PORION CITY, GRADE D
It was the largest and most populated city in all of Grade D.
And being a city in Grade D—which, in and of itself, was the second least safe Grade in the entirety of Endearth, only lagging behind Grade E, which was the well-known prison ground—its reputation was far from desirable.
Grade D was home to many of the lower-levelled races, including Gorvans, a subterranean people with obsidian-like skin who thrived in darkness; the Velmari, an amphibious race capable of manipulating mist and water, the Oreliths, humanoids with crystalline growths on their bodies, capable of storing minute traces of Apex Energy but never wielding it in battle as well as Humans.
These were races with very low potential for Apex Energy and, therefore, were able to build some semblance of life here.
Porion City, being the largest habitation of the entire Grade D, was where most of them had settled.
Being the second-lowest Grade, Grade D wasn't without its own problems.
However, many of the races here had grown accustomed to each other, and since they all had low—almost poor or even absent cultivation potential, violence was not something that could lead to the destruction of an entire race overnight.
It was a place where 60% of humanity had decided to settle, their little haven.
Well, that was until the Mayor of Porion City announced the forced relocation of all races within the city to another location far away—but still within Grade D.
The announcement, of course, had caused an uproar.
The inhabitants of Porion City had spent centuries within this place.
The city had been built with blood, sweat, and tears, and now they were all expected to evacuate. To leave their ancestral homes behind.
It was a tough pill to swallow, and some refused to leave.
But it wasn't long before they began witnessing the strange signs that appeared in the sky—barely a week after the announcement.
The sun soon vanished from the sky as the clouds turned dark and collapsed into a swirling vortex of shadow.
The aura from the vortex alone was enough to carve horror into even the most stubborn hearts in Porion City.
They were all low-level in cultivation, and the horrific pressure they felt from the gate was definitely not something ordinary that they could withstand.
They had their suspicions, but the arrival of war jets and the sight of an entire human army moving into the city—accompanied by armored tanks larger than their homes—were enough to drown out the last bits of resistance they might have tried to hold onto.
Especially since this army was from the illustrious Grade B.
And they were here for only one reason—to deal with whatever was about to emerge from the vortex above their heads.
If even the armies of Grade B were required to stop whatever was coming, then they didn't need to be told that their chances of survival were close to zero.
Still, they had enjoyed their comfort, and the mayor of Porion City had been able to provide them with that.
A promise had been made—that their evacuation was only temporary, and once the gate in the sky was dealt with, they would return.
That promise was enough to convince the remaining inhabitants of Porion City to leave, assisted by the human army, which lent out their specialized aircraft for transportation.
But even as the mayor oversaw the evacuation, he had a sinking feeling that his city would be left half-destroyed once all the inhabitants were gone.
As the mayor, he had been privy to the real reasons behind the evacuation, and his worst fears had been confirmed when he witnessed the arrival of the Knulls.
His city had been half-torn down. Houses had been reduced to rubble, the land flattened to create open space.
He had watched as the place he had once dreamed of turning into something great under his rule was reduced to a pre-emptive battlefield.
But all of this… he could only swallow helplessly.
It was clear that they were trying to save his people from their absolute destruction.
To sacrifice his city for his people—it was a tough pill to swallow. But in the end, he had no choice but to accept it.
Could he have stopped them, even if he wanted to?
Eventually, he boarded the jet as well and was evacuated from the area.
This was the fate of the weak in Endearth.
When war reached the weak, their only choice was to lay their power before the strong, bowing to their every whim without daring to say a word in defiance—out of fear of destruction.
A cruel fate to endure. But one that could have been far worse.
_______
Right now, weeks had passed since the evacuation of Porion City's inhabitants, and many developments had taken place.
The presence of the human army had increased, and now, to Ryuk's knowledge, their forces had grown to include two gigantic MotherCrafts—each rivalling a 10-story building in size—along with various smaller jets that trailed behind them.
Numerous ammunitions ran along their edges, runic lines oozing with monstrous amounts of Apex Energy.
On the ground, tanks the size of stacked bungalows hovered, their massive muzzles pointing forward at the humanoid Knulls standing on the ground.
Compared to the first time he had seen the army battling the initial Knull emergence, it was clear that humanity had prepared itself well for this war.
They were fully armed to the teeth and their technological advancements far surpassed anything Ryuk had ever seen in his life. A clear sign that MadWhite had done some serious work behind the scenes.
But it wasn't just humanity that stood before the Knulls.
There were a total of about ten other MotherCrafts, each bearing different insignias.
And in front of them stood at least 5,000 warriors, clad in armor and wielding runic weapons that wouldn't pale in comparison to the technological artifacts possessed by the humans.
These were, of course, the Ten Family Armies.
In the end, they had heeded humanity's call and decided to join forces against the Knulls.