“It’s too easy,” Gemini muttered, his eyes following the gigantic mass of troops. The Five Lands’ march towards the continent centre had been going on for an entire week, at a very steady pace. The forward bases that had been built over the past month or so had served their part well, acting as both defences and logistic points in which supplies had been teleported over.

Incidentally, it was a norm for a quarter of these supplies to never make it out, the exact volume fluctuating up and down at times. On the first day this had happened, Gemini had been worried that infighting would break out, especially since he had conducted multiple surgical strikes on the Five Lands’ food and supplies back when they invaded the Wildlands.

Nothing of that sort happened, however. According to Eliza, the reason why the Five Lands could deal with a crippling shortage with ease was due to their experiences in the Wildlands. The Demigod had glanced at him with amusement at those words, and in fact, when an entire day’s worth of supplies failed to appear one day, everyone had actually sucked it up.

Considering the disgraceful showing that had been put on full display back then, this was nothing short of a miracle.

A miracle, perhaps, was something that would be required here today, or in the next few days. The ease in which the Five Lands had advanced meant that they were deep in enemy territory, and the absence of any significant resistance was too suspicious.

For the past few days, his divine sense had swept out over and over again, but there was nothing that remotely hinted at a trap or anything along these lines. The Five Lands had spent a month gathering strength, as did the Abyss Sovereign, so why did the latter’s forces crumble away like wet issue on first contact?

Sure, the opening offensive was solid, but when pitted against both the static defences around Camp Starfall and the might of the North’s Locomotives, it was a given that the attacking spectres would be annihilated. Gemini had no doubt that the other side was clear about this disparity in combat strength, so why did the Abyss Sovereign launch an offensive anyway? It would have been far more logical to be on the defence, especially since the Five Lands were the ones pressed for time.

It just didn’t make sense.

“You’ve been saying that for the past week.” Thasvia replied. “But I think you’re considering this issue from the wrong side. Let us assume that the enemy is an omniscient being whose actions will always result in the optimal solution for his current situation. In that case, how does throwing away over a million spectres help him achieve his current goal?”

“In the first place,” said Gemini, “what’s his goal in all this? What does he gain from creating an opening for us to take advantage of?”

“You ask good questions that I cannot answer.”

The two great gods fell silent. The slow advance of the Five Lands had been too smooth, too easy. If the Abyss Sovereign intended to entrap them, now would be a good time.

Time melded into a blur. Far below them, the Locomotives and the semi-divinities moved at a snail’s pace, and Gemini felt his lips twitch as he caught sight of the Republic’s Minister of War holding onto what looked like a classic camera. He was speaking to it too, as if there was an audience or something.

The sun was beginning its descent when Gemini finally roused himself from a stupor. For some reason, time seemed to be immaterial to him; minutes and seconds could pass him by without him taking much notice of it.

“Spaced out,” Gemini murmured. “My apologies for being rude.”

“It’s natural. The more you use divinity, the less connected you are to the world around you,” Thasvia replied, her eyes gazing towards the horizon. “Being a great god necessarily entails that you take the big picture into account first. Hence, it is natural for little details like the passing of seconds to slip past your notice. For us, it is in our nature to sense time as a river, rather than infinitesimal moments split into infinite segments.”

“You sound experienced.” The Demon Sovereign cast a long glance at Thasvia. “Mind telling me some of your anecdotes?”

“Hmm…sure.” Thasvia stretched her body, even though there was really no need to. “Around four to five thousand years ago, I was in my Divine Realm when a new game entered the North. I think it was called Jenga? Anyway, it was a game where players removed blocks from a tower. Each level had three blocks, and the goal was to remove blocks without toppling the thing. I was playing the game with Rahwei” —sorrow flashed across her face for a moment— “and at a critical moment, I found myself pondering about my next move.”

“What happened next?” Gemini asked. Hearing about the great gods’ life before this whole fiasco that started with the Second Extermination was like a treat to him.

“Well, I fell into thought, a contemplation that lasted around…two years. Or was it twenty?” Thasvia laughed. “Rahwei also did the same thing, since he was contemplating about my move and how to carry on if I succeeded.”

“…Two years and twenty years don’t seem all that different to you, does it?” Gemini suppressed the urge to laugh.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

The seriousness in the Breath-maker’s reply was more than enough to stump Gemini’s thought processes, in each and every single thought strand of his, and Thasvia laughed once more.

“Hey, that’s rude,” Gemini replied. “But still…if I’m affected by this, is it likely for the Abyss Sovereign to be equally affected by bouts of inattentiveness? Might account for why there’s been no response for an entire week.”

“…A very tempting conclusion, but I believe that is overly optimistic.”

“Overly optimistic?” Gemini echoed. “Why?”

The Breath-maker cupped a hand to her right ear. “I hear all in the wind. And in the past few days, there seems to be whispers about the spectres that have surrounded the Central Circle.”

“Preposterous,” Gemini replied.

“Yes. I’ve personally went down to check on these claims too, and there’s nothing but the mortals seem to think otherwise,” said Thasvia. “I suppose that’s a failing of the mortal mind.”

“That’s true, I guess.” Gemini let out a sigh, before a small quiver grabbed him in its hands. In his mind’s eye, he could see the vanguard of the Five Lands engage in a small skirmish once more, as they came across a small troop of spectres.

Where had the spectres gone to?