Chapter 44

The recent events left most people in shock as news of the defeated strongest familias spread like wildfire.

The fact that they were defeated by the even stronger evilus further demoralized everyone. The atmosphere was tense and gloomy as we tried to process the reality of the situation.

Many were left wondering what this meant for the future and whether we were truly prepared for what was to come. It was a sobering reminder that the battle against the evilus was far from over and may require a lot of sacrifices.

Seeing that things weren't looking good, we gathered for another meeting to find a solution to our current predicament.

"All this looks too perfect to be made by one person. We only know of that Eren that Draco mentioned, just which other gods could be behind this??" Hermes asked.

This got everyone thinking until we were disturbed by a commotion outside. Having a bad feeling, I asked for the location of all the gods that had gathered at the camp.

"Did any of the gods leave the camp" I yelled while looking around frantically. I didn't get to hear a reply as someone appeared before us.

I immediately recognized him and told everyone that this was Eren, an evilus god and that he should be captured but it was too late.

"You will all bear witness to true change through PAIN" Eren screamed. Before our eyes 12 pillars of light appeared, meaning 12 gods had been sent back to Heaven.

'Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit. I fucked up, there were supposed to be only nine pillars, who were the extra three. What has changed?? I did not know. What did I screw up?? I did not know too'. My mind kept spiralling with these thoughts.

This event made many adventurers vulnerable and unable to defend themselves against the Evilus.

"We who are the embodiment of absolute evil, Will destroy all of Orario" Eren, no Erebus said before disappearing in a mysterious mist.

Sleeping at night was torture because my mind kept running through horrible scenarios. I was also bit scared of returning to our manor, so we camped at the city center.

The atmosphere was gloomy and the smell of burnt flesh and rotten corpse permeated my senses. Everyone was tense but still had to patrol to avoid a night raid. The evilus had the upper hand and we had no idea what their next move would be.

Eventually the exhaustion of the day finally got to me and I fell asleep with Bahamut in the same tent. The Astraea familia tent was also nearby along with my familia members. We took turns on the night watch.

The next day...…

Due to the recent happenings or more specifically last night a lot of people lost faith and tried to escape the city through the gates. But the situation got even more chaotic.

The evilus had surrounded the city, throwing bombs from the walls to prevent people from leaving, and reinforcements from coming.

Several more lives were lost in the chaos, further plummeting our already low morale. A few of us once again gathered for a meeting to find a solution to our current predicament while the others were fulfilling some duties.

"Well first of all, our current situation is horrible. The citizens might turn against us at any moment so we have to do something to regain their faith" Finn said to which everyone in the tent nodded in agreement.

We had fortified the central part of the city as our final defence against the Evilus, to prevent them from destroying babel which we assumed was the evilus final goal.

We also made a camp for civilians in the industrial districts and positioned some first class adventurers there so they wouldn't be caught in the cross fire. Our meeting was disrupted as Gareth soon entered the room.

"Are you ok to be moving around??" Finn asked.

"Yea, I will be fine" Gareth replied.

"Where is everyone else??" Gareth asked while looking around the room. Finn then proceeded to inform him on what was happening and what we had done to counter. Gareth also talked about what he knew of the enemy's strength.

"Why didn't they destroy the tower the last night" Gareth then asked.

"I don't really know but I think that they were being cautious of the amount of first class adventurers gathered here" Finn replied.

The meeting was once again interrupted by Raul, reporting that the industrial district, housing the civilians was currently under attack by the evilus.

"I will go and assist there" Gareth said, turning to exit the tent.

"Wait, Riveria is already there" Finn said stopping Gareth.

"She should be in the same state as me, if not worse than mine. Aren't you being a little too hard on her" Gareth said to Finn. I just kept quite and watched all this and left it all to the first class adventurers.

My current goal was for me and my familia to survive not go play hero. The evilus had Op characters while we had no one to solo any of their strongest.

The best help I could currently give was take care of the small fries and not be a liability.

"Don't worry she can handle it. I trust her" Finn replied.

Meanwhile in other parts of Orario. Many events were taking place.

In the industrial district, Ais could be seen fighting multiple evilus by herself until Riveria stepped in.

"Ais are you crazy, fighting all of them on your own" Riveria said angrily, scolding Ais on her reckless action.

"But I only did it because you were still recovering" Ais replied with her usual awkward way of speech. Ais was currently a beautiful girl around 9 years of age.

She had long blonde hair and golden eyes. She is mostly quiet and has trouble expressing her feelings through words. While Riveria appreciated why Ais did it she still scolded Ais and told her not to do it again.

Meanwhile in another location of the city. Despite the Astraea familia member effort to save everyone that they could, the situation was not improving.

They had been working non stop to guide citizens to the industrial districts. A woman blamed them for the death of her child, which Ryuu identified as the girl that had thanked her and Alise once before.

Overwhelmed with negative emotions Ryuu collapse due to exhaustion while remembering what the god now known as Erebus, questions on what justice was.

Waking up in her familia home, Ryuu was greeted by Kaguya. Their familia home was close by so the Astraea members carried her there instead of returning to the city center.

"Great you are up. Get ready we have duties to perform" Kaguya said. Picking up her gear to resume their work.

"How can all of you act normal after all this??" Ryuu asked as she felt that she was the only one fussing over this.

"Are you stupid, we all knew that this could happen and prepared mentally for it. We can only save those we can reach. Well except you it seems" Kaguya replied. This shocked Ryuu and she refused to accept it.

"That can't be true" Ryuu said while glancing at everyone in the room.

"Face the truth Ryuu" Kaguya replied a bit annoyed at her. Seeing things might escalate, Alise decided to interfere.

"All right you two calm down. You are just a bit stressed about the whole situation, no need to argue" Alise said. Making Kaguya to back down. Ryuu didn't back down and continued.

"Then Alise are you prepared to see any of us die and what is justice??" Ryuu asked.

"I don't know. I don't really have an answer that would satisfy you Ryuu" Alise replied.

Filled with despair, Ryuu fled the manor. No one stopped her as she needs sometime to get herself sorted out.

"Weren't you a bit too blunt?" Kaguya asked Alise.

"I didn't want to lie to her" Alise replied. The mood was tense and gloomy in the room. Lyra felt the most affected by it, so she decided to take action.

"I will go after Ryuu. Kaguya can you come with me?" Lyra asked.

"Fine, but only because I don't want that crazy elf to get herself killed with her tantrum" Kaguya replied. She was a bit annoyed at how childish Ryuu was being.

"Can I come too?" Alise asked as she felt like she was the one that pushed Ryuu over the edge.

"No, who will lead the others if both the captain and vice captain are gone" Lyra said to convince Alise to stay.

"Yea Stay here Alise. Me and Lyra will go get Ryuu back. Remember we still have work to do" Kaguya said. Alise then stopped asking. Lyra and Kaguya then left the building to find Ryuu.

A/N: Thanks for reading. See ya all Monday and have a nice weekend. Feel free to read ahead on my patreon and donate.