Clarissa

“Alert from the East gate, several soldiers turned to dust,” a runner rushed into my room and quickly reported.

Another runner quickly came in. “A woman in black and white was just seen approaching the plaza from the East.”

A third runner game in. “Critical death, Naran has perished.” I quickly stood.

“Omega protocol,” I immediately said, not hesitating for even a second. My personal guards rushed off and I immediately touched the bowl of water on my desk. The fire-type crafting crystal turned to flame, evaporating the water in a burst of steam and lighting my desk on fire.

I quickly raced out the room. Why was she coming from the East?! My guards quickly fell in line with me as all the contingency measures went into effect. Everyone knew what messages they had to deliver and where to escape to.

I raced outside and quickly got into a cart. Doctor Katz was thrown in as well. The head maid Gretchen was already inside along with my best assistant. A guard with over 1,000 in their Body stat took off with the cart for the East gate as soon as I got in. Another cart was pulled behind us and several guards were running. One was carrying a summoner next to me to keep me informed if the situation deteriorated.

Right now, a piece of paper was being delivered to the RMPF and the General explaining the threat. Also, how the city was now lost unless they managed to kill the Divine Empress.

I was not holding my breath. After all the information Michael had given me, it was a near hopeless fight to take her on directly. I did not envy him. It was a shame about Naran. The wind pushed the tear away. He had been a good friend. It was unfortunate my messenger did not make it to him in time.

“I saw her,” Doctor Katz muttered and my head snapped towards him.

“What exactly happened?” I asked as we continued to race for the East gate inside the cart. Doctor Katz explained what she looked like and their interaction. I paled at the end when he said he pointed her towards Michael. The fact that the Astrologer’s thing had disappeared was even more concerning.

There was the sound of massive destruction behind us in the distance. My chief summoner being carefully carried by one of my guards spoke up. “Alpha strike complete failure. Fourteen Radiant Beams countered. Champion Michael pinned to ground.”

Attack after attack failed, my heart plummeted after each one. We reached the city gate in good time. “Champion Michael left knee was shattered.” I closed my eyes as we continued to race away from Purgatory. He was dead. Thank you for buying me some time. I knew he would have saved himself if he could, but as events unfolded in the plaza, it was clear he had lost any chance of escape.

Michael’s eye was plucked from his head. Then he was struck and sent flying. “The Astrologer intervened. Champion Michael disappeared. The Astrologer is confronting the Divine Empress, ack!” My summoner let out a choked cry. “I lost all my connections, the distance, and something disturbed them,” the man said.

“It is fine. Hopefully he managed to save Champion Michael.” The ground suddenly shook. The cart puller almost lost his footing, but he managed to recover and keep running. A beam of white light shot through the sky.

Purgatory was out of sight, but there was no stopping. Who knew the range and fallout of the battle that was currently occurring. That was when a beam of golden light, where Purgatory was, shot up into the sky.

“Faster!” I shouted out. The cart pullers began to go faster, and everyone picked up the pace. The ground rumbled and shook. The pillar of golden light had quickly began to expand. My heart jumped as it passed the circumference of the entire city without stopping and kept going.

We crested another hill. The golden light was rapidly gaining on us. I tried to think what I could do. My hands clenched into fists. Dammit! This wasn’t fair! I had left the moment I knew about the Divine Empress. I couldn’t die here!

The golden wave kept getting closer and closer, while all I could do was watch. The ground was being ripped up in its approach. I didn’t look away or close my eyes. If I was going to die, then I would face my death head on and unblinking.

I could hear the immense roar and crackling as the golden light approached. My eyes watered, but I refused to look away.

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Just when it was a few seconds from overtaking us, the golden wave stopped. It then began to fade in rapidly disappearing motes of golden light. “Stop,” I called out. Our group came to a stop, and everyone turned to look at the sight behind us.

There was a massive pit. I carefully got down from the cart and went over to the small ridge of piled up dirt. I carefully looked over the edge, mindful of my footing. There was a white mist below and I could not see any further. Everything around Purgatory and the city itself were gone. Well, we were out of sight of the city, but I didn’t see it in the distance due to the obfuscation effect.

“The buildings?” I walked over to my assistant and asked.

“No. I got damage alerts, but then they disappeared.” One of my guards tested a skill and he gave me a nod indicating there was no change there. The entire city gone. Everyone gone. I had been hoping some people had managed to get away. But besides the spy cells, hunting camps, the children, and this group, everyone had been vaporized in an instant.

It was like a nuclear bomb had just blown through everything, but there was no fallout. Just a large bit where a once prosperous city had been. “Summons, scout, we need scouting. We will camp here for now. Clear the area and remain at high alert.”

I got affirmatives back as winged monsters took flight. “Checking the depth now. Double the length from the surface to the cloud layer there is a layer of stone.” Well at least we didn’t have a new void zone. That would disrupt travel in the region heavily. The energy levels weren’t shifting either.

“No sign of the city, just the pit. No sign of movement. No sign of people. No sign of monsters. Just the cloud layer and stone layer under it.”

“Bedrock. That is the bedrock upon which our world rests,” I corrected based on the information Michael had shared with me.

“Bedrock then,” the summoner replied, but my mind was already going through everything that needed to be done.

“We fall back like planned. Most likely the entire area will reset. Runners, I have messages to send to the hunting camps and city cells.” I had runners come up one by one and I instructed them on what I wanted them to convey.

All hunting camps were to be alerted that the City of Purgatory was no more. An attack from the West by the Empire of the Divine Empress, destroyed the city. The government had gone into hiding. The city might reset and a proxy government would set up eventually, but warnings were to be passed along.

If they wished to mobilize, then that would take place in Purgatory in four days. I would send people there to take control of the city if it reappeared, but I would not be going back.

I had no idea if Michael was alive or the Divine Empress. Both were incredibly important questions to answer. The real question was who had done that? Who was still alive? And most importantly of all, who had died?

If the Divine Empress was dead, we had won. All that planning and build up and we had won. A literal nuke to the face had killed her off. She was a body fighter and there was only one sus person that would use a sacrifice play. A person that wasn’t a person. The Astrologer’s proxy that had been running around.

He had recovered and confronted the Divine Empress. But how had he done, whatever that was? The scale of the attack and the power, was beyond imagining. Everything down to the bedrock of the Systemic Lands had been vaporized. If he caused it, then the Divine Empress clearly was the target.

That made sense, since she would have no need for something like this. Was she dead? Was she alive? I paced back and forth slightly, since any long term plans depended on the answer. If she was dead, then it didn’t matter. But if she was alive and I acted like she was dead, that was the path of loss. I needed to limit my losses after today.

I would act with the belief she was still alive until confirmed otherwise. I had already instructed the runners to pass the word, but that could always be changed back. But getting into our hiding posture was something that was not going to be easily switched back and forth once we came out of hiding.

The real question was Michael? He clearly had suffered a lot at the hands of the Divine Empress, but was he still alive and if so, where was he? I shook my head. I would give him ten days to show up at one of the cells I had set up in a city. If he hadn’t by that point, then I would assume he was dead until proven otherwise.

The pressure to manage everything was now entirely on my shoulders. I hadn’t imagined that Purgatory would just be vaporized. How does one even plan for vaporization? At least nothing left behind would fall into enemy hands. That was small comfort for all the lives that had just been lost. All the effort and organization I had done.

Doctor Katz came up to me as I looked at the large pit. “That was something,” he said.

“Something indeed,” I replied. “Any idea?” I asked.

“That wasn’t a crystal. From what you have shared with me, only two things have engaged in large scale effects,” the Doctor replied. The System and those shards of physical energy. The only two things to act beyond sight. “Also, I estimate it started at the center of the city.”

“The store pillars? Really?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that, but you also came to that conclusion. What else could trigger something like this?” What the good doctor didn’t know were meta-points. Could it have been the secret skill of the Astrologer. A final suicide attack? It would make sense since he had created a proxy to act in his place.

Just use the skill on hard to kill targets and bam! They would be vaporized and everything near them. I shuddered at the thought of an attack that powerful. I could understand super humans, but walking nukes? Well time to put on the suit and earn my salary. I could only chuckle to myself about my salary, not like there was a stable stream of crystals flowing in anymore.

Without the threat of Michael, the surviving Union teams would fracture and wander off into the wilderness. They would become warlords. A future threat I would have to deal with, but I was not too concerned. I had an army of minions. Hopefully they didn’t revolt. Time to go manage some people and our situation.