The flames were raging in the city just outside the dome. Tens of meters high, they devoured the masses of beasts that had been storming against the dome in their flight.
"So, this is what happened back then," Leana mumbled, remembering the report of what happened in the forests of Alpha.
She was standing at the window of Cade's old room in the police headquarters and was looking down at the edge of the dome in the distance. Over the past hours, the last remnants of Sigma's adventurers had been struggling to sustain the faltering barrier.
The number of monsters surging against the dome had significantly increased after they were transported to this world, even more than they had expected during the meeting.
At this time Leana was almost alone in the HQ, together with non-combat personnel and children. It was so dire that even the low-level civilians with fitting skills had joined and contributed what little mana they had to keep the defense standing.
The advent of destruction that came over the monsters in the form of raging fire, was a sliver of hope for the defenders. But it was a double-edged sword. In their panic to get away from the fire, these grotesque monsters doubled their endeavors to get past the barrier, the only viable escape route as everything else was either filled with other beasts or the despicable fire.
Now it was a battle against the time, if the defender could hold out until the flames did their work, they would be saved. However, if they failed... who knew whether they would fall to the fire the same way the monsters did?
"Cade-! You aren't Cade...Are you the Princess from another world?" a girl with big sparkling eyes asked from the door.
"Ho, didn't your parent teach you that you can't just enter other people's rooms?" the princess asked amused.
"The door was stood open," the girl said innocently, with her hand still on the door handle.
"Oh, really?" she chuckled.
Of course, she understood the girl had not really come looking for someone else, but it was a welcome distraction from the imminent doom outside. She was interested in what the little scamp could want from her.
"You seem like a curious girl. Why don't you come inside and we talk a little? I'm Leana from Chrona and you are?"
Her eyes lit up when her elaborate scheme worked and got her the chance to speak with the mysterious princess.
"I'm Selene Pierce! My papa is the boss of this place." she bragged.
"So you are the daughter of Vlad. What are you doing here all alone?"
The girl seemed a little troubled and looked left and right in the hallway before entering the room.
"Is it true that you are a powerful Princess?" she whispered after coming closer. Leana crouched down to get on her eye level.
"I guess you could say that," she whispered back with a smile.
"Th-then can you grant me a wish?" her eyes looked desperate and hopeful.
"If it's within my ability," What would her wish be, if she looked at her like this?
"Can you please protect my mama and papa and brother?"
Leana was stumped for a moment. She had not expected such a mature request. As clueless as the child may have seemed, even an 8-year-old picked up on how dire the situation was.
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But could the princess make such a promise? She didn't have any power to keep this promise in an emergency situation and all her people were currently out there fighting.
"I will do whatever I can, I promise," she answered with a smile.
Facing the girl's clear, hopeful eyes, Leana was unable to let her down.
"Yay, thank you!" she cried out as if this solved all the problems without a doubt. Being hugged tightly by the little girl, Leana could only smile wryly.
The girl kept asking her about all kinds of princess stuff.
"Selena? Where are you?" a soft voice called out from the corridor outside.
"Mama!" her face lit up in happiness.
She quickly ran out where she jumped into the arms of a beautiful, elegant lady. Her slightly disheveled hair and worn clothes could not hide her beauty and aura. Catching her daughter with a smile, she looked over to Leana who was standing in her door.
"I'm sorry if she bothered you. I'm Elisabeth Pierce, you have to be Princess Leana?"
"Yes, nice to meet you."
…
Hesing desperately operated the runes of the barrier like Vlad had taught him. The current captain tried to manipulate the power flow to strengthen the vital point of the barrier and fix the myriad of fractures.
His problem was that the dome was pressured from almost everywhere and was made up mostly of cracks at this point. Their defense was running on hot air and fire was knocking on their door.
"Urgh-" he groaned when the biggest crack yet appeared in the barrier. Among the indiscernible mass of being was a giant creature that slammed against the dome in reckless abandon for itself and its allies.
As unwilling as he was, he had to face the truth. They would lose this battle of attrition. No, he refused to give up. There had to be some way... Right, the biggest pressure came from the fleeing crowd in the west. What if he diverted the energy? They may have a chance of survival.
"Defenders of Sigma, the barrier is about to break," he announced over a makeshift system of speakers that spanned all along the barrier.
"To prevent us from being completely surrounded I will divert the energy from the west that is about to break to sustain the rest of the barriers. I ask every adventurer capable of combat to assemble in the west and get ready to defend the citizens!"
Although some of the defenders looked panicked and some probably wanted to run, most had a solemn expression. They had had more than enough time to come to terms with reality. This was actually better than most expected, at least they would be surrounded by the squirming ocean of nightmares.
" I ask the citizens to either evacuate from the eastern side of the Wards or to also get ready." he finished his hurried speech. Even if they were low-level and barely trained, everyone had some skills and items for self-defense.
This was the best he could do, he barely managed to divert the energy, stopping the whole dome from breaking apart. At the same moment, the fire came over the beasts crashing into the barrier, and the west side of the dome finally crumbled.
A hole, tens of meters high, opened on the western side and a wave of monsters invaded the wards. They crashed into the rows of defenders but the fatigued and pitiful rest of Sigma's adventurers could not hold their ground against the overwhelming number of monsters.
There were simply not enough capable people and they didn't have enough time to prepare themselves. Beasts, some partially burning, quickly spread through the city. Although the weaker ones faced heavy opposition, the strong ones just cut through Sigma's people.
"Sh*t!" Hesing cursed and left his post, he had to get back to the police HQ. The creatures were faster than he expected and there were still a lot of important people at the station. Most prominently Vlad's family and the princess.
But he was too slow, when he entered the streets he already faced a scene of chaos. People were fighting desperately but many were just mowed down by the horde. He didn't expect it to become this bad. Had he made a mistake?
Hesing did his best to make his way toward the HQ when he heard a chaotic noise of destruction from behind him in the west. Buildings collapsed to the left and right as giant rock spikes shot up from the ground and opened up a gorge in the mass of monsters.
Between the spikes that pierced the sky-scrappers outside of the Wards, a giant beast raised its head. A serpent several stories high roared to the sky and Hesing's hard lid down to his knees. What had they done to deserve such punishment?
As he watched in terror he saw several specters released from the beasts. They weaved through the crowd with unbelievable speed and flowers of blood sprouted wherever they came past.
Hesing already said goodbye to his life when the wave of ghosts passed him, only for him to realize that he was still alive. The beasts that had just been ripping apart citizens were lying on the ground, lifeless.
People were standing up and looked around with looks of disbelief. The crisis had ended in the blink of an eye. The fountains of blood they had seen belonged to the beasts, not the people of Sigma.