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?"

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

shocked, one of the

it like

made it like

and everyone turned their heads to see a human with

he appeared not

"Who are you?"

filled with caution. She was a short dwarven elder

question

nor overbearing, but with a certain authority that

elven elder

He seemed rather amicable.

the inconvenience. We have heard that you humans have signed an alliance with our races,

he looked at them made it seem as though he was seeing right through them.

so

no

voice were rather monotone. It was hard to get a

for time. The demons

and glared at the human who was standing off

clutches, and yet, the moment they arrived on Earth, they found out that there was no

pride couldn't allow

human. You either tell us where the other humans and members

"Or what?"

entire body turned stiff. He robotically turned his head, and his heart dropped at the sight of the human that

"How?"

He stammered.

shocked. The other members of the three races were also in disbelief. No one was able to catch a glimpse

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

for a bunch

the air tense as everyone

think I don't know you're not reinforcements?

expression didn't change, but each one of his words struck

"Know your place."

words powerfully rang in the minds of

no longer paid them any attention and turned his head away from them to stare at

managed to escape because of

the attention toward him

"What do you mean?"

the dwarven

just barely managed to escape from the demons. In fact, a lot of our forces fell in order to let us escape.

"Heh."

be described as pity. The dwarf furrowed his brows in response, sensing the disdain that was emanating

went

them could utter

wrong on

The human shook his head, his eyes trained upwards as

escape because of