The public was a bit dissatisfied for the first day of the third stage.
Neither side did anything crazy. It made sense for them to approach the situation rationally for now, but that didn't make it any less boring.
Some were even tempted to try and break the barrier to feed the teams information that would provoke them to clash, but since that wasn't possible, they had no choice but to wait.
Luckily, it didn't take longer than a day for their wishes to be answered.
Because, while Eris' side wasn't doing anything special, August and his team were about to start hunting their prey.
Gianna was given the chance to run around as she pleased for a decent amount of time.
She was allowed to tell her people that most of their enemy's troops were still at the castle and that the inner cities were empty aside from the simulated populations that inhabited them.
And, she was allowed to tell her team that there weren't any traps in place to reveal her. That put them at ease and made sure they wouldn't be checking up on her as often.
It created an opportunity for August and his people.
Gianna was, in almost every way, isolated from her people.
They could only contact her through the communication artifacts they had, and unlike Seryius, she didn't have any safety measures to immediately return her to her home territory in the case of danger.
Maybe since she was a Holy Clan genius, maybe since they'd been so dominant thus far, nobody believed that she would be taken down by August and his ragtag bunch.
But…August's people weren't a ragtag bunch, were they?
August had a conversation with Iridia the day prior. In essence, it went like this:
"Let me take their spy out with my troops. Come along with us and you can learn how to command them properly."
"Why would I do that? I'm willing to respect them as soldiers under my command, but you can't expect me to do something like this and completely diminish my authority."
"I don't know why you see it like that, but this will be helpful to both you and them. Plus, if you can show proper synergy, then you can one-up Raphael and get out of his shadow."
"You…!"
Iridia was obviously offended by that last statement, but it was definitely tempting. In the end, she did submit and decide to join August on his hunt to learn how his troops operated.
It was a small operation. Only August's main friend group of Juno, Raul, Mikaela, and Yuna were going with them, but these four were the most important.
As long as they were willing to follow Iridia, the rest would do the same.
Gianna had been staking out the castle for the past few hours. She had already found a way in, but she had to be certain that they hadn't concentrated their precautions in that area before she entered.
After all, the castle was the most sacred place in both territories.
If it was infiltrated, then there was no point in the rest of the stage.
The team that allowed such a blunder would lose from the start.
Gianna was obviously hoping that August left the palace as unsecured as the rest of the territory, but no matter how much she didn't want to acknowledge him, he had obviously come this far in the tournament through skills alone.
She refused to be blinded by prejudice at a critical moment like this.
As such, she had been careful in the past few hours, sending minions to scope out the castle in her place.
In Gianna's opinion, she was as covert as she could possibly be. The members of the Aurora Clan hadn't sensed her movements, and judging by the movement of the troops, nobody else had either.
Overall, she was just about ready to infiltrate the castle and gain real information that could benefit her team.
But she was only able to get this far because August allowed it.
The first move in any large conflict was gaining information on the other side.
Those who knew more would win nine out of ten battles with that information. As such, any sane person would do at least a little bit of reconnaissance before rushing into battle.
That was why the battle had been so boring for outsiders.
Still, if someone was going to be sent to gather information, it was necessary for that person to be aware of their limits.
Gianna was pushing hers from the moment she got close to the castle. Now that she was getting ready to fly into the sun, it was high time for August to cut her wings off.
He and his friends, along with Iridia Ignis, were currently in a field relatively far from the palace.
It was separated from everything mainly to make sure that the person who was soon to arrive here would have no way to escape.
And more importantly…
"Is everything ready?" August asked.
"The preparations were completed yesterday. Now that we are here, everything is in place," Raul responded.
Like Yuna, he was someone August met during his adventures in Bastille. He was also part of a large influence, but instead of focusing on power, they concentrated their resources on knowledge.
Raul specifically was always a fan of formations. He believed that they were the best way to get close to the absolute truths of the world, and spent his entire life studying them in depth.
Using the troops at August's command, Raul was able to oversee the rapid production of an array that encompassed a several-kilometer-wide area around their current position.
"And it looks like the star of our show is here."
August grinned.
There was a shadow approaching from the distance. It wasn't visible, but Yuna had already signaled its approach.
Mikaela's power was concealing them all, so Gianna couldn't immediately sense them.
She would definitely get the hint eventually, but by the time she did…
"...!"
Gianna's eyes widened as she suddenly felt a heap of presences just a few kilometers ahead.
She immediately sunk deeper into her concealment and changed her direction to avoid them, but in just a second, she slammed into an invisible wall.
"What…?"
She looked up as the barrier formed around her, trapping her in the area.
Turning around, she focused once more on the presences she felt.
"So, I've been caught."
Her reaction was surprisingly tame.
'Six of them. Among them, Iridia Ignis.'
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't let anything show on her face.
Gianna wasn't worried about the others in a situation where they were fighting head-on, but Iridia was definitely an issue.
Fire, which was infinitely close to light, was also a natural enemy to the darkness.
'That barrier seems strong. I'll need a decent amount of force to break it.'
Regardless, the goal now wasn't to get into an altercation with the other side.
It was most important to report back to her own people about what was happening here.
"Hello? Eris, can you hear me?"
She sent a transmission just to be sure, but as expected, it bounced off of the barrier and played loud and clear for the entire world to hear.
None of her words could remain private in this place. If she decided to voice them, then she had to voice them to everyone.
This was clearly a trap prepared for her, one that she'd fallen into without any resistance.
But if they thought she was just going to fall for this and be eliminated…
"...then you're sorely mistaken."
The public was a bit dissatisfied for the first day of the third stage.
Neither side did anything crazy. It made sense for them to approach the situation rationally for now, but that didn't make it any less boring.
Some were even tempted to try and break the barrier to feed the teams information that would provoke them to clash, but since that wasn't possible, they had no choice but to wait.
Luckily, it didn't take longer than a day for their wishes to be answered.
Because, while Eris' side wasn't doing anything special, August and his team were about to start hunting their prey.
Gianna was given the chance to run around as she pleased for a decent amount of time.
She was allowed to tell her people that most of their enemy's troops were still at the castle and that the inner cities were empty aside from the simulated populations that inhabited them.
And, she was allowed to tell her team that there weren't any traps in place to reveal her. That put them at ease and made sure they wouldn't be checking up on her as often.
It created an opportunity for August and his people.
Gianna was, in almost every way, isolated from her people.
They could only contact her through the communication artifacts they had, and unlike Seryius, she didn't have any safety measures to immediately return her to her home territory in the case of danger.
Maybe since she was a Holy Clan genius, maybe since they'd been so dominant thus far, nobody believed that she would be taken down by August and his ragtag bunch.
But…August's people weren't a ragtag bunch, were they?
August had a conversation with Iridia the day prior. In essence, it went like this:
"Let me take their spy out with my troops. Come along with us and you can learn how to command them properly."
"Why would I do that? I'm willing to respect them as soldiers under my command, but you can't expect me to do something like this and completely diminish my authority."
"I don't know why you see it like that, but this will be helpful to both you and them. Plus, if you can show proper synergy, then you can one-up Raphael and get out of his shadow."
"You…!"
Iridia was obviously offended by that last statement, but it was definitely tempting. In the end, she did submit and decide to join August on his hunt to learn how his troops operated.
It was a small operation. Only August's main friend group of Juno, Raul, Mikaela, and Yuna were going with them, but these four were the most important.
As long as they were willing to follow Iridia, the rest would do the same.
Gianna had been staking out the castle for the past few hours. She had already found a way in, but she had to be certain that they hadn't concentrated their precautions in that area before she entered.
After all, the castle was the most sacred place in both territories.
If it was infiltrated, then there was no point in the rest of the stage.
The team that allowed such a blunder would lose from the start.
Gianna was obviously hoping that August left the palace as unsecured as the rest of the territory, but no matter how much she didn't want to acknowledge him, he had obviously come this far in the tournament through skills alone.
She refused to be blinded by prejudice at a critical moment like this.
As such, she had been careful in the past few hours, sending minions to scope out the castle in her place.
In Gianna's opinion, she was as covert as she could possibly be. The members of the Aurora Clan hadn't sensed her movements, and judging by the movement of the troops, nobody else had either.
Overall, she was just about ready to infiltrate the castle and gain real information that could benefit her team.
But she was only able to get this far because August allowed it.
The first move in any large conflict was gaining information on the other side.
Those who knew more would win nine out of ten battles with that information. As such, any sane person would do at least a little bit of reconnaissance before rushing into battle.
That was why the battle had been so boring for outsiders.
Still, if someone was going to be sent to gather information, it was necessary for that person to be aware of their limits.
Gianna was pushing hers from the moment she got close to the castle. Now that she was getting ready to fly into the sun, it was high time for August to cut her wings off.
He and his friends, along with Iridia Ignis, were currently in a field relatively far from the palace.
It was separated from everything mainly to make sure that the person who was soon to arrive here would have no way to escape.
And more importantly…
"Is everything ready?" August asked.
"The preparations were completed yesterday. Now that we are here, everything is in place," Raul responded.
Like Yuna, he was someone August met during his adventures in Bastille. He was also part of a large influence, but instead of focusing on power, they concentrated their resources on knowledge.
Raul specifically was always a fan of formations. He believed that they were the best way to get close to the absolute truths of the world, and spent his entire life studying them in depth.
Using the troops at August's command, Raul was able to oversee the rapid production of an array that encompassed a several-kilometer-wide area around their current position.
"And it looks like the star of our show is here."
August grinned.
There was a shadow approaching from the distance. It wasn't visible, but Yuna had already signaled its approach.
Mikaela's power was concealing them all, so Gianna couldn't immediately sense them.
She would definitely get the hint eventually, but by the time she did…
"...!"
Gianna's eyes widened as she suddenly felt a heap of presences just a few kilometers ahead.
She immediately sunk deeper into her concealment and changed her direction to avoid them, but in just a second, she slammed into an invisible wall.
"What…?"
She looked up as the barrier formed around her, trapping her in the area.
Turning around, she focused once more on the presences she felt.
"So, I've been caught."
Her reaction was surprisingly tame.
'Six of them. Among them, Iridia Ignis.'
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't let anything show on her face.
Gianna wasn't worried about the others in a situation where they were fighting head-on, but Iridia was definitely an issue.
Fire, which was infinitely close to light, was also a natural enemy to the darkness.
'That barrier seems strong. I'll need a decent amount of force to break it.'
Regardless, the goal now wasn't to get into an altercation with the other side.
It was most important to report back to her own people about what was happening here.
"Hello? Eris, can you hear me?"
She sent a transmission just to be sure, but as expected, it bounced off of the barrier and played loud and clear for the entire world to hear.
None of her words could remain private in this place. If she decided to voice them, then she had to voice them to everyone.
This was clearly a trap prepared for her, one that she'd fallen into without any resistance.
But if they thought she was just going to fall for this and be eliminated…
"...then you're sorely mistaken."
