As the strategy meeting continued, Dia couldn’t help but think about the time they hunted the Red God’s Holy Son. Of course, this time, everyone was around, and no one knew the other skills the holder of Absolute Terror had.

She looked at two empty seats, and then revised her thoughts. The two of them were not here…but at least they were close by. If nothing else, sending them a message for help was still very possible.

Not like it would help, though. Dia thought about asking her family for help, now that Ruler Umbra was now a thing of the past, but her instincts told her that staying incognito was the best thing she could do right now. While her father definitely knew her current location, thanks to her aunt, this was typically the limit in which secrets could be kept. If she pushed her luck and asked for reinforcements, things would probably devolve really quickly.

“…identifying the target’s remaining skills is our top priority,” Schwarz continued. “We’ll also need to conduct reconnaissance against the enemy forces, and most importantly, discover the strength of our target.”

“It’ll be very dangerous, though,” Risti noted. “For someone to be this confident, I’m sure that person is prepared for attempts like these.”

“Yes. Throwing us off is the most basic step,” Schwarz replied.

“How would he or she throw us off?” Farah asked, curious. Schwarz looked at the countess, and then nodded once.

“Long ago, Claud told me about some methods. One of the most obvious methods is using the same skillstick over and over again. If done correctly and over a long enough period of time, you can lead any observers into thinking that you have certain skills…which can prove deadly.” Schwarz paused. “For instance, the observer misleads you into thinking that he only has long-ranged skills, thereby enticing you into approaching up close.”

He grinned.

“And when you get up close,” Risti continued, “he unleashed six close-range skills designed to seal an assailant’s movement and cuts down the fool instantly. Things like that. It’s easy, really. The best way to make people believe in mistakes is to let them reach those mistaken conclusions themselves.”

“Exactly.”

Dia took one look at the in-sync fellows, and then shook her head. It was scary watching those two bond together over things like killing other people and tricking other people to get them into a better position to be killed.

She turned to Nero, who was nodding enthusiastically, and then rubbed her head. How did she forget? The original meeting to deal with the Red God’s Holy Son was led by no other than Nero himself. By the looks of it, Farah was also probably going to fall in love with such scheming, and Dia made a face. Stroking the hilt of her sword, she shook her head at those violent maniacs.

“Anyway,” Dia interrupted, “how are we going to gather information on the enemy if they’re all going to hide their abilities and everything. And besides, the Dark should be moving with the target, right? We’ll be hardpressed to look for the culprit.”

“That might not be the case,” Risti noted. “After all, the target has Absolute Terror. If he or she moved with the Dark’s armies, there’s a high chance of harming their own side if an ambush occurred and the Bearer of Destiny used Absolute Terror. I’m sure that person is probably alone right now.”

Dia closed her eyes. She could picture a shadow moving from cover to cover, leaves rustling as the silent wall of approaching doom flitted from point to point. Rather than a human, this was a weapon of war — one that would only shine when alone and outnumbered. She couldn’t help but feel some pity for Absolute Terror; even if that person truly became a god of the next era, that person would forever be alone.

“…Dia? What’s wrong?”

Eyes turned to her as Risti uttered her name.

“I’m just…thinking about the person who has that skill,” Dia replied. “…It probably sucks, now that I think about it.”

“Huh?” Risti tilted her head, while the others expressed their own confusion in various other methods. “Why would you pity this person who’s practically made for war?”

“Is that fact not worth pitying itself?” Dia asked. “From what I understand, Absolute skills cannot be earned or anything. They are given. Or…forced. You cannot remove them, right? They are stuck with it forever, and have one less skill as a result. Think about losing two of your skills right now, stuck with one that will draw the attention of the divinities if you used it. How is that?”

“It’s probably the qualification for divinity, though,” Risti replied.

“The owner of Absolute Terror…if that person becomes a god, all who lay eyes on that person will probably die, right?” Dia rebutted. “There won’t be anyone for that person.”

She shook her head. “The same goes for the other Bearers of Destiny. In fact, one could say that these people never had a choice to begin with.”

“…Stop trying to make me feel bad for the enemy,” Schwarz muttered. “But you’re right. Here’s my question, though. What of it? What do you hope by bringing this up? To show that person mercy? Maybe you want to talk to that person and convince the walking embodiment of fear to turn around?”

“…No, of course not. That’s naïve.” Dia shook her head. “It’s just that I feel bad for that person, that’s all. And all the other Bearers of Destiny. Did they get to choose their own path? Or did they follow the direction that had been lit up for them?”

“…We’ll never know.”

“Yeah.” Dia let out a small sigh. “Because all of them will probably be dead, save for…one side, I suppose.”

“One side, huh?” Nero sighed. “Don’t think too much about it. There’s one more chance. If you wanted your shot at destiny but was not favoured, just fight for a spot in the Trial of Aeons.”

“And die to the Chromatic Lords and other high-rank folders that have been biding their time all this while?” Farah asked. “Don’t be silly. We’ll just tough it out and be the new Chromatic Lords of the following era.”

“This is the Last Godsfall, though.” Nero shook his head. “And…while the Trial of Aeons seem to give some advantages to the survivors of the Third Godsfall, I don’t think it will be this successful. The Chromatic Lords were warned to know their place; while the monarchs of the three continents were not allowed to transcend their sixth mana circuit. Nothing happens without a reason.”

“…What are you trying to get at?” Schwarz asked.

“Nothing much in particular. It won’t affect us, after all.” Nero paused. “Let’s return this conversation to the here and now. We’ll need to harass the enemy over and over again, but the enemy is only one person. It will not be an easy job, and to make matters worse, if Absolute Terror really works based off vision, we’ll all be handicapped. Nonetheless, we don’t have much of a choice.”

Risti raised her hand. “We should all brainstorm on ways to deal with Absolute Terror first and foremost.”

“Natural disasters…how does that sound?” Nero asked. “Go ahead, go and scare a flood or an earthquake. I’m sure the Moons will oblige."

“No need to be this dramatic,” Risti replied. “We just need to attack the target without looking at the person, right? Just lay out thousands and thousands of traps in the region between us and the enemy. Something that would…explode, for instance. We can poison the water and everything too.”

“Yeowch.” Farah thought about the idea for a while. “But that makes sense, I suppose. We can also launch sneak attacks and then flee immediately. We can’t stay after that, but if we do that enough times, the enemy will be tired and paranoid. That’ll leave lots of gaps that we can exploit.”

“We can also use war machines,” Schwarz suggested. “Those that hurl lots of rocks in an arc. Since it’s an arc, we can bombard the enemy from behind cover really easily, and we won’t even need mana to do this.”

Everyone turned to look at Dia, who immediately started to think really hard. However, all the obvious ideas had been stolen, so she had to settle on the more unscrupulous methods.

“We can also do some information-gathering on the person’s identity,” Dia suggested, after a while. “Maybe find out who that person holds dear and then hold them hostage or something. Make dummies with their loved ones’ face on the head or something.”

The others looked at Dia, horrified looks on their face.

“What?” Dia replied. “You guys said all the obvious ones already!”

“That’s…true, but that’s also way too dark.” Schwarz shivered.

Dia glared at the bartender. “Alright, then, smart guy. How about you think of another method, then? Don’t go and reuse the old ones!”

“Uh…” Schwarz made an odd motion with his head. “I mean, that’s fair, I suppose…”

“So get off my back or something. Sheesh.” Dia shook her head. “My idea’s useless anyway. It’s too long. You’ll need a lot of groundwork and knowledge to do all this.”

The others nodded.

“Well then, we should get to work. Before we head out, though, we can swing by to see if the Moons have already issued any missions,” Schwarz noted. “Also, I’m going to inform the two lovebirds about the current situation later, so I’ll leave camp for a while.”

With those words, everyone got up and left.