[Book 10: Destiny Divine]

The mighty presence that was the Moons’ army soon vanished, and Dia turned to look at the others, who were just eating breakfast and waiting for the Lunar Lord to show up. Farah had even conducted a dry run of the excuses she would use later, and Schwarz was planning on breaking out some drinks just in case the Lunar Lord didn’t see…reason.

Was it really fine for the others to be this relaxed?

Letting out a puff of air, she joined the others. “It feels like something huge just came and left, doesn’t it? Some huge, epoch-defining event.”

“The largest force of humans and Moonlit soldiers just embarked on a massive expedition. I wouldn’t say that you were wrong.” Farah spread out some fried egg onto a slice of bread, before chopping up a sausage into small pieces with skilled, dainty movements. “It might define something.”

“Well, either the entire force is wiped out, or they win. I’d call that era-defining,” Schwarz replied. “Hurry up and eat, guys. I’m sure they’ll realise that something went wrong and we’re still stuck here.”

“Stuck here, yes.” Nero yawned. “Still, it seems that our ability to coordinate things like this has increased ever since we got a lot of practice with that one issue, hasn’t it?”

The others grunted in agreement.

“Magical, isn’t it?” Dia jiggled her shoulders and started scoffing down their breakfast before a peeved Lunar Lord came knocking. “Anyway, what do you think they’ll ask us to do?”

“Look after the base, I suppose,” Risti replied. “Against random attacks or something. That’s the most likely scenario, isn’t it?”

“Or maybe no one’s going to show up,” Dia replied. “That’ll be great.”

“It’s also possible that we’ll be teleported to the frontlines after we step out of Moon Mansion,” Schwarz added. “That’s another possibility too, if nothing happens after an hour or two. But if that’s the case, are we going to stay in the mansion for like a few days first?”

“Hmm. It’ll be quite obvious if we all refuse to go out, right?” Risti wondered. “The Moons will definitely know that we did it on purpose.”

“We could use the excuse of us not knowing anything if we just stepped out an hour or so after this, but yeah, that’s not going to fly a week afterwards.” Farah made a face. “I suppose we can finish breakfast first, and then step out of the dome and see what happens next. It should be fine, I suppose.”

“It’s not our fault we didn’t know this would happen. Heh.” Schwarz poured out another drink. “Still, I really don’t want to go…”

“You sound like someone who just doesn’t want to go to work. Still, we need to go, right? The pay we were promised is too irresistible to pass up,” Dia replied. “The ability to evolve our skills once, to increase our Mana Control Proficiency by one rank and a passive skill that would make projectiles miss us more. It’s the kind of thing that we’ll need for the upcoming chaos.”

“Yeah. And if we dally too long…” Risti let out a sigh. “Alright, let’s hurry up and finish this.”

It didn’t take long before all the dishes were cleaned, and with a small huff, Dia carried her bag and lifted it to her shoulder. It would have been easy for everyone to stay here and tough it out, but was that any different from accepting fate as it came?

“No, that’s not a rhetorical question…” Dia shook her head. What was the path that they were meant to tread? Was there even one in the first place?

Shivering, she looked at the others. “Now then, I’ll step out of Moon Mansion first. If nothing happens…I suppose it’s good, then. But if something does happen, I’ll be waiting for you guys on the other side.”

“No. We do this together,” Schwarz replied. “We’re a team.”

“A team, huh.” Dia looked at the others. “Well, whatever. If you want to go together, then follow me.”

Everyone ended up crowding around her after she said those words, forcing everyone to crowd into the small cabin that moved them in and out of Moon Mansion. The metal cabin creaked as it ferried them across the dome and into Moon Street, and with a flare of bright light, a circle of white radiance formed all around them.

“So it’s automatic, huh.” Dia shook her head. “This does at least clear up any possible missing people ca—”

The white light drowned out the rest of her words, and the wind howled around her. The blazing radiance vanished a moment later, revealing a vast, empty plaza.

“That was a lot less dramatic than the first time,” Risti complained. “Okay, so we’re here…and everyone’s gone, I suppose.”

The five of them looked around for a few seconds, before a blue flash of light appeared. A Moonlit soldier, dyed in the colours of Plota, looked at them, confusion written all over his face, and then frowned. “How did you get here?”

“We walked out of our house,” Farah replied. “We were supposed to be here a few hours ago, but for some reason, we weren’t brought here at that time.”

The blue soldier tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then brightened up.

Literally.

“Ah, you must have been in a place that impedes teleportation!”

“Yeah, that apparently is our home,” Farah replied. “It would have been nice to know that a lot earlier, to be honest. We’re just stranded here or something now. Mind leading us to a place so that we can at least put down our luggage? After that, I suppose we need to receive our payment or something. We were promised a bunch of things, after all.”

“Why does your home impede teleportation?” the Moonlit soldier asked.

“It’s a safety precaution, apparently.” Farah shrugged.

“Is that the trending fashion nowadays? But you four are folders after all. I suppose there is—” Without warning, the Moonlit soldier fell silent, and a reverent expression floated onto his face. “The master has ordered me to bring you post-haste to his throne.”

“A divine revelation…” Nero narrowed his eyes. “Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen or felt it happen without all the bells and whistles, though.”

Dia glanced at the Holy Son, who was clearly more used to these matters than anyone else, before deciding not to say anything.

The Moonlit soldier looked at Nero once, nodded, and then said, “Follow me. I will bring you to the master. I trust I need not talk about the necessary formalities?”

Everyone grunted, and the soldier beckoned for them to follow. Dia took the chance to look around the huge encampment at the same time, and the sights that entered her eyes were surprising. Other than the huge square that they had appeared in, the encampment was home to lots and lots of buildings. At first glance, they looked like barracks, but the desolation that these buildings gave off was so strong that Dia didn’t want to look at them anymore than was required.

There were some training grounds too, with obstacles that were presumably built for the regular formations. Still, given the regular armies were made up of Moonlit soldiers, did they really need training?

Looking at the worn training grounds, Dia could tell that these places had been used over and over. At the very least, however, the Moonlit armies were really dedicated to their training, which was a good sign for their victory.

The soldier led them to the centre of the encampment, towards an odd tower. It looked like a regular tower, the kind that the Nightfall Palace had, but at the very top, there was a weird, beehive-like ball made out of a shimmering crystal. It hurt to simply look at it, and Dia even had a faint feeling that looking at it for too long would damage her somehow.

It was, in other words, dangerous.

Against her better judgement, she continued to follow the Moonlit soldier with the others, and the doors opened as they neared the base of the tower, revealing a shimmering white light that seemed to combine the colours of the Three Moons.

“Don’t speak from here onwards,” the Moonlit soldier requested. “I will bring you to the waiting room. Just stand there and don’t move. The master will bring you in shortly.”

“I understand,” Nero replied, glancing at the others. “We’ll do as the Moons say.”

“Good.”

In silence, their little party followed the soldier into the tower, eventually stopping at a little room with small, fluffy seats. Gesturing for them to sit down, the soldier bowed once, and then left the room, taking extra care to keep the volume down.

Dia eyed the others nervously, before directing her gaze to the huge door on the other side. It emanated a regal air that didn’t seem that ostentatious, something that she could totally get behind. Her father would definitely like this door too, which was saying a lot about the fashion sense of the Mo—

Her surroundings rippled once, blurring over and transitioning into a patchwork of colours, before condensing to form what looked like a throne room. Three seats floated in mid-air, each of them radiating a faint, oppressive radiance that could overwhelm her senses.

She glanced at the leftmost chair, and an enormous image of a cratered blue sphere imprinted itself onto her mind. Dia reeled an instant later, but some power seemed to prevent her from gagging, coughing or even making any sound whatsoever.

Rubbing her eyes as they teared up, Dia enduring the boiling pain in her head and kept her head low.

The Blue Moon was too blinding to look at properly.