Chapter 32 - War
The next following months became turbulent. Tensions rose and people didn't know who to trust anymore.
One by one, smaller communities across the world got devoured by the lunatics and converted in silence.
When they exploded by the thousands. They created huge waves.
If one village talked about the greatness of the aliens, then they were crazy lunatics, but when there are thousands of them, then even those in larger settlements would get affected.
After all, a lot of people had families in the countryside.
When they received news of the great future, they might lean on the side of the aliens.
And that was enough.
1 out of 100 people chose to believe in it. Then they gradually turned their friends into believers as well.
A rearing cancer appeared and swept the world.
Violence couldn't be utilized. A tyrant looking church would give the enemy a simple victory in a matter of months.
The church launched their own propaganda. They fought with the enemy and a lot of people didn't trust those aliens just yet.
Many literate people learned history. And history didn't talk about the great aliens that would come and save the humanity.
It told the tale of heroes. People like them that chose to fight for humanity.
That's why the enemy took down the countryside first.
The illiteracy in the countryside easily dwarfed 50%. Sometimes more if the community grew too secluded.
Things like schools existed for one purpose. To train the future talents to fight for humanity, not to become scholars.
In terms of philosophy. The current world couldn't keep up at all.
Were the elemental church cease to exist or never existed at all, then perhaps traces of philosophy wouldn't have a single trace in the world.
After the lunatics engulfed the smaller communities, that couldn't get enough support.
A massive scandal happened. Regional city, a home to dozens of thousands.
One of the greatest cities grew silent one day. 3 days later after an unawakened elder passed by on accident.
They found the entire city massacred.
No one survived and the entire city almost became erased. That day, humanity grew furious.
Not only did they kill so many innocents, but they showed the world that the elemental church couldn't defend people, even in the largest cities.
Fear, like a great plague, spread all over the world.
Who will be the next? A sacrifice in the enemy's goal.
People began to question the church itself. The lack of aggressive, responsive paved the way for fear and anger.
Anger at the lost lives. Anger at the inability of the church.
To the relief of the entire humanity, a response came from the church like a falling meteor.
One of the guardians of humanity descended from the outer space.
Like a star, he lit up the world and with a few sweeps of his hand, fire spread all over the world.
In waves, it burned the evil. Like a fleeting star, he disappeared afterwards, earning one nickname.
The Holy Saint, harbinger of justice and the fire that protects all.
His resounding nickname shook the entire landscape, and even the alien frontlines grew quiet for some time.
More shocking news arrived in succession. Hundreds of elders swept throughout the great continent and found fire marks.
Remnants of the heretics.
When Liam heard it, he couldn't believe it at all. Such omnipotent kind of power.
To sweep the enemy like a homing target, knowing who is good or who is evil.
Simply unimaginable. Moreover, such a person stood as one of the few guardians of humanity.
Not the strongest and who knew how many people like him lived in the outer space.
For the first time. Liam felt small compared to the powers that existed.
The wave which swept and even touched him for a second gave him an incredible scare.
Second thing, since his appearance, that could hurt him. His 'heart' thumped, and he felt energised when he saw it.
Power, such incredible power. He wished to wield it and more.
Afterwards, Liam plunged into his research with newfound vigor, and he felt like nothing could stop him.
Meanwhile, the entire human race changed. What people thought of a threat now turned into real punishments.
One caught traitor would mean a week of pure torture. Such punishment would then people see freely.
And except the important lunatics.
No one would be able to escape the fate. Those unspeakable tortures sometimes forced even the bravest citizens to avoid the area where it happened.
All over the world, whenever they found such lunatic there would be no mercy.
Each city now held at least one unawakened elder at their helm. A regional city or cities on the similar levels now held one awakened and three unawakened elders at all times.
Many retired but powerful elders took the helm.
Stars that many previous generations adored showed themselves, and an unprecedented amount of resources got pumped into building institutions.
Their goal quite clear.
Destroy the enemy to save their land!
...
The wave and importance of the new generation impacted Liam and the three elders as well.
At one point, Blythe almost got transferred to another city. The results of their research barely protected the three.
Apparently, even Akand and Talia from noble families couldn't escape the drafting and redistribution of power.
Politics couldn't overpower the survival of the entire species.
In the end, they even turned the disaster into luck. New talent and blood appeared in the city with one goal.
To create mana liquid and eventually mana grains. People who feared battle often volunteered.
Instead of forcing them and creating needless casualties.
The higher ups decided to create a factory for those that wished to protect.
Liam got news from Talia that Terran himself got at the cusp of the unawakened elder realm.
Once he did, he would head straight for the frontlines.
The city turned into a special region with maximum security at one point.
Growth of many talents grew by over 80% when they used mana grains, but they also didn't need to endanger the spirits too much.
No more were the days where apprentices at the unawakened elder realm appeared on the frontlines to breakthrough and stay.
Liam had thoughts of making something like the generator aliens used, but for mana grains.
However, his dreams got dashed when he realised something.
He didn't know where to start at all. At most, the world could offer special blacksmiths that created weapons for the unawakened elder realm.
On the awakened stage. No weapon could survive the strength of an elder or enemy.
In no time, Liam found himself surrounded by a lot of tasks that would take decades or more to finish.
He felt overwhelmed, but the picture of those flames kept popping up.
The unforgettable power kept reminding him of what he strived for. His goal and what he had to finish.
Otherwise, he might as well give up on life all together...
The commercial side of the city fell into the hands of the three elders, with their customers being apprentices.
Except a few families, that kept the place clean and took care of food. The entire city almost consisted of apprentices.
It began to transform into a metropolis at a frightening pace.
And Liam, the reason behind it, all spent most of his time trying to structure what he called a rune.
He knew it had logic. His one problem is that he didn't understand it at all.
But, piece by piece, he drilled into this great system.
A few months later, he got some progress.
"Let's call it the rune system." He said and looked at the creation in his hands...
The rune consisted of dozens of grains that held everything together. He found the reason.
A shape mattered the most. Liam didn't know why just yet, but when he combined a few ice grains, it became something like an ice bolt.
The power of it became a few notches higher.
Overall, his first creation that did damage without exploding and having fire in the base structure.
Distance of the ice bolt also confused him until he tried to incorporate mental strength into it.
Before, it flew some distance one time and almost none the second time.
Every time in different lengths, and the output didn't matter. It just dictated how powerful the blast turned out to be.
Mental power became the guiding hand.
Liam used it to steer the ice bolt.
Right then and there, an idea struck him. He looked over at his connections he could feel and connect to at any time.
The strings led to the outside...
Couldn't he create another connection with his ice bolt to send it out?
The silly idea didn't sound impossible, and Liam didn't wait at all.
He grabbed ice grains and another ice bolt came to life. It flew with one goal and thought that the mental hand gave it.
Outside to see the world without an anchor.
That day, a few snowflakes fell upon the silent hill, and Liam watched in ecstasy.