The incomplete First Aerial Division plodded on sand and mushy soil slowly as they headed towards the Republic’s base camp in the Wildlands. Well, it was called the base camp on their map, but anyone who had listened to the rumours flying around in the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, like Aziz and the others, would know that their so-called base camp was nothing but some fenced up land.

At least, however, there were some rocks for the people there to sleep on…but they had to share those rocks. The Republic had learned the hard way that cloth tents weren’t of any use in the Wildlands; the demons had brought fire to a Straight Shot-fight and burned down anything flammable.

“But the last time they tried making buildings, Demigods came by…”

“Did you say something, Aziz?” Marie, who was walking at the head of the convoy, glanced at him. “What’s that about Demigods?”

“No, just remembering the report we got earlier,” Aziz replied. “That bit on where Demigods visited camps and tore down anything resembling a building earlier is still very fresh in my mind. It boggles my mind whenever I think of it. What’s their game here, really?”

“They’re trying to bleed us out.”

“Yeah, I know, but buildings? Really? They could have inflicted immense losses on every single camp, since there’s pretty much no Demigod on our side here, but they just spared every single human they came across,” Aziz replied.

“Not without injuring them badly first, though.”

That last sentence made Aziz shiver. For some perverse reason, the demon Demigods had taken it upon themselves to injure as many people as possible, without creating any fatalities. Most of the soldiers in the base and forward camps were no longer capable of combat, as a result, which meant that the lower-ranked demons were free to enter camps, burn down and grab food and other essential supplies, and then escape with impunity.

Fortunately, the Sentinel of Space had countered those low-level incursions by teleporting troops from the true Orb over, preventing the camps from descending into total starvation. That said, rationing was in full effect; as a precautionary measure, whatever remaining supplies had been doled out to the soldiers.

In turn, those soldiers were expected to control their own intake of food, but…

Aziz glanced at Hans and the battalion of soldiers behind him, who were all chewing on hard tack and dried meat. Expecting soldiers to control their food intake was not what he or Marie would call realistic.

“Something wrong?” Hans, who was nibbling at a palm-sized slab of meat, looked up and asked.

“No, nothing,” Aziz replied. “Just looking at you guys eat.”

“What’s wrong with us eating?”

“Well, I recommend that you lot finish your food before we arrive at the base camp,” Aziz replied. “Otherwise, you’ll be glared at so badly that holes might just open up in your body or something.”

As a semi-regular recipient of envious glares stemming from odd misunderstandings by the Marie-crazy First Aerial, the colonel knew just how disturbing being the recipient of a few thousand angry and jealous glares was. That said, it did do wonders for inflating his ego, even though he knew that the reason behind those glares were wildly inaccurate to begin with.

“Is the food situation really that bad, sir?” one of the soldiers walking behind Hans asked.

“We have the luxury of being a supply train, so you lot don’t really notice it,” said Aziz, “but the frontlines are pretty much non-existent now. If not for the fact that the demons aren’t actually pushing their advantage, everyone would have died after a few days’ worth of battles.”

“How could this be? Weren’t we supposed to be winning? We defeated the Demon God, so why…”

Marie patted Aziz’s back and pointed up towards the sky, where the black dome blocked out most of the harsh sunlight. “That’s the reason why. We can’t make use of our advantages here. No flight. No Locomotives. Here, on the ground, even the strongest of Paragons can be overwhelmed by enough bodies. No one of that rank dares to enter this place.”

“But…”

“Enough, corporal.” Hans patted the soldier’s shoulder. “I know what you want to say. But we’re soldiers. Even the marshal has to enter this cursed place, so what makes you think everyone else doesn’t need to?”

“But…it’s not like we need to defeat the demons anymore, right?”

That single question echoed out into the afternoon sky, and Aziz felt his heart skip a beat. They had explained, more than once, about the truth behind this expedition, which was for the sake of resources. However, there were still many soldiers who were obviously dissatisfied with such an answer. That said, most of these doubts and dissatisfaction were usually aired in private, or to officers these soldiers trusted.

This was the first time someone had brought the subject up this openly, and Aziz couldn’t help but be nervous. If Marie didn’t satisfy the other troops, or if her answer was just a bit too lacking…

The Republic’s efforts here would come to an end, once news got out.

“We’re not fighting against the demons here,” Marie replied.

“Huh?”

The answer that emerged from her lips echoed throughout the whole of the First Aerial, and the division fell into confusion.

“You’re right,” said Marie. “The demons actually don’t pose a threat to us anymore. No. We’re fighting against an old enemy. The true enemies are…”

She raised her voice. “The ones that have surrounded our convoy.”

The colonel breathed in sharply as battle cries exploded out all around the convoy. At some point in time, Marie had probably detected the ambush, which was why she had probably led the conversation into that direction.

This, however, was no time for thoughts like these.

A burning chill flooded his veins, as Aziz unsheathed his Straight Shot and fired skywards thrice. At the same time, Marie’s voice rang out. “All forces, prepare for battle! Target: the despicable ambushers of the Southern Assembly!”

Her single order restored unity to the surprised First Aerial, turning her troops back into disciplined machines of war.

Squires formed up into neat firing lines as Palisades lit up. Under years of practice, the First Aerial was by no means a slouch when it came to defending against ambushes. So long as order was restored, the First Aerial was more than capable of fighting a protracted better, even if they were grounded right now.

“All Knights, save for company commanders, formed up with me,” Marie spoke in her Radio. “We are going to smash the enemy defence lines.”

Acknowledgements rolled in like the falling storm of fire that was now suppressing the enemy ambushers. The ambush had been well-laid; the Southern Assembly — Aziz didn’t quite know how Marie had identified them this quickly — had flanked them on both their right and their left.

The only mistake was that the ambushers didn’t expect their targets to be the First Aerial. Within seconds, the understrength division had suppressed their ambushers, pinning them down for Marie, Aziz and the other Knights to finish them off.

Breaking into a sprint, Aziz and the others darted through the battlefield and closed on the ambushers that were pinned down on their right. Qi swept out in all sorts of forms, and their targets turned into bloody mist and shredded flesh.

As expected, there weren’t any Knights in that paltry group, but no one blinked an eye at the sudden, near-total destruction of those soldiers. Throwing on another burst of speed, the Knights split up and tore through the remaining ambushers on the left, crossing the gap within seconds.

The hail of fire from the First Aerial’s main body died out.

It was a short, eventless episode, one that resulted in a small mess that anyone could clear up after spending some time.

The soldiers, led by a bunch of non-commissioned officers, tried to piece together the minced and mashed corpses of the ambushers, but it was a fruitless effort. To begin with, there was a substantial difference between Knights and Soldiers; the latter was pretty much no different from a balloon when faced with a Knight’s attack.

Furthermore, the attackers weren’t using any artefacts whatsoever. Only shattered swords and shields littered the ambush site, destroyed from an unfortunate encounter with a far superior combat force. In fact, now that Aziz had the leeway to observe closely, he could tell that those ambushers were probably levies, farmers and normal citizens pressed into the armed forces.

“Looks like an attacker from some House,” Marie muttered. “A really, really poor one.”

“Yes,” said Aziz. “But we’ve pretty much destroyed any proof, though.”

Marie glared at the hill of minced flesh and raised her hand. “Burn the remains. We’ll take a break for fifteen minutes afterwards, and then we’ll continue on. Be on your guard at all times.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The other troops began to clear up the battlefield. Marie hadn’t made any move to explain why the Republic had to contend for territory, but the way she had subtly hinted at the main cause being the Assembly had a clear effect on the soldiers, who were now cursing and muttering under their breath.

“That’s all we can do for now.” Aziz, who was trailing behind Marie by a full step, followed her to a nearby rock and sat down on it. “It’s not going to be enough, though. Other than ambushes by our so-called allies, we also have the demons and their Demigods to deal with.”

“We’ll abandon the convoy if a Demigod shows up,” Marie replied. “I’m not going to risk even a single accidental death.”

Aziz smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

The two took a small rest, watching as the soldiers of the First Aerial mill around and exchange words. From the scraps of conversation that had wormed into his ear, the colonel could tell that the First Aerial was beginning to wonder if their expeditions had a different purpose.

That their true enemy was actually the nation that those ambushers were from. The colonel could tell that Marie was trying to guide the First Aerial into thinking that their entire reason for being here was to guard against the Southern Assembly, which would then be a good prelude into explaining the State Council’s desire to impede the Assembly’s efforts to recover their strength.

It was a long, convoluted process, but…

“What happened here?” a familiar voice spoke from above, and Aziz jumped. He, Marie and the rest of the First Aerial turned to look up, where a teenager and a very familiar looking girl were floating in the sky.

“Isabelle?” Marie ventured. “And if that’s Isabelle…is that you, Gaius?”

“Yes, it’s me.” The teenager’s eyes shifted to the pyre of burning flesh. “What happened here?”

Aziz felt a small chill from how Gaius repeated his question, and began to recount the incident earlier. As the colonel continued to talk about the ambush, he could see Gaius’s brows furrow slightly, but above all…there was some sorrow in his eyes.

Sorrow? For those ambushers? Aziz didn’t quite understand why Gaius was feeling this way right now, but his hunch rarely failed him. Furthermore…how was Gaius flying? Was he actually a Demigod?

Throwing the irrelevant thoughts to the back of his mind, he finished his recount of the ambush earlier.

“I see.” Gaius closed his eyes for a moment. “Alright. Well, since we’re on the same route, I…I suppose I can entrust these supplies to you. Try not to lose them, okay?”

A streak of what looked like fatigue flashed across his youthful face, and the fifty-odd wagons floating all around him landed. After looking around warily for a few seconds, he and Isabelle flew off into the north, their destination clearly the Five Lands.

“Did we just get a donation of food?” Aziz looked at the wagons, which had been set down nicely in the middle of the First Aerial’s escort formation.

“You make it sound like we’re beggars.” Marie shook her head and raised her voice. “Change of plans, ladies and gentlemen! Let’s get this new batch of supplies to our comrades as soon as possible!”