The war between Valor and Song would happen in phases. At least, that was how it was described to Gehrman.
Now that he lived in the Jade Palace he spent a lot more time around his comrades in Song, and was also now required during every military or strategy meeting that concerned the entire Clan.
Since a Domain War was on the horizon, this was a rather common occurrence.
There were a few key factors that made this war difficult. The first and most obvious being the "third parties".
The House of Night possessed enough Saints that if they choose any one side, then the scales would be tipped in their favor. Though, Beastmaster posited that at this point, Gehrman could likely just take on the entirety of their forces – Saints, Masters, and all others – with only a moderate amount of difficulty.
A fight against a Great Clan, especially one like Night, would be a complete mess. Gehrman didn't doubt his ability to commit such a slaughter, but there was no way he would ever follow through with such a thing.
In addition to this, however, the Government now held more of a threat as the New Workshop continued to expand at a rapid rate.
The idea of Gehrman regaining control of it and securing the place as an asset for Song was floated, but he let them know that idea was untenable.
Gehrman had spent a lot of time making himself a figure worthy of fear and respect to the citizens of the New Workshop, but they were ultimately still of the Outskirts, and would thus not take well to a seizure by a Legacy Clan.
In truth, Gehrman had engineered it that way, but he wasn't about to tell them that.
This war was looking more and more inevitable, but Gehrman figured that he could easily mitigate the damage once he became a Prince.
To him, the idea of a war in the first place was outlandish. Aside from the idiocy of human-on-human conflict (especially on this level, and during an exponential rise in Nightmare Creatures).
However, the fundamental principle did have logic behind it.
Supremes had Domains just as Saints had Transformation Abilities. Domains act as an extension of oneself, allowing them to bend world to to their Will due to the simple fact that their presence fills out that part of the world so completely.
Ki Song and Anvil both believed that two separate Supremes with a Domain splitting the collective might of humanity would only lead to disaster. Instead, to weather the coming storm, humanity needed a single, ultimate ruler through which the great collection of all lives in the Waking World could empower. The increase in the Will on that scale would result in a qualitative advantage that went beyond Class.
Indeed, it seemed that Aspects, Attributes, and even technique and physics were all far less important when it came to fights at the highest possible level.
It was Will that trumped all, breaking all rules and enforcing one's own.
However, this led into the 2nd problem.
Each Domain worked differently, but invariably one's Will would strengthen based on the amount of followers and Citadels they had under their command.
This was why Saints were held in such value. They could get the most value out of normal Citadels, while also significantly empowering their Supreme's Will.
That being said, the level of dedication one had to their Supreme did matter. A Saint who served due to personal reasons and one who served because they thought their Supreme was the true best possible ruler granted vastly different boons.
It was natural that any Saints left over from the opposing side would thus have their value greatly reduced.
What's more, any Saint or future Saint who did not participate in the war, but gained an unpleasant image of the Supreme due to the war, would also have their value reduced.
In order to maximize future gains, both Sovereigns needed a just and worthy cause to fight over in order to win over any future Saints or any stragglers.
So, they could not immediately march armies. This was good, but it also meant that they would turn to espionage, and that would be run the risk of getting innocents involved.
Already Beastmaster had proposed enthralling a Corrupted Tyrant and leading it under the base of operations in Valor in Fort Balmuth, where she could then let it loose and make it look like a normal attack while also dealing serious damage to Valor.
All of this was just the precursor, hoping to dishearten members of the opposing Domain while also taking out as many of them as possible.
However, to Gehrman, this entire thing was pointless.
From the very start he had proposed a simple duel.
Ki Song fights Anvil to the death.
Winner takes all.
Clean, simple, and effective.
The returning arguments were always: "we can't afford to take any chances" or "we must do everything in our power to ensure victory."
It was only then that Gehrman realized the third and perhaps most fundamental issue of this Domain War.
So far the issues had been logistical.
It was optimal to have a single Supreme. It was optimal to fight it out beforehand and employ espionage before doing a final battle.
But the real issue was so much dumber than that.
Ki Song and Anvil of Valor hated each other.
Not just on a personal level, but from everything on ideals and morality they seemed to think the other chose the absolute worst options.
And since that was the case, every single member of both Domains thought that the opposition were also evil, and that it was their duty to wipe them out.
This wasn't a war for humanity as much as it was an argument between two people who just so happened to have god-like power (at least compared to the rest of humanity).
So, what was Gehrman to do in this scenario?
At the moment, he was the nuclear deterrent.
The forces brought by Valor were fearsome, but Gehrman could single handedly wipe them out if he wanted to.
So far, Gehrman had been a bit obstinate in helping Song outright. So long as Valor didn't make the first move in an assault, he didn't respond.
In fact, they did try to pull off a sneak attack, but only once.
Gehrman let the off with a warning, but the fact that warning involved taking their left arms – plus the fact he was several kilometers away at the time – meant that Valor's strategists reasonably weren't making any more advances.
On the other hand, there were times like when a few cohorts of Song Awakened made a move to cut off some Valor Squires.
Instead, they were headed off by Changing Star, who obliterated them all soundly. In that moment, Gehrman could have protected them, in fact, he almost did.
But there was a growing bitterness in him.
He had overheard them talking before he went out. All of it was barking about "Valor Dogs" or "Vile Bastards". The look in their eyes were dangerously close to beasthood, and it didn't sit too well with Gehrman.
So if they wanted to go off and kill, he would let them go off and die. That was the way of the world, after all.
If Seishan or any of the other sisters were overly upset about this, they once again didn't voice any objections.
At the moment, they seemed satisfied knowing that it was impossible for Valor to launch an assault on them, and that they could attack with immunity so long as they were wary of counterattacks.
And that was how things continued for a few weeks. Valor and Song would be dispatched occasionally to fight large hordes. In an effort not to steal too many Memories, Gehrman would only nuke a few of the more annoying looking hordes and save anyone who looked remotely close to death from on high.
He didn't have to do too much though. The combined forces of the Great Clans, even if they didn't work in unison, was a sight to behold.
Still, a creeping feeling itched its way into Gehrman's heart. A worry that something was about to go terribly wrong. As it turned out, that feeling had its origins in the Dream Realm.
…
The Nightmare Desert was a largely unexplored region of the Dream Realm. It had been completely unknown before the Chain of Nightmares, because from what scholars were able to put together, it was on the other side of the Hollow Mountains.
The Dream Realm was rather simple if one used the Corpse of God Grave as a compass. Its head was north, its right side east, left side west, and feet south. The humanoid thing was the size of a small continent, and the fact that it was only a fraction of what humanity knew about the Dream Realm was telling about how huge this place really was.
In any case, Ravenheart and Ki Song's Domain was to the West while Bastion and Anvil's Domain was to the East.
New Yharnam was South West of Godgrave, in a decent enough region of the Dream Realm. At least, it was now that Song had cleared out the heavy hitters in the region.
To the South, the Storm Sea stretched seemingly infinitely. Naturally they ought to wrap around and drop whoever traveled all the way across the dark ocean to the Northern reaches of the map, but unfortunately the waters grew far, far more dangerous than even the House of Night could manage when one went further South.
The Hollow Mountains were similar in that they also seemed endless. They were a monstrous mountain chain topped with a mist that held profound danger. It was one of the very first lands to be designated as a Death Zone.
Not even the Sovereigns had made it to the other side, though it was probably possible if they were stealthy about it.
However, there was land on the other side of the Hollow Mountains.
True north from God Grave and over the Hollow Mountains was the old hell known as the Forgotten Shore. According to Nephis, the place was actually completely deserted of all life, including Nightmare Creatures, making it maybe the safest place in all the Dream Realm.
So far, what was East of the Forgotten Shore was unknown, but before Nephis decided to challenge a 2nd Nightmare Seed in the Hollow Mountains outer reaches, she did try to breach into the land to the west of the Forgotten Shore.
This was the Nightmare Desert.
During the day, it was a sweltering heat that would kill an Awakened without the proper enchantments. Perhaps even a Master could fall if they were long enough without protection.
Not only that, Corrupted creatures were plentiful, making it a Death Zone in and of itself. And yet, somehow, when the sun dipped down and night came, it was worse.
Undying horrors that were immune to even Soul Attacks fought in a calamitous, mindless, and endless war. Even the weakest were equivalent to Corrupted creatures, but it seemed the vast, vast majority were more akin to Great abominations.
It was likely that deeper still, there were even gods wandering about. Creatures not unlike the Cursed Nightmare Creature that wiped out the Americas.
And in the center of this region stood a monument. Dubbed the Black Pyramid, what was undoubtedly a Great Citadel on par with Bastion and Ravenheart was key prize that Ki Song and Anvil were fighting over.
Like the people who ruled over them, Citadels also had natural qualities that could enhance a Supreme's Domain. Only a handful of Great Citadels were known. Bastion, Ravenheart, and the Night Garden each represented the cores of the Great Clans, and were naturally all Great Citadels. However, a new one had also recently appeared. The Ivory Tower was a relic of one of the Daemon's, the Demon of Hope, and it was now in possession of Nephis.
This was why, despite all the great advantages Ki Song had acquired, she was still not overly confident in a battle purely based on Domains.
Of course, getting to the Black Pyramid would be impossible if there were gods wandering around that area. Their only chance was to expand their Domain into the Nightmare Desert itself and forge a path from there.
And that was the true purpose of Antarctica. The Chain of Nightmares caused a unique environment to form in which the great number of Nightmare Seeds would cause distortion in one's transportation to the Dream Realm, taking them away from their anchors, and instead into a random spot in the Nightmare Desert.
This allowed for the circumnavigation of the Hollow Mountains, and the conquest of the region to begin.
So far though, Song had elected to choose a more insidious strategy in obtaining the first Citadel.
They had already ascertained that Valor were sending cohorts into the Nightmare Desert to perform searches for the Citadel. Instead of wasting resources racing them, they would instead just send Mordret.
He was to infiltrate one such team, find the coordinates for the Citadel, and then report back to Song.
This was not what happened.
Instead, Mordret's "team" killed the Gate Guardian, the Master that led the operation bonded with the Citadel, then the Prince of Nothing proceeded to slaughter every last one of Awakened of Valor.
Manifesting back in the Waking World, he found a suitable place for a battle, sent out two similar messages, and smiled.
What followed would be the first true conflict of the Domain War.
The Battle of Black Skull.
And yet, it would be a paltry squabble compared to what would be happening at the same time.
In his throne room in Bastion, Anvil of Valor's eyes steeled.