Joran felt a bucket of cold-water splash on his face, waking him up. Shaking his head, he could feel he was no longer feeling disoriented or disheveled like when he was going back and forth to the Sanctuary.

He looked over, subconsciously fetching for his blade, that he could see was covered in blue blood, now certain he had at the very least severely injured the Siren. But her scream was unmistakable, the chaos that was happening now proved that much. Joran pivoted his head around again, realizing he had been on the bed of the jeep’s floor, and the duo in the front were now in front of him with the side door open, Saum with the bucket.

“Let’s go! We don’t have much time!” Saum barked at Joran, his usually regal voice now sharp and crisp with the order.

Joran nodded his head once, and got out of the jeep, taking a moment to breath in relief, as he looked to the Commander beside him and Drekor, “How long was I out for?”

Drekor’s usual perkiness was diminished as he spoke flatly, “Half an hour maybe. But you missed a bit of the action.”

As if on cue, Joran could hear the groaning of metal and an exorbitantly immense rumbling to the east. People screamed, and ran through the streets past the group, a few fumbling into them, before scrambling away from the eastern side of the city. Most of them were obviously merchants, but there were a few soldiers that were in hysteria as well.

Joran furrowed his brows, “So they’re already here?”

Saum nodded grimly, and pointed over to the wall, “The Beasts have already dealt with the harbor junction to the city. I can’t well imagine Okeanos will ignore the scream, but we aren’t exactly able to enjoy time as a luxury. We sealed off the gates, and bolted them shut with emergency bulkheads, but as you heard, they’re working to break through.”

Drekor interjected, pinching his nose for a second, “And that last hit sounds like the gate is giving out.”

“What’s… What’s hitting it?” As Joran asked that, he heard an infernal shriek that almost pierced through his head with the pressure and pain he felt from its emanation.

Once the shriek subsided after a few seconds, Saum shrugged his shoulders and gestured back at the wall, “That. It’s likely a Sea Serpent. Or it could be something worse.”

Joran shook his head, pushing his fettered thoughts to the side and collected himself as he grabbed his Dao, looking down at the blue blood that was drying on it, “Well, we need to be ready for when they breach. Hold out for Okeanos to come with reinforcements?”

“The captain of one of the Okeanos ships is in the Command Center, up in the Tower. We can go see if he can guess how long we will need to stem the tide.”

With a nod from the young men, they made their way on foot, and Joran could really see the mayhem as they ran through the Central Plaza, filled with broken down cars and terrified people running amok. Even without the Beasts making their way in yet, the rubble of the sky bridges and second level of the city littering the ground; and pressurized water geysers sprouted up under the streets, as well as through the remnants of buildings they’d carved through was evidence of the damage their assault had already dealt. The crowds of people were significantly lessened in numbers as they bolted for the Command Center, and the inside was almost entirely desolate, except the clerks settling into their gear, some pulling out long naginatas, while others clipped on tower shields and whips. All of them did so with uncanny calmness, as they nodded to the trio as they entered in and made their way to the elevator. Joran glimpsed the man that had told them about Saum’s tradition of disappearing, and nodded to him grimly.

The man’s eyes were solemn, but he tightened his tower shield onto his arm and nodded once before filing out of the lobby with the rest of the clerks and attendants. By the time the doors were closed for the elevator, the entire chambers were emptied.

Joran looked down as the elevator began its ascent and took in a shaky breath, “They haven’t even entered, and still...”

“And still, we must fight,” Saum coarsely corrected Joran’s line of thought while looking sideways to him, “It doesn’t matter what is happening now, it’s over if we let them beat us without a fight.”

Joran gritted his teeth in despair, “Those clerks are going to the gate aren’t they?”

“And they’ll do whatever it takes necessary to stave the Beasts away.”

“…”

The elevator lifted into the glass section of the shaft, where Joran could now take in the entire view of Sentinalus again. The tidy, chaotic yet organized streets were filled with wrecked vehicles. Looming metal wrecks of sky bridge sections fallen off the draped, warped remains that were still fastened throughout the east side of the city, most of the second level having completely fallen on top of the base level, smoldering smoke and dust billowing out in huge swathes of clouds, blotting out the once bright sunlight. Where there were once glistening streetlights, the ashen sunlight casted long shadows across the ground. On the far side of the city that was mostly undamaged still, there were still some traffic moving, but most of it had stalled out as people made their way to the southwest side of the city.

It was then that Joran’s eyes widened, “Wait, they can’t leave! The Beasts will just flood in from that gate!”

Drekor grimaced as he affirmed Joran’s fears, “That’s correct… Which is why… We will be opening the East Gate, and fight them there. Let the merchants and civilians evacuate.”

“…?!” Joran’s eyes went wide at Drekor’s reveal of the plan in motion, the clerk that flashed a solemn look to him coming to mind, and he gritted his teeth, “We can’t just send the soldiers to die!”

“They might not. They most likely will. They understand that,” Saum spoke flatly, as the elevator settled into the Tower and the door opening to the officers and soldiers that were working in there focused entirely on their duties. The only ones that noticed the trio entering was the captain from earlier, her gold amber eyes dark as she saluted Saum as well as the woman who was presumably the Okeanos captain.

“Commander, we have the captain of the ship waiting at your office. Do you need me to relay any further orders to the garrison?”

“Not right now. Make sure we’re fortified and ready for when the gate opens,” Saum ordered as he curtly walked to his desk, shaking hands with the tall, burlesque woman, whose tanned skin were ripe with scars as they sat down and started talking.

Joran was still aghast and turned to Drekor, pleading, “We can’t just leave them there! A Sea Serpent, and who knows what else….”

“Joran, listen to me,” Drekor’s patience seemed to have ran out as he turned to Joran, his face soured with Joran being apparently frayed, “This was exactly what we were waiting for. We can’t win a battle without sacrifices. There can not be a war won if we do not have willing soldiers. And these are willing soldiers under Saum, willing to do what they can to safeguard the Metropolis. Don’t disrespect them any further.”

“… Right,” Joran’s response was numbed as he looked away from his friend, understanding how selfish he was being, but refusing to accept the reality of the situation, tightening his grip into his own hands, digging his nails in, out of frustration.

“Joker, Crown Prince,” Saum waved them over, and briskly reviewed what he found out, “Captain Als here just informed me that her crew and her were the only survivors of the harbor attack. I suspected as much, but this much is all we can ask for…”

The woman nodded to Saum, before bringing her cool azure eyes over to the duo now in front of her and gave a short bow as she spoke with a deep alto voice, “Pleasure to meet you two, although I suppose it’s not the best time for frivolity. We were still stowed away in Sentinalus after our journey from Gaia when the attack happened. If we open the gate we’ll be able to assist this garrison however we can. Our brethren and sisters were caught off guard no doubt by the Sea Serpent, but we will fare better, I assure you.”

Drekor stepped forward, asking the question likely everyone in the room was waiting for an answer on, “And can the Cities expect reinforcement from Seizo?”

The surrounding officers around the garrison’s captain were all holding their breaths, looking at Als, waiting for her response, as she nodded her head, “Over a dozen ships of our own were in this harbor. Okeanos Guild will answer back with the rest mobilized against the assault.”

The garrison’s captain sighed and started barking orders, rejuvenating the spirit and morale in the Tower, which no doubt began to spread to the rest of the garrison as they received newfound orders through the radio operators that lined up along the walls.

Joran looked around, seeing the soldiers working together, and the morale being considerably bolstered, he sighed to himself and took a deep breath. He wouldn’t allow any more than necessary to be sacrificed.

He cleared his throat, and looked straight at Captain Als, “So we need to let the Beasts in, and fend them back for you and yours to be able to join the fray?”

Als nodded, “Yes, this garrison will no doubt be tested, but us in the Okeanos Guild are only worth our spunk of being in the Borderlands if we’re near the ocean.”

“Well, it just so happens we’re of the same mind then, at least on opening the gate. Are you all ready?”

“I’m going down there,” Joran spoke resolutely, to which the group looked on in shock, especially Als.

“… The Joker can’t possibly join the bloodbath that will undoubtedly happen!” Her eyes shook as she sounded out her disbelief.

“It’s not my place to be here. I’m not a leader,” Joran’s eyes closed as he steeled himself one last time, “But I won’t sit here and let those on the ground fight alone. I’m going.”

Saum finally gave a light chuckle and shrugged, “Well, as little as I know of the Joker, this isn’t too surprising, Als. It just so happens that the Crown Prince is of the same mind.”

Joran turned over to Drekor, now realizing he had brandished his Dao from its sheath at his side. Drekor chuckled and eyed his friend.

“What? You really thought I was going to sit out on one more battle? This time, we’ll fight side by side.”

“…” Joran smiled faintly and nodded, looked back at Saum, and furrowed his brows sternly, “Commander, we will take our leave with the crew then.”

A simple nod and they were off. Back in the elevator, Als eyed the duo up and down and sighed lamentedly.

“To think you two would be willing to fight on the ground, perhaps we were wrong about the Metropolis and their folks.”

Joran studied Als curiously for a second, “What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell ya when the battle is over, ‘kay?” Als smiled, her energy boiling, “First let’s deal with these Beasts.”

The trio nodded, and they made their way over to the place Als’s crew of 15 was residing, not too far away from the east wall. Joran noticed they brandished remarkably similar blades to his and Drekor’s Dao, but it was curved more pronouncedly, some longer, some smaller. As they began making their way to the garrison’s fortification, the ground rumbled again as the metal weakly groaned again as the Beasts battered the gate once more, now almost deafening to the group. Joran clasped his ears as he could see the garrison come into view as they turned onto the wide street that led out into the gate. There was a solid wall of sandbags laid down in a half circle around the gate as well as small towers that were fixed in intervals between the sandbags, with metal stands settled in for what Joran could only describe as a long barrel that two soldiers were holding onto, belts of brass in one of their hands stationed on each tower.

Als chirped up as the rumbling died down, “Ah, those don’t happen to be the new weapons the Metropolis came up with?”

Drekor smiled bitterly to himself, “We didn’t really invent them, just brought them back as they seemed useful. Though there’s a reason guns went obsolete.”

At the mention of these guns, Joran cocked an eyebrow to his friend, completely unaware of these weapons’ existence, but also not surprised at the same time he was unaware, “And how did they go obsolete?”

Drekor shrugged and stated it simply, “Too many Beasts. Once those belts are ran through, those soldiers will be the same as any other Gouriki or Suekamikou.”

“…”

The group made their way into a sandbag section that was occupied by Metal Boulder Sect soldiers, as they radioed in their arrival.

Joran could feel the palpable tension in the air, each soldier more wary and alert than the last he glimpsed at, all the way down the rows of them at each section. Even as he looked at the sections up next to the wall, the soldiers he couldn’t see clearly, he could tell they were ready. And he steeled himself, taking a deep breath as he looked back at his friend.

“Well, we’re here now. You sure you wanna be down here?”

Drekor smirked, “Sounds like you’re getting cold feet.”

“… I’ve done this before.”

“You said it yourself, that doesn’t mean it gets any easier.”

Joran shook his head softly as the lieutenant of this Metal Boulder Sect squad they were with spoke up, her voice snapping the tension in half, “They’re opening the gate, be ready!”

The groaning of the metal as the gate whirred open was heavy, beleaguered, and fatigued. As soon as the gate’s bulkhead was snapped open, the entire piece fell down, flattening a few soldiers, killing them instantly as the garrison and the group could now see outside, a gigantic sea snake head peering back at them, before it shrieked again, blowing a few of them back, as it dunk its head back into the ocean, now revealing an entire entourage of goblins, kobolds, and orcs on the ground, beginning to pour in through the hole.

Everyone snapped back to the moment, as they heard the guns go off, beginning to curb down the rows of Beasts pouring in, blue blood splattering onto free spaces of the street sooner than new Beasts could cover them in their rampage.

The lieutenant shouted back to her squad and the group, her eyes now wild as she readied her shield and whip, her voice rasp, “The moment those go down, we need to be ready! On their mark, we spearhead through to get the Okeanos crew to the sea, we hold them off while the citizens make their escape!”

Piles of dead goblins and kobolds began to form as they flooded in, numbers unmatched by anything Joran thought could even be possible, his golden-hued rings of eyes telling him both how fast they go down to those guns mounted in the towers as well as how innumerable they were.

Dozens fell… Several hundreds fell… The guns finally fell silent as they peered into the thousands mark, leaving still at least half of the assault’s number, which was the signal for the rest of the soldiers. Screaming in their battle hype, they all charged over the corpses of the goblins and kobolds, clashing against their remaining numbers. Gouriki naginatas speared Beasts as fast as they came like kebabs, while Suekamikou tower shields braced against Orcs that began to filter in as well, their whips lashing out, tearing apart their marks. Kobold magic of fire, poison, lightning, and ice whisked through soldiers, the Beasts’ own counterattack felling soldiers in each stroke of their elemental attacks. The packs clearly divided as they were in Inven. Slowly, the soldiers began to be outmatched…

“Let’s go!” Joran roared into battle, and along with Drekor, whisked through dozens of kobolds apiece, raking through packs of them as they sped through them, alleviating some pressure the garrison found upon them.

Joran’s berserk style lending him an afterimage of a demon unleashed. Every sword swing reckless, domineering. Every stroke, a Beast’s violent death. His roars akin to the very creatures he slayed left and right as he pushed forward. Drekor spun around and swished through ranks of kobolds gracefully, his attacks concise and focused as they ran parallel to each other, spearheading the group that needed to break through, the hole they made through the Beasts allowing them passage as they fended for themselves best they can, their scimitars clashing against sharpened sticks and rocks of the goblins. The rods of the kobolds. The stone slabs of the orcs.

The chaos that the garrison found themselves in was soon left behind by the group as they piledrove to the other side of the breach, scattered Beasts slowly gathering themselves into the area to flood through the open hole, many that were familiar, and some…

Joran immediately eyed the black scaled dog-like Beasts that stalked upon the group eerily, almost quivering in their own skin. About a dozen of them seemed to suddenly surround them, as both Joran’s and Drekor’s hair stood on the back of their skin. Without even looking at each other, they immediately knew that these Beasts were as fast as them, if not faster.

In a hushed whisper, Drekor spoke wryly, “Heh… Father told me about Void Walkers.”

A few of the Walkers snapped their maws, gnarled fangs lined inside in rows, their eyes wild but calculating as Drekor continued, “He fought them in the last Invasion. They proved to be almost as fast as him.”

“…?!” That alone frightened Joran, the immense power Reigan displayed in the forest for him to see not even two weeks ago, and the dog-like Beasts that surrounded them having that same prowess sent a cold shiver down his body.

But to this Drekor perused the situation, “Well. Not that we can back down now, eh?”

Joran’s eyes went berserk as they both held their breaths, time slowing to a crawl around them. A Walker mid-snap seemed to take forever to finally close it.

The real strength of the Idaten was their ultimate form, “The Realm.” About halfway through the intense sparring the duo did, Drekor finally sat down and began teaching it to Joran. Unlike the absolute “Divine Sight” technique that the Divine Eye Sect failed to teach Joran, “The Realm” had varying levels of efficacy. Time slowed down, but it depended on how well each user cultivates the form, how well they’re able to soothe their body into absolute calm. Yet another reason the Draconic Blade Style practiced discipline and grace. For Drekor, almost everything has slowed down nearly completely. While for Joran, the first Walker lunged at him at near almost imperceptible speed.

Bringing his Dao up, he slashed the air where the Void Walker was supposed to be, until he ducked instinctively, looking up to see Drekor’s blade’s blunt edge holding the Void Walker’s mouth at bay, as Joran swung his blade directly at its underbelly. As they exhaled their breath, the duo’s sudden change in positions startled the group before they realized the scaled dog gasping to its death behind Joran, blue blood pooling beneath it.

“Not that we can back down, indeed,” Joran dryly stated as they both took the plunge again, taking a deep breath.

Thus was the limits of extreme speed. As long as they could hold their breath, they had it.

Time slowed down, as Joran wildly lunged like he did against Drekor, his blade swinging a broad stroke into two Void Walkers at once, that both dropped similarly to the first one, their legs severed off; while Drekor diced two himself, leaving only a handful of Void Walkers left. Joran sighed and readied himself when a sudden breeze whisked by him. A Walker they hadn’t seen yet move, behind him as he reactively pushed himself to the limits again. But it was still too fast for him, as he could see its clawed paw flail at him as he ducked down; slashing across his left eye, which instantly could only see red as he stabbed it in the guts and kicked it down.

Gasping for air, Joran dropped to one knee as he lifted a hand up to his face, feeling blood warmly pool into it. He grimaced and shouted to the crew, his voice cold.

“GO! WE CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH, HELP THE GARRISON!”

His words were like a bucket of water for them as they did as they were told, and began to make their way to the water that was only a few dozens of feet away. As they did, Drekor dealt with all but one Void Walker remaining as he looked at his friend in horror.

Joran shook his head furiously, getting light headed just from that alone and shouted at his friend coarsely, “Don’t fucking tell me, I’m aware! Help the crew be able to defend Sentinalus!”

Drekor faltered for a second, before he whizzed and diced the last Void Walker that was whimpering at his feet now. Drekor was panting from the exertion and nodded before he started making his way to the crew, leaving Joran on his knee as he looked up to the sky, the wall looming far above him as he gulped in deep breaths.

He couldn’t see at all out of his left eye now, he was sure of that much. But the blood flowing from his face seemed to be stifling. The claw attack only cut him deep enough to make his left eye waste, but this was enough for him to calm himself down.

On one side, he could hear the thrashing of water, and as he looked over, he could see the 16 Okeanos Guild members wielding huge swathes of seawater as they began to wash away the Beasts that tried to pour into the gate, and began to slowly swipe away Beasts, cutting through them with water, drowning them in bubbles. Just these 16 alone, suddenly turned the tide to the garrison’s favor, Joran had no doubt of it. And so he fell onto his back, laid sprawled out, as he looked up again.

He slowly blinked and closed his good eye, taking deep breaths, and looked up through his right eye once more, as he turned to look over at the crew get eaten in one go by the Sea Serpent. Its individual rows of teeth almost as large as any one person.

“… Huh?” The action was slow, but sudden at the same time, as he couldn’t process what had just happened.

The soldiers were mostly able to fend off the Beasts now, but as Joran got up, his eye wavered, and his head throbbed as he yelled at Drekor, “DREKOR GET BACK!”

Surprised, Drekor’s dumb gaze at what happened near him was snapped to the screaming of his friend, and he shook his head as he began to run back. In almost an instant, Drekor moved to Joran, kneeling over him, now outright gasping for air at his exertion. As he was about to talk, the two could hear an all too familiar rumbling begin, as the Sea Serpent colossal torso blocked out the sun as it threw itself into the wall that was no longer bulked. And finally, the wall groaned too weakly in response and began to crumble.

The earth shook violently as the cement of the walls began to fall apart on itself, its weight no longer tolerable as a cascade effect tumbled its way around the city, rubble and pieces falling down on top of itself, and into the city itself as the Sea Serpent let out one final shriek to its triumph as it slunk back into the sea, the Beasts it had slaughtered alongside the entire garrison a moot point to the total breach it achieved.

Both Joran and Drekor numbly looked on as the dust settled slowly, faintly able to see the other side, into the city as the wall had all but nearly dissolved like wet paper at the impact. They could even see the wreckage of buildings folding on themselves, and the Tower slowly falling down on itself, the glass shattering into billions of fragments glistening in the sun even from this far away.

In just one swoop, one strike, the entire situation had changed drastically. The duo understood this, but could only look at the destruction wreaked, and back at each other as they realized it was nothing short of reality in front of them. Everything was sacrificed. Everything was staked on Sentinalus’s defense. And Sentinalus was destroyed.

Although the Beasts were no longer around either, the remaining ones scampering away from the wall, or the others dealt with by the few straggling soldiers that still remained, it wasn’t such a heavy blow to them as it was to the Hero Realm. To the Metropolis.

“… We lost,” Joran finally enunciated, a gasp from both him and Drekor shuddering through their entire body.

“Get up!” Snapping their attention to one of the soldiers, the lieutenant they were with, as she bashed a goblin’s head in with her Tower Shield, “We need to get out of here! Can you get up?”

She made her way to Joran, looking at him at first with shock but quickly regaining her cool, and held a hand out to him, which he looked at blankly for a few seconds before finally gripping it and being pulled up, his own head getting light again.

“I… I can’t go very far,” He admitted, as his head swerved slightly, before Drekor gave him a shoulder to lean on.

“That’s fine, we’ll carry you if we need to,” Drekor grunted as he started pushing his friend to start walking.

The lieutenant nodded and gathered a few Gouriki soldiers that she could find. That was all she could find. And they made their way back around the wall, not even daring to now venture into the east side of the city that was all but rubble now. The soldiers fended off straggling groups of goblins, as well as handfuls of kobolds that were alone. The stumbling that Joran did little to aid their pace, but they trekked slowly towards the north side of the wall, his conscious fading in and out.

“Hey… Hey, buddy, you’re not gonna do this to me right now, so how about this… Tell me about her?” Drekor lightly rapped on Joran’s face, now electing to pick him up and hold in his hands with the help of a larger Gouriki man.

Joran lazily swept his right eye up to his friend’s face, confused, “… Her?”

“Yes… Yes, the Siren. Or whatever you called her.”

“… She’s the First Beast. Or so she says. The one that leads them,” Joran got into a light coughing fit, but quickly recovered and cleared his throat, “She and I kept talking every so often… Ever since the first time I went… Went out to Inven.”

One of the soldiers got ambushed by a pack of goblins, brutally killed with sticks and stones before the other four Gourikis could retaliate, leaving Drekor and the lieutenant; Drekor grimaced as he glanced over for a moment but then glued his eyes back on Joran, “Okay… So she was what… A pen pal?”

Joran faintly chuckled at the lame joke, smiling, “That’s not a good one. No… She constantly kept… Talking about weird stuff… Like how she was me…?”

Eventually, the group made it to the north face of the wall, where they saw the northeast gate was open, the guard post vacant, and the city proper not quite as damaged on this side. They ventured in, making their way slowly to the southwest side where the civilians were evacuating. At least the civilians were able to, as the makeshift group hoped to themselves.

Drekor looked down at his friend whose eyes were slowly lidding, and he rapped him awake again, “Alright, so she was jealous she wasn’t you?”

Joran once again lazily looked back up at his friend, as the soldiers started fighting yet another ambush of goblins, “… Absolutely not… She absolutely… Loathes us… But… Heh, I got her good.”

Drekor nodded along, smiling to his friend as yet two more soldiers fall to their deaths in the struggle, “I see… So she’s dead?”

Joran did a weak shrug, “After today… I would hope so..”

The lieutenant barked at Drekor, “GO! We’ll hold them off over here, get to the Central Plaza and make your way to the gate!”

Joran sluggishly turned as he saw a handful of packs of goblins filter in from behind them, the lieutenant and the remaining two Gouriki soldiers poised to fend them off as Drekor began to run once more, his panting rising in intensity. But they fell one by one too, until the lieutenant was the last one as Drekor rounded a corner into the Central Plaza, cutting her from Joran’s view. The morbid scream that ensued soon afterwards was all but a clear sign to her fate. It wasn’t until he made it to the Central Plaza that Drekor finally took a moment and set Joran down, sitting down next to him at a random street stall that still had fresh produces like apples and watermelons on it. He sighed to himself, his eyes closed as he lolled his head back, while Joran looked at the shatter glass that covered the plaza, slowly gazing up towards the east at the fractured wall. At the demolished Command Center that now sat on top of itself sickly.

He spoke again, no longer quite as light headed, “What are we even going to do when we get… to the gate?”

With a bitter smile, Drekor looked at his friend, “There might still be some people there. Or maybe we’ll find a jeep or something and get out that way.”

“… How are you so optimistic about this?” Joran was genuinely puzzled, his own view seeing that everything was lost, and that they had failed.

“Heh, giving up was never an option. We’ll figure something out. As long as we’re breathing, even with our legs wanting to give out… Well, my legs… We’ll make it out.”

Joran studied his friend’s face, who was very obviously smitten in despondency, much like his own. And yet, he still fiercely held a smile as best he could. He took one look at the smoldering Command Center and took a deep breath before he slowly got himself back up, the lightheadedness returning, but not overwhelming him as he looked at his friend once more, who was getting ready to grab him.

“Fine… We’ll make it so my legs want to give out too, then.”

Drekor finally gave a warm smile as he chuckled to himself lightly, before they began to make their way towards the first road they had driven up on when they first came to Sentinalus, mostly clean of wrecks besides a few fallen sections of the sky bridges still standing above them. Joran noticed that for the most part, the west section of the city was still fine. At this, he found a little more encouragement in keeping pace. They ran into a few goblins, which Drekor handled with ease, his Dao slicing through them fatally in one stroke for each one. Joran’s eyes drew onto his form, slightly taken aback after finally being able to see it without concern for himself. Although his blade was clearly drenched in blue, its grace could not be understated. As Drekor stabbed the final goblin through its chest, they made the rest of the way to the main road. Peering down it they could see an entourage of people at the gate, though they couldn’t discern if they were civilian or not from this distance. But they did see a few people certainly fending off a few more goblins, with some kobolds in between the gate and the duo.

They started walking briskly down the road, observing their surroundings, the groaning of buildings giving way behind them while some creaked ominously in front of them, but finally Joran sighed, his head mostly cleared, “’And still, we must fight.’”

Drekor turned to his friend, nodding with a bitter smile plastered on, his face somewhat strained from fatigue, “Yeah… Can you?”

“If not me, who else?”

They ambushed the kobolds, Joran carefully wielding his Dao, as to not overexert himself, slicing the first one before the other three turned and began their counterassault. Drekor did a broad stroke from his chest and lunged through two of them, while Joran ducked underneath the fireball that was unleashed at him before swinging upwards on the last one. As the last one finished its dry, withered shriek of death, Joran dropped to one knee again, panting, his left eye throbbing once more as Drekor gripped his shoulder and looked down at him.

Joran waved off his friend, taking deep breaths, “I’m fine… Just need to get to the group.”

They eventually made it to the gate at a slower pace, a handful of remaining soldiers were all that were there, none that the duo recognized, loading up into a large transport truck tucked around the corner where they couldn’t see it further up the road. The duo hopped into the open canopy bed in the back with a few others.

Joran glimpsed over a few of them, some had slings for an arm, others had wooden, splintered crutches, and one other seemed to have suffered an injury similar to Joran, with an apparent bandage wrapped around half of their head. He had a scruffy beard and moustache, and his remaining red eye was dulled. Joran nodded to him directly but looked around to the rest of those sitting.

“You’re all from the garrison?”

One of the guys who were missing a leg now grunted, his voice like deep gravel, “Yep. We were sent away when the Okeanos lads turned the tide around… On our way to the Command Center, we saw the wall shatter like glass against the Serpent’s torso… We were lucky that we didn’t get hit by the debris after, but we barely got this truck out of the way of the falling Command Center…”

“… So I assume…” Joran’s voice trailed off, but all of their faces were enough for him to understand.

No survivors.

Another guy, with an arm in a sling grunted, straightening himself up as he gave a dry smile, “Well, the good news is by the time we got here, we saw the last of the civilians evacuate. So really, it was a victory that the bastards were at least staved off.”

Drekor nodded with little conviction, and patted Joran’s back, “When we get back, we’ll see what we can do. But we have the Bloodhounds investigation going on, to look forward to?”

The truck sputtered to life and began to move forward, through the gate and away from the wreckage of Sentinalus. Joran’s eye trailed behind the truck, watching the wall come into view, his face darkening in the twilight of the sky.

“They’ll pay for what they started. One way or another, it will end.”

Drekor silently patted his friend’s back as he sighed, turning his conversation to the other soldiers that were sitting in the bed, trying his best to lift the atmosphere. Joran tuned it out as he lulled himself with the bumps of the road they were on. Looking out to the north like he did before, he could see the fields of corn and wheat. To the south he could now see the fields of grass occupied with pasturing animals being herded for the night and away from the crumbling wall. His thoughts wandered to the time in the city. To the soldiers in the Tower. To the beach, laying there in the peaceful warm sun. To Saum.

At least we stopped them at Sentinalus. What if they could have gone further? He thought to himself, sighing tiredly. At this point, Drekor had gotten bandages from a soldier and some alcohol, with which he slowly coaxed Joran into being disinfected and wrapped with a bandage on the left side of his face. By the time they had made their way to where the city was relatively small in view, they saw the rest of the eastern side of the wall fall into the city, now like a crater as the rest of the wall clearly began to facture, disseminating cracks throughout that could barely be seen. Joran glimpsed over one last time, to see those once proud white walls, before he looked up and away to the now night sky, seeking solace in the starlight popping into view on the violet canvas.