Chapter 70: Arc 5: Black Blasphemy (10)

To answer the mystery of the battlefield, we had to rewind the time to the day after Betty executed Hunter Westerna.

…

Unlike other major cities on the Eastern Continent, Papal White State Montgomery wasn’t built on a flat-plain. Instead, it was created by reshaping the land-forms itself. It was a triple-layer city built into the mountain — Mt Uranus.

Various barracks and warehouses rested around the towering wonder. For the ease of trade and deployment of soldiers, the main military and market of Montgomery rested conveniently at the foot of the signature mountain.

Higher up Mt. Uranus was the residential area of white pristine building built into the surface of the mountain. No one knew how it happened, but the citizens of Montgomery lived within the hollow shell of the sacred mountain, fed by the holy waterfall flowing from the endless supernatural spring at the mountain peak.

There, up on towering height, was the grand cathedral — the Temple of Yume. It was the religious symbol for one of the most famous and widespread faith of civilized Acceltra barring the Yulong Empire’s belief in the Divine Emperor.

More like a castle than a temple, this structure of spires, tower, and keep was the home of the five Archangels and the Pope of Yumeron Religion — Maximus the Grand.

…

The meeting room within the Temple of Yume’s keep was built to reflect as much light as possible. It was the chamber of white and mirror-shine silver.

A black-hair clean-shaven man in blue armor and white-cape went over the report, and tossed it away. His face betrayed no emotion aside from raw calculation. The cold inhuman reality wasn’t something new for Deluge — the Blue Archangel of Montgomery.

“Hunter is dead,” Deluge said. “Most of the troops we invested in his fool errand also vanished.”

Beside him, a bald man with a stumble responded with a glare.

“Those were my men, Iceberg,” said Bruno, the Black Archangel.

“They were disposable,” Deluge replied coldly. “We know for a fact Hunter’s mission will end in failure. Our investment to gain Hunter’s knowledge on the area geography and route for the conquest is still intact.”

Bruno wasn’t at all placated by Deluge’s success, “And you did that by throwing my stuff down the river. How would you take it if those are your troops?” Bruno’s outrage quickly transformed into numb resignation upon seeing the utter lack of emotion on Deluge's part. “You wouldn’t care at all, would you?”

“Not in the slightest,” Deluge replied in a flat tone. “They are Montgomery’s instruments, nothing more, nothing less.”

The double-door to the room swung open and walked in the rest of the Archangels.

The White Archangel Michael — a blond-haired man in white-armor with stone-face man with chisel jaw-line and a beard.

The Green Archangel Geneva — a sagely woman with knee-length green-hair. Her armored gown glided across the floor as she sat. Her eyes were invisible beneath her green bang. The Archangel hands strummed the harp, drowning the room in melody.

And the last was the Red Archangel Apolline Dios Sfolgorante — a fabulous woman in simple dress, plated mail and crimson hair braided in a side ponytail. As always, her eyes blazed like an inferno.

All five Archangel took their seats, and the war-meeting officially began as the double-door to the room swung shut.

It was Micheal who began.

“We are here to tackle the Lord of Mechanical Magic,” the White Archangel addressed the room. “I believe you have a plan to deal with Research Empire Deluge.”

Deluge, the brain of the operation, spoke, “Yes. Let me go over the basics. First, our advantage: we have the defender’s advantage, and we are prepared. Etaceh’s tactic usually centers on causing chaos by manipulating social upheaval, but I believe Geneva already solved that.”

“Indeed,” Geneva responded while strumming the music. “The flock’s heart is as one. I believe Sir Bruno is also removing many of her agent, while I and Lord Maximus united the heart of our people.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Her agent kept coming, and I kept killing,” Bruno said. “But this is too good to be true, Iceberg. There must be a catch.”

“The catch is we are still dealing with the enemy who possessed a vast unfeeling army,” Deluge said. “As automatons, the Army of Intelligentsia couldn’t feel fear or break into a route. Etaceh was also backed by a country’s quantity of faith. We simply lack the ability to kill her.”

“Simple,” Bruno shrugged. “Launch a counter-attack on Curtis. Wait, is it Intelligentsia now?” Bruno raised the confusion up and promptly dismissed it in second. “Whatever it is called, we simply need to wipe the country off the map. Just send Micheal to do the job.”

“Bruno!” Apolline yelled at the man. “Those people are just brainwashed citizens. They don’t even know what is going on.”

Bruno bit back, “Pity the enemy? You are too sappy, then again you are everyone's favorite Archangels and a real morale booster.” the bald man leaned toward Apolline. “Honey, I get you are our bleeding heart who went all in on charisma, but this is war. People die. We are born evil the moment we survive. Our survival took priority, even if it meant we have to raze a country clean, caprice.”

Geneva strummed her harp, “You are a sad man, Sir Bruno, but you weren’t wrong.”

“He is wrong,” Deluge said, hating himself for agreeing with the inefficiency of Apolline’s empathy. “She might be idiotic morons whose only good point is firepower and popularity, but Apolline is right.” The Blue Archangel then displayed emotion since he entered the meeting — self-disgust. “Goddammit, agreeing with an idiot felt awful.”

Apolline made a motherly smile, “Deluge, let’s go outside for a round.”

“I’m betting on Miss Popular,” Bruno said.

“I will go all-in for Dame Apolline,” Geneva added with a rare sense of mirth.

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“Thanks for the vote of no confidence,” Deluge said, wondering what he did to deserve this. “Let me assure you, no tears will be shed when all of you die fighting Etaceh.”

“You can’t cry, Iceberg,” Bruno said. “That implies you have emotion.”

“Enough!” Micheal slammed the conversation to a close. “We have invaders to deal with! Why can’t we attack Curtis?”

“Because we must march our army through the Forest of Separation while dealing with Etaceh,” Deluge said. “The same reason stops a major shift in balance in the Eastern Continent. Our marching pace will slow to a crawl. That is partly the reason we never tried to take over the continent ourselves. It wasn’t worth the investment.” Deluge rolled his eyes. “Hecate is built into a flying city to circumvent this exact military wisdom.”

Apolline frowned, “What about our Navy?”

“Same logic,” Deluge said. “Etaceh would be preparing a coastal defense to blow us to high-heavens. Her ability to field mass-produce ammunition would be the end of us. This problem only magnified with the rapid creation of fabrication centers all over Curtis.”

“Isn’t it Intelligentsia now?” Bruno brought back the dead subject of teminology. “Let's get this straight. What should we call it?”

“Intelligentsia,” Micheal said.

“I concur,” Geneva said, strumming her harp.

“I’m fine with Intelligentsia,” Apolline shrugged.

“Ok,” Deluge said. “The quickest method to win this war is taking out the leader, but we can’t, because of her stack of faith. Hence, we will settle on repelling her initial assault. Our army is strong enough to repel her automatons, and the troops she had on Hecate is limited. We need to trick her into over-extending. Meanwhile, we will send a strike-team to infiltrate Intelligentsia and tinker with her emotional manipulator. I believe we can reverse the course of those devices and create an uprising inside Intelligentsia.”

“Didn’t you say a counter-attack is a suicide?” Micheal asked.

“Yes,” Deluge confirmed. “But that was if we marched our army through the Forest. If we cooperate with Eleanor’s remnant and use their trade route and connection to disseminate our agent inside the enemy nation, it will be a different story. Our goal is buying time and stalling Etaceh until we shook her grip on Intelligentsia. Then we surround her from all-side and grind her to pieces.”

Everyone nodded at the plan. It was Deluge’s staple—simple, effective, and subversive.

However, a double-door swung, dashing the plans to pieces.

A white-hair scraggly middle-age man with a goatee and the craze gleams of his eyes marched into the room. The billowing white robe and golden mantle signifying the highest position in Montgomery rested on his shoulder. 

“We will not, Sir Deluge,” said Maximus the Grand—the Lord of Worship. “Asking for aid from infidels, diddling with heretics — those aren’t our way. We will deliver a spectacular victory. We will corner the Lord of Mechanical Magic and show the like of Mandrake that only Yume alone could take the throne of this world.”

“Your holiness Maximus,” Deluge raised his voice, but kept his manners. “As much as I want to support your direction, the logistic—”

“The logistic is a non-factor,” Maximus declared, cutting his tactician suggestion. “Aren’t we Montgomery? The oldest nation of Eastern Continent. Now that the heretical smartass is upon our door, the time for restraint is over. Any expense is available. It is time we used our treasure and countless arsenal in the vault.”

Deluge looked at Bruno worriedly.

“Your holiness,” Deluge said. “Those are some of our greatest secret weapons. Are you sure you want to take it beyond the reach of our security?”

“Nonsense!” said Maximus. “We will crush that smartass in one swift blow with overwhelming force. I permit the release of Oleg-Regin and the Execution of Miharl.”

“Execution of Miharl?” Deluge blinked. “But that artifact was—”

“Lacking the power-source,” Apolline said. “We need someone with the Miharl’s bloodline to activate that weapon.”

Maximus grinned, “We have. She just entered the city.” He heavily emphasized this to Apolline. “As you said, she had come to us, and I couldn’t mistake the feeling of Miharl’s bloodline in her.”

Apolline nodded.

“How unnaturally cold,” Geneva couldn’t help but comment. “I believe you would be arguing against using an innocent as a human battery, Apolline.”

Apolline displayed neither joy nor rage. Only complete indifference existed on her face. It was the face of the woman who couldn’t give a damn about the individual in question.

“She is hardly innocent,” Apolline said.

Geneva made a small smile, “Do you really hate this Carolina so much?”

Apolline didn’t reply to that question. Instead, she turned to Deluge, and made her opinion regarding this matter clear.

“Deluge, I volunteer to be deployed against Etaceh,” Apolline said before rising and walking out of the meeting. She didn’t take no for an answer or wait for the Blue Archangel’s reply.

Apolline simply wanted the problem to be over. 

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