Ratmawati City, one of the pillar cities of Humanity was left in ruin.
Silence drifted through the littered street of a ruined city caused by the fight between many would consider Gods, the stench of death and blood wafted from every nook and corner of the ruined city that is still freshly freed from the sound of a fight.
Abandoned cars and other transportation filled the streets, showcasing the chaos that happened.
Only a few people at the edge of sector 3 were saved from the battle's quake, the sudden evacuation left the street in a dreary, and scarred state. Evidence of the hopeful citizen that is desperately in search of safety can be seen around, under, in between, or simply above the rubble.
From the skies, the most part that can be seen was nothing but destruction.
But the silence was not the only thing that governs the place, a distant sob can be heard.
Edward was on both knees letting out his frustrations from not being strong enough to prevent this from happening, if he did then maybe Rex wouldn't have ended in this damaged path that his own mother doesn't want him to go through again.
Self-blame was the only thing inside his head as he pointed his finger at himself.
Many ifs appeared inside his head but they only amount that much, these ifs will forever stay inside his head as reality has already proven that he didn't do any of that. Zero managed to kill Rex's parents, and he was not able to convince Rex to stay.
Despite the ruined place, Edward didn't move as he was in so much mental pain right now.
Even though he knew that the pain was not real and it was only inside his heart, the self-blame turns the pain into reality as his chest started to feel like burning from the inside. Edward puts his forehead against the rough ground crying while holding his burning chest.
Just like that the world denies him from paying his life debt once more, giving him only disarray.
While he was sobbing in the middle of the ruined sector that was once a pedestrian street filled with buildings, a place where society gathers, Giana and Sebrof were also in the same boat as the world of pain has downed on them.
Vargas and the other eighth-rank figures approached the two out of worry.
"President Sebrof! Lady Giana! Are you okay? We'll need you to bring you to Sir Lewis so that he can heal both of your wounds", Lauren exclaimed, wanting to bring both of them to the best healer in the entire Ratmawati City.
Upon hearing this, Giana glanced at Lauren before she showed her the wound on her face.
Despite already seeing much gore and blood in her lifetime, Lauren was still surprised by the wound on Giana's face that took almost half of her face. It made the left side of her face completely entangled with chunks of flesh and blood.
It stained Giana's beautiful face into a horrifying one that would be very hard to be hidden.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtChanneling the water arcane mana into her bloodied palm, Giana tries to heal the wound on her face. At first, it started healing, but then the burning red energy overpowered her arcane mana before the wound turns back to normal.
Even though Sir Lewis has the best healing ability, he's at the very least a bit stronger than Giana.
Now that even Giana's healing ability from her water element can't heal the wound even for a little bit, then Sir Lewis would be the same. Just from that alone, they knew that the wounds are incurable which is why Rex said that these wounds are reminders.
But then Vargas intervenes, "Should we pursue them? It seems Rex is weakened right now..."
"When the outburst happened to his energy, the King Mark on his forehead turns from half black and half red to completely red. If I'm not mistaken, that means he lost the power of the Dark Moon and is definitely weakened", he added sternly, remembering seeing that for a brief moment earlier.
Sebrof groans while holding his severed left arm before he slowly stood up.
Looking at Vargas right in the eyes, Sebrof ignored his question before he said, "Tell Brigitta and Denzel near the Great Barricade to stand down, don't engage no matter what. Let them through if they decided to leave humanity's territory"
Upon hearing this, Vargas was clearly disagreeing as he wanted to rebut.
Although he knows that Giana was in the wrong for trying to kill Rex and even resulting in Rex's parents' death, the damage Rex did to the entire Ratmawati City is devastating. Probably millions of people died, crushed by his rampaging aura alone.
Not only that, the damage done to the infrastructure is horrifying. It would take years to rebuild.
But before Vargas can even say anything Sebrof already gave him a warning look, "I know how you feel, but another fight despite him being weakened would result in more destruction. On top of that, if they fight near the Great Barricade then the Supernaturals would join in for sure and take advantage of the situation"
"Just let them go for now...", he added before sitting on the rubble tiredly.
While sitting on the rubble, Sebrof looks at the destruction that reaches as far as the eyes can see.
Everything happens so fast and he knew that even though Giana was the one to start, he was also at fault for keeping Rex's identity as a Werewolf a secret. Most of the people here blame themselves for what happened to Ratmawati City.
It was not some light matters, millions of people died and Sebrof will be demanded to answer soon.
Not just normal humans like the citizen and the military, but Awakened also got obliterated by the sheer aura of the Dual King Mark. Many of them are probably young and the future of humanity, but they died because of this incident.
As if the sky can feel their sorrow, snow started to descend from the sky.
Clashes that happened in the fight earlier tore the dimension of their reality, the arcane mana, and Rex's kingly energy from before dropped the temperature and resulted in this snow. An additional ornament of the sorrow they were feeling right now.
One of the most affected by this snow was Giana knowing that the deaths of millions are on her.
Despite being a powerful being that is at the apex of power, Giana succumbs to her guilt as she covers her mouth and started crying. Even powerful figures such as them are still humans that experienced all kinds of feelings.
While Giana was crying, Vargas approached Sebrof again as he trains his eyes forward.
Looking at Edward not too far from them, Vargas sighs before he then asks, "What are we going to do about him? Rex has abandoned him, and he's still a criminal for protecting the identity of a Supernatural"
Upon hearing this, Sebrof was silent for a brief moment.
"Everyone around Rex is powerful including Edward, he even managed to stall Zero despite still being a seventh-rank realm Awakened. We'll let him do what he wants, he's definitely going to keep on fighting to bring Rex back and we'll assist him in it", Sebrof finally said firmly, he already made up his mind.
It's clear in his eyes that Edward really wants Rex to still in humanity's side.
Although hiding the identity of a Supernatural makes him a traitor and is punishable by death, this is a special case and their necks were still out in the open from Rex's last declaration before. On top of that, Edward is talented and may be able to reach an exponentially high realm if nurtured properly.
Vargas kept his eyes on Edward before he mutters, "Basically, he's going to be our weapon?"
"Yes, if we can make him strong enough we would get an additional powerful Awakened and also a strong wall to deal with Rex due to their history. If he can reach the seventh-rank realm in a matter of months, then a year or two would probably be all it takes to help him reach the ninth-rank realm", Sebrof explained further, exposing his plans.
With the matters out of the way, Vargas went on to another urgent matter.
This tragedy that happened this day would be remembered for as long as Ratmawati City is still standing as it's the first time Ratmawati City suffered this much damage, and the survivors would definitely ask questions.
"What kind of story would we give to the people?", Vargas asks again.
But even in this stressful moment, Sebrof's head is still crystal clear as he replied almost instantly, "Nobody should know about the truth, we'll just blame it on King Baralt that managed to break inside our walls and catches us off guard. But with the invention of the Supernatural Radar, we can convince them that this wouldn't happen again. It's the perfect solution to calm the mass down"
Just as he said that a blast of green smoke exploded in front of them.
Vargas created a barrier to protect both of them from the green smoke, but it didn't take long before two figures appeared from the midst of the Green Smoke. It was clearly King John and Prof. K from the SCO.
Fixating his eyes onto Sebrof, King John stepped forward and said, "I want an explanation for this..."
Meanwhile, Edward is still sobbing with his forehead on the ground.
Since it's the first time that he finally breaks he decided to pour all of it out as he feels like he is a failure and a disgrace to the world, he kept crying and crying until the tears finally refuse to come out again.
Now he's crying with dry eyes that are already puffy.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmBut not long after that, he heard the sound of rocks being moved coming from the side, he sits back up before he saw that the rubble on his left was moving slightly. Wiping his tears, Edward remembered something, 'Could it be...?'
Edward immediately stood up and stumbled his way to the moving rubble.
From the looks of it, there should be someone underneath the rubble that is trying to get out.
Upon reaching the big rubble he falls on both knees again before helping to lift the rubble out with one arm as the other arm is broken from before, Edward groans as he lifts the big rubble before flipping it entirely.
After doing that he looks down before his eyes widened seeing the person underneath the rubble.
"R-Ryze!", Edward exclaimed in surprise.
Just like finding a diamond underneath a rock, Edward's widened completely as joy started to fill his entire body to find that Ryze was still here. For a moment before, he has forgotten about Ryze but now he remembered that at the very least he still have Ryze.
Out of all of them, Ryze and himself were the ones that are not a Werewolf.
Rex, Adhara, Evelyn, Gistella, and Flunra are all Werewolves underneath the Silverstar Pack with Rex as the Alpha. It's probably due to the loyalty induced in them that they decided to leave humanity for good and follow in Rex's footsteps.
Without wasting any time, Edward helps Ryze who already went back to his human form.
Looking at Ryze that is also injured and coughing a couple of times due to the dust, Edward can't help but hugs him with great care feeling relieved that he was not completely alone in humanity's territory.
Although he still has Zelene and his Uncle, both of them can't help him bring Rex back.
But now that Ryze who is a Heavenly Dragonman stayed behind he feels very glad and not alone, it was the best feeling he has ever had in a long time. The last time he felt this glad was when he got the news that Rex survived the Ghoul mission.
"W-What happened...?", Ryze mutters softly, catches by surprise by Edward's sudden hug.
Upon hearing this Edward pulls back before he holds both of Ryze's shoulders firmly, his expression softening before he replied, "Rex has left humanity's territory, he's disappointed in receiving this kind of treatment despite helping humanity from the shadow"
"But you don't have to worry, we'll bring him back...", he added with a genuine smile.
Ryze blinks his eyes a couple of times before his mind finally clicked, he had already exerted his all in killing Zero but it seems that he didn't make any change. In fact, he probably made it worst since he took the joy of killing Zero from Rex.
Just like the others, Ryze also blames himself a bit because of this tragedy.
Reminded that he still has the power of the Heavenly Dragonman, Ryze's expression turns serious as he said with a hint of determination and pity for Edward, "Okay, no matter how hard it will be. I'm going to help you bring Rex back"
In his eyes, Edward is like family just like Rex and he would do anything to reunite them.