Would resting more have been a good idea? Most likely, after all, his body hadn’t fully recovered yet, and it was still affected by the injuries he had gotten. He had to use Voidpiercer to support himself.

But at the same time, he wasn’t one who liked resting in their bed all day. Plus, a walk was nice, since it allowed him to think.

’Though this view isn’t the best.’

Cloth and pieces of daily life still remained scattered across the platforms as if their owners had only left moments ago. Blood still painted the floors, as if to remind the people of what they lost, as if just looking around didn’t instantly tell you what had happened.

Higher up, entire sections had collapsed into the lower layers beneath them, wood and stone dug deep into the ground, creating ruins of what was before the war.

Ladders hung broken from the sides of platforms, while narrow walkways tilted dangerously, barely attached to anything anymore. Almost as if the city had forgotten all of its paths.

Some structures looked one strong wind away from falling completely. ’There goes the hard work those who wanted to make sure they were strong enough to resist. Well, it’s not like they ever expected this to happen.’

And yet...

Vines still wrapped around everything. Even with everything burning down, they still remained, one of the only things still alive in this place.

They crawled over burned railings, stretched across shattered bridges, and hung from ruined rooftops as though nature itself refused to let the city disappear. But what could some vines do, with them around, it looked more as if this place was abandoned rather than in repair.

Leaves still spilled over certain homes untouched by the flames, creating this strange contrast between life and destruction. How lucky those who had their homes resist the war, they must be ecstatic... maybe they should try gambling a bit once in a while also.

’It really looks like the forest is trying to reclaim everything. Though I guess nature was always the owner of the city, so no wonder it is already trying to help it at least seem better.’

The lower levels had suffered the worst.

At the base of the giant trees, where homes had been built around the beginning of the trees, destruction stretched endlessly. Entire sections had been crushed beneath falling debris from above. Burned wood, shattered platforms, and collapsed beams buried parts of the streets completely.

On the lower levels, while in the war, you had to worry about two things: the magic attacks being fired by the mages of the Beast Humans, the orcs who were going around destroying things, and, most importantly, anything falling from above. Anything big had a target on its head, so they were bound to fall, and when they did, you had to be sure they didn’t fall on you.

And the people...

That was the hardest thing to look at.

Beast Humans moved through the ruins slowly, carrying broken planks, tools, supplies, anything they could salvage. Their eyes, he would have expected them to be hollow from such a sorrowful sight, but instead, they were filled with hope.

As if winning the war and letting them live another day was all that mattered, not the damage that they had taken, alongside the city itself.

Also, these guys were supposed to be those who had it the best in the war... well, no one had it good, but they didn’t have to fight, they weren’t in the hut getting treatment, or saved from fatal injuries.

Some looked exhausted beyond belief, their bodies wrapped in bandages while they still forced themselves to work.

Of course, fighting wasn’t the only way to get injured; he did just say the many dangers of the lower levels, things you don’t fight, and yet are really hard to avoid.

Others simply sat there.

Staring. As if trying to wrap their mind around everything that happened.

A mother held her child tightly near the remains of what used to be a home. He wanted to know just what was going on inside her mind, alone with a child, and now without any home... really, that was probably the worst thing that could have ever happened.

It was hard for him to get, after all, he’s someone with great potential, but to someone like the mother, who didn’t have power, and probably hardly had any money, their house being destroyed... was a nightmare.

An older wolf Beast Human silently dug through rubble with his bare hands despite the blood running down his arms. What was he searching for? A loved one? How terrifying to be crushed by rubble, to know that it’s going to take some time until you’re found. And to see such a sight of the ones you love.

Nearby, several Beast Humans worked together trying to lift a collapsed support beam while others rushed to help stabilize the platform above them. ’I guess they got this for them. They don’t give up easily. If this happened to most villages, they would most likely never be able to recover, but they had such strong wills to survive and live that it could never stop them from rebuilding everything.

Nobody complained.

Nobody cried loudly.

It almost felt like they had already exhausted all the tears they had left. And now the only thing remaining to do was to find a way to get back what they had, even if it meant hours and hours of hard work. They were going to do it. Together, united, everything was possible in their eyes.

Aether’s gaze slowly moved toward the distance.

The massive wall surrounding the civilization had collapsed, leaving enormous openings leading directly into the forest outside. Rubble rested everywhere beneath it. Even the main gate had fallen apart entirely, its giant doors shattered into pieces across the ground.

It had been the price of an unexpected strategy, but a genius one that probably single-handedly caused all this damage. They may have found a way to keep them back if they hadn’t split up into three groups.

The symbol of safety that once protected this civilization now looked no different from the rest of the ruins. What would happen if anything else wanted to attack them now? Without anything to stop them, they would just get through with ease, and the injured beast humans would have to find a way to protect themselves.

And yet...

Despite all of it.

Despite the destruction.

Despite the smoke still rising into the sky.

People continued moving.

Continued rebuilding.

Continued living.

Aether tightened his grip around Voidpiercer slightly.

’A destroyed civilization...’

His eyes wandered across the city once more.

’And yet somehow... it still feels alive.’

...

...

...

Aether smiled, gripping Voidpiercer in his hand, as he stared at the Abyss, who was quiet.

"Not going to say anything? I think I deserve an apology from you."

The Abyss frowned, looking back at him. "You want me to say that I was wrong. Fine then, I overestimated the orcs’ strength. But you have to understand me, with all those orcs, and the fact that the King was a Reader Titan, it was normal for me to think that it was going to be impossible for you to survive, so I’m sorry for being careful with your life instead of letting you just throw it away, and hardly survive. I also don’t get how you did. I was convinced you were dead after you fainted. I didn’t sense your essence for a while. Do I guess, I was still there, so you couldn’t have been dead."

Aether smirked, happy with how things turned out. Not only had he survived one of the hardest fights of his life, but at the same time, he had also gotten the Abyss, damn Fallen Eden, to say he was wrong. Like that doesn’t happen at all, it’s rare to get a cocky and never doubting god to actually say that they were indeed not correct, even when it was blatantly obvious they had made a mistake.

I guess he really had something special in him, not when it came to strength or anything like that, but rather, he was one of a kind when it came to angering gods. Though he had to say, he would have definitely made it worse for all these gods if he still had Promise Child. Since the difference between his strength against them now, and when he had this path, was different, a lot different. He was much weaker.

"How nice of you. I’ll take my leave now... Kade and Lucien have probably awakened, meaning we’re going to have to get out of this place soon, finally, and go to that damn third and hopefully last shard, since this has really become a hassle."

...

But what comes next? That was the question he so wished to know the answer to, with everything he had been through and seen in Stormfell so far.

What comes next?