Just monts after both Ery and the Dark Elf Tolaro were consud by the monstrous black hole, a faint ripple tore through the crumbling void.
A sleek, tallic flying device erged through the crack in space, maneuvering expertly through the violent currents of the collapsing world. Its lenses glowed faintly as they scanned the fragnted horizon, capturing every detail of the chaos unfolding before it.
The probe's visual feed was transmitted instantaneously through a secure spatial channel, appearing on a floating holographic display, and relayed to an Imperium scribe. His sharp eyes darted over the display screen, parsing the incoming information.
"Commander.. We have confirmation of a hidden spatial domain, but it's destabilizing rapidly."
Commander Tiberius, an Archeon of the Imperium was overseeing the final clean-up operations following the brutal Citadel Battle. Beside him was Grand Magus Archie, one of Valaryn's senior figures, his expression etched with concern.
Archie had earlier reported Tolaro's disappearance and his extraordinary spatial abilities, dragging along a human magus and an elder dragon.
At Tiberius' order, the Imperium's advanced spatial anomaly detectors had scoured the region, and after so effort, they had located the faint trace of the mirror world.
The visuals transmitted by the flying device show a decaying mirror realm, with only a swirling black hole anomaly remaining as evidence of the final battle, no human magus nor elves lived detected.
"We did detect one dragon," the scribe reported hesitantly. "We believe it to be the Red Demon's mount… But there's nothing else."
Tiberius' stern gaze didn't waver as he weighed the information.
The Imperium did, in fact, possess a powerful artifact capable of creating a stable space tunnel to follow the coordinates extracted from the crumbling mirror world.
However, the sensors painted a grim picture—the mirror world was on the brink of total collapse, its structure buckling under the relentless gravitational pull of the black hole anomaly. Attempting to stabilize a pathway through such chaos would require an enormous expenditure of resources, and ti—luxuries they simply did not have.
Despite their triumph in the Citadel battle, the Valaryn planet stood at the edge of an unprecedented catastrophe. Towering desert storms raged across the broken landscape, swallowing entire cities whole. The skies cracked with arcs of unstable energy, and the fabric of reality itself seed ready to unravel.
In the face of this impending calamity, the Imperium had been tasked with a mission: coordinating with General Wayne to oversee the mass evacuation of tens of thousands of remaining survivors. Major Kouga and Grand Magus Archie, both of whom knew Ery personally, pleaded with the commander to reconsider—urging him to allocate more ti and resources to search for the missing magus. However, the decision had already been made.
"That Tolaro, the Void High Priest, is no ordinary Grand Magus. No magus could survive an encounter with him… that young magus was most likely taken to the elf world."
With that final, unyielding decision, all remaining forces began their evacuation of Citadel City, leaving it to be consud by the relentless, violent desert storm.
####
The next day, the final batch of Valeryn civilians was safely aboard a transport ship, departing through the moon base. The massive operation marked the conclusion of the acolytes' mission on the devastated planet.
The latest updates on the [Top Hall Rankings] were displayed:
[Top Hall Ranking - Day 23/30]
1st Place: Hall 1 – 75,810 Points
2nd Place: Hall 2 – 73,080 Points
3rd Place: Hall 4 – 69,220 Points
4th Place: Hall 6 – 67,230 Points
5th Place: Hall 9 – 63,750 Points
Despite their valiant efforts and consistent performance, the acolytes of Halls 6 and 9 had seen their rankings drop over the past ten days. While they earned a steady 2,000 daily points and had participated in significant battles, much of their ti had been dedicated to safeguarding civilians during the evacuation rather than engaging in point-heavy frontline combat.
However, the nurical rankings were the furthest thing from their minds. The weight of uncertainty surrounding their master, Ery, and their three companions—Shinta, Ha Ron, and Kingrig—lood heavily over them. Their victories felt hollow in the face of the unanswered questions and the lingering fear of what had beco of their leader and friends.
Two days later, Klea successfully established contact with General Wayne and received news that struck her like a thunderclap. The information he shared was both grim and uncertain, leaving her mind racing with possibilities—none of them comforting.
Despite her usual composure, Klea couldn't suppress the growing sense of dread. Every scenario she imagined pointed to disaster. Yet, she stubbornly pushed aside thoughts of Ery falling in battle or being taken by the dark elf. There had to be another explanation—one where Ery was still alive, fighting, or stranded sowhere on the desolate stretches of the Valeryn wastelands.
"Please send down there—I need to search for him!"
But her request was imdiately denied. The planet had beco a chaotic, volatile wasteland on the brink of total collapse, and it had now been officially declared off-limits by the Imperium authorities. No entry would be permitted for months, possibly longer, until the environntal anomalies subsided.
The general felt both responsible for the young magus's demise and deeply indebted to him. He had confird that the Elven Mothership had indeed arrived under Tolaro's orders specifically to capture Ery. This diversion provided the alliance with the critical opportunity to mobilize their powerful Imperium Battlestar towards the Valaryn battle and greatly affect the outco of the battle.
Unfortunately, there was nothing more he could do. In recognition of Ery's sacrifice and the efforts of his unit, the general ensured they received a comndation of great rit. This comndation was formally acknowledged by the academy, awarding both Hall 6 and Hall 9 an impressive 10,000 points each, securing them a significant lead in their final exam rankings.
However, these accolades did little to ease the heavy weight on Klea and the acolytes' hearts. The points and recognition felt hollow in the absence of their leader and friend.
Unwilling to stand idle and do nothing, Klea decided to reach out through Ery's other Khaos Seed back ho, hoping to uncover answers about Ery's current situation and fate. Although Morgana had been absent for so ti Chumo might be able to give her answer.
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