The sound of helicopter blades still echoed through the city sky.
The strong wind created by the spinning rotors pushed aside the remaining mist and revealed the ruined streets.
Gareth was the first to jump out of the helicopter. His military boots landed on the cracked asphalt.
But contrary to expectations, he said nothing. He gave no orders. He made no jokes. He just stood and looked.
At the streets covered in blood. At the dozens of damaged buildings. At the hundreds of monster corpses scattered across different parts of the city.
At the traces of massive wounds on the ground. At the scorch marks from lightning strikes. At the frozen areas. And at the cracks that had split the earth.
And finally... at the city hall building.
He was silent for a few seconds.
"Damn it..." He then muttered under his breath.
One of the officers next to him frowned.
"Is there a problem, Commander?"
"No." Gareth answered without taking his gaze off the city. Then he quietly let out his breath.
"I’m trying to figure out how a student did this."
Minutes later, the main Federation forces entered the city. This time, there were no students or training forces. These were real Awakened.
People who had survived years on battlefields.
The first was a tall woman with silver hair. Level 35, a close-combat specialist.
Behind her came a burly man. Level 41, a senior field operations officer.
And behind them, a mage in a dark robe stepped forward. Level 38. His eyes immediately began scanning the remaining mana in the air.
But after a few minutes of examining the environment... all three fell silent.
"How many teams operated here?" The silver-haired woman finally asked, admiration shining in her eyes.
"According to the report? Only one person." One of the officers answered.
"What do you mean, only one person?" The woman thought for a moment that she had misheard.
The level 41 man also looked around.
"The damage here is at least the scale of a battalion’s operation. Hundreds of monsters were killed. This is no joke."
The officer fell silent, then pointed at Lian, who was standing a little further away.
"Him."
For a few seconds, no one spoke. Even the mage took his gaze off the mana traces and stared at Lian.
As if trying to understand whether a real human was standing in front of him or not.
They did not know what had happened here. They only knew that Gareth had urgently contacted the Federation and requested a team to rescue a very talented student.
A student who, according to him, had a very bright future ahead, and losing him would be a great loss for the world.
That was why they had been dispatched here quickly. Of course, the full team was not present. Several Awakened who had gone through three evolutions were supposed to be with them.
But they were busy and could not come until tomorrow. So only these three were sent.
But seeing the scene before them, if it was really done by that student... then Gareth was wrong...
It was not the student who needed help... but the monsters.
Some time later, another helicopter landed. Cassian almost jumped out before it fully touched the ground. Selina followed right behind him.
Both looked worried. Aside from their three friends who had been kidnapped, they were also worried about Lian. But from the moment they learned their friends had been found, they could no longer stay calm.
The rescue forces led them toward one of the temporary treatment areas. And there... they saw Marcus.
The young man was sitting on a stretcher. His face was pale, but he was alive.
A few meters away, Claire was sitting on a bed, looking around with confused eyes.
And a little further... Liana. Still not fully conscious, but breathing.
Selina stood completely still for a few seconds, then ran toward her friend without saying a word.
Cassian knelt next to Marcus.
Neither of them spoke. Sometimes, being alive was enough. And from a distance, seeing that Lian also looked completely healthy, both Cassian and Selina sighed in relief.
They wanted to go to him, but the soldiers stopped them.
At that time, Gareth came toward Lian. He gave him a long look.
At the dried blood on his body. And at the obvious exhaustion that even he could not completely hide.
"Come." He then said.
Lian did not ask anything and just followed him. A few minutes later, both sat inside one of the helicopters.
"You know how angry I was when I found out you came to the city center secretly and without informing anyone? What sane person would do something so stupid!" Gareth said angrily.
"Commander, I have no excuse. But if you look around, you’ll understand that I had the power to do this, and it was the right decision." Lian shrugged as well.
The commander fell silent and said nothing. As if he was thinking about how to respond or act. In the end, he just sighed and let it go.
"Tell it from the beginning." Gareth placed his hands on the table.
Lian nodded and began.
About the Stalkers, about the sleepwalking humans, about the city hall basement, about the Broodmother, about the white-eyed man, and about the new monster he had created.
And about the battle that had taken place underground.
He did not tell everything, but he said enough to give a clear picture.
And the more he spoke... the more Gareth’s face changed. To the point where he suddenly lost color.
"No..." He said in disbelief.
"What?" Lian frowned.
Gareth was silent for a few seconds, as if struggling with something in his mind. Then he said slowly.
"We always thought only monsters came through the cracks."
"But if what you’re saying is true and that man came from the Ruined Realm... then we are facing a much bigger threat."
"I think so too." Lian quietly nodded.
Gareth said nothing for a moment, then turned his gaze to the window.
"This is very bad news. Very bad. And because of your premature attack, he managed to escape. You will definitely be reprimanded."
"So how about I give you something better in return?" Lian expected this and smiled.
"What?" The commander’s eyebrows rose with curiosity.
"Better to show you." And then a group of high-ranking Awakened, scientists, and specialists entered the underground.
The frozen doors were still standing. The air inside was still cold. And in the center of the hall... the core. Frozen within multiple layers of ice. But still alive.
Everyone fell silent. The silver-haired woman stepped forward, her gaze fixed on the core.
"What is this?"
No one answered. The mage activated several detection spells. He got no results.
"The system can’t identify it either."
The scientists began recording data. But the more they examined it... the more confused they became.
Finally, one of the senior specialists stepped back. His face had lost color.
"This thing shouldn’t exist." He said quietly.
Because with just a brief examination, he had understood that this thing contained millions of different DNA from different races and species.
He looked at the core again.
"It shouldn’t be possible at all."
No one disagreed, because after hearing what he had found, everyone was thinking exactly the same thing.
Lian laughed at their surprise and then explained to them what that thing was. The more they heard, the more shocked they became, and their disbelief grew.
"For a human to create something like this... my god." The senior scientists and specialists whispered in fear.
"What do you think, Commander? Is it worth it?" Lian then asked with a smirk.
"Of course it is." Gareth nodded with amazement, and this time his face was somewhat calmer.
"Good. But it’s not free. I worked hard to get it. Also, the corpses outside. They are not free either."
"Well... how much do you want?"
No one said anything. Because this student had really worked hard. And from their perspective, he deserved to be rewarded for his efforts.
"One hundred billion dollars." Lian answered without the slightest hesitation.
Absolute silence filled the space. For a few seconds, no one breathed.
One of the officers nearly choked.
The silver-haired woman stared at him with wide eyes.
The high-ranking mage even took off his glasses to make sure he had heard correctly.
"One hundred fucking billion dollars? Are you joking?" Gareth quietly covered his face with his hand. Even he could not keep his composure.