A fortress that shouldn’t be able to sustain itself entered Aziz’s eyes, and the colonel couldn’t help but shake his head. Even from up high, he could see a veritable fortress brimming with countless armoured figures of pure darkness.

No.

The entire continent had been turned into an enormous fortress, which had been flooded by a sea of black-armoured soldiers. The battlements of the fortress were stuffed with weapons, and given that there were multiple interior walls in the fortress itself, the whole thing looked like an amateur’s conception of what a sound defence looked like, with no regard to costs and sustainability.

“That’s ridiculous,” Marie uttered. “What kind of fortress is this? Artillery on the battlements? Everyone holding on to a Straight Shot or something? This isn’t a fortress; it’s a fantasy of some unread fool’s idea of solid defence.”

“You’re right,” said Pauline, her voice as quiet as death itself. “But doesn’t this mean that…the Abyss Sovereign has no need to consider cost and sustainability itself? He or she must know that such an expansive defence is prohibitively expensive; unsustainable.”

Marie nodded. “Even building something like this should have been impossible in the first place. The Central Circle was scoured clean for the most part, and even if one were to tear down the buildings on the island and reuse it...”

“There were reports by the survivors about how walls and buildings seemed to spontaneously form out of thin air,” Pauline replied.

“Ladies and gentlemen, do calm down and put aside your discussion for a moment,” said Oracle Galina. “I’ve given you three minutes to express your shock and other emotions, which is more than sufficiently enough for children to get whatever they’re feeling out of their system. I trust that everyone present will do better, no?”

The tent fell silent immediately.

“Thank you,” said the Oracle. “Let me start by introducing what me and my team have spotted in this single image. First, it is clear that the entire Central Circle has been turned into a fortress. Conventionally speaking, this fortress should be vulnerable to multiple problems related to the supply chain, but we will assume that the enemy can never suffer from logistical deficits.”

She snapped her fingers, and the image focused on a cloud of mist. “And here’s why. We were lucky enough to capture the moment in which an artillery gun was formed from pure energy alone, instead of metal.”

Someone raised her hand. “Point, Oracle.”

“Go ahead,” said the Oracle.

“The enemy we’re facing…what exactly is this Abyss Sovereign? Is there any commonality between the Demon Sovereign and the Abyss Sovereign? Or is it just a coincidence?”

“I do wish I can answer you, but the great gods and the Demon Sovereign have vanished to parts unknown, claiming that they’re doing something called a training montage,” Galina replied.

“Montage?”

“Whatever that is.” The Oracle shrugged. “Anyway, they’re really busy and whatnot, so none of us has a definite answer as to what they’re doing. Presumably, they’re preparing for the final battle.”

“I see.”

“Well, if that’s all, I will now expound on the enemies we’ve spotted so far,” said Oracle Galina. “These soldiers in black-grey armour have been identified as spectres, beings born from the Oblivion Portal. Queen Hyperion and Archduchess Gaia can attest to their origin; the two of them made a trip to the Central Circle to verify it. Although they were repelled with injuries, it is confirmed that those beings are spectres, albeit modified.”

Aziz tilted his head. What were spectres?

“Galina, I think you lost most of the people here,” said Kolya. “You might need to explain what spectres are.”

“…Fine. For the sake of everyone here. Spectres are…beings that project a distorted will around them, much like a Fief or a Domain. Although they’re far weaker than the real deal, the weak-willed will go insane just by staying in close proximity. They came out from the Western Holdings’ Oblivion Portal six thousand years ago, killing thousands before they were finally put down at great cost.”

“That’s a good summary.” Queen Hyperion appeared on stage. “But only by seeing them on the battlefield can one understand the terrors the spectres pose. There are a few things everyone should take note of. These spectres are resistant to weapons that are not made from true silver, and…”

As she droned off, the colonel found his thoughts drifting to something more interesting. For instance, Aziz didn’t know what was with everyone randomly appearing on stage without any preamble, since he couldn’t sense any fluctuations of power whenever these fellows went up to show off. Were they also trying to show off some new artefact of theirs?

“What’s up with that random teleportation?” Aziz muttered.

“Maybe it’s something like the Winding Pillars the North showed off some time ago,” Marie replied. “Sure looks classy, though. If we have troops that can teleport as and when like this, we’ll be able to pull lots of neat things.”

“I wonder if we’ll get to use it on a large scale,” Aziz replied. “We never did get around to using out Exo-Skeleton during the Great War. I might sound a bit insane, but I did want to use it…”

“Yeah, you sound insane when you say that,” Marie replied. “The only reason why we’ll actually need to use them is because of things like this. It would be far better if we didn’t ever have to use them.”

“It’s a waste, I guess.” Aziz mulled over his stupid thoughts for a while longer, before returning his attention to Queen Hyperion, who was now rambling on about the types of spectres the West had faced. There was nothing particularly useful about these details, since the role of the now-understrength First Aerial was to hang back and act as a reserve troop.

“Maybe. That’s for the best, though.” Marie sighed. “Maybe, if we get past this final hurdle, we’ll be at peace for a long time.”

“We will be at peace,” Pauline replied. “Do you want to know why?”

The two of them glanced at the minister, curious.