Disaster

'Thud'

Emma's body, no longer held up by her desperate survival instinct, fell powerlessly to the floor. The thud woke up Noah and Evan from their stupor and made them slowly lift their heads and scan their surroundings, which seemed to have changed once again.

Right when they were about to lay their eyes on the presences already in the room,

'Thud'

Another body fell. This time, it was Mia's. The blood loss from the loss of her arm had caught up to her, and coupled with the same shock Noah and Evan were experiencing, she had collapsed.

The reaction of the two to the sudden noise this time was like that of prey that had been jumped by a predator. With a startled sudden swivel of their heads, what happened to their comrades and best friends set in, and their instincts refined over their experiences over the past year kicked in. Realising this was no time to weep, Noah ran to Mia and Evan to Emma.

Emma's treatment was relatively fast. She had spent mana quicker than it could be replenished, and forcefully using mana she did not have had strained her spirit. It was similar to sucking air out of an empty bottle. The bottle would be crushed. Though the phenomenon at play was different, the effect was similar, and so was the treatment. Much like blowing air into the crushed bottle, injection of foreign mana followed by rapid extraction before the effects of foreign mana poisoning set in would prevent the crumpling of her spirit. 

As for Mia, though, the damage was far more severe. Having finished off a unicorn moments away from its death in their travels once, Noah had gotten the technical kill credit on a unicorn, a monster capable of healing. With a mimic transformation into a unicorn, reattachment of her arm would have been possible. Unfortunately, the mysterious teleportation did not teleport her arm as well. Additionally, Noah currently did not have the mana to perform a mimicry.

As the two of them who had not fallen had instantly recognised this fact, they knew that first aid treatment from Evan's magic was the better option. However, this was all it was. First aid treatment. They currently could not do more.

This did not mean that everyone in the room could only do this much, however.

"Stand aside, please."

A soothing voice followed a resplendent golden, warm light, which shone on Mia's body as a golden magic circle materialised beneath her. At this sight, Noah stumbled away while Evan paddled backwards from the circle.

A few moments later, a peacefully sleeping Mia with an arm that had fully healed into a stump could be seen, while Noah's and Evan's eyes turned into saucers. Divinity would tint mana gold, and only one person on the continent had mana that was pure gold.

"Leaving aside the matter of how they suddenly appeared here, I have to say, Thorian, for all your bragging about how they'd 'improved to be actually strong' or whatever, your heroes aren't showing me a sight worthy of a word of anything you said."

Saintess Eira sighed as she lowered the hand that she had extended to conduct her healing. Wearing a pure white nun's habit, her distinguishing white hair, and her large white rosary, she was a sight that drew the attention of everyone in the room she walked into. However, this effect could not be a observed right now, not with the kind of people in the room at the moment.

'King Thorian - Of the Eldoria Kingdom!'

'King Oberon - Of the Ebonreach Kingdom!'

'King Alaric - Of the Astrid Kingdom!'

'Queen Valeria - Of the Holy Runa Kingdom!'

'Saintess Eira - Of the Holy Runa Kingdom!'

'Queen Isolde - Of the Eira Kingdom!'

'Empress Seti - Of the Amunet Empire!'

Each and every one of these people was of equivalent status in their own nation, these being the five major nations and the Empire, and was a powerhouse that could even contend with any one of the four in front of them when the four were in their peak state. Needless to say, when these leaders, all of them powerful enough to feel the decrease in mana concentration on the continent when the summoning occurred, were put together, they were easily stronger than even the First Heavenly King. This was the force that was looking at the four that had appeared in front of them with displeased gazes, particularly a man with a relatively younger handsome face.

"We closed our eyes to your summoning of the heroes without informing us, as a nod to the actions of the ancestors of the Eldoria Kingdom, who had always acted wisely in the face of the demonic threat. When you invited us to talk about matters following the fall of the Demon Lord, you led us to believe it was inevitable that your heroes would accomplish it. And yet, what is this? What is this, Thorian?! How will you take responsibility?!"

King Alaric's usually soft-spoken voice turned increasingly fierce, ending with a question with a bellow. His warrior mana caused his blue kingly robes and his wild blue hair to seemingly billow as if a gale was passing by, and his gentle, clean-shaven face that usually reminded one of a twenty-year-old older brother figure was currently contorted in rage.

"My actions were a result of the inaction of the rest of you! I refuse to allow the blame for the failure of the heroes to fall on me or Eldoria. No action would have been taken had the summoning continued to be pushed back due to 'preparation time to resist the demonic war effort', and the demonic threat would have gotten too large to deal with by the time we finally did something!"

The silence that followed the outbursts of the two was heavy. 

"Oh my, oh my. Is all this fuss really necessary? I think we are all long done with our preparations for the demonic war now, so the solution is simple, isn't it?"

"I see. I agree to this. Begin the summoning of the next four as soon as possible. This time, we will do it right. I shall execute these four."

Empress Seti's suggestion was met by ready agreement from King Alaric and no resistance from King Thorian, who seemed to be sporting an indecipherable expression. King Thorian did not miss the nuance of King Alaric's words, when he used the words 'we', implying that the hero summoning would be a group effort rather than that of Eldoria alone, as was usually historically the case. The leaders knew exactly how this would be settled. By easily finishing off the half-dead heroes, the public that had not seen the return journey of the four would believe they had perished in the Demon-Lord fight. It was a convenient and clean alibi, and it also paved the path for the next four heroes.

The current four heroes may have won the hearts of the public, but the public had a short memory anyway, even in a land without the internet, and the next four heroes that emerged from the mana of the best mages in the continent would slowly overwrite the failure of the current heroes.

King Alaric summoned his spirit blade, a greatsword half his height with blue accents running down the middle of the sword. With Mia and Emma incapacitated, it was up to the other two to escape. It was impossible, but they knew they had to try. Noah clenched his teeth as he prepared to strain his spirit, while Evan steeled his resolve. As the sword approached the four, Noah and Evan felt death approaching closer than they were comfortable with for the second time in the last hour.