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A few years, was it? From the way he'd said that, he probably didn't have an assembly line somewhere constantly cranking out more of these monstrosities.

Probably.

As much as he might've liked to ask Morgunov about that directly, Parson decided against it. He had to be careful. He couldn't afford to push his luck too much.

Because there was another reason why he wanted to stall the emperor.

Beyond merely trying to keep himself and the other captives alive for even a millisecond longer, there was the greater objective of the Vanguard to think of. Even now, taken off the chessboard as he was, he was still mindful of the future. Maybe he would never be able to fight again. Maybe Morgunov would kill him after he'd found Germal and had his fun.

But Blacksong was still coming. It had to be.

Sure, there was the concern that their losses at Uego had been too great, that perhaps the remaining leaders would get cold feet and delay or even abort the entire operation as a result.

But Parson didn't believe that. He couldn't.

If anything, they should know that the timetable needed to be sped up, not delayed. Uego was a terrible loss with potentially catastrophic consequences, but ultimately, it was still only one battle. A major offensive was needed in order regain momentum, to maintain morale and to rally their forces.

That was the only real strategy now, he felt.

If the Vanguard didn't take dramatic action, if they allowed this continental war to devolve into a series of attritional battles, then it was already as good as over. The losses at Uego truly would reverberate throughout the continent and slowly degrade troop morale, young and old alike--not to mention the effects that it would have on all the non-combatants of Eloa.