The aftermath of Night Wing's incursion was simply utter destruction. The fights that had taken place all over the school compound had led to severe infrastructure damage, none more so than in the auditorium where Headmaster Zilean was.

The human casualty toll was no less severe, with both sides suffering an almost equal number of casualties. On Night Wing's side, there was a total of 26 confirmed deaths out of 30 that had participated. Meanwhile, for the Resistance, a total of 20 out of 40 City Guard that have participated perished in battle on top of 10 school staff. Many more in the Resistance were injured heavily.

Fortunately, as the sun started to rise in the morning, the [Stasis] ability that had held several staff frozen in place wore off, allowing them to regain consciousness and assist in the evacuation and treatment of casualties. Without the influx of these personnel, Keith and his measly team of medics would be unable to cope with the huge number of casualties.

Of course, it was not all doom and gloom among the destruction, sometimes, even in the darkest of corners, the spark of romance can still shine strong. Scarlet held Samuel's hand tightly as they both watched the beautiful sunrise together, signalling hope for a better future for them.

On the other hand, Ray watched on vigilantly as he sat next to a still unconscious Nikki, whose condition had already stabilised with the removal of the poison from [Rosegarde]. Soon enough, Nikki's eyes slowly fluttered open and upon seeing Ray, who was starting to doze off in his fatigue, she quickly sat up and embraced him in a tight hug.

Nikki cried, "I thought I would never see you again! Don't let go of me ever again, promise?" Ray reciprocated her gesture, closing his eyes as tears started flowing down from his cheeks. He answered, "Yeah, I won't let you go again, I promise."

Kai lay right next to Adeline, his wounds being treated by a medic. After the medic was done with both of them, Kai said softly, "What a crazy experience we've gone through, huh? I'm so happy we made it out alive!" Adeline smiled and replied, "Yeah…but I don't like the vibes I got from our last opponent. The way he spoke about my father…I'm getting a little worried about him."

Kai's face turned grim as he said, "This experience tells us that we're still weak like fledglings. There're still so much out there to learn and master. You and me, we're going to get stronger together under Ray, then we'll go together to see your dad. What do you think?"

Adeline smiled, "I guess you're right. The danger out there's real and until I'm confident of dealing with Grandmaster tier opponents, there's still much for me to learn from Ray before I leave. My father may not have a very good opinion of humans, you sure you still want to go?"

Kai replied without hesitation, "Of course! If I give up just like this, I'm not a man worthy of your love, right?" Adeline smiled as she blushed slightly before nodding.

Meanwhile, Keith and Shaw watched as the young couple were getting comfortable with one another. Keith commented, "Ah, what cute, innocent lovebirds. If only reality wasn't so harsh and cruel, with all this violence going on." Shaw replied, "I can see why Ray took them in as his pupils. They show potential, surviving against those terrorists on their own. Perhaps we should start thinking of taking protégés of our own too to see if they can match them?"

Suddenly, Frost appeared behind them and remarked, "Yeah, and I know the perfect candidates for us to teach. Remember those kids we rescued? They show great promise like those two over there. Though I feel that Shaw's potential student may be a little too smart for him to handle."

Shaw grumbled angrily as he reached out to punch Frost but was restrained by Keith who said laughingly, "Hahaha, that's enough, both of you. Those kids might really be worth teaching, with Zion Academy damaged like this, they would probably be out of school for at least a month. During this time, who knows what other attacks may occur within the capital? I think it's good to help them with some self-defence lessons that allow them to maximise their potential. I can't wait to see what my student can do though!"

Shaw muttered begrudgingly, "Yeah, just you wait, Frost. My student would beat yours hands down any day! Mwahahaha!" Frost smiled as the trio continued their discussion on their future disciples.

2 humans, both dressed in expensive aristocratic clothing, prostrated before the Sylph King Azir. One of them, who appeared shorter but carried himself with greater pride, spoke humbly, "My name is Nathan. We come as ambassadors of Nirvania, your Highness."

Azir replied quizzically, "We Sylphs have avoided direct contact with the humans for a very long time. How did you guys find my kingdom within the thick Forest of Pangaea? Not to mention that you 2 were not accompanied by any guards, how did you guys even survive against the creatures out there?"

Nathan replied, "Looks can be deceiving, my liege. We may look frail, but we can punch above our weight. We're here to discuss on the matter of formalising our borders…" Suddenly, a guard broke in and shouted, "Your Highness! Huth has finally regained consciousness! However, he's trying to seek an urgent audience with you, my liege! He says it has something to do with Nirvania, claiming that they can't be trusted…"

Before he could finish his statement, his head was cleanly removed in an instant. It was Nathan's attendant, who used the Intermediate tier [Wind Slash] spell to decapitate the poor guard. Azir was stumped, but the Royal Guard sprung into action, as though they had already expected such a situation.

The Chief Royal Guard, a Sylph named Banquo, shouted, "Surround them! The King's safety is our priority! Cursed humans, knew they could never be trusted!" Nathan sighed, "Will, must you attract so much attention to ourselves? Ah well, we'd already intended to give up our lives for the cause. To destroy the Sylph Kingdom and wipe out these vermin from the face of the earth, we got to start with the head. For Nirvania!"

Nathan and his companion removed their shirts, revealing seals over their stomachs. Upon pouring mana into their seals, their bodies exploded, releasing a green mist that covered the entire throne room. Some were lucky to escape the mist that eventually started spreading outwards.

Huth, who was at the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne room, muttered angrily as he witnessed the billowing green mist, "I knew those Nirvanians were up to no good! First, they enlist a dark guild to help them and now, they even dare to assassinate the King! Unforgivable!"

Fortunately, before the mist could spread further, the Guardian Mages with Wind affinities contained the mist within a ball before sealing it into a magical container capable of preventing its evil contents from seeping out. Unfortunately, even though the mist was contained, it had already infected several Sylphs, including the King and his Royal Guard.

The leader of the Guardian Mages, an old Sylph named Tirius, remarked, "This green mist, it's just like [Catastrophe] then! To think they could use human sacrifices to simulate the power of a World Class weapon! If we hadn't contained the mist in time, it would have spread and infected all our people, sealing our doom! We must quarantine those that have already been infected!"

Huth quickly rushed up to him to ask, "Elder Tirius, is there any way to treat those that have been infected? The King is among them after all!"

Tirius gave a depressed expression and explained, "I'm afraid that we currently have no cure to this foul magic. The last time [Catastrophe] struck, we didn't have a cure either, which resulted in the emergence of a new royal family. Of course, we'll do our best to curb the spread of the infection as well as to delay the inevitable for the infected, but a true cure is impossible by our standards. I guess our best bet is with Nirvania, since they should possess [Catastrophe]."

Huth clenched his fists angrily. He marched towards the Crown Prince, Aeris, who was fortunate not to be infected. Huth enquired, "In the King's absence, you are the de facto ruler of this Kingdom, my Lord. What do you intend to do? I recommend swift military action against Nirvania, to reclaim our lost territories and the cure for our infected! We have sufficient intelligence on their forces, so when the opportunity presents itself, we should launch a full-scale offensive!"

Aeris nodded, replying calmly, "Yes, Nirvania have proved themselves to be the villain on numerous occasions. For justice and liberation, we shall march bravely into their lands. However, at the same time, we cannot be hasty, for my dear sister is still in that cursed land!"

Huth replied, "Not to worry, my Lord. I'll send a message to her shortly to join us, and to reveal the great evils Nirvania has been concealing!" Aeris nodded in acknowledgement as he looked towards their lost territories within Nirvania…

Shadow was distraught. When he'd thought he finally escaped, upon appearing at the pre-arranged location, he suddenly blacked out for no reason after summoning Psycho. Now, after regaining his consciousness, he realised that Moon was already dead, with a hole in his chest. To make matters worse, he was tied up with ropes and he couldn’t escape using his Enigma Ability, as he realised that he was poisoned with the same poison he administered against Zilean.

Suddenly, Shadow saw 3 figures walking towards him, all of whom he couldn't see clearly. Finally, when they got closer, he recognised the logos on their cloaks. These people were from Miran Z, the Black Ops team of the Miran Army! To his surprise, he saw Psycho among them.

Shadow asked, "What's going on, Psycho? Don't tell me you're a traitor?" Psycho replied nonchalantly, "I never remembered being one of you guys to begin with. I only stayed as our goals were aligned. Now that I've already obtained the map to [Catastrophe], I've no further use for you, the last survivor of Night Wing. Take care of him, will ya? Jake and Erik?"

1 of the remaining 2 figures stepped forward and using his knife, he made a small cut along Shadow's face before licking the blood off the blade. Suddenly, several intricate patterns appeared on his body which turned black and white. Without warning, the person impaled the knife through his own heart. In that instant, Shadow felt a sharp pain in his chest before he collapsed to the ground, dead.

The other individual walked towards Shadow's corpse and placed his hand on Shadow's chest. Within seconds, the other individual drew a black orb made out of energy from Shadow's chest and placed it gingerly inside one of his pouches.

The first individual, who was beginning to treat his self-inflicted wound, chuckled, "Your ability is as gruesome as ever, Erik! Extracting your opponents' Enigma Abilities when they're dead. How revolting can that be?"

Erik ignored his companion, Jake's outburst and replied, "Your abilities are no less gruesome, turning yourself into a voodoo doll with that ability of yours. In that state, you can't sustain any life-threatening damage right?"

Jake cackled maniacally, "It's not like I don't feel the pain nonetheless. On the contrary, I relish it! The pain is awesome, kyahahaha!"

Meanwhile, Psycho was looking out into the horizon. He mumbled, "Ah, everything's going according to plan. With Eren against Nirvana as well, combined with our influence over Miran, an age of chaos awaits! All of this I do in the name of Miran Z, no…for the Chaos Legion and Lord Astaroth!! Mwahahaha! The world awaits your arrival, Master! Obliterate those who oppose your will and exonerate those who follow! That's simply the fate of this world!"

Psycho continued laughing as the sun started to set, heralding the era of darkness to come…

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