Open the Gates!

"Boss."

Leon was greeted by his gang members when he arrived near the western entrance.

The situation was not one he was expecting. He had yet to reach the western entrance, but it was already densely crowded from where he stood.

"Why had everyone not entered the Upper District yet?" Leon asked with a sour tone.

He had delayed the crawlers from reaching the upper wall, but their arrival was inevitable. These people will become food for the crawlers if they don't enter soon. 

"As you can see boss... the gates have been shut tight. No one is able to enter the Upper District." 

The gang member pointed in the direction of the gate. There was an uproar at the gates. The crawlers were closing in and the crowd were growing restless. They started banging in the gates with greater strength. 

"Open the gates!" 

"Open the gates!!" 

"Open the gates!!!"

"I am a noble! I demand the gates to be open for me at once!" Some nobles roared.

Evidently, there were other nobles and aristocrats that were caught outside in the chaos of the Lower Districts. Their presence made more people on the Upper Walls hesitate. 

"What should we do? We can't ignore these nobles and aristocrats."

"Dammit, why do they have to be outside at a time like this." 

"It's no use. The commoners will flood inside once the gates are open for these nobles and aristocrats. They only have themselves to blame." 

The discussion atop the upper walls were like a death sentence for these nobles and aristocrats stuck outside with the commoners. Their hearts turned cold.  

'These people were their peers? They were prepared to watch tens of thousands of people die. They weren't humans. They are a bunch of heartless monsters!'

If they were not stuck outside like the rest of these commoners, they would naturally not think like this. But since they were caught in the same situation, their sentiments aligned with the commoners and hated the cold-bloodedness of the Upper District people.

Similar situations were also occurring at the southern, eastern and northern entrances.

The only exception was the scene at the southern district was the least intense. The people at the southern entrance weren't as desperate as the people at other entrances.

…

On the rooftop of an intact building within the Lower South District, a group of shadowy figures were seen panting and resting.

"Leader, what are our next course of action?" Mark asked respectfully.

"You guys did well in finding me. I would not have been able to close this rift by myself." Kasif said. "However, it is not enough to save the south district. We will head back and report to the Queen. Her majesty will tell us what to do next."

"Yes, Leader… but what about the commoners? They commoners are being barred from entering the Upper District. Are we going to leave them to fend for themselves?" Mark added his concern.

"I believe the problem will be resolved by the Queen shortly." Kasif answered with some thought.

He was sure the Queen could see the situation from the Royal Palace and would not leave all these commoners to die.

Although they had succeeded in sealing the rift for the Lower South District's side, it was not enough to eliminate the danger from the Lower South District.

There were just too many crawlers emerging from the rift in the neighboring districts.

Forget about the absence of the outer city walls, even the adjacent walls dividing the lower districts would not be able to stop these night crawlers from entering the Lower South District.

Unless the entire rift surrounding the Capital was sealed and all the crawlers were eliminated, the danger would always be present. They were only able to buy some time for the commoners.

However, that time was more than enough for the Queen to resolve the entrance blockade by the nobles and allow the commoners to retreat to the Upper District safely.

He wished he could continue to seal the rest of the rift, but the situation did not allow for it. They had exhausted themselves and the place was already swarming with crawlers. It was an impossible task. They would just be offering themselves up as dinner for those nasty insects if they tried.

The group took one last look over the Lower District before they headed back to the Royal Palace. The upper wall may have been able to impede a lot of people from entering the Upper District, but it was nothing for high-level awakeners.

With a strong leap, they were able to scale the wall easily and continue unobstructed.

The Lower East District and Lower North District were the only two districts that didn't receive help from any awakeners.

The intact buildings close to the rift housed many people, whom chose to hide from the explosion. They did not leave and continued to hide inside.

When the crawlers emerged, these people were the first to be killed and eaten clean. Nothing was left of their remains.

…

When Leon found out that the Upper District entrance was selfishly shut tight, he was angered.

'These bastards only care about themselves.'

Among the crowd, he found that Aria and her parents were also still present. If he had chosen to head to the Upper District directly instead of taking the western entrance route, he might have missed them.

 "Ahh it's the divine doctor!"

"The Golden Lion Gang boss is here!"

The commoners exclaimed when they saw Leon fly above them with his flame wings.

'Hopefully the boss can get them to open the gates for us.' They prayed.

Leon floated in the air above the upper wall and looked down on the upper wall people coldly.

"Open the gates!"

The nobles and aristocrats were surprised by Leon's appearance and ability. They tried to browse their memory but failed to recognize him. They didn't seem to recall there ever being such a young fire-user among the royal family.

Only royalties could wear the type of royal garments Leon was wearing.  

"Brat, don't you know it's a capital offense to pose as royalty? Come down and accept your punishment!" A figured in city guard uniform stepped forward and shouted.

The person wasn't intimidated by Leon's ability. He was a 5th awakener. He didn't think the boy could possibly be stronger than him, given his young appearance.

Leon's words were completely ignored, and his mood sank further when he saw that his demand wasn't being acted upon immediately.

"And what kind of shit are you?"

"You don't know who I am!? I am the Owen, captain of the city guards, brat! How dare you disrespect me!"

The person was immediately angered by Leon's disrespectful words. But while he was anger, he was helpless to do anything about it. He couldn't fly like Leon.

City guards? The city guards!? Which hole did this city guard captain crawl out of?! Where had they been this whole time?

The city guards had the duty of keeping the order and enforcing the law, but what was the situation of the lower districts like? Their presence in the lower district was practically non-existent.

If this city guard captain didn't appear before him, he would have forgotten city guards even existed!

Leon didn't think they were good people to allow the gangs to run rampant in the lower districts and fatten up the coffers of the corrupted nobles for so long.

They must have been in leagues with them or taken bribes to turn a blind eye to all the happenings of the Lower District at least and ignored the suffering of the common people.

Even when chaos descended on the Lower District, the city guards didn't appear to help the commoners in need. They weren't anywhere to be seen in the Lower District in fact.

It turns out they had long retreated to the Upper District, and this bastard prancing in front of him was the head of those useless city guards?

Leon's expression turned cold. He immediately flashed in front of the city guard captain and wrenched him up off his feet by the throat.

Shock and horror bloomed on Owen's face as his eyes bulged at Leon with fear. Leon's cold eyes were like the deep dark abyss that threatened to swallow him whole.

He wasn't able react to Leon's action at all and allowed himself to be grabbed like a hapless little lamb.

He wanted to say something but couldn't due to the tightening grip on his throat. He could feel his eyes starting to roll and was about to pass out.

Someone who could defeat the captain of the city guards so swiftly had to be much more powerful than him.

Would the city guard captain offer his own neck to be grabbed so freely? No!

Thus, the nobles and aristocrats on the wall all retreated in fear. They were from the upper class, but they belong to the bottommost part of it. They weren't as strong as the city guard captain and was easily intimidated by Leon's overbearing presence.

Leon threw the captain off the wall like throwing away garbage before jumping down too. Owen landed on the ground in the Upper District's side painfully with a loud thud.

"I will not be repeating myself!" Leon said with the flair of an overlord.

Owen was completely frightened like a timid rabbit by Leon in their short exchange. When he heard the boy's callous words, he was about to agree and order the city guards to open the gates immediately.

However!

Rumble… The sound of heavy footsteps rushing to their location caused him to stop the words stuck on the tips of his tongue to look. His eyes immediately brightened by what he saw.

"Brat, you are dead now! The palace guards are here!" The city guard captain said venomously. His previous fear seemed to have dissipated without a trace at the palace guard's arrival.

"Sirs, you came at the right time! That brat is posing as some royalty and threatened us to open the gates!" Owen said pitifully to the guards with tears threatening to pour out of his eyes, while pointing to Leon.

The leader of the palace guards looked at him with disgust.

I've seen kids crying to other adults about being wronged, but never a grown man crying to other adults about being wronged.

Act your age, dude!

The leader forced down his unpleasant feelings and turned to look at who Owen was pointing at. He was immediately stunned, before he was driven furious.

PAH!

Owen was slapped so hard he couldn't tell left from right, before he heard how the leader greeted the boy and wanted to faint.

"Your highness!"