It was already early afternoon.

  Two officers holding telescopes observed the western side of Perlenstadt from the rooftop of the cathedral. Beside them, teams of soldiers made targeting calculations for the fireball artillery spell’s targets on their maps.

  Work, even in the rear, was heavy.

  Alexa and Wilhelm stood behind them, and Alexa herself was transfixed at the landscape of her nation’s capital. Fires and black smoke were visible everywhere, with the constant sound of spells and explosions from the distance being heard.

  She couldn’t even count the amount of colored smoke and flares burning up high in the sky, mostly used to signal areas under attack, overrun, or those calling for long-range support.

  “Demons aren’t the smartest folks out there,” Wilhelm said, cool and calm. “I hypothesize that most of them, the common lesser demons, aren’t sapient or sentient. They’re more like a hive controlled by the Archdemons.”

  “So the Archdemons are the smart ones?”

  “Oh, yes. Considering their magic, abilities, and whatever else—they certainly must be quite the intelligent creatures. They are responsible for the demon horde’s adaptation of their spells and weaponry, no doubt. That’s not out for debate. The problem is, there are only seven of them, and each of them proudly presents the pitfalls of the sins they represent. Hell, they’re so full of themselves, that they ignore the fact that we communicate using smoke signals when they send their uncreative meat wave tactics. The Defense Ministry is paranoid about it so they change the color codes three times randomly every week, but I know myself it’s useless.”

  “Why?”

  “Take Sloth as an example. There’s a reason why, when given a delicious offering, sweetened by the opportunity to open a second front and wipe out humanity once and for all, she bit it. She’s sloppy, reckless, and she forgets to think of ways that she might be defeated. In other words—she wants an easy victory.”

  Wilhelm took his telescope out and began observing the battlefield as well. Alexa could only watch. She felt like she was being schooled by a teacher on how to play with this whole ‘strategy’ thing.

  No, wait…

  That was why Wilhelm was here. He was an instructor on how to conduct warfare. Of course…

  She began to listen eagerly.

  “Archdemons are impossible to kill. Unless you have the saintess’ holy magic. They’re too powerful, so even when I defeat them and place them in captivity, they’ll manage to escape eventually. Since I’ve been a field commander, I’ve only ever managed to defeat them by capturing them or forcing them into a retreat.”

  “That sounds awful…”

  “But, that’s because they eventually work together. Bait one of them out from the support of the other Sin Archdemons, place her in a logistically difficult to support area, then activate mankind’s trump card—and victory is assured.”

  “...”

  “That’s how we’ll finish this plan too. The conditions right now have changed. We managed to acquire her hair, and I’ve shown her how much interest I have in it. She may not understand what it entails, but the anxiety will leave her unstable mind with no choice. She won’t think about any other possibilities, but what’s in front of her.”

  “Thus, she’ll decide to attack us head-on soon?”

  “And as a result, she’ll leave the Great Dungeon open to a counterattack,” Wilhelm said. “Now, this is the problem for us though. Phoebe still hasn’t awakened. What I did to her seemed to have caused a transformation in her body, and she just sucked a ton of mana from her body and everyone around her. She’s out cold.”

  Alexa remembered what had happened. Wilhelm forcefully made Phoebe drink that vial infused with the Archdemon’s hair while she was asleep, and all of a sudden, as if a defense mechanism kicked in, Phoebe’s body glowed brightly and quite literally emptied every source of mana around the cathedral.

  It was so bad, that even Wilhelm, before that, relocated his special book and the vials of Archdemon blood away before that fiasco. The only thing he allowed to be drained was the wounded people around them, the healers, a few soldiers, the officers, and of course, multiple wagons carrying mana crystals to resupply the guys at the front.

  Even if he gave most of them potions to replenish their mana afterward, that alone showed how absolutely ruthless Wilhelm was. He truly was determined to see this to the end.

  “With her out of the blue for now, and the fact that our dear saintess is clueless, we’re currently at a disadvantage, when Sloth most likely already recovered from the skirmish earlier,” Wilhelm then lowered his telescope, and looked at Alexa straight in the eyes. “Now, this is where you’ll come in…”

  +++

  Alexa felt like her stomach was turned upside down as she ran up the stairs of a tower near the city’s center. Down below, the shieldguards and crossbowmen who captured this area must still be in heavy combat, keeping the demons away from the two.

  Just that knowledge made Alexa fear for her life greatly.

  No doubt, Adele behind her was the same. Right now, a massive counterattack plan was being prepared by Wilhelm’s forces, and she was at the center of it.

  When she wore the communication crystal, tied into a necklace, her mind was quickly bombarded by a slew of reports from Wilhelm’s subordinates.

  “Fuchs Brigade HQ to Corps HQ! We’re sending our provisional penal battalions to their designated targets!”

  “Zerbst Brigade HQ to Corps HQ! Two of our battalions are commencing the assault!”

  “Vicenza Detachment HQ to Corps HQ! Sloth is advancing on our position!”

  “Princess Anastasia Brigade HQ to Corps HQ! We’re commencing indirect fireball bombardment at designated targets!”

  “Perlenstadt Garrison HQ to Corps HQ! Sloth broke through our frontmost defense lines! They’re closing in on our command post!”

  They seemed to all be communicating with ‘Corps HQ’, which was, put it simply, Wilhelm himself and his command staff. Of course, Wilhelm wouldn’t have replied, until now that she wore her communication crystal, activating her domain skill.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  And just as she did that, she finally heard Wilhelm speaking through the network.

  “To all commanders in this network, we’re not going to deviate from our set objectives. The plan remains in motion. Conduct the duties assigned to you till their completion, no matter the situation in front of you. That’s all.”

  He’s right. Alexa thought. We have to do everything to finish this, no matter what.

  She looked at the distant skyline of the city. In the path where Sloth was attacking, specifically the one defended by the newly arrived 105th Castellan Detachment ‘Vicenza’ and the remnants of this city’s garrison, magical red smoke towered high in the sky.

  Knowing that each of those represented positions that were overrun made Alexa’s thump harder. She wasn’t just slowly inching forward to reach the cathedral on the west side of the city, but so many of her soldiers were dying just to hold Sloth off even for just a few minutes.

  “Princess,” Adele called out, tired as she continued climbing the stairs with Alexa. “I can’t do this anymore. We’re risking our necks too much for this.”

  “I have to do this,” Alexa declared, as she felt herself becoming winded, stopping briefly as she panted. Due to the crystal she wore, she could hear everything being said by all those who wore it.

  The process that made it work was simple.

  Wilhelm had an ability roughly similar to Alexa’s, but it was only able to transmit one-way from Wilhelm’s subordinates to Wilhelm. With the inclusion of her ability though, it was as if all of them had a walkie-talkie now.

  They had a network in which, with Wilhelm and Alexa both acting as a central beacon, everyone could talk and listen to each other.

  In a world as backward as this, where even the military had to rely on magical smoke and flare signals for long-range communication, it was extremely powerful. Unfortunately, Alexa hadn’t mastered her ability yet, so at many moments, the transmissions of people’s voices would briefly flicker, be delayed, or worse—stop entirely.

  That, and each second that it was active, she felt like her mana reserves were being depleted. Considering how she only had a single magic circle, she probably won’t even last thirty minutes while wearing this communication crystal.

  “Even if Sloth herself targets us, we have to get to the top of this amplification tower,” Alexa said, determination growing in her voice. “Many of my damned peasant—”

  She held her tongue.

  “My soldiers are already taking this opportunity to assault the Great Dungeon to disable that portal. If they don’t receive the best that my ability can offer, many of them will die and they might fail in their task,” Alexa curled her fist. “It is my duty, as Crown Princess of this realm, to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

  “I never imagined this to be you,” Adele said, tearing up again. “We should have ignored them and run, Your Highness. This is the job of the Defense Forces, not mine or yours. We’re just girls studying in school…”

  Adele looked down.

  “Why does everything have to be this complicated? I’d rather do your silly tasks about messing with noble students lower than you than do any of this!”

  Alexa’s eyes widened, as she looked down at Adele. For a second, it was as if the world stopped for Alexa.

  In the distance, four smoke signals colored red rose high, as more and more fireball spells came from the sky and landed in the city. As Adele continued to cry, clearly frightened and pale by all this, the sounds of distant explosions also filtered to Alexa’s ears.

  “Have you not stopped to think about everything else? What about your sister? What about Sir Alfred? What about your servants? Or the country you’re supposed to inherit? What about me?! Our duty is to live first, not this!”

  She placed a hand on her chest.

  “If we ran away, we wouldn’t have to see all of this! We can just look away as we always did, then it’ll resolve itself and we can go back to our normal business! Why…why did you have to change?”

  “Adele…do you hear yourself?” Alexa’s eyes were wide, as she stared at her lady-in-waiting’s quivering, tearful eyes. “Didn’t you sign up to be my highest-ranking servant because you wanted to revive your honest family’s prestige? So that none of your little siblings will suffer?”

  “What?”

  “Then, have you stopped to think that if we don’t do this, none of that prestige you’re chasing for will matter—because your little brother and little sister will end up like one of those soldiers we saw eaten limb from limb?”

  “I—”

  Adele was about to step back in shame before Alexa slapped her.

  This was Alexa’s fault. She had overlooked this. Like Alfred, Adele was one of her closest sycophants. She forgot her tendencies, which Alexa Theresa cultivated since they were young. She told herself that she’d have a talk with Adele about this, to change herself.

  But she forgot about it. She was too focused on herself, and the big picture.

  “Look at you. Can you accept that you’re faltering now?” Alexa asked, as her voice rose. “Is this the time for you to be knocked down as you run and trip? Tell me, Adele, is this the time for any of that? Think for yourself, and stand up! Do you have a reason to be here, or not? What do you pick? Will you stand up and walk up there with me, or will you run away?”

  “W-what…I don’t understand—?”

  “I am asking you a simple question. Do you wish to remain that way, someone who’ll collapse if even the mildest gust of wind hits you, or do you want to grow a spine, and stand up? What is it, Adele?”

  Alexa stood straight, then she presented her gloved hand to Adele.

  “Make your choice now, because I made mine earlier already. I will not coerce you to take my hand and support me—this is on you, because only you can decide whether you’ll be a part of this or not.”

  Adele looked at Alexa’s eyes, as her eyes continued to tear up.

  “Mother…father…Hans, Bertholdt, Mary,” She seemed to be reciting to her family. “I…I want to go home.”

  “Then go home, Adele,” Alexa said. “No one will blame you for that.”

  “But…if all of you fail…”

  “They’ll be eaten. That’s not your fault though if it happens, because that's just how it is. To be honest, even if you choose to fight now, it might still happen. Wilhelm made it clear. We’re losing this war, and all we have is Phoebe. That’s it.”

  “...”

  “So…will you join me and everyone who chose to stay here?”

  After Alexa finished her speech, the glow of the white crown floating above her grew, enough that Adele’s darkened face lit up.

  Most of the time, since Alexa received that ‘Civila Mandato’ skill, the white crown on top of her head was barely perceptible. But during these moments, somehow, it would glow enough like Phoebe’s halo that it overpowered the sunset’s rays of light.

  Suddenly, Alexa felt Adele’s hand squeeze hers. Her tearful eyes were now turned into a frown as well, as she looked up at Alexa. But it didn’t seem to be because of frustration, but because of a choice Adele made with newfound zeal.

  “Fine. I’m quite miffed that you dragged me to this mess, princess! This is not a part of my duties that we agreed to. But…you’re right. You…no, we can’t let this entire thing fail, or we’d be all dead. I can’t face my family if that happens!”

  “Good,” Alexa beamed. “I truly needed you to make that choice, because I have no idea how to activate the amplification crystals up there. Only you can.”

  It was why Adele was assigned by Wilhelm to go with Alexa. Her father once worked in this tower, which was used to briefly regulate the weather around the city to the desires of the Empire’s leadership. It was a subject of fascination for Adele that Alexa knew, and she even wanted to work here, so that one day, she could copy it and bring it to her family’s lands in the far east.

  Alexa could still remember how Adele would sometimes gush about it, about how she wanted to be able to control the weather one day, and make sure their lands were fertile and productive. That way, she wouldn’t have to work for anyone, but for herself and her family’s regional subjects.

  For now though…

  “So now, I want you to redirect all of the mana on those control crystals to me,” Alexa grinned as she gripped Adele harder, pulling her up the stairs close to Alexa. “We’ll finish this and get out of this hell alive. You and I.”