“The White House Press Conference room has commented on the recent conversation about the US’ policy on nuclear weapons. 

After the Attack on Philadelphia last year, some citizens within the United States proposed either nuking the Empire or detonating a nuke as a show of force. The idea behind this is to end the war as quickly as possible.

The military has stated that the United States has a ‘No Weapons of Mass Destruction’ policy against non- nuclear states, of which the Empire fits snugly inside.

The Military stated during the meeting that launching a nuclear strike against cities like Rondel, Havcristen, Bellnahgo, or the capital Sadera would be counterproductive to the war effort. All three cities have economic, historical, political, and strategic significance post-war. Besides, the death toll will be over five million if all of those cities were to be nuked. 

Besides the massive death toll of civilians, the complete destruction of one of these cities would send a ripple effect throughout the continent. The military compared the ripple effect to their experience in the 2003 Iraq War, where the Iraqi Military was foolishly disbanded. After that policy, Iraq went off in flames for over ten years as insurgency groups tried to take over the country. Coalitional Forces had to fight a bloody occupation to end the insurgency to which Iraq is still recovering today. The Military is afraid of a repeat event on a continental scale. 

The other reason from The Pentagon is that nuclear weapons do not bring any strategic value to the military arsenal or provide solutions. Once the weapon is used, that area that was nuked no longer can be used in any capacity. Because of the layout of the many mountain ranges, passage through the regions is limited. Important land that can be used for farming, transportation, or future development. More importantly, the radiation could affect passing US, NATO, and civilian personnel that travel near ground zero.

Precision-guided munition has been more effective on a strategic and tactical level, allowing targets that need to be hit without having to level the surrounding environment. 

The idea of doing a detonation as a demonstration to shock fear in the Empire would only have a limited effect. Even for a small yield warhead, a location will have to be found so the explosion and radiation would not affect the civilian population or NATO personnel. In addition, the same issues from using a warhead on a city apply.

The key issue with the demonstration proposal is how would it affect the Empire? Imperial officials would have to witness the explosion in some manner for them to believe the devastation of a nuke. The flow of information on Falmart is mostly controlled by the Empire and is limited to hand-delivered notes or word of mouth. Getting the message to the general population to the point they demand an end to the war would be a major obstacle assuming they believe it at all. Furthermore, the imperial government is notoriously prideful and, in some ways, delusional due to their extreme supremacist and fanatical chauvinism belief, a belief that has been rooted within them for centuries due to their six hundred years of existence and endurance against many threats that severely threatened its existence much like the Roman Empire with over 2000 years of undisputed ruling so they are not willing to bow down to any kinds of greater powers. No matter how much sheer power is demonstrated to themor how many losses they take to the face so far by our superior weaponry,the Imperial force continues to hold on to their extremely unshakable belief that they can win no matter how the cost becomes. much like the Romans of the ancient past. Historians, political, and social commentators state that the Saderan Empire, and the Falmart League in general, are still in a young and immature state of civilization development to comprehend the concept of “No Empire lasting forever.” Finally, modern and progressive values and norms from Earth, like policies that go directly against the perfomance of slavery, racial equality, and gender equality, as well as the physical presence of NATO itself, also pose tremendous threats to the ruling power of the Imperial Family and their allies’ ruling government in Uros. As a result, like religious fanatics, a lot of people within the Imperial forces will willingly fight against astronomically overwhelming odds just to preserve their backward ideology and remaining positions of power.

This includes US’ relations on Earth. Many of the US's amazing allies came to our aid because we were attacked, starting Humanity’s First Interstellar War. Using the most powerful weapon against a technologically primitive enemy would be seen not only as an act of aggression, but also a blatant act of imperialism, much less any semblance of self-defense the United States has been leaning on since the beginning of the conflict.

Some critics stated that President George H. Bush threatened Iraq with Weapons of Mass Destruction during the Gulf War. However, at the time Iraq was the fourth largest military with a large chemical weapons stockpile, which they used against Iran in the Iraq-Iran War. Coalition al Forces were worried that Iraq would launch a chemical attack on them during the invasion so the US threatened to nuke Baghdad if any such weapons were used. No such weapons were used.

The other factor that everyone must consider is that if we use a nuke against an enemy with bows and swords, then our enemies on Earth might believe we will use it on them, regardless if they have WMDs or not. That is a key reason why the Atom Bomb was not dropped during the Korean War.

Nuclear Prohibition has been one of the few bright spots in the Sino-US Cold War, with each side understanding the gravity of the destruction their weapons would bring upon the world. As we all know China has a non-first-use policy with their nuclear arsenal and the US does not want to be the reason they change it. Detonating the bomb on a primitive enemy might make our enemies reconsider their non-first-use policy.

While the current policy is that the US will use any means necessary to prevent a second attack, conventional weapons have proven to be more lethal and efficient in defeating the enemy than glassing a region and rendering it uninhabitable.” - SCNR

 

 

***

--- Alnus Community ---

April 3^rd, 2026(1)

Myuute crosses her arms, chuckling as she sees children rushing around. “You people and your holidays.”

“Halloween was not a major holiday in Czech,” Miloslav says. “It did not become more popular until I was an adult.”

She looks at Miloslav and smiles. She is happy that he made a recovery, even though not all the brainwashed kids were as lucky. Three of the kids died in the process of trying to remove the brain slug due to surgery complications. The doctors discover that the chemical used by the brain slugs to suppress self-thought can cause the brain of those being brainwashed to be dependent on it to survive as the chemical completely changes the cellular structure of the brain cells over time if they are exposed for an extended period; usually, three weeks to a month and children are often more susceptible to it than adults as it often takes three weeks for their brains to be entirely dependant on the brain slugs to survive. 

This fact raises a dangerous awareness among NATO commands as the Haryo can create permanently brainwashed slaves whose only salvation is a quick death and Tyuule was partially right about this new discovery when she said “those that are being brainwashed cannot be saved.”. 

Besides the fact that he is an adult and not being exposed to the brain slugs for as long, it is mainly because of their newfound love is enough for her. When she got a second chance in Alnus(2) to start a new life, she was not planning on finding love. When she first was assigned to Miloslav, they were just coworkers. Now, they are in a romantic relationship(3).

“At least you had one,” she says as she watches three kids rush by. “This is so cute.”

“Yeah, it is,” Miloslav replies. “However, isn’t Halloween supposed to be at night?”

“That was brought up in the meeting,” she says. “But Colonel Séverin Bourque said he doesn't want to risk children running around at night. Too easy to be taken.

That was a major topic in the meeting. The Alnus Military Police took a lot of heat for not catching the Haryo Tribe kidnapping children. While everything believes there are no more spy rings within Alnus, Bourque did not want to take risks.

“This is embarrassing.”

Hearing that she turns around and sees Giselle standing there sweeping the street. She is in a pink with green chest Barney(4) outfit. As part of her punishment, she must do community service and clean Alnus. Because it is the holidays, he decided that she had to wear an embarrassing costume.

Guarding her are four Estonian Special Operations Force and six Polish GROM units. She knows there are probably snipers hiding, just in case. She is glad that NATO is taking Giselle seriously, but wonders if they are going overboard.

“Do Ii have to be watched by so many armed guards? I mean, I already have a shock collar in my neck that will zap me if Ii am out of line! And why in the name of Hardy do I have to wear this goofy land dragon costume? If you want me to wear a dragon costume at least give me a proper costume that depicts a real land dragon, not this pathetic excuse of a dragon!” Giselle complains. 

“Knock it off,” Captain Karol Kowalski says. “Because of you I am not with my wife. And, for the record, you’re wearing a dinosaur costume, not a ‘land dragon!’”

She chuckles and looks back at the kids.

 

---

 

Selina walks up to a door with a bag in her hand. Some of her classmates surround her. That is all thanks to her father, taking everyone to the training field(5), giving everyone a chance to see her as someone else. Since what her father did, she has gotten more popular in class, being seen more like a classmate than an Edrean Princess.

Alongside her are her older sisters, Rory, Tuka, Lelei, and her newest one, Yao.

When the door opens, she smiles. “Trick or Treat!” She and everyone else say.

Once they get their candy, she looks at her bat friend, Jasif. “What did you get?”

Jasif pulls out a Butterfinger. “I got a finger?”

She chuckles but realizes that no one else laughed. She looks around and sees that they believe it is a real finger. “It’s okay, it's just a name.”

“So, it isn’t a real finger?” Nassuulo asks. Her snake head hair looks down at the Butterfinger bar.

She giggles. “It is just candy, however they were fingers before. I think they chop off crazy people's hands and cook them in butter. I heard that the crazier the person is, the tastier the candy is.”

She sees the shocked look on all of their faces and she giggles.

“You are lying,” Jasif says.

“Yeah,” she mumbles. “I don’t know how it is mad. I just like making up names for candy. Crazy fingers . . .”

As everyone laughs.

“Now what do we do Selina?” Nassico asks.

She looks at Nassico. He has been one of her bullies and while they are not the closest of friends, she can tell she gained his respect, however.

A few weeks ago, he tried to take her necklace, so she punched him in the gut like what her father trained her for and he was downed with just a single punch.

She does not understand why boys suddenly respect someone after someone hits them. Rory said it is some male code about not backing down and some men respect and like strong women.

“Do they have to give candy?” Jasif asks. “I don’t even know if I can eat candy. I only eat fruits.”

“If you don’t want any of them then I will take them,” Lars says.

She looks at Lars. He was one of those Imperial child-soldiers that Vanguard-7 fought at Bregrath(6). He has been living at the Alnus Army Hospital recovering until Karlin took him, Naminto and other orphans into an orphanage facility built by NATO and operated by Karlin.

“No,” Jasif responds.

“Lets go,” she says. “I was told that we can trade stuff we don’t want so the more we get the more we trade.”

She sees her new friends run across the street. She was about to follow but stopped, seeing Naminto standing there. He recently joined Sarah’s school and has barely talked since being found. She understands how he feels, losing everything. The Wood Elves killed his parents to punish her for living.

Her father told her that she needs to keep an eye on Naminto, that he is her responsibility. Besides Rory, Tuka, Yao, and Lelei, Naminto is her first friend. She wants to make sure she will be his best friend while he recovers.

“Come on, Naminto, we need to go before they take everything,” she says.

Naminto takes a breath. “Ok…”

She smiles as she tries to cheer him up, seeing the defeatism in Naminto eyes. She struggles to figure out what to say.

“Do you like your costume?” she asks.

Naminto looks at his costume. He is wearing samurai armor from a game she saw Andrew and Scott play called Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice. “You picked it.”

The costume is the main character named ‘Wolf’ and is a hero so she thought Naminto might see himself better wearing it. “I know. I thought you might like it.”

Naminto nods. “I think so. It is more comfortable than I expected. The Other Worlders have strange armor. Do they really wear this in battle?”

She giggles. “No. Just a costume used for dress up and the armor is actually the armor of the Samurai, a type of Knight in a country called Japan in the ancient past. Now, what do you think of mine? Do I look cute?”

She then sees this embarrassed and nervous look from Naminto. Then she notices Naminto glances behind her. She turns around and sees Tuka standing there.

Tuka waves at her. “Hello.”

She looks back at Naminto.

“Yeah,” Naminto says. “I think… you look cute in… that.”

She smiles, not understanding why he looked at Tuka.

She grabs Naminto's hand and starts pulling him. “Everything will be alright. If you want, you can come with me to the movie night. I think you will like it. I don’t know what it is, but dad usually has good stuff to watch.”

In her rush, she walks right into someone.

She falls back into Naminto, who catches her reflexively. “Sorry, thank you.”

She looks up and sees this handsome boy she hasn’t seen before. “I’m ah. Hi there...”

“Sorry for walking into you,” the boy says. He then walks away and leaves with his group.

She watches him walk away and then look back at Naminto. “We better hurry.”

 

---

 

Lelei in her Jaina Proudmoore costume watches as Selina pulls Naminto's arm. She can hear Rory and Tuka giggling. She looks at them to see why they are giggling. “Why are you giggling?”

“Because Selina is finally learning about boys,” Rory says.

Rory is wearing a gorgeous goddess Aphrodite costume white two-piece robe with golden rims around it. There are many different colors of jewelry around the rob and a small crown on her head.

“I think they are cute together,” Tuka says.

Tuka is dressed as Galadriel from Lord of the Rings, the queen of the Elves, also known as the greatest and most powerful elf within the Tokienverse.

“Selina and Naminto or that cute boy?” Rory asks.

“Of course,” Tuka says. “You think any male who is taller than you is cute.”

“HEY!” Rory yells, staring at Tuka.

“Should we tell Sharpe?” she asks.

Rory and Tuka whisper something to each other. Both then say, “No.”

“We don’t want Jackson to overreact,” Tuka says.

She turns around and sees Sharpe. He is on the phone talking to someone. It looks like official business, probably war related.

“I see,” she mumbles. “But he seems comfortable with her current group of friends.”

“Expect for the stranger there,” Tuka adds. “He looks cute too.”

“All you guys talk about boys,” Yao says. “That or about Jackson.”

She looks at Yao.

Yao is looking around, taking in the holiday. She is wearing Arwen from Lord of the Rings. She recently saw the movie and Sharpe said it was in the American Constitution that everyone is required to watch the movie at least once and year.

She knows that is not true. However she is impressed on how Sharpe can blanky lie like that and make it sound real.

“What else is there?” Tuka asks, jokily.

“You're just upset that you’re that Sharpe still pissed at you for ruining his promotion party,” Rory says.

“At least I will be having his child,” Yao says matter-of-factly. “By my people’s law, I am required to continue the bloodline for saving my people.”

“Over my dead body, bitch!” Rory screams. 

She looks at Yao, already knowing what is about to happen. Rory tackles Yao and starts beating Yao up. For some reason, she chuckles at the fight, wondering if she will act this irrational as this if she falls in love.

"Hey, Lelei!" Selina yells. "We are going around the corner. Jasif said he saw another mage!"

"Ok, Selina…," she replies and then looks at Selina, watching her and her friend's runoff. "Wait for what?"

She then sees this magical green glow, like her blue glow when she is casting a spell.

Once she gets around the corner, she sees Selina and many kids around this young man with a wizard hat, light and dark green rob.

She sees that a green energy bird from a creation spell flies around, playing with the children. Suddenly it explodes, and little lights slowly fall on everything. She sees all these different magical spells being used in an inappropriate and unprofessional way.

"Hey, there is another mage here," Tuka says as she approaches. "I wonder who it is."

"Oh, great! That is Jaleoa Wah Algon," she replies in an annoyed tone. "He is known as a misfit and troublemaker in Rondel."

“Hi Lelei!” Selina says.

“Lelei?” Jaleoa asks in a surprised voice. He looks around and sees her. “Hey Lelei! Long time no see.”

“Hi Jaleoa,” she says, annoyed. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be training with your master?”

“I was, but got bored,” Jaleoa says with a chuckle. “My master went off to help the Empire fight in the war and I was no longer welcome in Rondel.”

“Why weren’t you welcome in Rondel anymore?” Rory asks as she walks up.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,’ she says. “He always treated magic like a game and used it to pull pranks rather than doing anything useful. We had a few classes together. In an American term, he has always been a goofball and prankster.”

“Master Cato did pull off Sage Mimoza’s underwear once with his magic and she wrecked the whole research lab to chase after him for a week! So I am not the only one here to use magic for prank.” Jaleoa defends himself

“That was 30 years ago!” Lelei states. “But at least Master Cato quit pranking after that incident, the problem is that you seem to not know when to stop!”

”So he is fun then?” Rory replies.

“Didn’t you use magic as a game back on Earth?(7)” Tuka replies.

She remembers that Sharpe said it was okay to do some magic tricks at the park. It was meant to be a good will event, regardless if she had fun doing it.

“That was different,” she says. “What did you do this time Jaleoa?”

Jaleoa laughs. “Glad to see you haven’t changed Lelei. The Council seems to be greatly concerned about you. I was banished because I burned down the Temple of Elange.”

“What!” Tuka says, shocked. “You burnt down a temple? That is a high crime?”

Rory just giggles, agreeing with Jaleoa. “They are elitist pricks. I like him.”

“I just burnt it a little,” Jaleoa says with a chuckle. “It was funny though. I loved seeing those stuck-up royalist types get some taste of payback for their domineering attitude toward other people. And besides, Cato said you were having so much fun here, so I wanted to check it out.”

“Is that why you came all this way?” she asks. “How did you manage to pass through the Imperial borderlines without getting killed and reach NATO border controls and convince them to let you in?” 

Jaleoa snaps his figure and smirks. “To be fair! I have no love for the Empire judging how poorly they treat other races. Even in Rondel, a lot of wise and powerful demi-human mages are not immune to some forms of Imperial racial discriminations and most of my friends are elves and lizardmen so I decided to help NATO. I accidentally bumped into a group of NATO scouts and made a deal to help them to earn their trust by becoming their informat for a while to spy on Imperial troop movements in Populis and some other towns. After a while, I earned their trust and they let me in Alnus. Jealous?”

She is hesitant to respond. Since the beginning she has been the only mage helping NATO and she built a reputation with them.

Tuka leans into her and whispers, “By the gods, you are jealous.”

“Shut up,” she whispers and looks at Jaleoa. “So you are willing to betray your master when he goes off to fight for the Empire because you hate the discrimination against demi-humans?”

“Hey Selina,” Rory says. “Lets go finish trick or treating.”

She watches as Rory and Yao take the kids away to finish the event.

“Yeah,” Jaleoa mumbles. “Like I said, I didn’t want to go fight for the Empire since it is like fighting against my demi-human friends and Cato spoke positively of this place.”

“So Rondel is warming up to NATO?” she says.

“No,” Jaleoa replies. “There is a raging debate in Rondel about current events. Of course, a lot of people Rondel is siding with the Empire. They never would risk losing all that investment from the Empire. They don’t call Rondel the Crown Jewel of the Empire for nothing.”

“I know,” she says. 

“It is more complicated than that, Lelei,” Jaleoa says. “You have made enemies in Rondel. A lot of council members proposed stripping you from the Academy and banishing you from Rondel forever. Cato and Mimoza as well as some other influential scholars managed to block it.”

None of that made sense to her. She stood still for a few moments before opening her mouth. “I’m… I am no longer welcome?”

“Kind of…,” Jaleoa said. “I didn’t mean to state it like that, but there are a lot of politics going on in Rondel right now. It's also one of the other reasons why I left. While most mages don’t see you as a traitor, many see you as a threat. They don’t like how close you have gotten with the enemy; I mean the Americans and NATO since they are against a lot of things Rondel and the Empire have in common like slavery or racism against demi-human. Furthermore, the Adventurer Guild’s HQ is in Rondel and they don’t like that NATO makes them like a waste of space in Falmart. 

As she listened, she had no idea how bad things got in Rondel. Her master never mentioned any of this in their letter exchanges. “I didn’t know.”

Jaleoa chuckles. “I know. The most important fact is that they don’t like everything you've been learning from them since what I learned from Sage Cato and Mimoza is the knowledge you learned from the Other Wolder, easily making you one of our strongest mages in the entirety of Rondel and you can potentially become the youngest Archmage in the history of Rondel. This fact threatens the position of power of a lot of council members since the title of Archmage can give you the great influence in voting power to make decisions in Rondel and your marvelous knowledge and power can make a lot of people want you to become the head of the very council of Rondel.”

She is shocked at what he said. She never was political and she only desires to introduce advanced knowledge and revolutionize magic. She did write a twelve-page essay explaining her intentions to Cato without any intention to involve in politics. “I just want to revolutionize magic! I never wanted to usurp anybody.” she sulks. 

“What he is saying is that their dirty politics Lelei,” Tuka says. “People in power rarely like change and are willing to squash those that threaten their seats of power. I learned that a lot during my time my people were on the run.”

"It is why I left," Jaleoa says. "I just wanted to go around and do my magic. I am an entertainer, not a warrior."

"So, you joined the American military?" she asks.

"Oh yeah," Jaleoa says. "These people laugh at everything. I love it. At first, I thought you were crazy for joining these people, but they are fun. And besides, weren't you going to join the Rondel Grand Library. Didn't the idea of fighting in some war repulse you?"

"…things changed," she says.

"I can see that," Jaleoa says while chuckling. "We should catch up with Lelei. I like these people. The Empire's propaganda is completely right and wrong at the same time. It's funny."

She has seen some of the Empire propaganda. It usually twists NATO values into a negative message, lying without actually lying, as Sarah said. Besides saying that NATO is freeing slaves, the Empire changes it to stealing slaves or property from owners.

She sees some other kids rush up, wanting Jaleoa to do magic tricks. "You shouldn't use magic like it is a game."

Jaleoa laughs. "So, you haven't changed. What is the point of having this power if we cannot bring some joy to the world." He then casts a spell that creates butterflies.

"We should go, Lelei," Tuka says.

"Yeah," she replies. "We better go get them. We need to get back to Minik and get ready for movie night."

 

*** 

--- Fort Minik ---

April 3^rd, 2026(1)

 

Sharpe knees as Selina rushes up. “Got some candy?”

“Yes,” Selina replies.

He nods, glad she had a good time. He looks up to the Girls. “Thanks for taking her out. I just couldn’t get out of a meeting.”

He planned on going with Selina on her first halloween even however the war meeting took up all day. It was related to their raid on the Dark Mage facility. The location was given to the US by Prince Diabo and he recently handed over new locations to the CIA agents in Sedera. 

“All good,” Tuka says. “We had fun. We ran into another mage.”

“Really?” he replies, surprised by that news. “Well, about time we get more local support.”

“Are we late?” Pina asks.

He looks over and sees most of the Rose Knights approaching. “Hey ladies. Just in time.” He then looks at Itami. “Is the theater room setup?”

Because he was so busy he asked Itami to set the theater room up for him. 

“Yes, sir,” Itami replies.

“What movie are we seeing this time?” Boze asks. “Is it another war movie?”

“Not every movie is a war movie,” he replies. “I picked Ghostbusters. It is ghosts attacking New York and these four guys rounding them up. It is a great film.”

“Actually, no, sir,” Itami interjects. “I figured The Grudge would be a better film for them after what they've been through. I think they are ready for something stronger.”

He looks at Itami. “But…”

“That is cool,” Pina says.

“What kind of movie is that? Some kind of revenge movie judging by the name,” Nikolasha asks.

“It is kind of like heroes' revenge for their loved one's demise right?” Hamilton asks.

“No, it is about the mythical spirit in my Japanese culture folklore called Onryo, which means vengeful spirit. Onryo seeks to haunt, torment, and murder anyone who was involved in their demise or wronged them while they were still alive in gruesome manners.” Itami explains. “Trust me, it gets far freakier than that.”

He sees the excitement among the Rose Knights and the Girls. They seem to be more interested in a more adult movie. 

“That sounds far more interesting,” Panache says. “It did feel like we were being treated like kids before.”

“And besides Itami being cute,” Balalaika adds. “He has been far nicer to us. What do you think about Beefeater?”

“I have my own plans,” Beefeater says. “So this is your mess. Night all.”

“Then I think we have decided,” Pina says. “The Grudge then.”

He watches everyone go inside the theater room, trying to figure out what just happened. He looks at Itami. “You changed the movie?”

“I hope you don’t mind,” Itami says as he places his hand behind his head. “I mean Ghostusters is great, but I think they need to see more adult things. Otherwise they never will grow outside their comfort zone.”

“And besides,” Itami continues. “Nothing's wrong with some horror films. When I was dating my wife we watched movies like this all the time. She got scared and grabbed my arms. Guaranteed some of the guys will be getting laid tonight after watching this movie.” 

He just looks at Itami, not knowing how to respond, completely drawing a blank..

Sarah walks up and looks at Selina. “Selina, you and Naminto go save our seats.”

Once they go inside the building, Sarah walks up to him. “You okay?”

“What the fuck just happened?” he asks.

“Easy,” Sarah says matter-of-factly. “You just got outflanked. He changed the movie on you behind your back.”

That is pissing him off, but that isn’t the only thing that is bothering him. Everyone went along with it, even going to the point of calling him ‘cute.’ “Why did they take Itami’s side?”

“Never underestimate a cute face, Sharpe,” Sarah says. “But Balalaika has a point.”

“That is?” he asks.

“You have been driving them hard in their training,” Sarah says. “I understand why, but they might not fully understand yet. You and Carlos need to remember they are not being sent to Hong Kong to be rebels. That is why you told me Itami is here, to be a balance.”

He takes an annoyed breath. 

Sarah takes his hand. “It is ok. Let's just go watch the movie and have a good time. Tomorrow we can start working on your image.”

“It is not just that,” he mumbles.

“What?” Sarah asks.

He hesitates. Jumbles of thoughts are going throughout his head about whether or not he should say what he was about to say. In the end, the latter won.

He inhaled, stared Sarah straight in the eyes, and said,“I hate horror. Scares the crap out of me.”

 A few moments went by as the two stood, absolutely silent.

Sarah stands there, trying to stifle a laugh. “Really? You, scared of horror? After fighting a Wraith and everything else you seen?”

“At least I can injure a Wraith, but for ghosts, Ii don’t know if I can fight them or not without a proton pack,” he replies, defending himself. 

“Come on,” Sarah says. “Forget about everything else. Let's have a good time. Tomorrow we can work on that controlling side of yours.”

Sarah then pulls his arm and drags him into the theater.

 

--- 

 

Pina sits down at one of the chairs. Next to her is Bozes and Panache. 

Around her are most of the Rose Knights, Vanguard-7, and some of the Itami Recon unit. 

“Do you think we were too harsh on Sharpe?” she asks.

“No,” Panache replies. “We are already Knights. We have already been through a lot. This intense training is a waste of time.”

“But look at the results,” Bozes says. “We kicked ass at that facility. The training might be insane, but I have seen improvements. Besides, that isn’t the only issue we have.”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“Faira is here in Alnus, and she was with us during the last raid!” Bozes reveals.

“Who is Faira?” Panache replies.

While Panache might not remember, she does. She kicked Faira out of the Rose Knight. Faira was from a lower class of Nobles from Telta. Faira was very good at being a Knight, on par with Beefeater and had remarkable leadership. She remembers being worried that Faira would beat her, become the best Knight among the Roses or even outshined her as a leader so she banished her.

Of course she made up an excuse for that. She stole some royal jewelry and blamed Faira for it which forced her banishment from the Rose Knights. That was the last time she thought about Faira until now. 

“She is here? Are you sure?” she asks.

“I saw her with the Legrath Knights,” Bozes says. “She sounded very bitter however she was a good knight. I guess she found training somewhere else.”

“I remember her now,” Panache says. “She did violate the code of the Rose Knights so she had to be banished even though I admired her skills as a knight and even considers her like a big sister. I am glad she found a different knighthood.”

“Yeah,” she mumbles. She struggles to find a way to respond. She wonders how long she has been at camp and if she remembers. “I am too.”

She looks over and sees Lelei asking Sharpe something. While she doesn't spend a lot of time with Lelei, she can tell she is passionate about something. 

She sees Sharpe get up and both of them walk to the front.

“Hello everyone,” Sharpe says. “Before we began movie night, Lelei made a special request. Apparently NASA is about to land on the moon and she wants to see this. We only do this once, twice a year so yeah.”

Sharpe then snaps his fingers and an image on the large screen appears. It says NASA TV and has people talking about something. Inside the facility looks strange and a strange ship is looking up at the sky. 

“What is happening?” Bozes asks.

“I don’t know but Lelei seems excited,” she replies.

“Sharpe,” she asks. “What is happening?”

“Lelei?” Sharpe says.

“For those who do not know the nations of Earth can go to their Idos,” Lelei says. “Earth has Idos like us and they have these ships that can fly past the clouds and heavens into the realm called space or the void. They travel going through the vast empty space and land on their Idos. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen.”

“I don’t believe it,” Panache says. “That is impossible.”

Sharpe chuckles. “Then watch. You want to see more adult content, watch this.”

What Lelei said sounds impossible however she knows they wouldn’t lie. She watches these people inside this tight ship. There are four people inside the strange looking craft. 

That is when she and the knights shockingly sees the spacecraft fly up toward heaven and even pass that boundary and into the void and land on the moon. She sees a 3D animated model of what is happening by NASA, showing the spacecraft landing on the surface.

“Right now you are witnessing the Artemis-IV spacecraft touching down on the Lunar surface,” NASA TV says. “This mission will last for two weeks, the longest duration mission to date. They will be laying the foundations of the future Armstrong Outpost, a multinational project.”

She watches as the four astronauts come out of the spacecraft. She can see from the astronauts’ point of view through the camera. She can see the white and barren surface of the moon as they start walking around.

“So that is what the heavens look like,” she mumbles.

“By the gods,” Bozes mumbles. “If this is what they are capable of, what else do they have?”

“I don’t think I fully want to know right now,” Panache states.

For a moment she thought everything she was seeing was fake but then she saw the Earth hovering in the emptiness of what Lelei called space. It is beautiful. 

“On this trip the United Arab Emirates sent their first astronaut to the Lunar surface,” NASA TV says. “The UAE joined the Artemis Accords in 2020 to better establish their presence in the emerging space economy. This marks the first astronaut from the UAE to enter space and land on the lunar surface.”

The feed lasted for about thirty minutes as she watched the astronauts move around and unpack supplies from their spacecraft. 

It took awhile for her to grasp what she was watching. The idea that the nation of Earth, NATO and the Americans have surpassed their world boundaries and went to another without a Gate should be impossible but clearly is not. 

She then sees all the possibilities the nations of NATO can bring to the Empire and Falmart. She can see that the current Empire could never accomplish a godly feat to this scale. And as Bozes said, what else could the Americans and Earth people be capable of?

“It looks like the feed is breaking up,” Sharpe says. “I hope you enjoyed that. It doesn't happen all the time so it was a rare treat, all of us being in one spot when a landing is happening. Now for the film.”

She then sees the movie starts.

As Itami stated, this movie is about the vengeful spirit based on Japanese folklore called Onryo which depicts a hostile spirit of a woman and her son along with their pet cat haunting and killing anyone who enters the house where they are perished by the hands of a jealous husband and father. 

The entire movie scares the shit out of her and almost all the knights and even some of the Vanguard 7 and the girls. The images and scenes of a long black hair and pale limping woman crawling out of nowhere unexpectedly haunting and killing people in a gruesome manner by breaking their necks and bones in their bodies with her bare hands or her hair or simply dragging them to hell. Furthermore, the sound made by the spirit of the dead naked boy adds greatly to the creepiness of the movie as his black mouth just screams like a cat while showing his black mouth to their victims before the spirit of his mother finishes them off. Despite her and the rest of the Rose Knights' fair share of bloodshed in the battlefield, the movie truly terrifies her and her knights due to its suffocating atmosphere and there is no way to battle the spirits as Itami states that no amount of weapons can harm or incapacitate the spirits except for magic, and the spirits can easily ambush and kill anyone effortlessly by simply appearing and disappearing out of nowhere when they are least expected and murder them while the victims cannot even put up a fight or escape. However, the scariest part is what is called “jump-scare” movie scenes in which a victim is suddenly ambushed and killed by the spirits, causing many of the knights and her, and even Grey to jump off their seats, and hold their chest while breathing heavily. 

She then sees that some of her knights quiver heavily in their feet and arms like her. Hamilton put her face deep in Andrew’s chest as she was too scared to continue watching and enduring jump scares, which was the same as Selina with Sharpe and Bozes with Charlie Johnson. Even a person with a monotone face like Lelei also cannot hide her expression of fear.

“Well, I must say,that woman and child sure know how to kill people in style. But I, obviously, don’t fear them since I can banish them!” Rory proudly boasts as she is the only one amused by the horror movie. 

“You can banish evil spirits!” Tuka said, in an unbelieving tone, while she and Yao held their hands together as tight as possible. 

“We, Apostles, have the power to banish rogue spirits like that. It rarely happens and it is because sometimes Hardy is too lazy to do her jobs,” Rory states.

“You are so cool! If we encounter evil spirits like those in the movie, we can count on you,” Selina says, before running out of her seat and hugging Rory tightly to ease her fear.

“Believe me, Selina! The Onryo is terrifying, sure, but nothing can compare to the Dementors from the Harry Potter series! They are immortal, meaning they are not even alive to begin with. This means they can't be banished by the likes of Rory Mercury herself! So  don’t count on Rory to protect your soul from being consumed by the Dementor’s Kiss. Because Rory will be the first one to succumb to it and spend the rest of eternity in darkness! And then you are next, oOoOoO!" Lelei teases Selina only hugs Rory even tighter.

“Quit it, Lelei. You're making her suffocate me,” Rory chides, beginning to wiggle in order to get Selina to ease.

 She only hugged tighter.

 

Reference:

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(1)Holiday Note: Holidays will not match the story calendar. They are considered holiday specials. The events in the chapters are cannon, just the real-life dates are not. It is for fun and the special moment.

(2)Chapter 26

(3)Chapter 145

(4)Main character of a children show Barney & Friends

(5)Chapter 169

(6)Chapter 133

(7)Chapter 162