The war room of the Camelot was already full when I entered, being the last to arrive. The new, redrawn map with Pion's reports and recordings was already there, next to the shifting images they had taken and sent back after we made the second contact with the fleet. Everyone was going over what they had seen and what it meant for our army. That massive monster was a sight that probably none of us expected to see, but... here we were. And we had to deal with it.

As I stepped up to the main table, Sasha moved to my right side, her arms folded, her face pale with tension, because this thing was nothing any of us had ever seen. Oleg stood at the other side of the table, notes in hand, passing them down to Seltana as she scribbled something onto the papers, giving them back without a word. As for Merlin, he stood close to me, stroking his chin, mumbling to himself, while Mirian, the Khan, Attila from Geth, and Ahnud from Sar occupied the rest of the spots. Lastly, Arthur and Leyla stopped at my left, whispering to each other until the room quieted down, everyone's eyes turning to me.

"Well, everyone..." I rested both hands on the table, sweeping the room with my eyes, "You've all seen the images and the full extent of the report. Today, we must decide what to do about this abomination. It can't remain there, and it must be destroyed."

"It will be destroyed," Oleg inclined his head and answered at once, "We can't allow such a danger to keep growing and eating..."

"I agree." The Khan nodded, being the second person to speak up, "But no regular army can deal with it. Even if we send a hundred thousand people forward, it will crush them with one swing of its tail."

"Good thing we are not a regular army," Mirian whispered, glancing at me.

"No regular troops would be willing to rush it anyway," Attila murmured, and I knew that maybe that was indeed the truth.

Watching the image, even if the projection was small, the monster filled the air with an awful presence. The way its spider-like legs pierced into the corpses, its body coiled up on its nest... All of it was just wrong. It was like a mutated face hugger with extra parts... Whoever came up with this monstrosity needs a slap in the face... damned magic evolution.

"We are in a good time to strike, though," Mirian offered, "It seems it's sleeping while it's feeding."

"And we must use it against the beast," Sasha broke her silence, "We must not let it complete its meal and consume the cores it has in its grasp and grow in power. Whatever happened in the winter, we can assume that those other monsters didn't go down without a fight. It has to have suffered injuries, hence why he is not only consuming the cores but is also draining their blood. It is in recovery..."

"Could be..." Mirian's lips pressed tight before she continued, "That is no longer a monster, though, but an actual demon. If we strike it blindly, we may waste our best chance on taking it out without actually killing it."

"We then must throw everything we have at it." The Khan leaned forward, fists on the table, "If it bleeds, it can be killed. No matter the cost... it must die." He was visibly determined to send the entire army and swarm it with numbers. "It is that simple."

"Simple?" Attila's voice cut in, subdued yet surprisingly powerful, not backing down in authority to the Khan, "You would throw soldiers into those webs like flies? Look at it, Khan of the Khulmani people... There is no battlefield around its clearing where you can charge with horses... It would get you. You would sacrifice your empire's people for nothing."

"For its future, and not for nothing." He countered calmly.

"It would still be throwing bloodlines into the grinder without proper cause." Ahnud Sar shifted uneasily in his place, backing Attila, seemingly their Empires back to their previous, friendly relationship, "We need to keep our troops safe, as even after killing this one, we have a continent to cleanse. We need to fight it, yes, but we need to do it from afar."

"I also vote for heavy bombardment." Merlin joined the discussion, "Shell it for days if we must."

By then, everyone had an idea of what we should do, voicing their preferred approach to this issue, while I kept listening, wanting to hear every option on the table.

"If the cores are its source of strength, then we should cut the web." Arthur suddenly interjected, making everyone look at him, but he just pointed at the image, "We sever its feeding lines, and it loses out on a big chunk of power. Maybe it would be even injured by it."

"I agree," Leyla nodded. "For now, this monster is like it has multiple cores. Who knows what kind of effect that has on its abilities or power... It is best if we take it away from this monster first and foremost."

"That... We might trigger a magical collapse," Merlin interrupted, raising a finger. "Those cores are suspended in an active circuit... Break it wrong, and the backlash could be... catastrophic."

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"And?" Arthur asked, making the Khan nod his head in agreement, "It will be at the center of that explosion... if it happens. Not us. That is just another big bonus."

"As for the aftermath," Leya stood with her brother, "We can deal with it after. Even if the Pass turns into a deathzone, it will be a defensive measure against the coming winters..."

"I do agree," I lifted a hand, finally giving my opinion, "This thing will die, and we will use whatever we have at hand." I leaned over the table and I traced my finger across the map, "Think of the Guardian not as a beast, but as a citadel for now. Its body is the keep while the web is its outer, defensive wall. Emperor Attila is right; to approach this fortress and send soldiers to climb it is suicide. So, to defeat it, we will prepare a siege."

"Only, we are not here to conquer," Sasha murmured, "But to demolish it..."

"Yes," I continued. "We will move to where Pion is. The fact that the Rook and the Seeker are there, without triggering the Guardian, well within the 50-kilometer radius, is enough proof that this thing doesn't care at the moment about hunting for more food. With our camouflage, the beast won't even notice our arrival. So... The turning river will be our first line of defense. Then, our engineers will construct redoubts, artillery positions, and shield stations for possible retaliation. We can't tell the range this beast can see and act in... So, we will establish our perimeter along the river and build countermeasures, entrenchments, and temporary bunkers."

"Bunkers?" Mirian asked, and it was Arthur who answered.

"We must prepare for everything. In our previous meetings with beasts, they had swarms that they could summon, and we must assume this is the case here, too. Even if not, we would have places where the troops can retreat to if there is retaliation magic fired upon them."

"It is better to prepare for everything than be surprised." Leyla nodded, crossing her arms, just like Sasha did, being her mirror image.

"We came to the same conclusion," Oleg stepped forward, reading from his notes that he was exchanging with Seltana, "Heavy artillery can be placed on our side of the river, facing the location of the Guardian. We must cooperate and use every mage from every country to establish a linked formation for a strengthened shield spell, covering them. The forward line would be comprised of our mechs, the boats we currently have there, and airships... Then... we just fire at it until it's dead, from a safe distance."

"It will also have shields," Mirian exhaled, rubbing her forehead, "We must calculate with the possibility that something like that happens. Especially if we look at the facts, it was able to slay and kill those types of monsters... it itself is competent to defend and withstand punishment."

"We will use physical shells mixed in, of course," Merlin answered, "Even if it has magical shields, those can penetrate it."

"Question is," Leyla added, furrowing her brows, "Will those penetrate its body... We just don't know how hard it is."

"However hard its scales are," Sasha said softly, laying a hand on her shoulder, "The Khan is right... We have the numbers, and we will break it."

"Get me close to it," The Khan snorted, "And I will claw it open with my gauntlets."

"Depending on how the battle goes," I chuckled humorlessly, looking at him, then at Mirian, "We might need to see if those artifacts you have can finally come in handy or not."

"They are the Gods' gifts." Rhanak said with pride, straightening his back, "No monster's hide can withstand their power."

"But before resorting to that, we are not sending you in willy-nilly," I continued with another chuckle, "This is Avalon's burden first. You all stand with me, but I will not waste your people... We have the range, we will use it."

"Then, I guess, it is decided," Merlin tapped the table, his finger rubbing against the map, looking lost in thought for a moment, "If I may, Sovereign... We must prepare magical countermeasures, besides the shields. As we learned more about how they feed and with how we can reverse some things, even interrupt spells," he explained, trying to divulge as little of our military prowess as possible, yet still being honest with our allies, "it may be able do the same. No... I am sure it can replicate them... That we must assume if we want to be prepared. We have to space out our position in a way that one or two mechs can cover the artillery installations, but also, if it hits us with disabling magic, not every unit we have falls at once."

"Justl ike the worm..." I muttered, "Yes, we must add that possibility to the protocols. Oleg, begin drafting the siege order for our coming battle. Attila, Ahnud, please coordinate with the secondary army. They should prepare another perimeter behind the front lines. If we fail, we will need a place to retreat to. But..." I added, looking at Attila, "I will need you at the front."

"We do hope we won't fail," Ahnud said, while Attila simply nodded, knowing I was asking him to be there because of his own artifact hanging from his neck. If there is a time for these things to show their power... it will be now. I just hope they do work, instead of being the typical, actually worthless toys, revered for their mythical pasts.

"Mirian, Sasha, Merlin," I continued, "You will draw up the magical countermeasures. Arthur, Leyla, observe them, learn, and prepare to act when called."

Soon, the map was filled with new pins, lines spreading out from the circled lair like spokes from a wheel as we drew up our battle plans. Each marker was a future redoubt, and each line between them was the trench we were about to dig. It gave me Great War vibes, from the time I studied history in school, with the numerous trenches that were drawn up by the end...

We finished it all about four hours later, and I had let them all study it before I spoke again, finalizing everything before the orders would begin flying out from the Camelot.

"The Guardian is the sum of countless winters and unchecked growth. We must never let something like this happen ever again, not on our side of the world. This thing belongs behind the mountains. After we are done here, after we cleanse our land, we must ensure that nothing like this ever happens." I stated, looking at everybody present. "Every Pass, no matter where it is, must be the responsibility of everyone. And I mean, every one of us, humans. We may later fight, love, or hate each other... I honestly don't care about that. But if future issues cause the destruction of our defenses in these Passes... It will be everyone who will pay the price for it. I just want you all to remember that in the future. I want you all to pass it down to your successors... Because of this," I pointed at the image of the Guardian, "if you all forget it... This beast will be its reward."

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