02:50
Female Cadet Dormitory, Academy District, New Eden
While rescuing other injured cadets, Elina finally saw Jacob. He too was picking up wounded and dead soldiers and taking them to the medical camp. He looked really bad. His plate carrier wasn't on him. The Kevlar vest he wore underneath was torn, and his body was covered in concrete dust and blood. It wasn't clear if it was his blood or the blood of the ones he was carrying.
Elena quickly ran and started walking beside him while carrying a dead body. She asked, "Sir, are you okay?... Sir?"
Jacob snapped back to reality and replied, "Huh? Who? Oh, Elina? "Are you here to help?"
"Yeah. But you look in really bad shape. You should get yourself checked at the medical camp."
"I'm fine. Help the ones dying. They need more help. They can get me checked after."
"But sir…"
"No buts. Get to work."
Elina understood she couldn't change Jacob's mind and put his focus back to work. On the other hand, Jacob knew damn well that he wasn't the type to put others before him. He was the type to do whatever he wanted at his own pace. So, he was a bit shocked by what he was doing right now. Even though it felt like his body was burning, even though his head felt heavier than a mountain, all his tension was for the unconscious girl he was carrying on his shoulder. He whispered, "Just hang in there. Believe in your Uncle Jacob. You'll be fine."
Jacob reached the medical camp and put Luna down on a stretcher. Mitali ran to Jacob as she noticed him and said, "Jacob, you look…"
Jacob interrupted her and said, "I'm fine. But Luna… Check on her. They're the future, not uncs like me and you."
Mitali saw Luna lying on the stretcher, unconscious and went to check on her. After running a pulse and retina check, she said, "She's fine. Just unconscious. Come here; you look like the one in need of help."
Just then someone from afar yelled, "Sergeant, this one's still breathing."
Mitali looked back and was about to say something when Jacob said, "I'm fine. Help the kid. I'll just rest a bit."
Mitali looked back at Jacob but ran to help the injured cadet after Jacob waved his hand towards her while walking towards the half wall that separated the compound from the road. He sat down next to the wall and leaned on it. He felt his eyelids getting heavier by the moment. He had realised what was happening to him. While looking at the broken building in front of him, he thought, "The soldiers, they blew themselves up just to kill us? How much hatred does one need to have inside him to do something like that?"
He whispered, "What are you doing right now, Sohel? I really wished to talk and laugh with you one last time." He closed his eyes for one last time as a single drop of tear rolled down his dusty left cheek.
22:20 (Local Time)
Watson Industries Jet, Over Atlantic Ocean
Kate was getting more and more worried as she got news of countries getting invaded one after the other like a domino effect. Korea had launched an attack on Japan; Bangladesh was under attack from India; Argentina was under attack from Brazil; the German Air Force had bombed Milan; Israel had launched missiles aimed at Tehran, and she had just received news that the UK was being attacked by an unknown group.
Annabelle looked up from her tablet and said, "Getting so anxious already? The US is yet to attack Russia. Wait till that happens."
Kate was about to say something when Aura came and said, "Princess, you need to see this. The American President is giving a speech at the Oval Office."
Annabelle replied, "Oh? Play it."
Aura turned on the TV, and the speech played:
My fellow Americans, citizens of free nations, and allies across the world —
Five years ago, Berlin was erased from the map by the Phoenix Company. Two million dead. Ten thousand more — soldiers of the Seven Nation Army — perished trying to stop it. Their bravery deserves our respect. Their loss is our shared grief.
In the days after, the SNA dismantled other nuclear devices that Phoenix Company had hidden worldwide. They fulfilled their mission under the Moscow Treaty — the treaty that ended the Third World War and gave them the authority to "keep the peace".
But we must ask ourselves: at what cost is this peace kept?
Under the Moscow Treaty, signatory nations can indeed maintain their own armies. They can patrol their own borders. They can fly their own flags. On paper, their sovereignty remains intact.
But when a crisis crosses those borders — when a threat grows beyond a local matter — those same armies are bound by the SNA's approval. Before they can act decisively, before they can defend their people against an international threat, they must wait for permission. They must wait for a global council to debate their fate.
Sovereignty is more than the right to own an army — it is the right to use it without asking leave from someone else.
For years, the United States, India, the Republic of Korea, Brazil, and Israel have refused to sign the Moscow Treaty for this very reason. We believe that a nation's survival should never depend on the consent of foreign commanders. Germany, once a signatory, learnt this truth in the worst way when Berlin fell. They left the treaty, and they now stand with us.
Together, tonight, we form the Free Nations Alliance.
The FNA will fight the Phoenix Company without hesitation, without delay, and without surrendering our right to act. And tonight, we declare that the FNA is in a state of war with the Seven Nation Army.
This is not because we seek war with those soldiers. Many of them are honourable. But the institution they serve has become a barrier to swift, sovereign defence. The SNA's authority to operate across borders without full consent, and to dictate the terms of a nation's response to global threats, is power no military bloc should hold.
Our forces will target only SNA assets that enforce that control — command centres, supply hubs, and forward positions that restrict national self-defence. Civilians are not our enemy, and we will take every measure to protect them.
To the leaders of the SNA: return to a role of true partnership. Relinquish the power to override national defence in the name of procedure. Work with us as equals, or face the determination of nations that will not be told when they can fight for their survival.
To the nations of the world: you can have peace without submission. You can have an alliance without chains. The Free Nations Alliance is ready to stand with you — as partners, not masters.
May God bless our troops, may God bless our nations, and may freedom endure.