Instead of starry night, the purple-tinged sky of Terra Para was visible in broad daylight on the ceiling. The crystal orbs were miniature suns and the command room seemed more like a large open terrace rather than a domed chamber. Magus, Mentoria, Lylana, Kiana, and Zuckeroff were already present when Airo and Stamat arrived. Airo approached the wide circular table and commenced the meeting.

"Today I will explain the general strategies we will pursue in the war against Ferrtau," he told the others. "We have three essential objectives. Our first objective is to provide active opposition. Our second objective is to starve the enemy's supply lines. In order to do these, we must know what enemy force we face on a strategic level. How does Ferrtau deploy new Revenant?"

"From the souls of those he kills," Mentoria stated with a bored sigh. "Each victim of the Revenant becomes one more aberration Magus' protege can call upon at will."

Airo nodded, remembering the carnage at Dragon Retreat and how the Revenant had been tearing out the inhabitant's life essences. "So every individual is a potential enemy combatant," he concluded. "This means our top priority will be to evacuate as many unprotected civilians as fast as possible."

"Evacuate people?" Stamat asked, confused. "To where?"

"Here," Airo said, pointing at the floor. "Like you did with the survivors from Dragon Retreat."

"You are talking about hundreds of thousands of people," Mentoria objected. "You cannot seriously expect to house them all here."

"Yes, I am aware of the limitations," Airo replied. "Yet for now this place will suffice, as it is nearly deserted, and if I am not mistaken, its operating capacity is close to six figures." He glanced at the giant Knight elder, Lylana. When she confirmed his claim, Airo continued, "Which brings us to our next objective: providing active opposition. You cannot keep hiding and evading the Revenant as you have done until now. We have to engage them and strike in turn, especially when Ferrtau is out there leading them himself."

"Uh... excuse me, sir," Stamat chimed in, "but is it certain the Lightbringer has taken the field? I mean, you told us he wasn't at the Shard, and we fought him at Dragon Retreat, but what if he really used some sort of image projection, and wasn't present at all?"

"Our expert systems reviewed the battlefield data from Vorzii, Terlokhi," Lylana said severely. "I myself was skeptical, but the analysis confirms it: the Lightbringer indeed was physically present at Dragon Retreat."

"There you have it," Airo added. "Also, do not second-guess my orders in the future. I have no patience for that."

"Uh... sir?"

"What, Knight Stamat?"

"You said we have three objectives, but elaborated only on two."

"Our last objective," Airo said in a calculated tone, "is to raise an effective fighting force. Without sufficient personnel and infrastructure, we will not succeed at the other two objectives. To do so, we need to secure the support of the Consortium and the Union."

"Yeah, and how we'll do it?" Lylana asked, folding her massive arms. "I thought your diplomatic mission to the Consortium was a complete failure. I doubt the Union will receive you any better, Commander."

Airo's lips stretched into a thin smile. "Adaptation, Elder Darkovitz. That is the primary rule of wartime sustainability. If things do not develop as planned, change the active strategy, or reiterate the initial plan. This is an important principle in both psychological warfare and espionage.

"In our case, we will scale down the operation by moving lower on the chain of command, and use field officers to act as intermediaries and double agents. Once we have enough of them, we can influence the entire military structure – or even take it over. We shall win over the Consortium and the Union from the bottom up, by recruiting those directly on the frontlines. And there are few better ways of recruitment than saving one's life."

"Saving Consortium and Union soldiers?" Lylana grumbled. "How?"

"By fighting the common enemy alongside them, and enabling them to fight it, too," Airo said. He put his palms down on the table. "So, how are you able to fight the Revenant?" he asked, shifting the topic. He'd noticed the Radiant Knights were never heavily armed, apart from their armor. Most carried only a sidearm or a blade like him, which couldn't harm Ferrtau's hordes. The Order had heavier weaponry, though it still would be of no use if it wasn't veronite-based. His encounter with the Emaerel twins and their energy-willed swords demonstrated that some Knights had potential means of harming the Revenant. But Airo couldn't rely on this; he needed something dependable and, more importantly, widely usable.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"With this," Lylana said, and gestured at the strataplan on the table. A three-dimensional image of a bulky-looking container rendered.

"Never seen you lug one of those around," Airo said in a level tone.

Lylana gave him an oblique look. "The container is for storage only," she explained stonily. "It's what's inside that represents our weaponry – a sentient resonance field."

Airo realized he wasn't the only one who felt silent for a few seconds.

"Wow," Zuckeroff said at last. "Sounds impressive."

"Yes, if it actually existed," Kiana snorted.

"It does exist," Mentoria drawled. "Like everything else which is already created, invented, or discovered, these entities have a life of their own."

Kiana rolled her eyes. "C'mon, quit spinning my uplink dish. We live in a near-singularity today, but that kind of tech is more ascendance dream than reality. Living clouds of energy? Who can possibly make them?"

"I can," Mentoria said loftily. "And I do."

Magus Dei cleared his throat. "It is an impressive feat, even for you," he said to Mentoria. "Perhaps you can elaborate briefly what endeavors you undertook to yield such powerful results."

"Oh, I think you can make the conclusion yourself, my dear," she said.

The old Knight's brows lowered. "You have resurrected Project Ascension."

"I have," Mentoria agreed.

There was a pause. Airo was sure everybody were checking their personal databases to learn what was Project Ascension. He had no need to do the same – he was there when the secret program was first conceived. He focused instead on reading the expressions of Magus and Mentoria. The two of them didn't spoke for nearly a minute; yet they probably communicated by some other means, as Magus at last scowled.

"That is not the way," the old Knight said aloud.

"I do not care for the philosophies of lessers, Magus," Mentoria hissed, losing her temper momentarily. "Besides, there is no wrong or right path. One forges their own destiny. I have chosen mine – as you did yours in so recent times."

"Why did you make them in the first place?" Magus demanded.

Mentoria shrugged. "Study. Observation. Refinement of one's technique. You know how it goes, my dear. Search long enough, and you shall find."

"Project Ascension..." Kiana muttered. "I thought that was only a legend... like..." she glanced at Airo.

"Everyone, back on track!" he barked, voice heavy with authority. "You can discuss history lessons and esoterics in your free time. Right now, I want to know the exact capabilities of these sentient weapons. Are they alive?"

"In technical terms, yes," Lylana said. The giant Scorchlander Knight had kept her expression impassive during the interruption. "However, their psyche and biological functions are so divergent from what is considered standard, it is difficult to establish exactly where they stand in matters of... life."

"To what extent can the resonance fields be controlled?" Airo asked.

"We have complete control over them, Commander. Unauthorized autonomous action from the serefi is a non-issue."

"Serefi?"

"Sentient resonance fields."

Airo nodded. "How do they function?"

"The serefi require periodic resource consumption like all lifeforms" Lylana explained. "However, they are also able to interact with their environment by 'connecting' with a given object. While objects are thus within the serefi's sphere of influence, their resonance frequencies are aligned on the cosmic plane in terms of ontology, causality, and teleology. For example, we brought a particularly potent serefi into contact with the area around Ilsorin and then shifted the serefi to an adjacent paraphysical dimension. This is how we concealed the stronghold within the manifold of the paraworld."

"Wow, that's OP, but it doesn't sound like a weapon to me," Zuckeroff said.

"Ugh, gamebrain..." Kiana groaned, pinching her nose bridge.

"Continue," Airo ordered.

"In short, if a Revenant comes into contact with a serefi, they become vulnerable to normal weaponry within the same serefi's vicinity," Lylana said.

"What is the effective range of an individual resonance field?" Airo asked.

"Most serefi can cover a spherical area with a radius of up to fifteen meters. Nine to ten is the mean average."

"Does armor and other defensive technologies work against the Revenant while their wearer is within the resonance field's controlled area?"

"They do, Commander."

Airo nodded. "That is an adequate setup then, though it limits us only to close combat scenarios. We need to be able to engage at long range."

"With all due respect, sir," Lylana said firmly, "but I believe our draconic Knights can fulfill that battlefield role. They're more than capable in that regard."

"The dragons will be a significant fighting asset," Airo agreed. "However, their number is insufficient with what I have in mind. No, I need another option."

"Battle-trained Conduits, perhaps?" Kiana suggested. "I think I can take down a Revenant or two myself, if I have to."

Airo shook his head. "The addition of several more specialists would hardly change matters," he said. "No, we need to employ something which is easy to use and proven to work against Revenant, since at some point we will be giving it to the Consortium and the Union. And I can think of only one option: veronite." Airo ignored the looks of distaste he received. "We will need lots of it. Starting today, all dragons will contribute blood to their maximum limit on a weekly basis."

The others paused for a moment. "All dragons, sir?" Lylana asked, her expression grim. "Even the fledglings?"

Airo stared at the Knight elder. He knew perfectly well what she meant. He closed his eyes. "No, fledglings are exempt from this regulation," he said.

He opened his eyes. To his surprise, the others were all smiling, looking at him with something approaching approval. Irritation suddenly engulfed him. "Let us summarize and conclude," he snapped. "Starting tomorrow, there will be continuous patrols to evacuate civilians and be on the lookout for military units in trouble. Elder Darkovitz, Knight Stamat, make the appropriate crew schedules for the skyship.

"Parallel to that, begin mass production of ready-to-use veronite. Also, make a housing plan for the entire base, so there is no chaos once the refugees start to pour in. Factor in supplies too. Appoint a dedicated full-time quartermaster to handle these tasks.

"Lastly, Yeoman Cloud, my personal SAI, is to be granted full and unrestricted access to all parts of the base. You can relay any reports to me through it. Now get to work, people!"

The others muttered their agreement. "Yes, sir," Lylana acknowledged curtly and saluted him with an open palm to her heart.