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?"

an effort to detect the presence of any form of life, they were surprised to discover

one of the

it like

made

echoed, and everyone turned their heads to see a human with short black hair and

appeared not far from

"Who are you?"

filled with caution. She

be a question I'm supposed

overbearing, but with a certain authority that made it difficult for them to

elven elder

He seemed rather amicable.

humans have signed an alliance with our races, and we've

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

so you're the

said with no sincerity in

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

a rush for time. The demons are

mouth and glared at the human who

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

pride couldn't allow

where the other humans

"Or what?"

ear, and the orc's entire body turned stiff. He robotically turned his head, and his heart dropped at the sight of the

"How?"

He stammered.

of the three races were also in disbelief. No

orc's shoulder. His cold gaze fell on him, and for a short moment, he didn't say

a

the air tense as everyone looked

think I don't know you're not reinforcements? Look at yourselves.

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

"Know your place."

words powerfully rang in the minds of the three races that had

turned his head away from them

you managed to escape because of

suddenly asked, gathering the

"What do you mean?"

the dwarven delegates

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

"Heh."

heavy with what could only be described as pity. The dwarf furrowed his

same went

them could utter a sound, the

on every

The human shook his head, his eyes trained upwards

escape because