Marie’s fingers were placed on Aziz’s head, a soothing warmth emanating from them. Usually, something this intimate was done by lovers, but for the colonel, the situation was anything but romantic. With the marshal’s help, Aziz could see everything happening in the dark night clearly…including the final moments of the Great Divide.

The giant wall that had divided the Wildlands from the Five Lands was completely riddled with white cracks. The tremors that emanated from it was actually some mighty being battering the spatial barrier from the other side, a single punch that shook the legendary barrier down to its very roots. Simply by staring at it, Aziz could tell that the Great Divide was going to tremble in the next few minutes.

The men and women of Thunderbolt were already making the final preparations, while the Guardians had already stationed themselves all around the landbridge that would soon serve as the battle for the upcoming war. Aziz had no idea what would happen next, but he was reasonably certain that the demons that would pour out in droves minutes from now would pit their lives to secure advantageous positions.

“It’s about to give way,” Marie murmured.

Major Schnee, who was standing nearby, nodded and relayed her words to the makeshift command centre. These words would be passed down from Defence Line Echo all the way to the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, where presumably a bunch of worried old fogies would hurry their respective nations’ reinforcements.

“We’ve been worrying about this war for years,” Aziz replied, while prying her hands away from his head. “I can’t believe I can get to watch its opening.”

“What do you think the historians would call this war?”

“The war for everyone’s souls?” Aziz answered.

“That’s too long,” Marie replied, letting out a small giggle despite herself. “If I had the naming rights, I’ll call it the War for Existence.”

“How about the Great War?” A voice came from beside Aziz.

The two soldiers looked at Minister Eventide, who was now clad in black armour from head to two. A giant battle-axe sat on his shoulder, and five odd balls floated around him.

“That’s…catchier than my name.” Marie chuckled, before gesturing at the five balls floating around Eventide. “Anyway, what’s that?”

“A Sigil Printer,” Eventide replied. “An artefact that can draw pre-loaded sigils at a rate of one every two minutes. It’s a prototype item, something Ark City sent to us.”

“That’s quite fast, but…” Aziz compared it to the Pint-sized Railgun, who had drawn tens of them within seconds, before shaking his head.

“But?” Eventide asked.

“No, nothing.” Aziz glanced at the floating balls, which had just belched out five sigils in unison. “Are there any more for us to use?

“Unfortunately, these five are the first batch of Sigil Printers,” Eventide replied. “Like I said, it’s a prototype. Mass production for them is also somewhat impossible, given that they use Life Gold.”

“Bummer. There’s not a lot of Life Gold left,” Marie muttered. “How many Sigil Printers can we make with the Republic’s stash?”

“You’ll have to ask Pauline for that.”

A violent quake, one that seemed to shake the very foundations of his soul, rippled through Aziz, and the colonel turned to regard the Great Divide. It wasn’t just him — everyone manning Defence Line Foxtrot, from Thunderbolt to the Guardians around the landbridge, had turned to look at the end of an era.

Ground cracked as another quake rampaged through the whole of Orb, and the earth between them let out a groan that pounded at his eardrums. The waters of the Never-ending Ocean that flanked the landbridge, which had been calm whenever Aziz looked at it for the past few months, began to stir, like a giant waking from a long dream.

“This is it!” Aziz roared. “Everyone, prepare for combat!”

His roar echoed throughout the defence line as the Great Divide fell apart into hundreds, no, thousands of black fragments in an eerie silence. Orb shuddered once more, and a screaming wind whipped out as an unprecedented suction force clamped down on Aziz and the rest.

“Hold on!”

“Stand your ground!”

“Hold onto something!”

Screams and shouts rang out from Defence Line Foxtrot, as soldiers and Guardians alike resisted the suction that came from the Great Divide’s fall. Grabbing a nearby fence, Aziz stabbed his knife into the ground and knelt down to withstand the vacuum.

“Look!” Marie, who had already secured herself to the ground, pointed up at the sky, and as Aziz turned to follow her gaze, the blood coursing in his veins froze.

The howling wind, the shuddering world…none of these now mattered to Aziz, whose eyes were drawn to the skies above. There, high above the pitiable defence lines that had been constructed by mortal hands, were the great gods and their Divine Kingdoms.

Red, for Liamar.

Green, for Thasvia.

Brown, for Rahwei.

Circling around their Divine Kingdoms was a streak of silver, which could only be the Dragon of Time, Aldnath. These four great gods represented a fighting strength that no nation could hope that match, and yet, they were all arrayed against a single black light, who stood out even in the night sky.

A pinprick of darkness so absolute that Aziz didn’t dare to look at it for more than a second. There was something terrible about that power, a power that made him want to hurl his every fibre of his being into.

“Orb…” A quiet voice, one that was followed by a resonant echo, spoke in everyone’s ears. “I have returned.”

The Demon God’s words seemed to trigger something within the Great Divide, and the howling winds ceased. Feral bellows followed a moment later, as a dark mass of beings abruptly appeared at the very spot where the Great Divide used to be…along with an enormous landmass that stretched out to the horizon.

Even in the night sky, Aziz could see thousands of shadows occupying the airspace above the enormous horde, and for a moment, despair gripped him. The number of Guardians here numbered at most six hundred. With such a gap within high-level combatants…

“Stay calm.” A small hand touched his shoulder.

“Marie?”

The marshal ignored his words and aimed her Straight Shot at the horde of demons. Everyone, even Aziz himself, turned to look at her as she stood up.

“All troops,” said Marie, her voice reinforced by a steady will and surging qi. “Fire at will.”

So began the Five Lands’ war against the Demon God.