Two days later, all prominent guild masters and other high-level players gathered around a model of the stronghold we must conquer. Further back, many other players were present to listen in on our meeting.
-"Everyone is present."-Heathcliff spoke, starting our summit.
~"Good."~I stepped into the center position before the model that showed the enemy stronghold.~"First, let's get our priorities straight. We need to take control of the stronghold and clear it out of the enemies. Then the raid parties will deal with the boss while the rest will need to defend the captured stronghold from enemies who will try to invade and interrupt the boss fight."
I stopped and looked at the players present.
~"To achieve that, all players will be divided into one of four groups: raid, siege, defenders, supporters. The raid group is self-explanatory, and they will act mostly independently. Heathcliff, you are in charge of them."
-"Sure, leave the front to me."-The red and white knight nodded with a confident smile.
~"The remaining three teams will be under my command, with my deputies responsible for one each. Sofia you are in command of the siege, Mei the defense is yours, supporters will report to Su."
Three of them nodded as they already knew of most of my plans.
~"Now, let's move to assigning the tasks. In the next day or so, all players present will cooperate in creating siege weapons such as ladders and siege towers. We will avoid using weapons that would destroy the stronghold's defenses as after capturing it, we will need to defend it."~I started explaining while placing some figurines on the model in front of me.
~"The only exceptions are those who learned how to handle bows, crossbows, or other ranged weapons. Because most of the defense will depend on the ranged weapons, all people who can use those weapons will spend this time on training."
-"I already prepared everything on my side."-Mei spoke while pointing to barrels full of arrows.
~"Good. Sofia, did you get the blueprints for siege weapons?"
-"Yes. I also recruited some carpenters to assist."
~"Then next, we can talk about some overall combat plan. Our scouts confirmed that in surrounding mountains, there are, in total, five strongholds, and the moment one of them is breached, the remaining four will dispatch reinforcements to defeat invaders. The estimated time between their dispatch and arrival on the battlefield is twenty minutes, so that's why we need to secure the stronghold as quickly as possible."
-"Why don't we just conquer all five strongholds, or at least engage them in a fight to make them unable to spare any reinforcements?"-Spoke someone from the gallery.
"First, we don't have enough people to fight on five fronts. Second, the reinforcements will be dispatched no matter what, meaning we would need to fight off many more enemies on each front."-Sofia took it upon herself to answer this question.
~"Our plan is to first clear as many enemies as it's possible before scaling the walls and starting the timer before the counterattack. When the first person is atop, we will have five minutes to open the gates and get rid of any remaining enemies. This will be the task of the siege group."~I continued speaking after the questions ended.
~"Because of the time constraints, you will be required to use everything at your disposal, so most people will be exhausted after that, so you will be given time to rest and will be required to act only when the situation degrades to the posing where defense group can't keep up."
-"I won't let this happen, but it's good to have some insurance."-Mei took over the task of explaining the next step.-"As Yue mentioned before, the defense will focus on ranged combat from atop the walls, but as the gate is the weak point of the stronghold, some elite combatants will need to secure them."
-"Will you need some cleaners from the raid parties?"-Heathcliff asked, appearing helpful, though, as I was aware of how 'well' he got along with Mei...
-"No, I'm good."-Mei also kept up the appearances.-"With few strong tanks, we should be able to tunnel them easily, so it should be possible for some second-rate guild to deal with this. Especially if supporters can focus on them."
-"I will task some more experienced people to work with them, but sadly, the focus will be on the raid."-Su stated his position as the leader of the support group.
-"Then I suggest we prepare some more precautions..."
What followed was a few-hour-long discussion arranging for any exceptions and accidents that might occur, though after receiving Marshal Hua's teachings for so long, the problems present here were rather pleasant to debate.
Finally, we settled on a strategy that satisfied everyone, and so everyone started work, preparing for the battle to come.
~"Draw."~I commanded the group of trainees who were learning archery under me.~"Make sure your bow is steady and aim carefully, then on my command. Release!"
A moment later, the thumps of arrows hitting straw dummies a few tens of matters away confirmed that my orders were followed.
~"Good. Stop shooting and recover your arrows. After that, you can go and rest."
-"Yes!"
-"Done?"-Elysia approached me from the entrance of the other shooting range.
~"Finished for today. At the current rate, they will need two more days of intense training before we can act. How was it on your side?"~I took Elysia's hand and started leading her to a quiet place where we could sit and rest.
-"About the same, though, how come your archery is so much better than mine? Sigh, I thought that I could beat you in shooting."-Elysia pretended to be pitiful, leaning on my side.
~"I was always good at archery. Bow was the first weapon I truly mastered."
-"Oh? That sounds interesting. Tell me more!"-She instantly changed her face after hearing my words.
~"As you know, I walked along Aeons to witness their ascension, and the first Aeon by whose side I traveled was Lan. As my disgust of Abundance could match THEIR hatred for it, we hit it off quite well, so THEY taught me the art of archery and the Hunt, so, in exchange, I took care of supplies and cooking during our hunts."
-"Now that I think about it, while you shared your memories into Hold's Akasha System, there were no Aeons in those moments recorded."-Elysia made a cute face while thinking.
~"There is a reason for that. It is dangerous. Seeing those memories would influence you to embark on the Path of Aeon you saw, and that can harm your future if said Path doesn't suit you. Plus, Aeon can detect when someone thinks of them, so you should refrain from that as much as you can. After all, Aha is annoying."~I nodded to affirm my sentiment.
-"Hey, THEY are quite fun!"-The Pink Fairy acted all offended at my jab at her 'idol'.
~"Sigh."
-"Hey, on the subject of Aeons, have you met Idrila of Beauty?"
~"Yes, I did."~I answered while sitting under a tree on a quiet hill overlooking our camp.
-"Can you tell me more about THEM? THEY walked the Path of Beauty before me, so I wanted to know what kind of people THEY were."-Elysia asked as she rested her head on my knees.
~"THEY... THEY were a troubled person. Born a race that shines like the brightest of stars, she eclipsed all other existence since her first breath, but the brightest light casts the darkest shadow. The jealousy, possessiveness, twisted love and admiration she had to endure on a daily basis made her lose her smile, thus dimming entire starzones."~I stroked the pink hair in front of me.
-"Are you extravagating? How can a simple smile dim or light the entire star zone?"-Elysia closed her eyes, enjoying my care.
~"THEY are the Beauty. Don't underestimate an Aeon. Yaoshi alone raised over half of the life that exists in that world. Returning to the story, because of the sudden change, Idrila's biggest 'fans' split into two factions. One tried everything and anything to make THEM smile again, though the heavy presence of Masked Fools suggested that there might be some outside force interfering."
-"Well, it sounds like something Aha would be interested in."
~"The other group took an entirely different route, vowing to destroy all that made THEM displeased. At first, it wasn't too bad, but as time passed, both sides became more extreme. Hedonism and fanatism never lead to 'good' outcomes. Here, it ultimately resulted in a destroyed planet and lone Beauty standing amidst the cinders."
-"What about you? Shouldn't you be present in that story?"
~"I met THEM sometime later. By then, that whole star zone was marked as a dead zone, where no sane traveler would pass through. In harth of what once was the capital of destroyed civilization, a lone courtyard was cared for by the yet ascended Idrila. Along with THEM, a few other lost travelers lived in surrounding areas, building what they called an 'enclave in this ugly world'."
-"This..."-Elysia showed a stiff smile, thinking about the 'paradise' she wanted to create as honkai was destroying her world.
~"Our first meeting was also rather awkward. My appearance caused those living there to think of me as being of the same kind as Idrila, thus being welcomed with open arms."~I chuckled, thinking about those days...
In front of what looked like an ancient temple somewhat similar to the ones from Astraea's Pantheon, a woman who could only be described as perfect looked at me with some surprise in her dull eyes.
-"You... Are?"-She spoke awkwardly, evidently being long used to not speaking.
~"Yue."~I nodded in greeting, also being a taciturn person back then.
-"Why?"-She tilted her head slightly.
~"To see Beauty."~I didn't hide my purpose.
My answer made the woman show some hostility, but after seeing that my eyes never left hers, she calmed down and continued our conversation.
-"Then what?"
~"I don't know. Maybe heed Order, listen to Harmony, or seek Elation."~I spoke of Paths I had yet to walk.
The woman nodded, considering me to be another traveler on his way through the cosmos, wanting to rest far from the bustle of civilization.
-"You can stay."
~"Thank you."
Thus started my days on what will be known as Melustanin, the planet of undying allure.
Returning my thoughts back to the present, I continued my story.
~"First, I build what will be my house on that planet, and as I just witnessed the creation of Nous before arriving there, what I built was so utilitarian that Idrila couldn't stand such an atrocity being created at her steps, so she started to instruct me on architecture."
-"Let me guess, this is also how you learned your other skills, such as art and music?"-Elysia had her eyes closed, imagining everything I was describing.
~"This is how it started, but yes, after I learned architecture, I continued to learn from Idryla other arts. That way, we slowly opened up to each other, turning the ruins around into what we wanted. The people living there also started to follow our will, slowly forming a society based on not pleasure or greed, but arts."
-"This doesn't sound real. It's almost like some utopia."
~"It only existed thanks to my powers being able to create and cultivate enough food and resources for everyone. If you were to visit this planet, you would still see traces left by me. Though I was against any depictions of myself being created, the moon and foxes were used, similar to how it is in Hold."
-"So what happened to Idrila?"
~"Well, I'm not sure."~I stopped playing with Elysia's hair and took out two things to show them to her.~"One day after her ascension to Aeonhood, she left without any warning, leaving this letter and cristal bud."
Elysia first took the letter and read through it. It was a short message that could be summed up as: 'Don't seek me. I will truly make Beauty bloom one day.' After giving it back to me, she took the crystal bud and looked it over carefully.
-"What's with that?"
~"I have no idea. I always treated this as a token of our friendship and carried it around with me, but now I also feel some profound power of Beauty hidden inside. As this is the only remaining intact artifact of Idrila, I think that it has something to do with her return, though after so many years, it never showed any change, let alone blooming."
-"I believe that the day it blooms won't be far away."-Elysia spoke with a glimmer in her eyes, probably being still immersed in my story.
~"Who knows, though, if Idrila was to return, Hold would be able to grow into the truly idyllic place."
-"No. We will make Hold become a true paradise, with or without Idrila."-Elysia spoke with conviction.
~"My bad."~I agreed with her words.
Returning to playing with Elysia's hair, I remained silent while enjoying our time off. Sadly, we were soon interrupted by a message that we were needed somewhere else to deal with preparations for the attack.
~"So what's the problem?"~I approached Mei, Kevin, Mobius, Vill-V, and Heathcliff, who were standing at the edge of our camp.
-"We found some corrupt data."-Mei spoke after making sure no one else would hear her.
~"Explain."
-"Allow me to do so."-Heathcliff stepped forward.-"One of Cardinal system's prime directives was to ensure the stability of the game world by eliminating bugs and such, but some errors are beyond what it could manage. This type of error was named 'corruption' by me."
He shared some photos showing what looked like monsters and places covered by red or black square spots.
-"Long story short, corruption causes data around to degenerate, causing damage irreparable without human input, which..."
-"Can't be done as the whole system is locked from outside and inside."-Finished Vill-V.
~"Leave details and focus on why it is bad for us."
-"If data destroyed is only about some spot or enemy, it isn't that troublesome. At most, it would be much stronger or possess some wrong characteristics. The troubles will start when corruption touches some integral structures of floors or even the whole game."
-"We hypothesize that as the Cardinal system prioritizes players 'experience' in-game, it will cut off the corrupted zones, making them impossible to access to prevent players from being broken from the immersion. If said zone is the only way forward, then we are doomed."-Mobius spoke the grim facts with her usual frankness.
~"What can we do then?"
-"Hurry up."-Mei shook her head.-"There is no other way aside forcefully breaking the isolation of the Cardinal system."
~"So be it. From now on, we will push forward even harder. Make Eden publish some information about corruption to wake the players from their sweet time."
-"Sigh, and here I thought we could play this to the end."-Vill-V complained under her breath.
~"It's time to finish this. Nuwa and Fuxi complain about having to deal with our work almost daily."~I smiled after hearing her.
Now that the proverbial sword hung over our heads, there was no time to waste.