626,

Casualties were inevitable, but everything was still under control.

Most of the population in the places the Great Dragon was currently attacking had already been secretly evacuated.

The ones left behind weren't impossible to move. There simply hadn't been enough time.

After all, the Great Dragon's attacks were random. Completely controlling them was impossible.

Still, thanks to Cyclone's help and Marcina's efforts, eighty percent of the areas the Great Dragon had destroyed at the beginning were within the planned zones.

Now, as the civilians were gradually evacuated, the Great Dragon could destroy the empty areas.

That way, everything could end perfectly.

However, reality was never quite that perfect.

The High Priest knew it. Alexander knew it too.

Besides, the Great Dragon wasn't the sort of being that would simply go home after torching a few things.

If it kept destroying everything, no amount of evacuation would make a difference.

To truly put an end to all this, the High Priest had prepared something—a gift capable of calming the Great Dragon's flames.

That was the plan, at least. The Great Dragon's destruction was still continuing.

The moment Cyclone came downstairs, all he saw was hell.

"Oh god... What have I done...?"

Cyclone hadn't cared about Kakarl in the first place. He'd already decided to take all his wives back to the forest, and however many people died in this city was none of his concern.

But when he saw this dead city turned into ruins with his own eyes, he still felt a little troubled.

As he watched the town burn beneath the raging flames, it felt as if the Kakarl he'd stepped into had already become another world.

"W-Wait!! M-My lower half is still a little numb..."

Hilmirya followed after him, her hair still slightly damp and her clothes not yet properly put on.

But the moment Hilmirya saw the dead city before her, she immediately covered her mouth with both hands, tears spilling from her eyes despite herself.

Was this what Cyclone and the Water Shrine had wanted to do?

The moment the question arose in her mind, the Great Dragon flew overhead.

Its enormous body passed above them, and a blast of wind pressure struck them in an instant.

Hilmirya lost her balance and fell back toward the stairwell entrance.

"What's wrong?!"

"N-No, I'm fine..."

At that moment, a huge explosion rang out in the distance.

They looked toward the explosion. That was where the Great Dragon was attacking now.

"Good."

Cyclone's brief reply only made Hilmirya even more dissatisfied.

"H-How is that good?!"

"Pull yourself together. That area was one of the planned zones. Everything happening there is within the High Priest's expectations."

"S-So what?! Can't you see this place? It's all..."

Cyclone placed both hands on Hilmirya's shoulders, making her calm down first.

"Do you see any dead people?"

"This..."

Only after Cyclone pointed it out did Hilmirya notice that, although this place had become a dead city, there really weren't any corpses to be seen.

"I can't say that no one will die. But at least, whoever does this isn't some idiot who acts without thinking at all."

Cyclone pulled Hilmirya to her feet.

"Let's take care of our own task first."

Hilmirya nodded once. Cyclone then took her by the hand, and the two of them ran through the streets together.

Cyclone was running in the exact opposite direction from the Great Dragon.

"Leave the Great Dragon to them. We need to pick up Elyse now."

Just as Cyclone finished speaking, Hilmirya suddenly grabbed him and pulled him backward with one hand.

"What?!"

Cyclone had never expected Hilmirya to yank him to a stop like that.

He rolled twice across the ground and tumbled into a back alley.

"What happened to you?"

Lying on the ground in the alley, Cyclone looked at Hilmirya standing in the main street beside a man in a military uniform.

Cyclone couldn't have mistaken the golden national flag on the man's arm. It was the flag of the City of Dusk.

The man was forcibly holding onto Hilmirya.

"Quick! This way. We can't go over there."

"Wait!!"

Just as the man was about to take Hilmirya to the evacuation area, another man in the City of Dusk's military uniform appeared.

"Can't you see?! She's Cyclone Theodore's woman!"