act18mini

Mercenaries who've tasted blood in war.

You want to protect them.

And prevent further chaos.

Can you give your guarantee?

No. But she can. Babel can.

Hoederer points towards Wiš'adel.

This war has long since lost its last justification for taking lives. It's time to bring it to an end. This has nothing to do with who I was, or who I am now.

Very well. You can go in.

If Rhodes Island trusts you, then—

You should be careful, Lady Delphine. What you are doing may constitute treason.

I don't need your advice.

Lieutenant Shearer, instruct the Exemplars units to escort this Sarkaz team into the command center.

Inform all alliance units that this order comes directly from Delphine Windermere.

Understood, Lady Windermere.

I hope you will be able to answer for yourself when the Dukes hear about this.

I have even more reason to hate the Sarkaz than most of you, but I don't let it blind myself to the current situation.

Londinium has bled enough.

Thank you for your help.

It's not <i>you</i> I'm helping, Sarkaz. Go end this war.

As for you, <i>sir</i>, you can either continue this staring match with me, or we can both go back with our men and prepare for the next battle.

Or do you need to call the Duke of Caster for instructions?

No need for that, Lady Delphine. Her Grace has granted me discretion. I agree that this is not our battlefield.

I will, however, report all the facts pertinent to this incident to Her Grace.

Suit yourself.

While you're at it, send her my regards, and a promise from the Exemplars—

'When the horn of the final battle sounds, the Exemplars will be the first to answer.'

I get that things are messed up at the Commission, but is this really all they have guarding the command center?

According to Dame Kal'tsit and the Doctor, Rose Riverside has probably paved the way for us.

What about Manfred and his men? Afraid of getting blown up or something?

If the General is still... alive, there's only one place he would be—by the Regent's side.

We'll have to count on the Doctor's group being able to handle the Regent.

It's all yours, Wiš'adel.

And I thought I'd have to fight you for the mic.

Your first broadcast more than did the job. 'Wiš'adel'...

Why so serious all of a sudden? About to spew a bunch of crap I don't understand again?

(Shakes head) The name Her Highness gave you holds many meanings.

I know.

If they need to hear a new voice, they'll hear it. Before that, though, I want to set things up.

We still need the command center to organize the withdrawal. Don't blow it up in a fit of anger.

Blow it up? Of course I wanna blow it up. But there's only one of it, which means I can't try all the different ways I had planned for it.

...W.

Don't rush me, Ines. This time, I'm gonna blow it into the sky, so everyone can see it.

See who we are, and what we want to do.

Listen up, people! Babel's captured the Military Commission's command center.

Those bastards don't know their heads from their asses right now, and nobody's got it in them to help out the crusty old Nachzehrer King.

So quit wasting time and get those feet moving!

Believe me or not, whatever, just step on the gas and get this over with!

Oh, and just saying, don't forget to keep your eyes on the sky.

My Patriarch, that...

The command structure of the Commission has collapsed. Temporary chaos is inevitable... but no matter.

The long oppression may have numbed the Sarkaz, but this war has reignited their hatred.

A moment of fear or hesitation will not extinguish it.

The Nachzehrer King looks up to see a frenzied flame cut open the veil of decay for an instant.

Besides, there will be another to stand up and lead them.

'Babel'...

The first time I saw the Palace of Westhaleg was fifteen years ago, on a fifty-pound bill.

It was the first time I held a wrench in my hands, and the first time I held money I'd earned myself.

I rubbed the bill with my numb and tired hands. The factory door began to close behind me, but I felt as though the door to all of Terra was being opened before my eyes.

A place that seemed so far away, a place where kings once sat, was right there in my hands.

Why'd we stop?

The area ahead is completely shrouded in fog. Captain Horn's orders are to halt the advance until we figure what tricks the Nachzehrer are up to in there.

Look at all the pretty patterns on the tiles beneath our feet, though. We're close to the palace.

Be patient, and grab a proper weapon from camp. The Sarkaz protecting this place are the worst of the worst. A wrench isn't gonna cut it.

This wrench has smashed five Sarkaz skulls just on the way here!

I can do it, whether you believe it or not.

It's been fifteen years since I felt like this, but now... I feel like I can take that palace, Nachzehrer King be damned.

Wait... shush.

What is it?

Fog. I'll report it in. Find a safe place to hide.

You hear that sound from inside the fog?

All I hear is the wind. Same sound as when I forgot to shut the gym's windows at night.

If it's the wind, it's blowing against <i>something</i>! A flag, or clothes!

Tell Vina—

In an instant, innumerable tattered rags rush out of the fog, drifting across the sky above the city like a gray-white tide.

There is cloth freshly torn from clothing, and there are banners woven by hatred over the millennia.

They have wrapped generation after generation of Nachzehrer warriors, hiding the rot beneath, but now they fly freely in the sky, inviting all they touch to walk into decay.

Bloody hell, I can't free my leg!

I got you!

Get away from the cloth! I'll cover you!

They'll corrode any weapons they touch! Melee units, pull back and let the casters deal with them!

1st and 3rd Caster Battalions! Volley on my mark!

I can't get rid of them!

The palls are immersed in decay, the shroud drawing in death. Even the formless witchcraft of the Nachzehrer has rules that can be followed.

But I am unable to decipher this fog...

It is neither Arts, nor natural.

Is this some new tactic, Logos?

They wouldn't wait this long to try a proven tactic.

Perhaps Nezzsalem is changing... or perhaps it's the Nachzehrer themselves that are changing.

This place will soon be more dangerous than the shroud we stepped into on the battlefield outside the city.

The other units must have encountered the same interference. Even sending out a signal is difficult.

This three-hundred meter plaza is enough to delay a thousand men for days.

We must find Theresis.;Theresis still has Amnannam.

Analyze the shroud, Logos.;How's our comms equipment, Closure?

Already on it.

Rules are bound to be analyzed. There must be a source for this unusual shroud.

I'll just need a bit of time.

If we don't want the Nachzehrer cutting the battlefield to itty-bitty pieces in the fog, turning our offensive into more of a buffet...

We should fill the plaza with repeaters, including those curvy corridors on the sides...

We don't have time to get a bunch more equipment, but luckily, I have a backup plan!

I never told them that I had never killed anyone. I did exterminate a few districts' worth of musbeasts, but never a human.