They were gods but common soldiers; it is obvious enough, it is true enough, and Homura thinks that even Shien, even Zenon, cannot see anything, for the moment, but the futility. Sending common soldiers against the Sanzo party is just tossing away men who could be used; it's the mindset of gods not yet used to having blood on their hands.

But Homura is a contradiction, after all, a heresy looking to find what it is to live through the method of his death, and he understands what this means to them: A challenging foe to outmatch them, a proud death, the realization they'd been beat, not rotting away in isolation and waiting for a death that would never come.

He says as much to Shien, briefly, and he thinks he sees understanding dawn; he is grateful, perhaps, that Shien will allow him that much.

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