Point-of-View: Bell Fairbairn

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  "You summoned us, my lord?" I greeted Laus, a sense of dispirited melancholy about me.

  "Indeed, I did. The pursuit of that wretch Sylvar will be put on hold for now, we will refocus on attacking Abyss, we cannot delay it any longer," He responded, before adding, "The attack will commence two weeks from now……on the 25th of December!"

  "My lord, we have lost many of our best combatants during the past half year or so, we cannot afford to launch such a large scale attack so soon-," Began Vokkeg in dismay.

  Do not bother, it is no use……he will not listen to us, that much has been made obvious. You are simply wasting your breath, Vokkeg……

  "Enough of your excuses. If we lack numbers, then get the non-combatants ready, many of them are capable of basic spell casting at the very least, they may be of some use," He interrupted coldly.

  "My lord, all of us Fairies are at your disposal," Spoke up the newest Fire Sage, Bie Papri.

  She had long, straight green hair, emerald eyes and a slender figure, and she was currently the only Elemental Sage that did not have a problem with Laus. Vokkeg has expressed disagreement with many of Laus's decisions, but of course, his protests were never heeded. As for Sylvar, well, he likely despises Laus immensely by now.

  And as for myself……well, I no longer know what to think, but what I do know is this; I no longer revere nor respect Sant A.C. Laus……but even so, I cannot betray him, I do not have the right to do so after I obeyed his commands and almost killed Sylvar myself. Had Kuro Black not interfered, Sylvar would certainly have died then, by my hand.

  How laughable, I never thought that I would ever feel more gratitude towards a human than I do towards Laus. Ever since the floating island was brought down, things have only gotten worse and worse at every turn. Why has all of this happened? I do not know, and at this point, I do not care.

  Blaming Laus's change on external factors would be childish, and it certainly did not seem like our enemies were the ones that effected such a change……no, just hours after he had suggested maintaining peace with Abyss, he abruptly changed his tune, declaring that we must kill Kuro Black and Belia Lasmodeus.

  We were foolish to accept his sudden and abrupt change so readily……Sylvar was the only one that seriously questioned it, and as a result, he was wrongfully branded a traitor and is being hunted down like a rabid animal. It was not even a year ago that all of this would have been unimaginable to us……

  "Bell! I am addressing you, I expect a response!" Laus suddenly barked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  "Forgive me, I was deep in thought, I did not hear what you said," I replied blankly.

  "Are you not supposed to be the most experienced of us Elemental Sages?" Scoffed Bie in disdain.

  No, I am not……Sylvar is. But I suppose that there aren't many besides myself who still consider him to be an Elemental Sage……

  "Tch, such incompetence……fine, I shall repeat myself," Frowned Laus, before adding, "Gather your forces, at least five hundred thousand Halflings will do."

  He cannot be serious……

  "But that is……that is over fifty-five percent of the remaining Halfling population, including those stationed in the fortresses," I responded with a grimace.

  "I fail to see your point. Vokkeg, I require the same number of Dwarves, as well," He commanded, after brushing off my concerns.

  "I……very well, my lord," Responded Vokkeg bitterly.

  The current Halfling population stands at over nine hundred thousand, while the Dwarves have been reduced to approximately eight hundred and fifty thousand……

  "And, finally, Bie……assemble six hundred thousand Fairies. The same number of Elves will also be assembled for this battle. Our forces will number two million and two hundred thousand, we shall crush Abyss with those numbers," He declared, before dismissing us with a wave of his hand, "There is no time to waste, do as I have commanded you, immediately."

  "Understood, my lord, as you wish," Responded Bie with a bow.

  Both the Fairies and Elves have populations of approximately one million each……I see, so it is not a coincidence, Laus has opted to assemble more than half the entire population of the Laus Domain for this battle.

  No doubt that he is aware of the fact that there will be many casualties resulting from this, and to balance that out, he is bloating our numbers with quantity while having no regard for quality……sending those that are completely unaccustomed to combat is simply cruel, they will most likely just experience unimaginable terror and perish in vain.

  I suspect that the only reason why Laus has not commanded every member of the Laus Domain to attack is probably because he wants to keep them in reserve for when he attacks the Rustlands again, assuming we survive this upcoming battle. In all likelihood, this attack will not go as Laus envisions, Abyss is highly formidable.

  Honestly, the way things are now, I cannot imagine us coming out victorious at the end of this. How many of us will die meaningless deaths this time……?

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  Point-of-View: Kuro Black

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  Aw, Sant finally remembered me, I'm touched. Maybe not-God commanded him to stop focusing on Sylvar for now……nah, I doubt he'd interfere with that, after all, Sant's chances of victory have dropped quite a bit now that he's without a Wind Sage.

  Well, not that his chances were great to begin with, I mean, he doesn't even seem to have a plan. I doubt he's figured out a way to get past our protective barriers, and I'm not going to just sit back and let him unravel them like he did with the Rustlands' barriers.

  Hm, then again, he could probably command his troops to surround him as meatshields while he takes care of the barriers……that'd work, I guess, but it certainly won't do his reputation amongst his subordinates any good.

  That might be a moot point though, it's been fascinating to watch how his incompetence has driven a rift into the Laus Domain, the majority of everyone excluding the Fairies were showing definite signs of conflicting emotions.

  Heh, already, some of them are refusing the Elemental Sages' requests to assemble for battle. Well, not like I can blame them……after all, over the past few months, they've had to watch as more than a couple thousand of their comrades were sent to their deaths like worthless pawns.

  Even as their enemy, I felt bad for them. I've seen my share of bad rulers in my time, both in my previous world and this one, but Sant is a special kind of terrible……I've seen worse people than him, sure, but I haven't seen a worse ruler. Heck, even dictators have the decency to come up with a reason, bogus or otherwise, when they slaughter innocents.

  But Sant just continued to send his forces after Sylvar, not only weakening his forces, but also creating a pretty terrifying enemy……Sylvar has changed really drastically, I've been watching him every now and then, and wow, as he is now, even I'd be a tiny bit hesitant to take him on.

  All the carelessness and amateurish mistakes he used to make during fights are completely gone, he's become a cold, emotionless, ruthless killer, with a sense of merciless that I'd have envied even at my peak as an assassin.

  "Hey, you called us, Kuro?"

  I looked up as the doors to the throne room opened and Az stepped in, along with Rion, Zero, Draco, Jhin and a few others.

  "Yeah, looks like it's finally happening……the Laus Domain will be attacking soon, and whatever their plans are, I'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, have everyone prepare for battle. Once I know how Sant plans to attack, as always, we'll respond with tactics that prioritize minimal casualties, without compromising our chances of victory," I informed them, before turning to Az, "By the way, the idea we stole from the Rustlands……how's that going?"

  "Do you have to put it like that?" Sighed Az, before answering, "It's going fairly well, I've figured out how to recreate what they did, and we've already managed to manufacture a couple thousand of them."

  "Oh, yeah? How many people do you have working on them?" I inquired in response.

  "Actually, none……after manufacturing about fifty of the puppets, I adjusted their command lines to make them manufacture the rest, so all we need to do is gather the materials, and after that, we just let the puppets create more puppets," Replied Az with a shrug.

  That's……brilliant. So, yeah, I totally ripped off the Rustlands' idea of creating autonomous puppets for a disposable army, but it looks like Az has improved on it……there's no reason to restrict the puppets just to combat, we can use them for all sorts of purposes!

  "We can greatly reduce labor with this, giving everyone a lot more free time to play with, nice……great work as usual, dude," I grinned, giving him a thumbs up.

  "Yeah, thanks," He muttered awkwardly in response.

  "Ooh, I know! Sex dolls would be great too!" Suddenly exclaimed Rion.

  "……I can see what you're getting at, and no, I'm not making any puppets like that," Az shot him down immediately.

  "Are you able to manufacture Dragon-shaped puppets? That would be rather……cool," Chimed in Draco with a look of interest……they way he talks has changed a bit, no doubt influenced by the time he spends hanging out with Rion and Rai.

  "That sounds way too complex and like too much work, so no," Replied Az with a sigh.

  "Ahem, perhaps we ought to get back to the matter at hand," Spoke up Jhin, clearing his throat.

  "I agree. Lord Kuro, do you know when the Laus Domain will attack us?" Inquired Zero, looking concerned.

  "Oh, right……yeah, I do know when, it'll be fifteen days from now. In other words, on the 25th of December," I remarked.

  "Huh? For real?" Laughed Rion in amusement.

  "Yeah, that's right……Santa Claus is coming to visit on Christmas, let's be sure to welcome him properly, shall we?" I responded with a smirk.

  Nice, felt like I nailed that line! Unfortunately, most of them didn't get it……

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