Before the conference officially began, Felix met with the members of the research department. At the head of the group was Saria, who had not been back in Kazdel for very long. Alongside her were several scientists from Rhine Lab, including Muelsyse and Silence.
___
One month earlier.
Ever since the Garden of Myriad Stars launched from Columbia, both the military and the government had been thoroughly humiliated. For them, nothing was more disgraceful than having something happen right under their noses without their knowledge. Ferdinand received word that the military intended to move against them. The message came from a member of the military with whom he had a good personal relationship. Since the military itself was far from unified, Ferdinand secretly organized an escape the moment he learned of it.
In any case, Felix was one of their shareholders, and he had already promised to meet them outside Trimounts. As for those expensive research facilities and machines, they could simply be treated as the price of survival. Once they reached Kazdel, they could always buy more.
Transporting that many personnel took a great deal of time. A few individual researchers were easy enough to move, but Ferdinand, who had both a wife and children, still managed to slip past surveillance under the escort of Blacksteel Worldwide and Columbia Umbrella security corporation. Another two to three hundred people escaped in the same manner with their families, which was by no means a small number.
The military had clearly begun to notice something strange about the subjects under surveillance over the past few days. None of them had gone out, and none of them had made any noise. Realizing that someone was secretly extracting people, the military launched a surprise raid on Rhine Lab.
As the last person to leave, Ferdinand's lips curled into a perfect grin as he lightly snapped his fingers.
Heavy footsteps echoed.
The Columbian soldiers felt their legs trembling, not from fear at first, but from the sheer weight of whatever was approaching ahead.
When they switched on the searchlights, what appeared before them was a corridor packed from end to end with mechs.
As the beams swept across the machines, the lights in their heads flashed crimson, and then they began to advance.
"Do not panic! Hold the line!" the officer shouted, taking the lead in firing his Originium gun. Encouraged by his example, the soldiers recovered some of their courage and opened fire as well.
A rain of bullets poured down upon the mechs, Originium rounds striking one after another. Smoke billowed through the corridor as shell casings clattered to the floor with sharp metallic sounds.
"Cease fire!"
The officer gave the order once more, and the searchlights cut through the layers of smoke ahead. In the next instant, the smoke was completely sucked away by Rhine Lab's smoke-clearing system.
Only a few shallow marks remained upon the armor of the mechs.
And even those marks lasted only for a moment.
Soon they disappeared, leaving the mechs looking as pristine as if they had never been attacked at all.
"This... this is impossible!" the officer cried out in disbelief, gripping his gun tightly as though it might offer some comfort.
"Hahahahaha!"
Ferdinand's booming laughter echoed from the far end of the corridor.
"You fools! Rhine Lab science is the best in the world!"
"The mechs are built with one of the rarest flexible metals, both durable and resilient. Their surfaces are equipped with an energy conduction system, and they even contain nanomachines for self-repair after damage! Hahahaha!"
"You bastard, Ferdinand! All the mechs you sold to the military were junk!" the officer roared. "My only regret is that I did not see through Rhine Lab's ambitions sooner!"
"Farewell forever, hahahaha!"
Ferdinand's footsteps gradually faded into the distance, leaving behind a military unit grinding its teeth in fury.
"Sir... what do we do now?" one of the soldiers asked timidly.
Under their watchful eyes, the mechs that had stood motionless began to move again, slowly at first, then faster and faster.
"Run! Run!"
The soldiers fled in panic, now cursing the fact that Rhine Lab's internal corridors were so twisted and labyrinthine. Worse still, as they ran, a long sealed door in the corridor opened smoothly, and countless more mechs with crimson-lit optics marched into view. Their limbs had already been fitted with Originium machine guns, and they did not hesitate to activate them against the invaders who had trespassed into Rhine Lab's territory.
The military force that had stormed Rhine Lab was routed. Several unfortunate soldiers fell to the ground, bleeding heavily from gunshot wounds. But now no one had the luxury of helping them. The entire military formation had collapsed into chaos. And it was not just this one unit. The two other military detachments blocking the gates received much the same "warm welcome" from the mechs. Their grenades and rocket launchers had absolutely no effect on the machines, which remained completely unmoved.
Under those circumstances, no one dared break into Rhine Lab's base any further. They had originally hoped to storm the Rhine Lab building, seize research documents and data, or at the very least take possession of the equipment and sell it for profit. The fall of a giant always meant an opportunity for others to grow rich. But the military soon discovered that Rhine Lab was not so easy to swallow.
"Sir, our mechs are being completely crushed by Rhine Lab's mechs!"
"Shut up! I'm thinking!"
The officer's face darkened as he pulled out his phone. A moment later, his tone grew increasingly deferential. "Yes, Lieutenant, we still can't break through... Yes, it's a problem with my command, certainly not the army's fault. Next... alright... understood. I'll remain here... Yes, sir!"
He snapped to attention and saluted on the spot. Then, a moment later, he smashed the phone to the ground, shattering it into pieces, leaving the adjutant beside him visibly startled.
"The lieutenant is calling in the bombing squadron," the officer said in a dark tone. "The army's share of the profits is almost gone. The air force bastards have already taken most of it..."
The adjutant's expression turned ugly. "Are we really just going to leave it at that?"
"Of course not!"
The officer sneered. "I'll file a complaint with the lieutenant. You should understand that once the bombing starts, Rhine Lab may be left with nothing, including the important data and those mechs."
In principle, those materials might contain information related to Arc Light One and the Garden of Myriad Stars...
The adjutant understood immediately. It was an obvious fabrication. After all, once the bombing was over, whatever remained inside Rhine Lab would be entirely under the control of the army personnel who had already infiltrated the facility.
Sure enough, ten minutes later, the bombing aircraft roared across the sky. In truth, it was nothing more than a drone bombing operation, using technology that Rhine Lab itself had once sold to the air force.
As the bombs exploded within the Rhine Lab building, this major technology company, which had stood in Trimounts for more than a decade, was reduced to ruins. They had contributed the most advanced technology and had transformed Columbia's military capabilities in only a few short years, only to be utterly destroyed by that same military in return.
In the end, amid the rubble, the military found only a few documents that had already been ruined by the aftershocks of the blast, which in turn became the army's excuse for filing a formal complaint.
___
Back in the present, Saria was explaining to Felix how the shattered astral shell was continuing to spread.
"The land of Terra is covered by the astral layer. The only reasons the astral layer can remain above Terra's surface are gravity and the vacuum environment of space. Based on the fragments of the astral layer, we infer that it is a metallic composite we cannot currently obtain and would find extremely difficult to manufacture. Half a month ago, the Kazdel Observatory discovered that the crack in the astral layer above Kazdel had widened, and at the same time, more fragments of the starpod fell onto Kazdel's territory."
"If we think of the starpod as a sphere under constant tension, then once a hole appears, the entire sphere will begin to contract slowly. If there are two holes, the support points cease to exist, and the starpod breaks apart completely."
Saria clenched her fist, then slowly opened it like a flower blooming.
Snap.
"Saria, are you saying the astral layer will completely shatter and cease to exist?"
"That is correct. According to our calculations, the collapse of the starpod layer began the moment the breach above Columbia appeared. Fragments of the star pod are now scattered across all of Terra, and the complete collapse of the entire layer is only a matter of time."
"Do you have an exact estimate?"
"Verified result... thirty-four days."
"Thirty-four days?" Muelsyse exclaimed. "So in just over a month, Terra will be fully exposed to the universe?"
"Yes. I do not know whether that will be a good thing or a bad thing for the people of Terra." As a scientist, Saria did not offer her own judgment. Instead, she turned her gaze toward Felix, the one who would ultimately decide the future of both Kazdel and Terra.
The demons might evolve again... and there were only thirty-four days left...
Unfortunately, that was still far too little time.
Felix had originally intended to eliminate the overwhelming majority of the demons first, leaving only the Observers themselves in the end. But now it seemed that the question had become unavoidable: in just over a month, could they really exterminate all the demons in the North?
It would be difficult to rely on Kazdel's strength alone.
Felix closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, there was no hesitation left within them.
"Continue the observation and research. Pay close attention to any changes that occur in areas truly exposed to sunlight."
"I'll handle it. Leave it to me." Muelsyse raised her hand at once.
"Saria, the observation of the astral layer must continue. Before Terra is fully exposed to the universe, I need research reports on the demons' evolution."
"Yes." Saria did not refuse. Even if it meant she might have to go to the front lines herself, she agreed without the slightest hesitation, for Terra's sake.
Felix rose and walked toward the Capitol Building. Three hours remained before the war conference would officially begin.
Two months?
Terra was running out of time.
After taking his seat at the round table, Felix entered a meditative state. He did not know how much time had passed until Ines stepped quietly to his side, at which point he opened his eyes.
"Your Highness, they have arrived."
"Mm."
A great crowd of curious reporters and tourists had already gathered outside the Capitol, but the Sarkaz warriors held them firmly on both sides of the road. All eyes were fixed on the far end of the red carpet. The moment the Liberation King appeared, deafening cheers erupted from the residents of Kazdel.
Felix slowly descended the steps, smiling as he waved to the crowd around him, which only made the cheers grow even louder.
The leaders of the various nations and factions entered in order, and this order had nothing suspicious about it. It was simply based on the order in which they had entered Kazdel, so there would be no room for complaint or dispute.
"This Liberation King is quite interesting."
The Emperor of Ursus chuckled softly under his breath. His brows carried the weariness of age, and his face showed signs of exhaustion, but to outsiders, he still radiated an authority that did not need anger to inspire fear. The presence of the four Emperor's Blades standing beside him only made others even less likely to act rashly.
Even now, with the demons invading, the Emperor's Blades were still clashing with demons upon the northern plains. Yet the internal strife within Ursus had not ceased. The old nobility and the new nobility had not taken this calamity seriously; they were still locked in vicious struggle over their own little territories. In the past, the emperor had wanted only to mediate between them, suppress the stronger side, and throw the weaker side a morsel.
Now, all he wanted was to return to the Ursus court and send men to kill every noble who cared only for profit and not for Terra itself.
That was all he wanted.
These leaders had all already held in-depth discussions with Felix and knew their future roles in the war. This war conference was, in essence, little more than a formal ceremony: an announcement of which faction would be responsible for which region, followed by each side marking its assigned area upon the map.
Felix shook hands with each of them and smiled, moving on one by one as the reporters finished taking their photographs. Once all the leaders had entered, Felix strode toward the Capitol.
Inside the round-table conference hall, the leaders of different nations and factions had already taken their seats, each with a trusted subordinate standing behind them.
Felix was the last to sit down. Behind him stood Ines, hands folded behind her back.
"Welcome to the war, everyone," Felix said calmly. "The enemy and we are evenly matched. We possess technology. They possess law. However, the demons' laws have too limited a range of influence, and they cannot endure the cannon fire of battleships."
"In the period to come, we will fight side by side. I hope that everyone gathered here can set aside past grudges and frictions, because we now face a common enemy, one that threatens every Terran."
Lady Russell was staring directly at the Emperor of Ursus, sparks almost seeming to flash between them, before both of them gave a cold snort and looked away.
"From this moment on, our entire battlefront will be deployed in the North. We will not commit many forces to close-quarters combat. Those troops will serve mainly in surprise assaults. Our true main force..." Felix paused slightly, "will be the battleships, because they remain the most efficient and least time-consuming means of killing the enemy."
"Now, as the leader of this wartime alliance, I will begin assigning the defensive deployments."