“The key is conquering Godora in one sweep,” General Milfins stated, his mellifluous baritone carrying throughout the room. “I reckon it would take most of our manpower, even with the element of surprise. Godora’s no push over, especially since their higher ranked officers have glosSwords.”

Milfins narrowed his eyes, his gaze falling over the room with an intensity only matched by the two other generals. It’s like they’ve mastered the art of the intimidating stare, Ian thought. Like Euryphel, Milfins had light blond hair and pale skin, but those were the only similarities: His light blue eyes, chiseled face, and cropped hair painted the image of a weathered soldier.

General Var’dun’a tugged at the cloth covering her lower jaw and neck, revealing a sliver of pink flesh that contrasted sharply with her chocolate skin. The entire meeting Ian had been trying to discern what kind of injury would produce such a discoloration–it looked like a burn, but was it from fire, acid, or something else?

“This is why we need to prioritize entering near the river’s fork. The glosSword manufacturing facility is in the interior, but the fork is at the same latitude,” she rasped. “It’ll be a straight shot.”

Euryphel frowned. “Seizing the glosSword plant first won’t do anything to help our objectives.”

Var’dun’a shook her head. “We’re not after the swords, but their creators: We can’t let Godora evacuate the practitioner team that artifices glosSwords. Even if we managed to find blueprints and instructions, it would likely take at least a month before our own practitioners could produce a single sword.”

“So the initial step is to send a small team to blitz the glosSword manufacturing center?” Iffis murmured. “I’m following. But then what?”

Euryphel folded his hands over his gavel. “We’ll have a minute at most before the rest of Godora is alerted to our intrusion. We won’t be able to reach the manufacturing center fast enough.”

Kur’sha–one of the congressmen from the Fassari delegation–nodded his head, his hands placed upon a glosspad and a small placard that bore his title: secretary of intelligence. “Godora’s detection web is potent–they don’t have as many practitioners per capita as even Selejo, yet they have range amplifying towers all along their border and at strategic points inland.”

All true, Ian thought to himself. Which is why Hashat attacked Godora by entering not over its shared border with the SPU, but by skirting around the coast.

“What about entering by sea?” Ian proposed. He pointed a finger at the three-dimensional map projected above the table, trying to interpose his finger over the small cleft on Godora’s top-right boundary. “Compared to where the Kyeila River forks, this point should be even closer to the manufacturing center.”

Shivin’i smiled. “If it were just by sea, we wouldn’t stand a chance at seizing Godora. But if we went with a pincer attack...”

“Hor’well, what do you think of this?” Var’dun’a asked, her voice a reedy whisper.

The general sighed and leveled his one uncovered eye at Ian. “Skai’aren...how confident are you that we could approach without being detected from the East?”

An interesting question, Ian thought to himself. How much can I trust the loop? How much stock can I place in my weeks as a Godoran Corona, second in rank only to Coronus?

“What I know of Godora I learned while in Selejo’s Infinity Loop, acting as a Corona on the northeastern coast’s garrison. The loop’s simulation was of an unparalleled fidelity...but End practitioners like the Crowned Prime would have recognized the loop for what it was: a simulation. That being said, terrorists were able to come in undetected by way of water and attack coastal settlements. We didn’t have a solid means to detect them until they started blowing things up.”

Hor’well nodded his head slowly, considering Ian’s words. “Even if you were in the Infinity Loop...since it used the real world as a template, Godora would have been unable to hide something as obvious as defensive artillery along the coastline, at least not without alerting you. I presume that you or at least your underlings would have noticed if structures off the coast were deactivated or destroyed.”

“I would hope so,” Ian replied with a short chuckle. “I’d like to think I wasn’t that incompetent.”

General Hor’well pivoted to the secretary of intelligence. “Kur’sha, what does the intelligence we have suggest about the viability of entering Godora by way of the Illyrian Ocean?”

“There’s definitely some artillery along the coast,” Kur’sha replied. “With respect to surveillance towers, however...they don’t have any on the water. There would be outposts all along the Jermal Trench, but from our latest reports, these coastal towers are fewer in number than those on the Kyeila River. If we send in a stealth team, I think we’d have the best shot at remaining undetected by entering on the coast.”

“We’ll send in a strike team then,” Hor’well declared. “While that team blitzes toward the glosSword manufacturing center, we’ll have several other platoons set up around the border. We’ll need to hide them until our intrusion has been discovered; at that point, we can begin our full-out push toward the capital.”

General Milfins rubbed his arm and gave Ian a pointed look. “After securing the glosSword artificers, we’ll have most of the strike team move on Corvid City, to be joined by the platoons entering from the West. Skai’aren...I don’t want to make the mistake of underestimating you. Would you be able to subjugate a city like Corvid on your own?”

Ian had never been to Corvid, though he knew the capital city was a bit smaller than Zukal’iss. It was well-defended, the Godoran equivalent of the SPU Guard all outfitted with glosSwords and stationed around the city’s central palace.

“Define ‘subjugate,’” Ian said.

“If we threaten Corvid with enough force, we may ensure a swift surrender from Godora. Would you be able to take down the entire city with overwhelming firepower?”

“I’m not an elementalist: I wouldn’t be able to simply blast the city out of existence. But I could certainly use my own methods, given I have the right resources and support.”

Milfins snorted, his lips curving upward slightly. “Assuming you’ve acquired a glosSword from the initial strike, what would you need to be able to take the city?”

“I’d want a team to feed me intelligence about the battlefield, as well as defend me against any Remorse attacks. Since I’m no longer going to be bothering to hide my strength, a glosSword-enhanced bone shield should be sufficient to deal with most physical or energy bombardments.”

“You’ll still want a group of practitioners to defend you against powerful artillery,” Euryphel added. “You won’t be the only one with a glosSword, and they’ll have heavier firepower in the city than you’ve ever seen in Menocht Bay.”

“If you want to give me more defenders, I won’t say no.”

“So if I understand correctly,” Hor’well began, “you’re saying that you can take Corvid City on your own with a team of dedicated defenders. Corvid isn’t a sitting duck: The Godorans use the same principles behind the glosSword to enhance their defenses, utilizing reactors stored in pocket dimensions to create massive shields. Since you requested no offensive backup...what is your strategy for taking the city?”

Ian blinked. He’d never actually seized control of a city before. The closest example he could think of was when he’d killed neighboring cities and towns around Menocht, using their inhabitants as fodder to annihilate both Menocht Bay and march on Illuet Province’s capital.

Don’t think about whether you actually murdered all those people, Ian chided himself. At least not now.

Ian figured a similar strategy was off the table: They wanted to subjugate Godora, not murder its civilians. All that was necessary was merely the threat of destruction, not its execution.

“You need to be willing to do the unthinkable,” Euryphel whispered over the wind, his mouth almost unmoving. “You’re going into a city defended by Regret practitioners. If you wish to take the city with overwhelming might, you’re going to need to be willing to destroy it. Regret practitioners will probe you: They might not be as powerful as me, but some of them will be able to see at least thirty seconds into the future.

“For that reason...you can’t go in expecting to bluff your way to victory. You need to be willing to kill everyone you can get your hands on and rot the city from the inside out. Even if you have Beginning practitioners supporting you, they have no way to be absolutely certain whether you’re in reality or a Regret scenario. No: You’ll just have to trust that in the real world, the Godoran commanders will surrender before you turn their city into a necropolis.”

Ian shuddered as Euryphel’s words blew past his ears, goosebumps rising on his arms.

“To take control of the city, I intend to leverage the threat of overwhelming force. If I head to a populous district, I can kill thousands of people in a moment and use their energy and bodies to create soul gems and flesh golems. From there, I can send them out to kill others in a tide of death.” The people would ultimately consume one another, shields unable to stop the risen dead.

Ian noticed that while Eury gave him a small nod of approval, everyone else was staring at him with varying levels of perplexity.

“The goal here would be to force them to surrender before it ever came to that point,” Ian clarified, coughing lightly.

“You believe you can really doom the entire city if you wish?” Hor’well inquired, his eyes narrowing. “That you could similarly destroy Zukal’iss?”

“...I could, if I had the element of surprise,” Ian replied. “If I wasn’t supported by defenders, I could be assassinated. And if they knew to evacuate the citizens beforehand, I wouldn’t have nearly as easy a time. Or if we went into Selejo where the Eldemari can bind lives together, I’d likely be unable to kill her people without sacrificing our own forces. My strategy isn’t foolproof, but I think it’ll suffice for capturing Corvid.”

Hor’well nodded his head ever-so-slowly. “And you’re already aware that you have to be willing to follow through on your plan? They’re going to test you. If you’re only willing to bluff, your plan will end in failure.”

“I’m aware.”

The general nodded and gestured to Euryphel.

“We’ll need someone to negotiate the terms of surrender. Ko’la, I was already going to ask you to accompany the strike team to the manufacturing center. Would you be willing to confront house Godor about relinquishing control of their lands?”

Ko’la exhaled and straightened in his seat. “It’s an unpleasant task, but I’m willing. Who else will be on the strike team?”

“I’ll lead the strike,” General Var’dun’a whispered. “Ko’la and I are both peak Dark practitioners. We’ll also want Sun practitioners to mask our heat signatures, as well as a Remorse practitioner to confound anyone unlucky enough to see past our defenses. Finally, to move quickly and facilitate communication, we’ll need at least three wind elementalists.”

“You’ll also be needing defensive support for the Skai’aren,” Milfins murmured. “If the Skai’aren is going to move on Corvid as soon as the glosSword center is captured, the defenders should travel with him.”

“Very well; what do you all have in mind to defend the Skai’aren? While Ko’la and myself will be able to provide valuable support, we’d also want a mud squad to put up barriers, a beam squad to disable long-range weapons, and at least two surveillance cells, with all squad members at least in the low 80s.”

Ian knew that mud squads were teams of earth and water elementalists trained to use their abilities together, while beam squads were a similar equivalent but with fire elementalists and Light practitioners combining their energy to create straight-shooting long-distance beams. In contrast, surveillance cells were made up of four practitioner types: Beginning, End, Regret, and wind elementalists. The End and Regret practitioners would relay their intel to the Beginning practitioner, who in turn would summarize all three of their observations to the wind elementalist.

“That sounds reasonable to me,” Hor’well declared. “We’ll provide the council a list of names for all forces by tomorrow.”

“Is there anything else on the agenda for today?” Euryphel asked.

Hor’well nodded. “I’m satisfied.”

Euryphel tapped his gavel lightly on the table. “Show of hands for all in favor of adjourning.”

Everyone’s hand went up, some slower than others; Ian’s was one of the last.

The first prince banged the gavel. “Session is adjourned.”

Everyone began to stream out until no one was left but Ian and Euryphel.

“You want to ask me something,” Euryphel said. Now that they were alone, he relaxed his posture and sat back in his chair, yawning.

Ian sighed. “I’m a bit...confused. We didn’t discuss contingencies and alternative strategies.”

“It’s...complicated,” Euryphel replied, waving the gavel aimlessly. “It’s an almost fruitless task to think of all contingencies. A fight between two Regret practitioners is already enough of a headache, let alone a fight between entire groups of them.”

Ian grimaced at the thought, imagining a team of Euryphels outmaneuvering each other.

“The key isn’t to have ten backup plans ready, but instead to have supreme intelligence of the battlefield and the ability to be flexible. What we’ve done today is decide on our overall strategy. In the midst of conflict, it’ll ultimately be up to the field commander to select the best tactics to achieve victory.”

“But what if we need to change strategies?” Ian asked.

Euryphel used his gavel to boop Ian on the arm. “That’s why you have General Var’dun’a herself stepping on the field. She’ll decide whether to drop everything and retreat if we’re completely foiled, or whether to burn Godora to the ground.”

The prince grinned. “Having said all that...I don’t anticipate us needing to change the Godoran strategy. We’ll have the element of surprise and thus the upper hand. When it comes to our next maneuver, however...I suspect there will be much more contention over how best to use our momentum to attack Kyeila and Brin.”

“At that point Selejo won’t sit still,” Ian murmured. “We’ll be potentially facing conflict on all borders.”

Euryphel smiled bitterly. “I think we’ve discussed war enough for one day.” He stood up from his chair and opened the door for Ian, trailing the decemancer into the hallway.