Wind whipped outwards from the two Paragons as they resisted the Pinnacle’s hold, but even their Dominions were restrained by the North’s leader alone. Pinnacle Kolya had his eyes fixed on the two men, and unlike the previous, easy-going attitude Aziz had seen for the past few days, a palpable killing intent was now visible in every action the Pinnacle made.

“Pinnacle Kolya, what is the meaning of this?” Queen Hyperion stood up and asked. “Are you taking this chance to kick the East while they’re down?”

“You just need to ask them where Paragon Shizo is,” he replied, his voice quiet and heavy. The wind whipping around the Pinnacle gathered around his right hand to form a longsword, and Aziz narrowed his sight.

Republic intelligence wasn’t sure if the Pinnacle was still a Paragon or not, but they did have a few details on the Abilities of his Engine. Apparently, Kolya was an expert swordsman in his earlier years, but he had put down his blade and picked up his pen when he was designated the successor to the previous Pinnacle, Hiermündel, who vanished a year later.

That was more than a century ago, so no one really knew what the man had been up to ever since then. But no one could deny that the current Pinnacle was one of the most outstanding administrators to rule a country for tens of thousands of years, so rumours about his combat strength or even his cultivation realm had long faded into history.

But now…

Aziz had a feeling that the Republic’s intelligence department were now furiously working overtime, while cursing the fact that they didn’t bring any measurement artefacts at all. Of course, in their defence, no one would actually think that a fight would break out, least of all at the hand of the person who called for the Conference of the Four in the first place.

The longsword cleaved out at least ten arcs in a single second, shattering whatever paltry defences that the two had created hastily. The tip of the blade was now levelled at their necks, ready to claim their lives at a moment’s notice.

“Tell me,” Pinnacle Kolya said, his words a whisper that carried around the chamber. “You attempted to hijack the Unity and kidnap the students of my nation’s school. What should I do with you? Should I bring you back and sentence you to five life sentences? Or should I invoke my nation's martial law and sentence you to death on the spot?”

“Hijack the Unity?”

“Kidnap students?”

Whispers flooded the area, and even Marie decided to join in.

“This is getting spicy,” she whispered. “The Mortal Light Dynasty’s going to wipe the floor with the East. Surely they aren’t idiots.”

“Maybe they have a new backer,” Aziz whispered back. “Didn’t you hear about what happened in the East’s Operation Spring Fury? They cut a deal with the God of Water, and then the Human God, apparently.”

“I know, but…” Marie closed an eye. “The Human God didn’t descend like the other great gods, so he doesn’t have the kind of military might the other great gods have. The East might just be left to dry if push comes to shove.”

“Now that’ll be something to watch.” The moment Pinnacle Kolya had talked about how they tried to hijack the Unity, Aziz had felt anger, along with probably the others from the Republic. The North had told them about the impending transfer of the ship to their military, so this attempt was also targeted at them.

He could hear Minister Pauline pondering the possibility of an attack out loud. There was nothing funny about it, all things considered, since the current Plenum had been pegged as a traitorous bunch.

“Whatever Paragon Shizo did has nothing to do with us,” one of the Paragons said. “We even told him to not do it, but he went ahead anyway.”

“Am I to believe that the two of you could not stop him?” The fury emanating off his body ebbed somewhat as he looked at them once more. He released the sword, and the blade of wind came apart. Grabbing both of them by the throat, he tossed them over to a seat.

“Seems like that’s the case,” he muttered. “You two are too weak. No matter. Where’s that damn Shizo now? I’ll go finish him off later.”

“Bold,” Marie whispered. “But I suppose a leader of the nation needs to be bold and daring in the first place. No one’s going to contest him for it now.”

“I wonder what vows he made,” Aziz whispered back. “But at least our spooks should be able to have a rough gauge on his strength now. He’s still a Paragon, right?”

“An illogical one. Reminds me of a certain little boy who has been beating up other people with absurd ease,” Marie replied.

“He’s probably having fun somewhere now,” Aziz mused. “I wonder if he’s already capable of taking a Paragon on.”

“Well, if it’s the two over there now, I don’t think he’d even break a sweat,” Marie replied. “That kid is really unfathomable. Is he going to show up at the Great Divide when the time comes?”

“Probably. I mean, he did help the East to fight off the God of Water, right? And the upcoming war’s one that decides the future of humanity. He’s going to show up.” Aziz sighed. “I don’t think children should be fighting, though. No matter how we try to justify it.”

After all, if someone as young as Gaius played a huge part in fending off the demons, it was going to set a nasty precedent. Even if he now bore the title of ‘Lost Star’, an ex-Constellation, people would still think that using children as a fighting force was a viable plan.

And it wasn’t like the demon invasion was the only thing blocking Orb from attaining true peace. It was that way in stories, but unless something akin to a true divine miracle occurred, Aziz could tell that war would plague the Five Lands for decades to come.

Even if the demons were defeated.