Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 986: Chapter 985: Destined

The War Nun stood up to greet Sir Philip as soon as she saw him appear. He waved his hand to indicate that formalities were unnecessary, which also woke Andresha from her apparent daze, as she turned her head, her gaze landing on Sir Philip.

She struggled slightly with her upper body, seemingly wanting to sit up, but the fully armed Nun pressed her back down before the action was halfway done.

"Lie quietly—your injuries are far more serious than you think."

"It’s better to follow medical advice at this moment," Sir Philip said, coming to the couch, looking down at Andresha, and then casually pulling over a nearby chair to sit down, "I didn’t expect to meet under such circumstances."

"I didn’t expect it either..." Andresha said, her face pale, though her voice was more clear and strong than when she had just woken up, due to a series of subsequent treatments having taken effect—it was unclear whether the rescue efforts of her subordinates were effective, or the dozens of healing spells released by the Nun with a warhammer. "Truly embarrassing, letting you see this."

"Let’s skip that," Sir Philip said directly, waving his hand, "Let’s discuss the current situation—the War God Faith in Typhon has encountered problems, belief contamination has led to your army losing control, we already know about this, but now it seems the actual situation might deviate from our assessment, I’d like to hear about this part."

Andresha parted her lips slightly, looking at Sir Philip’s face, almost as young as hers, yet behind this face, she saw another Empire armed to the teeth. She gently inhaled a breath, realizing suddenly within that breath... she hadn’t left the battlefield.

She organized her thoughts, as if arranging her armor, then slowly began speaking: "Indeed, as you said, a certain ’plague’ of the mental realm is spreading among our soldiers, even affecting some officers—the Iron River Knights were victims of this mental plague. But the spread of this ’contamination’ is still limited—not all Typhon soldiers are believers of the War God."

Sir Philip looked into Andresha’s eyes, and after a moment, spoke in a deep voice: "It seems you have your own judgment about this divine disaster—but do you know, we received a declaration of war from Aldernon, directly from the Obsidian Palace."

He paused before continuing: "This gives us a very bad signal—whether that announcement is real or fake, the situation is very grim. If it’s true, it indicates our enemy is not just an uncontrolled god, but also your emperor, and if it’s false... then the situation is even worse for you."

When he finished, Andresha lightly opened her mouth: "...Yes, I know, only recently did I find out."

She said, with a hint of self-deprecating smile: "As a frontline commander in Typhon, I was the last to know about the war between two countries—quite ironic, isn’t it?"

Sir Philip pondered briefly, nodding: "So, indeed, there is a problem with that declaration of war, making Typhon’s ’divine disaster’ even less optimistic—is that what you mean?"

But Andresha shook her head: "No, I don’t think what’s called the ’divine disaster’ is completely out of control; the situation is not as irretrievable as you imagine..."

"I need more convincing evidence or reasons," Sir Philip interrupted, "According to the information we recently obtained, Winterwolf Fortress has been in a state of communication isolation for the past few days, affected by the contamination of the War God the soldiers there cut off all contact inside the fortress—in such a situation, your judgment of the Typhon situation lacks persuasiveness."

Andresha stared at Sir Philip’s face with her remaining right eye, letting her tone become resolute: "I admit the facts you’ve described about the first part, but I believe I still have a voice in this matter.

"Indeed, that declaration of war is very unsettling, and its original document indeed came from the Obsidian Palace, but this cannot prove that the entire military system of Typhon has been completely ’infected.’ In fact... though I am reluctant to admit it, this matter has exposed very serious flaws in our communication system."

"I don’t know if you are familiar with the communication Tower network used by Typhon, in this network, although most transmission and reception is completed by magic mechanisms, artificial intervention at certain key nodes can easily cause variables to appear. After thinking carefully about the entire process, I found many flaws in it. Therefore, as long as those critical nodes encounter problems, even if only a few personnel are contaminated by the ’mental plague,’ the matter can spiral out of control."

Andresha added another sentence at this point: "Of course, we have very strict monitoring and reward/punishment measures for those critical sections, but facing mental pollution mutations, material rewards or even life-and-death threats clearly can’t be effective—the maddened disregard anything."

Sir Philip slowly nodded: "That’s a persuasive explanation."

Enduring noise that still occasionally sounded in her ears and pain in various parts of her body, Andresha gently exhaled a breath and continued: "Moreover, I also don’t believe this ’plague’ can easily overturn Typhon’s order. Although Typhon has widespread belief in the War God, we don’t only have warriors and knights—Typhon also has a large number of combat Mage Regiments and several direct legions completely loyal to the royal family, I believe these legions are unaffected by this plague—and now they’ve certainly been mobilized to deal with this chaos.

"His Majesty Rosetta has been consciously controlling the power of the War God Faith for many years, even going back several generations of emperors, the royal family has been making efforts in this regard, those direct knight regiments completely loyal to the royal family and accepting no religious raiments are products of those measures...

"Furthermore, before the situation began to deteriorate, we were already taking some actions—Typhon didn’t do nothing, we’ve been isolating priests with hidden dangers and exchanging aristocratic members and knights overly connected with the Faith, only our underestimation of the power of divine pollution led to this unpreparedness, but it shows that Aldernon was prepared...

"...Not all places have the same soldier composition as Winterwolf Fortress, thus Winterwolf Fortress’ situation certainly can’t represent all of Typhon. According to my judgment, at least in the southern, western, and most parts of the central north of the Empire, the situation is surely under control.

"Lastly, there is one more point... perhaps it’s my subjective judgment, but I believe His Majesty Rosetta is definitely making every effort to control order; Aldernon must be enacting effective responses. This ’war’ benefits neither of us; it’s just the revelry of zealots and polluters. I know the current situation cannot be undone, but after this, we must find a way to bring the situation back under control. This requires both of us...

Sir Philip listened quietly to Andresha’s every word, until she finished, and then his furrowed brows relaxed, returning from the state of listening and pondering to reality. After a brief meditation, he broke the silence: "I can feel your sincerity."

"We are not enemies now," Andresha said calmly, "I once heard that your emperor often says— in the face of doomsday disaster, the fate of all mortals is tightly interconnected. Once, I was full of doubts and misunderstandings about this sentence, but now... I find it to be true."

Sir Philip looked unexpectedly at the young Wolf General, gradually his face showed a hint of admiration, and he nodded solemnly to Andresha: "It’s not easy to make such a shift; I think I need to reassess you, Miss Andresha Wendell."

Subsequently, he stood up from his chair, tidying the hem of his clothes, while seriously saying with his head lowered: "The things you’ve said today are crucial, I will report them fully to the Supreme Administration Office, hoping these intelligence pieces lead everyone to a better future—regarding now, you should rest well, we will treat all captives kindly."

Andresha seemed to want to say something, but she just opened her mouth and then silently calmed down, closing her eyes.

A nearby War Nun stood up to greet Sir Philip.

"Nun, what is your name?" Sir Philip asked casually.

"You can call me Marian," the young blonde War Nun said with a smile, "I belong to the Steel Authority War Band Seventh Cohort, commissioned by the Great Shepherd to serve you."

"Very well, Sister Marian—Miss Andresha is in your care," Sir Philip nodded, "We will arrange to transfer her to better conditions in the rear as soon as possible, but until then, you must ensure her safety and health with all your might. She is very important to us."

"I swear to the Holy Light, General," Sister Marian immediately said solemnly, "I will not fail my mission!"

...

"General," after leaving the room, the young adjutant couldn’t help but ask Sir Philip, "do you believe the words of that Typhon person are all reliable?"

Sir Philip answered casually, "I’m willing to believe eighty percent, the remaining twenty percent of distrust is partly due to basic caution and vigilance, and partly because that ’Wolf General’ himself may not know the whole truth."

The adjutant seemed thoughtful: "...Then it seems we must indeed reassess the current situation in Typhon."

"The smart people at the Supreme Administration Office will think it over carefully," Sir Philip said, "And for me... I’m now most thankful that we decisively captured this fortress in the shortest time. We finally have control over the upcoming initiative, and minimized possible losses. Next, we’ll see what the Supreme Administration Office decides, and what Emperor Rosetta still has up his sleeve... If the Typhon people ultimately fail to control this fire that has already ignited, then the War God’s contamination will eventually become a divine catastrophe like the Crystal Cluster, and by then this war..."

Sir Philip shook his head, and didn’t continue speaking, yet the adjutant had already deduced the inevitable developments.

Wars controlled by humans have at least a hope of stopping, even if stopping them proves difficult, there will always be such hope. But wars controlled by gods, especially by the "Mad Gods"... once they erupt, it’s difficult for mortals to retain initiative.

The Mad Gods won’t accept ceasefires, nor care how many people on either side of the conflict remain rational seeking peace, the Mad Gods only continue endlessly in their own set of crazy rules, endlessly attacking, endlessly destroying. Even if mortal beliefs are severed and civilization collapses, as long as the power of the Mad Gods isn’t exhausted, they absolutely won’t stop.

Therefore, the Cecil Empire must capture Winterwolf Fortress and completely control this "Typhon gateway"—if the fire must ignite, then at least let it not burn on Cecil’s land.

Sir Philip sighed softly.

No matter if this war was caused by a divine catastrophe or if the Typhon people really intended to start a war, Winterwolf Fortress must be captured, this was destined from the very beginning of the war, and that young Wolf General... is fated to be the initial sacrifice of this war.

The crux of the matter is now whether the Typhon people can stop this divine catastrophe, or at least control its contamination within certain limits.

In his contemplation, he couldn’t help but softly sigh: "What a pity, the one out of control is the War God."

The adjutant paused, then understood the meaning in the general’s words, he also showed a bit of a wry smile: "Yes, it is the War God—god who presides over warfare."

"Next, we wait for the judgment of the Supreme Administration Office," Sir Philip shook his head, pushing the chaotic thoughts out of his mind, "We must be prepared here; Typhon’s counterattack... will be coming soon."

...

The battle reports from the frontline were brought to Aunt Heidi.

On either side of her office desk, two Magic Web Terminals were whirring, displaying projections of Victoria Wilder and Duke Baldwin, two Grand Governors.

"The Winterwolf Legion surrendered as a unit. After preliminary checks, more than half of the knights, soldiers, and all mages were actually not ’contaminated,’ and the ’Wolf General’ who voluntarily surrendered disclosed a lot of important information to us," Aunt Heidi had already read the report, her gaze was sweeping over the two Grand Governors, "What do you think?"

"It’s obvious that this ’Wolf General’ surrendered not only to protect his subordinates but also probably to reveal this information to us," Duke Baldwin said first, "Now it appears the situation is a bit better than we initially anticipated. The divine catastrophe that happened on the Plains of the Holy Spirits did not play out in Typhon..."

"But the danger level of the situation is not much different," Victoria Wilder said coldly, "There are fatal breaches in the key communication systems, middle to high-level personnel have been spiritually corrupted, the emperor’s decrees were altered and intercepted, frontline commanders were completely blinded... The Typhon people’s performance is so regrettable, in my view, they are not far from complete downfall."

"There is still some difference, Victoria," Duke Baldwin couldn’t help but smile, "It determines whether we’ll need to send more bombs and artillery to the frontline, or more purification units and technical personnel. It also determines whether we’ll be fighting a Mad God and a malicious empire alone, or together with the Typhon people against their mad deities."