102 The truth

The capital city suffered heavy casualties among its defenders and civilians but withstood the siege. A seemingly endless flow of Beasts dried out eventually, leaving the wall and its surroundings riddled with corpses. The damage to the inner parts of the capital ended up moderate, considering the scale of the attack and the lack of any preparations.

This outcome was possible because of the AOG and their unofficial help in the defense. While the southern part of the city took the biggest hit from the Beasts' army, the most dangerous creatures went to the northern side. Using a breach made by Beast Knight, more than fifty twice-evolved Beasts entered the city. If not for the AOG taking them on and hunter Nowa going against the knight, the outcome could have been much worse. After dealing with the northern situation, several AOG members came and picked up Orisa, Kanai, and other members of the organization who ended up defending different segments of the southern wall. Using the general chaos, they fled the city and returned to their base.

Since AOG got what they wanted from the vault, the operation resulted in success. The outcome, however, was not as favorable and welcomed. There were no casualties due to a fantastic job of AOG's healers, but more than half of the crew ended heavily injured by Beast Knight's black fire. The burns couldn't be healed with magic or potions, and even a little spot would cause considerable pain. Regretfully, quite a few team members got hit almost from head to toe. Among them were Nene and Nana.

A day later, Orisa walked into the infirmary and took a look around. All of the facility's beds were occupied by the injured. They had been put into an artificial dream to avoid pain and speed up their regeneration. Ririm vas Nava, AOG's most skilled healer and owner of the Bloodcasting, was sitting in the middle of the room on a Mana-engineering scheme painted on the floor. It was connected to every bed with a severely injured patient to provide them life-support. Nene, Nana, and other people with heavy burns would have been dead if she hadn't been helping them.

"Um, hi there," Orisa asked as she walked into the infirmary.

Ririm frowned up without saying anything and silently nodded towards the rearmost section. Orisa carefully moved past the woman trying not to step on the glowing Mana Ink lines painted on the floor. In the corner of the room, she found Iten and Onuki sitting by Nene's and Nana's sickbeds. The injured girls were almost entirely covered in white cloth, only their eyes and mouths could be seen. While Iten was calmly observing approaching Orisa, she was taken aback by Onuki's gaze full of animosity. Her momentarily silence born out of confusion was taken the wrong way:

"What? Have something to say? Spit it," Onuki blurted out, chewing her words.

"I um..." Orisa was frantically tossing answers in her head and looking for a possible cause for such a reception. Her gaze stumbled upon Onuki's tightly pressed and slightly trembling white lips, then moved up towards her narrowed eyes. "It's horrible that everything ended in the way it did. I'm truly sorry and can't even imagine how both of you feel right now. Everyone tried their best in this shitty situation, but it still turned out like that. I'm sure you did everything you could and then more. I'm sorry."

"A... yes, thank you," Onuki muttered as all her hostility died out. Judging by her reaction, Orisa concluded that she had guessed right - the girl had been drowning in guilt and expecting to be blamed for everything that happened to Nana. "How was, erm, your part of the operation?"

"We managed."

Orisa gave a brief answer since she hadn't told anyone details of neither the vault's nor the wall's incidents. From the concluding report, everyone knew that the Supreme Commander had died, but that was it. Even Nowa hadn't asked for any specifics.

As for Tiana, Orisa's worries proved to be needles - her friend had been caught in a local fight with a Beast that had gotten into the city. She was not only late for the wall's defense but almost missed the evacuation. Tiana tried to keep it together, but Orisa saw through the act with ease - the girl was barely holding on. Aside from being by her side, Orisa didn't know how she could help Tiana or ease her pain.

"It's good to hear that your group did well," Iten said with an even voice. Orisa couldn't read him and was worried because of that. Clearly, Iten was saddened, everyone would have been in the same situation. But even after all this time, Orisa still hadn't learned how he really felt about Nene. Was he head over heels and thus devastated by this, or maybe he had only a general sympathy towards the clingy proactive girl who conquered him almost by force?

"What's the prognosis?" Orisa asked Iten, hoping to gauge his state from his reply.

"As long as I'm here, they'll live," Ririm answered instead, obviously following their exchange. She was quiet for some time, and Orisa even thought that the conversation was over, but then the blonde woman suddenly continued: "The first time I'm dealing with something so distorted. And that's coming from me, you see? I know a thing or two about twisting nature through magic. Well, my family does. And this, er, method is quite something, something else entirely."

"So, what now?" Onuki asked impatiently.

"Now we calm down," Ririm slightly raised her voice, making Onuki shrink. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not bragging, but I'm sure I would be able to find a faster way to fix them, if not for, well, you know."

"I'm afraid we don't know," Iten calmly noted.

"If I wasn't sitting here channeling healing to keep them alive, for example?" The healer sounded quite a bit irritated. "For, like, the following month or two?"

"Isn't there anybody to replace you?"

"Not at the current stage, kids, that's for sure."

"Um, so what are we gonna do when you go to sleep?" Orisa raised an obvious question.

"Obviously, I won't."

"Excuse me? I don't think I've heard about magic or potions that would let me stay awake for a month."

"Sheesh, calm down. There is no such thing, of course. But I'll manage for a few days, at least while they are in the most danger. Then I should be fine with taking short breaks. Even so, I don't think there will be a chance for me to research the thing properly."

"Which leaves us with what exactly?" Onuki asked, trying to keep her voice down.

"Judging by what Nowa said, the luckiest ones should be fine in a couple of weeks. The majority in a month or so, perhaps? As for your girls and the rest of the charcoal, I don't know. Wouldn't expect them walking away soon."

"A month for the majority? Shit, that's… We have forty days at best, or even less..." Orisa was at a loss of words.

"Yep, looks like we are fucked." Everyone's attention dashed to the door where Kanai was standing. He waited for a few moments for a more dramatic effect then waved Orisa out of the room. "Let's go."

"Can it wait? I've just gotten here," she said reluctantly, looking back at Iten and Onuki.

"I'm not sure Nowa will appreciate it."

"Don't make him wait, Orisa," Iten said in the same voice. "He wouldn't ask for you if it wasn't important. Moreover, you can't change the situation here anyway, so no point in staying."

"I'll come back later today, I promise," Orisa reluctantly said and walked out of the room. When the door closed behind them, she asked: "Why didn't you go check on the girls?"

"I was there earlier today, and it didn't feel like Onuki actually wanted me to stay. It's not like there is any point in staying there anyway."

"Well, there isn't, but maybe there is? I remember you getting angry that I forgot to visit you in the infirmary back at our camp days."

"They certainly can't get angry at you because of that."

"You've changed quite a bit," Orisa said softly, then took Kanai's hand and squeezed it lightly.

"You think? I kinda doubt it. I'm me, except for the parts that aren't me, yay."

They both chuckled softly, clearly getting the gender joke, and continued through the corridor. Orisa hadn't had time to talk to Kanai, so the wall's event was still hanging in the air. One of the reasons was that she didn't know how to handle it.

"Um, I was meaning to say... Thanks for saving me."

"Why? Is it something new? Should I thank you for every time you did the same, too?" Kanai wanted to sound casual, but Orisa heard hints of strain in his voice.

"This time is different, and you know it. I was-."

"Don't know what you were, but I was merely taking out the trash," Kanai interrupted her rather harshly. "You know what? I think it's you who has changed. You became soft, all too forgiving, perhaps even weak! I'm trying to remember the good old Satoru who made almost each and every one of his subordinates cry and wail for help. That Satoru who could put even his superiors to shame and rule his team with an iron fist. What happened to him?"

"There is a difference between berating morons for how useless and incompetent they are and straight out killing someone. I felt so-."

"Wow, just look at you! The bitch went for your throat, hello? And, I'm sure, more than once. If her retarded brother were here, they would certainly **** you to death before pissing on your corpse. Does it sound right to you?"

"No, it doesn't. But so does your attitude. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?!" Kanai even stopped, turned to Orisa, and painfully squeezed her forearm. "Are you asking me? Orisa, wake the fuck up, people are walking all over you, and you are just smiling back and trying to reason with them. This isn't a fucking Mass Effect you are playing on a Paragon route, this shit is real! And I'm sick of watching this whole crap."

Having said that, Kanai let go of Orisa's hand and walked on, leaving her behind. Stunned, she was watching his back. Her first impulse was to lash out and tell him to flip, but then it hit her and immediately calmed down. Orisa became angry once more, this time at herself for cooling off too fast since it made Kanai's point even more upsetting. But she could no longer get mad after realizing the real meaning behind his harsh words. And that pissed her off again.

In disarray from those mixed feelings, Orisa dashed forward and caught up with Kanai in a split second. Without warning, she grabbed his shoulder, abruptly turned him around, and embraced him with all her might.

"I can't explain how damn pissed I am right now, and how even madder I'm getting for what I'm about to say, but I'm sorry for not thinking about your feelings. It would suck for me to watch someone trash you, and I can't even imagine some dumb shit doing you harm. I'm sorry that I make you worry all the time. Mirai, thank you for being here for me, and I love you so much."

"Idiot...Geez..." Kanai muttered, completely drained from a maximum level of embarrassment. "You better learn your lessons, or else..."

"Yes-yes, I'll do my best."

A few minutes of cute murmuring later, Orisa and Kanai walked into the briefing room. Aside from hunter Nowa, there were seven people from the AOG, including Tiana, Toatre, and Dippo. Orisa sat by Tiana's side, and Kanai followed her suit. Since the meeting hadn't started yet, Orisa whispered to Tiana:

"How are you?"

"I'm still trying to digest the situation," Tiana answered, carefully choosing her words. Slightly red spots at the corners of her eyes left no doubt about her state, but the girl was keeping it together. Orisa made a mental note to spend some time with her friend in private and was about to ask something else, but Tiana turned her head and said: "W-w-what about you? You look w-w-worn out, are you sleeping w-w-well?"

A hurricane of answers, questions, and apologies exploded in Orisa's head. She hadn't told Tiana about Ramulie yet and wasn't sure she would do so at all. At the same time, she was feeling somewhat guilty for the outcome with Tiana's father. The two thoughts had been plaguing her mind all this time, which is why she was having a hard time sleeping. Orisa didn't know how she could or should face Tiana while bearing this self-imposed guilt.

A sudden poke between her ribs woke Orisa from her thoughts, and she faced Kanai, who was rolling his eyes disapprovingly. He could read her like an open book, imagined what was going through Orisa's head, and decided to stop another self-loathing session. After thanking him with a silent smile, Orisa turned to Tiana and gave an overdue answer:

"I'm good, thank you. I had a lot to think about and missed the sleeping hours. Don't worry."

"Children, I think you should let our chieftain start his speech, or we'll be sitting here for another hour," Dippo said with a grin.

Everyone's gaze focused on Nowanzi Goalo. Their leader was standing in the corner of the room, his back leaning against the wall. He had left his helmet on the table, which left him in his full-plate black armor. With a completely expressionless face, he was looking over the room, stopping his gaze on each person for a moment. A minute passed in complete silence, then another one, but hunter Nowa's eyes just kept wandering.

"Have we fucked up?" Kanai suddenly asked as he grew tired of the pantomime.

"Not exactly," Nowa's voice was radiating with power, as usual. He seemed absolutely unfazed by the raid's outcome despite getting almost half of his organization bedridden for weeks. "I know some of you have suggestions, so I'm waiting for you to speak up. But this isn't the reason why I gathered you all here today."

"Suggestions about what exactly?" Kanai couldn't stop and just bulldozed forward. "Should we propose some random insanely bright idea on how to handle the fact that half of our firepower won't be able to recover before our deadline? Are we talking about this little issue here, or is there something else I'm missing?"

"Your estimates are not exactly correct since I'm still here. Umu." Confused looks of AOG members focused on Nowa in complete silence. One by one, people began to realize his cue, and strained laughs rolled over the room. "While the fact that our members got hurt is bothersome, I assure you the situation is still well within the design. But if it's a point of concern for you, my trusted followers, we can bring on board several more members. I think some of you may have suitable candidates in mind."

Orisa was glad that Onuki wasn't present at this meeting, or else she would have scratched Nowa's eyes out for his words about that got hurt. While his attitude made Orisa uncomfortable, her thought process immediately switched to Nowa's latter words. She remembered one crucial person that was missing from her life.

"I don't know about others, but I think I have a fitting candidate in mind. I'll talk to you, sir, after the meeting is over."

"Umu, that's what I was talking about. But if you plan to invite the person I think you are planning, you don't need to consult with me. Feel free to invite them right away."

"Uh, um, okay?" Orisa was slightly lost. 'Does he know who I'm talking about? It's Nowa. I'm sure he does. Probably?'

"If anyone else would like to suggest more people, talk to me after we are through with the other topics. So, as I was saying, I have a different agenda right now. The first topic is the homework of sorts. I would like you all to study the map and think of ideas on how we could approach the Spire. You can find detailed reports on the area pinned below the map. Bear in mind that the majority of Beast's population will be spread around the tower, making the nearby area infested to the brim."

"Nearby area? Be a little bit more specific, pretty please?" Dippo asked sarcastically.

"Think of it this way - wherever you step in a ten kilometers radius, there will be a horde. Most Beasts of the continent are now gathered around the Spire. Or, to be more precise, will be after the following Wave."

"What do you mean?" Orisa's curiosity got piqued.

"I thought it was rather obvious?" Nowa gave people in front of him a questioning look. "Umu, I see. The assault on the capital. While it may have seemed that its goal was to raze the city, there were two major reasons behind it. First, quite obvious by its timing was to target us, the AOG. It pains me to say this, but I can't imagine by what virtue the dog was able to guess our timing. Alas, it happened. The other goal, however, was of higher priority for our friend. As you all, I hope, know, the Spire stands at the western edge of the Lazra continent. Instead of leading them through the lands and spending weeks and months to group them under the tower, he deemed it way faster and more efficient to gather Beasts from the eastern side and quickly kill them with the head-on assault. Since the Waves are shorter, most of them will respawn near the Spire, making it way easier to round them for the last defense, which he is preparing, without a doubt."

While some of the audience ended up lost in the explanation, it made perfect sense to Orisa, who had been wandering about the reason for this attack for quite some time. The knight made perfect use of the Wave's core principles and turned it to his advantage, and Nowa figured it out based on the same data that Orisa had but failed to do the same. A respect bar she had towards Nowa rose up a few notches.

"I hope your homework is clear," Nowa continued. "As for the second point of my agenda, we've finished with the vault's data. I'll present you with an extremely simplified outline since it would take too much time otherwise. You can read the data later if you would like to do so. So here is how it all went.

Kavenfenns were one of the wealthiest merchant families of the time, and they specialized in magical tech. Their company was employed by the head of the project to supply the necessary equipment and reagents, as well as make final adjustments to the ritual's scheme since it required a lot of manual labor to implement all over the Spire. Kavenfenns messed it on purpose, planning to get rid of the tip of the ruling class and take the continent over. As it is evident now, they succeeded. However, their plan went wrong in several places. First of all, they were only targeting a handful of people, no more than a hundred directly related to the government, or family heads, and their close successors. Instead, everyone participating in the ritual was affected, and in a way that Kavenfenns didn't expect. This is the second point, to which I will get back at the moment.

Setting aside their failure for a second, let's talk about the extent of Kavenfenn's knowledge and why it is reliable. Firstly, they dealt with the initial crisis caused by the emergence of Beasts, then began to study the phenomenon. Throughout history, especially at the beginning, when the time between the Waves was long, they gained direct access to the Spire's controls several times. And they, as we all know, did nothing to resolve the issue since a new world order was rather convenient for them. They could, but they didn't. It's not my uneducated guess, it is in the data. They even found three different ways to end the Waves.

Kavenfenns also found out another fact that brings us to the second point that we abandoned earlier. I hope that you all will think about it carefully and draw out the same correct conclusion as I did. The other thing that they discovered was that all the people participating in the ritual didn't die as was expected. And that the Beasts aren't coming out of nowhere and aimlessly.

The initial ritual's aim was to create a scheme that will constantly summon creatures from other worlds and immediately sacrifice them to feed their life force to participants. As a result of Kavenfenns' sabotage, people partaking in the program ended up linked to the Beasts that were summoned, feeding the creatures with their own Mana and energy. Each Beast is connected to a single person that is, let's say, frozen inside the Spire and acts as a battery to supply Beasts. This means there are exactly one hundred and three thousand ninety-five Beasts total, equal to the number of people participating in the project.

I know very well what sort of idea you can draw from it, but I assure you it is wrong. I can clearly rule out the assumption that all this time, we have been killing humans whose spirits were imprisoned inside Beasts. Those people's minds were lost without a doubt, and only their bodies functioned to provide energy. So do not second-guess your actions or our goals. Umu."