The demons had reorganised rapidly, despite the passing of the Demon God. Unlike the previous times, however, the demons weren’t charging madly into the enemy anymore; they were now laying ambushes and making use of strategies. The soldiers of the Five Lands, who had been complacent over the overwhelming defeat of the Demon God, had been taken aback time and again.

If not for the fact that the demons weren’t actually inflicting much in the way of actual deaths, none of these troops would have made it back.

Gaius bit his lips as he looked around one of the forward camps. Injuries were commonplace, but the bodies of the dead were very few. However, morale was low within this forward camp, which was built by troops of the East, and as the two landed, his heart sunk even further.

The fact that he was able to fly had not registered much in these soldiers, when it should have hinted at his true strength.

“They seem very dispirited,” Isabelle, who was supported by him, whispered.

“Yes,” Gaius replied. “They didn’t even bat an eye at the fact that I was flying. What’s going on here? Heck, even the sentries look like they’ve been drained of energy or something.”

Soldiers weren’t this unprofessional, as a rule of thumb, but the fact that no one had marched over to challenge him was really problematic.

The two stood around awkwardly for a while, before one of the dazed sentries finally noticed their presence. The sentries began to engage in a silent game of rock paper scissors, and after a best of three, one of them headed over slowly. The look of his face was like that of a man headed to the gallows, and Gaius had to stifle the urge to laugh at that sight.

“Sir, ma’am,” began the guard. “How can I help you?”

For a moment, Gaius wanted to ask him why they took so long to notice the two of them, but he couldn’t bring himself to. The guard’s face was pale, but it wasn’t from fright.

“Guard, what’s the situation of the camp?” Gaius asked.

“To be precise,” Isabelle added, “your food supplies. What’s going on with them? Everyone looks lethargic.”

“There’s very little food, ma’am. Everyone’s making do with water. Whatever little food we have left are being rationed out right now,” the guard replied. “The next supply train comes three days later, but…”

His eyes brightened a moment later. “They’re here!”

“What’s here? Food?” Gaius turned to look behind him, where a bunch of bedraggled soldiers, wounded all over, were dragging back wagons of food. Each wagon, if filled to the brim, could probably feed fifty people for two to three days, but there was a problem with those wagons in particular. Those wagons were only half full, and—

Isabelle breathed in sharply.

“What’s wrong?” Gaius asked.

“These wagons have the emblem of the Southern Assembly on it,” Isabelle replied, pointing at a crossed star. “If I’m not wrong, these are supplies from House Sephira. Did these people raid a camp or convoy of the South?”

In that moment, Gaius understood what the demons were up to. They weren’t just stalling for time by attacking the supply troops; they were also instigating rifts between the allied forces. A small chill ran down his spine. The Demon God was mighty, but his strategies had never been much to look at. It was probably the influence of the Abyss, which had weakened the great god’s ability to strategise, but now that the World’s Blight was dead…

They had exchanged a near-omnipotent god for a really competent commander.

“Darn it.” Gaius clenched his fist, but he couldn’t do anything. In silence, the two of them watched as the bedraggled soldiers pushed the carts into the forward camp, and cheers erupted immediately.

Gaius and Isabelle were unable to bring themselves to stop the starving soldiers from making short work of the food in the stolen wagon, not when they saw the faces of the starving soldiers. If something like this was already going on, it probably meant that the few-dozen forward camps that had been set up was experiencing the same things too.

Starvation.

Pillaging from allies.

And, if what Minister Pauline predicted came to pass, events like hindering the efforts of other nations in securing their own tracts of land were probably playing out too.

Gaius could already foresee the chaos that would follow — the troops of the Five Lands would eventually grow to hate each other. What would the demons do then? And how would the War Council react? Even if the demons were subjugated, what would follow? Another war?

“Where are the Paragons?” Isabelle wondered out loud. “The Lords, the Knights…where are they? Shouldn’t they be doing something now? People are starving, and they aren’t helping…”

“Most of the Guardians came to the Heaven-cleaving Fortress to protect the Five Lands,” Gaius replied. “They probably aren’t going to take part in this invasion. Only Demigods can fly here, but how many of them do the Five Lands have?”

A chill ran down his spine as he uttered those words. Gaius didn’t have anything to back those words up, but his instinct told him that whatever he just said was probably very true. It did make sense; why would the Guardians place themselves at risk here? All of them had Engines and were capable of flight; surrendering such an advantage by entering the Wildlands right now was nothing short of idiocy. Without such an advantage, even the strongest of fighters could be tired out by a large enough army.

The Demon God’s final gambit was a stroke of genius through and through. His successor, the person commanding those demons, was also no slouch in this department. Their tactics had pushed the allied forces into an inevitable state of collapse, and Gaius couldn’t think of anything to stop it.

He could not change the hearts and minds of others with force. There wasn’t enough time for him and Isabelle to do it.

At this rate, the entire warfront would collapse. The troops of the Five Lands would turn on each other. It was possible for a large-scale desertion to occur, as they fled the Wildlands to return home. The demons would probably swoop in, like sharks chasing after wounded prey. From what Gaius could tell, the fact that there were very few deaths would help convince the ground troops that the true enemy were their allies.

Nothing could be done unless the War Council intervened personally, but would they do that?

Gaius had a feeling that they would never take such a risk.

It didn’t take long before the food on the wagons was unloaded, and the wagons itself put to the torch. Black smoke rose to the sky, but the only concern the soldiers here had was about food. The deathly atmosphere in the camp had been replaced by a cheery uproar, but that was only because they had food.

Gaius found the fact that the joy of defeating the Demon God had been so easily nullified by hunger rather sobering, but there was nothing much he could do about it. With their very lives at stake, he could not bring himself to intervene in such actions. Who was he to accuse them of theft, when everyone was starving?

He took in the sight of people biting down on food madly for a few more seconds, and then looked away. The War Council had to already know the situation out in the Wildlands, but the main problem lay in—

“Gaius,” Isabelle abruptly spoke. “Another ambush, ten kilometres north! Wait, there are multiple ambushes!”

“Where?” Gaius took out a map and passed it to Isabelle, who was using the Twilight Observer. “And why were you using that anyway?”

“There was probably a bunch of convoys headed to the various forward camps,” Isabelle replied, as she marked out some circles. All of them were far enough from each other that no one in one convoy would notice any issues the others were facing. “And I didn’t want you to be the only one keeping a lookout, so…”

Gaius nodded and scooped her up in his arms. “Thank you.”

Shooting off into the sky, Gaius charged towards the closest site of the ambush. By the time he arrived, however, the demons were already in the middle of retreating, but from the looks of it, they hadn’t killed anyone this time. He could sense the lingering remnants of a Demigod and their Divine Kingdom, but once again, they had spared the lives of the convoy’s escorts.

Some of those escorts were injured, but there weren’t any life-threatening injuries this time around. The convoy itself, however, was already burning, and black smoke spiralled upwards, into the dome that had covered the whole of the Wildlands.

Clicking his teeth, Gaius brought Isabelle to the other sites, only to see virtually the same thing everywhere he went. The corpses of fallen demons littered the area, but since they were immortal, killing them did very little. In return, however, precious food and other supplies had been burned into ashes. For the demons, this was a victory through and through; but the restraint they were showing in not killing or launching a decisive attack was beginning to get to him.

By now, it was evident that there were very few semi-divinities accompanying the soldiers dispatched here. The mere presence of a Paragon —or, as the Wildlands called them, Exemplars — was already enough to paralyse most Soldiers and Squires, but the Wildlands’ Demigods had taken to the field just to burn down their supplies and nothing else.

Such an action was inconceivable, and yet…

“Just what are they doing?” Gaius balled his fist, but he didn’t punch out. A single strike would probably result in an earthquake, so there was nothing he could do about his frustration. It was one of the many woes of being strong; strength became a limiter in the oddest of ways. Stamping his foot would shake the land; shouting would deafen anyone who could hear him.

A set of warm hands rubbed his cheeks. “Maybe they’re trying to send a message.”

“What makes you say that?” Gaius asked.

“Few soldiers died under those ambushes,” Isabelle replied. “Demigods were mobilised only to prevent mortals from raising any resistance, but despite them being entirely helpless, the demons targeted only the supplies. If they really wanted to, everyone would have been dead.”

“Maybe they didn’t want the Five Lands to mobilise their own Demigods?” Gaius wondered.

“It’s possible, but why wouldn’t they? If the Demigods fought here, the demon Demigods would have a greater advantage. It might even be possible to kill or cripple one of two, if the demons get really tricky about things.” Isabelle frowned. “I mean, looking from how the demons are moving, there has to be a talented general holding the reins.”

Gaius agreed fervently, but more importantly, rubbing his cheeks actually had a very soothing effect on his psyche. After letting himself indulge in her ministrations for a few more minutes, he looked down at the reorganising convoy — which was just a regular troop now — and shook his head. The same scene was playing out throughout the northern areas of the Wildlands — soldiers who were rejoicing at being alive, and then lapsing into shock as they realised that their object of protection had been magically turned into smouldering ashes.

The convoy below him began to return to the Five Lands, dragging their battered bodies along. According to Isabelle, this particular convoy was from the Republic, so he was relieved when nothing actually happened to them.

Gaius shook his head. “With so many convoys destroyed on the way, You’d think that the War Council would eventually realise that something’s wrong, right?”

“Well, even if they did, are there going to be any Demigods willing to step inside here?”

“The familiar spirits of the Human God and the God of Water did show up,” Isabelle replied, “but they were just standing still and staring at the enemy.”

“They did?” Gaius asked.

“Yes. Oh, and occasionally, odd soldiers wearing grey would show up and help the Five Lands’ soldiers. But the supplies were still burned, so their presence isn’t really useful,” Isabelle replied, her eyes on the watch-like item strapped to her wrist. Gaius had intended for her to use it if he ever returned to the Crying Abyss abruptly, but as it turned out, the Twilight Observer was actually quite useful for this war. It would have been far better if it didn’t need to be useful due to the ongoing war, but one couldn’t win at everything.

“If the Demigods fought, the Five Lands would lose out.” Gaius shook his head. “That’s why I also stood that and posed along with the enemy Demigod. He wasn’t making a move, and I definitely didn’t want to create any collateral damage either.”

Isabelle chuckled. “What’s the point of having so much strength when you two can’t do anything? You can’t change the hearts of people, you don’t dare to make a move when there’s people around…the list goes on!”

“I know, right?” Gaius sighed. “To think that I’ve been tied down by some invisible ploy. I do know what we can do, though.”

“What can we do?” Isabelle asked.

“Act as a delivery service!”

“A what?”