Leaving aside his earlier behavior, Harlan's recent actions had always given us an inexplicable feeling. That feeling had begun when he brazenly attacked the Empire's border and nearly got his entire army wiped out. Now, I once again felt a profound sense that something was off.
His behavior was far too unlike that of someone with clear logic and definite goals. He attacked when we least expected it, lay low under the most unexpected circumstances, then suddenly emerged to seize the Fiya Li Merchant Ship, which had served as bait, at a time when he theoretically should never have shown himself. Everything he did carried a sense of erratic rhythm, as if he were sleepwalking. That bait ship had drifted through the Far Frontier for three whole days. By then, its identity as bait should have been suspicious enough. It would have been understandable if Harlan had been lured out during the first two days, but he had appeared precisely when anyone could see it was a trap...
When the intelligence from the Far Frontier arrived, Sandora and I immediately ordered the entire army to move out and seal off the remnants of Harlan's forces. Yet after issuing those orders, we could not help questioning the matter. Sandora recalled the Fallen Apostles' bizarre decline in combat strength during the border battle, while I remembered Harlan's seemingly deranged military actions. In the end, we reached one conclusion: no matter what, we had to capture that madman alive this time. We had to find out exactly which part of his brain had gone wrong...
Siweisi had departed for the Far Frontier with the main force several days earlier. She was personally commanding the interception battle against Harlan, and she had now led the prearranged ambush forces in surrounding the target world layer