The sky darkened, and both sides of the conflict entered a silent agreement. Wounded were taken back to be treated, soldiers fell on their beds or on the ground itself exhausted, and the dead were left to rot. There was nothing they could do about the bodies in no-man's land, other than shoot down a bold Necrotor now and again.

In her command center, General Lilac analyzed the maps in front of her with a frown. The first day of war was one of the harshest, so it was understandable they would suffer many losses. However, as the commander-in-chief of the whole Menoraz Army for this campaign, she didn't like the numbers she was seeing.

"Five thousand dead? Just on the first day? Are we sure these numbers are right?"

"Unfortunately yes, general. Our battlefield was the calmest of all, surprisingly. Our forces were pushed back in most of the other fronts."

"Uhmm... What about Lapidum?"

"They should have lost about the same amount of troops, maybe even a little more. Six thousand, I would say. However, the army they mobilized is bigger than ours, so..."

"Yeah, yeah, no need to remind me. Still... Bloodborn is acting weird. What do our scouts say?"

Hearing the question, the officers looked anywhere but directly at General Lilac. Sensing their hesitation, she looked at them, her eyes flashing with a sharp light that sent shivers down their spines.

"What do our scouts say?"

"This... Apart from the squads sent to monitor our flanks and surroundings, none of our recon units returned, ma'am."

General Lilac's head snapped towards the lower-ranked general who said that. There was disbelief written all over her face, and for a moment she let her killing intent slip out, causing both Kilqia and Minxa to growl. However, in the next second, her expression returned to the usual calmness.

"All right... Lapidum's carefulness in not letting a single spy slip past them tells us something in itself. They are hiding something big... But what?"

"Should we send more men, general?"

"No, they would only die. What we have to do now is hope that some of our advanced scouts are simply too far behind enemy lines, and not all dead."

Tired, General Lilac turned away from the maps and reports, and stretched. Pieces of dry mud and blood fell from her uniform. She was in the deep of the fighting the whole time, and hadn't had a chance to clean up since - not that it mattered much to her.

"First night of the war, hum? Are all the officers ready?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Sorry to ask this of all of you. I know you must be tired."

The men and women around her grinned, and shook their heads. This was the reason why they were willing to follow General Lilac through anything and everything. She cared deeply about the soldiers under her command, even if she appeared cold most of the time. She would go against the Mystic Iferes for them, and they would do the same for her.

-----------------------------

Bunk beds lined up the walls of the precarious quarters set up by the Menoraz Army. Although the invasion hadn't caught them completely off-guard, they didn't have time to set up anything more than the basic defenses. Expecting them to have proper lodging prepared for the soldiers would be too much.

Usually, the quarters would be noisy at this time of the night. There were no officers to yell at them and no need to maintain too much discipline. The soldiers could just enjoy themselves before lights went out, and they went to bed. However, today the usually boisterous room was deadly silent.

A lot of comrades - friends - had died today. Those who survived, even those who did well in battle, couldn't bring themselves to joke or play around. For the ones who froze and only watched as others died, it was even worse. Sarah was one of them.

She was laying on the top bed, staring at the ceiling. The person who should have been sleeping beneath her, a fellow squad member, didn't return from the battlefield. She didn't blame herself for his death, since she didn't even see him after the battle started. However, the feeling of emptiness left by his absence was like an invisible boulder crushing her.

"What's up with all the gloomy faces?"

The voice was incredibly loud in the silent quarters, startling everyone. Sarah sat up so quickly she almost hit her head on the ceiling. On the doorway was General Lilac herself, followed by two or three officers.

"G-General!!!"

Like one, all the soldiers scrambled to get off their beds - some on their underwear - and formed lines, all the while saluting her. To most of them, a major was already too distant for them to even catch a glimpse of them, whatsoever the commander-in-chief of the entire Menoraz Army. To think that she would be there in their quarters, and they weren't presentable for her...

"All right, at ease, at ease... So, why the bad mood?"

No one answered. Who could tell their general that they were depressed because the war wasn't like they initially thought it was? That they were feeling down because their friends died? Someone in General Lilac's position obviously knew all that, so all they could think was that she was there to scold them for their cowardice.

Still... Sarah snuck a glance at the general, and saw that the old woman had a smile on her face. She didn't seem to be angry at them. Remembering General Lilac had saved her life earlier that day, she mustered up all her courage, and took a step forward. She still didn't dare to stare directly into her eyes though, instead choosing to look somewhere over her shoulder.

"We... We lost a lot of people today, ma'am."

"Indeed we did. Sarah, right?"

"Y-Yes!"

Her heart beating with excitement, Sarah stuttered an answer. She couldn't believe that the general would remember the name of someone as insignificant as she. Then, when General Lilac patted her shoulder, she trembled. Looking up, she saw that the older woman had a kind smile on her face.

"But it's exactly because we lost so many friends that we shouldn't be feeling down. You have to smile, laugh, and play. It's sort of a 'f*ck you world, I'm still alive' thing. Do you get it?"

It didn't make sense, but it didn't have to. Sarah understood, and she had a feeling the other rookie soldiers did too. They had survived their first battle. True, many had died, but they were still alive.

"Usually I would share a drink with ya'll to commemorate, but the regulations personnel is all over my a*s for getting recruits drunk before battle. So, for now, just do your best to survive this war. When it's over, let's talk again, okay?"

General Lilac was so casual, so... Approachable. For a moment, Sarah felt tears in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them. The general and the two officers behind her walked amongst the bunker beds, talking and laughing with the soldiers, who slowly relaxed.

Sarah's eyes shone as she looked to General Lilac's back. She didn't notice, but at this moment, a small seed of unwavering loyalty was planted in her heart. Maybe it was a little too much to say she would be willing to die for the general now, but after another two or three battles... Who knows?

-------------------------

On the opposite side of the battlefield, the Lapidum troops were commemorating. They hadn't really accomplished much on this first day of battle, but they didn't expect to. They did manage to broke Menoraz's spirits, so that was already a win on their books.

General Bloodborn, Lapidum's commander-in-chief, was happily sharing a drink with her close subordinates. Although they weren't supposed to drink the night before fighting, who was going to tell that to the fearsome general?

"Ma'am, should we keep up the same strategy tomorrow?"

"Why not? It's not like we really need to break through them. As long as they are occupied, I'm happy."

She laughed loudly, a booming sound that shook the walls. Even those who had already followed her by many years couldn't get used to it. Some of the newly promoted officers looked away, somewhat scared.

"Still, general... We lost a lot of people today. Most of them were rookies, but..."

"So what? They are soldiers, to die for Lapidum Kingdom is their honor."

A sharp stare caused the officer to shut up. General Bloodborn was famous for brutalizing her own subordinates if they disagreed with her. The killing intent she emanated right now was enough to show these weren't just baseless rumors.

"For all I care, everyone in this room and all these soldiers could die, as long as we complete our mission perfectly. So, any more questions?"

They all shook their heads. Who would dare to say anything after hearing that? Smiling, General Bloodborn lifted her glass, and downed it in one go.

"Glory to Lapidum, death to Menoraz!"

"Glory to Lapidum! Death to Menoraz!"

"Death to Menoraz!"

---------------------------

Unaware that the war had already started, and both sides had already suffered heavy casualties, Drake was wandering through the forest, going deeper and deeper into Lapidum territory - because he was pretty sure he had already crossed the border.

"Agh... My feet are killing me. I think I finally understand how an Yscalent feels..."

They had walked through the day, and most of the night, only stopping when they finally found a suitable spot to set camp. No matter what they said, Drake was still wary of the Cleaners, so he had to find a suitable defensive position before calling it a day.

"Haha... I must look really miserable right now, don't I?"

His two companions didn't answer the self-deprecating comment. Understanding that they must be as tired as he was, if not more, Drake patted them, and found a comfortable position to lay down. Both Kniivar and Frainer had used their skills a lot today, so they must have been exhausted. No sooner than they closed their eyes, they fell asleep.

As for Drake, he observed them for a little while before giving in to his tiredness. He would have to sleep lightly, in case they were attacked, but that didn't bother him too much.

...

Thankfully, the night passed quietly. The following day too was eventless. The only thing Drake noticed was that the Cleaners had deviated to the east. Because almost two days had already passed since his confrontation with them, it was becoming increasingly difficult to follow their tracks. He almost lost them several times, and ended up having to go back quite a distance to find them again.

There was something else besides that that left Drake feeling curious. He was sure they were in Lapidum now, so why were the Cleaners still advancing through the forest, and not taking the roads? He wasn't complaining, because that made it easier to follow them, but still found it weird.

Then, suddenly, on the third day their tracks completely disappeared. One moment they were there, and the other they weren't, as if the scouts had created wings and flown away.

"What the..."

He went back to check if he had missed something, but he hadn't. He could clearly see half of an Yscalent's pawprint, but the rest of it seemed to have been erased.

"Uhmm..."

Frowning, he walked about two hundred meters in the same direction the Cleaners were going before, but found nothing. Instead of continuing forward, he turned to his left, and did a full-circle around the place where he last saw the tracks. Finally, after half an hour of careful search, he discovered traces of what might be the back claw of an Yscalent.

"They decided to cover their tracks all of the sudden? Why? Did they discover I was... No, they would have ambushed me already if so. Uhmm... Then... That must be it!"

The longer he thought about it, the more certain he became of his conclusion. He couldn't help but get excited for a moment, but soon calmed down. If he was right - and he wasn't sure if he wanted to be or not - then those were huge news, way above his nonexistent paygrade. Unfortunately, he was the only one in position to confirm and deliver them, so he had no other option.