The Author's POV

[Earth]

The blue sky above seemed to shimmer and vibrate. The clouds parted, and then suddenly the sky began to crack, like a fragile pane of glass that was subjected to too much stress.

C... crack―!

The first fracture appeared, jagged and rough-edged, and then another, and another, until the sky was a spiderweb of broken blue glass.

From within the cracks, shapes began to emerge, strange and distorted, like figures from another dimension breaking through into this one.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Figures materialized into the sky, one after another. Their faces were pallid and drawn, their eyes sunken and haunted. They stumbled out of the cracks, their bodies haggard and trembling.

"We're here!"

One of them cried out, a note of relief in his voice.

"We've made it."

Another echoed, sounding more exhausted than triumphant.

After their emergence, more and more figures began to materialize from the fissure in the sky, eventually filling the entirety of the sky with their respective numbers.

The sky above them had stopped cracking, but it remained a deep, unsettling shade of blue, like a bruise on the face of the world.

Swoosh!

As the last of the survivors emerged from the portal, they took stock of their surroundings.

They were standing on top of what appeared to be a city, albeit one with peculiar building styles. The buildings were long and rectangular in shape, and the majority of their surfaces were covered in glass.

Other than that, it was eerily silent.

There were no sounds of life or movement, no signs of civilization or activity.

"Are we in the right place?"

"This is Earth?"

The survivors gathered together, their faces etched with fatigue and anxiety.

They were well aware that they had cheated death by a razor's edge and that it was only a matter of time before it caught up with them; at the moment, they were merely attempting to cling onto their last hope with the remaining forces on earth.

Soon...

Soon, the demons were going to come, and only one ending crossed their minds.

The survivors could feel it in their bones—a deep, primal fear that made their hearts race and their palms sweat.

"What's going on here? Where are all the humans?"

them, and as they extended their mana in an effort to detect the presence of any form of life, they were surprised to discover

of the elven elders

it like

made it

echoed, and everyone turned their heads to see a

gaze was calm and he appeared

"Who are you?"

representatives asked, her voice filled with caution.

question I'm supposed to

neither humble nor overbearing, but with a

elven elder stepped

He seemed rather amicable.

apologize for the inconvenience. We have heard that you humans have signed an alliance with our races, and we've

and although his expression didn't change much, the way he looked at them made it seem as though he was seeing right through them. He

so you're

no

but his expression and voice were rather monotone. It was hard to get a good grasp on

in a rush for time. The demons are

orc suddenly opened his mouth and glared at

escaped from the demon's clutches, and yet, the moment they arrived on Earth, they found out that there was no

couldn't allow

where the other humans and members

"Or what?"

stiff. He robotically turned his head, and his heart dropped at the

"How?"

He stammered.

of the three races were also in disbelief. No one

hand and placed it on the orc's shoulder. His cold gaze fell on him, and for a short moment, he didn't say anything. Even so, for the orc, that one short moment

a bunch

made the air tense as everyone looked at

know you're not reinforcements? Look

change, but each one of his words struck the hearts of those

"Know your place."

and those three words powerfully rang in the minds of the

any attention and turned his

you managed

suddenly asked, gathering the

"What do you mean?"

the dwarven delegates

forces fell in order to let us escape. If there's one thing

"Heh."

be described as pity. The dwarf

went

any of them could utter a sound, the

wrong on

shook his head, his eyes trained upwards as

escape because of your