Chapter 986 — Destined
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
The war nun rose at once to salute when she saw Philip appear; he waved a hand at her, signaling that no formality was needed, and it was this small stir that roused An Luo from what seemed a deep abstraction. She turned her head, and her gaze settled on Philip.
She struggled to push herself up, as though to sit, but she had barely begun the motion when the fully armored young nun pressed her back down.
"Lie still—your wounds are far worse than you imagine."
"You would do well to follow the doctor's orders at a time like this," Philip said, coming to the soft couch and looking down at An Luo. Then he casually drew over a chair and sat. "I never expected we would meet under circumstances like these."
"Nor did I..." An Luo said, her face pale, though her voice was already much clearer and stronger than when she had first woken—clearly the successive rounds of treatment had taken effect. She could not say whether it was her own subordinates' emergency care that had worked, or the dozens of healing spells the young nun beside her had cast upon her at point-blank range with a "warhammer." "What a sorry sight I must be. I am ashamed to have you see me like this."
"Never mind that," Philip waved a hand and spoke bluntly. "Let us talk about the present situation—Typhon's God of War Church has run into trouble, and faith corruption has driven your army out of control. We already know this much, but it now appears the reality may diverge from our assessment. I would like to hear that part."
An Luo opened her mouth. She looked at Philip's face, nearly as young as her own, and behind that face she saw another empire, armed to the teeth. She drew a soft breath, and within that single breath she suddenly realized... she had never left the battlefield.
She gathered her thoughts as she would have gathered her uniform, then began slowly: "It is indeed as you say—a kind of 'plague' in the spiritual domain is spreading among our soldiers, and even some officers have been affected. The Iron River Knights were the victims of this spiritual plague. But the spread of this 'corruption' is still limited—not all Typhon soldiers are followers of the God of War."
Philip looked into An Luo's eyes, and only after a moment did he speak heavily: "It seems you have your own judgment on this divine calamity—but do you know? We have received a declaration of war from Aldernan, issued directly from the Obsidian Palace."
He paused, then went on: "That gives us a very bad signal—whether that declaration is real or false, the situation is far from optimistic. If it is real, then our enemies are not only an out-of-control god, but also that emperor of yours. And if it is false... then the situation is even worse for you."
Only when he had finished did An Luo speak softly: "...Yes, I know. I learned of it not long ago."
As she spoke, a trace of self-mockery appeared on her face: "As the front-line commander of Typhon, I was the last to learn that our two nations are at war. That is truly ironic, is it not?"
Philip considered briefly, then nodded: "So that declaration of war is indeed suspect, and the 'divine calamity' within Typhon is all the more dire. Is that what you mean?"
But An Luo shook her head: "No. I do not believe the 'divine calamity' you speak of has gone entirely out of control. The situation is not as irredeemable as you imagine..."
"I need more convincing evidence or reasoning," Philip cut her off. "According to what we have just learned, Winterwolf Fortress has in fact been cut off from all information these past days. Soldiers corrupted by the God of War severed every contact inside and outside the fortress—under such circumstances, your judgment of the Typhon situation loses its persuasiveness."
An Luo fixed her one remaining right eye on Philip's face, and made her tone firm: "I grant you the facts in the first half of what you said, but I believe I still have a voice in this matter."