Early evening in the Private Chambers of Xavia, Palace of Mary


    Xavia, the 8th Proxy of Mary, was looking out the windows towards the crowd that was anticipating her sermon. The crowd had started gathering since the morning even though the sermon wasn''t until late evening.


    "Morel.." Xavia spoke, her voice commanding, a contrast to the tone she used in the Council of Proxies.


    She was worried about Abraxas''s warning but Rina''s father approached Xavia to lend them the Terra Krugers further worried her. It was a secret force that was made to respond to nationwide emergencies and acts in shadow.


    "A group of soldiers handpicked by me, trained to perfection.. Perfect Shadows. A group that I assembled to only uphold the values of Justice that Abraxas promote. ''A silent judgement that needs no acknowledgement to do good''.. as he likes to say." Xavia spoke to herself loud enough for Morel to hear, though he didn''t respond as he was on his knees.


    "Morel.. You are the leader of the Delta Forces of the Terra Krugers. What do you wish to do? Will you respond to the call on hand?" Xavia asked Morel in a calm voice.


    __________


    14th September, 2027


    Morel was walking around the camp, greeting a few vampire soldiers along the way with them reciprocating the greeting and after a while, he ran into Abraxas.


    "Oh, Mr. Rank One. What''s up?" Abraxas said calmly while he was checking off the supplies they received for the upcoming battle and tallying them.


    "I had a hunch you''d be here too.. Eluya- or should I say, Miss Elaira, was here too." Morel said calmly, surprised about Abel''s appearance since he didn''t seem strong, unlike Elaira who was always an anomaly in terms of strength that surpassed even his own.


    "I know she was there to greet you all at the main gate. If you have something to discuss, she is in the central tent along with Austin and Rina." Abraxas said calmly, before he put down the tally sheet and sighed in relief.


    "So.. is the third one here too?" Morel asked, as the two of them always had Iliana with them so he was suspecting if she was also a vampire.


    "No, Iliana is at Lady 4th house and she is not a vampire. You must have had a stop there on your way here." Abraxas said calmly.


    "You know that much about our journey here, huh?" Morel asked.


    "Yes.. There aren''t many people here so words travel fast." Abraxas said in a casual manner.


    "But no one told us where the Proxy of Justifia was.. Only the location of Elaira, the First High Priest.. We don''t even know where the leader of this battle is." Morel asked calmly, his eyebrows curled down to show concern about the working of the soldiers present.


    "The leader is here and so is the Proxy. They are the same person actually and we don''t wish to introduce anyone to him if he doesn''t wish to." Abraxas said calmly, lying about the truth as if he was breathing.


    "I see. Well, I''ll look around. Maybe I will run into him." Morel said before he walked away.


    "Good luck finding him." Abraxas said calmly before the two walked separately. Morel was still walking around, hoping to run into the ''Proxy''.


    In the Central Tent,


    13 had a notepad and pen in her hand and was scribbling on it while talking to Austin and Rina.


    "So, you are telling me that you died over 10,000 times?" 13 said, looking at Austin with a look of horror. "How is your mind stable? Death isn''t the kind of trauma you just live past?!"


    "13, calm down. Remember they are the Apostles of Outer Gods.." Elaira tried to calm 13 down, though the ones beside her, namely, 14 and Grand Marshall Elfana were equally in shock. It was hard to digest that the world has gone through thousands of resets in a single day.


    "Please tell me more!" 13 spoke, as the horror in her eyes was replaced by excitement once again, forgetting that the ones in front of her were also the next King and Queen of Garharia.


    Just then, Abraxas entered the tent and looked at the five people sitting inside before sighing. "Interviewing them when you should be overseeing the last of the preparations, eh?"


    "Lord 5th, I thought you were handling it." Elaira remarked slyly, teasing his efforts to hide his identity as the Proxy even though she revealed hers as the High Priest.


    "It''s better than keeping my distance from that one guy in Delta Force.. Sniver, was it? I''m sure he is head over heels for you." Abraxas replied back in a playful tone.


    "Oh please, he isn''t even my kind of guy. Even if he was, I am 100% certain you are better than him in all manner. And he is only doing it because he doesn''t know that I''m the high priest.. yet." Elaira spoke, ending with a mischievous smile.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Fine.. I''ll do it. Anyways, where are the other four of us?" Abraxas asked 14, who was sitting beside Elaira on the table.


    "In their private tents.. Like always." 14 replied.


    "Understandable.. I''ll go out for a walk again. Continue what you were doing but do go to sleep early today, you''ll leave before dawn tomorrow." Abraxas said before he walked out of the tent.


    Once he left, Austin and Rina looked at Eluya and spoke in a childish protective tone, protecting her from Abraxas''s playful replies. "Why was he so rude? Could''ve been less snarky." Rina said with a pout.


    "He is my friend.. but he shouldn''t talk to Miss Eluya like that." Austin added while nodding.


    13, who was seeing all of this, sighed before she wrote down in her notepad. ''Reason of Sanity: Lady 6th, if it wasn''t obvious yet.''


    "6th is going around giving people therapy again," 14 commented, shaking his head playfully, which made Austin and Rina realise that they spoke their thoughts out loud, making them blush.


    __________


    Abraxas was making the final tally of all the soldiers and their conditions before he departed for Techonia.


    Once he finished, he closed the notebook in his hand before he began walking towards the Central Tent to hand the tally to Elfana.


    On his way, he was stopped by Sniver, who seemed to be looking around for someone and Abraxas knew who he was looking for.


    "Hey, Inventory guy, do you know where Elaira is?" Sniver asked, still unaware of Elaira''s title. There were a few vampire soldiers laughing in the distance as Sniver asked them the same question not too long ago.


    "Oh, you are looking for Miss Priestess?" Abraxas said calmly, suppressing the feeling of amusement.


    "Priestess? What do you mean?" Sniver asked.


    "Oh, Miss Elaira is the first High Priest of Justifia. I was just going to the central tent to report to her, is there a message from the Delta Force that you''d like to convey?" Abraxas asked with a smile.


    "Umm.. Uhh.. No, thank you.. What was your name again?" Sniver asked, not wanting Abraxas to think that something was off.


    "Oh, my name? It''s Abraxas. Nice to meet you, Mr. Sniver." Abraxas spoke and almost immediately Sniver pretended to have been called by his team leader and excused himself before he walked away.


    Abraxas sighed before he continued walking towards the Central tent.


    __________


    After walking away for a while, Sniver went back to his tent and sighed. "I didn''t know she was the High Priest." He spoke to himself before he was interrupted by Kraig standing at the entrance.


    "Wait, you knew who she was?" Sniver asked Kraig, who got inside the tent and nodded.


    "Yes, Madam Omega told us about Her Majesty when we first came here.. You seemed too uncomfortable back then. I didn''t realise you had a crush on her." Kraig remarked with a smirk.


    "Uhh.. Do you think she knew about this? I mean, the High Priestess, of course." Sniver asked.


    "Yes." Kraig replied with a nod. "By the way, any guesses on who the Proxy is?"


    "The Proxy?" Sniver was taken aback by the question but began thinking hard. Since Proxy is a title given to the representative of the god, it would have to be the strongest person present.


    "As per my observation and instincts, the High Priestess is the strongest.. The second strongest would be the one everyone refers to as Lady 8th, followed by Lord 9th.." Sniver remarked on the physical prowess of the vampires he remembered.


    "But your senses only tell you about the physical prowess, not mental or supernatural.." Kraig pointed it out before she continued. "I think the Proxy would be the one person who feels off here." She speculated.


    "If that is so then... There is one guy who has done nothing but inventory work since we arrived and he doesn''t feel special.. I''d say much weaker than even the soldiers who report to the Numbered." Sniver pointed out his observation but Kraig sighed and shook her head in dismissal.


    "And why would the Proxy, the leader of this battle, the sole frontline of the war not be present at the plannings throughout the day? I think it was someone from that room. Considering that Madam Omega is confirmed to be the student of the Proxy, I stood by her side but she didn''t even contact her master even once." Kraig spoke before sighing in disappointment.


    "Is the Proxy really as shy as Lord Gerald said? I just want to get his autograph." Kraig added, with a look of disappointment.


    "You got the High Priestess, right?" Sniver asked, still a bit saddened by the fact that one woman he was trying to approach here was leagues above him.


    "Yes, of course. I am now the first human owner of autographs of all three of Justifia''s High Priest.. I''ll make sure Madam Elaira remembers my name after this battle and I''ll ask her to help me get the autograph of the esteemed Proxy." Kraig said, proudly puffing up her chest.


    "Yeah, Yeah.. Congratulations." Sniver said half-heartedly.


    "You are just salty that the one woman you liked was out of your league." Kraig retorted to Sniver''s half-assed applause.


    Sniver and Kraig exchanged a few more remarks before they were interrupted by Shu.


    "Stop it, you two.. Why do you bicker like little children? Grow up, please." Shu sighed before she laid down on her bed.


    "Sorry, Madam Shu." Sniver and Kraig apologised in unison.


    "It''s alright. Don''t be apologetic.. Shu is just a bit tired after the meeting." Morel spoke as he entered the tent and sighed, while there were shouts and screams from the other tent where the Corps of Seven were residing.


    "Is it about the meeting?" Sniver asked.


    "Yes, it was a quick discussion.. Kraig, you''ll be working with Miss Elaira. Sniver will cover the medic team with Lady 13th while Me and Shu will head to the city to help transport everyone out of it." Morel explained and at the end of his explanation, Shu spoke out, annoyed.


    "And I''m annoyed because apparently the sole frontline, that is their leader, is already heading out for Techonia while we won''t move until the morning." Shu spoke with an annoyed look on her face.


    "How can they expect us to help such a group whose leader isn''t even leading them?" Shu spoke bitterly, unable to comprehend the weird team dynamic in the vampires.


    "Madam Shu, I do not know what''s going on in their heads but I think we should trust their decisions." Kraig spoke, raising her hand.


    "And that''s why I haven''t left the place. From their description, Techonia is in a state worse than hell. Though Miss Elaira wouldn''t tell us who was really behind all of this, we are sure that they are using ''10th'' as a decoy.. If only we knew what we were fighting against." Shu stated.


    "So, are they not telling us or they don''t know?" Sniver asked.


    "More like, they can''t tell us without facing some sort of penalty.. Miss Elaira did look tired in the middle of the meeting.. It was out of the blue so I''m assuming we are dealing with some form of memetic entity." Morel said, tension rising up in the tent. "But that''s just speculation. My guess is as good as yours." He tried to diffuse the tension.


    Shu shook her head before sighing. "There is no use thinking about it. We just need to rest and be in our best condition for tomorrow." Shu said before she turned away and tried to fall asleep.


    Sniver and Kraig looked at Morel, who shook his head and pointed at their bed before he climbed on his bed. By now, the shouts in the other tent had also died down and everyone fell asleep.


    But the night was watching... Listening..