Gironde Estuary
2:27 PM
Klaus was in his laboratory. His previous experiment had been both a success and a failure—but that was fine. He couldn't blame Driver for shutting it down; her decision had been pragmatic and grounded.
Still, now he found himself wondering what to call the skill. He casually cut his finger, watching it regenerate with a satisfied smile. With Faceless assisting him, the regeneration had become even more efficient. So Klaus decided to classify the new regenerative ability as a Sub-skill of Faceless. If anyone else managed to master it? Well… they could name it themselves.
Klaus turned his gaze briefly to the once-sterile laboratory. Now, the walls were streaked with dried blood—remnants of his earlier tests. He sighed, not in exhaustion, but in irritation.
Tch... I'll have someone clean it later.
With one last glance, he vanished—only to reappear atop the deck of the battleship slicing through the Gironde Estuary.
They were close now. The vast estuary lay calm and silent beneath them. The sky shimmered with starlight—interrupted only by a few drifting dark clouds. Soon, they would reach the deeper parts of Bordeaux.
He walked to the edge of the ship and sat down. His eyes began to glow faintly, like a lighthouse in the dark.
Zooming in with his vision, Klaus observed the infrastructure of the ruined city below. It must've been beautiful, once—before the Dark Ages and the age of the Nightmare Spell.
Behind him, Loki emerged from his spirit sea. The loathsome avian stared at Klaus with a mix of disdain and boredom in his beady golden eyes.
"For real?" the bird asked blankly, shaking out his wings.
The stench that followed was vile—enough to make any normal person vomit on the spot.
Klaus grinned, a mischievous glint in his violet eyes as he spread his arms wide.
"Well, why not? Go do your thing. You love sniffing garbage anyway, so who knows? You might find gold. Wouldn't that be something, aahh?"
Loki snorted in disgust, spreading his wings.
"Хуйня, ублюдок..."
(Bullshit, motherfucker...)
Klaus blinked.
"…Did he just rhyme?!" he muttered, stunned. "When the hell did he learn that? Did he steal someone's memories again?"
He chuckled, shaking his head. But then—his smile faded. His eyes narrowed. The glow intensified.
"…Bloody hell."
The estuary teemed with movement. Abominations. That wasn't unusual. But there was something off.
Their motion was jerky, unnatural.
Not waiting for confirmation, Klaus snapped out his communicator.
"Driver, eyes on the water. Something's wrong."
Seconds later, klaxons blared across the ship. Red lights strobed across the deck. Flares launched into the sky.
"CODE RED. UNIDENTIFIED CREATURES APPROACHING. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
"REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
Spotlights and projectors were activated, finally illuminating the creatures. They were serpentine monstrosities. At least ten meters long, their alabaster scales shimmered unnaturally. Their glowing green eyes pierced through the mist, and their wide, muscular forms sliced through the estuary like razors through silk.
Driver's voice barked through the ship's comms:
"AWAKENED NIGHTMARE CREATURES DETECTED! ALL UNITS—PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"
The first to respond—unsurprisingly—was Diego.
With a scream of flame, the sky burst open as Diego descended, wreathed in crimson fire. He struck the water like a meteor, and a moment later, the estuary erupted in a massive explosion of steam and flame.
Wielding a massive flaming axe, Diego cleaved through the abominations with sheer brute force. Even underwater—where his mobility was restricted and his flames weakened—Diego was monstrous berserker.
Klaus watched his brother enjoying the fight, then turned his attention to Driver, who emerged from the hull with several Ascendancy operatives in tow.
Some wore the new mobile suits—three meters tall, fully armored, their sleek plating shimmered with traces of materials harvested from nightmare creatures. Their pilots, hidden inside, wielded both projectile and melee weaponry. From the deck, the suits fired bursts of essence-charged ammunition.
Standing on the deck, they began firing bombs and bullets into the river. Explosions bloomed beneath the surface, the noise attracting even more attention—whether from Abominations or something else, they couldn't tell.
Meanwhile, Nightwalkers dove into the water, unleashing their full power now that they were no longer restricted by land.
Still… something wasn't right.
At that moment, Cassie emerged from her quarters, her sightless eyes scanning the chaos instinctively.
Klaus exhaled, relieved. With her here, things would become a bit easier.
He glanced at her sideways, voice low and tinged with dark humour.
"Well then, Madam Prophet… care to tell me what we're dealing with?"
Cassie nodded silently and turned her attention to the abominations. Her expression tightened. Seconds passed… and her frown deepened.
"Nik… they're alive, yes—but something's wrong. I mean… they move, they fight, but…" She hesitated, her eyes drifting.
Klaus summoned Leviathan. The gleaming white sword materialized in his hand, lighting up with arcs of white flame.
"Yeah, I got that much. But what, exactly, is off?"
Cassie turned her head slightly, as if listening to some inner whisper. Her blind eyes seemed to search the air itself.
"…They all have the same attribute," she whispered.
...
Meanwhile, the soldiers in mobile suits were having the time of their lives.
Explosions rocked the estuary as they bombarded the water, laughing like madmen. They were like kids playing with fireworks—only now, the fireworks were high-caliber weaponry and the kids were inside walking tanks.
One of them, a young man named Timothy, grinned wildly as a massive detonation sent up a geyser of steam and water.
They were like kids in giant robot suits—and who could blame them? What boy didn't grow up wanting to pilot one?
More and more serpents began closing the distance. Some even managed to slither up onto the ship's deck. But Timothy didn't hesitate. He unsheathed his enchanted greatsword and took a heavy step forward, each stomp echoing with a mechanical clang.
Raising the blade, he cleaved into the oncoming beasts. They were fast, flexible, and brutal—while the soldiers, though well-armed, lacked the experience. It was their first time fighting in mobile suits, and they were still adjusting to the weight and coordination.
The serpents coiled around Timothy, jaws snapping as they tried to pierce the armor. But their fangs couldn't penetrate—the suits were forged from high-grade materials taken from creatures far more dangerous and durable than mere serpents.
Timothy grabbed one of the writhing horrors, crushed its skull in his hand, and swung his sword like a baseball bat, sending another flying off the deck with a splash.
For the first time in their lives, these mundane soldiers had power—power to stand toe-to-toe with nightmare creatures. The thrill was intoxicating.
And this was just the prototype.
What would Driver cook up next?
Timothy stomped on another serpent, crushing it beneath his feet, and turned toward Driver and Klaus, laughing inside his helmet.
He wasn't sure how it happened, but suddenly a blade jutted out from his arm.
"Boss! Look at me! I got knife hands! Knife hands!"
He shouted, getting into a stance with his greatsword raised high. Then, in a deep, robotic voice, he declared,
"My name is Optimus Prime… and I have never known defeat!"
Driver and Klaus stared at him, dumbfounded.
A beat passed.
Then their mouths twitched.
A second later, they burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Cassie tilted her head, utterly confused by what she was witnessing.
"Wait… aren't we in the middle of a war? This doesn't feel like the right time for jokes."
Everyone paused. Some of the soldiers actually stopped firing.
Then… they collectively ignored her and went back to what they were doing.
_____
Up above, Diego now soared through the sky atop Hemera, the phoenix glowing like a comet of pure flame. Both man and bird wreathed in flames, they danced together across the sky with breathtaking synergy.
Diego raised a hand. A sphere of fire began to grow in his palm—larger and larger—until it rivaled the size of two warehouses.
With a sharp motion, he hurled it down. The miniature sun crashed into the estuary with a thunderous explosion.
Boom!
A moment later, the estuary exploded in a towering column of fire and steam that lit up the sky.
Cassie watched the inferno with wide eyes.
Borrowing Driver's sight for analysis, she saw that Diego's right hand was scorched.
But then—Hemera's golden flames gently passed over the wound, and his skin began to heal.
She couldn't help but see a resemblance between Diego and Nephis.
Both were fire-element users. But there was a crucial difference.
Nephis could heal. She was destruction and rebirth, flame and renewal. She could burn—and survive.
Diego… could only burn.
So… he can't heal. He burns himself just as much as he burns his enemies.
He wasn't immune to the inferno he unleashed—only resistant. And each attack took its toll.
So that was his flaw.
Burn yourself to burn your enemies.
Cassie found it more cruel than Nephis's own flaw.
At least Nephis could recover from the agony. Diego couldn't.
And yet… he didn't stop.
He dove again, engulfing more serpents in destructive fire. His face was calm—but behind that calm, there was joy.
A deep, childlike thrill.
He lived for battle.
Cassie saw it clearly now.
Diego didn't mind the pain. He welcomed it. He was a warrior in the truest sense—indomitable and valiant. Not once did he show his back to the enemy.
Only his allies had the honor of seeing it—those fighting behind him, inspired by his fearlessness.
With Hemera soaring above and illuminating the battlefield, morale soared. The phoenix's radiance shone like dawn through smoke and blood.
[Light of Purity] seared through the abominations, burning away their corruption. The dark creatures writhed and screamed in agony, retreating from Hemera's blinding radiance. To Cassie, it felt like the very shadows recoiled from her presence.
Meanwhile, [Flames of Redemption] surged across the battlefield. Her allies grew stronger, faster, their essence recovering at staggering speed.
The synergy between the two attribute was breathtaking. It was no wonder morale was high.
But the most incredible power… was [Hope].
It wasn't an attribute, but an ability.
Hope didn't heal. It didn't empower.
It gave people something far more valuable.
Courage.
Even those on the brink of despair stood tall beneath Hemera's light.
It was beautiful power.
In all her life, Cassie had never seen a support as powerful and useful as Hemera.
Even if tens of thousands of abominations surged toward the ship… the battle still didn't feel unwinnable.
But of course, casualties were inevitable. No war was ever won without sacrifice.
And Hemera, with her kind and innocent heart, seemed to feel every loss. Tears fell silently from her eyes—drops of molten gold, streaking down her radiant feathers as she fought on.
Cassie looked toward Klaus, standing stoic at the edge of the ship.
A soldier near him stared in awe, but Klaus remained unmoved—expression blank, untouched by the chaos.
Maybe he was used to this.
Maybe… he was just very good at hiding it.
Seeing Cassie's tense expression, Klaus lit a cigarette. He let the smoke curl upward as he spoke, voice calm and cold.
"I told you already. You could've stayed behind. War isn't a game, Cas. And this one's going to show you just how disgusting and cruel humans can be."
Cassie's heart wavered.
Yes, she'd caused deaths before. Some of them deserved it. Others were illusions. Some were innocent…
But she'd always been far away from it all. Watching from the shadows.
Now, as she watched soldiers fight and die right in front of her, she felt uncertain.
Deep down, she already knew—this war would change her.
She had seen glimpses of the future.
And this battle… this seemingly simple clash in the ruined city… would spark a war unlike any the world had ever known.
What she didn't know, however, was just how twisted and merciless this war would become.
Even the War for the Throne of Humanity…
would look like a child's game in comparison.