“How long until backup?” Kevin Bell tried to stay as calm as he could. Droplets of sweat poured down his face.

A young man looked at his tablet and responded, “Our army won’t be there soon enough! Our first battalion will arrive in 15 minutes!”

The prime minister observed the crowd of older deputies. They were all panicking and debating on what to do.

He clapped his hands. The sound echoed throughout the room, ultimately silencing them. “Dammit! We prepared for this! We need to protect the city at all costs! We can’t let them destroy our morale!”

…

Isaac was in the bathroom at his home. As he looked in the mirror, he could see his eyes glowing red again.

‘This is… I can still see. I should tell someone about it, but….’

He closed his eyes, trying to calm down. ‘This has been happening to me more and more often. At first, it was only once a week for a short period, but now it's happening every day!’

Isaac looked back in time. There was only one possible cause. “Was it because of THAT? The weird red substance a few months ago, I thought it was only my imagination at first, but did it really happen? Could it have altered with my magic and emotions?”

He reflected on what happened to him on his first mission in the Underground City.

“Hey, Isaac! Come here!” Henri called him from the living room.

Isaac put on coloured contacts. His eyes instantly went back to their original colour.

Isaac arrived in the living room. Henri, Aaron and Alex were looking at him strangely. “What?”

“The guild is under attack.” His father looked him straight in the eyes.

Confused, Isaac made a few steps to the side while looking at the floor and thinking deeply.

He turned his head to look at his father. “So? Can’t we beat them? The other guilds won’t let us get attacked!”

Alex clenched his fists. “Isaac, the Topaz Guild has the Obscure Guild’s support. The Democratic Alliance won’t dare make any direct moves. That could start a new world war.”

Aaron spoke for Isaac. “We can still defend ourselves! Our territory is immense, and the Wandering Lands can attack them from the back!”

The Wandering Lands were smaller-sized guilds set in the center of the West Continent. Together, their territory was almost as big as the Western D.A. and half as big as the Topaz Guild.

Alex had predicted that larger guilds, like the Western D.A. which is directly administered by the Democratic Alliance, would remain neutral.

However, if the Wandering Lands saw their territories threatened by other guilds, they wouldn’t think twice about picking sides.

Henri responded. “The Wandering Lands aren’t organized. It’s just a collection of smaller guilds. They don’t want to partake in this war at the moment. They want to stay safe. Also, our enemy is now attacking us from the north as well. It aims to sandwich us. It’s no longer a fight just between our borders.

“This is why you’ll flee to these lands. Go to the Hellish City. I have an acquaintance there, Ejiro Sani.”

Aaron and Isaac were shocked. ‘Flee? Why would we run away?!’

Henri read their thoughts. “I know you want to fight, but you two and Alex are too young for this war. I don’t want you to die.”

“Now go! Find Ejiro!”

…

“Please! Don’t do this!” An old man sat on his knees on the rooftop of a fifteen-storey building.

Rico Amon looked at him emotionlessly.

Explo and Crow, who stood behind him, were getting scared of him. But more than that, they were annoyed. Instead of killing a few unfortunate citizens, they would have rathered participating in the actual battle in the streets.

“Die freak!” Rico kicked the man off the edge of the building, or so he tried.

“What the fuck?!” A green shield had appeared under his foot. It intercepted his strike.

*Voosh* An S-Craft landed behind them. Out of it came Christiana de Champlain and Johnathan Dubois.