As the fight finally came to an end, everyone could only feel relieved. "Is it over?" asked Liro, breathing heavily, exhausted from walking all over the battlefield. The battle had started at about 10:00 a.m. and it was now almost 8:00 p.m.; they had fought for ten hours straight. All of them were hungry and extremely tired.
"Yeah," Kael said, trying to calm Liro, who then fell backward with his butt on the ground, relieved, watching the sky and thinking the battle was finally over.
As Bianca reached Eros and the others, she noticed that someone was missing: it was Allen. She was used to seeing others' expressions, studying them even when there was no need, and she could sense that both Eros and Tauren were extremely sad. Despite the small smiles they wore, Bianca, who had barely spent any time with their team, felt profoundly sad about Allen's death.
The few times she was at the headquarters, she always stayed in the corner of the room, disliking the noise and the crowds. But sometimes, Allocen used to reshape his body in many different ways, usually making everyone laugh. Bianca, who rarely smiled, would let a small smile appear on her face, amused by Allen's creations.
Glancing over at the others, she noticed Eros and Tauren helping the wounded. Darian and Vane were still unconscious on the ground, with Snowy unconscious and lying on top of Darian. Eros and Tauren, who had just helped Jaune get up, spotted Bianca carrying Nysira's bleeding body on her back.
"BIANCA!" shouted Eros as he immediately ran toward her, grabbing Nysira's body and gently laying it on the ground. The blood had just stopped dripping from her wounds.
"Is it finally over?" Tauren asked Bianca, who nodded.
"Finally... Allen, we were able to avenge you. Your sacrifice won't be wasted," he said, glancing at the sky with tears flowing down his cheek. Bianca had been able to suppress all her emotions, so she did not feel any tears, but she simply stood near Tauren in silence.
"Is she going to be alright?" asked Jaune, breathing heavily. He could barely stand up and felt extremely weak, nearly stumbling.
"Yes, luckily her wounds are really superficial, but she lost a lot of blood. It will take a while for her to wake up," Eros answered calmly. He was the only one on the team who had studied medicine and knew how to treat these types of wounds.
Suddenly, Kael, Allocen, and Liro came down from the hill. As the others glanced over them, they felt extremely relieved. Seeing the three men, they understood that this battle was truly over.
"Is it over, guys?" asked Tauren. All the men nodded.
"But soon, another big attack might happen," Kael said as he and Allocen went to take Darian and Vane's bodies. Liro gently held Snowy in his hands.
Everyone watched Kael with terror in their eyes. "Explain better, please..." begged Jaune. This war had already stressed him so much; knowing that another one might happen soon made him feel only worse.
"Let's go to a safer place, and I'll tell you everything," Kael answered. "Have you finished healing Nysira?" he asked Eros, checking if they were ready to depart.
Eros put Nysira on his back. "Yeah, let's go."
They all reached some old ruins nearby. It was getting late, and they needed to eat and rest in a safer location. They arrived inside some town ruins that Eros's group had spotted before. The buildings around them had completely fallen to the ground, with just a few still standing, although their condition was extremely poor. Lots of plants grew around the destroyed city, filling it with species that were rarely seen five hundred years ago.
Choosing the first standing building, they entered what looked like a minimarket, but none of them knew that except for Darian. Even Darian would have had a hard time recognizing the building; the shelves were completely destroyed, and the only things left were some carts, but they were rusty and the wheels beneath them were completely ruined.
"This is a good place," Eros said as he led the way. Everyone sat down on the floor, which was totally ruined. Kael was the only one who stood still; he was about to explain the truth of what they had learned earlier with Sappho.
Suddenly, Darian opened his eyes. He noticed he was in a different place. Seeing that his wounds were healed, he felt relieved, understanding that the battle was really over.
"Darian!" Eros said happily as he passed some fruit to Darian, who, half-awake, could barely hold it in his hands.
"If I'm here, that means we won, right?" Darian asked. Noticing everyone's exhausted expressions, he could only feel happy that everyone was there. Wait a moment... I haven't seen Allen. Why isn't he here? Darian thought as he started to search the dark corners of the room.
"Wait, guys... Allen?" Darian asked, scared. Seeing the expressions of his companions, he felt a sudden sadness wash over him. He did not know what to say. In this new world, it was the first time he had lost someone. This death hit harder.
While he lived on Earth five hundred years ago, he lost many people to sickness or old age, but none of those deaths hit as hard as this one. I don't even know why... but this one is the one making me most sad, Darian thought. Knowing himself, he realized this one hurt the most because it was not something that happened back then.
Darian felt powerless, a sense of guilt hitting him hard, like he had never felt before. He remained silent.
Suddenly, Eros broke the silence. "It's sad that we lost Allen, but I'm sure he wouldn't want us to be unhappy," Eros said, and everyone agreed with him.
"Well then, as I was saying..." Kael took the floor once again and began to speak about what he, Liro, and Allocen had learned after the fight with Sappho.
"As I told you before, another attack might happen." Everyone was less surprised than before, but it was the first time Darian had heard this, and he was extremely shocked. He was petting Snowy, who was lying on his lap. Another attack? But they attacked Skar-Zhul a few days ago, and they're already planning to attack another city... he thought, scared.
"We were almost able to kill Sappho, but a portal opened behind her, and another human came out. He had messy orange hair... I've never seen anyone like that," Kael started to speak before being interrupted by Bianca.
"He's called Anacreon. I studied him while I was on the black planet," Bianca said, and everyone moved their attention to her rather than Kael. "He's the one who can create the portals and the whole destruction. He doesn't truly stand with the evil side; he simply likes to watch destruction, so he will always work with them," Bianca finished, adding only that.
Bianca was a powerful ally with all the information she had gained over the years.
"As Bianca said, he's the one who can create the portal, and soon they will attack another city: Yalemba," Kael said. Everyone was a bit shocked to hear that name. Yalemba? Why that city?
Darian was the only one who didn't understand, so he looked even more confused than them. "Hey guys, what is Yalemba? Please explain it," Darian asked, unable to find an answer to their shock.
"Oh, right..." Tauren said as he sat down next to Darian to explain what Yalemba was. Darian focused all his attention on Tauren.
"As you might know, there are four main cities still standing, and Yalemba is one of them. But what bothers us the most is that Yalemba is the newest city that grew. That city is only about a hundred years old and is extremely small," Tauren began. All the other humans gathered around Tauren, some just to hear him speak, others to understand something new.
"Yalemba is the smallest city, with just a few people. I'm sure they don't surpass five thousand, mainly because that city is a sort of union of all the smallest villages that used to be around," Tauren said. Darian was now paying close attention to him. I always wondered why there were only four main cities and not small villages around too... Darian thought.
"A hundred years ago, all these villages understood they couldn't survive by themselves. Because the three main cities at that time were extremely overcrowded, they chose to create a new town. They are located at the extreme south, and they hate the war. In fact, you never see them around in the mainland," Tauren finished speaking. "That's all the information I have. Is it enough?" he asked, feeling slightly apologetic that he couldn't explain more.
"Oh, don't worry, Tauren. In fact, you even told me something I didn't know!" Kael said, trying to reassure him. "But here comes the main problem—" he added. Everyone understood why he was concerned.
"Why the hell are they aiming toward Yalemba?" Eros asked. Everyone focused on their thoughts, trying hard to come up with an idea.
"I might have something in mind, but I don't know if it's actually true," Bianca said as she got up and started to speak. "As I told you, there are nine powerful Krukins who can speak. As I noticed in Darian's diary, you were only able to meet seven of them, right?" she asked Darian, who nodded.
"In all the time I spent on the black planet and around it, I was able to study the Black Defenders, but I never encountered number eight and nine," she said. Everyone now started to figure something out, different ideas popping into their minds.
"So that means one of them could already be in the city..." Liro said.
"I don't know for sure, but as far as I can tell, yes. As we know, there are Krukins who can swim in the sea. What if there is a Black Defender able to swim in the sea? As Tauren told us, Yalemba is in the south, so it must be close to the sea, right?" Bianca asked as she glanced toward Tauren, who nodded.
"That would make it their easiest city to attack... especially by seeing how weak that city is," said Allocen, who had just come up with a conclusion that everyone could only agree with.
"And as I was about to tell you before... this attack will happen in about a month," Kael said. Everyone felt a bit relieved to hear that many days would pass before the attack.
"So we can only trust what that Anacreon said and hope it's true? And that they won't attack before?" asked Eros, already wondering who he should send. Kael sadly nodded.
"Well, for now, we should just think about resting... we will come up with something in the days that follow," Jaune said. Everyone agreed.