LIGHTNOVELONLINE 52: The Never-Ending Rage of War
With the war in full swing, a whole day passed without much progress on either side. Because the main combatants were deities, fatigue was more of a suggestion and mindset than actual reality.
After a certain point, even mortals pushed past their limits and felt the urge to sleep fade as well. Scouts like Eugene who were stationed at the edge of battle to keep an eye on any potential unexpected developments went the whole twenty four hours without a blink of sleep.
Fatigue certainly still affected everyone of course, but with a little willpower and pacing themselves, everyone just pushed forward and fought through the night.
With dawn breaking once more, the second day of the fighting began without the first ever ending. Yet, it wasn’t all bad. Amongst the residents of the city who weren’t involved with any of the three large factions, wars like this meant a free holiday—only those who needed to be outside for one reason or another truly protested the forced quarantine.
In general, though, a sizable amount of the city was unaffiliated with the three largest organizations. Whether it was because they were independent deities just hanging around, part of another smaller organization, or visiting for some reason, these unaffiliated people made up the common populace of the city.
Two of these people, Astrid and Valencia, had spent the first day of the war running the cafe, Leaves of Dawn. A customer count of one had made it quite a boring and slow day though and made the effort they put into opening the cafe feel a little... unnecessary.
Thus, the two decided to close the cafe for the time being. After all, their business wasn’t going to attract a lot of business while the war raged on. In fact, as far as Astrid could tell, it was only getting worse. To her, the sounds of battle were louder and more... extreme—if that was even a valid way of describing it.
Explosions, rumbling, and other sounds of battle were becoming louder and more frequent.
With the cafe closed for the day though, Astrid and Valencia laid around in the living room and snuggled up with the curtains closed. The curtains were closed both to give them some privacy and to aid in ignoring the absolute chaos going on outside.
By noon though, a sleeping Astrid was pressed up against Valencia under a blanket on the couch. Having slept less and gotten up earlier than usual due to the sounds of fighting outside, Astrid had just hung out with Valencia throughout the morning hours.
Before long, however—not realizing her fatigue was merely a trick of her own mind—Astrid dozed off as the sound of the television faded into a gentle rhythm that filled her ears with the sweet lullabies of dreamland.
Valencia, turning off the television after she felt Astrid’s breathing stabilize into slow, shallow movements, scrolled through her phone as she stroked Astrid's sleeping head. Texting the other Primordial deities, Valencia could only sigh as Solomon gave briefings on the situation.
As far as Valencia and the others could tell, all three of the major factions were walking into a trap. Well, trap wasn’t the way to put it. They were, however, going to suffer. It seemed that the cults were planning on capitalizing on the weakened three factions to do... something.
“Stay alert... huh,” Valencia murmured to herself, reading Solomon’s most recent text to the group.
Whenever Solmon sent such a text, it was him asking for the other Primordial Deities in the city to stay present in case they were needed. They were lucky this time around though. Because Astrid enjoyed hosting small parties with the deities every few weeks, Sylvia and Rainier were still in the city.
“I wonder if the cults anticipated so many of us would be here...” Valencia tapped away on her phone. It didn’t matter either way though. her plans were unchanged. In fact, if she was needed her plans might help.
Those plans? Well, after psyching herself up, Valencia was prepared to tell Astrid the truth... all of it. It’d just be... liberating to get it all off her chest. Even if it wouldn’t affect Astrid’s daily life.
Tilting her neck down to kiss Astrid on the forehead, Valencia could only feel her stomach churn a little as the nervous gnawed away on her insides. There had been so many nights of agonizing, painful conversations with Joanna, Solomon and Sylvia.
Just thinking back to the hours she had spent beside Astrid in bed, staring out her window as she slept haunted her...
Or the long conversations under the stars with Sylvia as she confessed her troubles.
She knew it was irrational, she knew she was being dumb, she knew all of it was just... her own fault.
But some reason these nerves were the one enemy she couldn’t just... beat up and make disappear. No matter what she did they just kept gnawing away at her.
Biting her lip, Valencia couldn’t help but feel a twinge of self-hate well up inside of her. She truly didn’t mean any harm by hiding it all! It just... it just never came up and before long she couldn’t bring it up...
“Why are you such a dumb idiot...” Valencia growled to herself under her breath, quiet enough to not disturb Astrid.
Dismissing the stupid thoughts about her not deserving someone as kind, wonderful, and just happy as Astrid, Valencia pinched herself on the arm while swearing to herself once more to treasure her girlfriend.
Encouraging herself a couple times under her breath, Valencia sighed and set her phone down before closing her eyes. Hugging Astrid with one arm, Valencia covered her eyes with the other. Resting her eyes, Valencia let out a couple of long sighs while whispering to herself. “This afternoon. You’re doing it after Astrid wakes up. No later. No running away from yourself.”
---
Away from the inner conflict transpiring on the second floor of the Leaves of Dawn cafe, was the city-wide conflict.
Encompassing a fair amount of the city, the damage sustained was a fair bit greater than any other war in recent Marcen’s Cliffs history. Unlike the past conflicts, though, the Church of Eternity was still uninvolved.
That, however, was about to change.
Two groups had taken position. One was dressed in the standard Federation garb: formal business suits. The other was dressed in the standard Dynasty battle outfit: a blue military outfit.
These two groups however, couldn’t be farther from what their dress implied. Each group was filled with cultists. The cult following the Crimson Cancer had dressed up as Federation agents while the cult following the Viridian Taurus had dressed up as Dynasty agents.
As for the cult following the Exalted Golden Leo, they remained in hiding while dressed as Church combatants. Though not relevant in this stage of the plan, they stayed ready for the plans involving them later.
For the two cults acting first though, they planned to cause some havoc on the battlefield and create an enticing opening large enough to draw the Church into action.
Acting under orders from their respective cult leaders, the two groups leapt out from their various hiding spots one by one and slipped into battle. Deciding to use the chaos as a cover for their identities instead of something noticeable like a mask, they made their way towards Church territory after infiltrating the battlefield.
One successful diversion later, and the battlefield shifted once more.
[Record of the Marcen’s Cliffs Summoning Conflict:
After the initiation of a fake, smaller battlefield near the Church, members from each cult wove their way through the battle to heighten the animosity while keeping the conflict levels high.
It was at 1pm on the second day of battle when Aelius and Luna both took action, marking the start of the second phase of conflict.
Entry added by: Solomon, God of Truth, Administrator, and Eugene, primary frontline investigator.]
