Tens of thousands of flyers fell from onto Pittsburgh, the City of Dragons.

Brepon, the head of Janissaries and now officially leader of the Flying Dragon Division, sat in the command room and stared out at the fluttering flyers.

The secret weapon made under the direction of His Majesty, Clora Ars F. Baldershu, had paved the way to victory for Divide. This war would end soon, and the outcome was already apparent.

‘A secret weapon.’

Brepon smiled with a hint of self-mockery.

The propaganda phrase in itself wasn’t wrong. If one ignored the fact that the secret weapons were chimeras, a taboo topic, and homunculi, the ultimate weapon of the Outsiders, the people would rejoice in knowing how powerful their kingdom had become. There was also the fact that Divide was responsible for the Shadow Worlds plaguing the continent at a level beyond anything seen before. Divide had unleashed the worst catastrophe of mankind.

When Brepon looked up at the sky, he noticed flyers that were different from the previous one pouring down.

Over the last half a year, Divide’s local media had been focused on discussing the duplicity of the other nations in the Western Kingdom Union, and gnashing their teeth at the wickedness of the Hebrion Empire. They spoke about how they had repelled the evil Allied Forces who had willingly allowed the persecution of other countries, driven solely by their greed.

‘There is something wrong with this.’

Divide’s Royal Family limited the flow of information to their people. It was no surprise that Divide’s citizens accepted these false narratives. They had nothing else to compare it to. This was no different from taking away their ability to reason, instead uniting them in their hatred against a fictitious enemy.

‘Something has been wrong from the moment Captain Aaron was executed.’

While Brepon was in deep contemplation, a soldier entered and informed him that the King of Divide, Clora Ars F. Baldershu, was coming.

Brepon and the other officers jumped to attention.

Shortly thereafter, Pierrot Mask, assuming the appearance of Clora Ars F. Baldershu, entered the command room. As he strode in, he took in the sight of Brepon before talking.

“I came to see the situation for myself.”

“Your Majesty, you are the leader of the army. You are always welcome here.Thanks.”

Leaving it at that, Pierrot Mask walked towards a huge mirror that hung in the middle of the command room.

It was The Mirror That Holds Shadows

It was thanks to this S-Tier artifact that the Outsiders had managed to disappear, yet still continued operating in secrecy from the shadows.

The artifact was able to gather information about any event occurring on the continent. No single artifact could come close to the range, detail, and speed at which The Mirror That Holds Shadows could gather information.

‘Thanks to this artifact, we were able to figure out that the Allied Forces are gathering in one place.’

Brepon, who was unaware that this was an Outsider artifact, only had a small degree of concern at the sudden appearance of such a powerful tool. After all, he had never heard of such an artifact as this existing in the Royal Family. Of course that was all the thought he gave to the matter. Right now, this artifact was invaluable to his operation, and he was far more thankful than he was curious. Without it, they might have been pushed back by this sudden attack from the Allied Forces.

Divide was in the fortunate position of knowing the movement of the Allied Forces through this artifact, and hastened to rearrange their own forces to match them.

They would be able to defeat the Allied Forces once and for all if the reinforcements joined this front line.

This wasn’t the only information they had found in the Shadow Mirror. “Have they shown up yet?”

Brepon quickly noticed what Pierrot Mask intended and replied. “We’ll be on the lookout, Your Majesty.”

“It’s almost time for them to come here.”

* * *

Conference in Republic of Arunbeth.

Elites from all countries invade from the west coast of Divide using a flying ship…

* * *

Divide had already discovered Desir’s plan. They would respond accordingly. While strengthening their defense to prevent the Allied Forces pushing through the Eastern border, magicians were deployed to intercept the flying ship in the locations where it was most likely to enter from.

This could be said to be Desir’s mistake in failing to notice the existence of such an artifact as the Shadow Mirror.

“I was wondering what kind of face will he make when his last ditch attempt is thwarted.”

Pierrot Mask’s lips curled up into a slight smile.

Divide’s victory was as clear as day. All of their opponent’s plans had been revealed and countered.

If the Allied Forces’ attacks failed and even their surprise attack via flying ship failed, the war would end with the complete victory of Divide.

All of the officers in the command room agreed. The atmosphere within the room began to liven up as the officers began to grow excited, the possibility of winning a war on the rest of the world well within their grasp.

“C-Commander!”

It was a communications officer who disrupted the atmosphere and opened the command room door in a hurry. His face was pale.

“What is it?”

Brepon felt unease gnaw at his gut.

With the eyes of everyone in the command room concentrated on him, the communication officer opened his mouth.

“One of the towers generating Shadow Worlds has collapsed.WHAT!”

Brepon was snapped out of his good mood. The atmosphere in the command room froze over instantly.

“The magic observation team detected a very powerful mana wave. The location of occurrence was Tower 2. Someone must have broken the tower with powerful magic.”

“It must be the Allied Forces!”

Tower 2 was located along the route the flying ship was predicted to take. It was evident that their Special Forces Unit had moved as expected.

“But there was no report from the unit monitoring that route… ”

Magicians had been placed all along that route. They were ordered to intercept the flying ship and report sight of the enemy to command immediately.

However, the fact that there was no report yet meant that they hadn’t found anything. Brepon tried to figure out the situation.

“It’s a giant flying ship! How could they have not noticed it?!”

Although the ship was likely quick, its engine had to have a magical reactor to use mana stones as fuel, which is extremely loud.

They couldn’t understand how the Allied Forces had passed through there, even though they had known their route beforehand and watched it carefully.

‘Did they use another method instead of a flying ship?’

The more they mulled over this, the more they suspected that the artifact’s information was false. If it was correct, then something had just occurred that defied all common sense.

“Did you find where the enemy is now?”

Brepon decided to solve the situation right away rather than worry about what he could not understand.

But a desperate answer came to his question.

“… … They said they still can’t figure out where the enemy is.Damn it… ”

Brepon barely held back additional, more vulgar, profanities. It was clear that an enemy existed, but they could not find them. What kind of ghosts were they?

‘How did they enter and where did they disappear to?’

Brepon wasn’t the only one wearing an extremely troubled and confused look. Clora Baldershu, rather, Pierrot Mask, was bamboozled as well.

“Why did they go for Tower 2, of all the towers… ”

Pierrot Mask checked the number of the tower which had been destroyed over and over again. However, no matter how much he tried to deny reality, nothing changed.

He murmured with a rather anxious look. “Was it a simple coincidence… or… ”

The voice of Pierrot Mask was drowned out amongst the chaos spread by the military officers.

* * *

“Your magic has reached an amazing level.” A flying ship.

Someone approached Desir, who had busied himself looking out the window. The body approaching him was big enough to cast a shadow that covered Desir entirely.

Desir recognized the enormous body and bowed his head. “Thank you for the compliment. Lord of the North.”

“It’s not just flattery. A magician of your level would be hard to find anywhere on the continent.”

Donape was heaping praise on Desir after witnessing his spell that had just destroyed the tower in one shot.

The towers they were targeting all over Divide were made of Blank?um, so destroying them was a feat almost impossible. However, Desir had managed to pull it off.

“A spell like that is much stronger than anything I’ve seen before.”

Donape spoke while remembering the Desir who he had encountered in his land in what felt like just the other day.

“But today I can’t help but complement this ship.”

Donape looked out of the window, captivated by what he was witnessing. “A ship this huge, capable of flight? I never thought I’d see the day.”

The ship they were riding on was too big to be called a flying ship. It was better to call it a flying aircraft carrier.

“It’s truly a marvelous technology.”

A voice butted into their conversation. It was Saint Priscilla.

“Who could have thought that a flying ship would one day move faster than trains, while also maintaining its stealth?”

The celestial flagship Valkyrie was a flying vehicle made using the pinnacle of technology available to the Magic Tower, its top speed just passing 190 knots…

In addition, through the stealth technology that had been created based on the Blue Rose that Desir gave to Romantica, it was impossible to observe with the human eye and ear. It was also able to evade detection magic, albeit for brief periods of time.

Looking down at the ground whizzing past them, they noticed the soldiers of Divide marching past, without even realizing that a huge flying ship was passing over them.

There would be no better demonstration of just how excellent the Valkyrie’s stealth ability was.

“You’ve really outdone yourself with this one, Desir.”

“I just helped out on the side. Regardless of whether it’s the past or future, only the Master of the Magic Tower is capable of making something like this.”

Desir laughed, thinking about what had happened in the past half year.

The celestial flagship, Valkyrie, had been the ultimate goal that Zod Exarion had wanted to reach as an engineer.

In Desir’s previous life, Zod often lamented over the fact that he couldn’t spend his life satisfactorily as an engineer. When the Shadow Labyrinth arose, he was forced to discard his position of Tower Master and bear his title as the lone Seventh-Circle magician.

Desir recalled these scenes of frustration as clearly as if they had happened yesterday. Most often, Zod would rant while they played chess.

Armed with only the general idea of the design, Desir fed what he recalled to Zod, and Zod used this to design and build the Valkyrie during the past half year.

The construction of the Valkyrie was something that the Zod of the past had dismissed as impossible, something he would never be able to complete in his life. Now, Zod had unknowingly fulfilled his past life’s ambition, completing a one-of-a-kind vessel without issue. Thanks to the dedication of the Zod that Desir got to know in the Shadow Labyrinth, they were able to infiltrate the Divide of today without interruption, making a joke out of their efforts to stop them.