The elites were the last to leave the battlefield. The Lords standing in the middle of the battlefield, however, didn’t make any move to pursue or harass the retreating sea of blue soldiers, and as the defence lines returned to a lowered level of activity, they too finally left.

Their gait was one of confidence, but Gaius could spot a few trembles here and there, hints that these men and women weren’t as uninjured as they seemed. The Knights weren’t in any state to hide their injuries, which was probably why the Lords were putting up a brave front, in case Conrah decided to say “Fuck it” and toss his forces back into the fray without any reservations whatsoever.

The landing zone sprang into life as medics flooded out to assist the landing Knights. Some of them were more injured than the others, with the medics rushing over to seal their heavy wounds Others were plagued by what looked like a bad case of exhaustion, the sight of it reminding the boy that not many people had the insane mental and physical endurance he had as they flopped over and took a nap on the spot.

Symbols flew from the ground as the Lords landed, creating a shimmering bubble that covered the entire sky. For some reason, Gaius felt like poking the seemingly-fragile screen, but underneath its cover, the sky of pure blue had returned to its four-coloured state. The boy glanced at the barrier thoughtfully, sparing a few more seconds to glance at it curiously before turning away.

Nexus’ absence was beginning to get to him. He had little doubt that the sculpture, who he’d stationed beside Nakama to protect her, could tell him the origins and true purpose of the dome-like shield covering the sky, The sculpture had told him that at its current level, it would only be able to send a single message to Gaius right now, and the boy didn’t want to waste it on finding out what a bubble did.

After some stretches, the boy sat down on the floor squarely, like every other Knight in attendance. Some of them, who were wounded lightly, had long noticed his presence…after all, children were a rare sight in this place. But thankfully, none of them had bothered to find some trouble with Gaius. It was probably something that they didn’t want to waste their time on, and it wasn’t like there were any benefits picking on him anyway.

With the heavily-wounded carted away by careful medics, the landing zone seemed a lot more deserted. At one corner, people busied themselves with setting up what looked like a banquet; long tables were being set up, with tens of large vats wheeled in. To the side of the tables were grills, where cooks tossed and turned giant slabs of meat. Giant cauldrons of what looked like soup were bubbling merrily too, and before long, a heavenly smell infused the square.

Knights, too exhausted to actually find a proper bed to sleep in, began to wake up, lured by the food. Gaius stifled some laughter as one of them got up and walked towards the tables…or rather, sleepwalked towards the tables, stepping on a few other sleepers on the way.

As Gaius joined the small crowd, he could see that most of them had the same card-like artefact floating around them. Most of them were reporting four or five kills, and with a jolt, the boy realised that he had one of the highest kill counts amongst this bunch. It made sense, when he thought about it — those enemies were hard to deal with, and like the Knights, most of them were leading small teams too. Gaius thought himself lucky — he’d butchered their commander early on, turning the others into easy pickings.

“Huh, a kid.” A gruff voice came from his side, and the boy turned to face a burly axeman twice his height. “Seven kills? What in the —”

He took a few steps back, holding his hands high in a gesture of what looked like non-aggression. “Didn’t mean to scare you back there, kid. But have you been here for two days running?

“No.” Gaius picked up his pace slightly. “I just got here.”

There was an awkward silence, and from behind him, Gaius heard the axeman mutter, “There’s another scary kid. What do they eat nowadays?”

Some divine energy from the Human God, apparently. And two, no, four Engines. A lot of medicine to toughen the body, and daily showers in water from the Fountain of Life. Gaius snarked silently, cupping his chin as he tried to think of more things to add on.

The scent of roasted meat was getting to him, and as the fires surrounding the long tables flared into life, the boy belatedly realised that the sun was on the verge of vanishing under the horizon. Everyone had turned into shadows, except for people near each other. Gaius had spent far longer than he’d thought he had sitting around idly, but it wasn’t as if the boy could do anything else either.

He made his way to the end of a long table, where plates and utensils had been laid out. There were four such tables laid out, which meant that each side could seat around twelve people…a mercy, given that few of these Knights had seen it fit to take a shower or something. It was something that most of these Knights were probably conscious about — Gaius knew that as people advanced in realm, their five senses became sharper.

True to his expectations, the next Knight to sit beside him kept one metre away from the boy. A woman, whose clothes were damp with what looked like sweat — the firelight was revealing a few darkened patches on her shirt — picked at her attire sadly, clearly torn between the choice of changing her clothes and getting food.

“Esteemed Knights and Lords, thank you for your help today.” A loud voice boomed throughout the landing zone, echoing into the no-man’s land beyond, rendering the woman’s dilemma moot. “Without your help, Eo-Seu’s civilians would have been massacred by the soldiers of the Lifespring. Help yourself to the food as you see fit. It is our thanks to you.”

The speaker, a fit man whose shirt was caked with dried blood, raised his hands and walked over to the central table. He tore off a chicken drumstick, and bit into it. There was a small pause, before those closest to his table broke into uproarious cheers, all of them yelling and screaming in words Gaius couldn’t make out.

As the people assembled began to dig into the food proper, Gaius saw the same man holding up a sign that told the newcomers to assemble an hour for now for their briefing. In the dim light, the boy noted a few others looking at the sign like him, and then returned back to abusing the chicken laid out.

The merriment and cheers gave way to crying and sobbing as time went by. Gaius was too far away from the sources of such sorrow to hear them properly, but from the sounds of it, the Knights here were mourning for their fallen companions. After all, unlike Gaius, most of these people had probably came together in groups. Every death was a significant one.

Gaius got up slowly, making his way to the table in the centre. He had been keeping an eye out for the others, and after half of what looked like the newcomers had assembled, the boy finally got to his destination. There were a few looks of surprise from the others, but none of them said anything after looking at the artefact hovering behind Gaius. Like the boy, the rest of them had one such artefact following them, but most of them had only one or two kills.

“Newcomers. Welcome to the battlefront.” The man had changed out from his bloodied shirt. “Oh, the blood? It was…someone else’s. But yeah. We fight in the morning, and feast in the evening. A kill nets you one point; get enough of it to exchange for items.”

He pointed at the tower a few hundred metres away. “There’s your lodgings over there — men, don’t go walking into the women’ areas, or we’re not taking responsibility for you. The first five floors are the residential areas for males, the other five for females, and…”

The man paused as his eyes met Gaius’, but with what looked like impressive discipline, continued his briefing. “A bell signifies an attack; get to the battlefield as quickly as possible. Any questions?”

It felt a bit…lackadaisical, but at least the briefing was short. Gaius rolled his eyes and returned to the long tables, where soup was being distributed. He downed his bowl, before flying towards the building.

He was asleep half an hour later.