had seen controllers practicing with these devices before.

The explosive was made up of three circular bands and a capsule in the center. The two innermost circular bands were thruster modules, which allowed the device to fly and change direction by pivoting one circular band around the axis that attached it to the next.

Though both bands could thrust in any direction, the second band was used mainly to change height, while the first was used for forward and sideways movement.

Along with pivoting around the axis, the innermost band could even rotate its axis around the second band to facilitate sideways movement. The third and the outermost circular band was fixed, and served as a chassis for the thruster modules.

The box in the center was a vision module like the ones on the Colossus. It was also a very powerful explosive.

The soldier ripped out the signal talisman and inserted it into the controller’s helmet.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Take it to the western branch and release it into the air.” The controller said, causing the soldier to run out of the hall with the flying bomb.

The minutes dragged by. The female controller constantly assigned reinforcements to each of the four main branches, so soldiers were constantly running out. But they never came back.

Solera felt a tug on the back of his shirt. When he turned around, he found that it was Pinot, who was wearing a frightened expression.

“Solera, I’m scared.” She mumbled, tugging on his sleeve.

“Uh…” Solera drew a blank. “Okay?”

“You have to protect me.” Pinot pleaded, her round green eyes boring into Solera’s.

Solera scratched his head, his face red. “I can try.”

A relieved look on her face, Pinot took Solera’s arm and held it closely to her. Despite the gravity of the situation, Solera felt pretty good. Like this, another ten minutes passed. Selim’s face grew increasingly darker, and the amount of soldiers in the assembly hall continued to dwindle.

Chip leaned over, his eyes cold. “Solera.”

“Yes?” Solera turned to look at Chip.

“If enemies come, we’d be sitting ducks.” Chip said, his voice low. “We can’t stay here.”

Solera frowned. He was thinking the same thoughts, but he had many misgivings. “Where would we go? The enemies are right outside, this is the safest place.”

“Fuck no, it isn’t.” Chip glanced at Selim. “There’s only one door into this hall. You know this place is made out of siehnti, we can’t escape any other way. Don’t be stupid with me right now, Solera.”

Solera hesitated, but Chip pressed on. “Look at that old man’s face. He’s panicking. Something is going very, very wrong outside, and we’re being kept in the dark.”

“But if we go outside, we’ll run into enemies.” Solera protested. “It’s not safe.”

“Nowhere is safe right now!” Chip hissed. “If we stay inside and enemies make it here, we’ll all be killed, down to the last person. If we go outside, we’ll definitely be in danger as well. It’s a gamble, Solera! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to completely put my hands into the lives of others. I’ll hide in a room or something, but whatever I do, I’m getting out of here, and Qiao’s going with me. Are you coming or not?”

Solera looked up at the ceiling, grinding his teeth. If the men from the United Duchies made it here and they stayed in, there would be no avenue of escape. If the men from the United Duchies didn’t make it here and they went out, then they would’ve risked their lives for nothing. The decision hinged on whether or not the enemy would actually penetrate into the interior of the fortress.

It was true that, judging from Selim’s expressions, the situation was by no means good. Solera felt extreme reluctance, but he stood up, nodding to Chip.

Chip glanced at Qiao, who also stood up.

Solera patted Guinness’s shoulder. “Guinness, let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Chip looked at the perspiring soldiers, then at the four controllers, then at Selim. Taking a deep breath, he began walking straight for the door. Solera, Qiao, Guinness, and Pinot trailed after him apprehensively. Chip wasn’t even trying to hide his exit! Was nobody going to stop them?

The entrance drew closer and closer. Twenty meters… ten meters… Solera glanced around, sweat trickling down his forehead. Nobody made a move to stop them, even though everyone clearly saw what they were doing. Solera had even made eye contact with a soldier for a split second.

They had gone out the door without a single voice of protest. Solera breathed a sigh of relief, but it was immediately stifled when his gaze fell upon Chip’s ugly expression.

“Nobody stopped us.” Chip muttered, kneading his eyebrows together. “Not one person.”

Solera was puzzled. Wasn’t this a good thing?

Chip turned to Solera, his mouth creating a hard line. “We go to our rooms, get our weapons, and get out of here quickly. If the soldiers completely ignored our exit, then this situation is very, very dire!”