A few minutes later, Kanoru stood alone, his chest rising and falling steadily as his chakra slowly healed the injuries caused by the violent rampage of the Sixth Gate's energy. His skin was still sore, and his muscles ached from the strain, but the rapid regeneration dulled the pain with every passing second.
For the first time in what felt like hours, he allowed himself to take a breath. He had managed to kill one higher-rank monster and severely injure another. The crippled beast was finished off by a higher-rank warlock, who was finally freed from the drawn-out battle. With one less foe to fight, the warlock immediately rushed to support another higher-rank warlock still locked in combat.
But the most important thing—the thing that made Kanoru's pulse slow slightly—was that the monsters had stopped pouring from the black hole.
The dark rift still hung in the sky, swirling ominously, but no more creatures emerged. Instead, the battle had shifted. Now, high above the city, spirit-realm experts from both sides clashed with cataclysmic power.
Even from the ground, Kanoru could feel the suffocating pressure of their battle—the atmosphere thick with spiritual energy so dense it made the air heavy.
A sudden, massive explosion rocked the sky. A beam of light slashed downward, crashing into a forest beyond the city. The impact vaporized everything in its path, reducing towering trees to nothing but ash and leaving behind a ten-meter-wide crater of scorched earth.
'If that had landed inside the city…' Kanoru grimaced at the thought.
His eyes scanned the battlefield. In quick succession, he saw the two remaining higher-rank monsters fall—cut down by the combined might of the warlocks. The remaining middle- and lower-ranked monsters were swiftly slaughtered.
And then, everything on the ground stilled.
All eyes turned upward.
In the sky, the battle that would decide the fate of the city raged on with terrifying intensity.
A massive dragon of fire, its form rippling with golden-orange flames, roared through the heavens. It coiled and lunged, its fiery jaws snapping at a colossal gray sword that swung through the air with the force of a mountain collapsing. The sword struck with such impact that the entire sky seemed to crackle with its weight.
Nearby, a unicorn forged from crackling lightning galloped through the storm-choked clouds, its horn crackling with searing white bolts. It charged headlong into a massive, cracked porcelain mask hovering ominously, its jagged grin unyielding even as the lightning slammed into it.
Petals of gray roses, each one sharp as a blade and brimming with deathly aura, swept across the sky in a howling storm. They clashed violently with a massive ice turtle, whose shell radiated frigid mist. Each rose petal that struck the turtle's ice-carved hide shattered into brittle shards, but hundreds more followed in endless succession.
The sheer scale of their battle was beyond comprehension.
Even from the ground, Kanoru felt the despair clawing at his chest. The air itself was saturated with spiritual pressure so overwhelming that it made his limbs feel heavier. His instincts screamed at him, ringing like alarm bells in his mind:
'Run. As far and as fast as you can.'
And Kanoru decided to listen.
Though the battle would determine the city's fate, he knew one thing with certainty—the outcome was still uncertain. If their side lost, he didn't even want to imagine the consequences. And if they won…
'What good is victory if you're already dead?'
The spirit-realm attacks were so destructive that even missed strikes obliterated entire city blocks. Each stray blast was a force of annihilation, reducing buildings and streets to dust.
Kanoru clenched his fists. 'There's no point in staying. Win or lose, I need to survive.'
If their side was victorious, he needed to be alive to celebrate that victory. And if they lost, it wouldn't matter—he would already be far away.
Kanoru turned sharply and shouted, "Everyone!" His voice rang out, cutting through the heavy silence and drawing all eyes to him. "We should escape the city!"
Murmurs of shock and uncertainty rippled through the group. The three higher-rank warlocks exchanged tense glances before one of them said, "Yun Feng and Yun Ming haven't arrived. We can't leave without them."
Kanoru's eyes narrowed. "I know where they are. One of you can go and inform them. The rest of us will escape."
The warlocks hesitated, then began discussing in hushed tones. Kanoru glanced at the black hole. No more monsters were falling. It was the perfect moment.
"This is our chance," he urged. "We don't know when another will come."
The three warlocks exchanged firm nods. One of them turned to Kanoru and asked, "Where are Feng and Ming?"
"The last I saw them was near the BlackIce branch in this area," Kanoru replied.
Without a word, the warlock activated his movement technique. Runes flared along his arms, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished and reappeared several feet away. To Kanoru, it looked as though the man was flickering in and out of existence. In a blur, he was gone.
Kanoru didn't waste another second. He walked to the basement door, the only one still intact in the mansion, now lying flat on the ground. He heaved it open, revealing the darkness below.
"Asuna! Gu Mingzhu! Mika!" he called.
From below, he heard their faint voices—soft, unsure, but alive. The faint red moonlight poured into the basement, illuminating their faces as they climbed into view.
Asuna's eyes widened when she saw him. "Is it over?" she asked hopefully.
Kanoru shook his head. "No. We're escaping the city. All of you, come out."
Without hesitation, they filed out. Asuna helped Gu Mingzhu steady Mika, who stumbled slightly as she stepped onto the uneven ground.
Kanoru's eyes fell on the stretcher holding Asuna's mother. She was still unconscious, her face pale and weary. He turned to the others. "We need a carriage for her. Find one."
Luck was on their side. Within minutes, they found three intact carriages amid the debris. They loaded Asuna's mother into one, carefully placing the stretcher inside. The second carriage was filled with supplies they salvaged from the mansion ruins and the basement. The third was reserved for the injured who couldn't walk.
Once everything was prepared, they left the mansion on foot, the three carriages protected in the middle.
Kanoru led the group, walking alongside a female higher-rank warlock. His sharp eyes scanned the ruins and the darkened horizon for any signs of danger. His thoughts, however, were already ahead—focused on what came next.
'Where do we go now?'
They needed to find a location hidden and easy to defend—somewhere far enough from the city to avoid being caught in the crossfire but close enough to stay informed of the battle's outcome within hours.
Kanoru clenched his fists, his eyes hard. 'We need a place where we can hold out, regroup, and survive.'
He turned to the older woman beside him and asked, "Aunty, do you know of any hidden place outside the city?"
She thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes."
"Then we'll go there," Kanoru said firmly.
He needed to see the place first. If it met his requirements—secluded, defensible, and hidden—they would stay. If not, they would keep moving.
As they made their way through the ruined streets, people stared. Some, driven by desperation, began following them at a distance. Their group slowed occasionally—sometimes because of debris blocking the road, which they cleared quickly, and other times due to brief skirmishes ahead. Whenever they encountered scattered groups of monsters or opportunistic looters, Kanoru and the higher-rank warlocks ended the fights swiftly.
Kanoru glanced at the sky often, wary of any stray attack that might fall from the battle raging above.
"If there's any way to inform Asuna's brothers where we're going, it would be best," he said, his voice low but firm.
The woman shook her head. "The spiritual energy in the city is too disordered. I can't perform the messenger spell." She then added, "But if they know we've escaped, the first place they'll check is the hidden valley."
Kanoru nodded grimly, his eyes scanning the ruins ahead.
After a few exhausting hours, they finally reached the city's outskirts. But before heading toward the hidden location, the guards turned on the crowd trailing behind them.
"Stop following us!" one of the higher-rank warlocks ordered sharply.
The crowd hesitated, making excuses and pleading to be taken along. But when the warlocks released their oppressive auras, the crushing spiritual pressure forced the people to a halt. Reluctantly, they backed away.
Once the crowd dispersed, the woman led the group toward a small hill range covered in thick forest. The woman guided them through the dense trees until they reached a narrow, concealed passage barely visible between two rocky outcrops.
The passage opened into a hidden valley, shielded on all sides by forested hills. The sky above was barely visible through the canopy of trees. At the valley's center stood a small, weathered house.
After settling Asuna's mother inside, along with the injured and the supplies, Kanoru and the higher-rank warlocks climbed one of the hills. From the summit, they stared out at the distant city, where the battle still raged.
An hour later, Kanoru saw the sun begin to rise over the horizon. Yet the blood moon still lingered, staining the sky a sickly crimson. Its ominous light continued to bathe the landscape in its haunting glow.
Morning came, but the battle did not end.
Then, at last, Yun Feng and Yun Ming appeared, climbing the hill toward them. Their faces were grim and drawn.
Kanoru narrowed his eyes. "What happened? Why are you so late?"
Yun Ming exhaled heavily. "Nothing. We had to gather the families of our men and bring them with us."
Yun Feng, his eyes still on the distant battle, asked, "When will this fight end?"
One of the higher-rank warlocks shook his head. "When the reinforcements from the military camps outside the capital arrive, the tide might turn in our favor."
Yun Feng's eyes narrowed. "They should have arrived by now."
A heavy silence fell over the group. One by one, they looked at each other, worry deepening in their eyes.