Black cubes, with silvery white lines intersecting through the midpoint of every edge, began to orbit around the shadowy mass that was the Abyss Sovereign. A simple sweep of Gemini’s divine sense revealed that there were a hundred and twenty-eight such cubes, each of them equidistant from the person they orbited.

“He’s grown so quickly,” Gemini muttered.

“Unimaginable,” Thasvia agreed, her words slow and measured. “It would seem that the recent events have made him more than capable of encroaching upon Orb. Unfortunately…we’re long past that now.”

Gemini watched as the War Council issued out orders rapidly. The Locomotives, which had been holding off the spectres, began to fall back, spreading out from each other with an exquisite grace to protect the far more vulnerable infantry. Brilliant walls of light surrounded the expedition forces, protecting them from the prospect of enemy fire.

It would have been better if combat had started, however. As it was, the spectres were no longer attacking, and the distant sounds of enemy artillery were conspicuously absent.

“He’s going to address us directly.” Pinnacle Kolya, who was floating near Gemini, stared at the shadow that commanded everyone’s attention. “What happened to you, Gaius? What about the others? Did they agree too? Or did you do something to them?”

“Is the Abyss Sovereign still Gaius in the first place?” Paragon Ying Xin, who was not too far from Kolya, asked. “Or did something take over his mind?”

“We’ve had ample proof about how he’s still sane,” Archduchess Gaia replied. “Even before the Great War, we did have some proof that he was related to the Abyss back then; the Human God had made a beeline for him. We cannot afford to hold back now, not anymore. For every day he lives and his so-called utopia exists, our nations suffer an incredible loss. And we can’t even afford to hold back to begin with.”

The Pinnacle was about to reply when a massive tremor surged out from the ominous presence. Air itself distorted as a deluge of divinity, in an amount that Gemini could barely match up to, swept through the entire world.

In the wake of that incredible outburst, a calm voice began to speak. “People of Orb. I am Gaius, the Abyss Sovereign. Hear my words. A great undertaking nears completion, an undertaking that will liberate you from the most basics of needs. The upper classes of your society make use of resources they hoard unfairly to control you and your family. They demand that you fight for their interests, take up arms against others, and bear the burden of murdering all innocents.”

Gemini struggled against the pervasive voice, which was conjuring up a myriad of images and evoking tens and hundreds of memories. Despite his own personal power, there was nothing Gemini could do to blot out his counterpart’s words, and he could only grit his teeth as the Abyss Sovereign stirred up his memories of the Second Extermination. Memories of casual slaughter forced their way to the forefront of his mind, but without the mind-numbing tint of the Human God back then, Gemini could only feel an utter revulsion for his deeds at that time. In the background of these memories, the nobles of the Southern Assembly and their role in his slaughter had been highlighted, and a small flame lit up in the pit of his stomach.

Forcibly distancing himself from these memories, Gemini isolated the thought strands that were affected by the Abyss Sovereign’s working, but before he could do anything else, the next set of words followed.

“For the past two decades, Orb has been at war. For what reason? Soldiers of the Southern Assembly: why did you massacre the beastfolk back then? Soldiers of the Mortal Light Dynasty: for whom did you slaughter the Central Circle and its civilians for? The Western Holdings, the Eastern Territories: why did you work together in pillaging and burning down the cities of the Southern Assembly?”

Memories that didn’t belong to Gemini, superimposed and layered into a crystalline collage of recollection, burst into the forefront of his consciousness. Bodies, burning cities, ruined homes…these visions flickered through his mind, each of them as foreign and as repulsive as his own memories of the Second Extermination.

“I am not omnipotent. I cannot change the hearts of people, nor can I convince you to drop your hatreds.” The memories vanished, and the darkened world appeared in Gemini’s vision again. “But what I can change is the environment. A blank slate where no hatreds will cloud your mind, a world where you will never want for basic needs again. A world where you can truly be what you want to be.”

The darkness that had infused the sky started to scatter. “Soldiers of Orb, you who march upon my grand undertaking. Do you truly understand the forces that you try to march upon? My forces are indestructible, unlimited. You cannot win. The great gods are not my match. The great gods have not told you, perhaps, but Celestia’s formation is unavoidable. It will be created. No one can stop it.”

A stir swept across the assembled soldiers below, but no one dared to speak out, as if everyone had been spellbound by the utter certainty in the shadow’s words.

“Tools to the mighty. Lowly tools that they discard when broken. Instruments to gain resources that will never belong to you. Soldiers of Orb, why do you continue to suffer, when I offer you paradise? Liberate yourself. Come to my utopia. Be who you want to be, not who you have to be.”

The tremendous presence of the Abyss Sovereign faded away, but the echoes of his parting sentence lingered on, and a low, unpleasant drone filled the area. With that single speech, the Abyss Sovereign had driven over three-quarters of the entire expedition into questioning their decisions, as they confronted their own dark memories.

Thasvia’s voice swept out. “The Abyss Sovereign is just misleading you! He is affecting your mind, your ability to judge the truth! Do not listen to his words!”

“Then why,” a voice floated out from the masses below, in reply to Thasvia’s words, “did I kill so many beastfolk?”

Thasvia shook.

That last sentence was enunciated with a particular vehemence. The speaker, an ordinary soldier, burst into flames. leaving behind equipment that clattered quietly onto the ground. A white orb shot up into the skies, leaving behind a brilliant trail as all kinds of sentences floated into Gemini’s ears.

“We’ve been…made use of.”

“This…they lied to us.”

“Why did we even do all this?”

Similar wails filled the air, a lament that was swiftly accompanied by a chaotic symphony of clattering metal as soldiers abandoned their forms and equipment. Within seconds, a vast stream of white globes had surged upwards, arcing into the shadowy globe beyond.

The Five Lands had been defeated, and the Abyss Sovereign hadn’t even moved a muscle this time.

Distant rumbles echoed from beyond the horizon, and the spectres began to move. Shrieking and howling, the enormous tide of darkness surged towards the airborne troops of the Five Lands, which had been marginally less affected by the Abyss Sovereign’s words.

Pinnacle Kolya stared at the approaching wall of spectres, and then breathed out slowly. “Retreat. We’ve lost.”

Gemini took a deep breath, and then floated forward in silence. Divinity danced around him, ready to lash out at any moment.