Colonel Aziz stood on the battlements of the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, with his eyes narrowed into slits as he looked out at the Great Divide. The construction of the fortress was still on-going; the War Council convened by the leaders of the Five Lands wanted to expand its length.

If the Demon God could create an entire landmass, he was definitely going to expand the length of the landbridge. The World’s Blight was a being who had contended against the other great gods alone — and he had a hundred thousand years to recover and grow his strength.

The colonel spat bitterly at this point.

“What’s wrong, Aziz?” Marie, who was also looking at the Great Divide, asked. “I get the feeling that you just bit into a bitter bug or something.”

“No, I was thinking about that stupid quarrel earlier,” Aziz replied. “What’s with them, really?”

“Everyone’s just putting their nation first,” Marie answered, a tired smile on her face. “Secrets. Technology. People. It’s as if we’re not taking the threat of the Demon God and the Demon Sovereign seriously. It is unbelievable.”

“They’re hoping that the Republic burns in flames first,” Aziz snarled, his words twisted into a harsh sibilant. “We’re the first line of defence. A good excuse to wring us dry too, isn’t it? I’m beginning to feel that we should just cut ourselves out of the Southern Continent or pull an Ark City.”

“Well, if we move our Lords and Paragons, I don’t think turning ourselves into an island is impossible,” Marie replied. “I should make that suggestion to the higher-ups, just in case the other nations really don’t want to cooperate in good faith.”

“Go ahead, marshal.” Aziz sighed heavily. “Right, where’s Abele run off to?”

“He’s having another of those society and civility tests,” Marie replied. “He’s doing rather well in them, which is nothing short of good news for us.”

“Paragon Maylin is still going to run the full course for him, though.” Aziz clicked his tongue. “No rest for the wicked, I guess.”

“Why are we the bad guys?” Marie rolled her eyes.

Aziz ignored her rebuttal and cast another long gaze at the Great Divide. “The Demon God seems to be growing ever stronger. That black halo — whatever it is — is already biting through most of the Great Divide.”

“Well, we did lose a balancing force,” Marie replied. “But I wouldn’t trust the Human God not to backstab us either. It’s just maddening just how the Assembly and the East are trying to undercut us. Don’t they realise that we should all work together, now more than ever?”

“They’re idiots, after all.” Aziz looked at the Great Divide. “This thing looks like it might fall way before schedule, and I’m not sure if they are actually taking my observation reports seriously enough.”

“I’ll add my name to your next report,” Marie replied. “Still, isn’t the reason why we had four more years to begin with is because the God of Water’s death empowered the Great Divide? Logically speaking, the Human God’s passing must have strengthened it further, right?”

“Nice, asking a Knight to answer this question.” Aziz shot up a thumbs-up. “Might as well ask me to fight the Demon God too. I might have a better chance of succeeding.”

Marie smacked his head lightly. “Can’t a commanding officer ask a rhetorical question?”

“Sorry, I just interpreted it as an order — stop! You’re going to twist my ear off! This is abuse, I say! Abuse!”

“I didn’t use that much strength,” Marie replied, aggrieved.

“That’s what Lord Sarah said, right before she gave Augustus a one week stay in the infirmary,” Aziz replied. “Poor dude couldn’t even last a single punch.”

“Fine, fine.” Marie narrowed her eyes at the Great Divide. “This wall does seem like it’s on the verge of falling apart, though.”

“Don’t ask me anything to it anymore,” Aziz replied. “Besides—”

“Ma’am, sir.” An orderly popped out from nowhere — messengers and runners had been registered in some teleportation artefact of the North’s — and saluted. “Your presence is requested by Minister Eventide.”

“Both of us?” Marie asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Very well. We’ll be on the way.” Marie motioned for Aziz to follow. “What does he want us for?”

“Customary greetings,” the orderly replied. “Commodore Tenouji and General Ishtar just arrived at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress to assume command over the ground troops. At the same time, Demigod Gaia is slated to arrive within the hour.”

“No one from the Mortal Light Dynasty?” Marie asked, curious.

“There seems to be an on-going dispute between personnel lists between the North, Ark City and the Republic, ma’am,” the orderly replied. “I am not sure about the details.”

“Very well,” Marie replied. “I will not keep you here any longer.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” The orderly vanished on the spot, allowing Marie and Aziz to hasten their footsteps. After descending multiple flights of stairs, they arrived at a conference room, where a small red carpet had been laid out.

“Marie, Aziz.” Eventide nodded at them as they drew close. “Thank you for coming. Your old friends are inside, and they’re keen to catch up.”

“Old friends?” Marie asked.

“Well, you did conduct a few joint exercises with them,” Eventide replied. “What else can they be, if not old friends?”

“You’re not coming along?” Aziz asked.

“I’ve already extended my greetings and well-wishes to them,” he replied. “And there’s a Demigod on the way. They’ll understand.”

Aziz eyed the Minister of War, who was wearing an officer’s full-dress uniform, and felt his lip twitch. He had never seen Eventide wear anything other than black robes for a long time, even for Minister Pauline. This was the first time in so many years that he was wearing something soldier-ish.

After fantasising a bit about unrequited feelings and unbalanced relationships, he followed Marie into the conference room, where two familiar people were playing a game of cards and pouring out drinks from a flask.

The sight of Commodore Tenouji and General Ishtar playing cards together was a rather entertaining one. To his disappointment, however, the two representatives of their respective nations stopped playing the moment Marie entered with Aziz, and the colonel let out a silent sigh.

“Marshal Marie.” Commodore Tenouji nodded, a pleasant smile on his face. “Long time no see. I hope you’re well?”

“The past month or so has indeed been rather relaxed. Thank you for your kind thoughts,” Marie replied. “How about you?”

“The Governess of the East is quite the harsh mistress,” the commodore replied. “However, my limbs remain intact. I’m not as unlucky as Ishtar here, though.”

“Why did you suddenly bring me up?” General Ishtar asked, his yellow hair flaring angrily. “Also, good to see you both, Marshal Marie, Colonel Aziz. Thank you for your hard work.”

Aziz waved his hand airily.

A non-committal smile appeared on Marie’s face, before amusement granted it some degree of animacy. “From Commodore Tenouji’s words, General Ishtar, it seems that you’ve been having it rough?”

“Hic.”

“Just tell him, Ish-Ish.”

“I told you not to call me that, Tenouji. You need to change that stupid habit of yours,” the general replied, his face slightly flushed. Smacking the commodore’s head lightly, he turned to Marie and let out a sigh.

“So?” Marie prompted. “What happened?”

“Curse you, Tenouji.” General Ishtar sighed. “What else? It’s Ark City’s overblown performance. The Assembly’s forces were slaughtered by your Republic’s aerial troops in your founding war, but the fact that even your troops are no match for Ark City’s has turned the Great Houses into a quivering mess. Everyone’s scared of Ark City now. What if they decided to take revenge?”

Aziz blinked. The general’s words were somewhat slurred, and he was more emotional than usual. “You do know that the Assembly dispatched their troops for the Second Extermination, right? Your nation’s responsible for the near-extinction of the beastfolk. And you probably haven’t forgotten that the marshal is also a beastfolk, right?”

The general froze. He dipped his head a moment later, muttering something about apples and oranges.

“Well, that’s an issue for after the war,” Marie said, her calm voice non-indicative of any displeasure she probably felt. “However, the Southern Assembly will be Ark City’s target sooner or later. The Holy Temple already paid the ultimate price; fairness dictates that the Southern Assembly must pay an equally dear one.”

General Ishtar’s face, which was alternating between red and white, was beginning to look rather entertaining.

“Alright, now that the unimportant stuff’s out of the window” —Marie’s words elicited a set of splutters from Ishtar, which she ignored handily— “I want to know what forces you two have brought here.”

“Five infantry divisions,” Commodore Tenouji replied, “with General Tsuchi as commander. I helm the newly-formed First Air Army, three divisions strong.”

“The unit name for that bunch’s already decided?” Marie asked. “Given their wholescale defeat in that training exercise, I thought you guys would take a leaf out of Ark City’s book and break up into smaller groups instead.”

Tenouji’s expression reminded Aziz of someone who had been force-fed lemons, and he had to turn away to hide his expression.

“The higher-ups felt that air-to-air ability was not as important as the ability to lay down massive volumes of supporting fire,” Tenouji replied. “In fact, to them, troops are just numbers. The Plenum intends to mass-produce the Dynamo, even more so than the North, and then equip the infantry with them.”

“Are you serious?” Aziz asked. “That’s…lots of money. Like, lots.”

“It’s so shocking,” said Marie, “that my normally eloquent, slick and smooth-talking colonel has lost his vocabulary. That’s how shocking it is.”

Aziz glared at her, but he said nothing. He really didn’t have any words to describe his feelings, although he felt much better when he looked at General Ishtar, whose face was now completely white as he downed the contents of his entire teacup.

“What’s wrong, Ish-Ish?”

The general’s face reddened even further. Hiccupping twice, he murmured something and grabbed Tenouji’s cup, before downing it in one gulp too.

“Huh?”

“Go and war with the Assembly all you like, but please spare House Ishtar!” Ishtar’s eyes roved around madly, before he flopped onto the table, scattering the cards on them. A steady snore followed a moment later, releasing a pungent stench of alcohol.

“What on Orb were the two of you drinking?” Marie asked.

“It’s just some sake,” Tenouji replied. “How did Ish-ish get drunk off that?”

“Sa-ke?”

“A mildly alcoholic drink that came from Solaris’ homeland,” the commodore replied. “Few people ever get intoxicated from it, let alone drunk.”

Aziz wanted to doubt if ‘mildly’ was actually correct here, given that the fellow was actually looking quite drunk.

“Congratulations, then.” Marie rolled her eyes. “Now what? Archduchess Gaia is on her way here, and we have a sleeping general to show for it. She’s a Demigod. She could turn us into ash if we annoy her the wrong way.”

“Let’s move him into some corner of the room and cover him with a curtain or something,” Aziz suggested.

“That’s probably the only solution we have at this point, isn’t it?”

Sighing, the three of them dragged the snoring Ishtar into a corner, before pulling down a set of curtains. Barely a second after they covered up the sleeping general, Minister Eventide stuck his head into the conference room and said, “Archduchess Gaia just touched down.”

He paused after those words. “Wait, where’s General Ishtar?”

Marie, Aziz and Tenouji exchanged glances.

“He’s…inconvenienced,” said Tenouji.

“He won’t be able to greet Archduchess Gaia for the time being,” Aziz added.

“He’ll be greeting her when he’s better,” Marie concluded.

Minister Eventide narrowed his eyes at them. “What have you three been doing? And what did you do to the good general?”

“Trust me,” said Marie, “you don’t want to know.”

The Minister of War levelled a good long glare at the bundle of curtains in the corner, and then sighed. “Fine. So long as there’s no lasting damage. Return to your seats, the three of you. Archduchess Gaia should be arriving soon.”