A sense of suppression continued to grow as Aziz approached the woman floating protectively in front of the Locomotives, which were belching out some grey smoke. It was something he felt before, when the Human God was on the verge of destroying the Eastern Territories. He’d never felt something like that ever again, even when he was in close proximity to Rene, so he’d assumed that it was something exclusive to the great gods.

Evidently, he was wrong.

“Rene,” Aziz muttered, “what’s with that Demigod over there?”

“Her Divine Territory is on the verge of becoming a Divine Kingdom,” she replied, her voice terse. “It’s as if she’s almost a lesser god. Who is she?”

“That was a question I was hoping you could answer,” Aziz said, trying to calm down his shaking hands. Marie’s flight path had also been affected, but the marshal continued to forge onwards, and after an excruciating minute, the three finally got close enough to speak politely.

“You may join in,” the Demigod spoke. “But show any aggression, and I’ll end your existence on the spot.”

The three of them complied immediately, and Aziz even raised his hands up slightly to show that he wasn’t holding a weapon. Nodding in satisfaction, the Demigod turned back to the discussion between the battalion commander of Avalanche and the others. A heavy, watchful gaze fell on him as the three of them floated over to join the discussion.

It was a warning. Repressing his urge to just flee, the colonel kept quiet and listened to the on-going conversation. They were talking about securing a place for the newly-arrived refugees to live in, and since Aziz had handed the decision-making over to Romulus, the commander of Avalanche, he was more than content to make do with looking at the participants on Ark City’s side.

One of them was Warmaster Chamberlain, the legendary military leader of Ark City. Aziz had seen him before at the frontlines and during a couple of ceremonies years ago, during the Second Extermination and before it. The colonel sent a few surreptitious glances at Chamberlain, and frowned slightly.

The Warmaster was emanating a profound, if hidden, sense of grief, and for a moment, Aziz thought about the absence of a Campmaster. The absence of that particular personage was probably the reason behind Chamberlain’s grief, which would have been further compounded by the losses Ark City had probably suffered when they fled the Wildlands.

It didn’t take long for a preliminary arrangement to be made, and as the last of the Locomotives landed on the makeshift Landing Zones, the Demigod turned her piercing gaze over to Marie.

“That looks like a military rank specifically designed for airborne troops,” said the Demigod.

“Not bad for one so young,” Chamberlain added. His words of praise, however, were somewhat hollow and lifeless.

The Demigod sighed. “Go and rest, Warmaster. We’ll have a ceremony for the fallen soon. At least look the part.”

“Yes, Eliza.” The others watched as Chamberlain beat a hasty retreat, before turning their eyes away as one.

“Demigod Eliza,” Marie began, “I really need to ask this for the record, but everyone here is from Ark City, right?”

“Was,” the Demigod corrected. “The physical Ark City no longer exists.”

Aziz felt his heart clenched up. “Was it done by the demons?”

“The primal demons, yes.” She sighed. “After we settle down, we’ll hold a conference or something. I believe we can call for the Conference of the Five with the amount of information and preparation we need to make…that is, of course, if it hasn’t already been held.”

“The Conference of the Four was held three years ago,” Marie supplied, with no particular emphasis on the word ‘Four’. “One outcome from it was the creation of a virtual discussion platform. It’s going to be up in a month.”

“A month…” The Demigod shrugged. “It would seem that the first battlefield will be in the Southern Continent, so I’ll hold a local briefing as soon as possible. We have a great deal of intelligence about the primal demons, and we need to get them out as soon as possible.”

“I’ll see to it at once,” Marie replied.

“In return, do brief us on the latest developments on the Five Lands.” The Demigod glanced at the artefact in Romulus’ hand, and then at the approaching fleet of Locomotives that were approaching the makeshift LZ. They had been dispatched to ferry the four million odd refugees to a more hospitable living area — Ark City’s own Locomotives were already on the verge of breaking down when they finally arrived.

“We’ll definitely do that.”

A piercing explosion rocked the area, which was apparently the trigger for the other Locomotives to spontaneously malfunction. More black mushroom clouds began to rise from the rear of the transports, and the transports from the Republic began to veer away from the smoke.

“Looks like they’re done for,” the Demigod observed wryly. “The researchers and engineers should be howling in their hearts now. Well, we were never truly able to prepare for the crossing, so to make it here intact was already a big achievement.”

“Demigod Eliza, how did Ark City make it to the Wildlands? And how did they make the return trip?” Marie asked.

“It’s a long story,” she replied. “Besides, I was in deep mediation when we fled to the Wildlands, so I have little to comment about that part. As for the return trip…ah. You are afraid that the Demon God’s forces are able to make use of it too, no?”

Marie didn’t reply, but Aziz knew that she was indeed worrying about that.

The Demigod seemed to age by a few decades as she turned to look in the direction of the Great Divide. “There is no need to worry about that any more. That channel has closed forever.”

She began to float away. “I’ll explain the events that occurred on a more appropriate stage.”

“What does that mean?” Marie murmured, her eyes on the departing Demigod’s back.

“It means,” said Rene, who had been silent the whole time, “that someone died to close it.”