We approached Bastione Bianco under an undecided sky. The sun, reluctant at best, dragged itself from cloud to cloud, its light putting forth a half-hearted effort for the day. The air around us was heavy and oppressive, smothering the nd in a muted gray that dulled the colors of the rocks and road we followed. Ahead, the distant line of smoky bonfires flickered weakly, like a st, desperate warning to turn back before it was too te.

  As the border itself came into view, our army slowed and halted as one. A panicked stillness rippled through the ranks, and several horses stomped their hooves in nervous protest. The soldiers at the front sat frozen in their saddles, their faces pale and drawn as others rode forward to fill in any gaps before joining the confused mass at the head of the line. One by one, they turned, their stark gazes seeking sanity in the equally panicked expressions of their comrades.

  “Something’s wrong, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” one knight uttered.

  Another nodded back to him as I made my way over to the duo. “Just feels off, even for here.”

  “What do you see on the other side of the border?” I asked, thinking the answer was obvious. The two flinched, seemingly unaware of my mounted approach, and bowed in their saddles.

  “Nothing really, Chosen One. Just rock and sand, like always. Dragon’s Spine is still there, off to the west, along with the smaller cliffs.”

  “The wind’s blowing a bit,” the other added. “So I can see some dunes rippling, but that’s nothing new. But it feels… wrong, and I know my horse agrees.”

  “Thank you for sharing your observations,” I said simply before returning to my group.

  “Well?” Tetora asked, his ears pstered back on his head. “Even the holy knights can’t see it?”

  I nodded. “And I can’t even see the cliffs they mentioned, what with the swirling abyss out there. Waves of animus are flowing with the wind across us.”

  Relias’s jaw was set tighter than usual, his knuckles white on the reins of his mount. “Is it moving toward us or just waiting there? I am having trouble discerning…”

  Staring off into the distance once again, I sighed. “I can’t really tell one way or another either. It’s pulsating, but I can’t accurately judge its movement speed or direction from here.”

  A sudden flurry of movement at the border drew our attention. Riding hard to intercept us, a squad of mounted soldiers advanced from one of the nearby watchtowers. At their head rode a knight with rabbit ears flowing from her helm, her white aura faintly visible as she outpaced the rest. She waved the Order’s fg in a strangely stiff pattern of box-like designs with the occasional diagonal ssh.

  Captain Sonea straightened in her saddle, her face grim. “She’s requesting emergent counsel.” She turned to me. “You’ll accompany me, Captain Lightbringer?”

  I nodded, not having the chance to ask any questions. Nudging her horse forward, she motioned for me to follow. Together, we rode ahead of our main force and stopped a few paces short of the squad as they slowed to a halt in the open stretch between our sides.

  The lead rider saluted sharply. “Captain Sonea, forgive me, but I believe it best if I speak with you alone—” She stopped, her ears standing on end as she snapped her visor open. “Is that…”

  “The General’s rival reborn,” Captain Sonea replied. “It seems his fetch quest wasn’t a simple diversion.”

  “Maybe, maybe not…” the dame murmured after bowing in her saddle. “The front lines have been chaos,” she began. “Infighting ranging from fisticuffs to duels… even Animus Overload—it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

  “How many assaults were made during my absence, Lieutenant Arlena?” Captain Sonea asked.

  “None,” the knight confirmed. “No demons have been seen for weeks, but there have been casualties—” She paused, her expression darkening. “They’re all due to Animus Overload. Soldiers turning on each other in fits of rage or colpsing from the strain. The priests have been doing their best, but…”

  “How many?” Captain Sonea’s voice grew quiet.

  “Sixteen in total so far,” the knight admitted. “Another three dozen without amity have been pced in solitary confinement. Of course, we have them on constant watch, but we believe their risk to the army is negligible.”

  “Do you have reports ready for review?” Captain Sonea asked.

  “In your quarters, Captain,” Lieutenant Arlena confirmed.

  Captain Sonea gnced back at the apprehensive army behind us. “Let’s make a show of bravery as we pass, shall we? Perhaps a united front will stave off some of the ill-will around us.”

  White light fred around her as she summoned her aura, its brilliance visible well beyond her mount. Lieutenant Arlena followed suit, her own aura almost an exact mirror, and both knights turned expectantly to me. I inhaled and imagined myself as confident as Emmy was, with Faith pying a triumphant melody for encouragement.

  Captain Sonea signaled her troops to continue forward, and we headed to the closest watchtower. The frontline soldiers around us stopped to watch, some offering weak cheers while others exchanged wary gnces as if our arrival was some vague insult.

  “It’s getting even worse,” Lieutenant Arlena mumbled as we passed. “Even a genuine gold aura barely turns their heads.”

  I never asked her why she said the word genuine, but it was nice to have someone accept who I said I was for once. Of course, it was partly my fault for deluding myself for so long, but we won’t mention that again, okay?

  After entering Captain Sonea’s frontline office, we briefed Lieutenant Arlena on recent events in Chairo and beyond, ending with the unsurprising revetion that a sea of ambient animus y beyond the border. A few general estimations about the change in behavior suggested the abyss had formed about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, not even the most skilled knights or priests had caught glimpses of it, though they had been smart enough to counteract its side effects as much as possible.

  I offered to use my Compassionate Smackdown on those in confinement, though, of course, I didn’t describe it in such a crass way. Although my help was accepted, no one knew what I was talking about, so I gathered all the priests that could be found for a public demonstration.

  “It’s like… how do I expin… I just put my hand on them, then take my aura, and push it against them. Not to hurt but to… um… connect to their feelings? Validate them? I dunno… When I do it, I can rete to them.”

  One of the priests, a wiry man with silver hair, frowned. “But their feelings are negative, are they not? Wouldn’t that mean you’re taking on their animus in their stead?”

  “Huh? No… I don’t think so,” I disagreed. “I mean… misery loves company, sure, but what misery really wants is acknowledgment. It’s like it just wants someone to admit it’s real so something can then be done about it. When you dismiss it, it just grows louder and more insistent.”

  “You are using your amity to make it flow,” Relias said in a hushed tone. “Instead of attacking it directly, you are setting it in motion. Fascinating…”

  Was I missing something?

  “Uh… if you say so. There was a period when I was on Earth, well… never mind. I don’t really want to talk about it. Someone helped me to talk about it, but not in a way that felt like it was to benefit them, but me for once. That’s sort of the basis for my technique.”

  I should save the Smackdown part for exceptional cases that are resistant to initial treatment… or my ultimatums.

  Treatment, to stretch the word to its ultimate limit, was retively quick. We moved from one patient to the next, calming them with a mix of my aura and Relias’s blessings. By the time we reached the st soldier, exhaustion had tugged at me, but my relief was greater.

  “This isn’t meant to sound racist or, uh, humanist, I guess,” I began hesitantly, “but I’ve noticed that almost everyone we’ve treated is human. Yet, I see plenty of hybrids here. What about those who couldn’t be saved?”

  Could it be that hybrids had a lower survival rate? Or worse, what if they’d been written off entirely and dealt with… differently?

  As my thoughts spiraled into darker and deadlier possibilities, Captain Sonea and Lieutenant Arlena exchanged a long gnce.

  “We’ve been forbidden to talk about it,” Captain Sonea admitted with a sigh. “But your observations are simir to ours. Hybrids seem more resilient to Animus Overload. I have a few theories, some tied to their natural adaptations to the Northern Wastes. But nine times out of ten, it’s not a hybrid who succumbs.”

  Relias dropped his staff with a resounding cng, startling us all. “Who specifically forbade you from speaking of such analysis?”

  “The same councilmen who dismissed Former Captain Alban,” Captain Sonea replied, her voice hardening. “May they receive proper judgment from the Goddess for their actions.”

  I sat on the second floor of the watchtower’s open ptform, my gaze desperately trying to pierce the bck pulsating veil in the distance.

  “If you had ser eyes, you could burn a hole into it with that stare,” Nora observed.

  I’ll admit I gave it a shot, but apparently, that wasn’t a skill I could unlock through sheer will.

  “I was kidding…”

  “I know,” I lied. “I do see it moving towards us… Kind of? It’s like it’s a little drunk. It’s pulsing faster, too. Maybe if I get a little closer… I could… huh?”

  “Wait, what do you see?” Nora asked, leaning forward anxiously.

  “Shapes. Demons! So many of them…. They’re marching. Wait—no.”

  They were attempting to march. However, they not only cked coordination, they had zero restraint. Their rows were uneven, and they often crossed each other’s path. The instant one demon bumped into another, they turned on them, sshing and attacking as if they were mortal enemies. Larger demons, their features still cloaked in shadow, ran between the lines, trying to separate the fighting demons with little success. Smaller demons would disappear, and rge ones would grow rger, causing the haze of animus around them to ripple.

  “They’re fighting each other!” I announced in an awestruck whisper as the nearby guards alerted the army of our findings. “They can’t control themselves!”

  Relias stared into the abyss as well, his eyes widening. “They’re in Animus Overload? So even demons…”

  Nora tilted her head. “That group near the front—way to the left. None of them seem affected. Wonder what makes them different?”

  The answer became clear as their group moved faster, emerging from the haze. They weren’t demons—they were hybrids, tiger hybrids to be precise, and at their head stood their rgest member. She held the Will of Euphridia aloft like a torch, though no light shined from it.

  Tetora’s roar shattered the tense silence. “Taika!” he bellowed in recognition, his voice raw and tearing with betrayal. “Traitor to hybrids and humanity alike!”

  Euphridia