“So,” said Nexus, “what do you think?”

“The commander of the Republican forces is skilled at psychological warfare,” said Gaius. “It’s very obvious once you start analysing it from a neutral point of view, especially at the end. The act of sending out just one division from each side for harassment created what looked like a weak point to the Assembly’s forces, who then moved in an attempt to exploit it. And that particular division’s retreat offered even more weak points, so—”

“STOP!” The sculpture turned and glared at Gaius. “Who cares about how the Republic’s forces won? Both of us have our own analyses, and stomping on a force that’s half the size of your own isn’t really much anyway! No, what do you think of Nox’s words?”

“Ah.” The boy took a few moments to readjust his mindset, and after three seconds of thinking, he replied, “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Neither do I,” said Nexus. “Think it’ll be best that we ask Isabelle about that Altar later, just in case he was planning something nasty.”

“Wouldn’t put it past him.” Gaius tapped the Map of Stars. “She should be returning soon. Three days is long enough for a fleeing family to cross half the continent, especially if all of them are minimally Soldiers.”

“She’s already at the Intersection, from what I can tell,” said the artificial intelligence. “Give it another day or two, and she’ll be knocking on the Library’s doors.”

“That upgrade thing was just in time too. If you didn’t use that globe thing, we’d be still stuck with visuals without audio,” said Gaius. “A shame that it was a bit late, though. Villains have a tendency to gloat. I’m quite sure the Last Star said something as he was assaulting Heritage Basestation. Maybe he was revealing his master plan or something.”

“No, real life doesn’t work that way.” The sculpture lolled his head at him, and then turned back to the Map of Stars. “But if this cease fire is part of it, he’s giving up a hell lot of territory to the Republic.”

“Which doesn’t actually belong to him, because as far as I know, the Assembly is not ruled by a single strongman,” said the boy. “The possibility that he’s just relying on his status as a Demigod to bluff his way through is…high. And it looks like they fell for it, at least.”

“If he was there in person, they wouldn’t need to think that hard, would they? You’ll already be falling from the skies, readying the Terminus,” Nexus said, his eyes still fixated on the Republican forces as they reorganised. “Do you think that this invitation is a trap?”

“After seeing what the Last Star did a few weeks after calling for a truce, yes. But if there’s a chance that he’s going to be there…” The boy’s words trailed off.

“Well, you better push for that breakthrough to Knight, while you still can,” said the sculpture. “You’ve been standing at that point long enough, one foot across the doorway. May as well take that step forward right before you attempt to assault a Demigod.”

“Right. So what do I need to do?” asked Gaius. “You said it yourself — the General Formula I practice is focused on the body. How do I improve the amount of qi I can harness?”

“My point was that yes, your body is as tough as a Lord who’s been using this mantra,” said the artificial intelligence, “but at no point in time have you actually carried on with the third and fourth parts of it.”

Shatter the blockage of the heart with a decisive blow; soar to the skies with a single step. Gaius went through the latter half of the mantra, and frowned. “Alright, I need a mentor to tell me what the next part actually means.”

“The ‘Shatter the blockage of the heart’ thing?” The sculpture got up from its sitting posture, and leaped onto Gaius’ shoulder. “It means what it means, and from what I see of it, there’s only two possibilities.”

Nexus paused expectantly, and the boy frowned. “Go on, don’t leave me hanging.”

“You’re no fun. Anyway, you should go and lie down on the bed before you try both possibilities out.” The sculpture hopped lightly on Gaius’ shoulder, and the boy reluctantly left the room and made his way to the room where Nakama was still asleep.

He looked at the little girl, whose arms were connected to pipes that supplied her with nutrition and whatnot, before trembling in anticipation. The boy could see it in his eyes, the moment that the Demigod stopped breathing under his knife.

“Gaius.”

The artificial intelligence drew his attention away, and as his eyes briefly met that of the sculpture’s, the boy could almost see a hint of emotion in them.

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Yeah.”

He slapped his cheeks twice. “Go on, you can start explaining now.”

Nexus was quiet for a moment, and then started speaking. “Well, the first way — which makes the most sense, given the amount of torture cultivating this mantra inflicts on people — would be to smash your heart hard enough and use the shockwave from it to do…”

“Do what?”

“Something?”

Gaius was silent for a moment. “No, I don’t think that’s how it works. What’s the other option?”

“You channel your qi around the heart area, and see if there are any impediments you’re supposed to break.”

“That honestly sounds far more likely than the first one.”

“Well, then you can try that then. Sit on a bed, and start feeling out your insides.”

Gaius did as he was told. He closed his eyes, and focused his mind onto the areas around his heart. He could hear the rush of blood as blood coursed through arteries, and by sharpening his senses, the boy could feel dozens of energy streams flowing through a giant network of pathways that caged his heart in.

The boy continued to dive, and as he did so, he could sense that the flow of energy all around his heart wasn’t as smooth as it should be. Something was narrowing the gap, so to speak, which meant that those energy pathways were suffering from their own equivalent of high blood pressure. One of these pathways led to the heart, and Gaius narrowed his metaphorical eyes.

That was the only pathway that was empty of energy. Nothing was flowing through it — he never noticed it before, for some reason. How do I…oh.

As the thought passed through his mind, a wisp of energy escaped from every single energy stream flowing around his heart, gathering to create a single knife. It was an apt manifestation, given his choice of weapons.

A shuddering pain coursed through him as the transient knife plunged towards the blocked pathway, and Gaius found himself sitting on the bed again. A bloody mist forced its way out of his mouth, dying the sculpture in front of him red.

“Well,” said the sculpture. “I guess that’s one way of doing it.”

“I somehow don’t think that’s supposed to happen.” Gaius, even when numbing as much pain as he could, couldn’t help but tear up at the agonising stiffness in his chest.

The sculpture rolled on the bed in a vain attempt to wipe the blood away, and for the next five minutes, the room was silent, save for the boy’s groaning.

“Unfortunately,” said Nexus, after it got most of the blood off, “you’ll have to undergo this suffering for the next one week. That, or risk being unable to force Nox to use his full power. Your choice.”

The boy glared at the sculpture, and then began a long day of pain.