Hey sorry about that... haha... wasn't the correct update... Haha...

Part - 1 - Shopping Spree (2)

Slithering out of the clutches of the two girls holding onto him, Urist soberly sat at the edge of the bed.

Today is the day huh. Traveling to another world? Well, I wouldn’t exclude such possibilities since we are already in another world. Whatever happens, we don’t have much time to mull things over. It’s time to do the final preparations before the event hints. Wonder if everyone's waiting for me in the war room. Fuck, what cunning plan will that bastard Ubel will cook up. He said he’ll deal with the shopping list, but I should double-check that he doesn’t do something awkward. 

Speaking of awkward.

Looking back at the two girls now hugging each other, Urist mused to himself, “Really wish I had a cigar right about now. Helps me stop overthinking about these two and what to do with them. Man what a headache.”

“Oh? What did you just say?”

“Oh shi-”

***

Walking out of his room massaging his aching head, Urist headed towards the command room where Ubel and some of the commanders he had chosen were currently sitting. Urist noticed as he sat down that a commoner went around the room, pouring tea for everyone.

Hmmm, I’m going to need to nip that in the bud before it becomes a problem. After this event, we will need to come up with our rule of law. 

Urist didn’t allow his displeasure to show and kindly thanked the commoner for the tea. The commoner smiled brightly and bowed his head, saying that he wasn’t worthy. After some back and forth words the commoner left the room and the last of the commanders, Joy the Lancer and Ayil the Fist Mage entered and took their seats.

With everyone seated Ubel told the commoners to leave and shut the door.

Ubel sat down and waited for the voices to quiet down before speaking, “As you all know every leader I’ve chosen is here except for Volt, who is currently in deep meditation. Before we begin I would like to tell you each of the names of your units to ease the route of information.

“Urist, you will lead the Wild Card unit. Your second in command is Uria. Volt, whenever he wakes up, is the Battle unit commander with Snorri as his second and current commander ‘til then. Unicy is the Cavalry Unit, and although you have nothing to ride your unit is made up of fast people.

“Valkus- 1st Hunter unit leader with Blink as his second in command. Joy- 2nd Hunter unit leader with Quake the Champion as her second.

“For the mages, they will be split up into two groups with Vlad leading the 1st Magic Corp. with Dali as his second. Helga will be leading the 2nd Magic Corp. with Qrita the water mage as her Second. And finally, Ayal will lead the support squad.”

Ayil snorted, frowning at the mention, “Why do I have to babysit? I should be on the front lines.”

Ubel turned to her and gave her his classic dead fish-eyed stare, “Because we are short-handed on trusted personal and you’ve been with us long enough to be tasked with this important role. Next time you will have your wish. Does that answer satisfy you?” 

“Humph. Fine.”

“Now that that interruption has been taken care of, I hope that each of you will do well with your unit. Moving on, I’ve gone over the store’s items and made a list. Urist, buy them.”

Urist picked up the offered paper and began to read. As he read his eyes grew wider, “You wanna spend all our points on the military?!”

Item List

Leather Backpack X 100 = 3000 Points

Water Skin X 147 = 1470 Points

Leather Boots X 147 = 1470 Points

Socks X 147 = 1470 Points

Barrel X 40   = 400 Points

Assortment of Foodstuff X 250 = 500 Points

Tent X 12   = 2400 Points

Platemail X 10   = 2000 Points

Gambeson X 50  = 5000 Points

Ignition Crystal X 300 =2100 Points

Berserk Potion X 20   = 600 Points

Total spent = 20, 410

Leftover: 211

“Yes, as I believe we’ll easily make it back on this campaign, like we did from the last one. We shouldn’t hold back and fight with our fullest potential. We’ve already made enough weapons for everyone, even the Rat-kin who Vlad has assured me are combat-ready. Our food and water supply are also stable now that we have access to the river. And our defense is… acceptable, so I don’t see the reason not to spend the points.”

“But… the-”

“I know you want to save the points to revive the fallen, but if you care for the living as you say-”

“Say no more Ubel, I know what you mean… I’ll start buying the items. But I see only enough armor for us dwarfs, what about the rat-kin?”

Ubel snorted, “They’re meant to be expendable right? If they live through this then I’ll think about them next time. Besides, from what I’m told from Vlad they appear to be quite hearty. They already have clothes and weapons. We’ve done enough for them until they earn their keep and they shall receive only that much.”

Hearing such, Urist’s eyes flashed with understanding. He wants to move into the law of military a society based on achievements. That path is rigid and will lead to the ruin of the commoners and the unfortunate. That isn’t how I wish to rule, where we leave someone behind.

Having made up his mind, Urist stared straight into Ubel’s soulless eyes, “We made them Ubel and we must treat them right. I won't be buying armor for myself and instead will give them to two Rat-kin. Those that wish to follow my example may also turn in their armor to help the less fortunate. You may all choose what to do, I will not hold a grudge.”

Urist’s declaration made the air frosty as Ubel stared at him with empty eyes. Ubel’s hands began to tremble for a moment and everyone expected him to lash out at Urist. Readying himself for a war of words, Urist waited for Ubel's rebuttal. 

Ubel’s hands slowly stopped shaking, and a snort was heard under Ubel’s breath, “Good, you passed my test, but you failed at giving sound reasoning. I’ll give you 50 points on the evaluation.”

Seeing everyone give him a disbelieving look, Ubel snorted at them and continued.   

“What? Oh don’t you all give me that look, if Urist didn’t step up on this issue I would’ve given him a tongue lashing.

“Everyone will be equipped with armor thanks to so many warriors bringing their own gear. Added with the fact that the crafters are working overtime to turn the hunted hides into armor, we’ll have enough to arm our troops as long as we forgo the plate mail.”

Exasperated, Urist stared at Ubel, “Why test me?”

“‘Cause I want you to keep on your toes. If you wanna fight on the frontlines you need to know when to take command and when to take a step back. You took a step back when you allowed me to spend all our points, but fought with how I decided to spend them. Well done. Now does anyone else have any questions?”

Valkus turned to Blink, his interpreter, and whispered to him.

Nodding his head, Blink turned to Ubel, “How will the Rat-kin be spread out through the rest of the units?”

“Good question, I’ve already prepared a list of how many each of you will be receiving as reinforcements.”

The dwarfs each lowered their eyes towards the parchments they were handed.

Battle Formation

Urist - Wild Card Commander

Uria - The Blind Firekeeper - 2nd in Command 

Uroa - Herbalist / Medic

Aqua - Water Mage

Vesi - Water Mage

Mo - Fishermen(Secret Spear Master)

Magic swordsman, Three body magicians(Brothers), Spirit Charmer

Earth Mage

Rat-Kin - 10

==============================================

Ubel - General

Wind messengers - 2

Gift - Poison Mage

Commoner spearmen - 10 

Info Mage - 1 

Assassin - 1

Spartan, Reaper, Avenger

Warriors - 5 

==============================================

Volt  - Battle Commander

Snorri - Slayer - 2nd in Command

Tänzer - Dancer 

Unior - Spearmen

Elana - Earth Mage

Fatty - Tank

Ump - Shield Warrior

Adster - Light Mage

3 Spearmen

Medic

15 commoners/ spearmen

Rat-kin - 35

==============================================

Unicy - Cavalry Commander

Dane - Warrior

Littou - Warrior

Indar - Warrior

Elrish - Warrior 

Mirro - Aura/ Repulse - Tier 2 High Power level

Eins - Rat-kin

Archer

Earth

Warrior (In training)

Rat-kin 35

==============================================

Valkus - 1st Hunter Squad leader

Blink - Hunter - 2nd in command 

Reaver - Magic Tamer 

Acar - Frost Mage

Emu - Wind Mage 

Brick - Earth mage

Arben - Warrior

Rytar - Water/Ice Mage

Cero - Blood mage

 

==============================================

Joy - Lancer - 2nd Hunter Squad Leader

Quake - Champion

Zen - Brawler 

Run - Hunter 

Gale - Wind Mage

Earth Mage

Hunter

4 Four Hunters (In tTraining)

==============================================

Vlad - Blood Mage - 1st Magic Corps Leader

Dali - Blood Mage - 2nd in Command 

Medic

Thair - Earth Mage

Fire, Water, Poison, Light, Frost Mages - 1 Each

Blood Mages - 2

Rat-kin - 10

==============================================

Helga - Spirit Charmer - 2nd Magic Corps Leader

Qrtia - Water Mage - 2nd in command

Blut - Blood Mage

Ran - Wind Mage

Dark, Earth, Frost, Time, Lightning, Flash Mages -1 each

Spirit Charmers - 2

Absorption Mage -1

Gem Mage -  2

Shadow Mage - 2

(In training) Mages - 2

Rat-kin 10

==============================================

Ayil - Fist Mage - Support Squad

4 Monks

4 Warriors, 3 Hunters, 3 Axeman, 1 Maceman

Earth Mage - 1

Medic - 2

Herbalist

Briana - Herbalist/Medic

Cook

Saera - Item information

“Now that you’ve looked over the formations, I believe it’s time to talk about how we shall do battle. I’ve made up a few basic plans that we can follow in case we do or don’t transfer. I shall begin, ask questions after I give an explanation. First, if we do tras-”

An urgent knock was heard on the door. Rolling his eyes Ubel sighed, “Someone go and see what they want.”

Everyone looked at Blink, who cursed inwardly before getting up from his seat and opening it.

Tänzer appeared before them in his air-headed state, smiling bashfully.

Annoyed, Ubel shouted at him, “What do you want twinkle toes we’re in the middle of tactics!”

Scratching his chin Tänzer replied, “Um, I was doing my morning dance near the crystal and two more Tier 4 powerhouses appeared.”

Instead of feeling happy at mention of more powerful forces joining them, Ubel began massaging his sudden headache. “Fucking hell.”

 

Part 2 - Late arrivals 

 

Ubel’s right eye twitched as thoughts raced through his brain. No plan survives contact with the unknown, exactly as my teacher said. So a curveball right at the beginning? Cut the crap, who’s fucking with me? God? He should stay out of business if he knows what’s good for him. If I don’t handle this right we might lose the event before we even begin.

Standing up from his chair, Ubel coldly spat, “Urist, I strongly advise we meet these new arrivals before things get out of hand like it did miss Snorri.”

Feeling offended, Snorri responded, “Hey I wasn’t that bad. I mean, they didn’t die and merely have a few long-lasting injuries.”

Ubel and Urist just gave her a look before they turned to each other.

“So Ubel, if I’m correct you want to stop this meeting temporarily to meet them and see if they are a threat?”

“Yes.”

Standing up from his seat, Urist motioned for everyone to follow him as he headed out of the doorway. Naturally, everyone with the exception of Snorri, who was fuming at being ignored, followed him.

“Humph, you think you can ignore me? I'm not that bad, how dare you two treat me like this. This is unjust! Unreasonable! I demand to be heard!”

Ubel just turned to her and snorted, “Earn some military achievements and I’ll think about it. Come on, we have an issue to solve, 2nd in command.”

Snorri sent him a frosty glare, “You know I can easily break you, right?”

Ubel turned his head slightly and mouthed, “So? I already died once. Death isn’t scary, it’s the emotional fallout of what said death brings. So lead, follow, or get the fuck out of the way. War is at our doorstep and I don’t have time to deal with your whining.”

Without skipping a beat Ubel turned around and walked out of the doorway.

Snorri cursed as she clenched and unclenched her hands, “You should really fix that shitty personality or you’ll never get married.”

Ubel pushed up his glasses, his voice drifting back into the room, “For your information, I’m married to War and Death. We’re quite suited for one another, thank you very much.”

... 

When they entered the civilization room, they found a circle of dwarfs staring at two unknown dwarfs wearing robes. One of them was in white with golden circles stitched on the fabric. The other one wore a green robe decorated with all types of gems.

The white-robed man looked quite plain with the exception of his messy hair and cynical looking eyes. The green-robed man on the other hand, looked quite whimsical as he had a darker skin tone with locks of thick hair entangled with gems.

Urist parted the crowd, and the commanders stood behind him.

The first to speak was the green robed man, who had a twinkle in his eye, “So you're the leader of this place? From what the people here say, we’re dead men walking?”

Seeing that the two weren't turning hostile like Snorri, Urist breathed a sigh of relief, “Yes and…”

…

After a back and forth exchange, the two unknown men looked at each other and chuckled.

Confused at the reaction, Urist asked, “Why are you two laughing?”

Clearing the tear from his eye the green robed man responded, “Ah, it’s a pretty amusing story you told and I wouldn’t have believed it if my friend hadn’t used his truth formation. If you told us any lie I would have turned this room into a bloodbath, but unfortunately you didn’t.”

The man said it with the most sincere smile as he waved his hand, causing little slivers of gems hidden all over the room to move over and settle on his robe. The white-robed man snapped his fingers and small formation disks the size of nails floated off the crowd of dwarfs and settled on his blank right sleeve. 

Seeing such preparation made Urist’s blood run cold as he didn’t even know that these two men held his people hostage without his knowledge.

These two make what Snorri did a light joke. Tier 4s are not to be taken lightly. If I wasn’t brutally honest many would’ve died on the spot without me able to do anything. I must take better care so this doesn’t happen again. After this event, I’ll need to talk with Ubel on how to best deal with this new problem.

The cynical looking man finally spoke up, “I’m very sorry about what I and my good brother did. I hope that in good faith you don’t think too poorly on us. Afterall in an unknown place, you can’t blame us for not being cautious with our lives, right?”

Snorri laughed coldly, “Remove the rest of the traps you placed or I’ll kill you two. The five on the ceiling and six on the floor. Plus the one aimed at our King's heart.”

The two men's expressions froze, and Snorri’s tear tattoos began to spread along her body.

Pushing up his glasses from behind Snorri, Ubel added, “If you don’t do as she says, we’ll take that as a declaration of war. So cut the shit, we don’t have time to play around currently.”

Seeing the tier 3s dwarfs readying their weapons and magic, the two men looked at each other. It seemed they were complimenting something before they sighed at each other. With a wave of their hands, the traps were dismantled, including a formation studded with gems that floated out of Urist’s clothes. 

Throughout all of this Urist kept a calm expression, which was one of the main factors  the two men backed down. But inwardly his mind was in utter chaos at the prospect of how close he was to death without even knowing it.

I almost died without knowing how. Am I truly that weak? And I put my people in danger without realizing it? What kind of leader am I?

Ubel nodded his head, “Since you have disarmed the room fully, would you follow us.”

The green-robed man kept his smiling expression, “And why would we do that?”

“Well, as our king Urist just told you, soon war will come, within a few hours at that, and I wish for you two to comply.”

“And why would we do that? Only one of you has the power to really fight us. What reason must we fight your war?”

“Honestly I’d rather you not be included in this fight since I don’t know you two. In fact, if I was in leadership I’d have killed you for threatening my life. But, I am not the king, Urist is and as the general of the army, I’m conscripting you for your services. And in fact, joining benefits you two greatly.

The cynical man chuckled darkly, “Heh, and how does risking our lives benefit us?”

“For starters, your opinion of everyone in the base isn’t that great right now. Number two, this is the only known civilized place in the surrounding area. Number three, as Urist told you, we are going to be facing demons, so an option of you two soloing those things is a pipe dream. And if a Demon Lord descends? You’d be fucked, no two ways about it. Number four, if you kill Urist that means the crystals that summon our people will, in theory, be destroyed. Meaning that surrounding hostile forces will grow stronger as we grow weaker. In the end, if we don’t work together we’ll be killed or enslaved. You not cooperating has more disadvantages than advantages.”

With Ubel having ended his pitch, the smiling man turned to the cynical man and waited. The cynical man mulled over his thoughts for a bit looking Ubel dead in the eye.

Silence hung in the air as the group waited for how the two would react.

Finally after a minute of thinking the cynical man responded, “Fine, my brother and I will at least hear you out.”

Urist nodded, “Good, then follow us. Everyone else, you are dismissed.” 

Then he turned to the other six that were transported, “As for you six, the escorts will show you around and get you settled.”

…

After getting them seated in the war room, the meeting afterward went surprisingly well. With the benefits offered by Ubel, the two men agreed to join the war on a few not too demanding conditions. At the same time the two men introduced themselves as Bishop, a Formation Adept, and Agate, a Gem Mage. The two demanded that they be given large rooms next to each other, a bottle of mid-class wine each week after the war ends, disciples, materials to work on their craft, and lastly, first pick on any materials that suit their needs for this war.

With the accord stuck, the plans explained, and the gear handed out, the dwarfs were ready for war. With the meeting adjourned until the event happens, the leaders went off to do last-minute preparations. 

Urist went to his room, sat down in his chair, and stared at the ceiling, hands trembling.

Am I that weak? I feel more like a figurehead than a leader. I was in their grasp, unable to do anything. If it wasn’t for Snorri, Ubel, and all the other leaders backing me up I would be finished. Do I deserve to lead?

As he mulled over his thoughts, he heard a knock at the door before it was pushed open.

“Hey, Urist I wanna talk about something.”

“Snorri? What do you want?”

 

Part 3 - Brothers

 

Swirling her drink, Snorri stood at the doorway wearing her new gambeson armor. She didn’t look directly at Urist, but instead at the twisting motion of the water.

“Ya know you played it the best possible way in your condition, right? The king is supposed to let the ministers and generals fight for them. As is their job.”

Clenching his fist, Urist’s eyes carried a steel-like determination, “I will not play the figurehead again. I will not stand by when I CAN do something. I will live life, this time with meaning.”

Snorri stopped playing with her drink and held it up to her mouth, hiding her smile.

“Memories from your past life?”

“I… I think so. I don’t know, just some feeling of mine that something major was my fault.”

“Wanna talk about it? The dreams that is.”

“No… Not all of it. I’ll just say I have something telling me to grow stronger. To not let it happen again. The dreams they… I don’t know which it is, just a dream or a memory.”

“As I was once the leader of my clan, even though it was only for a brief time, I’ll give you some advice.”

Taking a drink from her cup, Snorri turned to look directly into Urist’s eyes. 

“You're going to make mistakes. You will need to know when to trust and when to kill. That you aren’t alone, and to not take everything into your own hands. But don’t get too complacent, or you’ll find yourself impaled by a sky of spears.”

“Is that how you died?”

Snorri shook her head, “No, that was the leader before me that I had to kill. It’s a whole revenge thing, not that interesting. I died because I hit my head on a rock. Mind you a rock made out of devil steel, but a rock nonetheless. An embarrassing death, but at least no one saw how I died. The dragon I was trying to tame to be a mount was pretty prideful, and decided to kill itself while I was on it by diving into a valley of devil steel. If the bitch also comes here, I'll make sure my preparations are better next time.”

Well, Urist didn’t know what to say to that, so instead laughed his ass off.

Cheeks flashing red, Snorri threw her cup at him, “What the fuck are you laughing about! Do you seek death!”

***

Meanwhile, the two new arrivals were currently sitting under the shade of the wall together. Currently, no one dared entered their area for fear of being killed. Still, just as a precaution, Bishop laid down a soundproof formation, allowing for no words to escape outside.

Agate took a sniff of his tea before taking a sip, savoring the flavor and smiling at his good brother.

“So… can you tell me why we didn’t just kill them and take power into our own hands? We’ve done it manys times before, when we were bandit lords. What’s so different now?”

The cynical man scoffed, “We’re not in bandit territory anymore, meathead. Sure we have the power to kill them all. But, what that asshole in the military said was mostly true. The only thing he fibbed about was if we killed their leader they would lose access to the crystal.”

With a strange smile that grew by the second, Agate looked more like a fiend with each passing moment, “He lied to the bandit lords of Red mountain? He must not want to live anymore. Come on brother, let’s go dye this hold in a coat of blood. It’ll freshen up the place. All this green is getting on my nerves.”

“I don’t see a reason to stir the pot, you battle junkie. No one knows us here. We can actually start over and not have a kingdom breathing down our necks for the first time in ten years. In fact, we could even make a good name for ourselves here. Own some land, raise some disciples. My father would be happy about that.”

As he stared at the bright blue sky, a hint of a smile appeared on the cynical Bishop. Perhaps for the first time in a very long while. He was so caught up in the moment that it took him a while to notice how silent Agate was, staring at him with wide eyes.Then, all of a sudden, he began to laugh hysterically for a minute before he suddenly stopped. His warm expression dropped and was replaced by a cold, uncaring expression.

“Brother, drop the shit. It was a good joke, but even I know we can’t walk away from the path of blood so easily. We’ve been killing since we were eight. We killed that whore of a mother by stabbing her, together with that fatass merchant who killed your father by sending him on that suicide mission. 

“We killed the merchant's guard who came to check the noise by strangling him with the whore’s intestines. We lit fire to the house after looting the valuables. Then we worked up the bandit ranks using the spoils to raise our power.

“We killed and killed to the point we were called little devils. I might not remember how we died, but both you and I know our sins are too great to repent. So yeah, really funny joke. Now tell me your REAL plan. Who needs to die for you to become king, like we always talked about around the fire.”

Bishop gave his brother a good long look, then turned away in silence. 

Not understanding the silent message, Agate stared at his brother for a bit before hitting his knee and smiling.

“Oh! I understand, you need to plan out the attack like you always do. No problem, I know it will only take a day at best.”

“No.”

“What was that brother?”

Staring out into space, the cynical man muttered “No, I want to turn over a new leaf. I’m tired of running away in fear. I’m tired of the cold nights. I’m tired of having to always look over my shoulder.”

“But I always had your back and you had mine. What’s wrong with the way things were before?”

“That’s not it… I just… when I saw that man, Urist’s clear expression of wanting to help us no matter what. Never asking for our history and taking the whole almost killing him thing well. I want to, for the first time, believe in someone other than just you.”

Agate’s smile froze and he gave a nervous chuckle, “You’re kidding right? You're just pulling my leg? Trust someone else? Over an expression? Did you lose a few brain cells when you died?”

Bishop shook his head, “No, I have my wits. With such a golden opportunity, I just wish to become what my father always wanted me to be, a nobleman who could hold his head up high and support the kingdom, the people, and maybe one day, a family.”

Out of nowhere, a cup smashed directly into Bishop's head. Bewildered, he turned to see Agate scowling at him.

“I am not your family then?”

“No, I didn’t say…”

“Enough! Shut the fuck up!”

His body trembled, full of fury, before he stilled eerily, his voice cold and emotionless.

“If that is what you think then we are no longer bothers. The man I knew before has become weak to poison. From henceforth, our pathway is… together no more.”

“Brother, you know I didn’t mean it that way. You will always be my brother!”

But Agate seemed to zone him out as he got up and started walking away.

“Where are you going?”

Still no response. Bishop’s confused eyes refocused and gained a glint of steel, “Wait. What are you going to do?”

At that and only that did Agate stop and slightly turn his head.

“Thinking about killing me, Bishop? Heh. Maybe you do have some of your spine left, you gutless coward. Me? I won’t do anything, no I won’t have to. I’m just going to watch you fail at trying to play the hero you think you can be. And when you crawl right back to me, I’ll be waiting. Then and only then, I’ll kill you in the memory of the brother I lost.”

***

Looking over the field as the timer counted down, Urist turned to Ubel, “Everyone prepared?”

“Yes, even the two from before are integrating well. But it seems some distance has formed between them.”

Seeing one lost in thought and the other staring daggers at the former, Urist didn’t feel like getting involved.

So he just watched the numbers count down from five minutes. 

And seeing how restless everyone was getting, he decided to give a short speech.

Clearing his throat, he began to talk.

“I know that for part of you, you remember the horrors of the first event, where we fought tooth and nail to stay alive. I also know that of those, some of you distrust our new allies the Rat-kin. But I assure you that they are loyal citizens and won’t betray you on the battlefield. As long as you treat them well they will treat you with the same respect.

As Urist took a breath one of the Rat-kin, Ein, roared, full of passion, “For the glory of the Creators!”

The Rat-kin in the crowd responded in kind, chanting Ein’s words three times over before stopping.

Urist smiled when he saw their excited eyes and thought to himself. If I was a dictator, right now I’d be over the rainbow with how they fall in line. Hopefully we can steer them into the mindset of equals instead of slaves. For I fear one day something horrible could happen, such as a slave rebellion, a civil war over rights, or racial discrimination. No one should be born into such a life. 

“Thank you for your kind words warriors, although I wish for us all to come back alive and earn glory yourselves and for our civilization. We might be of a different race, but we are of one heart and one soul. 

“Unified to live and struggle against this unknown world full of dangers. But we need not face it alone as long as we have the brothers and sisters next to us. We’ll live to see another day. So I say this proudly as we march towards war.”

“FOR THE GLORY OF DWARVENKIND!”

Most of the crowd joined Urist in the chant, “FOR THE GLORY OF DWARVENKIND!”

Then Urist roared once more, filled with conviction and heart, “FOR THE GLORY OF RATKIND!”

Although less than before, still three fourth of the crowd responded in kind. Urist noticed that those that didn’t chant were people from the rat wars. Despite knowing what they were thinking, Urist inwardly shook his head in disappointment.

At least I decided to nip this in the bud before we meet other races. Still… 

He looked back at the clock as it began to count down to ten.

I hope the fires of war help unite them together instead of tearing them apart.

Edited by: KuroYousei