Standing at the center of the continent and looking north, Eloise folded her hands and sighed.
Smoke was still rising from the part of the sh.o.r.e which had gone up in flames just a few minutes ago. Beside her, the other sovereigns were celebrating, but all she felt was unease.
She tried to shrug it off as the feeling that most leaders must feel when they were in command for the first time. This really was a victory they should be proud of, so she turned around with the intention of joining with the others.
As soon as she did so, she couldn"t help but lay her eyes on the body of the man seated on the throne with a peaceful expression on his face, and this instantly melted away the thought in her mind.
With another sigh, she turned around again and continued to study the part of Angaria that would definitely be uninhabitable for decades as if the secrets of the universe could be discerned if she paid enough attention.
The truth was that she was just lost in her thoughts, so when Xuan walked up behind her and gave her a hug, she was startled.
"Seeing you, anyone would think that we lost. Elanev was even talking about opening a cask of wine, but I stopped him. After all, there are still two more waves to go… but I cannot deny that this outcome was beyond any of our expectations. Isn"t that enough cause for at least some happiness?"
Xuan had spoken Eloise"s exact thoughts from before out loud. The two of them had quickly grown so close that they could almost guess what was on each other"s mind, but at the moment, she knew that she couldn"t explain the burden that she fell on her shoulders.
On that day, when Daneel had mentioned this very thing to them, all she had felt was sympathy and the desire to sweep it away in the best method available to her. Now, that had turned into empathy as she had a glimpse of exactly what had been hounding him.
She just couldn"t stop herself from repeatedly playing out many scenarios in her head about the other two waves, so knowing that this would only tire her out and render her mind fatigued when she might need it most, she nodded and replied, "You"re right. Still, I think we can celebrate when the war is done… a.s.semble everybody. Let"s have a small review."
"Well, Elanev won"t be pleased, but I think that the rest of the commanders will easily be able to get him in line. We"ll be ready for you in a minute."
Sure enough, when Eloise sorted out her thoughts and turned around, all of the sovereigns were standing around the floating image of Angaria while waiting for her to arrive.
The G.o.dnet was being deployed to show the exact situation of their continent and the sea surrounding it, so even on the image, the swathe of burned land was visible.
Walking until she stood right in front of it, she clasped her hands behind her back and said, "The first battle has been won. It is a great victory, but we should not get complacent… I know that everyone here will not make such a foolish mistake, but I cannot say the same about the Heroes of the Order. Kellor, you and Faxul should go after this meeting to speak to them. According to the a.s.sa.s.sins, we have a day of peace until the attack of the second wave."
"That is if they do not decide to take more time to adjust their tactics. As we have told you before, it is very likely that they have now decided that someone, at least, is helping you. It is almost impossible that any additional forces will be able to reach in time… but still, we should be prepared for anything."
The three a.s.sa.s.sins arrived so silently that none of them were able to detect them, and they were only revealed when Husare spoke in the brief moment of silence when Eloise"s words had still hung in the air.
She disliked them, but still, their contribution was the main reason behind this victory.
Raising a hand in their direction, she said, "Let us all thank the TriCobra sect for the information that led to this triumph. Without timely data about the exact capabilities of their s.h.i.+p, it would have been impossible to set up the trap. Still, it was just one of the many plans created by our G.o.dking and the Emperor, so we were able to use it so quickly to such great effect. Even if what you say is true… didn"t you also say that it is very unlikely that they will have enough time to send even more forces before the other two waves begin to run out of resources to burn to stay near us? After all, that was why we took the decision to go ahead despite the risk! We all decided that it was worth it to decimate the first wave and even their headquarters—which even we didn"t expect to do—without any casualties on our side, but is there anything else that we should know."
Husare grimaced when she was reminded of the fact that her data had been used so perfectly only because there had already been a gamut of plans present.
After collecting the entire database regarding the Church which had detailed all of the s.h.i.+ps that they possessed along with the exact scanning capabilities of each of them, Daneel and the Emperor had both endeavored to ensure that if just the elements that were the variables in the battle were entered into the G.o.dnet, the perfect plan would be given in a very short amount of time.
That had worked out beautifully, so shooting a glance filled with pride at the throne, Eloise waited for an answer.
"No, there is nothing. I was just advising caution. Even we are not perfect, or otherwise, the Church would lose each and every battle. So far, our main advantage was that they had been underestimating us… with that being no longer the case, it is best to be careful."
It was good advice, so she nodded. After all, at some point or the other, the trump cards that had been given by the a.s.sa.s.sins would be put into play at which time the Church would find out anyway that they were being helped by the TriCobra sect. She knew that there had been a lot of time spent in trying to find a way in which they could win without this happening, but that had simply been impossible.
"The precautions are all in place, so we are being as careful as possible. I just wish that there was a way to sacrifice even more land to beat the other two waves… If that happened, we could even take to the sky and wait for Angaria recover, as it is the people who are its soul, and they would be saved. Alas… I"m pretty sure that we cannot use the same trick twice. Shall we continue with the review?"
Kellor had always been skilled in the art of steering a conversation in the right direction. His words had made them all lay their eyes on the image of Angaria again, so Eloise continued what she had been about to say before the a.s.sa.s.sins had interrupted her.
"The only hitch was that we used the attack from the core prematurely, but as we all decided, it was necessary if we wanted to convince them that we were doing our best. If we had done nothing, it might have been suspicious. So far, the projections regarding the users of the Hivemind technique have been accurate. The G.o.dnet has been successful in acting to make those who were on the verge of going insane faint before they crossed the threshold. Even though we chose only those with the strongest of minds, it was to be expected that there would be errors, so this precaution-"
When she stopped midsentence, at first, the others did not understand the reason behind her eyes widening and the slack-jawed expression that came on her face.
After that, though, the entire center of the continent lit up with a red light and the voice of the G.o.dnet echoed in the air while all the blood drained out of the faces of all ten sovereigns.
"Warning! Warning! Energy spike detected to the East! Spike consistent with movement of multiple high Energy beings! Targets are too far away to ascertain details of threat. Defensive measures have begun to be s.h.i.+fted to the east sh.o.r.e. Targets moving fast. Estimated time until the threat can be scanned by G.o.dnet: 78 seconds."