At the tip of Rataki's tower, an abstract black eye had been drawn on the stone wall. The All-Seeing Eye—both the symbol of the Red Robed Wizards and an extremely powerful artifact in its own right.
It had once been the pride of the Sald Alliance. But now, it merely watched Rataki's downfall.
The city was ablaze. The wizards' temple—the Wizards' Arch—was letting out mournful shrieks as its load-bearing pillars cracked under the intense heat. The magnificent structure was collapsing, roaring like thunder. Looking farther away, thick smoke billowed over the entire city, while flashes and booms from distant explosions continued to erupt from time to time.
The battle had spread across most of the city. Gargoyles belonging to different factions fought one another in the sky, while Wind Spirits and Wind Elements howled through the lower airspace. Along several broad streets paved with white marble, the once-beautiful greenery and municipal facilities had long since vanished. The ground was covered in charred patterns, and the Iron Men, their bodies gleaming with a metallic sheen, stood in rows. Behind them, the Greater Goblins fired their flintlocks in succession. A line of white smoke rose, and the cowardly creatures immediately scattered backward.
Behind the army, a tall serpent demon wielding six gleaming curved blades oversaw the battle, chopping off the heads of every goblin that dared pass her.
Viewed from the sky, the Sasar people were steadily retreating, their defensive line shrinking further and further until they were concentrated in only a handful of areas, including Supreme Plaza. Behind them stood the Sasar people's last fortress, the Tower of the All-Seeing Eye. They had nowhere left to retreat.
To be precise, the Sasar people had already lost everything.
Their defeat had long been predetermined.
The Sasar people had once been nobles among