Nearly an entire day later, the situation in Avalon cooled down. Most of the invading creatures were eradicated, and only a few were left scurrying around the city.
Just like everyone thought, as soon as the Nobles and the King descended from the floating island, humanity quickly got control of the situation. They established order, raised the troops' morale, and informed them how to kill the creatures.
Temporary bases were made all over the city to help better protect the citizens and more efficiently command them.
Humanity made quick work of the voidlings. With the voidling’s inferior intelligence and lackluster strength, the voidlings were nothing in front of a well-organized group of cultivators. Even their advantage of being immune to magical attacks didn’t help them here, it only made things a bit more annoying.
For the rest of the day, it was constant battles and chaos before humanity took control and annihilated all the invaders.
The people of Avalon cheered for their victory and wept for their fallen friends and family. However, there was only one thought in everyone’s mind after it all ended:
Where did those creatures come from?
Unfortunately, neither the King nor anyone else knew where exactly they came from. All they knew was that a rift suddenly opened in the sky, released many of these creatures, then closed up.
What did this mean? Will this happen again? How can they prevent it? What if stronger beings show up next time? Should I continue living in the city if it can’t even protect its citizens?
As such questions plagued everyone’s minds, the King gave his victory speech to the city and broadcasted it to the rest of the Kingdom.
"My fellow warriors, today we stand victorious against the invasion of monsters that threatened our kingdom.
Our victory was hard-fought, but it was also well-deserved. We proved that our Kingdom wouldn’t fall from something like this even if caught off-guard! We demonstrated that we are not just defenders of our land but its rulers!
As your King, I will not allow such a tragedy to happen again! I vow to you, my people, that we will take the lessons learned from this invasion and use them to strengthen our kingdom. We will increase our defenses, train our warriors to even greater heights, and be better prepared for whatever the future may bring.
But let us not forget that our victory today was not just about preparation and defense. It was also about our bravery, determination, and unwavering spirit. We stood together, united in a singular cause, and fought with everything we had.
We will remember the sacrifices that our fallen brothers and sisters made. Many of our brethren fell in battle, and we mourn their loss deeply. But they did not die in vain. They died defending our kingdom, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
So let us take a moment to honor the fallen and remember their bravery and sacrifice. And let us also take a moment to celebrate our victory, to revel in the knowledge that we are a kingdom of warriors, a people of courage and determination.
My fellow warriors, today we have shown the world what it means to be a part of our kingdom. We have shown that we are not just defenders of our land but its rulers, champions, and heroes. Let us continue to be all of these things, and more, as we march forward into the future, ready to face whatever challenges may come our way.
For we are warriors of Elysium, and we will defend it with everything we have. Thank you, my people, for fighting for me, your neighbors, and your countrymen! I may be the King of this Kingdom, but it is you all who make the Kingdom great! Let us keep working hard to create a Kingdom that is impervious to outside threats!"
Many people took a stand with the King as even though he failed to prevent this tragedy from happening, he reacted quickly and prevented as many people from dying as he could. The same went for the nobles under him.
Since the King addressed some of the issues in his speech that the people might have, the citizens felt better and more secure that such a thing wouldn’t happen again.
However, there were a few people that were still worried.
Not everyone was a cultivator; among the cultivators, not everyone was a combatant. In fact, there were probably more normal humans or those with regular jobs than cultivators and fighters!
Although these people were required for society to function, they needed to rely on others during times of war.
In their minds, the King and Nobles were supposed to protect them from any threats to the country, yet they allowed such a tragedy to happen.
However, they also understood that this situation wasn’t the King’s fault. Nobody expected a rift to open in the middle of the city!
Those creatures were unlike anything they’d ever seen before, and that’s saying quite a bit. Humanity has seen many weird or strange things over the years, especially now that technology has advanced so far.
Still, those against the King might use this situation to incite a rebellion in the future. They could easily release propaganda saying how incompetent the King and Nobles are and how the Patriarchy needs to be taken down. As long as this message was spread enough times and reached enough people, eventually, some will believe it to be true.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Right after the war, the King immediately began working on restoring the city and assisting those who lost their homes and family.
Due to how advanced their city was, it wouldn’t take long before the buildings were repaired and the families of those who lost their loved ones received support.
However, no matter how fast the city can heal, the people's hearts won’t heal so quickly.
Today, they realized just how powerless they were in front of a large army with complete elemental nullification barging into their country.
It was this day that created the spark that would lead to change. Whether or not this change will be good, only time will tell.
However, the people understood that something was coming. Something that could appear in the middle of their Kindom, their homes, without warning and slaughter droves of citizens before anyone could react.
They realized that if they didn’t get stronger, they might not be able to live much longer.
Meanwhile, after things settled down, Cain immediately made his way toward Elizabeth to let her know that everything was okay and that she could come out with the kids.
It only took him a few minutes to reach the safe house and appear in front of his family.
“Dad!”
“Father!”
Adam and Nathan quickly ran over to him and hugged him. Elizabeth also walked over and gave him a meaningful smile.
“How is everything? Did your mission go okay?” Elizabeth gave him a peck on the lips before asking.
“Around 10% of the population of Avalon died. Though, it was mostly those with low strength and no battle prowess. Nearly half of the city was destroyed or damaged, including a few mana generators. Objectively speaking, the outcome wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been despite a foreign race appearing right in the middle of the city. However, the damage and deaths wouldn’t have been so great if those creatures weren’t directly teleported above the city and the people had time to prepare.”
“As for my mission, I took care of as many rats as possible, hiding in the city without too much issue. Well, at least all of the ones we know of. Anyways, how were you and the kids? Did anything happen?” Cain gave a brief overview of what happened over the last day.
Elizabeth shook her head at his question, “No, nothing happened while I was here. Although the kids were scared, I was able to make them settle down. Well, it was mostly the younger ones that were scared. The older ones had confidence in their parent’s strength and were patiently waiting until this whole thing blew over.”
Elizabeth stopped talking for a second and hesitated to say anything else. However, she couldn’t keep it in and eventually asked for it.
“Did… Did you find any traces of Mika while you were out there?”
Cain’s face changed for a second before it almost instantly returned to how it was.
“I-I’m sorry, Honey. I didn’t find anything. I checked everywhere in the city. There were no traces of Mika, but I believe she’s still alive somewhere out there in the world. We just don’t know where,” Cain’s voice trembled slightly towards the end, but he kept his act together in front of his family.
Surprisingly, Elizabeth didn’t cry, frown, or anything like that. Instead, she looked like she had expected this news while pondering about something. However, the subtle twitching of her eyes indicated that she wasn’t nearly as calm as she showed on the surface.
“Cain, did you give Mika a real sword before we arrived at the Third Prince’s birthday party?”
Cain was surprised by the weird question before immediately answering, “No! Absolutely not! How could I give my baby a real sword?”
“That’s what’s weird. When I showed up in front of Mika and Olivia, Mika was using a real sword to fight those creatures. No, it could hardly be considered a fight. She was slaughtering them! It was both impressive and terrifying! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Elizabeth mumbled unconsciously before quickly realizing that she had spoken out loud and quickly covered her mouth in surprise.
“What?! Such a thing happened?! No, wait, don't say anything else. We’ll talk about this later. But I will say this. Now I’m almost sure Mika knew exactly what would happen to her before she teleported. She’s obviously hiding something from us. Something big. I suppose we can only ask her about it when we find her.” Cain was shocked by this revelation, but now wasn’t the right time or place to talk about this.
Elizabeth nodded and didn’t say anything else. Her Mother’s intuition also told her that Mika was still alive.
“Alright, we can talk about this later. First, let’s get these kids over to their parents and inform the Nobles who lost their children. We also need to hand Akira over to the Raven family.” Cain said, and Elizabeth agreed.
“Alright, kids, let’s go say hi to your families now!” Elizabeth turned around and announced with a smile.
“Yay! I can finally see Mommy and Daddy again!”
“I hope my parents are okay…”
“I don’t want to leave. It’s scary out there.”
The children all had different reactions, but after a few minutes, Elizabeth successfully convinced them all to leave the safe house.
In the next few hours, Elizabeth and Cain met many Noble families and explained the situation regarding their kids to them. Some were extremely happy to know that their children were alive, while others were heartbroken to see their dead bodies.
There were also a few families whose children’s bodies weren’t found, causing them to want to immediately start searching for their children just in case they were teleported to an unknown location.
Unfortunately for them, their children are most certainly dead. Spatial fluctuations, rifts, and spatial fractures aren’t something that just anyone can survive if they end up entering one. Even the King would have a hard time surviving inside and would definitely die if he stayed in one for an extended period of time.
Nobody except Mika knew she was a bit unique and had a near-omnipotent System that could help her in emergencies like this.
Sadly, Elizabeth and Cain had no way of knowing this and only gave false hope to those families who had unknowingly lost their children to spatial rifts.
Well, except for one family, the Raven Family. Akira Raven was still alive and would be back to full health soon.
Akira’s parents thanked the Zollers and told them they could come to them for help if they ever needed anything.
After they reported to each family and the King, the Zoller Family quickly left Avalon to begin their search for their daughter.