The Gales Kingdom had been acting domineering and imposing for the past week, so much so that they did not hesitate for even a second to send messages demanding the surrender of all the kingdoms of the world as if they were not at all afraid of the consequences of such action; even their allied kingdoms and the Pralan Kingdom were not spared!
However, to the shock and disbelief of everyone in Eventide World whether human or not, the Gales Kingdom shut countless mouths and slapped many disdainful smiles by proving that they had something to rely on to take such actions as going to war without hesitation.
Defeating in the west, resisting tenaciously in the north, crushing in the east. Approximately 7 days had passed since the war started but in those 7 days several battlefields broke out, however, Gales did not lose in any of those battlefields; even the troops led by the second greatest genius of Gales, the first princess Ellis, managed to repel an army with more than twice the number of them.
Of course, everyone's eyes were especially focused on the east where the brightest star of the moment was leading the army composed of the original troops of the Gales Kingdom, the troops of the defeated Krap Kingdom, the army of soul evolvers from the fallen Maiston Kingdom, and the troops of the Dazia Kingdom that decided to join Gales.
Soon, news that put all the kingdoms of the world on alert spread from the south east of Eventide World.
"Great movement in the south!"
"The joint troops of the Gales Kingdom left Derene City today at dawn heading south, and apparently 60% of the citizens of the defeated Maiston Kingdom is following the army!"
"What?! Who the hell ordered such a mass movement in the middle of war?!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"You idiot! The top general of Gales in the eastern battlefield is Bai Zemin, have you forgotten? A genius capable of killing even Shadow Killer despite being only level 50 definitely has to have his reasons for doing such a thing."
"That might be true, but.... But, how the hell are they moving over 1,000,000 citizens? It won't be easy for them to cross that many forests with normal, untrained soul evolvers.... Especially considering that within those forests live various races, powerful enemies that could come out and attack at any time."
"The only thing that is known for now is that Bai Zemin ordered his soldiers to use tens of thousands of First Order Soul Stones for the sake of keeping the magic chariots running in order to mobilize the citizens to the south faster. Oh, he also arranged half of the tamed beasts so that the weaker ones could move faster and keep up with the army."
"... Forget it, we will never understand the mind of someone who lives in a world different from ours. At least we can be sure that Bai Zemin is not looking to hurt the citizens of the defeated kingdom or else he wouldn't be spending so many resources all at once."
"Still... don't you find it odd that Gales suddenly withdrew its army just as the Asalium Kingdom withdrew its troops from the border? This would be a good time to attack no matter how you look at it. Besides, it looks like Bai Zemin was in a hurry to retreat, almost as if he was running away from something."
"Let's wait and see, that's all we can do for now. It's not like we can go ask Bai Zemin what's going on, is it?"
"... Right."
Just a day later, two big news spread throughout Eventide World.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"}) "What?! The troops of Gales did not stop in Kremlin City to rest but after only 6 hours continued marching in a southerly direction along with 45% of the citizens living there?!"
"Man, the troops of Gales led by Bai Zemin are moving over 3,000,000 people south! What the hell is going on?!"
"News! Big news! Now not only the Gales Kingdom, the Pralan Kingdom, the Asalium Kingdom, the Akiran Kingdom, the Theles Kingdom, and the Magnus Kingdom, but all the kingdoms including ours are withdrawing soldiers from the borders! The soul evolvers are reinforcing the cities and some kingdoms have even activated the automatic defensive mechanisms!"
"My God..."
"W- What's going on...?"
"Somebody! Does anyone know what the hell is happening?! Does all this have something to do with the sudden strange behavior of the other races? During the last three days we've been attacked more than eight times by armored trees!"
"I- I'm not too sure about this so I don't know if I should say it or not..."
"Dude just speak for the love of all that is pure! The royal family keeps their mouths shut, no one tells us anything! We can only speculate to get a possible idea of what we will face!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"L- Like I said before, I'm not too sure about this but.... Doesn't this look like the coming of the third apocalypse?"
No one knew who had been the first to say those words, however, it was true that when everyone began to study ancient records left behind, there were some people who slowly began to discover disturbing things that chilled everyone's blood even though it could not yet be confirmed.
However, on the evening of the third day after the tremor, the royal families of all the kingdoms of the world finally made known what everyone wanted to know but at the same time hoped was not true.
"Citizens, nearly seven thousand years ago, our world changed forever when the mysterious entity we all know as Soul Record arrived in Eventide World. The arrival of the Soul Record was considered humanity's first apocalypse, the first real great test that all our ancestors fought and bled to overcome. Less than five thousand years ago, the Soul Record that had been silent for generations finally came back to remind us of its existence when our world and all its inhabitants were put to the test for the second time.... I fear that this time could be the third great test of survival our race will experience."
The moment those words were announced by the kingdom king himself or by the queen of each kingdom of the human race herself, all of humanity trembled. There were many who could not overcome the fear of what was to come and directly committed suicide, there were others who began to kill while laughing after having lost their sanity, some even degraded themselves enough to let go of their darkest desires either by stealing, burning property, raping innocents, etc.
None of them had experienced the true apocalypse, yet there was not one of them who did not know how terrifying it was; they had simply ignored it or rather overlooked it. The passing of time, almost five millennia, helped everyone to subconsciously ignore that they were still living in a cage imprisoned by a mysterious entity that could choose when and who would live until tomorrow; even the most powerful in the world was not safe!
"Our ancestors proved to us twice that our human race is more than sufficient and capable of overcoming what is to come, this time we will definitely overcome this third instance! Not only have we become more powerful but over the years we have managed to establish ourselves, organize ourselves, and create defensive and attacking weapons capable of containing and ending the lives of our enemies!"
Soon, the order to be forbidden to leave was given in all the kingdoms of the world and under the strong custody of the soldiers no citizen was allowed to step out of the cities.
On the other hand, the movements of the Gales Kingdom were the strangest of all.
Under the orders of Philip Di Gales himself, the soldiers of the kingdom took with them mounts and chariots to spread out all over the kingdom. In just a day and a half, 90% of the territory controlled by Gales was abandoned; four of the five major cities became ghost towns and the twenty or so towns became lifeless graveyards.
Of course, despite the circumstances, the other kingdoms had not yet neglected the rising Gales Kingdom. After all, no one knew whether Philip or Bai Zemin would take this opportunity to make some kind of weird move. Therefore, the large-scale mobilization was immediately discovered.
"Hey, do you know? It seems that all the citizens of Gales and their soldiers directly retreated to Bearcrest City, the capital of the kingdom."
"Uh? Are they planning to abandon their entire territory to focus on a single point?"
"Well... If you think about it carefully, Gales' strategy isn't that bad."
"Why not? In my eyes, it's a lousy strategy. It would be easier to weaken the attackers at different points, split them up. Now that they have gathered at a single point, the other creatures will focus on that place to attack and the soul evolvers of Gales will have to face a many times larger encirclement."
"In retrospect, they are now as strong as ever with extremely difficult defenses to break through... besides, what's the point of having so much territory if at the end of the day they are annihilated? The territory can be regained after passing this test, if they fail then nothing makes sense. I think it's a good strategy."
There were divided opinions on the matter, however, there were a few kingdoms that decided to follow the strategy of Gales and soon there began to be large scale mobilizations. Surprisingly, humanity showed considerable unity in each kingdom as even the kings and queens did not hesitate to take out colossal numbers of Soul Stones to mobilize the luxurious magic carriages. This move also served to win the hearts of countless, however, the kings and queens knew that if they passed this test they would obtain many times the number of Soul Stones invested.
Approximately seven days after Bai Zemin separated from the four kings and the Queen of Pralan, he and his army finally reached the borders of Bearcrest City.
Standing atop the white walls, the King of Gales who now looked like a 55-year-old man looked straight-backed at the sea of people who had stopped outside the city.
"This boy... He left with a defeated army unwilling to listen to his orders 100% but look at him now, he has returned with over 2,000,000 soul evolvers ready to fight and millions of survivors."
Standing next to her father, First Princess Ellis smiled slightly as she said in a proud voice, "Bai Zemin brought all the citizens of the Maiston Kingdom who were willing to listen to him and determined to follow him all the way here. If the others hadn't been stubborn about it, the sea of heads in front of us would probably be twice as many, father."
The king gave his daughter a sidelong glance and after a moment of silence asked weakly, "Ellis, do you really want to follow Bai Zemin? I've had a good talk with him before, that boy is madly in love... The odds of him accepting you someday don't seem to be too high."
Ellis' expression did not change, her violet eyes were resolute as she said confidently, "There is no rock that can withstand the wear and tear of running water, father. It may not be tomorrow or next year, but how about a hundred years from now? How about two hundred years from now? I will prove to him that I am worthy to be his mate. Feelings will grow on their own in time, and before you can know it, you will have grandchildren pulling at your hair."
Sensing his daughter's confidence and decisiveness, the king could only shake his head as he watched two black horses approach from a distance.
* * * * * * *
