(Written while listening to: "The Dawn Will Come" by Trevor Morris on YouTube)
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Once they have left the underground the two Cultists/Knights and an impromptu-Knight found themselves on the ground floor of the Cathedral.
Laito expected to see the sky outside the windows darkened by obstruction of artificial sun. Instead, the entirety of Incandescent Keep was brightly lit by the golden radiance of a light-woven protective dome that was rising from the wall's battlements.
He would be awestruck at the amazing sight if not for the darker reality that was presented to his sight.
The outcome of the battle.
The trio headed back to the Cathedral's Prayer Room for an update on the details on what exactly happened, as their information was restricted to security readings that Gastac was observing. As such they received a summarized report from a surviving Awakened Knight.
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Laito's entire participation in the fight was restricted to kickstarting the entire thing with setting up an ambush attack and then, being sent under the Master Fang's observation in case he was corrupted/influenced and had to be restrained. Thankfully, nothing like that has happened.
But, just because he missed the focal point of the combat, that doesn't mean its consequences doesn't concern him. Now, he was looking at the previous empty-looking inner parade grounds.
They weren't empty anymore.
Swaths of civilians were filling the entirety of the vicinity. Most of them were still in turmoil, moving, shouting, looking for their families… especially parents looking for their missing children.
Some were lucky.
Most weren't.
Just because Gatekeeper Gastac declared evacuation 100% complete, that didn't mean that 100% of all civilians were evacuated.
No.
That meant that 100% of SURVIVING civilians were transported inside the keep's walls.
Which apparently was around 40% of the city's population. Still, more than anticipated.
Without all this planning: Setting up an ambush and then sending the entirety of the Order into a condensed strike at the enemy's most distracted moment, all of them would be… not really dead, but "taken over" which would be an arguably worse fate than death.
They were facing a Cursed Devil attempting to transform into a Tyrant after all.
A one that was intelligent and capable of scheming and patiently waiting. It was a being whose strength was on a similar level to the Condemnation, a Nightmare Creature that could only be killed by a Supreme… and not directly on top of that, but by usage of guile. But
She could easily wipe out Ascendants and below. Saints could barely have any chance of surviving her harrowing powers. As long as said Saint didn't have Divine Aspect, they stood no chance.
Incandescent Order's only saving graces were: home advantage, powerful wards that the City was infused with and having a skilled diviner.
Yet, they were still almost completely defeated.
Even with the help of the Sovereign it would be a difficult battle, but since they were abandoned, it was basically a sentence upon all of them.
Thankfully, with the appearance of an unexpected element, they managed to alter the situation, which would be impossible in case of Laito's absence.
What made Laito special and the only possible candidate for the task were multiple things characteristic only to him.
First, that he was in the area for a relatively short time, which gave Creature's charm less time to take hold of him. Which combined with stacked mind defenses of Gandeon's Name Shaping and his Robe that he resummoned as fast as he could after dismissing it, so that he could be put under Charm, but not entirely. It was a careful balance between being charmed to blend in, but conscious enough to fulfil the task.
Most importantly though, he was an actual adult with a body of a child. He was the only one who could blend in, Hag knowing none the better.
He had to be reactive enough so that Marigold to use his ability on him as it required the conscious permission from the target to "get swapped" if it was alive.
It worked perfectly. They struck with a prepared disrupting device that managed to break the entirety of enchantment, which allowed Knights to move quickly and coordinate the evacuation while simultaneously launching attacks at the enemy.
Font of Wisdom, Pure-gold Justicar, Crimson Blood Pest and Glade Rootwarden.
All four Saints unleashed all of their abilities at the same time, with the support of the Masters, while the rest of the Knights were repelling the swiftly emerging servants of almost-Tyrant and commencing the evacuation.
Of course the evacuation couldn't be commenced earlier because of Charm's influence and that it would blow the cover of their ambush.
The Matron reeled only a split-second from the effects of her Charm's breaking.
Then, she furiously lashed out.
In a single strike, the Crimson Blood Pest was killed, alongside a quarter of Ascendant Knights.
After that her powers were partially restricted by the City's wards focusing on her, alongside Tirabeth's summoning attacks of her condensed source element, which basically were Creature's kryptonite.
They entered a strained stalemate, during which most of the evacuation commenced.
As it was nearing completion: The stalemate was broken.
Lady Tirabeth got incapacitated.
With her anathema out of the picture, Matron would massively gain an upper hand, as such that was the moment when Lord Commander announced retreat.
At his signal, Gastac activated a function of the wards that connected to Incandescent Armors all Knights had.
[Knights Recall]
All the Incandescents, regardless of what they were doing and as long as they weren't captured by the enemy, were transported back to the Keep.
Instantly after that all the wards in the city were deactivated, all power channeled into the Incandescent Keep effectively raising the golden dome hanging above their heads.
Cutting them off from the outside world.
Unlike the Empire the Incandescent didn't leave anyone behind anyone that could be saved.
The last civilian left was evacuated in the millisecond before the dome was condensed.
The last person standing outside in the now ruined city was Glade Rootwarden…- but he had prepared himself a way of escape in advance.
At this point the battle was over.
The charm was broken and the Matron partially failed with her advancement into a proper Tyrant. At the moment she could be considered a half-Tyrant at best.
On the human side… over half of a city's population was slaughtered or taken. They lost 80% Awakened Knights who died at the hands of Matron's minions, which left their numbers only in the dozens. The casualties of Ascendant's were less severe on the other hand. With the exception of Matron's initial strike no more Masters died, leaving their numbers at 16.
The most damning losses were the ones among their most elite forces: Transcendants.
Out of their four initial Saints, only one remained: Font of Wisdom.
Crimson Blood Pest died after striking once. At the beginning.
Glade Rootwarden was routed at the end.
And most horrifyingly:
Lady Tirabeth was captured by the Enemy.
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[4 years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet