It was the awakeners from Froad who were caught off-guard as they heard the wounded man's plea.

"Did he say that he'd kill us all?" they asked amongst themselves, still believing that though he had cut down some of their fellows, they were still on the same side.

They justified it by thinking that he had no choice, but now that he revealed how he really thought of them..

"What a scumbag," Song said, saying what the awakeners of Froad thought. "Are you saying you're going to cut down the people who fought and died for you, just to save your own skin?"

"What, you mean them?" the samurai wannabe cried out, desperation making the words out of his mouth come out faster. "They're space fillers, red shirts, cannon fodder! They're nothing! A thousand of them wouldn't stand against one of us! You're like me, you know what I mean, right?"

Song's aura grew horrifying.

"I am nothing like you," he replied, and began to take careful strides towards the injured Musashi awakener, sword wreathed in blood-red energy clutched firmly in his hand.

"Why, what's the problem? You can have everything. Musashi can give you everything!"

He was beginning to blather on in a vain attempt to stop Song from cutting him down.

And then he decided to risk it all.

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"Then die!" he cried out, stepping forth from his kneeling position, sword clutched on his good arm, aiming to end the fight with a cheap shot.

Given what he said earlier, Song easily anticipated the cowardly tactic, and simply stepped out of the way.

He had one good attack left, and as it hit nothing but air, the samurai only had a moment to turn his head to the left before Song was in his face.

That was when he felt something pierce his chest.

He raised his arms to try and do something, but he felt as if his limbs had grown too weak too soon, and as the life began to leave him, Kinjo Toshihiro's last moments were spent looking into the eyes of the person who killed him.

Song savagely yanked his sword from his fallen opponent's chest, and even before the Musashi elite's corpse hit the ground, he let out his rage and triumph in one mighty shout, causing the Froad troopers closest to him to be blown a few feet back.

***

War is hell, so the saying went.

There was no room for compassion or mercy: with victory in your grasp, you do not offer any mercy, and you do not offer any quarter.

War does not end until both sides are sick of the fighting and would rather have peace instead.

Song knows this, but he also knows that peace is but a fragile illusion built while those around the scenes prepare for war.

He'd spent most of his life in a low-ranked division and experienced constant struggle due to that..

..and that was why, after he lopped off the head of the Musashi elite, he let his killing intent explode.

Now, he was tearing chunks off the Froad troops' formation, chopping heads and torsos off with reckless abandon.

The Froad troops thought he was weakened from the fight and pressed the attack, only for them to meet a swift and violent end at the hand of his blade.

Except now.

He stopped.

The backlash of the Red Cow he drank was beginning to get to him.

As his breathing came in tattered gasps, he buried his sword in the dirt and leaned on it as a makeshift cane, so he wouldn't fall over.

The Froad troops moved to capitalize on this opportunity, only for those nearest Song to be sent flying into the distance by a rapidly-moving motorcycle.

"Hey."

Song's eyes were flickering as he was beginning to move in and out of consciousness.

"I know you can hear me, man," Jake's voice came to him. "Take a bit of a rest now. We'll take over from here."

As soon as he heard it, Evergreen's vice-master finally relented and let unconsciousness claim him.

Jake jumped off the bike and placed the already-unconscious Song on the seat, activating the automated functions to drive back to one of their nearby hideaways.

Some of the less traumatized awakeners of Froad made to pursue, but..

'These hands have been stained with the blood of hundreds – if not thousands.

I don't like this any one bit.

What I don't like even more is how I'm slowly feeling numb to this.

Am I starting to get used to killing?

I have to stay away from this. I have to do something so I don't get used to this.

But in a place like this, where every moment spells life or death.. I can think about my feelings later. Now is the time where I shouldn't hesitate.'

Jake brandished his sword and made to intercept those who would want to go after Song and his roadster, but a flash of something dropping in the air shocked everyone else.

"Captain?"

"Captain!"

Froad's awakeners were gaping at the sight of their captain Hammer, eyes gaping open in death, his corpse carelessly dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes by Liam, who was now wearing the metal-lined straw hat on his head.

He unsheathed his own sword, used a bit of power to make it burst into flame, and pointed it towards the frightened awakeners of Froad.

"Let's put an end to this," he said, and Jake nodded back.

They charged.

***

"The Vice-Master!"

"Thank the heavens!

"The Vice-Master has returned!"

The mood of Evergreen Castle was that of unbridled joy, as their Vice-Master Song had made his triumphant return home, with Jake and Liam in tow.

Cheers were shouted, tears of joy were shed, and smiles were all around.

"Thank you for staying true to our division, everyone," he announced, still remaining firm in front of his awakeners.

Deep down inside, though, he was miserable at everything that had transpired.

'What does war leave behind?'

What he saw upon his return to Evergreen Castle was nothing short of annihilation: the place was barely recognizable, and there were just a few awakeners left.

If there were membership quotas, he couldn't even call it a division now.

'Nearly everyone here gave up their lives to protect me, and the rest made their last stand here..'

The death toll on Evergreen was enormous, too many of his awakeners were killed in this war, and there was just not enough time for him to recover their lost manpower.

Still, he soldiered on, and kept a brave face for the awakeners who somehow managed to survive.

"Well, now that I've returned, we're going to start the hard work of rebuilding this place."

He spent some time chatting with the rest of the surviving awakeners before returning to his home, with Jake and Liam following behind.

What they saw silenced them – they couldn't even offer him a toast for effectively neutering Froad as an invasion force.

'This isn't over – not by a long shot.'

Froad was rendered useless, but the ones responsible for Evergreen's sad state wasn't Froad.

Someone goaded them into attacking, and all signs point to Musashi.

'We killed one of theirs. I'm sure they'll want some revenge of their own.'

Unfortunately, Evergreen is now a depleted division: despite Song's own rise in power, he is still not strong enough to defeat an entire division on his own.

"What should we do?" Liam asked Jake, as both of them were processing what happened and thinking about their next steps.

And since they also broke Froad's blockade, their lines of communication with the Grand Duelists are once more open.

'We should ask the Grand Duelists for help; I think they can send a few awakeners here to assist.'

Jake wasn't sure that the Grand Duelists would extend a helping hand to a division that is almost gone, but he guessed that they would do their best.

More importantly, he found that Song was the type of awakener who tried to take on every responsibility he could.

Someone like that wouldn't last in a situation like this – if there was one thing Song needed the most, it was someone who could watch his back and keep him from burning out completely.

His thoughts were interrupted when one of the last few awakeners of Evergreen called out.

"Vice-Master!"

A knock on the door roused all three of them.

"What's going on?" Song answered tiredly, wondering what it was, as nobody would disturb his rest unless it was a truly urgent matter.

"We have guests from the Grand Duelists."

***

'My work is never done,' Song thought as he took heavy steps towards the guest room. 'Could they be here to reinforce our depleted ranks? Unlikely, they must be here to summon their novices back.'

'I wonder how long we'll be able to keep standing if Jake and Liam return home.. pretty sure this division is going to come to an end quicker.'

Without Jake and Liam, Evergreen would have already been annihilated – he would have been a dead man himself, as well.

His gratitude towards Jake and Liam are beyond words, as he had an idea about the kind of disasters they averted, had they not been around.

Still, though, he was worried about how Evergreen would carry on after Jake and Liam depart.

'As much as I'd like to, I can't make them stay. They've already assisted me greatly – I can't impose on them further. Evergreen will have to deal with the future on its own.

I'm going to have to be cool about this and let them go – I'll have to repay their favor one day.'

Song's mind set, he thus arrived in front of the guest room, opened the door, and stepped inside.

There were two awakeners: one was slouched over in his seat, a bottle of liquor in his hand, another standing in front of the window and seeing the ruins of Evergreen Castle, hands clasped behind his back.

The slouched awakener saw the three enter the room, and his mood lightened up immediately, sitting up straight and giving them a lazy salute.

"Long time no see, rookies! It's Maven, don't you remember me?"

***

"You're going to accompany them back, I see."

"That's correct, sir. The division saw the situation as dangerous and above the level of awakeners like them, and thus ordered them to return. It's a common occurrence here," Maven replied.

As he wasn't involved in the succession schism, he was able to come to Evergreen.

"What should we do with Evergreen, then?" Liam asked.

Maven had already seen the situation Evergreen was in, and Liam knew that they couldn't leave this place in this condition.

His answer, though, didn't help their situation any.

"Well," Maven answered, his tone atypically serious and the bottle he was always holding absent, "we didn't know what was going on here at the moment. Seriously, coming here and seeing what had happened was not the kind of surprise we wanted to see. Still, we need to return first and plan for the immediate future.. at which point, you could return here to help, if you wanted."

While Maven gave an answer that would fit one who didn't have a large vested interest in Evergreen, Jake and Liam found it insufficient.

They needed help to make sure Evergreen would get back on their feet, but Maven continued to speak.

"Look, I know that look on your face: you want to stick around to help. I understand completely, but we're in the middle of something huge about to happen. We could be in a massive war within the next few weeks, if our attempts at diplomacy fail."

"War?"

"Massive war?"

"You should know this, you either have mandatory military service or have heard of mandatory military service before you ended up here in Nohas," Maven said, his voice understanding. "Right now, everyone's getting ready. War may be on the horizon."

His story was outlandish.

'War, breaking out among the divisions in Nohas?

What the hell is going on here?

More importantly, why?'

Jake's mind was filled with conflict – he couldn't figure out what the best decision to make was.

"Master Li also personally asked me to make sure you two would return safe and sound," Maven added. "So, what will it be?"

Jake was still unsure, but Song answered for him.

"You two can return," Song began. "Your place is in Carter. Leave the rebuilding to us – you've helped us far more than I would expect from any Grand Duelist, let alone a pair of novices."

"But.." Liam said, but Song cut him off.

"I know what you're going to say, Liam, but you've done enough. We already owe you a debt I do not know if we can pay," Song continued, his voice filled with determination. "Return to your home now; the only thing I can do is see you off with gratitude for your help."

***