After providing a layer of "insurance" for all his women, Eros returned to Undine’s side. After a brief rest, the group resumed their march. They wanted to use the unexplained pause in the spirit horde's pursuit to put as much distance between them as possible.
Along the way, Saliba approached Eros. The once-arrogant Imperial Prince now had bloodshot eyes, and his clothes were tattered and stained with a mix of his own blood and the foul fluids of evil spirits. The resulting stench was nauseating, but the Prince was far past caring about such trivialities.
Saliba looked at Eros, his voice thick with exhaustion. "Eros, we need to discuss our next move while we have this window."
Saliba’s Fifth-year Class 27 had only merged with the main retreating force two nights ago. Despite Saliba being a "heavy spender" equipped with high-end gear, his class had suffered immensely. Aside from Eros’s immediate circle, only thirteen members of Class 27 remained alive. Two of the Prince's three lackeys were dead, though Eros was surprised to see that Larrywatt, against all odds, was still kicking.
Eros nodded and followed Saliba. He was somewhat surprised the Prince had personally come to find him. Shortly after, Eros met the other representatives of the merged units. There were fifteen in total—the leaders of various classes, including Annie and Claire.
Once everyone had gathered, Saliba spoke in a raspy voice, "Let’s begin." And so, the meeting commenced while they continued to trek.
The first to speak was a male student wearing a cap tied tightly to his head, as if he were terrified it might fall off. Eros shot him a strange look; he recognized him as the student who famously had three male reproductive organs growing from his forehead. Though they had never spoken, the man's "unique condition" was legendary at the academy.
"The spirits in this Sin Realm have been acting... wrong for several days now. I don't know if you've noticed," the student began.
Someone immediately interjected, "Are you talking about their organization?"
The "horned" student nodded grimly. "Usually, spirits form small groups—maybe a hundred at most. But this time is different. They are gathering by the tens of thousands. We’ve killed massive numbers of them on our flight, yet their numbers don't dwindle; they grow. It’s as if every spirit in the entire Sin Realm is converging on us."
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"It’s highly abnormal," Eros agreed. He had noticed it too.
The student scanned the silent circle. "We have reason to suspect there is an Organizer among the horde."
Annie’s cool voice joined the discussion. "Most low-level spirits lack intelligence and act on instinct. That’s why they don't form large armies. But for tens of thousands to coordinate, including Sequence 8 and Sequence 7 entities... what kind of power must this Organizer possess?"
Silence fell. They didn't want to imagine—or didn't dare to imagine—what that meant.
"This is a Sin Realm used for academy assessments," someone muttered hoarsely. "A High-上位 (High-Position) Spirit shouldn't be able to manifest here."
Claire added expressionlessly, "Clearly, an unknown mutation has occurred. The academy likely didn't anticipate this. If the rules have changed, a High-上位 Spirit appearing isn't impossible. Perhaps it is watching us right now, waiting to devour every last one of us."
Eros remained quiet. He knew the source of the mutation and had a good guess as to how a High-上位 entity might have emerged.
"Should we... give up?" someone asked, their voice dejected.
Saliba snapped back coldly, "The word 'abandon' does not exist in the vocabulary of the Augustine family. To give up is to stain my noble blood and my family’s honor. My bullets may be gone, but I still have my blade. As long as I breathe, there is no giving up."
Eros gave a light round of applause. Say what you will, but the 'Filial Son' has some backbone when it counts.
As Eros clapped, the others turned to him. He offered a relaxed smile. "Think of the bright side. What if the academy has already realized the anomaly? They might have already dispatched rescue teams. We don't need to slaughter every spirit out there; we just need to survive until the professionals arrive. The academy won't want years of investment to vanish in two weeks."
Eyes lit up. He was right. Surviving until a rescue arrived was a far more achievable goal than exterminating a legion of spirits and an unknown High-上位 boss.
Just then, a commotion erupted at the front of the column. Claire frowned and hurried forward. She didn't even need to ask to see the cause of the panic. At the edge of their vision, a thick, impenetrable wall of fog blocked the path ahead.
Fog.
The march ground to a halt. Claire dispatched two scouts to explore the left and right flanks. When they returned, the news they brought plunged everyone into deep despair. The fog was everywhere—left, right, and ahead.
They were surrounded.
Eros raised an eyebrow at the realization. Is this the final 'shrinking circle' of the battle royale?