The mobilization process of the Human Nations for war on Gaia was absurdly slow by the standards of modern Earth. It would take months to procure the necessary equipment for the peasantry, harvest the crops and gather them, fill barrels of water and organize the tithes of men from each and every village, hamlet, town and city. Although this was a ‘Holy Crusade’, this only made the process even more chaotic as peasants and nobles alike from all over dropped everything to gather in the Theocracy.

This left farms heavily understaffed and many nobles and merchants had effectively stopped doing their necessary duties to leave home and gather for the Crusade. Truth be told, a Crusade always drained the capabilities of every nation participating in it, but the loot and territory gained from victory more than made up for it. It was like taking a heavy short-term loss for an even bigger long-term gain. If over 45% of productivity and material gain was lost for a few years, the end result of a victory, even over a kingdom the size of Grellek, would result in a long term boost by about 60%.

Merchants would have the chance to peddle their wares at greatly increased prices, nobles would be able to claim new lands for themselves and their nations and the common folk would be able to rape, loot and pillage without restraint as the people they were Crusading against had no rights due to the Church condemning them. When nobles claimed lands after a Crusade, it left areas where no one nation had full control as the children of nobles with no hope of succeding their families from every Human Nation had claimed their own slice of the pie, resulting in what could be described as ‘Border Gore’. Although this would eventually give rise to a new kingdom, the immediate aftermath of a Crusade was always a tense period where each nation would try and curry favor with the new, fledgeling kingdom that was born from the border-gore.

As things were right now in the Human Lands, it would take at least another year and a half to finish mobilization. If they were to send their current forces against the wall right now, they would be unable to break through and therefore they took their time and built up their strength so they could have an overwhelming victory for the True Master Race. Even they didn’t exactly know when they would be ready, as even a two or three years of preparation might be needed to overwhelmingly crush the barbarians and sub-humans beyond the Grellekian border.

…

It would take a few more months for the build-up of the Gaian Alliance to be complete. As the former Non-Human Alliance had already begun mobilization the second the Uncharted Lands Dungeon had fallen, they were already close to fully mobilized by now. The Elves, Dwarves and Beastmen Kings had a hunch that war would be coming swiftly now that the Arcadian Commonwealth existed and had therefore not demobilized after the new Gaian Alliance had been founded.

What they had not expected was that the Arcadian Commonwealth had built flying island fortresses that could be maneuvered behind enemy lines, nor had they expected that the forces of the ‘God King’ of Arcadia had a military force of over a billion soldiers. They also did not expect that the barracks where their troops were stationed would have a level of luxury equal or greater than that of the military quarters of mid-rank nobles. All of their troops had limitless supply of clean water and pre-packaged and easily carried rations which were referred to as ‘MREs’.

Numerous tools and devices from Arcadia had been sent over to the Dwarves to tinker with and both they and several Arcadians were working on making Heat Weapons that could be wielded by anyone, even those who weren’t made of metal. While the last war with the Humans had gone better than expected due to the Humans having to cross through the treacherous Northern Mountains as well as risk their ships in the Southern Sea, the damage taken by both sides was still severe. This was a war fought before the Alliance had been founded and what ultimately caused the Alliance to exist as it had the three Non-Human nations fighting separately, only realizing their need for each other at the end. The only reason they had claimed the pyrrhic victory was due to the Humans having lost their numerical advantage and further reducing their numbers by dividing into 3 separate forces.

As both sides geared up for war, both sides now believed that they would emerge as the ultimate victors. Those who were gathering in the Theocracy wholeheartedly believed that God was on their side and that they would destroy the evil Sub-Humans and Heathen Barbarians they were to face. The Gaian Alliance was secure in the knowledge that they possessed not only the numerical advantage, but the technological and logistical advantage. Unlike the Humans, they weren’t fighting for loot and plunder but for their survival and freedom. They had the moral high-ground, not to mention the floating islands to act as another version of ‘high-ground’. They no longer had the same sin as the Humans in the act of keeping slaves, those who were formerly bound in their lands now lived free in Arcadia. They had flying metal boxes to ferry them to and from the fight and luxury like no Human grunt could have when they returned to base.

…

And then, on the 12th birthday of Arkhan, the forces of the 5th Grand Crusade crossed the Grellekian border and made their way to the massive wall that marked the easternmost boundary of the Arcadian Commonwealth. Before the massive reinforced concrete barrier, a high-ranking priest read aloud the declaration of war and the proclamation of the Grand Crusade.

From a loudspeaker mounted in the wall, the voice of a ‘Space Frenchman’ could be heard.

“Ahem… Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!” (M’Quve)

Anger began to sweep the faithful.

“Go away or I shall taunt you a second time! If you don’t flee now, I shall be forced to ‘le ding’ you!” (M’Quve)

The Cardinal opened his mouth, but a crisp chime rang out, followed by M’Quve saying, “Le Ding!”

The Cardinal opened his mouth again but was again interrupted by the chime.

“I said, LE DING!” (M’Quve)

…

While this is going on, Arkhan was cracking up in the war room, much to the confusion of everyone else there. No one else got the references that Arkhan had made M’Quve speak, which was a downer but completely expected. Ramba Ral watched Arkhan laugh and sighed to himself.

"I hate it when M'Quve does that...." (Ramba Ral)

To which the general feeling from pretty much every other MSG was, "You and us all, sir."