His gaze swept across the Victoria soldiers lying before him. Obsidian sized them up, pondered for a moment.
"Not too bad. At least the corpses are still intact… Looks like I can make some more fabric out of them."
Muttering to himself, Obsidian withdrew his eyes. [Snow White's Apple] in front of him showed no sign of attacking. That was no surprise—Obsidian, in the end, was still the will of the City itself. These Abnormalities, and even the monsters of the Outskirts, would not take the initiative to attack his true body.
"Mm… aside from a handful of Laterano and Victorian soldiers, the rest should have already been swallowed by the City. Tch, if I'd known, I wouldn't have let the [Queen Bee] loose. The way that thing kills doesn't leave behind much usable flesh for weaving."
He rubbed his brow as he spoke, bent down, and stared at the tangled thorns stretching more than a kilometer long.
He stayed silent for a while, turning over the next steps in his mind.
The coalition of three nations had been thoroughly beaten back. After this battle, their armies likely wouldn't dare to invade the City again—unless they regrouped and redeployed their main forces here.
Honestly speaking, if he really had to face the true main forces of all three nations, Obsidian figured it might actually get a little difficult. But so what? If it really came down to that, he only needed to release the [Nothing There] locked deep in the Outskirts containment chamber. Then no one would be playing anymore.
Still, after this campaign, Obsidian judged that what had started as a war aimed at Kazdel was about to reach its end. His own affairs in Kazdel should also be tied off.
"Next is re-containment of the Abnormalities."
He snapped his fingers as he spoke. His consciousness drew back into X. At this very moment, the employees of Lobotomy Corporation had mobilized en masse, beginning large-scale re-containment of the Abnormalities.
In truth, it wasn't all that difficult.
After all, "containment breaches" were only temporary. [Qliphoth Deterrence] failing was only "temporary."
All it took was restarting or swapping out a Deterrence unit, and the issue could be resolved fairly easily.
Thus, under Obsidian's arrangements, Lobotomy Corporation quickly announced to the outside: the containment failures in the Outskirts had already been re-secured, and the situation there was stabilizing. At the same time, as an apology for the incident, they offered a batch of free energy within the City. Instantly, praise for Lobotomy Corporation filled the City from end to end.
No one knew of the massacre that had unfolded in the Outskirts that day.
When this beast called the City slowly opened its eyes, it swallowed more than thirty thousand lives whole. Then, pretending as though nothing had happened, it once again draped itself in its honey-sweet disguise and went on playing its dollhouse games within.
Of course, those thirty thousand corpses could not be wasted.
The intact bodies that [Textile Technology] could take in were all spun into beautiful "Silk." Soon after, the The Eighth Chef Workshop released a brand-new line of clothing. This workshop gear became renowned for its exquisite fabrics and exceptional protective performance. The Eighth Chef even put out three distinct products.
The first was a limited edition. Once worn, it granted enhanced musical talent, while also reducing mental damage—especially effective as defense against Laterano's sonic attacks.
The second, produced in somewhat greater quantity, offered extreme cold resistance and even boosted physical strength.
The third was mass-produced, but its effect was reduced to simple injury mitigation.
Needless to say, the three lines were crafted respectively from the flesh of Laterano, Ursus, and Victorian soldiers.
Once launched, this workshop gear instantly became a red-hot commodity among the Fixers. Countless Fixers sang its praises, all desperate to obtain one piece. And as for where these items came from? Who cared.
So The Eighth Chef, as a Workshop, shot to fame across the City overnight, with the momentum to become the new leader among workshops.
But—unlike the City's thriving spectacle, on the side of the three-nation coalition, the picture was one of bitter regret…
At that moment, the coalition had sunk into silence. At the representative assembly on the second day of the invasion, Laterano's envoy spoke with a heavy tone:
"This morning, we re-established contact with the missing troops. A few soldiers managed to escape back, but the rest—all perished."
As his words fell, the other two nations' envoys remained silent.
"Our casualties were just as disastrous."
The Victorian envoy finally spoke, his brow furrowed tight, his voice low.
"Therefore, we have made our decision. We are withdrawing from this war."
"Withdraw?"
The Laterano envoy glared at him, his tone like a rebuke. But the Victorian envoy only sneered coldly.
"Without cutting off the supply chain between Kazdel and the City, what else can we do? With supplies of this scale, forgive me for speaking bluntly, but with our current state, winning is nothing but a fool's dream."
"So?"
"So we're abandoning the competition. The territory of Kazdel—you can divide it among yourselves if you want. I only hope you can swallow it down."
Lowering his head, the Victorian envoy spun his pen idly. Silence returned to the chamber, until finally the Ursus envoy spoke slowly:
"We have also decided to withdraw. For Ursus, losses of this magnitude make further investment unthinkable."
Victoria's withdrawal was understandable. After all, they were farther from Kazdel. But Ursus' withdrawal—that surprised the Laterano envoy.
"Kazdel borders your lands… You have no concerns about your rear?"
"Of course we do. But continuing the war now would only mean further ruin."
The Ursus envoy's voice was calm, but soon he added:
"However—Kazdel proved so troublesome this time only thanks to the City's resource aid. Which means…"
"Which means?"
"Which means Ursus intends to change its strategy. We will negotiate with the City instead. This muddy water, we won't wade in any longer."
His tone was faint. The Laterano envoy flared with incomprehension-turned-anger for an instant, but soon enough, the Ursus envoy's meaning dawned on him.
He looked at the Victorian envoy. Quickly, he realized all three of them had arrived at the same thought.
The City had already demonstrated its power and strategic value in both the Kazdel war and the war against itself.
Even Kazdel, that kind of place, had been lifted sky-high by the City.
Then—what about them?
In that instant, it was as though fire had kindled in their pupils.