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He should just relax. If a surprise arrived and tried to kill him, then that would just make things more interesting.

Rgh.

Only if he was fully prepared for surprises. Was he? That was the big question. He hated being unprepared. If he lost a fight, then sure, yeah, that'd be a big ol' pain. But if he lost it because he had overlooked something?

Now that was frustrating beyond measure.

He had to hold himself to a higher standard. The young ones were looking up to him, after all. Even the Vannie ones, he suspected. Just a teeny bit. They'd probably never admit to it, though.

He could tell that this war was going to be a big transitional period for both Abolish and the Vanguard. With so many Vannies currently at his mercy, the counterstroke would need to arrive soon. In fact, he was a little surprised that it hadn't happened already. Were they trying to lure him into a false sense of security, perhaps? Make him think that they no longer had the strength to reply after their loss at Uego?

Hmph. Nonsense.

Sermung. What were you up to?

Supposedly, Jercash had "something" that could keep the Crystal Titan busy, but to be quite blunt, Morgunov didn't believe the lad. Maybe in more peaceful times, whatever trick Jerky had up his sleeve would work, but now? With all these Vannies' lives at stake? With the Vanguard pressed as it was?

No. And Jercash had to know better than that.

Maybe this Project Blacksong of theirs would be their answer. But did they even know what they were doing with it, anymore? By all accounts, it had grown far beyond its initial premise and into a confused and tangled beast. Certainly, they couldn't expect to have kept it a secret from Abolish after all this time. He hoped it wasn't just another disappointing smokescreen, just another facade in the eternal war of disinformation between them.