None of the humans knew the intricacies of what had happened. The events at the military camp. The betrayals. The appearance of the Zorvan colonel.
But they didn't need to.
Because every single person in the human domain understood one thing with terrifying clarity:
Death and carnage were coming.
Those words echoed across the cities and sectors, sinking into bones, shaking souls.
To the people, the Vampyros alone had been a death sentence, a bloodthirsty and predatory race with the power to end them all.
But now it wasn't just them.
The Dimensari.
The Dragons.
And the Vampyros.
Three apex races.
Three juggernauts.
Each one capable of annihilation on their own.
But now allied, declaring war simultaneously.
They were screwed.
When the news broke, time seemed to stop.
People froze mid-step. Conversations died mid-word. Even the wind seemed to still.
And then… the weight of it hit them.
The dread. The realization.
That was why the Aegis Shield had been activated and sustained since the night before.
But they each knew.
Even the shield had its limits. It wasn't eternal. It would stop. It would shut down.
And when it did… there would be nothing but slaughter.
Panic swept the domain.
Humans did what humans always did when fear reigned and leadership crumbled, they rioted.
Masses surged toward the estates of the tiered families, screaming, demanding answers, protection, anything.
The gates of Sector officials and tiered Houses were pounded by fists, flooded with pleas and curses.
But the tier one and two families were overwhelmed almost instantly. Even with their strength and their elites, they couldn't contain the chaos. Because the truth was…
Long before the news reached the people, it had already reached the powerful.
And the powerful did what they always did in the face of fire.
They fled.
The human domain was structured like a vast circle, sectors forming concentric rings within it.
And as fear took hold, the tier two and tier three families began evacuating from the outer rings, where the enemy would strike first, and slipped quietly into the inner circles.
Abandoning their territories.
Abandoning their people.
They had no intention of being the first to fall.
Their flight was so swift, so cowardly, that even the tier ones were caught off guard. They only realized what had happened once entire sectors had gone dark, family banners removed, estates emptied.
And now, the tier ones and some Sentinel Guardians were left to deal with the aftermath.
The fury.
The fear.
The carnage.
Warriors were dispatched.
Skirmishes erupted across cities.
Civilians were cut down, mobs clashing with guards, friends turning on neighbors. The once-orderly streets of the human domain devolved into smoke-choked battlefields.
The enemy hadn't yet struck.
But humanity had already begun to bleed from within.
And as the chaos churned below, a lone figure rose into the sky, ascending slowly, steadily, until he hovered above the Aegis Shield that guarded the heart of the domain: the Academy.
Clad in a simple white trench coat that refused to flutter despite the furious winds around him, his silhouette cut a striking figure against the gray skies.
At his waist rested a gleaming katana.
His hands were clasped behind his back.
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