[The Seventh Volume: Fall of the Asuras]
Shen Ze, the star system housing some of the mighty Legendary Rank powerhouses that once had an orderly and peaceful civil war, was now in absolute chaos.
There were three major zones in Shen Ze. One belonged to the Evure God Clan, another to the Central Alliance, and the last to the Asura God Clan.
The center was neutral, but due to the escalation of the civil war between the Evures and the Asuras, they were now involved.
The death of Lysander, the second prince of the Asuras, was of utmost significance, as it sparked the entire conflict.
The Asuras, angered by his death, invaded the Evure God Clan.
Then, two important members of the Evure God Clan—the rebel Jacqueline and one of the major pillars, Roy—were kidnapped.
The Evure God Clan believed the Asuras were responsible and demanded their return, offering to stop the war in exchange. However, the Asuras denied any involvement.
Furious, the Evure God Clan launched a full-scale attack, and the Asuras retaliated.
This prompted the recruitment of members from the Central Alliance, as both powerhouses were wary of an attack from the Alliance while they were at their weakest.
For a period, both sides used assassination, trickery, deceit, and force to recruit Central Alliance members.
If the center attempted retaliation, both clans would simultaneously attack, resulting in mutual destruction.
Thus, the leader of the Central Alliance, the Qing Mei Sect, issued a notice allowing the major houses to join either of the two clans as they wished.
The Qing Mei Sect did not involve itself in the war between the Asuras and Evures. Instead, it gathered the smaller houses of the alliance for protection. The Asuras and Evures were fine with this arrangement, as they did not see the Qing Mei Sect and the smaller houses as a significant threat—at least, that was their opinion. They were unaware of the true situation.
More than a century had passed, and Jacqueline and Roy's whereabouts were still unknown. Their life tablets showed they were alive, but their location remained a mystery.
The Evure God Clan was furious, and the Asura God Clan bore the brunt of their anger, as evidenced by the destruction of nearly 30% of their territory.
Both powerhouses were on equal footing, unable to claim the other's territory. They could only destroy and retreat. Once a territory was destroyed, it could not be restored.
On a larger scale, this was the state of the war. Anyone could discern this much, and even the Qing Mei Sect had given Lith similar information.
However, this wasn't enough.
Having experienced multiple situations, Lith wanted information from the ground level.
As a result, he didn't go straight to the Qing Mei Sect upon arriving in Shen Ze. Instead, he entered Asura territory and decided to visit the nearest world to assess the situation firsthand.
Currently, he was in a desert, walking toward the nearest settlement. His clothes, resembling those of a wandering nomad, were dusty from the sand in the air.
The sun blazed in the bright sky, and in a world bathed in yellow, the King Rank Vampire could feel his melanin-deprived skin begin to burn.
Lith could fly to the settlement whenever he wished, and judging by the surroundings, there were no immortals living in this world. However, he wanted to stay low and experience life as a common man.
After walking for thirty minutes in the scorching heat, Lith finally reached the settlement.
Lith approached the settlement with slow, deliberate steps, his eyes scanning the area.
Dusty, makeshift houses scattered haphazardly across the barren land, constructed from crumbling stone and twisted metal. The buildings leaned against each other for support, as if struggling to stay upright against time and neglect.
The air was thick with the scent of rust and decay, a mixture of old stone and dry earth.
A few figures moved about in the distance, their clothes ragged and their faces hardened by years of struggle. Some shuffled through the market square, where a handful of stalls still stood, though the goods they offered were few and far between—sparse, half-rotten vegetables, dried meats, and a few other unrecognizable items.
The lively chatter of a typical market was long gone, replaced by a heavy silence that lingered in the air, as if the entire settlement was holding its breath.
Lith's gaze then shifted to the center of the village, where an old well stood.
The stone edges were cracked, and the water inside shimmered faintly, but it was clear that the source was running low. A group of people huddled near it, filling up containers with the last of the precious water, their movements quick and frantic. The sense of urgency was palpable, as though everyone knew that it wouldn't be long before the well dried up completely.
A few people walked by with strange, alien-like beasts at their sides—creatures with long, muscular limbs and eyes that seemed too intelligent for their wild appearance. The beasts were tamed, but they moved restlessly, as if even they could sense the impending disaster.
Their presence here felt like an attempt at survival, a last-ditch effort to hold on to something that still had some semblance of life.
The ruins spoke of a once-thriving community—there were remnants of old, grand buildings, now reduced to rubble, and streets that once bustled with life, now eerily quiet.
It was clear that something had ravaged this place before, and that something was about to strike again. Lith felt a weight in the air, the tension of a storm brewing on the horizon, one that would tear through what little remained. Despite the devastation, the people here weren't giving up. They moved with purpose, as if their stubborn will to survive could somehow keep the settlement alive a little longer.
But the signs were clear. The time they had left was running out.
The wind howled through the barren streets of the settlement, kicking up dust that stung the eyes and clung to the skin.
Lith wandered through the makeshift market, his eyes scanning the faces of the people as they went about their tasks.
It was there, by a broken cart where a few old crates were stacked, that he found them: a young boy, barely into his teens, an older man hunched over with a cane, and a middle-aged man sitting with his head bowed, his hands resting limply on his lap.
The boy's eyes were full of fire, brimming with a spark Lith hadn't seen in many of the others here. He was talking eagerly, almost desperately, to the older man, his voice full of hope, as though the world hadn't yet crushed it out of him.
"Grandpa, we can't just wait here! We need to do something!" the boy said, his small fists clenched in determination. "The others—they're coming! We have to be ready!"
The old man, leaning heavily on his cane, looked down at him with tired eyes. His once-sharp gaze now seemed clouded with years of struggle, of battles lost. "And what do you expect to do, boy?" he asked, his voice rough and tired. "What can any of us do? The world is broken. This place… it's a graveyard of dreams. It's too late."
"But we can't give up!" the boy's voice trembled slightly, but there was strength in it. He took a step forward, his eyes burning with a passionate fire. "We can still rebuild! We can take back what's ours!"
The old man gave a long, weary sigh. He slowly sank down to sit on a crate, his hand rubbing his forehead. "I've seen it all, boy. You're not the first to dream of a better world. You think you're the only one who's had hope? I've fought for this place, bled for it, lost everything for it. And here we are, still broken, still waiting for something that will never come." His voice cracked, the weight of his words heavy with years of disappointment.
The middle-aged man sitting a little ways off lifted his head slightly, his expression distant, as if the world around him no longer held any meaning. His clothes were tattered, and there was a hollow emptiness in his gaze that seemed to stare through everything.
"Don't waste your time, kid," the middle-aged man muttered, his voice low and bitter. "Hope doesn't fix anything. It doesn't change anything. It just hurts when it gets shattered." He looked up at the boy with a gaze that was both sad and resigned. "I was like you once. Full of dreams. But look at us. Nothing changes. The world will come for us. And when it does, there won't be anything left to save."
The boy's face faltered for a moment, but the fire in his eyes refused to die. He stepped toward the middle-aged man, his voice shaking but determined. "But what if you're wrong? What if we can still fight back? We still have a chance to win, don't we?"
The old man snorted, shaking his head. "You really don't get it, do you? The fight is over. All that's left now is to survive as long as we can."
"No," the boy said, his voice rising, "We can't just survive. We have to live. We have to keep fighting, or what was the point of all this? What was the point of all the sacrifices?"