A solemn atmosphere fell as everyone filed into the hall. The source of such an atmosphere was Demigod Eliza, whose gaze seemed to petrify anyone it fell on. Some formless power was preventing Aziz from even registering her appearance properly, and the only thing about her looks he could even begin to take in was that of her clouded eyes.

The familiar spirit beside him couldn’t help but draw a deep breath at that sight. Placing her lips near his ear, Rene whispered, “I definitely cannot defeat her. In fact, I have a feeling that none of the familiar spirits alive today can take her on one-on-one and not lose.”

Marie, who had clearly heard Rene’s words, trembled slightly. It was scary to be in the vicinity of someone who wielded immense strength in the first place, and the person speaking right now just happened to probably be unmatched throughout the Five Lands. Aziz could only hope that there wouldn’t be any fools in the audience.

Making sure to be as quiet as possible, Aziz shifted himself on the seat he was sitting. This hall was already constructed by the time the three of them reached the new Ark City, but there was this sense of ‘newness’ to it.

Scrunching his nose at the raw smell, the colonel wondered if someone could spray some perfume in the venue for a moment, and then turned to look at the entrance, where the others were filing in. He, like Marie, was interesting in seeing which luminaries of the Five Lands had been moved, but unlike the marshal, who was probably going to record down the people who were attending Demigod Eliza’s briefing, he just wanted to see them all shut up.

His wish was fulfilled immediately, as a trio of jabbering old men fell silent after they stepped across the door. Aziz felt his lips curl up, only for the corners of them to shoot up even more as an undersized squad’s worth of people stopped talking amongst themselves upon entry.

After taking in that unusually interesting sight for another minute, the stream of people entering dried up. Evidently, everyone who had been dispatched here was already in attendance, and after a few seconds in which no one new came in, Demigod Eliza walked up to the centre of the stage, Warmaster Chamberlain and a familiar-looking soldier in tow.

“Greetings, everyone. I am Demigod Eliza, the protector of Ark City,” Eliza began. “Today’s briefing is simple. I, along with the surviving Paragons, are here to brief everyone present about the Demon God and his forces. Please show us our due respect by maintaining silence during our briefing. There will be time for a question-and-answer session later.”

Her words, though brusque and maybe even rude, seemed like law to Aziz for a moment. That instant passed swiftly enough, but something like fear seemed to flood his nerves whenever he entertained the thought of even speaking. To his right, Rene’s face was a shade of white he’d never seen before on her face, while Marie had stopped moving entirely on his left.

The silence that followed pressed down on Aziz’s eardrums, and he sighed as the Demigod broke it a few seconds later.

“Very good,” said Demigod Eliza. “I will now yield the stage to Warmaster Chamberlain, who is going to expound on the peculiarities of the primal demons.”

After sweeping her gaze through the hall once more, she took a step back. Her very presence seemed to vanish, but no one was foolish enough to assume that she wasn’t going to step in if anything untoward happened to Ark City’s Warmaster, who was now drawing everyone’s attention.

“Nearly four years ago,” said the Warmaster, “Ark City was forced to leave the Five Lands, as we came under assault by Nox, the Last Star. We relocated ourselves to the Wildlands, where the demons ruled. In our short time there, we learnt a few disturbing things about them. First, the enemies the Five Lands are about to face are what we call primal demons. They refer to demons who have reverted to a state of savagery and…”

The compulsion to stay silent vanished as the Warmaster continued to elaborate on the traits of the demons, but Aziz couldn’t bring himself to even speak. Warmaster Chamberlain’s words were so disturbing that the colonel could only listen on dumbly, like everyone else in the room.

There were a few main points to his words. First, the legends about the demons being immortal were true. Killing them wouldn’t put an end to them permanently. Something called a blood pool would revive any demons that were killed, but otherwise, they weren’t all that different from beastfolk or humans.

And yet, this was more than enough to send ripples throughout the audience. Attrition tactics were clearly ineffective — how could they win if no one could die?

He thought back to the time he spent at the Solaris Museum, after the East’s Operation Spring Fury came to a close. The way the Warmaster described the demons was exactly the same as the demons before the third phase of the First Extermination — demons that would be revived after they died.

His gaze shifted to Marie, who was also deep in thought. Aziz wasn’t sure if she was thinking the same thing as he was, but there was definitely something important in the fact that the demons were no longer the unkillable juggernauts capable of recovering from all wounds.

Making a mental note to bring up his doubt to the State Council, the colonel continued to listen to the Warmaster’s words. The next one he brought up was regarding the demons themselves — apparently, they were stricken by some sort of madness that allowed the Demon God to take control of them.

That was also bad news.

Enemies who had no fear, who moved based on the tactical and strategic needs of the Demon God, were tough foes. Aziz had seen his fair share of them in the form of Liamar’s and Conrah’s forces, although the fact that the great gods were also going to join in for the great war to come was rather reassuring.

“That’s about it for our analysis on the primal demons,” said Warmaster Chamberlain. “We have compiled an in-depth analysis about their combat tactics, but you will have to wait until we manage to rebuild our city entirely. We will now move on to a question-and-answer session.”

The soldier, who had been standing beside the Demigod, took a step forward. “Please remember to keep your questions relevant to the demon threat. Queries of a different nature will not be entertained. To ask a question, please raise your hands.”

Chamberlain nodded. “The Q&A starts now.”

A second passed in silence, and then tens of hands shot skywards.