[b][i]Intermission Five - Aftermath of Victory[/i][/b]

[b]Municipality of Lubao, Pampanga Province, Philippines - 1/1/2023, 9:23 AM, UTC+8[/B]

Crown Prince Shinyahito watched the new members mingle with Cristina, even as he, feeling weary, realized that after suffering so much attrition, Task Force Obsidian [i]no longer had it[/i]. With the departure of so many people, many of them without a warning, the Task Force was a shadow of its former self.

[i]Something good was there, but now it's gone.[/i]

On the verge of victory, most of the ensemble of characters that was Task Force Obsidian just lost enthusiasm for their goal and most despairingly of all, each other, as though they had forgotten about their comrades and their friends. There was something... unnatural in this.

He could see his sister, Princess Fukuyo, ready to dismiss them with only the mildest of disappointed looks; as far as she was concerned, Task Force Obsidian had served their purpose - Weaken the Russo-Chinese alliance trying to revise the world order and their threat to Japan. 

Looking at Cristina as she continued to persist, determindely rallying the new recruits and giving them their orders, the Crown Prince of Japan (who sometimes lost the position when he retconned himself from reality), walked over to the Filipino girl and asked, "Would you need help with that, Ms. Bernardino - Cristina?"

No, this isn't the end. And even if it is... what Prince was he who would not fight the darkness until the very end?

[@Chiro][@Nimbus][@Digmata][@Gerlando][@Lloki][@Creative Chaos] (if returning) [@Paths of Parity]