In the room next to her was Gwen.

Like her, because the hospital was a bit far away and it was an emergency situation, she was carried to the Sanctuary by her husband.

[Unable to recover the fetus]

Ryan paled, while the others could only look down or close their eyes, as if they were also in pain.

Ryan’s hands clenched into fists, so tightly they were bleeding. His ears were ringing in despair, his heart in pain for his wife’s suffering, and his body shivering in regret.

He shouldn’t have let her fight, no matter how much she begged. When she pushed through without them knowing, he should’ve done everything to stop her.

Mathilda was also crying at the side. She blamed herself for what happened to her daughter.

The Ministers would be the main targets of the assassin squads sent inside. Naturally, Mathilda was one of the more popular ones. The forces that attacked her were just a little less than what the Research Center had to defend against.

The difference was that she was always stationed in the guard station, which was also heavily defended due to the Aether Letter Station inside. It was pretty much the equivalent of a command center, sending word all over the territory. With the recent improvements, they could send messages even farther away.

The enemy had studied them well, so it was inevitable that they would figure out this function. So, the target in the guard station was Mathilda, as well as taking over such a critical area.

Gwen went over to be part of the defending team. While Gwen herself had gained a high level compared to her peers, and her coordination with her team was exquisite, it was definitely not enough against the powerhouses sent to deal with the Guard Station.

Even with the dense sentries and powerhouses assigned there, the enemies simply overprepared, even more than they initially estimated, so losses were inevitable.

To say that the fight was bloody was an understatement. They won, but a third of Gwen’s squad had already perished, and almost everyone else were critically injured.

Mathilda covered her tear-stricken face. Even if they won such a dangerous war with what the aborigines called ’minimal’ casualties, they couldn’t feel that way at all.

Not enough, she said to herself, they’re still not strong enough!

...

About two hours before the 28-hour period ended, the largest breach had officially been closed up. The ones inside became isolated, dealt with by the Alterrans rushing over to help out, doing wheel battles to minimize the casualties.

The breaches were blocked by earth elementalists and stone elementalists, like Reno, creating a wall in front of it. Before, it was a struggle (and a waste of energy) to do so because the other side had their earth elementalists, too.

Battling by building a wall, then having the enemy take it down, over and over, was a waste of effort.

Now, the archers and long-ranged fighters had specifically targeted enemy elementalists first, and after several hours of fighting, the enemy side had lost effective elementalists.

The war was still not over, but many of them could take a bit of a breather.

They estimated that the war was already over now. They had seen the enemies sob, cursing that they had actually become slaves.

However, there was still no announcement, and even if there were, they would still remain alert.

Announcements were sent by the Lord, at their discretion and timing, after they received the system’s notification.

The fact that no one had done so was either that the Lord had something planned or that they could not make an announcement.

Because they were unconscious.

The former option didn’t have much rationale.

At this point, people already had a guess of who the Lord could be, but no one spoke of it.

All they felt was worry for them, followed by prayers that they would recover soon.

...

The tension in the evacuation centers and the bunkers had also softened up considerably, but no one still ventured out. This was natural, because everyone knew the rules wouldn’t resume their function until the entire 28 hours were over.

Not to mention, they estimated that the majority of the enemies went through the array this time.

Only half of the loser’s entire population would automatically become the territory’s slaves after the war was won, and this meant that there was still a fraction of ’free’ enemies left over.

If they were alive, they could still cause significant damage.

The one under most tension was still the bunker areas, whose door had been destroyed during the earlier fights.

The fight here was over, and only Alterrans were left standing, but the guards remained vigilant as if they could still be attacked at any time.

Everyone guarding here was filled with blood and injuries. Those with serious injuries were taken to be treated, but everyone else—as long as they could still stand and throw attacks—remained to guard the place.

Inside, the twins had been crying for hours and had just fallen asleep due to exhaustion. They must’ve been worried for their parents, and perhaps even sensed them unconscious.

Lola and Yana hugged a child each, feeling heartbroken for them, and also very worried for their parents. They did not dare show this to the children, because they knew it would only make things worse.

Except when looking at their wards, the old women’s eyes would always look at the broken door. It had been blocked by earth users and would never be lifted until after the official resumption of the Rules and Regulations.

Still, they could only ease the fear and tension in their hearts if they were watching it.

Unexpectedly, about an hour before the official end of the war, things suddenly shifted.

SLIP!

The sturdy and thick earth wall slipped down, but only a portion, which was a bit odd.

"Why did it open?" Lola wondered. She knew that the war was almost over, but generally speaking, they didn’t open the bunkers until the Rules and Regulations were back up.

Before she could react, however, the child in her hand was lifted up by an unknown force, and she felt pressure on her chest, and she was kicked away like a rag doll!

"Ahhh!"

Yana screamed as she was slapped away, barely conscious. The protection charm broke midway, so she still suffered a portion of the damage. She was just level 10, and this portion broke several bones in her body.

Despite the agony she was feeling, she did her best to alert everyone.

"The children!" she screamed. "SOMEONE TOOK THE CHILDREN!"