The battle between the low-level peons — of which Aziz mentally included himself — had ended, but the fights going on at the upper airzone and between the great gods hadn’t. These were the battles that truly mattered for the Demon God; the utter annihilation of the demons that had charged Defence Line Foxtrot was clearly a non-issue to the World’s Blight.

Alpha Company, who was flopping over like dead fishes while sporting all kinds of little injuries, had linked up with the rest of Thunderbolt. Major Hans had re-assumed command of the entire battalion, and after watching him for a few minutes, Aziz got up and headed to the marshal.

“Aziz.” Marie nodded at him as he approached. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I sure am,” the colonel replied. “But I think there’s something to be said about how you guys resorted to Infinite Light while we were up there.”

The marshal looked away. “Sorry.”

“That’s it? Why didn’t you just use it when the demon fliers were on their initial approach?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that two people who have the same authority as Minister Eventide ordered us to?” Marie replied. “And the people who unleashed the attack were Paragons. I had no say in that whatsoever.

Aziz paused, ran through the recent happenings in his head, and then forced out a smile. “Those bastards did that?”

Beckoning for him to follow, Marie walked away. Other than Thunderbolt’s Alpha Company, most of the other soldiers here had fled in rather good condition…well, other than those harmed by the resulting stampede when the Assembly and Eastern forces broke into a rout.

“Does these two people have anything to do with how easily these guys turned to flee?”

The marshal didn’t reply, choosing to weave through the meandering soldiers. The ground shook every so often as they continued to move, each passing quake striking at everyone’s morale. These attacks were reminders of their frailty in the face of overwhelming individual might; even the colonel himself felt dread tighten its grip on his heart whenever one such tremor struck at the defence line.

An absurd thought struck him as he sidestepped a snoring soldier, the sight of which made him amused. Which one had affected him more? Was it the world-shaking quakes that occurred right before the Great Divide fell? Or was it the emanations of battle between the Paragons and Demigods in the upper airzone?

Although logic told him that he should have feared the former more, Aziz had a feeling that the latter was far more intense for him. It didn’t make sense, on first glance, since they were far weaker than the phenomena that occurred as the Great Divide crumbled away, but—

His thoughts came to a halt as Marie raised a hand to stop him. The colonel looked up from his deep contemplation, and beyond her outstretched hand, three people stood around in deep discussion. A seemingly-flimsy barrier of qi cut them off from the outside world, and Aziz’s eyes prickled slightly as he looked at them for a moment.

One of them was Minister Eventide.

He didn’t recognise the other two. One of them was a woman with long golden hair and dressed in equally gold robes, who exuded an air of authority. The other was an old man clad in a very simple robe.”

“Who are they?” Aziz asked quietly.

“The woman there is from House Sephira, Laura Sephira. Speaker of the Southern Assembly. In more general terms, she wields presiding authority over the Southern Assembly when gathered,” Marie replied.

“And she’s on the frontlines,” Aziz noted.

“Yes.”

“How about the other one?”

“That’s the projection of Demigod Xie Baole, who came out of seclusion when the Great Divide fell,” Marie replied. “His real body is up there, fighting.”

Aziz decided not to comment on that bit. “From what you’re telling me, I can gather that Infinite Light was authorised by these two personages. Presumably, Eventide tried to prevent that, but he was overridden by a simple majority.”

“Mm.”

The colonel, whose eyes were looking at an interesting spot of ground right beside that apparently flimsy bubble of qi, sighed. “Sorry.”

“Nuh-uh. You had every right to be angry at me,” Marie replied. “I was the one who sent you out there. Fortunately, no one was caught by that, but…”

“But?”

“How do I put this to you? Would you understand me if I told you that Speaker Sephira was the one who ordered Infinite Light? And that she only gave such an order only after positive identification about the unit fighting up there?” Marie had a bitter smile on her face.

The colonel’s eyes widened. “That—

“Bitch. Yes, I find that a rather appropriate description,” Marie finished his sentence. “That about sums it up. From what I can see, the Southern Assembly clearly intends to whittle away at the elites of the Republic.”

“Even when we’re facing the Demon God?” Aziz asked.

“It seems that the old men and women of the Assembly have finally decided to use this war to even out the scales,” Marie replied indifferently.

“And the Demigod?”

“He found it an overwhelmingly good trade. A company for tens of thousands of demon fliers,” Marie replied. “He doesn’t quite believe that they’re immortal yet, apparently.”

“Him too?”

“Who knows what they’re thinking.” The marshal shook her head. “It’s the opening stages of the war, and they’ve already decided to turn it into an internal squabble. The performance of Alpha Company at holding the line just now will probably just make it worse.”

“With allies like this, who needs enemies?” Aziz shook his head. “They’ve gone mad.”

Marie grunted. “My point exactly.”

The two looked up at the stars high in the sky. “On the bright side, if the Demon God wins this opening battle, we’ll all be killed together. There won’t be any petty politics going on there then. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Aziz winced at those words.

“Right,” said Marie, “tell me about the demons you faced.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After taking a few minutes to explain his observations, minutes in which the high-and-mighty luminaries of the East and the Assembly left for parts unknown with Minister Eventide, Aziz took a deep breath and concluded his short analysis.”

“…they do not seem to be skilled in fighting; most of them relied on swamping us with overwhelming numbers. Second, they lack any equipment whatsoever; most of them were wearing rags or probably nothing. Third, none of them seemed proficient or even able to use qi.”

The colonel closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the moments he spent in close combat, before nodding. “To be honest, if either factor was present, Alpha Company would not have been to retreat with only minor injuries. The same goes for the demon fliers; most of them tried to attack the Guardians by piling on their Barriers.”

“Yes,” Marie muttered. “That does not fit with the description Ark City gave. The demons Ark City faced were able to command qi like everyone else, while also using weapons and equipment.”

Her face flickered.

“Marshal, have you read the reports regarding the, uh, primal demons’ march to the Great Divide? The one that compiled the city’s observations after the Lifespring perished,” Aziz asked.

“I believe I do, but it was simply just an observation of those primals moving towards the Great Divide,” said Marie. “Why?”

“What if — and hear me out — the first wave of attackers were just the foremost demons that battered at the Great Divide?” Aziz squinted his eyes and tried to recall the report. Apparently, shortly after the Lifespring’s passing, the Demon God had ordered every demon in the Wildlands to head towards the Great Divide to attack it.

How they were supposed to attack it Aziz wasn’t too sure, but if he had a feeling that they carried out that order quite literally.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m saying that the enemies were faced earlier weren’t troops — they were just sent out there because they were closest to the landbridge,” said Aziz. “Infantry Handbook, page thirty-one: swift reorganisation requires sufficient space. From how squeezy the demon horde was, there was no way they could reorganise in time.”

“If we had attacked while they were reorganising…” Marie took a sharp breath. “Is that why they simply sent the demons charging towards us?”

“For immortal troops, it would be easier to reorganise once they revive within some safe area in the Wildlands, right?” Aziz shook his head. “I’m willing to bet that there are proper troops in the Wildlands proper, guarding the area while the disposable pieces revive and armour up.”

“How ludicrous,” Marie muttered. “It’s easier to reorganise them when they revive, so let’s send them marching towards their deaths first. What kind of army are we facing?”

Aziz was about to add on when an intense quake, one that was entirely on par with the shockwaves generated from the Great Divide’s fall, shook the defence line.

His eyes shot up, not to the upper airzone, where the firing had abruptly ceased, but towards the battlefield of the great gods. A new star, one that was split into black and gold, had appeared high in the sky.

Incongruity welled up within the colonel as he took in that sight. It was a rather indescribable feeling — if Aziz had to liken it to something, it would probably be something he felt when the sun rose, but the sky was still that of a dark night.

The colonel knew that it was an odd description of an even odder emotion, but—

“The Demon Sovereign,” Marie murmured. “What is this feeling that wells up within me?”

A quiet laugh entered their ears, and Aziz dimly noted that the Paragons and Demigods fighting high up were now fleeing from the battlefield. One group was chasing the other, and the colonel had a feeling that it was the Five Lands’ elites being chased.

In response to that laughter, the battling Divine Kingdoms lit up. Night turned into day a moment later as miniature suns shone down on the battlefield, only for darkness to fall once more as every single one winked out of existence. The shockwaves from the great gods’ battle ceased to exist, leaving only the star of incongruency behind.

“What on Orb…” Aziz looked up, where only the black and gold light remained.

Pressure began to weigh down on their shoulders as waves of formless might spread out from the Demon Sovereign. Fortunately, Archduchess Gaia had given everyone present training to resist a Demigod’s divine pressure…and more importantly, the Demon Sovereign wasn’t focusing his powers on them or anything.

No. The Demon Sovereign was focused on something else.

The waters that flanked the sole landbridge that connected the Wildlands to the Five Lands roared. The ground shook violently moments later, and as everyone either took to the skies or stumbled onto the ground, a huge wall of grey stone shot out from both sides of the landbridge.

Orb shook once more as the waters of the Never-ending Ocean were displaced by the surging grey rock, and within moments, the narrow landbridge had been expanded to over ten times its original width. Gigantic waves away from the newly-expanded landbridge. It would leave death and destruction in its wake, but that was not what mattered.

What truly mattered was the impossible expansion of the connection between the Wildlands and the Five Lands.

“Go.”

The quiet word, audible over the raging ocean and the groaning earth, provoked a chorus of monstrous roars once more. Under the intense light of the Demon Sovereign, Aziz could see a second mass of demons, one as huge as the previous one, emerge from beyond the horizon, charging towards Defence Line Foxtrot.

This time, however, there was no advantageous terrain for the defenders to exploit. Chaos broke out within the defence line as soldiers scrambled to their feet. Defence Line Foxtrot was built to block off the original landbridge; with its width suddenly increased by so many times, the defence line was vulnerable to flanking.

At the same time, a black-gold lance, one so huge that Aziz could make out its details even when on the ground, appeared above the Demon Sovereign. The colonel had seen this lance before — in fact, everyone who had attended the Conference of the Four had seen it.

It was the attack that had crushed the Five Lands in the Phantom Blade’s future.

“Die in peace.”

The lance began to fall.