Barely moments after the three of them arrived at the door, two radiant shadows turned the corner, escorted respectfully by a whole bunch of good-looking soldiers and Demigod Eliza. A bunch of non-verbal greetings later, Thasvia and Liamar were now seated in the living room, along with Demigod Eliza.

Lila was now seated by Gemini’s side, while Gemini himself was handing out some food to show his hospitality.

“What do you think of my proposal?” Eliza asked.

“To have us as guests as Ark City heads towards the battlefront…” Hereward folded his arms. “Not impossible, but you must know that the situation there is quite urgent.”

“We are the linchpin of the advance anyway. The assault can’t begin for real until we or the North’s Locomotives are ready to provide supporting fire,” Eliza replied. “Why not just stay as our guests? We have good food here anyway.”

A stomach rumbled at those words.

“See?”

“You make a very good point,” Hereward forced out. “But there are other things we can do there. For instance, this crimson sky. Our familiar spirits are too lacking, so it is up to us to analyse this anomaly.”

“Oh.” Eliza nodded her head. “My apologies for making such a selfish request. Please do not take any offence.”

“None taken,” Hereward replied. “I understand that the Five Lands place their own preservation and interests first, beyond anything else. It’s a natural course of action, after all. If I am to blame you, don’t we need to first blame ourselves, the progenitors of Orb, for passing down such a nature?”

The others chuckled for a few seconds, and as the laughter died down, Gemini seized the chance to speak.

“Eliza, about the civilians…”

“Wartime mobilisation,” Eliza replied. “The civilians will be helping to assist us in logistics and whatnot. They’re all trained for it, after all. And if we fail and something happens to Orb, it’ll be too late to wonder why we didn’t conscript our civilians for aid.”

Her argument made sense, but Gemini still didn’t like the idea of getting civilians into the conflict. There was nothing he could do about it, though, so he diverted the topic and asked about Ark City’s offensive capability.

“To be honest, we haven’t really gone all out,” Eliza replied. “We couldn’t actually invade the Wildlands, since flying was impossible there, and well, the Heaven-cleaving Fortress was doing a pretty good job by the time we arrived.”

Gemini, whose consciousness hadn’t returned at that point in time, could only accept Eliza’s words at face value. After making a few more excuses, they finished off the food and got up.

“It’s a pity we couldn’t stay here for too long,” said Gemini. “But we do need to start pulling our weight too.”

Lila nodded. “If only these peaceful days could last forever.”

“That’s why I’m fighting, right?” Gemini asked. “It’s a pity that your strength is too low, or else we could fight together or something. Something inside my mind tells me that we can’t win, and I’m scared. I haven’t spent enough time with you and Aria, yet we need to separate once more.”

“I can’t fight with you,” said Lila, “but I can still help the general effort.”

“No. I won’t allow you to do that,” Gemini replied. “It’s too dangerous.”

“The Five Lands needs all the help it can get,” Lila replied, her eyes brimming with a firm light. “If you can get the demons to help in this battle, I don’t see why I can’t.”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“That goes for the rest too. Does that mean that they shouldn’t fight then?” Lila asked. “Look. You said it yourself. The world might be doomed in the next six months. Wouldn’t it be sad if we didn’t die together?”

“Auh!”

Gemini blinked, and then turned to the others, who were busy watching the entire drama with relish. “Come on. Give me a hand here.”

“I am the representative of Ark City. If I stop her from contributing on the basis that her strength is too low, we may as well turn back right now,” Eliza replied. “Ninety percent of the expeditionary army is made up of Soldiers and Squires, after all.”

Gemini felt his lip twitch, and then turned to the other great gods, who were suddenly very interested in examining the ceiling.

“Fine, but what about Aria?” Gemini asked.

“We can take care of her,” said Eliza, who was rubbing her hands. “I always wanted to try being a mother.”

“Great grandmother, more like,” Gemini muttered, before letting out a small sigh. The only reason why he didn’t want Lila to participate in this battle was because he was scared of losing her. If she never came back one day…

“I’ll overlook that for today,” said Eliza. “Sheesh. What a worrywart. If you’re that concerned, just create a sturdy barrier for her every morning. Unless the Abyss Sovereign personally acts, nothing’s going to break through any defence you make, right?”

“Exactly,” Lila chimed in. “It would be easy for you, right? You’ve been protecting everyone this whole time. But there’s only so much you can do alone. You’re…”

Her voice lowered. “Not the only person who fears losing their loved ones, you know. It’s unfair, the way you do it. At least, if I’m in the battlefield, I can see you at all times. You’ve left me behind once. Please…don’t do it again.”

Gemini sighed. His failure to return from the Wildlands back then had done a number on Lila. He hadn’t realised what going out would mean, especially against someone who was capable of creating an entire world. To make matters worse, Lila had been sitting in on his conversations with Hereward, which meant that save for the great gods, she was the person who had the best understanding of just what the Abyss Sovereign entailed.

And…he didn’t want to part with her either.

“Fine. We’ll go together. As for Aria…”

“Let me help in that regard,” said Thasvia. “Some of my familiar spirits have been badly injured and are unable to fight. They can take care of Aria instead.”

“A Demigod babysitter?” Gemini blinked.

“Luxurious, right? And we can make our way to the battlefield immediately too.”

Gemini took a deep breath. “I’ll trouble you for that, then.”

“Very good. In that case, let us not delay. We’ll head to the Central Circle immediately.” Thasvia nodded at the others.

“Yes. Time is running out.” Hereward turned to Eliza. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“You’re welcome, O Sentinel of Space.” The Demigod smiled. “Good luck, everyone. Let us meet again on the battlefield.”

The others nodded in reply.