A few days had passed since the galactic devastation and the empire was still calculating the extent of the damages.
The locations were now dead zones of chaotic spatial rifts unable to heal, raging storms and other celestial dangers. Hunters sent to investigate the regions couldn't venture inside.
However, cross-referencing the habitable worlds in the region with the data they had revealed a staggering loss of 56,973 out of 443,857,723 planets that were destroyed along with their stars.
The numbers sent cold shivers down the leader's spine. All that destruction and lives were gone in the blink of an eye.
It made them realize the strength and power they were so proud of was nothing in the face of absolute death. They could die without even knowing it happened.
People began to see that something was wrong. Hunters could not reach their colleagues and people could no longer reach their relatives in other star systems.
It was causing the people to panic. People began asking questions, and eventually, discovered what was happening and as one would expect, it caused mass hysteria.
"We're dead," a local hunter muttered while holding his head in his hands. "How can humanity fight this? Man wasn't made to battle the universe!"
"Millions of stars and planets… all gone with no evidence of how it even happened! We were this close to being swallowed ourselves!"
The Sol system was incredibly lucky in that regard as they found themselves dangerously close to the destroyed regions. Just a couple of light years away from the shredded space. Even then, they came this close to having their alignments fall out of balance.
But that wasn't all. Areas outside the empire's borders appeared to have fallen into a similar state. The change felt too abrupt as no one knew exactly how it happened.
They could not see or imagine a human and a void creature causing that kind of damage. It was too much…too sudden.
'Where is Alexander and the others?' Basso asked inwardly with a gloomy expression. 'The last records we have only show Alex leaving to deal with the veil tear and cosmic mana wave.'
He didn't want to think about the other possibilities. He couldn't… Not in this state of affairs. The void creatures were popping out of whatever hole they'd been hiding.
Veil tears that were successfully sealed were being broken once again. And despite the looming fear of what was occurring, they couldn't afford to stay put.
Ross and his teammates were back once more on their ship, fighting off seas of void creatures. They were on edge as no news of Alex and the others, making the already miserable situation more miserable.
"This can't be happening, not again." Julia cried. "Alex can't be gone…." The girl was already in a hard place. She didn't like it whenever Alex had to go places she couldn't follow.
Without some kind of assurance that he was alive, she broke down. The Grays were no different from Julia.
The only difference was Sarah still felt a part of Alex with her, and that instilled some level of confidence in her. But that was also fleeting.
When a week passed after the incident, news of Mason and Zol being found spread like wildfire. Suddenly, everyone was on them, wishing to know what they saw and knew.
However, they were just as surprised when they reconnected to the empire's network. They couldn't believe something like this had happened. In their point of view, things just turned blank and black in an instant.
'So I was right,' Mason frowned deeply. 'Something happened in the direction Alex went to—something unimaginably powerful.' A shiver and cold sweat ran down his spine.
He looked over to Zol who had a similarly dreadful expression on his face. They were right in the heart of things and had they been any weaker, they would have been goners.
"And you're saying there hasn't been any word of Alexander since this all began," Zol asked the two female hunters who had been stationed on Mars before.
"No, Zol. There has been nothing." Evelyn replied and observed as Zol and Mason exchanged glances. "Why? Do you guys know something?"
"Has any mysterious person reached out to you?" Zol ignored the question and asked another. "I don't believe Alex just disappeared."
"No." Charlotte shook her head and then recalled something. "Wait, you two and Alexander went somewhere, right? Before this happened, you guys were not here."
"Mm," Mason nodded. "That's because we went to meet The Order." For a moment, there was no reaction from the two.
But as they looked at Mason, his serious expression and Zol's demeanour, it slowly dawned on them.
"Wait, you're not joking?" Evelyn had to be sure. "You just casually went to meet with that organization?"
"That's what we're saying." Mason added to confirm his words. "Trust me, they're more than meets the eye."
There was nothing that said The Order wanted to remain hidden as they made it clear themselves; they were no longer interested in hiding.
Mason looked at Zol, silently communicating. The two hunters nodded as they decided to come clean with what they knew.
Whether they believed them or not was out of their hands. Even Mason had a hard time believing it.
However, before he could get any word out, a notification drew Zol's attention. A quick glance at the message and he turned to Mason.
"That woman is here," He said, confusing the two women. "And she came to see Alex's family."
"Who's here?" The women got curious, looking between the men. "Is she rela—"
"You'll find out."
Mason cut her short as he and Zol took off in the direction of Earth. With confused expressions and a heart full of curiosity, they went after them.
When they arrived on Earth and landed in the Gray family home, they noticed the very same presence they felt when they first saw her.
Elina.
Dressed in a similar fashion as when they first saw her, Elina and Alex's parents sat around a parasol in the garden.
"Please, join us." Elina gestured but they remained standing by the coupled. "What I have to say is equally important to you."
"Are the both of you alright?" Zol ignored her words and asked the couple. Only after the couple nodded did they move to sit down.
William and Sarah could tell that the woman was strange as there was this mysterious feeling to her. Despite that feeling, they sensed no ill intent from her.
The only reason they agreed to see her was because Alex told them where he was going.
Imagine their surprise when their leader came to visit them and claimed she knew where Alex was.