News of the destruction of the East Ze Kingdom spread through Ango City like a plague. It was impossible to conceal the news. This world had newspapers and telegraphs, and countless distress messages were pouring in from East Ze, nearly paralyzing Ango City's intelligence network.
The destruction of East Ze was only the beginning. An hour later, another major piece of news arrived: the Moon Creek Kingdom had been attacked by an unknown force, and some civilians in various cities had suddenly turned into monsters and begun slaughtering every living thing. Humans, livestock, wild animals—anything alive, even insects, was trampled to death.
Twenty-seven minutes later, the Moon Creek Kingdom sent its final telegram: the Moon Creek Kingdom would perish that day. It hoped the Council would alter the records to say that the Moon Creek Kingdom had fallen after resisting for twenty-seven days, allowing it to perish with some dignity.
Two of the four great kingdoms had fallen. The Storm Kingdom had begun retreating long ago, and all of the steam trains belonging to the Chidorman Company had been mobilized. Their cargo was abandoned, and every carriage was packed with as many people as it could hold.
A total of 372 steam trains were carrying nothing but soldiers from the Storm Kingdom. Storm King Totohora had not boarded a train. He had decided to live or die with the Storm Kingdom. The Storm Kingdom would have a king who died in battle, not a coward who abandoned his people and fled alone.
The Storm Kingdom was not the only one. The steam trains on the Lehman Kingdom's side had also been mobilized. The first transports carried not only soldiers, but also a large number of steam weapons. That was very Lehman-like—no matter how grave the disaster, they had to make