A day passed without much change in matters. Faldren and Valerie occupied the western half of the battlefield, Raphael kept his ground in the central border city, and everyone else waited where they were assigned for their leaders to make the next move.
If there was one thing to note, it was that Estavian had gathered the roughly two hundred soldiers who managed to escape from the city's destruction and formed a line to confront Raphael.
Well, that was what Raphael believed their purpose to be, but he was severely overestimating his importance in this war.
Because he'd been allowed to gather most of their army and make them loyal to only him, because he was able to get whatever he wanted from August through trades that he believed only benefited him, he believed that he was the pivotal point of everything.
And in a sense, he was.
Just not in the way that he expected.
One had to wonder how Gianna's death came to light.
Well, it wasn't anything special.
Eris had been trying to contact her since the day before.
Every time a new event happened while she remained unaware, she screamed into the communication device for Gianna to respond.
They weren't the best of friends. Eris was clearly aware of Gianna's jealousy towards her, and she understood that the other woman would be willing to take on radio silence if it meant that she could monopolize rewards.
But, that wasn't enough to explain this level of silence. Certainly not when August and his people were moving so much.
Gianna was only hurting herself by withholding information from her team. At a certain point, even pride and jealousy would have to quiet down as they faced the wall of rational thought.
If Gianna was someone worthy of this competition as their clan believed, then she would feel that eventually and concede.
But she didn't.
No matter what happened, Gianna didn't report back.
That was when Eris was forced to accept the truth.
"She's dead. That idiot managed to get herself killed before anyone else."
It was a humiliating truth, but one that had to be acknowledged.
"This is what overconfidence gets you, isn't it? Or, are you lot from the Noct Clan just incredibly prone to throwing tantrums?"
Wilhelm chimed in as if someone wanted to hear his opinion, but obviously not a single person did.
"Take this seriously, bastard. We've lost one of our only usable forces, and they still have their information agent feeding them."
"Hahaha, you mean Seryius? He's definitely sneaky, but it isn't like he can get into the palace. If he even tries, he will die. He knows that, and that's why he's just been skirting around the edges this entire time."
"Whatever the case, as long as he's still able to freely move through our territory, he is a threat. You have a lot of confidence in your own schemes, but did you know? You aren't actually that much better than anyone here. Everything you've prepared will eventually be torn down if you maintain that attitude."
"Like Gianna? I understand your concern, but that will not happen. After all, unlike her, I am not overconfident. I am only as confident as I deserve to be in my position."
Put simply, even if he and Gianna had the same attitude, he deserved to have it and she was just pathetic.
As always, the man named Wilhelm Liqua had no such thing as a connection to reality. Everything in his world was a fantasy meant to raise him up.
"Putting that aside…" he said, his eyes never turning serious for even a moment.
"If Gianna is dead, then it's fine to do whatever I want, isn't it? I've been dying to see what happens when they receive my gift."
Their cue was supposed to be Gianna reporting back the enemy's movements, but that wasn't a possibility anymore.
Without certainty in their movements, they needed to be even more careful about when and how they acted, but Wilhelm disagreed.
He wanted to do it, and he wanted to do it now.
He wanted to see destruction rain down on the world, slaughtering anyone and anything that he hadn't personally acknowledged.
Wilhelm was not someone fit to be a ruler of people.
No, he was a slaughterer. If he was ever put in control of a kingdom, he would do everything in his power to watch it fall.
This was only a simulated environment, but it gave him the chance to do something he'd never been able to do in real life.
His face showed an expression unlike anything Eris had ever seen before.
His eyes shined with a murderous light as he grinned darkly. He looked like a wolf hunting for prey to torment.
"Do it."
He said only two words, but the individual on the other side of the communicator knew exactly what he wanted.
Aside from Eris and Wilhelm, he was the only one. He was in charge of pushing the button. It was the only job he'd been assigned in the war thus far.
And, eager to make achievements, he pushed it without hesitation.
He was in the palace, so he didn't feel it immediately, but for the people that were in the thick of it…
The entire battlefield changed at that moment.
***
It was an eruption that nobody expected. Even August and Cera, who'd predicted that there was something hidden there, didn't think it would be this insane.
That button was pressed and all hell broke loose.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
An entire strip of land containing all three border cities on Eris' side was separated from the rest of their territory by a massive barrier.
It started with just a few cracks, but they soon expanded into massive chasms reaching far into the depths of the world.
The earth crumbled, and immediately, those three cities were destroyed.
"Stay calm! Use mana to hover!"
In the middle of it all, Raphael tried to command his troops to deal with it.
They were surrounded by the screams of common people as hundreds of thousands of citizens were swallowed into the earth. Magma soon rose from those cracks, melting those who couldn't run in time and making them experience pure agony.
BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
Huge explosions were happening everywhere, claiming more and more lives.
Amidst all of the screams and cries, amidst the undeniable aura of death that spread through the border cities, Raphael was forced to defend himself over anyone else he saw.
He was going to die here.
That thought flitted through his mind and unsettled him to his core.
"DAMMIT!"
He roared as he maintained the mana barrier around him that diverted any force that headed his way.
That force went on to strike and kill many civilians around him, dying the ground with blood, but even that proof of his sin was swallowed by and submerged into magma, never to be seen again.
Everyone was already dying. The barrier that erected itself around the area made it impossible to escape.
As if this level of chaos wasn't enough, there was something rising from beneath the surface.
A huge maw, the mouth of something that should have never existed in this war, burst through the magma…
…and swallowed everything whole.
A day passed without much change in matters. Faldren and Valerie occupied the western half of the battlefield, Raphael kept his ground in the central border city, and everyone else waited where they were assigned for their leaders to make the next move.
If there was one thing to note, it was that Estavian had gathered the roughly two hundred soldiers who managed to escape from the city's destruction and formed a line to confront Raphael.
Well, that was what Raphael believed their purpose to be, but he was severely overestimating his importance in this war.
Because he'd been allowed to gather most of their army and make them loyal to only him, because he was able to get whatever he wanted from August through trades that he believed only benefited him, he believed that he was the pivotal point of everything.
And in a sense, he was.
Just not in the way that he expected.
One had to wonder how Gianna's death came to light.
Well, it wasn't anything special.
Eris had been trying to contact her since the day before.
Every time a new event happened while she remained unaware, she screamed into the communication device for Gianna to respond.
They weren't the best of friends. Eris was clearly aware of Gianna's jealousy towards her, and she understood that the other woman would be willing to take on radio silence if it meant that she could monopolize rewards.
But, that wasn't enough to explain this level of silence. Certainly not when August and his people were moving so much.
Gianna was only hurting herself by withholding information from her team. At a certain point, even pride and jealousy would have to quiet down as they faced the wall of rational thought.
If Gianna was someone worthy of this competition as their clan believed, then she would feel that eventually and concede.
But she didn't.
No matter what happened, Gianna didn't report back.
That was when Eris was forced to accept the truth.
"She's dead. That idiot managed to get herself killed before anyone else."
It was a humiliating truth, but one that had to be acknowledged.
"This is what overconfidence gets you, isn't it? Or, are you lot from the Noct Clan just incredibly prone to throwing tantrums?"
Wilhelm chimed in as if someone wanted to hear his opinion, but obviously not a single person did.
"Take this seriously, bastard. We've lost one of our only usable forces, and they still have their information agent feeding them."
"Hahaha, you mean Seryius? He's definitely sneaky, but it isn't like he can get into the palace. If he even tries, he will die. He knows that, and that's why he's just been skirting around the edges this entire time."
"Whatever the case, as long as he's still able to freely move through our territory, he is a threat. You have a lot of confidence in your own schemes, but did you know? You aren't actually that much better than anyone here. Everything you've prepared will eventually be torn down if you maintain that attitude."
"Like Gianna? I understand your concern, but that will not happen. After all, unlike her, I am not overconfident. I am only as confident as I deserve to be in my position."
Put simply, even if he and Gianna had the same attitude, he deserved to have it and she was just pathetic.
As always, the man named Wilhelm Liqua had no such thing as a connection to reality. Everything in his world was a fantasy meant to raise him up.
"Putting that aside…" he said, his eyes never turning serious for even a moment.
"If Gianna is dead, then it's fine to do whatever I want, isn't it? I've been dying to see what happens when they receive my gift."
Their cue was supposed to be Gianna reporting back the enemy's movements, but that wasn't a possibility anymore.
Without certainty in their movements, they needed to be even more careful about when and how they acted, but Wilhelm disagreed.
He wanted to do it, and he wanted to do it now.
He wanted to see destruction rain down on the world, slaughtering anyone and anything that he hadn't personally acknowledged.
Wilhelm was not someone fit to be a ruler of people.
No, he was a slaughterer. If he was ever put in control of a kingdom, he would do everything in his power to watch it fall.
This was only a simulated environment, but it gave him the chance to do something he'd never been able to do in real life.
His face showed an expression unlike anything Eris had ever seen before.
His eyes shined with a murderous light as he grinned darkly. He looked like a wolf hunting for prey to torment.
"Do it."
He said only two words, but the individual on the other side of the communicator knew exactly what he wanted.
Aside from Eris and Wilhelm, he was the only one. He was in charge of pushing the button. It was the only job he'd been assigned in the war thus far.
And, eager to make achievements, he pushed it without hesitation.
He was in the palace, so he didn't feel it immediately, but for the people that were in the thick of it…
The entire battlefield changed at that moment.
***
It was an eruption that nobody expected. Even August and Cera, who'd predicted that there was something hidden there, didn't think it would be this insane.
That button was pressed and all hell broke loose.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
An entire strip of land containing all three border cities on Eris' side was separated from the rest of their territory by a massive barrier.
It started with just a few cracks, but they soon expanded into massive chasms reaching far into the depths of the world.
The earth crumbled, and immediately, those three cities were destroyed.
"Stay calm! Use mana to hover!"
In the middle of it all, Raphael tried to command his troops to deal with it.
They were surrounded by the screams of common people as hundreds of thousands of citizens were swallowed into the earth. Magma soon rose from those cracks, melting those who couldn't run in time and making them experience pure agony.
BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
Huge explosions were happening everywhere, claiming more and more lives.
Amidst all of the screams and cries, amidst the undeniable aura of death that spread through the border cities, Raphael was forced to defend himself over anyone else he saw.
He was going to die here.
That thought flitted through his mind and unsettled him to his core.
"DAMMIT!"
He roared as he maintained the mana barrier around him that diverted any force that headed his way.
That force went on to strike and kill many civilians around him, dying the ground with blood, but even that proof of his sin was swallowed by and submerged into magma, never to be seen again.
Everyone was already dying. The barrier that erected itself around the area made it impossible to escape.
As if this level of chaos wasn't enough, there was something rising from beneath the surface.
A huge maw, the mouth of something that should have never existed in this war, burst through the magma…
…and swallowed everything whole.
