Over the next five days, the situation in Trestia deteriorated considerably. As the fire underground raged, more and more buildings collapsed and tensions reached a fever pitch. Faced with the hopeless situation, some people tried attacking military forces, being massacred in return, some others willingly went to fight against the invading infected, not faring much better. Some desperately begged for a deliverance that did not seem possible. Others huddled in paralyzed fear, waiting for when their roof would collapse, their home destroyed and invaded by Infected as the defenses of the city collapsed. The constant sound of bombardment lost even its safety factor. In an event that cemented the notion that there was intelligence behind the Infected, even the most positive among the people lost hope.

On the third day, many never before seen artillery were sighted by the city's lookouts. Initially thought, hopefully, to be some sort of relief that could perhaps save Trestia from certain doom. It later became clear that they were weapons stolen from Charles' arsenal and wielded by his former subordinates, now all a part of the horde that would soon engulf the entire city. Shelling by the Infected made things even more dangerous for the population, which by then had ceased any form of day-to-day life.

Things spiraled more and more out of control, culminating with Alexander declaring that any civilian not chosen by his sister for evacuation were to be executed on the spot, not only as an act of mercy, “To save them an eternity of servitude among the Infected!”, or to keep a semblance of order, but also to deny growth of the swarm that now threatened to swallow the whole Empire.

Among the most hectic places in this situation was the Central Station, from which the Unbreakable would soon depart. Bursting almost to the seams with people, the great train was humming and ready. Outside, an even greater crowd confronted a group of reluctant defenders. Many did not have the stomach to kill innocent bystanders who were mostly begging for their lives. To turn them away would be to deliver them into the maws of the Infected, but to accept their pleas was simply impossible: The Unbreakable could not take anyone else, no matter how much everyone wished it could.

Two men observed the situation inside the Command Car. Two old men, Rommel, Colonel of the Empire and Jonah, Egregius of the Tal. The Egregius seemed the more worried of the two: He kept scanning the various screens showing what was going on outside the Unbreakable, looking for Princess Lia.

“Is the Princess still not back? I understand her desire for a last farewell with her brother, but we are taking too long! We should have left by now. We have to leave!”

The Colonel wasn't quite as skittish, mostly hiding his true feelings about the situation by looking engrossed by the table in front of him.

“A couple of hours or so won't be a problem. My men are well-rested and making fine use of the station's entrances as bottlenecks. We are probably the only location that is not crumbling right now, morale is decently high now that there is a chance for survival even if I wish we didn't have to deal with these people. It's not good for morale...”

He didn't have to specify who he meant by these people. He might talk coldly about morale and other things, but his own hesitation to give the order of dispersing the crowd by any means necessary betrayed softness. The Egregius did not seem interested in that at all.

“You don't understand, we've taken too long, even an Heir Maiden showed up, it wouldn't be strange if the Matriarch showed up soon enough. If she does, we are all dead. No, worse, we will all be hers. You don't understand, she is no regular Infected. What the Infection does to people, the strength and agility it provides, it's nothing compared to what it gives the Matriarch. In the more than a thousand years of the Infection's existence, only one Matriarch was ever killed by a non-Matriarch against her will.”

The general didn't feel like getting taken over by the other man's anxiety, so he replied rudely and sharply.

“I don't care. Just calm yourself, or I will have you removed from this room. The princess ordered me to have you put in an advisory role, but if all you are going to give me are these constant, cowardly predictions of demise, then you're not very useful. There is no presence of a Matriarch, at least not yet. We will continue on waiting for the princess. Now if you have any useful advise on how to deal with the Matriarch, if she did show up, it would be very appreciated.”

The Egregius scoffed.

“Run away or try to beg for you life if you just want to buy time for other people. Killing yourself is a way to keep your body and your soul from falling into her clutches. You have no idea of how strong and wicked a Matriarch is. There is no fighting her.”

The Control Room was even more tense than before, yet as Lia walked up to him, Alexander seemed strangely cheerful, like a man who has completely accepted his destruction.

“You seem to enjoy risking your life for meaningless reasons, sister. Even if I did follow you out of this city, nothing short of a death sentence would be enough to atone for my choices these last few weeks.”

It was the last day and the last opportunity. Lia still did not feel comfortable leaving Alexander or his men behind. Of course, she had already filled the Unbreakable past its recommended maximum amount of passengers, but she would still grieve for and feel guilty about every life she would soon leave behind.

“Is that how it is? You felt that doing these things were necessary, yet they also warranted a punishment. Is that not slightly contradictory?”

She didn't actually believe she could convince him, but she had to try. For a man that was famed for his calculating, cold and logical demeanor, the Alexander she dealt with was remarkably stubborn. Perhaps it was the situation?

“I don't see how. What leads you to the action does not exonerate you from the punishment. A starving man who steals to eat must still face his punishment for stealing.”

Lia had a comeback ready.

“Yet a man who kills in self-defense does not go to jail.”

Alexander shook his head, with a bitter smile.

“Are the virtually unarmed, scared and defenseless citizens of Trestia a direct threat to my life now? No. Whatever this does in terms of helping the rest of the Empire, the truth remains that I have completely destroyed Trestia as well as directly and indirectly killed much of its population. That is not something easily forgiven.”

He really was dead set on this, Lia already knew this, but out of sheer irritation she threw one last argument at him.

“So you intend to simply run from any responsibility by dying here? How cowardly of you.”

The two Swords and Shadows tensed up. Everyone was jumpy because of the deteriorating situation, insulting one another might be dangerous, Frederick and Thomas might have resolved to die with their lord, but they would not see him disrespected. Fortunately, Alexander responded with a light chortle.

“You really think so? I beg to differ, if I simply wanted to run I could have just cut myself and be done with it. We all know that dead bodies can't be infected. Yet here I am, risking my very soul, to buy even one more inch, one more second. I wish you could at least respect that, even if you don't agree with my decision.”

This was something that she couldn't really argue with. It still left a bad taste in her mouth to give up though.

“Fine, do as you wish, I won't ask you to flee with me anymore. You can have the glorious end you seem to crave so much.”

Alexander opened his mouth to give a, perhaps humorous, reply, but was interrupted by an anxious voice from one of the controllers in the room.

“Commander, this is urgent!”

A tinge of irritation flashed in his face, but he replied calmly.

“What is it?”

Perhaps it didn't sound that calm to the controller, who took a moment to consider her position before speaking again.

“It's a Mobile-Fortress Class Train. We think it may be the Innovation... Since the Infected used stolen artillery to attack the city.”

That actually was very serious.

“Can you get me a visual in the main screen?” The image of a far away, speeding train showed up on the main screen. “Is the image from a drone? Can you get a closer look? No, never mind that.” He directed his voice at another controller in the room. “Relay these orders to the railroad control room: Completely close the southern entrance, do not let that train enter the city under any circumstances.”

The decision was made before a confirmation.

“Are you sure? From that distance you can't even be sure that it is a Mobile-Fortress, what if it's a train full of refugees? Are you willing to add to your sins?”

Alexander shrugged.

“I am most certainly willing to. But it doesn't look like the case this time. Look at that still image, you've seen it up close before, haven't you, isn't that the Innovation?”

She looked at the still image. The train was most certainly the Innovation, but there was something else bothering her. There was a person standing on top of the Innovation. It was a woman, the clothes she was wearing were familiar, Lia couldn't see the face very clearly, but she felt like it belonged to someone she had seen before.

“Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.”

Lia panicked completely. She had to leave. This had all been foolish. Time ran out and she hadn't left yet. She remembered the terrified face the Egregius made when they talked about the Matriarch in detail before. Lia was so pale that Chelsea became worried.

“Are you ok?”

Lia looked at her Shadow, her friend, and slowly shook her head.

“No. I'm not. That's Wu, sister of the wife to the first Emperor, captured by the Infected many centuries ago. She's the Matriarch. We have to go.”

She turned to leave, but Alexander put a hand on her shoulder.

“Wait, I am going with you.”

What did he mean?

“What?”

“You said yourself that she is going for both of us. It's better if I accompany you. If she attacks us, I will try to distract her so you can get safely to the station. Let's go, she may still be pretty far away, but the Innovation is very fast. Konstantinos! You're in command now, until we are defeated. Die well.”

Konstantinos, Alexander's second-in-command, Lia didn't know him very well, but he seemed like a respectable man. She mourned for him as they left the room.

“As you wish Commander. Good luck, and die well on your mission too.”

Those were the last words exchanged between them personally. While in the car they took headed to the train station, they could still keep informed through a tablet that showed images of the Innovation. It easily went through the inspection turnpikes at the outskirts of the city, as expected. But there were two great obstacles: A small and a big steel gate. The first one was mostly decorative, so it was possible it would do nothing to stop the great train. Moments later the Innovation ripped through it. Hope rested with the last great obstacle into the city. A great steel gate designed to withstand even direct artillery strikes. Everyone hoped that it would be what stopped the Innovation, but Lia had another kind of fear. Before leaving she had told one of the controllers to keep at least one drone focused on the Matriarch. The Innovation sped furiously towards the last great obstacle. It was truly the unstoppable force against the immovable object and... The immovable object won. While the others cheered at the Innovation uselessly crashing against the gate, creating a huge wreck, Lia shouted.

“The drone on the Matriarch! Switch to the drone focused on the Matriarch!”

The tablet flicked through a few different images, until they found the one they wanted. The Matriarch was hurtling through the air seemingly helplessly. She crashed on the side of a mostly ruined building, which then finally decided to collapse, creating a huge ball of fire as it fell on its very foundations, which were on fire for days now.

“Could she have survived that?”

Franz sounded unsure. Nobody wanted to answer that. If the answer was yes, they it would be confirmation of some of their worst fears about the Matriarch's capabilities, but they also did not want to delude themselves with false hope. They simply prayed fervently. Their prayers proved fruitless as a maniacal laughter seemed to reverberate throughout their minds. Their ears heard nothing, yet the laughter was so clear to them, it was as if someone was talking directly to their brains or spirit. The Matriarch easily walked out of the building's rubble.

“Ah! It's so nice to take enough damage from something that you actually feel pain, isn't it?” The Matriarch held up her hands in the air, as if praising something. “Kneel down! Fear or do not fear! I care little for your feelings, for I am eternity! All that you are, your memories, your feelings, your knowledge, are now all mine! Hide in a hole, run in the open, attack in desperation or surrender willingly, to me it makes very little difference. Choose.”

As the voice subsided, they were all pale and shaken. Even Alexander seemed to be wavering.

“The Matriarch, huh. Scary stuff. Please hurry.”