Aziz had interacted with a Demigod before, on very…intimate terms, so he was well aware of the pressure such beings gave off. Rene had this warm, comfortable aura around her; being in her vicinity was nothing short of panacea for a mind long wounded from war and death. At the same time, she had this majestic presence to her, one that radiated outwards from her very core.

Archduchess Gaia, however, had an entirely different presence altogether. His breathing faltered the moment she opened the door. It was not from her breath-taking beauty or anything; no, it was from the sheer presence she commanded.

The sensation of being suppressed pressed down on him as he looked at the newly-arrived Archduchess Gaia. It was something he’d felt before, all so many years ago, when the Human God was about to destroy the Eastern Territories. It was a suppression that came from a being so high up on the hierarchy of life. Even though it was nothing compared to the Human God’s, to Aziz, the only difference was being crushed by a pillar or by a building.

He could resist neither of those.

His breathing difficulties continued on for a few more seconds, before what seemed like surprise flashed through the archduchess’ face. The overwhelming pressure receded like the tide a second later, and cool, fresh air entered his lungs once more.

Archduchess Gaia looked around. “Ahh. My apologies for that.”

Marie, from her sprawled-over position, raised a thumbs-up at her, while Aziz chose to push himself up instead. Tenouji, however, had fainted entirely, his blank eyes rolling around continuously.

It was…not what anyone would call a good first meeting. At all. After trying to struggle to his feet a few times, Aziz gave up and let his powerless body drop onto the ground.

“This might be a problem.” Archduchess Gaia poked her head out of the room, and Eventide entered a moment later.

“What happened?” Eventide knelt down and asked Marie, who was getting back onto her feet.

“A Demigod’s presence is impossible to bear by the likes of us,” Marie replied with a grimace.

“They’ll be better after a few minutes,” Archduchess Gaia said. “It’s been some time since I’ve been in close proximity with normal people, so this is, in a way, an expected result.”

Aziz wanted to tell her where she could shove her expected result, but his mind was not dumb enough to enunciate the words out loud. After flopping around for a few minutes, he finally regained the strength to pull himself up with Marie’s help.

General Ishtar, who was still inebriated, showed no signs of recovery. Fortunately, Commodore Tenouji regained consciousness a little while later, and soon, everyone sans the general was sitting around the conference table.

“First,” said the archduchess, “I must apologise for the ordeal I just subjected you four too. However, this does reveal a huge weakness in our forces — none of you, and presumably your subordinates — can put up a meaningful resistance against the mere presence of a Demigod. I was sent here precisely to remedy this potential problem, although I think I can strike out the word ‘potential’ now.”

“Queen Hyperion sent you here?” Minister Eventide asked, intrigued.

“Yes. She was worried about the Demon God’s familiar spirits. They will not hold back their presence. After all, even if their own troops are affected, we now know that they will revive after some time. Unfortunately, we do not have that luxury.” Archduchess Gaia closed her eyes. “Therefore, we have decided on Demigod-acclimatisation training for all participants in the war to come.”

“What you did earlier, but on a larger scale?” Marie asked.

“Yes, to put it mildly.” Gaia surveyed the room, her eyes lingering on Tenouji and Ishtar. “From the looks of it, this is going to take some time. I was hoping to discuss other pertinent issues regarding the garrison here, but the representatives of the Eastern Territories and the Southern Assembly are out cold, we’ll have to postpone that discussion.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aziz muttered. His body was still trembling from that overly-powerful entrance, and right now, he desired nothing more than a good sleep.

“I didn’t say we’re going to end our current discussion, however.” The archduchess smiled, sending a chill down his spine. “Since the two of you actually showed some resistance against a Demigod’s presence, it goes without saying that you two are probably the best people to help adjust the upcoming acclimatisation training.”

An ominous thought flashed through his mind and he looked at the door, just in time to see Minister Eventide leave through it.

“I’ll be making a move first, Archduchess Gaia.” Eventide waved goodbye. “May your training be fruitful.”

Son of a—

A formless power erupted out of the archduchess a moment later, and Aziz felt himself quaking in his boots. It was far weaker than the earlier instance, but up close, the colonel could feel his figurative brain melt away. His legs turned into jelly a moment later, but before anything else could happen, the Demigod withdrew her presence.

Aziz regained his ability to breath once more.

“Was that something you could barely tolerate?”

Marie nodded.

The archduchess turned to look at Aziz. “How about you?”

“Feels like I’m about to die, but I’m still alive,” Aziz replied.

“Your wits are still present. For both of you, this is clearly not your true limit. But that was never my intention to begin with.” Her eyes twinkled. “Again.”

“Again?” Aziz asked.

“Yes. Weaker this time, however. From the looks of it, you two have probably felt a similar type of suppression before,” said the archduchess. “You two shall report to me the sensations you experience, and I shall draft up a plan afterwards. Understood?”

The two nodded.

“As for those two lying there…well, we’ll deal with them once they wake up,” said the Demigod. “For now, focus on reporting what you sense.”

“Let me take out something to write on first,” said Marie, pulling out a pen and a small notebook. “Might as well do some preliminary research first.”

She scribbled some things on it, and then nodded. “I’m ready.”

Archduchess Gaia nodded approvingly. “Excellent. We’ll start off with bursts of ten seconds, low intensity. Brace yourselves. We’ll be starting in three, two…one.”

Aziz’s mind went blank once more.

By the time the ordeal was over, Aziz couldn’t quite exactly sit still in his seat. His hands were trembling every few seconds, and the delicately-crafted wooden table was dark with a pool of sweat. A similar scene was happening over at Marie’s side, but she was in far better condition than Aziz himself.

Which didn’t make all that much sense, considering he was the one with more contact with a Demigod, but it just went to show that the division commander was as awesome as ever.

Archduchess Gaia had been tuning the effects of her presence for the past thirty minutes, trying to make it so that her existence wouldn’t cause abrupt organ failures within the weakest of Soldiers. At the same time, she didn’t want to compromise on intensity, since none of the Demigods on either side were going to be considerate of the people below.

Eventually, she succeeded. It was good news for the troops that were gathered here, since the only thing they were likely to faint from was dehydration caused by unnatural levels of sweating.

“Well, this low-level exposure training did you two some good,” said the Demigod. “Hey, have some water. It’s on me.”

Aziz didn’t know how to respond to that. First, that wasn’t water; that was some alcoholic drink called sake. Second, that didn’t belong to her; it belonged to Commodore Tenouji, who, incidentally, was still very much unconscious. Third, she had passed the entire flask to Aziz, without bringing along the cups. Was she intending to make him drink directly from it?

While he was struggling with his desire to play the straight man, Marie asked, “How does your presence compare to that of a great god?”

“Far weaker.”

“I remember the Human God’s presence flooring us all, even from a very far distance,” Marie replied. “When the great gods clash, I don’t think any level of adaptation to a Demigod’s presence is going to help at all, right?”

“True,” said the archduchess. “However, the great gods might not fight in the same battlefield as us. You’re making an awfully dangerous assumption here, Marshal Marie. Best to prepare for everything.”

“You’re right. Besides…” Marie glanced at the twitching duo from the East and the Assembly. “I think it’s going to be very useful.”

“Two high-ranking soldiers, sprawled around like that…it’s quite the sight for sore eyes.” The archduchess breathed out, her nostrils flaring, and Aziz abruptly had a bad feeling.

“Wait, wait. Archduchess Gaia. They’re just far less acclimated to a Demigod’s presence. It can’t be helped. Besides, you’ll see such a scene during when you conduct the acclimatisation training anyway, so…”

“Commanding officers should strive to set a good example, Colonel Aziz. I appreciate you trying to help their position, but there are some things that should be enforced at all times. Leaders of men and women are expected to be better in all aspects.” Her eyes flashed. “Including trainings conducted by me. Wake them up, colonel. Thanks to the two of you, I’ve found a way to make my lesson plan safe.”

“But…” Aziz glanced at Marie.

“Don’t make me say it twice, colonel.” The last part of her sentence was laced with steel, and Aziz got up reluctantly.

Slapping their cheeks twice, Aziz hauled the two fellows up and dumped them onto a chair. “They don’t seem to be functioning well at all.”

“So it seems.” The archduchess gestured with her hand, and a gentle mist began to materialise within the room. With a deliberate, slow wave, the mist thickened, gathering in front of her to form a sphere of water. Icy fog began to rise from it as a bone-chilling cold crawled up Aziz’s hands.

His breath began to fog up, his shivers intensifying as the sphere of water hardened into ice.

The beautiful, icy globe hung in mid air for a moment, before it began to move towards Commodore Tenouji. Aziz stole a glance at the Demigod, who was clearly interested watching the two unconscious men dial up their shivering as the icy ball closed in on them.

As expected, Tenouji was the first to wake up. His teeth clattering, the commodore was about to speak when he saw Archduchess Gaia, and whatever words he might have wanted to say died in his throat a moment later.

“Y-you’re…”

“Archduchess Gaia, at your service.”

Tenouji swallowed, but he didn’t dare to duck away from the approaching ball of ice. Aziz watched his eyes fixate on the crystalline sphere, his pupils dilating as it continued to draw closer and closer to his face.

The archduchess let out a slow sigh, and the sphere of ice bloomed into an expanding flower of white mist. “Perhaps I have overestimated the others.”

She got up. “Ladies, gentlemen, we shall continue this session tomorrow. This time around, I expect…better decorum. Especially from that drunken fop over there, who has clearly been drinking on the job.”

The room shook as she slammed the door on the way out, a clear indication of her displeasure. It probably wasn’t directed at Aziz or Marie, but the colonel couldn’t tell for sure.

“Might want to put away that, uh, sake, next time,” Aziz murmured. “Right, Marie?”

The marshal grunted.

“I’ll take that under advisement.” Tenouji patted his flask and got up slowly. “Last time I ever pour a drink out for anyone. What do we do with him, by the way?”

“Are you seriously going to leave him here? Come on,” said Aziz, “give me a hand. We’ll drop him off at the infirmity. Marie, I’ll have to trouble you to hold on to our items for now.”

Opening the door, the two men carried the drunk Ishtar out. This was probably an episode that warned about the dangers of drinking while on a job and drinking unidentified liquids, and as they lugged the general along, Aziz resolved to lay out that rule explicitly.

After all, what would happen if the Western Holdings doubted their ability to fight the war?