"In the Sea of the Moon, I prayed more than once, begging for a miracle. We were doomed men who had stepped into hell, and only a miracle could give us a glimmer of hope."
"I saw densely packed Blood Vampires swarm toward us and leap onto the warships, like boots stepping into puddles and instantly getting splattered with mud."
"I saw the Great Being covering the entire moon slowly writhe. Every time it turned over, it could destroy a city."
"I saw a Great Being descend in person, its rising radiance illuminating the entire seabed."
"But what left the deepest impression on me was still human bravery."
"We should never have been on those battlefields, but we came. We did not shrink back."
Sidney looked around, and light gradually returned to the people's eyes.
Who among those standing here had not faced death several times?
They had come to the Sea of the Moon for all sorts of reasons, but now, as they looked at Sidney, their eyes held the same resolve.
"Before we set out, I wrote down many names, just as I did every time before stepping onto a battlefield."
"Sadly, most of them could not stand here-or could only do so in another way."
Sidney's gaze settled on the people around him one by one.
The soldiers' steel helmets were covered in slips of paper, and names and Prayers were engraved on the Machine Priests' gun barrels.
Every name had once been a life, noble or humble.
"We stand here, and we will not retreat. Beside us are our living comrades, and behind us are our companions who sleep forever."
"We carried their hopes and crawled back from hell."
He unconsciously tightened his grip on his sword hilt, and the slip of paper attached to the