There were no words that could be said to describe that moment.
Audiences watched with bated breaths as that "thing" shot out of the ground. It was too big to understand what it actually was. The only thing part of its body that people could actually see was the huge mouth that swallowed all three border cities whole.
It snapped its mouth shut with such speed that it sent a wave of turbulent air in every direction. It hit the barrier and didn't spread further into Eris' territory, but there were no such protections on the other side.
It hit August's border cities like a terrifying storm, destroying the walls entirely. If it wasn't for Valerie, Melania, and their people protecting the citizens inside, all of them would have died in that moment.
In the grand scheme of the war, it was nothing unexpected. Raphael was almost certainly going to fall in that moment and nothing could change that.
Yet, the implications of that move were not small.
Raphael did something similar when he took the city from Estavian. He didn't care about any innocents and let them die so that he could accomplish what he set out to do, but even then, crowds only felt a little displeased.
It was different this time. The brutal realism through which each and every simulated citizen died was too much for many onlookers to stomach.
When they thought of themselves in that position, sandwiched between two Holy Clans who didn't care about what happened to them, it became even more terrifying.
Wilhelm made his message clear.
The lives of the common people meant only what he decided they did. If he wanted them dead, then none of them would be able to retaliate, no matter what kind of power or status they held.
What was the point of all of the politics and schemes of their social hierarchy when there was a class of people so far above them? Were their lives truly as meaningless as he made them look?
The sentiment inspired rage in many a citizen in Arulion, but there was nowhere for that rage to go. They clearly learned what would happen if they directed it at those who provoked it, and there was no point in directing it at each other.
A deep sense of hopelessness was what spread from that moment.
August gritted his teeth as he watched it happen from a distance.
'So that's how it is?'
He felt the same sense of injustice as everyone else.
He couldn't believe that this was how the other side wanted to fight this war.
It easily could have been a battle of brawn from the start. If it wasn't for the populace living in their territories, then August also would have been as destructive as possible.
However, they were clearly added into the equation to ensure that the battle wouldn't end so simply.
'That message…was it for me?'
Though Wilhelm was never present and the event took place like a natural calamity, August knew better.
He could feel the malice involved in the decisions that were made on the other side, and it gave rise to boiling emotions in his soul.
'The long game isn't something we can play anymore.'
August had a good plan to take down the other side systematically. He was going to show the might of his mind and defeat them before they could do anything significant.
Unfortunately, his intelligence wouldn't spark hope in the people watching from beyond the barrier.
It was impossible for him to feel exactly what audiences did, but he got the gist of it through his own emotions.
They probably wanted to revolt as well. They wanted to let themselves be known, to show the world that their lives had just as much worth as anyone else.
He needed to be the person that returned that hope to them.
As a commoner himself, as someone who grew up surrounded by beautiful people who the world refused to remember, he had to show them that they could do it if they tried.
They could be remembered as heroes, as artists, as scholars.
Status wasn't what defined them, and Arulion was not what the Holy Clans presented it as.
'Fine.'
If he had to throw it all away, that was fine.
He wanted to hide for a bit longer, but if it was strength that they wanted to see, then it was strength that he'd give them.
Raphael was swallowed by that beast. His fate, the fates of his mercenaries, and the fate of Gio, who'd been following him, were unknown.
The beast below the surface had likely been living there for eons. Wilhelm was able to abuse its existence once, but he wouldn't be able to use it again.
And, since he'd sacrificed three of his own cities to create that atrocity, it would be far easier for August's side to win.
"Everyone, are you listening?"
August spoke into his communicator with cold eyes.
As he heard most of his team report back, he steeled himself.
"Forget everything we've done so far. We're switching to Plan Z."
It was a plan without a proper name because they never planned to use it from the start. August called it "Plan Z" because it was their final plan, one that was never to be employed unless they had no other choice.
This was not that situation, but everyone understood why August made his decision.
If the other side wanted blood, then they would show them blood.
Their losses were somewhat equal for now, and it seemed that Wilhelm and Eris assumed they had an advantage because they'd made the first real devastating move of the war.
August was more than happy to show them just how wrong they were.
***
August and the army he brought all had real combat experience. The wars they fought in Bastille weren't child's play. They were far more brutal than something like this.
People died in orders of thousands every hour. Blood flowed into the soil with such frequency that an entire portion of the earth was dyed red for years to come.
They hadn't used their experience there in this war because it was just a simulation. When August declared that they'd be using Plan Z, all of that changed.
Wilhelm's actions directly influenced the systematic destruction of his army.
Most of those troops were in the three inner cities that had remained untouched until now.
The entire territory was now separated from its sister territory by a massive chasm in the center, but it wasn't hard to cross.
Especially when those geniuses who wanted war decided to change into their dragon forms.
Under August's orders, massive attacks were carried out in every possible region of Eris' territory. Using technology from Bastille, which was still relatively new in Arulion, August's side was able to maintain an absolute advantage over the other side.
In the coming weeks, the war escalated and escalated. Most of the recruited soldiers on Eris' side had been defeated before they were able to show an ounce of their might, and as if to get rid of anyone who wasn't important, August's troops specifically targeted the noble geniuses who had once banded together under Mikael and eliminated them.
It wasn't difficult. Once the heir wars became a battle of growth, it was supposed to be a stage reserved for Holy Clan geniuses. The noble geniuses had been outperformed constantly, and now that the competition was in its third stage, they no longer stood a chance.
Even those like Remelia, who caused problems for Valerie in the labyrinth challenge, were forced to die before showing anything notable in the war.
Within a month, the only people left on the enemy side were the Holy Clan geniuses, apart from Gianna, of course.
Valerie and Faldren kept fighting in their isolated corner where nobody bothered them, but that was the only part of the battlefield that didn't change.
August lost troops as well. In the more reckless combat that was taking place now, it was impossible for everyone to survive.
And since only those who actually had a chance of winning the competition were being kept in the war, everyone who was part of his alliance, barring himself, Melania, Valerie, and their Holy Clan geniuses, was eliminated.
Lucas and Ophelia went down after taking all of the nobles on the other side with them, so their performance wasn't to be overlooked.
Still, in the end, there weren't many who could confront Holy Clan geniuses and win.
There were only three outliers from the commoner faction and four more who August had summoned from thin air.
Nevertheless, August had an advantage in both numbers and power.
The only question was how the other side would react to their current predicament.
After all, Eris and Wilhelm never left their castle.
Whether they were hiding like turtles or preparing something more devious than their last move was still unknown, but it was high time for them to be confronted.
Those two geniuses who liked to act like nothing that was happening concerned them…
August was patiently waiting for the moment he could slap them across their faces.
There were no words that could be said to describe that moment.
Audiences watched with bated breaths as that "thing" shot out of the ground. It was too big to understand what it actually was. The only thing part of its body that people could actually see was the huge mouth that swallowed all three border cities whole.
It snapped its mouth shut with such speed that it sent a wave of turbulent air in every direction. It hit the barrier and didn't spread further into Eris' territory, but there were no such protections on the other side.
It hit August's border cities like a terrifying storm, destroying the walls entirely. If it wasn't for Valerie, Melania, and their people protecting the citizens inside, all of them would have died in that moment.
In the grand scheme of the war, it was nothing unexpected. Raphael was almost certainly going to fall in that moment and nothing could change that.
Yet, the implications of that move were not small.
Raphael did something similar when he took the city from Estavian. He didn't care about any innocents and let them die so that he could accomplish what he set out to do, but even then, crowds only felt a little displeased.
It was different this time. The brutal realism through which each and every simulated citizen died was too much for many onlookers to stomach.
When they thought of themselves in that position, sandwiched between two Holy Clans who didn't care about what happened to them, it became even more terrifying.
Wilhelm made his message clear.
The lives of the common people meant only what he decided they did. If he wanted them dead, then none of them would be able to retaliate, no matter what kind of power or status they held.
What was the point of all of the politics and schemes of their social hierarchy when there was a class of people so far above them? Were their lives truly as meaningless as he made them look?
The sentiment inspired rage in many a citizen in Arulion, but there was nowhere for that rage to go. They clearly learned what would happen if they directed it at those who provoked it, and there was no point in directing it at each other.
A deep sense of hopelessness was what spread from that moment.
August gritted his teeth as he watched it happen from a distance.
'So that's how it is?'
He felt the same sense of injustice as everyone else.
He couldn't believe that this was how the other side wanted to fight this war.
It easily could have been a battle of brawn from the start. If it wasn't for the populace living in their territories, then August also would have been as destructive as possible.
However, they were clearly added into the equation to ensure that the battle wouldn't end so simply.
'That message…was it for me?'
Though Wilhelm was never present and the event took place like a natural calamity, August knew better.
He could feel the malice involved in the decisions that were made on the other side, and it gave rise to boiling emotions in his soul.
'The long game isn't something we can play anymore.'
August had a good plan to take down the other side systematically. He was going to show the might of his mind and defeat them before they could do anything significant.
Unfortunately, his intelligence wouldn't spark hope in the people watching from beyond the barrier.
It was impossible for him to feel exactly what audiences did, but he got the gist of it through his own emotions.
They probably wanted to revolt as well. They wanted to let themselves be known, to show the world that their lives had just as much worth as anyone else.
He needed to be the person that returned that hope to them.
As a commoner himself, as someone who grew up surrounded by beautiful people who the world refused to remember, he had to show them that they could do it if they tried.
They could be remembered as heroes, as artists, as scholars.
Status wasn't what defined them, and Arulion was not what the Holy Clans presented it as.
'Fine.'
If he had to throw it all away, that was fine.
He wanted to hide for a bit longer, but if it was strength that they wanted to see, then it was strength that he'd give them.
Raphael was swallowed by that beast. His fate, the fates of his mercenaries, and the fate of Gio, who'd been following him, were unknown.
The beast below the surface had likely been living there for eons. Wilhelm was able to abuse its existence once, but he wouldn't be able to use it again.
And, since he'd sacrificed three of his own cities to create that atrocity, it would be far easier for August's side to win.
"Everyone, are you listening?"
August spoke into his communicator with cold eyes.
As he heard most of his team report back, he steeled himself.
"Forget everything we've done so far. We're switching to Plan Z."
It was a plan without a proper name because they never planned to use it from the start. August called it "Plan Z" because it was their final plan, one that was never to be employed unless they had no other choice.
This was not that situation, but everyone understood why August made his decision.
If the other side wanted blood, then they would show them blood.
Their losses were somewhat equal for now, and it seemed that Wilhelm and Eris assumed they had an advantage because they'd made the first real devastating move of the war.
August was more than happy to show them just how wrong they were.
***
August and the army he brought all had real combat experience. The wars they fought in Bastille weren't child's play. They were far more brutal than something like this.
People died in orders of thousands every hour. Blood flowed into the soil with such frequency that an entire portion of the earth was dyed red for years to come.
They hadn't used their experience there in this war because it was just a simulation. When August declared that they'd be using Plan Z, all of that changed.
Wilhelm's actions directly influenced the systematic destruction of his army.
Most of those troops were in the three inner cities that had remained untouched until now.
The entire territory was now separated from its sister territory by a massive chasm in the center, but it wasn't hard to cross.
Especially when those geniuses who wanted war decided to change into their dragon forms.
Under August's orders, massive attacks were carried out in every possible region of Eris' territory. Using technology from Bastille, which was still relatively new in Arulion, August's side was able to maintain an absolute advantage over the other side.
In the coming weeks, the war escalated and escalated. Most of the recruited soldiers on Eris' side had been defeated before they were able to show an ounce of their might, and as if to get rid of anyone who wasn't important, August's troops specifically targeted the noble geniuses who had once banded together under Mikael and eliminated them.
It wasn't difficult. Once the heir wars became a battle of growth, it was supposed to be a stage reserved for Holy Clan geniuses. The noble geniuses had been outperformed constantly, and now that the competition was in its third stage, they no longer stood a chance.
Even those like Remelia, who caused problems for Valerie in the labyrinth challenge, were forced to die before showing anything notable in the war.
Within a month, the only people left on the enemy side were the Holy Clan geniuses, apart from Gianna, of course.
Valerie and Faldren kept fighting in their isolated corner where nobody bothered them, but that was the only part of the battlefield that didn't change.
August lost troops as well. In the more reckless combat that was taking place now, it was impossible for everyone to survive.
And since only those who actually had a chance of winning the competition were being kept in the war, everyone who was part of his alliance, barring himself, Melania, Valerie, and their Holy Clan geniuses, was eliminated.
Lucas and Ophelia went down after taking all of the nobles on the other side with them, so their performance wasn't to be overlooked.
Still, in the end, there weren't many who could confront Holy Clan geniuses and win.
There were only three outliers from the commoner faction and four more who August had summoned from thin air.
Nevertheless, August had an advantage in both numbers and power.
The only question was how the other side would react to their current predicament.
After all, Eris and Wilhelm never left their castle.
Whether they were hiding like turtles or preparing something more devious than their last move was still unknown, but it was high time for them to be confronted.
Those two geniuses who liked to act like nothing that was happening concerned them…
August was patiently waiting for the moment he could slap them across their faces.
