The next few hours passed in a blur. Ark City and the Republic’s relief forces worked together to ferry everything they needed to a new location that Marie had decided upon. Once there, they would create a new city, something that the refugees were apparently experienced at already. The colonel, however, wasn’t too sure if Ark City would join the Republic or create their own new nation altogether, but the State Council wasn’t intending to assimilating the refugees by force.

“Seems like news has spread,” Marie suddenly said, her eyes on her own personalised Display. She was looking at a virtual forum, where things called ‘threads’ and ‘topics’ could be set up to facilitate discussion regarding anything under the sun. Most of those forums were limited so far to the top echelons of the Five Lands, with any new topic posted there immediately gathering the attention of everyone else.

On an unrelated note, the Pinnacle was a rabid fan of creating these topics and filling that of others with humorous pictures and oddly drawn stickmen, but again, this forum thing was a brainchild of his in the first place. Apparently, he picked it up from some old legacy of a Champion, but these things seemed a bit too childish to come from a Champion to begin with.

“What’s the general reaction to it?” Aziz asked.

“Interest, apparently. Oh, Queen Hyperion just said something,” Marie replied. “She’s…intending to challenge Eliza to a fight.”

“Huh?”

“Seems like there’s some age-old rivalry that predates our birth, apparently.” The marshal continued to scroll down. “Oh, the Southern Assembly’s a mess as usual, and the East isn’t really bothered about that.”

She put away her Display. “Well, they’ll all come down to the Republic anyway tomorrow, knowing those curious cats. The Assembly might lodge a diplomatic complaint over allowing Ark City to settle in no man’s land, but they’ll probably have second thoughts once they see who’s at the helm.”

Rene, who was lying on a rock, giggled. “Remember what I said last year, about Queen Hyperion being the strongest Demigod in the world? I think her title’s going to be in peril soon. That Eliza is outputting insane amounts of divinity. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have said that a great god had imparted a great deal of strength and knowledge to her.”

“What, an illegitimate child?” Aziz rolled his eyes. “Never heard of great gods having kids before.”

“Well, it’s theoretically possible. Some of my brethren, in the past, have entered into relationships with mortals. If you see someone insanely gifted in a certain aspect, and yet isn’t an otherworlder, it’s possible that there’s a familiar spirit in the family tree here or there,” Rene replied.

Lowering her voice, she added, “I mean, why else did the Holy Temple have so many semi-divinities?”

Aziz wasn’t sure what to say to that, but he noted that juicy little morsel of information in his head down for future reference. As for Marie, she was scribbling on a small notebook, the same one she was using earlier, a gleeful light in her eyes. He wasn’t sure why she was that gleeful, but it was indeed in her character to be happy whenever she learnt about new information.

“In a sense, I guess they are indeed blessed by the Human God, then.” Aziz rubbed his nose. “Didn’t stop them from getting wrecked by the North, though.”

“Conclusive proof that individual strength isn’t enough,” Rene replied.

“Huh. That’s odd.” Marie, who had taken a look at her Display, frowned.

“What’s odd?” Aziz asked.

“Remember the Conference of the Four? The one where the Phantom Blade claimed that she killed off all the Constellations?”

“What of it?”

“Well, a memorial has been erected for the fallen at the new Ark City that is under construction,” said Marie. “At the very top, alongside a few…”

She took a deep breath. “A few other familiar names, there is a space dedicated for ‘Gemini’.”

“The Constellation Heroes’ names were fairly popular, so it’s probably someone with the same name,” Aziz replied. “There shouldn’t be any problem with that. The Phantom Blade said it already — all the Constellations are dead.”

“There’s a problem.” Marie’s hands trembled as she passed the Display over to him. “A huge problem. See for yourself what it says.”

Frowning, the colonel looked down at the screen and looked at the very top entry. Dedicated to those who stopped the raging flood and never returned.

“Constellation Gemini,” Aziz read out loud. “Instrument of genocide under the Human God. Saviour of all life by his own will. He stayed behind to sever the spatial channel between the Five Lands and the Wildlands, to delay the start of the inevitable war. May he find peace in his choices.”

The colonel sighed. Ark City clearly knew as much as Scorpio had revealed back then, and then some. He glanced back up at the marshal, who gestured at the next line.

“His body will never be recovered, but his deeds will stay for all eternity,” Marie concluded.

Aziz drew a long, slow breath. He’d understood why Marie reacted the way she did now. From what he could infer, no one ever saw the last moments of Constellation Gemini. For all they knew, the Demon God might have captured him instead, intending to turn him into the Demon Sovereign.

“We should send this to the State Council,” Aziz said. “And the one in the North, too.”

“Already done,” she replied.

Aziz stared at the Display in his hands, his heart in turmoil. He didn’t know why Gemini was alive, especially since the Phantom Blade had claimed that she’d killed every last Constellation out there. He’d heard the reports that the North had compiled — the first thing the Phantom Blade did was to appear in the Wildlands to kill Gemini.

And yet, against all odds, he was still somehow able to live. It was inconceivable that Gemini had been alive right until now — from what Aziz could tell, that Phantom Blade would have definitely made sure of his death, especially since he was her first target.

Rubbing his nose, he glanced at Marie, who grimaced back.

“We’ll have to wait for Demigod Eliza to tell us more about the details,” said Marie. “But it seems that things are about to take a nasty turn.”

Aziz grunted. All of a sudden, he felt that even more Locomotives were required, especially those purpose-fitted to carry as many weapons as possible.