The sounds of clanging bells roused Aziz from his reverie. On instinct, he pushed off the roof and took to the skies, where the other Guardians were already gathering. He didn’t want to look back at the gathering First Aerial — it was too painful to see how much losses the division had taken.

Avalanche had been disbanded, as per his order. They would be slotted into the missing pieces within Stardust and Thunderbolt. Eventually, a replacement battalion would be trained to take the place of Avalanche, but…

Over the past week, the First Aerial had been whittled down to less than two-thirds of its original fighting strength. Under normal circumstances, the First Aerial wouldn’t have continued to operate, but this was already an emergency. If his predictions were right, by the end of today, the division would not be able to fight.

There were simply too many enemies.

Too many losses.

The Guardians weren’t having it any better either. Of the original six hundred, only four hundred and fifty remained. The others were either maimed or killed. Individual Knights and Lords were still trickling in from the Five Lands, but again, no one had predicted that the Great Divide would fall early.

The battles in the upper airzone were at least far more equal; neither side could bring out that much combat power. The key reason was the absence of the great gods; they were still fighting in outer space and were unable to send even one or two familiar spirits to help.

Regular thumps that shook the earth began to echo throughout the Heaven-cleaving Fortress. The numerous artillery pieces that had been moved here long ago were now firing in earnest, and as Aziz took his place amongst the Guardians, the falling shells slammed into huge barriers that were projected by the demon infantry.

Where did all that power come from?

“Colonel.”

Aziz turned to look at the familiar voice, and then tried to plaster a smile on his face. Marie grimaced at his expression, and then rubbed her eyes. There were some shadows underneath them, but from how her eyes were fixated on the area just under his, he probably had some too.

“You look like a mess,” said Aziz. “What happened?”

“Usual office politics,” Marie replied. “I was arbitrating a dispute between the East and the Assembly; the former is claiming that they’re suffering excessive losses due to the movements of the Assembly’s infantry. They allege that the Assembly’s ground troops were sometimes too fast in their movements in falling back, or their rotations were just a touch too slow, resulting in an exposed flank.”

“Such a thing occurred?” Aziz asked.

With the advent of huge barriers, the Heaven-cleaving Fortress could no longer handle enemy infantry on its own. Therefore, while the artillery whittled away at these defences, the Eastern and Assembly infantry would hold the line and engage in mid and close-range combat. It was fortunate that the Eastern Territories had dispatched their troops over to do long-term combat training when they did; the Assembly’s infantry alone would not have been able to stop the demon armies.

However, if what the Eastern generals were saying were true, Aziz would not look kindly upon the Assembly.

“Just what on Orb were those fools thinking?” Aziz complained. “The only reason why the fortress hasn’t been overrun is due to the East’s massive infantry, yet…”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Marie, fatigue written all over her face. “Therefore, I, with a group of independent assessors, had to look through the orders given and the battlefield data in a single night. There was some proof of such a deed, but it was nothing conclusive.”

Aziz let out a groan, before picking himself up mentally. “On the bright side, the Assembly’s probably going to toe the line for the next few days.”

“I’ve already sent out some people to watch the battle,” said Marie. “In a high-profile, of course. This way, nothing egregious should happen.”

The colonel noted the word that was tacked after ‘nothing’, and shook his head. Even the marshal wasn’t confident that she could dissuade the Assembly from sabotaging their allies. However, not doing anything or blowing the affair up would lead into an international dispute…and if things went south, it was possible that the Assembly or the East would withdraw from the ongoing war.

The colonel felt a tad bad at how he was feeling better after hearing about Marie’s worries, but there wasn’t really much he could do about it. Fortunately, the marshal looked better after offloading her thoughts to him, which was a good thing.

“What about you, Aziz? What did you do after I left?” Marie asked.

“Me?” Aziz tilted his head. The Guardians were, like their demon counterparts, simply staring at each other across the huge barriers. They weren’t going to move yet; only when the Wildlands’ infantry became vulnerable would the aerial battles commence.

“I was staring up at the starry sky and wondering when the great gods would return,” Aziz replied. “They’ve been fighting for an entire week.”

“At least the Demon Sovereign isn’t here, though.” Marie turned her eyes to the flickering barriers. The infantry forces of both sides were already in the middle of heavy fighting, but given the Five Lands’ monopoly on artefacts, it went without saying that the East and the Assembly were dealing disproportionate losses.

“The last time Hereward and Asteria fought, the sky shattered,” said Aziz. “What’s going to break next? The moon?”

“It’s odd seeing two moons once in a while,” Marie replied, “so it’s not my fault for wanting one to blow up too.”

Her words made him and the other Guardians in earshot laugh.

“True, true.”

“Blow up the moon!”

“Why would you do that?”

Aziz smiled. “Marshal, you should make more quips like this. It helps to raise our mood.”

“Really?” Marie asked.

“Why don’t you shout something at the First Aerial down there?” Aziz replied. “Tell them to live or something. Might make a difference.”

“But—”

“You’re the commander of the First Aerial. Even if you haven’t done much for them so far, you’re always our beloved commander. Yell something. They’ll be happy.”

“R-really?”

Aziz pushed on. “You should try it. Who knows? Besides, there’s nothing for you to lose.”

“Alright, then.”