In a distant land west of the former area of Berlia, a group of humans began gathering together.
This place was called "Second Haven" and was the base created by those who could fight and still had the desire to remain in a civilised world.
It had only been 2 months since the day the world changed, and hundreds of millions had already lost their lives.
Families were ruptured, lovers separated forever, and the lands were overrun by monsters, bandits and those without morals.
It only took 2 months for structure and law to become worthless.
Inside an old office-like room, the walls were slightly cracked and damaged from the explosions and flames before the great fall.
Which is what the locals called the day that chaos began in Astera.
A handsome male with short blonde hair sat at the head of the table; his eyes closed as if thinking about what to do with several of his friend and advisors sitting at the table with faces of worry.
Despite looking like a rag-tag bunch, they all seemed to be decent people at heart.
"Alan, the food stores are running low—we need to find a solution before next month." A male with brown hair and eyes said, handing a small parchment to the group.
"Shit, are those useless people eating 3 meals a day and now refusing to work!?" Shouted a bulky male with a big frame.
He was referring to the newest refugees they saved from the attack of some wild monsters, although they didn't mind the young and weak being allowed to work less for their meals.
But the grown men and women able to fight refused and claimed to be scared. The world wasn't so kind to let people be lazy and seek entitlement anymore.
Even today, they lost one of their fighters to a plant that became carnivorous and devoured the top half of his body with a single bite!
So then Hugo, the tall man, offered them the chance to work in repairing and building up the farmland as fruits were far more filling and would help fill a person up with a single serving.
Yet Alan didn't want to force people into work—for the first time, his green eyes opened as a powerful aura of ice surrounded his body.
Alan was a former champion but grew distant from the divines after they gave no response or clear feedback during or after the great fall.
"Let them be—first, let's give them 3 days to adjust. As for the food stores and issues, I'll head into the city's heart and look for something to eat."
"Alan, you can! Even for you, that place is too dangerous!" A feminine voice sounded, and her eyes filled with worry.
He just smiled at her before shaking his head.
"If the leader doesn't act when we are all in need. Who would follow me?"
"I would!"
"Me!"
"I!"
Alan could only chuckle when his friends spoke out like this. He had known them for years—they would game together and be inseparable even after finding jobs.
When the end occurred, they were the only survivors of their deep dive bar.
When they awoke from their gaming session after being forcibly booted offline, they found the world had changed forever.
"Then shall we all go? Like old times?" Alan smiled.
Bang! Boom!
There was a sudden flash of light before countless pillars appeared in the sky.
A moment later, the sky cracked a loud explosion grew larger with each second before the brilliant lights faded.
This stunned everyone in the room, looking around with confused faces.
"Alan... That light came from the centre of Berlia. Are we going to check?" Hugo asked, his voice deep and solemn.
"I..."
"Let's go; hopefully, whatever appears will benefit us."
This moment would spell a grave change for the Second Haven and those seeking refuge...
Alas, it would be some time before Zell discovered that his enemies, the warriors that fight for the divines, were already on Asteria.
The angels had descended from Eden.
-
Meanwhile, in the forest north of Dragan Village...
Woosh!
A sword slashed across the sky, almost slicing the throat of Zell, before two women appeared at his chest, both throwing several blows towards his stomach.
The connective attack of Tessa, Griselda and Edelgard forced him to step back, only to be assaulted by an array of shadow bolts from the hands of Cryska.
At the same time, Veronica danced to control his movements and limit them further.
Zell fought the girls with a faint smile, he could feel the burning effect of Veronica's dance and the necrotic damage of Cryska's magic, yet his flesh could endure it without damage, easily dodging the sudden blade of Alizée, who joined in on the fun.
Bang!
Unlike the other girls with Alizée, he wouldn't hold anything back.
His leg smashed into her blade like a deadly whip, sending her flying through the sky and crashing into a thick tree before rolling down to the base filled with dirt and dust.
Evelyn's body appeared several metres away, her hand forming dozens of purple blades of light glowing with a vibrant power that caused the air to stir.
"Fufu~ so focused on one thing that---Wah!?"
Before she finished speaking, his hand exploded with a massive flame, crushing her blades and forcing her to fly higher to avoid the explosion of black flames.
"Are you coming to Elisé?" Zell asked with a teasing smile, his finger pressing forward to block her sword.
Seven stabs, seven organs, yet he blocked each of her deadly accurate and lightning-fast attacks with his index finger before twirling around her body and lifting his right arm.
PAH!
Her body trembled from the impact of his hand spanking her soft buttocks, the force making her kneel and drop to her face losing her sword and the will to fight.
Since the day he killed the demon prince Valek Zell had increased the training each of his women had and refused to let a single one of them slack off.
He was more fearful of losing one of them due to becoming complacent than being surpassed by some random powerful enemy—they would more likely die to a random tiger that attacked them by surprise.
Thus he forced them to spend 3 nights a week in the southern jungles without question.
'It seems that their teamwork is far better... I don't know why Evelyn is getting weaker, but I must do something to help her.'
Of course, he wasn't just doing this because he was a masochist.
Because of the fierce training, his magic and mastery over Anima were much better—he no longer needed to chant or take too long to fire out his magic.
Not only that, his body could now resist most damage below the demon king level; even a demon prince would struggle to cause him major damage.
All thanks to the constant tempering of the women and southern beasts.
Thanks to the daily training with these girls, then moving to train with the Vampires and elves who formed a joint unit now using the elf's archery as the rearguard and the vampire's powerful bodies for the vanguard, they were quite formidable to fight against.
Most of the north and northeastern forests were now under their joint control.
While the Lycans and Vixens made the same kind of join unit but lacked a dedicated ranged troop, so their approach was more brute force.
'Cynthia was so adorable when fighting those Fel imps...'
"Alright, that's enough for today—go wash up and hunt in the southern forest for at least 10 monsters each."
His strict policy never complained about these days, but at first, they would try to seduce him to avoid doing such hard work.
As a result, he stopped sleeping with them all for a week and prioritised the normal troops and Yinfra.
The moment he was about to give them a bit of good news, the sky opened.
A huge flash of golden light caused his eyes to burn, but Zell forced himself to keep looking—countless other golden clouds hovered over various parts of the forest and world.
'They are here so soon?'
Bang!
Like a missile exploding, the light pillars began to descend onto Astera, spelling the end of his peaceful training days.
If the Angels were here...
The champions would soon be forced to create a single nation, slowly capturing most of the Europan continent.
'Shit... I need more time—the girls are strong but not enough to ignore the dangers like me... I must buy them sometime...'
Zell's eyes narrowed, looking at the lights with a small black dot inside each one slowly descending to Asteria.
Slowly his body began to turn black, covered in scales, his eyes became pure gold with slit pupils, and the gauntlets on his hands turned into genuine dragon claws.
'It looks like I have to cause a bit of trouble...'
"I think those bastards will be so pissed off..."
His black wings fluttered, tearing the makeshift clothes he wore for training, while the second set of crimson wings with beautiful dragon wings was more elegant and slowly unfurled with flickers of fire.
"Zell?"
"Are you going somewhere?"
Cryska and Tessa asked with a soft voices.
Anya was long gone because of the offer of sausages from the boars they killed in the south.
Zell wouldn't blame them because it was too delicious!
"Ah, just a little adventure, you two. Be good and finish your training." He said before stroking both of their heads and shooting into the sky with the powerful movement of his wings propelling him upwards like a rocket.
"Hmph... you should bring me with you!" Tessa pouted, too stubborn to say she wanted more time together.
While Cryska smiled, looking up towards the light with a wry smile.
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