Criteria for Defeat
The sky over Nova was dark even in broad daylight. Layers of red smoke and ash had piled up so thick that no one could remember what color the sky had originally been. On the walls, they tapped at the cracks to check them; outside the walls, the pits grew deeper. The plague cleanup teams scraped up flesh and blood, piling it where the corpses had burned.
In a valley far from Nova. There was a reserve fortress that had been slowly built up over the past few months. Originally intended for rear supply and evacuation if war broke out. But in the last few days, the ratio of materials and troops being moved there had noticeably increased. The war hadn't started yet, but the movements already carried the firm conviction that it's coming soon.
Nova fortress underground, the tactical room. A floor hardened into stone by ash. Bloodstains lingering on the walls. In the center lay a crude map made by embedding bones and metal shards. The points where prayer lines descended and the previous breaches were roughly overlaid in red and black lines.
Raksha stood there before it, arms crossed. No emotions—just lines, numbers, and possibilities floating in his vision.
This meeting wasn't for crafting a new strategy. It was to take the already established war framework and, based on it, compress and fix the danger zones where heaven might exert its full power—for tactical purposes.
"Let's start with a summary."
The first to speak was Nas. Nas pointed to the top of the map, the skyward side.
"What we know for sure right now is three things."
Her fingertip moved three short times.
"First. That Gabriel is re-examining the Raphael battlefield records."
"Second. That heaven's side has officially acknowledged in their records that the passage twisted due to Satan's interference during the last descent."
"Third. That this time, they're calculating the ratio of how much to block that interference versus how much power to allocate to the holy relic and descent forces."
Raksha asked without lifting his head.
"Decision."
"Not yet."
Nas answered curtly.
"From the prayer lines we've heard, words like 'block it' and 'maintain' keep coming up together."
"It's not clear which way they're leaning."
Nas stepped back a pace.
"Prayer line details are more accurate from Navriel."
Navriel opened the black ledger.
"Broadly, two flows."
Her voice was quiet but clear.
"One is putting more power into 'blocking Satan's interference.'"
"In prayer line terms, 'this time, seal the passage to prevent disruption.'"
She turned another page.
"The other bundles frequently with words like 'holy relic three,' 'descent forces,' 'protection.'"
"The longer they hold the passage, the more they cut into the power they can divert to the holy relic and descent—it's structured that way."
Raksha asked curtly.
"Satan."
Navriel lowered her eyes briefly, then spoke.
"From prayer line records alone, there's almost no direct trace since the Raphael descent."
"What they fear is the possibility that 'it might move again,' but there's no sign of it actually touching anything now."
Raksha nodded. To him, Satan wasn't a 'might-help' entity—it was like an ancient fissure embedded somewhere in this hell.
"Good."
Raksha said.
"We plan assuming whatever Satan does doesn't matter."
Nas and Navriel looked at him.
"Whether Satan moves or not."
"Whether heaven blocks it or fails."
"We delete that variable from tactics entirely."
Raksha pressed down on Nova fortress on the map. The small bone fortress tilted slightly, then righted itself.
"We use only what's in our hands right now, and treat Satan as nonexistent."
Those words weren't a pledge—they nailed down Nova's entire operational principle. Erasing Satan from calculations also erased hope. Even coincidence was struck from tactics. What remained was only the power we could bear. If that wasn't enough, it was over. No one would save us.
"Holy relic."
Raksha shifted the question.
Navriel shook her head.
"Exact ability unknown."
"Prayer lines just repeat 'vessel,' 'holy artifact,' 'protection,' 'purification,' 'shield.'"
"High chance it's a holy artifact on par with the anointing jar, but..."
Nas took over.
"In summary, yes."
"Meaning it could be something that changes the entire battlefield with one swing, like the anointing jar."
Navriel added briefly.
"Key point: no matter how it's used, there's a very high chance of a moment where our abilities barely work."
Raksha nodded.
"Then one criterion."
"At minimum, there's a day when abilities don't work properly."
Nas paused her pen.
Raksha continued.
"If we face that day in Nova, it's over."
Raksha's hand tapped beside the map. A spot a little away from Nova. Empty before. The place where they'd been building the reserve fortress for months.
"So we make another place that's not Nova."
Outwardly for supply and evacuation. But now, it was more.
Navriel understood immediately.
"Decoy fortress."
She said slowly.
"If we lure some prayer lines there and match the energy flow and echoes to Nova's, it'll be nearly impossible to distinguish from above."
Nas rubbed his forehead briefly.
"Make them use the holy relic there first... right."
Raksha chuckled shortly.
"We don't know what the holy relic is."
"Just that once, it'll create a spot where our abilities barely work."
"If we take that in Nova, it's over."
He pressed hard on the decoy spot.
"First descent, holy domain, holy relic—all make them use there."
Navriel asked quietly.
"And us then?"
Raksha's hand slid to the side of the map. Neither Nova nor the decoy.
"Bell."
Just the short name dropped.
"We don't put Bell up front."
Raksha's eyes swept the map's rear.
"When heaven believes it's 'perfect,' we rip into the choir from behind first."
Nas asked curtly.
"Choir."
Raksha explained.
"The ones holding the prayer lines, the hymns that boost the front lines."
Navriel nodded slowly.
"Lose that line, and heaven weakens a bit."
Raksha nodded.
"That's why we use Bell there."
He swept the map once more.
"Lure first holy domain and relic to the decoy fortress."
"Front: Balrag and Gart hold like hell; rear: Bell makes the gap."
Raksha's voice lowered.
"Some with Bell's personal power, some dispersed via domain."
"We aim for just that much."
Navriel took a breath and spoke.
"Summary."
"Heaven's been factoring Satan's interference as a risk since the Raphael battlefield."
"Right now, they're weighing where to allocate more power—passage seal, holy relic, force distribution—while preparing descent."
"We exclude from the start whether Satan actually moves or not."
"Instead, we take the holy relic at the decoy, not Nova; that moment, Bell tears into the choir and rear from behind."
"Then, start full frontal at Nova front."
Nas wrote the last line.
Raksha pressed the map center, Nova fortress.
"Criterion doesn't change."
The small bone fortress shook a bit, then stood firm.
"As long as Nova doesn't get wiped out, we win."
Nas pressed his lips shut.
Navriel quietly gripped the black ledger.
Each wondered if their own name was truly in those words. Raksha's voice was that dry.
"We don't plan on what Satan might do, or heaven's possible mistakes."
Raksha added last.
"Only what we can use right now. That's the whole of this calculation."
Nas bowed his head.
"I'll redraw the battalion formations under that premise."
Navriel said curtly.
"If prayer lines show even a hint of holy relic-descent ratio, I'll report patterns divided into 'holy domain bias,' 'descent bias,' 'passage bias.'"
"Good."
Raksha said.
Nas and Navriel left the tactical room one after another.
As the heavy door closed, the room held only ash smell, blood smell, the map, and Raksha alone.
Red lines and black lines. Gates, traps, plague, resonance. Among the already drawn lines, two undrawn ones lingered only in his mind.
One red curtain slicing Nova airspace. And inside it, a small circle ten meters in radius.
Raksha stared at the map a moment longer, then uncrossed his arms and slowly turned.
As he climbed the stairs and passed the inner corridors, he deliberately didn't seek out Jan and El. Where those two were and what they were doing was already in the calculations.
Being in the calculations didn't mean safe. It could mean sacrifice was scheduled.
Raksha treated even that possibility as a 'case.'
Jan and El are people, not numbers—
That thought never emerged in the end.