Inside the Republic of San Magnolia, Major Vladilena "Lena" Milizé directs a war the public believes is bloodless and fully automated. The truth is the Eighty-Six: people stripped of citizenship and sent to pilot the "unmanned" drones at the front while the state records no casualties. As handler of the Spearhead Squadron, Lena commands by radio a unit led by Shinei Nouzen, called Undertaker, and comes to know the soldiers her country pretends do not exist. Asato Asato's light novel sets the Republic's official story against what those pilots actually face beyond the wall.