Everyone who arrived at the Tarash Plains for the first time would see that antigravity fortress floating above the Azure Well, as majestic as a city in the clouds—and the full twelve Gorgon-class Aerial Fortresses floating around it.
The Dawn of the Mortal World hung high amid the clouds like a symbolic image condensed from myth, quietly overlooking the entire plain. Its sheer scale had reached the point where it could be seen with a mere upward glance even from outside the plains. At times, it and its escort fleet were even more conspicuous than the pillar of flame shooting into the sky from the Azure Well. At the height of the Wasteland War, this Sky Fortress had been the greatest hope and most reliable support of all the mortal armies gathered on the Tarash Plains. Now that the war was over, to the leaders and representatives rushing here from their respective countries, this flying fortress undoubtedly represented... supreme authority.
Any intelligent person could see that at a glance.
In the skies south of the Tarash Plains, an airship escorted by the Giant Eagle Guard was slowly decelerating as it approached the Dawn of the Mortal World. Bercetia came to the viewing window at the front of the airship. Through the high-strength polymer window, she gazed at the magnificent metallic silhouette amid the distant clouds, watching drifting clouds flow like gauze between the towering spires, gun emplacements, and domes. Pale-blue particles of light scattered from beneath the clouds, like fine snow falling over the plains.
Her personal maid Elaine stood beside her, silently looking into the distance as well. Her expression was somewhat complicated, and there was a faint gloom in her eyes. Though she knew she should not display such dejection before the Empress, Elaine could not help sighing.