After the great battle ended, everyone believed Blue Star's crisis had finally been resolved. The smell of blood still lingered in the air, but smiles they had not worn in a long time had already appeared on their faces.
Some began clearing the battlefield, some helped the wounded, and others knelt to kiss the ground. They had survived. Humanity had survived.
On the shattered streets, people embraced one another, sobbing uncontrollably. Some found relatives they had been separated from and held them tight, as though trying to fold them into their own bodies.
Some stood amid the ruins and looked up at the sky, their eyes filled with relief at having survived the catastrophe.
A young mother held her child, tears streaming endlessly down her face as she murmured:
"We survived... we survived..." Her child was too young to understand and merely reached out to wipe the tears from her face, saying in a tiny voice:
"Don't cry, Mommy."
When someone asked who those unfamiliar powerhouses were, Lan Xinghai and the others smiled faintly and introduced themselves. Lan Xinghai, Monarch of the Azure Empire.
Everyone drew a sharp breath. The Azure Empire? Their Blue Star was merely one insignificant planet within it? A Tier Twelve powerhouse! Someone could not help exclaiming under their breath:
"Tier Twelve... what does that even mean?" "We haven't even come close to the tenth tier."
"That monarch is actually a Tier Twelve powerhouse?"
Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd, as though they had heard something utterly unbelievable.
Some even began counting on their fingers, trying to figure out just how powerful Tier Twelve was. Yet no matter how they calculated it, they reached only one conclusion: it was a level they could never attain in their lifetimes.
Some shook their heads and sighed, while