“Found it.” The colonel nodded to herself in satisfaction, after around thirty minutes of silent contemplation. “This Art is really useful, isn’t it?”

To Captain Aziz’s knowledge, the colonel had gotten an Art inscribed onto her right hand. She didn’t really need Arts suited for combat, given that she had an Engine that allowed her to turn invisible, fly and manifest sigils, so she decided to use her Art slots for educational pursuits instead. He wasn’t too sure about what went in her other slots, however.

For the captain himself, there was an Air Whip art on his right hand, a barrier art on his left hand, an armour art on his heart, and two Air Jet arts on his feet. Quite a few of them were generic ones, since he didn’t really have enough gold to get the better ones. The ones that were more useful, like the Air Whip and the Air Jet, had turned whatever meagre savings he had into dust.

“What did you find?” The captain asked.

“The founder of the Mortal Light Dynasty, Anya, the Brilliant Pinnacle, supposedly did not believe in the existence of gods. It was a philosophy…called atheism? I’m not sure what that means, but yeah, the Brilliant Pinnacle did not believe in gods or something,” said the colonel.

“How does that work? I mean, the great gods are everywhere,” replied the captain.

“To her, these gods were just cultivators who had cultivated themselves into extreme states. The reason why Anya gained her title was because of how she approached this, uh, belief,” the colonel answered quietly. “She trained voraciously her entire life, while spearheading massive movements against the warlords of the Northern…Isles, as it was called then. And in the peak of her life, she recreated the entire Northern Isles, forming them into a single landmass, a feat that everyone lauded as that of a god.”

“What happened afterwards?”

“The Holy Temple declared a war against her newly-born Mortal Light Dynasty, which lasted for two centuries. Eventually, the two powers called for a ceasefire, but the Central Circle’s prestige was greatly diminished by then,” Colonel Marie said quietly. “They called her a heretic when the war started, and when it ended, they called her a Demigod.”

Captain Aziz didn’t know how to react to that. The colonel glanced at his stupefied face and said, “Funny how things change so fast when you gain power, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” The captain gathered his wits and turned the conversation back. “But how is this related to the generous show of support by the Northern Continent right now?”

“It’s their philosophy to oppose the gods,” replied Colonel Marie. “Do you not remember just how fanatic the Northerners were when we flew over to watch them? They believe that the gods should just stay out of the way, and let the Five Lands rule themselves. But now that the elemental gods have descended…”

“They’re forced to compromise?”

“Essentially, yes. The Mortal Light Dynasty recognises that the elemental gods were forced to descend. To that end, they’ve created what their current Pinnacle calls…reservations? I think that was the word they used.” The colonel shook her head. “I can’t remember.”

“Those things that Champion Lunaris wanted to make for, uh, endangered animals?”

“It seems that you’ve been studying hard recently.” Marie nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, now that you mention it. It does seem to be the same thing. He wanted to model some places after a Garden City, a term that was used to refer to his nation on Earth.”

“Garden City…At any rate, if they’re the same,” Captain Aziz muttered, “is the North treating the elemental great gods as endangered animals? That’s a very odd line of logic to go by.”

Another patrol squad, dressed in the vermilion red of Liamar, swooped by the wall, and the others playing Skulls looked up for a moment, before turning their attention back to the games. As for Captain Aziz, he was distracted by the fact that their leader just waved to him…something not lost on Colonel Marie.

“Did he just wave at us?” Marie asked.

“I believe I put it in the reports, colonel,” Aziz replied smoothly. “Did you not read them?”

“No, I was too busy. But if the Worldshaper’s troops are able to wave at us, does that not mean that they’re actually alive and thinking?” Colonel Marie mused out loud. “But is it even possible for the God of Fire to create sentient lives? Are they able to talk too? This is…”

“It also means that we’ve been killing other intelligent life for the past few months or so,” Captain Aziz added on. “Not sure if you feel alright with that fact, but after that last battle against the Assembly, I’ve grown somewhat sick of killing.”

“That’s…” The enthusiastic curiosity within the colonel died down. “We’re soldiers, first and foremost. Defenders of our nation’s people. Our personal feelings should not interfere in our duty. Even if you don’t like it.”

“Yes, I know.” The captain looked out at the vast expanse that was the World’s End chasm. “I just hope that this rare period of peace will last. And yet, deep down, I know that we’ll be called to fight again. Over and over and over.”

Colonel Marie placed a hand on Aziz’s shoulder, but she didn’t say anything. The captain smiled bitterly and watched as the small group of red meteors vanished from the horizon once again. Behind them, the fliers continued to play Skulls, their chatter filling the silent skies with life and joy.

“Aren’t you tired?” Aziz asked, after a few minutes of companionable silence. “Just standing there, watching…it’s boring. You should go and take a rest.”

“If you’re doing this, I don’t see why I shouldn’t,” replied Colonel Marie. “Besides, such periods of quiet introspection are hard to come by, in this day and age. I’m too young to be entering seclusion anyway. Once in a while, it’s good to just stare at the night sky and wonder about things. Or to dream about the other lives you could have led.”

“That’s a bit philosophical, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and—” The colonel paused, and took out a small artefact. She looked at the glass screen on it and sighed.

“Something wrong?”

“It’s the Worldshaper. He has agreed to negotiate an end to this pointless war,” replied Colonel Marie. “And as usual, Thunderbolt Battalion’s the gofer. We’re the escort for the diplomats.”

“I get the feeling we’re more than just an elite force now.” The captain sighed. “Babysitting. Excellent.”

“That’s the life of us soldiers.”

The two shook their head and resumed their silent vigil, watching over the silent land until the sun rose.