Point-of-View: Sant A.C. Laus

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  "Wh-what is this!?" I exclaimed in bewilderment.

  All of these monsters……how did they suddenly appear out of nowhere!? Is this her doing? No, that cannot be, if she was capable of such a thing, she would have done so many times in the past already……

  "It's over, Sant. There are hundreds of thousands of these monsters scattered throughout the Rustlands, so if this battle drags on, your forces will be suffer serious casualties…… Retreat and that won't happen," Remarked Belia with a triumphant look on her face.

  "Never! My purpose here is to end your existence, regardless of the sacrifice, I will carry out Lord Samsara's wishes!" I declared passionately.

  "Ugh, you make me sick sometimes. Tell me, will that really be worth it? Killing me but at the cost of the four races that fucking adore you like dumb little baby birds?" She scoffed in response.

  "Indeed, it is a heavy price to pay……but to carry out Lord Samsara's wishes, it is a price that I am more than willing to pay!" I stated firmly.

  "I see……but what if you pay that price and yet fail to carry out Samsara's wishes to get your hands dirty for him?" She responded with a laugh.

  "I……I will not allow that to happen!" I snapped in reply.

  "Huh? Hahahaha, you won't 'allow' it? I'm sorry, but who the fuck do you think you are?" She burst out laughing, teleporting out of the way as I let out an infuriated growl and fired a Destruction Magic blast at her.

  "Who do I think I am? How dare you! I am Sant A.C. Laus, the humble servant of the great Lord Samsara-!" I began in righteous indignation.

  "Oh for fucks' sake, shut up! Here's what's going to happen……I'm going to leave, far away from here, and I won't be coming back till you and your pawns are gone……so, in other words, in a few seconds, letting your pawns continue fighting would be paying a price for nothing but failure," She chuckled gleefully, as she effortlessly evaded my enraged attacks.

  "They are not my pawns, how dare you-!" I started to counter.

  "Oh, but they are……the way you've used them today made that abundantly clear. When you send your forces to their deaths unnecessarily, then they're nothing but pawns to you. Anyway……I think I'll leave now. You should do the same," She remarked with a smirk, as a portal opened behind her.

  "Do not dare to leave, Belia-!"

  "Hmph……just try and stop me," She responded with a dark, cold smile, as she sunk into the portal and disappeared, right as I began to close in and attempted to grab her, but I was too slow.

  "How……how dare you……damn it, I……I will……!" I muttered furiously as my rage seethed, before calming myself with a deep breathe, mulling over the current situation, "I……I suppose it would be wasteful to allow all of my forces to be needlessly sacrificed if unnecessary."

  I then flew up higher to ensure that I was well beyond the reach of the monsters below, before focusing on my telepathic links with my forces……this……this cannot be right.

  I cannot sense my link with Maie, nor with several of the Fairies……impossible, how could so many of them have been killed!? The other three races have also suffered heavy casualties……even though we have the advantage, we are losing so many of our forces?

  "Attention, all! This battle is over……retreat, go back out the way you came in through! Is that understood? Retreat immediately!" I commanded them all through the telepathic link.

  Suddenly, I felt one of the telepathic links attempt to communicate back to me……it is Sylvar again.

  "Hello, Lord Laus? Sorry for bothering you earlier, and now again, but, I……I, uh……I'm blinded and unable to move, so if it's not too much trouble."

  "Very well, I shall inform those that are closest to your location of your predicament, they will assist you."

  I relayed the message to those that were nearest to his position, a small group of Elves. They soon confirmed Sylvar's location and retrieved him, before continuing on. Now, then, I suppose that I ought to retreat as well.

  I instructed my forces to retreat to the nearest of our fortresses, and once they are rested to return to the Laus Domain, with the exception of those tasked with guarding and manning the fortresses.

  Tch, I cannot believe that I allowed this to happen……a complete and utter failure. I suppose I shall teleport off to the west until I reach the Laus Domain, it should take no more than two or three minutes, and……

  Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted as something began to pierce into my neck, I swiftly pulled away before it could dig into me, but the moment I did, something slammed against my face and sent me plummeting down towards the ground, crashing down with immense impact.

  What……is it Belia, is she back……

  "Yo," Greeted my assailant with a slight wave of his hand, "Nice reaction, I was this close to draining your life force……I've never tried divine life force before, I just couldn't help myself."

  He was hovering up in the air above me, with sleek black wings, a slender whip-like tail, black hair with red streaks in it, horns on his head and a third eye, clad in a familiar, flowing black coat……

  "You……Kuro Black," I replied with a grimace, as he stared down at me with a murderous smirk on his face……

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  Point-of-View: Lidui Uensh

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  What the fuck is happening? While I was hiding and watching the battle play out, thousands of monsters suddenly appeared, making me think things had gotten even worse, but then it became clear that they were completely ignoring us humans, as well as the Demons, and only going after the other races.

  And while the sudden and abrupt appearance of the monsters did somewhat even the odds and the other races were suffering a lot more casualties than before, they still had a slight edge over us……and then, they suddenly began retreating en masse. Like, what?

  Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty happy that they're leaving while I'm still alive, because otherwise it would only have been a matter of time……with every passing second, my faith in my hiding spot dwindled further and further.

  Yeah, you know what……I'm not going to wonder about or question it, the higher ups can do that, I'd really rather not. I let out a quiet sigh of relief as I slumped and lay down on the floor of the rooftop I was on, my head resting against the wall.

  Who knows how many were killed today……but honestly, I couldn't care less about that, I was too relieved by the fact that I was still alive to even think about anyone else……

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  Point-of-View: Shin Tanaka

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  "Where did all of these monsters come from!?" Exclaimed the Earth Sage in confusion, as he continued to fight them off.

  This makes no sense……the monsters aren't even paying any attention to me, they're only attacking the Earth Sage. And while he is wiping them out with rapid efficiency, their numbers were hardly even dented at all, there was an insane number of them.

  Suddenly, the Earth Sage stiffened, a conflicted look on his face as he gritted his teeth, before letting out a sigh and turning around, starting to head back towards the east gates.

  "Hey……where do you think you're going!?" I exclaimed weakly, as I struggled to get back on my feet, but to no avail.

  "I suppose I can respect your determination, human, and so, I will spare you this time……but next time, you will not survive," He remarked, before teleporting out of sight, all the monsters immediately turning docile as he disappeared.

  And a few seconds later, before I could even process what had happened, several more Dwarves appeared, the monsters responding immediately and springing into action, attacking them……a few were caught and forced to fight, while the rest continued teleporting away.

  "Aw, man, I really don't feel great about ending someone while they can't defend themselves, but it is what it is, I suppose. Well, I suppose the least I can do is finish you off in one blow," Suddenly remarked a voice from in front of me, as an axe came swinging down towards my face.

  I began to raise my sword in alarm, before stiffening as I recognized the weapon……that's……that's the Axe of Hephaestus……Ren's weapon……

  Suddenly, right before it could slice me in half, a hammer swung up and deflected it away, as the person wielding the axe sprang back and got some distance, slashing at a Dwarf that crossed his path, decapitating him.

  "You okay, Shin!?" Exclaimed Kyle, who'd just defended me.

  "Yeah, I……where's Lily?" I inquired weakly.

  "Don't worry, she's fine……we split up when the enemy started to retreat, I was worried so I came back this way as fast as I could, and I'm glad I did," She replied, before shifting her gaze to the guy ahead of us with a cold fury in her eyes, "That's……the Axe of Hephaestus. You sit back and get some rest, watch as I avenge Ren."

  "So, you're going to take me on, huh? Fine by me, I'll cut you both down……those weapons of yours will be pretty useful assets to Abyss," He remarked, as he took out a pair of what looked like blue tinted sunglasses, putting them on and squinting at Kyle, "Not bad, a power level of just under 40,000……I should warn you though, you can't defeat me."

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