Afterwards

Nobody dared to come near the man in black. Nobody dared to even check on him after the airships fell in the distance and even they could hear the screams and yelps of the enemies they were supposed to fight ceased all so suddenly.

The last scream was a desperate cry for help that was cut short, interrupted by the airship landing on the ground, destroyed.

Last night was a tense one. The man in black never returned, he seemingly disappeared but when they saw the shimmer of those red eyes in the distance from where the enemy army once stood, a shiver went down all those who witnessed it. 

But then suddenly someone shouted echoed in their ears.

"Captain, the elf, I found her in the alley!" His words surprised them.

As they try to go down on the walls to check, they see two people carrying the unconscious elf.

Silvanna, the fastest person, rushed towards the people carrying her.

"Is she okay?!"

"She's okay, the man in black might have uses some teleportation magic to send her back to the fortress city"

The two people put down the elf, her eyes suddenly twitched, and her eyes began to open.

"Pan-pan, you're okay?"

As Pandora fully went conscious, she smiled but then she remembered something.

"Wait, where is Erik? We need to find him!"

"Wait, we can't just go there! Look, I know you're worried about him but you have to understand that the person you once knew a few hours ago is different from the person he is now," Silvanna said.

"But, we need to help him!" She pleaded.

"We can't help him, yet," Reinhard suddenly joined the conversation. 

They were now on the northern wall along with the garrison. They were restless, they were both anxious as to what had happened to the man in black they had looked up to and what if he were to redirect his violence to the city? 

But still, inside the hearts of those he had known personally, even for just a week or a couple of days, there was still a glimmer of hope that he'd return.

"It's best that we wait a couple days, let him rest there before we send out any expedition to retrieve him," Reinhard said.

Pandora, notwithstanding her own tears, hugged Silvanna tightly and cried.

Reinhard then looked at his men, they all had worried expressions on their faces. Some have removed their helmets in honor of the dead, yes, they were honoring the deaths of their enemies. 

It would have been a different story if the siege itself took place and lives on each side were lost. 

But last night was different. The entire enemy army that they were supposed to fight and hate, eliminated in less than an half an hour by a single, mysterious man. 

A few mounted their passing. Thinking that they died a dishonorable death. 

They all died in vain. 

When the morning sun finally rose from the east in its light of glory, there was silence. Nobody returned to the fields to tend the crops, all were nervous and all were weary.

A debate among the men suddenly sprung up about the total number of groups the enemy army had. According to the watchers, they estimated the enemy army to be at least 120 thousand men and probably 24-28 Airships strong, forming dozens of ranks. 

But why send such huge numbers?

As for Pope Lincoln, nobody knows where his body went because it was somewhere in that large explosion area, the explosion area was full of lifeless corpses that it is hard to tell the difference, but they were able to find his body because of his uniform, some people knew about different types of Church's clothings.

But.

He wasn't even recognizable anymore. 

His face was, to put it mildly, a disaster. 

Silvanna was the only person who knew Lincoln personally. Although he was outranked by her by a couple numbers, Silvanna is still a skillful and tactical demigod and mage who could beat a hundred thousand man army with only an hour.

But her identity as the Demigod Requiema was a secret she had vowed to bring to her grave. 

Or so she thought. 

Silvanna had the uncomfortable thought that once the metal demon caught wind of Requiema's existence, she'd very much be exposed almost immediately. 

Thinking of it almost made her squeal but since Pandora was now crying on her thighs, she had to keep up.

However, also the Royal family themselves and the imperial authority didn't know her Requiema identity, once it was exposed, well, she'll be burned to pieces by other secret demigods that the Empire holds.

As the day progressed, a sense of normalcy returned. Silvanna accompanied Pandora back to the castle while Reinhard led some forces to carry out one of King Wart's edicts. 

Jord and Toby, however, went inside the barracks to discuss something privately. 

Although most of the leadership within the city have voiced opposition against retrieving the man in black too early, the two of them had other ideas.

As they entered the barracks, they looked at each hall to see if anyone was inside with them. After making sure that there weren't any other knights in the barracks, they went inside Jord's room and locked the door. 

"Alright, so, how are we going to save the man in black?" Jord asked.