Tri-Flags War Game

The **Tri-Flags War Game** is a conflict between the Masters of the Kingdom of Altar and the Dryfe Imperium.

## Background

After the peace talks between Altar and Dryfe failed, Claudiah R. Dryfe, the imperator of Dryfe, proposed a war between the two nations to the first princess of Altar, Altimia A. Altar, that would only involve Masters.

Altimia pondered it for a while, but eventually agreed, in part because Zeta had left behind remote-activated traps during her terrorist operation in Altea during the events of Light Novel Volume 15. Another strong reason was her growing trust in masters due to Ray Starling and the lack of capable tian fighters remaining after the First Knight-Machine War.

In order to help recruit powerful masters for the war, Altimia organized the Tournament, which required masters to sign contracts stating that they would remain citizens for a certain number of years and participate in all wars, if able.

After Altimia agreed to the war and signed the corresponding contract from Claudiah, the battlefield was decided to be all of the Kingdom of Altar.

## Rules

Both sides would have three flags: treasure, fortress, and life. The winning side would be whichever one had more flags than the other at the end of the war's duration. The war was set to last exactly three days in-game time. If both sides have the same number of flags after the time limit, either the side that still possess the "life" or the side that destroyed their latest flag the earliest will win. Additionally, it was declared illegal to kill any tians inside cities for the duration of the war.

### Fortress

The Fortress Flag is a flag that cannot be moved at all, but it is very durable.

The Kingdom chose the Quartierlatin Ruins to be their fortress and assigned the Lunar Society and Masters who have good compatibility against Behemoth like Manjushage Shion to guard it.

The Imperium chose an underground cavity of their own making to be their fortress, as they had a natural disadvantage for selecting a fortress location within the enemy nation. Logan Goddhart was placed here to guard the flag, alongside many other duel rankers, such as Elijah.

### Treasure

The Treasure Flag is a flag that can be transported, but cannot be placed in an inventory.

The Kingdom's flag is kept by the Babylonian Battlegroup and is being moved by the them in secret.

The Imperium's treasure flag is kept by Franklin inside MGD.

### Life

The Life Flag is a position assigned to a master of each ruler's choosing. The chosen master must be alive to count as a flag and must be online and in the war zone for the entirety of the war. If the chosen master is alive at the end of the war, they will be counted as a remaining flag. Additionally, the life flag may be located out of bounds, such as in a city or in the Tomb Labyrinth, but they do not count as an active flag at this time; in other words, if the Life flag were to be out of bounds after the other two flags were destroyed, that side would automatically lose the war.

Altimia A. Altar assigned this role to Ray Starling because she had faith in him, not for any particular tactical reason.

Claudiah R. Dryfe assigned this role to Behemoth.

## Events

Before the war actually began, Altimia and Claudiah gave orders to specific groups of masters to coordinate their efforts and strategically allot their countries' powers. Additionally, Altimia, Claudiah, and Gifted Barbaros gathered together in a temporary shelter for two main purposes. First, mutual monitoring of the enemy ruler, and, second, to watch out for intervention from Caldina at the border.

### Day 1

On this day, Ray, Barbaroy Bad Burn, and the AETL Union were secluded in the Tomb Labyrinth in order to isolate themselves as much as possible from Dryfean forces. They were all informed that one among them was designated as the Life Flag. Peace did not last long however, as the Y'golonac party quickly invaded the dungeon thanks to Melo's efforts. They then began to battle all the masters gathered there and quickly deduced that Ray was the Life Flag. Although many Altarian masters were killed, Ray managed to survive the battle. However, he collapsed and fell unconscious due to the side effects of summoning a "Maximized" Gardranda. He also lost his arm due to using the Nameless Axe.

Ray was taken to a medical facility in Altea to recover as much as possible. In the meantime, Nemesis and Rook Holmes led a chase after the Y'golonac party. They did this because certain members of that party could reasonably transport the Treasure Flag at any moment with their teleportation abilities, and, therefore, were essential masters to eliminate as soon as possible. Nemesis was able to track them because of the damage they dealt to Ray.

This led them to a number of Dryfean forces that Claudiah placed in anticipation of this event. Among them were Murdoch Martinez and most members of the Triangle of Wisdom, as well as the remaining members of the Y'golonac party. The ensuing battle ended with only Rook, Nemesis, and Vito surviving, although Vito was kidnapped by Moldo Machine.

Meanwhile, Ray and the masters guarding him were ambushed by Splendida and Juba along with a few traitors of Altar. F, one of the strongest masters guarding Ray, was defeated along with most of the masters present. Only Barbaroy Bad Burn, Ray, and Splendida survived the battle in the end. F, however, left a clue behind hinting at the nature of Splendida's survival capabilities.

During the events of this day, Figaro also assaulted the Dryfe Imperium's Fortress Flag after warming up to push his embryo's "Dance of Anima" skill to its limits. Because of the immense power this allowed him, he was able to successfully destroy the Fortress Flag and defeat almost every enemy present, including Logan's Alias dolls. The only master he could not kill was Elijah who was strengthened immensely by his embryo due to the circumstances. Figaro survived the encounter and managed to destroy one of Elijah's arms, but he was bound in place for a short time, and his embryo's "Dance of Anima" skill was sealed away by Casey Pailsen's embryo, Medusa, for 72 hours.

### Day 2

On day 2 of the Tri-Flags War, the base of the Welkin Alliance was assaulted by the Imperium's aerial combat specialists because of its potential to be the location of the Kingdom's Treasure Flag. However, Altimia did not trust the Welkin Alliance, according to Kaydens, so the Treasure flag was never placed there. Regardless, their base was attacked all the same. The members of the Welkin Alliance were present, as Kaydens anticipated that they would be needed to transport Ray Starling to the Quatierlatin Ruins, the Kingdom's Fortress Flag for the war. This, however, was not necessary because of Parade W. Dead's betrayal; as he used his embryo to transport Ray instead.

The battle at the Welkin Alliance base sustained many casualties on both sides. Eventually, no one on the Welkin Alliance's side was left alive except for the clan owner, Kaydens. Kaydens was going to eliminate the last remaining enemy, GandorL, but he was interrupted by Leviathan and her master, Behemoth, who had just arrived to finish up the battle. The arrival of the Physical Apex, Behemoth, forced Kaydens to reveal many abilities that he had hidden for a long time, but it was still not enough for him to defeat Behemoth. It came close to Kaydens's win when he used the final blow of Lord Superbia, End of Pride, but before he could use it to finish off Behemoth, he was killed by sniper fire from GandorL, who had barely managed to survive up to that point.

In order to disguise Ray's escape from Altea, B3 and Tsukikage Eishiro, who was pretending to be Ray, headed off from Altea in a carriage. They eventually ran into Splendida and defeated him alongside Eldridge and the other top members of Goblin Street. Eldridge was defeated, but so was Splendida.