Upon hearing that the deadline was coming early, Hikari exploded.

“That is impossible,” Hikari said. “Even Carolina isn’t stupid enough to let Etaceh close in that easily without a fight. The intelligence department will be monitoring Curtis the moment the flying city shows up at the border!”

As if answering, the holographic image of Pruina expanded her declaration.

“I know what you are going to say,” Pruina said. “Let me guess, something along the line of: ‘we already know she is at the border’ or ‘we are monitoring her’.” Pruina clasped her hand in a prayer. “Sorry, Hikari, but you guys have been duped. The thing you detect at the border is likely a hologram like this message.”

Ciel knew this tactic was within Etaceh’s playbook, “I see. She is showing off an image of her city to divert Eleanor’s attention and effort, and sneaks in closer for a surprise attack.” He nodded. “That sounded just like the smartass I know.”

Xia facepalmed, “We are getting caught in this war with no time to plan. Great. We are off to a great start.”

But Pruina’s message wasn’t over.

“Look, I know the fact Etaceh is about fifty minutes from annihilating the entire Eleanor, but what I am going to say next is very important,” Pruina said. “This is about how to defeat Etaceh.”

The holographic Pruina raised three fingers, “There are three obstacles between you and destroying the city of Hecate.”

Pruina raised her first finger, “First, is the defensive fortification defending the city.” The second finger went up, “Second is the army of automatons defending the city.” Finally, the third finger went up, “The third is the Mana generator powering the city and Etaceh herself. As long as these three factors exist, Etaceh is pretty much unbeatable, even without faith powering her.”

Pruina broke down the  solution of the three obstacles.

“First you must get past the shield generator,” Pruina said. “I will admit Etaceh’s defensive fortification and barrier are the most sophisticated I have ever seen. This isn’t a dome projected by a generator, but a revolutionary engraving. There is no barrier generator to usurp or destroy, because it never existed. Etaceh etched the rune into the very ether around the city into a man-made phenomenon. With the generator connected to the barrier, it is theoretically the strongest barrier in all of Acceltra.” Pruina let the message sink in. “But there is a catch. It is too sophisticated.”

“How is that a weakness?” Xia asked the obvious question.

Pruina’s hologram timed her reply perfectly, “Yes, I know you will think the over sophisticate barrier isn’t a weakness, but it is.” She expanded on the explanation. “The goal of the barrier is to block an attack. It is meant to suffer damage, but Etaceh overshoots the aim and turns her defense into a delicate, one-of-the-kind artwork. Like any artwork, it is almost impossible to repair when broken. That is the barrier weakness — lack of cyclical tolerance. It was a powerful barrier, which became progressively weaker the more times that it failed. The etching on natural ether is nearly impossible to repair.” Pruina sighed. “Of course, you must break the barrier first, and that will be an immensely difficult task.”

Hikari couldn’t voice the obvious, “How could someone that smart make a mistake this dumb?”

Ciel happily provided an answer, “That is Etaceh in a nutshell. A smartass who couldn’t resist exposing her supreme intellect to everyone under the sun.” Ciel sighed. “She wants to show off her awesome barrier in a conquest, and its impracticality utterly skipped her over-inflated head.”

Pruina picked that moment to continue

“The automaton army is the second obstacle, and much simpler to solve,” the holographic message continued. “Hecate is populated with so many spy-wares and golems, it wouldn’t be exaggerating to call them the Eastern Continent’s strongest army. They acted as Etaceh’s eyes and muscles, and there lies the weakness. To be effective at their jobs, all the golems form a network which connects directly to Etaceh. This control network also stretches to the other part of her arsenal like genetically modified chimera and human-weapons.”

The hologram of a simple detonator with an antenna appeared beside the holographic Pruina.

“This device acts as a logic-virus the moment it is connected to the network,” Pruina explained about the detonator. “Don’t worry about making it. I already did the job and put it in this box. Get close enough to Hecate, activate it, and you can bring Etaceh entire army down, but there is a catch.”

Ciel wasn’t amused, “Of course they are always a catch.”

“The catch is Etaceh won’t fall for the same trick twice, and she can fix the network with her authority,” Pruina said. “You have only one shot to pull this off, and you must keep Etaceh herself too occupied to reform the network afterward.”

Pruina arrived at the final barricade facing them, “Finally, on top of her faith-power, Etaceh is supported by thirty-four generators, which provides her with an endless quantity of Mana to throw around and keeps Hecate floating. Luckily for you, the generators work collectively. Overloading one of the generators will cause total system failure. However, Etaceh knew this, and it will be tightly defended”

Pruina smiled, “And that is everything I need to tell you. Good luck. I have a great time working with you Hikari. Happy marriage.” Pruina’s eyes turned side-ways. “I will be leaving you with…err… the orgies.” Pruina’s voice turned more nervous. “I know I owe you a lot of money, but I think my contribution with your project and a dozen of my books I pack in this box will be enough to repay it. Bye! Have fun!”

With that, the hologram cut-out.

…

Hikari responded with rage.

“That is nowhere near paying those debts, you irresponsible idiot,” she screeched at the box.

“Well, I don’t call her an idiot,” Xia replied. “She solved our problem.”

“I think so too, dear,” Ciel said sarcastically. “We will just have to break Etaceh’s invincible cutting-edge barriers, get on the flying Hecate, somehow stall Etaceh while we shorten her networks and arm, then kill her through all the faith stockpiles.”

“Dear, you are being sarcastic again,” Xia sighed.

Then there was an explosion, and smoke rose in the distance.

Ciel phoned into the mental connection of the Residence.

Ciel: Caislean, what is happening?

Caislean replied crisply.

Caislean: There is a riot in a slum and… oh subversive arson in the city.

To put a bow in the dawning disaster, a colossal city of Hecate appeared right outside Eleanor, overshadowing the sky like a foot of a god about to come down into the city. Panic was an obvious occurrence. Fires broke out all over the city. A makeshift mob formed in the slum and began attacking and robbing everything in sight.

Ciel and Xia watched the harbor descend into anarchy as men and traders panic, and rapidly closed their shops. Hikari saw nothing through her blindness, but she heard shouting and cries as guards began rounding up and attacking everyone at random. Sense and logic went out of the window as the city turned on itself. Several sailors already went to the ship to escape the sudden attack.

Xia watched the guards rob a store, “Why are the guards turning against the city?”

“They did?” Hikari was literally blinded to see what was happening. As the previous Gold Leader of Eleanor, the fact the guards began attacking the city made no sense. “Why?”

“If I’m throwing a guess, the mind-control drug isn’t the only thing Etaceh threw at Eleanor,” Ciel said. “She also seeded some of her people to cause chaos when she committed the attack.”

Then they heard the speech booming from Hecate.

…

The voice of Etaceh was heard all over the city.

“To all the downtrodden, the starving, and the oppressed, I am the Prime Intelligentsia — Empress Etaceh. For too long, you have suffered. For too far have the oppressive shadow. But that nightmare ends today, for I have come to liberate you. Now rage. Steal back what is your and burn this city of sins in cleansing fire. In the name of Etaceh, I will become your god of justice!”

…

With the declaration, the flying city aims it weapons at Eleanor and went to town, torching the Mercenary city with grilling firepower

“‘God of justice’ my ass,” Ciel said, and saw another bonfire going up in the distance. “Yep, she probably triggers her sleeper agent and druggy army right now.”

“Can Borbonsi handle this?” Xia asked.

“Probably, but if I know Etaceh, she is preparing to unleash ‘that’ secret weapon at the most opportune time to inflict maximum damage,” Ciel said.

Hikari turned to Ciel, “What is the plan then?”

Ciel thought deeply. Maybe they should try to help the Eleanor’s garrison keep this kerfuffle under-control. Or trying to direct or stop the riot. Maybe took some inspiration from Pruina and Etaceh to rig up some emotional control device to counter Etaceh.

Before Ciel could arrive at a viable situation, another development ruined everything.

…

Out from the ports, a fleet of galleons appeared, forming a perimeter around Eleanor sea-front.

Sailing on the ship at the for-front of the fleet was Dios Apolline Sfolgorante, standing tall in the middle of the brewing crisis. She absorbed Eleanor in carnage and turned to order her troops.

“We will be exploiting the chaos to liberate the enslaved in Eleanor’s market,” Apolline ordered her troop. “Be sure to inflict maximum damage on both Eleanor and Curtis while they are engaging each other.” She grimaced. “Remember, we are doing this to spend Montgomery’s justice upon the corruption of Eleanor!”

The knight of Montgomery, in white armor and cape, saluted at attention. They yelled in unison.

“““Yes, Ma'am!”””

…

“Okay,” Ciel watched Montgomery’s navy being added as a variable. “I never expected that.”

Xia laughed dryly, “Let me guess, Apolline knows Eleanor is screwed and decides to kick it while it is down as a parting-shot.”

“So, what is the plan?” Hikari asked, utterly deflated.

“First, we need to secure the Harriet House,” Ciel commanded through the Residence’s channel. “Betty, I want you to guard against attack on the manor.”

Inside the Residence, Betty responded.

Betty: Ciel! Emergency! Hecate is shelling the entire capital with something. I believe those ammunitions are automatons. Etaceh is firing her troops at us. Some of them have landed on Harriet House!

“Hold the line,” Ciel said. “Hikari, I want you to place the Harriet House as your domain.” Then he struck upon an idea. “Xia, I want you to negotiate with Apolline when she makes a landfall.”

“What is this ‘negotiation’ about?” Xia said.

“Counter play for when Etaceh plays her strongest card,” Ciel said. “I’ll be going with Hikari to secure the Harriet House and do some market sabotage.”

“Market sabotage?” Hikari didn’t get it.

“Well, I will explain when we get there,” Ciel opened the master-gate. “First, we must secure our base.”