Northern Orario — Twilight Manor
"What happened? What is with that white smoke?"
Loki, rushing out from the upper levels of her base, leaned over the aerial corridor connecting the towers. The view was hazy in the dim light of night, making it difficult to discern details. She squinted, straining to pierce the veil of distance.
That was when hurried footsteps echoed, and Raul came sprinting up.
"Lo-Loki! There's been an explosion in the city!"
"What?" Loki's eyes snapped toward him, her voice urgent. "Was it from the stronghold Finn's group went after?"
Are those Evilus bastards trying to launch an all-out assault?
Raul shook his head, still panting. "No."
"…?"
Raul's pallid face and sweat-slick hair made Loki's brows knit tight. Something was wrong.
Finally, Raul managed to force the words out, "It's not just one base… it's—"
BOOOOOOM!
A deafening blast tore through the air, drowning out the rest of his sentence. The tremors rolled beneath their feet, carrying a weight that made even the towers groan.
Fifth District
The Freya Familia's forces spilled from a stronghold whose walls had been cleaved open like a tin can.
Ottar emerged from the wreckage, a colossal greatsword slung casually over his shoulder as though it weighed nothing. He turned back to glance at the devastation.
The enemy base, now belching black smoke, bore no resemblance to its former self. Wooden beams and stone walls had been reduced to splinters and rubble.
Around him, healing personnel rushed to stabilize the wounded, hands glowing with magic as they worked.
"A total of five dead. Damn it!" Allen snarled, blood still glistening on the tip of his spear. "How dare they target Freya-sama's familia…"
Though Allen had personally cut down every cadre within, leaving no one alive to escape, his jaw remained tight with unease.
The Evilus forces here had been completely annihilated. No survivors.
But…
The memory of their self-detonations, kamikaze-like blasts that had maimed his comrades, made his blood boil.
Beside him, Ottar stood unmoving, his massive frame like a mountain. His red eyes narrowed, and both his feline ears and boar-like ears twitched at the distant, rhythmic booms that continued to echo across the city. The explosions weren't stopping.
"How long is this going to keep up?" Allen growled, scanning the ruins.
Ottar's gaze darkened with a rare flicker of surprise.
...
"Move the wounded to Riveria's circle! Heal them and regroup! We're moving again, hurry!" Finn's sharp orders rang through the chaos.
Not far from the smoldering stronghold, the plaza bustled with frenzied movement. Riveria stood at its center, her emerald magic circle expanding to a six-meter radius, bathing the night in a soft, healing glow.
Eyes closed, she chanted steadily, the pulse of her magic knitting flesh and mending wounds in mere moments. It was a display of why she was called the strongest mage in Orario, capable of offense, defense, and miraculous recovery alike.
But even Riveria's elegant features were marred by fury. "How dare they…!"
Nearby, Gareth handed the smoking remnants of his shield to a logistics member.
"I didn't think they'd rig themselves for self-destruction. If you hadn't spotted it in time, Finn, it would've been a massacre."
Thanks to Finn's insight and Gareth's impenetrable defense, the Loki Familia had avoided fatalities entirely. Though many bore injuries, Riveria's magic swiftly erased them.
Even so, Finn's expression remained tight with lingering dread.
Then—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions continued, one after another, rolling in from every direction.
"Something's wrong on the streets." Gareth muttered, eyes narrowing.
Finn's sharp mind pieced the clues together instantly.
"The bases weren't trapped, they were sending a signal."
And in his mind's eye, the image of a certain smirking woman appeared.
"Their target isn't us, their target is—!!"
The city burned. It was as though the lid had been lifted off a cauldron in hell, flames leapt skyward, painting the night in red and gold.
"Their target… is the city itself?" Asfi whispered, her voice laced with disbelief.
Fire erupted in streets, plazas, entire rows of buildings.
From alleyways and shadowed corners, evilus troops surged forth like vermin from a nest. Whenever they met resistance, they detonated without hesitation, turning themselves into blazing beacons of destruction.
Orario was quickly being consumed by the inferno.
On the roof of a sprawling gambling house, Asfi stood watch, her vantage point offering a grim panorama.
Beside her, Falgar's fur bristled as his voice broke into a near-roar, "Is it… Orario they mean to destroy!?"
Northwest — Guild Headquarters
The broad first-floor hall was in chaos. Waves of wounded and panicked refugees flooded in, carrying with them scraps of urgent intelligence.
"There's fighting in the First, Second, and Fourth Districts too!"
"The destruction's spreading too fast, we still can't get the full picture!"
Behind the counters, receptionists fumbled through scattered reports, their trembling voices breaking into terrified screams as the true scale of the attack began to sink in.
While the majority of the Guild staff were in a state of frantic chaos, Royman stood frozen, speechless, utterly stunned.
His already pale face drained of the last hint of color. Cold sweat rolled down his bloated cheeks in thick, trembling beads. His lips quivered, and his eyes, wide with disbelief, darted toward the burning cityscape beyond the windows.
"What… what is this? What happened?!" His voice cracked, trembling with fear. "Isn't this no different from a war? How could such a thing happen in the glorious Orario?!"
Human life… as cheap as dust.
The roar of violence and the sick laughter of sadists filled the air, refusing to cease.
The army of evilus continued to revel in carnage, indulging in a twisted blend of madness and distorted "rationality."
Hatred festered deep in the heart, born from grievances left to rot and dissatisfaction unhealed… from those unreasonable monsters in human skin who dared to rip away loved ones and destroy everything cherished.
Men and women alike, armed with warped principles, held to them as if they were divine law. They clung to their belief in their own "justice" with an iron grip. They convinced themselves that they were the most pitiful, most wronged beings in the world.
They knew, in the deepest corners of their souls, that what they committed was pure evil, yet they still had the gall to declare their actions legitimate.
"How beautiful!"
"How laughable!"
"How disgustingly ugly humans are!"
High above, evil gods pointed mockingly toward different quarters of the city, their lips curling into cunning, merciless grins. Their laughter rang out like the tolling of a bell announcing doom.
These were humans, the inhabitants of the lower realm. Imperfect, foolish, fragile children. They knew that hurting one another was wrong, yet still, for the sake of their own benefit, they repeated history without shame. Such was the nature of mankind.
The blurred realm of good and evil.
Justice and evil, were they truly opposites? Or were they, in truth, one and the same?
And all the while, they conveniently forgot that the instigators of this chaos were they themselves, the so-called gods. Instead, they clapped, cheered, and screamed in fanatical support.
Beneath that corrupted sky, Akira and his companions, having also caught the tremors and screams from above, swiftly led the hostages out of the abandoned trading house. The people shuffled forward like walking corpses, eyes hollow.
Akira's blood magic was still at work, subtly binding their bodies under his will. Unless he released them, none of these captives would be capable of sudden violence.
The members of the Ganesha Familia, who had been desperately holding the line at the door, visibly relaxed when they caught sight of Akira and the others emerging unscathed. But their relief was short-lived. The moment they looked beyond, their faces twisted. The sea of fire spread across the horizon, smoke swallowing half the city.
When they learned of the situation, the grim truth became clear, only the very center of the city remained relatively safe.
They wasted no time. They split into multiple units, some dashed into the streets to search for survivors, while others remained to escort the rescued toward safety.