Fallen Zone.
Thick black smoke shrouded the sky above the city. Hawks darted nimbly through gaps in the smoke, spreading their wings as they glided over the gate tower. Everywhere their keen eyes looked, there were flames and slaughter, like hell itself.
The bandits had gone mad, with nothing left but the instinct to kill. Perhaps they had possessed a shred of conscience before, but after such savage fighting, their minds had broken.
Tragedies lay everywhere. Toddlers sat on the ground crying for their mothers, tears running down little faces caked with ash. Scarlet flames reflected in those teardrops. Bands of nearly bestial bandit soldiers laughed wildly as they tortured and slaughtered people. Towering buildings, like blazing torches, came crashing down, scattering embers that set still more houses alight...
At another city gate, several hundred civilians who had suffered calamity were driven out of the city.
The bandit soldiers cracked their whips. One lash tore flesh open at once. Shouting curses, they drove the civilians through the corpses and weapons strewn everywhere from the siege. Outside the city stood a temporary platform four stories high, upon which a statue of a deity had been erected. The statue gazed lovingly upon the slaughter and flames.
Countless people had already gathered around the platform, while crowds continued streaming in from afar.
As they drew closer, they saw someone on the platform presiding over a worship ceremony, shouting feverishly again and again. His voice was amplified by some Magic Tool and carried into everyone's ears.
The bandit soldiers waved their whips and forced everyone to kneel. Those who refused were immediately cut down. They declared viciously that only by praying for the protection of the deity upon the platform could anyone survive.
Before the deity statue on the platform, a man dressed in