Three weeks had passed since the invasion of the Wildlands began, but to Gaius, nothing could beat the incredible sight of so many troops loitering outside the black dome. Locomotives and aerial forces were floating around a small part of the enormous hemisphere, while a second, smaller fortress was being built at the Wildlands’ side of the landbridge.

Gaius took in the sight slowly. The milling troops and the ongoing construction struck a stark contrast to the situation within the Wildlands. The lethargy and general hopelessness he’d felt within the invading troops inside the black dome was completely absent in the line-up outside.

Men and women alike saluted as Gaius zipped past them with Isabelle in tow. Gaius was quite a familiar face to them now, since he had felt the past few days ferrying food and other supplies to the people in the Wildlands. It was a thankless job that no one wanted to pick up, but to Gaius, if he could reduce the chances of conflict between the Five Lands, doing something like this was worth it.

“They look so carefree,” Isabelle murmured. “If they knew what the real conditions inside were, I don’t think they’ll be this relaxed.”

“Or maybe they know, but they don’t want to believe it,” Gaius replied quietly. “Don’t underestimate the ability of people to ignore objective facts and evidence that goes against their worldview and beliefs.”

He scrunched his face up as Isabelle rubbed his cheeks for some reason, before increasing the opacity of his Domain to block off any prying eyes. From afar, it would look like a moving Dominion or Divine Territory, so no one would dare to pay too much attention to it.

Making a few odd noises, they flew by the landbridge — Isabelle was still flying with Gaius’ power, instead of her own — and headed towards the Heaven-cleaving Fortress. He could feel the back of his neck prickle as tens of thousands of artefacts took aim at him, so Gaius drew to a stop and let the measuring instruments of the fortress do their job. The Five Lands had their own ways of identifying friendly experts, even if the latter couldn’t be visually identified.

For some reason, the vast array of weapons installed on the Heaven-cleaving Fortress continued to aim at him, despite having submitted to an inspection.

“What’s wrong?” Isabelle asked, relinquishing his sore cheeks. “Why are they still aiming at us?”

“Beats me.” Gaius frowned, before making his Domain transparent.

For a moment, he felt like dispelling it would be better, but that was a pointless act. No one should be able to tell the difference between his Domain and a regular Divine Territory. After all, the only reason why he felt his Domain was due to his ability to give rise to whatever miracle or realisation within it. It was basically an overly strengthened form of a normal Dominion or Divine Territory.

Even after allowing for visual identification, the numerous artefacts installed on the Heaven-cleaving Fortress continued to target him. It was a warning that if he moved even a step forward, they would fire — and this wasn’t a baseless threat. Gaius had seen those guns fire on other people, who either ignored or failed to notice this implicit warning.

The results weren’t all that nice, and since Isabelle was by his side, Gaius didn’t want to risk anything. It would be nasty if a Peacebringer installed on the fortress; he hadn’t quite forgotten the true power of these godkillers.

“We should just wait, I guess.” Gaius puffed up his cheeks. “What’s the big idea? Why aren’t they letting us in? It’s not like I need to pay a toll or something.”

“There, there.”

“You don’t need to pacify me, you know. I’m not a baby,” Gaius replied. “And being rubbed on the head in full view of the Five Lands isn’t going to do my confidence any favours.”

“Says the person who puffed up his cheeks to enjoy my actions.” Isabelle poked the cheeks in question, before nodding. “Squishy.”

“What, can’t I act cute or something? You do that all the time, and I like it. And you like it when I do that too, so…” Gaius cleared his throat.

His puffed-up cheeks deflated a moment later as he spotted some movement from the fortress below. Eyes sharpening to a point, he looked at the incoming Lord and said, “Well, looks like they finally sent someone up. What took them so long?”

“Maybe they were trying to find someone brave enough to go up,” Isabelle replied. “There’s not going to be anyone willing to talk to people who are currently the target of so many weapons. If anything goes wrong, they’ll be mush or something.”

“Good point,” Gaius replied. “Still, they sure took their own sweet time. Did something happen? Or is something off with me? Do I smell?”

“No, I don’t think you smell,” Isabelle replied. “You’ve made it a point to douse me in grey water that has both soap and shampoo every day, after all. I think we’re probably cleaner than even the members of the War Council.”

“That’s a very odd reference point…”

His words trailed off as the dispatched Lord finally arrived. “Your Excellencies. Um. I’ve been told to verify your identities.”

“Huh?” Gaius exchanged glances with Isabelle. “What do you mean, verify identities? I’ve been travelling back and forth for the past few days, ferrying supplies and everything, and you guys can’t verify my identity today? Did some instrument of yours break?”

“How did you know, Your Excellency?”

Gaius blinked. “So something broke?”

“To be more precise, Your Excellency, the divinity-measuring instrument broke when it tried to measure your divinity index,” the Lord replied. “There’s nothing we can do about it, other than to come up and talk to you personally. You should have some identification documents on you, so…”

“Ah.” Gaius showed the bracelet that was given to him when he registered at the Hall of Guardians. “Will this do?”

Isabelle did the same thing, and after a minute or two of fiddling, the Lord passed both bracelets back. Pulling out a Radio, he spoke into it, and before long, the prickling sense of being aimed at vanished.

The Lord waved them on and bowed. “My apologies for the inconvenience, Your Excellencies. You’re free to continue on.”

“Thank you,” Gaius replied. Leading Isabelle by the hand, they began to descend.

“I wonder what happened,” Isabelle murmured. “Maybe it’s because you followed Oculus’ advice?”

Gaius looked at the eyeball lolling around in his pocket. “Maybe.”