The capital of Mirage Abyss was bustling as if the Abyss wasn't at a critical point in deciding the fate of Mars.
The streets were lively, the shops were full of customers and the institutions worked round the clock.
From time to time, the citizens would look at the center of the city, at the Floating Castle that represented the might of their Abyss.
Even though they didn't say it out loud, they would feel a burst of pride as they were reminded that the greatest non-artifact treasure was under the control of their Queen.
As they were currently in a critical situation, the defense of the castle was at its lowest.
Only five level 9s remained in the castle.
But after hearing about Varian's atrocities, ten level 9s exited their training and joined the city defense.
Now, the city had a total of fifteen level 9s.
Superposing the Abyss Will with the natural illusions that every non-Abyssal would have to face in the Mirage Abyss, the capital guards were more than confident of stalling even twenty level 9s.
By then, the teleportation formation under the holy altar would activate and the reinforcements from other cities would arrive.
From there, it's only a matter of how many humans would be killed in illusion and how many would have their guts ripped apart.
'Going after normal cities? Cowardice!' The strongest level 9 in the capital, Laren, snorted.
As an archduke, he stood at the very apex of level 9s.
He was confident of handling even three-five level 9s by himself
If not for the strict orders by Mirage Queen, he'd have gone hunting the despicable human and made him pay the price.
The wounds from the time when Varian destroyed ten cities and killed tens of millions of abyssals were yet to heal and this bastard already destroyed the lives of a few more abyssals.
Even though Mars lost way more level 9s and level 8s, Mirage Abyss lost too many denizens.
And this time, it's not just the deaths.
Three pillars of Mirage Abyss—the medical cities, the blacksmithing cities, and the training cities—were completely wiped out.
Without at least two decades of recuperation, it's impossible to reach the same peak that these cities stood at.
'Destroying those weak cities? I challenge you, Varian, if you're a man and you're born to your mother, then I dare you to atta—'
Before Archduke Laren could even finish his poisonous curse, a loud explosion reverberated in the city.
Everything fell silent as if someone turned off the volume.
Then, the capital exploded in panicked shouts.
"The castle!"
"Oh my!"
"Emperor, save us!"
Laren quickly adjusted his mind sense and checked the floating castle.
The castle that always floated gloriously was now wobbling in the air as several cracks spread along its walls.
Laren felt as if his heart stopped beating for a moment as the world went white and the next thing he knew, he was following his mind sense and dashing to the castle to destroy those low breeds.
The castle was being destroyed from the inside. Fire dragons scorched the walls. Supergravity crushed many defenses. Psychic powers swept through the castle's illusions.
But when Laren summed up every position of the invader, he inadvertently realized their starting point.
Laren's eyes shook uncontrollably as he sent his mind sense to scan the underground location to deny his worst nightmare.
But there he saw it. The scene where Varian raised a spear and smashed down the holy altar!
As he saw the Holy Altar of Mirage Abyss crumble to pieces, Laren felt something was forever taken away from the Abyssals.
Perhaps it was the promise they made to the Emperor to protect his 'protection' or perhaps it was their pride as an abyssal under the Mirage Queen.
But Laren knew better than anyone else that things would never be the same again.
Panting like an angry bull, Laren gnashed his teeth and turned his telekinetic power into countless small needles.
Then, he snapped his fingers, and dark death, a poison dangerous enough to severely injure level 8s, flew out of his storage ring and attached itself to the needles.
The deadly weapons numbering over a hundred thousand shot toward the underground hall in an instant and were about to riddle Varian's body with countless injuries.
Laren's lips curled into a crazy smile as he laughed. "The poison will give you unimaginable pain! You'll beg for death, but I'll torture you until I make you my slave! You fucking piece of sh—"
The flurry of curses stopped as Laren saw a dome of darkness surround Varian. The needles that should be attacking him changed trajectory as if they were blinded and left the Archduke in shock.
A woman in a familiar black combat uniform stood in front of Varian and sheathed her sword.
Her emotionless eyes looked at him and for a moment, Laren thought he saw them burn with rage.
"So you have chosen death."
As if on cue, three Abyssals were kicked to the walls of the underground hall and slid down with broken necks.
At the same time, the formation surrounding the Holy Altar was also broken by Varian and Enigma.
The six human warriors responsible for their deaths didn't even glance back at the corpses and rushed out of the castle.
They joined the eighteen warriors in the sky and now, twenty-four human level 9s were about to unleash a calamity on Mirage Abyss' most important city.
But eleven strong auras shot into the sky and blocked their attempts.
A battle of epic proportions began.
The city, the clouds, the forest, the hills—battles reached every corner and the whole capital started to tremble as if it was on the verge of collapse.
Laren's body shook in rage as he watched the corpses of the level 9s tasked with guarding the Holy Altar.
But what was even more dangerous was the destruction of the formation. With reinforcements far from reach, only twelve level 9s, including him would have to defend themselves from this strike.
"You! You fucking bastards! You dare to invade the capital and think you can escape?" Laren's mind sense locked onto six level 9s that were engaging with the remaining two level 9s in the castle.
Hearing his words, the six human warriors increased their ferocity and tried to kill the castle level 9s quicker.
Laren clenched his fists and dozens of thin crystalline strings cut at the six human warriors.
Even though they were prepared for it, it was too fast and too sneaky.
One of the old men suddenly stopped moving and then collapsed to the floor. A thin string of red was wrapped around his neck.
At the same time, the remaining five human warriors managed to kill one abyssal and witnessed their companion's death.
"You're gonna wish you didn't do this!" Their eyes brimmed with rage and they launched a reckless attack against Laren.
High in the clouds, away from epic battles, Varian sighed as he noticed the first casualty.
"It's hard."
The battle between the eleven city defenders and the twenty-four attackers intensified.
Even though they had an absolute advantage, the human warriors were still failing to launch a killing blow to the defenders because of Abyss Will and Mirage Abyss' Annoying Illusions.
If it's a battle of attrition, the defenders would lose for certain.
However, before that, Abyssal reinforcements would encircle them.
Even if the formation was destroyed, level 9s could travel at high speeds.
It won't take long for them to arrive at the capital.
So, they had only a few minutes to end this battle and survive.
And the defenders had to survive only for a few minutes to win.
Just when both sides were about to start another round of deadly clashes, something caught them off guard.
The Castle exploded.
