Radiance Society Gathering Point
A somewhat desolate figure walked step by step along the road lit by moonlight, toward the massive Iron Gate ahead, faintly tinged red.
The flames that had burned everything now only had a few dark-red embers left, but the surging heat waves still lingered beneath this narrow night sky.
A faint night breeze blew within the enclosed city walls, turning into scorching gusts that brushed across the figure's cheeks.
The "small city," once filled with sealed high-rises, was now nothing but endless ruins. Broken brick walls had piled into little hills like burial mounds, arranged amid these silent mountains.
Specks of mottled, dim embers and flames not yet fully extinguished flickered through the gaps between the ruined hills beneath the bright moon.
Crack—
The figure stepped on a patch of shattered bricks, lowered his head to glance at the charred corpse on the ground, then stepped over it and walked deeper into the burial mounds formed by the ruins.
"How is it?"
A muffled voice came from the phone the figure carried.
"The entire gathering point has been completely destroyed. Nothing remains but ashes."
The figure glanced at the surrounding "grave mounds." "Judging from the scene, an extremely intense battle involving firearms seems to have taken place. The gathering point's armory was detonated as well."
"The attackers brought an army?"
The voice on the phone asked slowly.
"It doesn't look like an army."
The figure shook his head slightly and lowered his gaze to two corpses on the ground, each with a blade buried in the other's body.
The once-polished blades had been blackened by the smoke of the flames, but it was still possible to make out that both were the same model of standard-issue weapon. Around the two corpses lay only matching metal swords