“Oh hey, you guys are back.” Schwarz glanced up from a map. “And I see you didn’t get anything after all, Risti.”

“Don’t blame me. This week’s items would have delighted Claud, but I don’t think I need a hundred and fifty barriers,” Risti replied. “It would be nice if the rewards for this week were spying artefacts, but I suppose the Moons won’t ever need something like that.”

“That’s a very optimistic outlook on things, considering that the Moons haven’t located all the hostile Bearers of Destiny yet. And Tot. Especially Tot.” Schwarz shook his head. “I’m sure they can’t see everything just yet.”

“True…or maybe it’s because they lack surveillance artefacts that they can’t find Tot!” Risti clapped her hands. “Ah ha. That’s something, right?”

“Possible, true…”

Dia rolled her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Me and Miss Spy here were looking at the tactical map when she decided to go and check out the wishing-slash-shooting star fountain,” Schwarz replied. “So I decided to take a break and make some drinks instead, and then I noticed a small mountain that was represented on the tactical map as a wine glass.”

“You know, normally, when you say relax, I think of drinking,” Dia replied. “Not making drinks.”

“It’s almost the same thing.” Schwarz glanced at the map once more. “Anyway, if you’re here, it means that you’re done turning the only approach into a death trap, then.”

Dia nodded. “Death trap completed. And it’s not enough, apparently. On my way back, I saw the Moonlit soldiers training to use normal catapults and other siege weapons. It’s somewhat funny to see them use those normal weapons, considering that they’re all one-folders and all.”

“That just shows that the Moons feel threatened by Absolute Terror,” Schwarz replied.

Risti walked over to the map. “I believe any of the Absolute skills can threaten the divinities. It’s not just Absolute Terror. Something like Absolute Domination…I’m reasonably certain that the gods and divinities can be enslaved by it too.”

“If it’s that good…”

“Well, at least the owner died, so that’s that.” Risti shook her head. “I wonder what skills are left, though.”

The three of them mulled over this depressing topic for a while, and in the silence, Dia couldn’t help but feel a little resentful. After all, the owner of Absolute Domination had been part of the Moons’ faction too. If that idiot hadn’t misused his skill or something, maybe today’s scenario wouldn’t have occurred.

“Ugh.”

“There’s a lot of emotions loaded into that one sigh,” Schwarz noted. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” Dia replied. “Just pissed off. Tot really hates the Moons, doesn’t he? Damnit. He killed off two of their Bearers! And the last one’s just cowering or something now. Gah.”

She veneered off into spouting incomprehensible stuff for the next few minutes, as her subconscious mind turned into a baby. Dia really, really didn’t like starting off on such an unfair footing — the faction she had joined had been screwed over from the start, and it wasn’t like she could actually choose the Dark or the Coloured Gods. After all, even the Holy Son of the Black God had been roped onto this blasted pirate ship.

The only saving grace was that they were just contractually bound to do some work and nothing else. If push came to shove, running was definitely on the cards, although Dia couldn’t imagine the Moons being happy with their actions.

“Alright, alright.” Schwarz let out a sigh. “Anyway, bad news. The first scouts of the great Dark just showed up at the periphery.”

He pointed at the map.

This map was something that he had obtained from the Fountain of Rewards. It fell with a golden light too, and its extraordinary bearing was matched with its abilities. The Mastermind’s Map automatically generated the surrounding five kilometres all around its current location, and marked out all lifeforms within. It was like Risti’s Skyward Eye, but it was very specialised in that it indicated the allegiances of people who showed up.

The entire camp showed up as ‘Moonlit’, while a small dot that said ‘Black God’ could be found in the middle of the camp — which was Nero. Those without any allegiance displayed their own names or that of Emperor Grandis’, more often than not.

At any rate, it was a very useful artefact for detecting infiltrators.

“Their scouts just showed up?” Dia asked. “Like when we were talking?”

“Around there, I suppose.” Schwarz clicked his teeth. “The main body shouldn’t be too far off…or rather, the owner of Absolute Terror shouldn’t be that far off. Here’s the thing, though; they must have spotted us laying down these traps. What would they do in response? Would the Shadowed soldiers clear those traps out for the Bearer of Destiny? If so…”

“The Bearer of Destiny is probably in the middle or in the rear,” Risti muttered.

“I sent Farah out right before you guys returned to check on the situation,” Schwarz added. “We should be able to tell what the Dark is intending to do once she returns.”

“Alright,” Dia replied. “What about Nero?”

“He’s there to protect her,” Schwarz answered. “Anyway, we’ll need to be very careful of the enemy. I’m sure his Absolute skill has evolved a few times. And while devastating, the fact that we need to see him to be affected seems like a glaring, obvious weakness.”

“True, but I’m sure most of the Absolute skills have their own weaknesses to begin with. It’s Absolute something, not Invincible something,” Risti replied.

“To me, I don’t really see the difference,” Schwarz replied. “But okay.”

“Heh.” Risti picked up a bottle. “You made this during your break earlier, right? Can I have it?”

“Can you drink it without a problem?” Schwarz nodded. “Not a lot of alcohol. Go ahead.”

“I can drink alcohol just fine, okay?” Risti replied. “It’s just that Nero’s an insane alcoholic. I can handle your average drinks.”

Before Schwarz could reply, the door opened again, and the two who had went out without Dia seeing them somehow — they probably missed each other due to the small interlude at the fountain — walked into the house.

“Bad news,” Farah announced.

“The Dark’s main body of troops just arrived outside,” Nero added. “How are the extra gifts going?”

“We finished turning the only viable path into a death trap,” Dia replied. “What’s the Dark doing?”

“They’re setting up camp outside,” Nero replied. “It seems like a siege.”

“Any signs of Lesser Half?” Schwarz asked. “Or Greater Half?”

“None so far,” Farah answered.

Dia thought about the two divinities that collectively made up the great Dark. They didn’t have any really inspiring names; according to Claud and Lily, who Schwarz had visited some time back, they were called Lesser Half and Greater Half. As for why they were called that, or why they called themselves that, the two of them didn’t know, but whenever Dia heard about the Dark, this question always popped up in her head.

What kind of whole did the two divinities make?

“Okay,” Schwarz replied. “Anyway, we’ve done what we were told to do. The Moonlit soldiers should be the ones moving now, not us. The reinforcements from Istrel are on the way anyway, so we should be…yeah, who am I kidding?”

The bartender let out a sigh. “Get ready for battle. I’m sure they’ll finish setting up their camp a lot faster than our mortal minds can comprehend, and then they’ll start assaulting this base. We either prepare to flee back to Istrel or kick their asses here. Choose one.”

“We don’t need to commit ourselves to anything yet,” Nero replied. “Just keep our options open.”

“It’ll suck if we need to retreat, though,” Dia muttered. “After all, there are still two lovebirds who are preparing a small fortress for us in case something happens.”

“I don’t know about you, but said fortress is, for us right now, deep into enemy territory,” Schwarz replied. “I think they were expecting something different, like say, the Dark not pushing all the way to Quies Dukedom.”

“…Well, if we need to infiltrate enemy territory, we have a base there.” Schwarz shrugged. “But that’s all contingent on us actually making it past the next few days to begin with.”

“The Moons are here, and the Dark isn’t. It’ll be fine.” Nero tapped the table. “In fact, Absolute Terror might have retreated.”

“How optimistic,” Schwarz muttered. “And how do you know that the great Dark isn’t at the frontlines? For all we know, they might be hiding behind a tree, waiting to jump out at the best timing.”

Nero snorted. “The three sides will remain untouched until the Trial of Aeons is over. I’m certain of this. The five grand skies planned something this elaborate. They won’t allow their plan to be screwed over because one side bowed out in advance.”

“You speak like they’re almost human or something.”

“Or maybe it’s us humans who are trying to be like them,” Nero replied. “At any rate, the chances of one side being utterly defeated isn’t going to happen…probably.”

Dia couldn’t help but note that even the Holy Son of the Black God didn’t sound too sure about his own words.