The rest of the day passed in a blur. After everything that had happened, the quiet that came almost felt unreal. Conversations were short and scattered as everyone started to pay attention to the situation outside their immediate surroundings.

Using the supers association, Michael managed to find out that many cities had been attacked this time, though a lesser number than during the attack on Woodstone City, but more "absolute barriers" were present, making the quality of this attack richer.

Though most people did not speak their underlying thoughts directly, Michael could see what the demonic faction wanted to do and gritted his teeth.

Total annihilation.

Yes. For the cities that were barrier-trapped and had no way to come out, if it was exactly the same barrier that had enveloped Brightgate City, then there was only one conclusion. By the time help came, the whole city could have been dead.

Fortunately, though the demonic faction was strong, the federation together with other organizations were stronger. While Michael focused on the supernatural news, ordinary people used the means they had, which was mainly social media, and the terror they were met with was no less than what Michael saw on the supers association platform.

In short, across all of Aurora, not just in Michael’s country, there were traces of demonic panic and supernatural action. A lot had died.

Michael had even overheard Lily on the phone saying that many of her classmates had almost died.

Fortunately, thanks to his interference, there were not many casualties in the city, which would have been unavoidable even if Michael had acted early – something he wished he had done after finding out he was just paranoid about the possibility of something being stronger than him out there, a side effect that from the appearance of rank 4 beings turning common to him.

Even if he had acted from the very start it would have been fairly impossible, since he was still trapped outside when the cracks were on the verge of opening, and casualties would still have occurred, except perhaps if Michael had unleashed all his monsters the moment he crossed the gap and had not immediately focused on his family’s whereabouts.

By the time night fell, exhaustion had finally caught up with everyone. In Michael’s home, one after the other, Lily and Aunt Mia retired to their rooms and fell asleep without much resistance.

Only then did the house fall completely silent.

Michael remained in the living room, seated alone. The calm stretched on for a while before a faint vibration broke it.

Michael glanced down and found it was a message notification. His eyes narrowed slightly as he opened it.

It was from the academy. The contents were straightforward.

The incident had been classified as a demonic faction attack. Despite the scale of the event, the city had successfully defended itself. Order was already being restored, and the situation was under control.

The academy then went on to state that all students, whether they had been inside or outside the academy at the time, were required to return within two weeks. Except for special cases, failure to comply would result in consequences.

Michael read through it once, then again more slowly.

A small part of him relaxed. If the academy was sending out a message like this, then it meant the situation had not spiraled beyond recovery. Millions of people lived in that city, and there was a possibility that most of them had likely survived.

Though Michael was not naive enough to think there had been no losses. Even from the brief moment he had stayed back, he could tell the attack on the academy side had been much stronger, especially those cracks in the sky. He had thought about what might have come out from them but hoped it wasn’t the case.

Michael’s gaze lingered on the message a moment longer before shifting to the final lines. Various thoughts passed through his mind in quick succession.

To Michael, the message gave him a feeling like the early signs of a storm gathering. After thinking about it for a while, he decided to contact an acquaintance about what could possibly be happening at the academy, to calm his rising unease.

In the whole academy, Michael only had the contact of two people, both of whom he had interacted with to a certain degree. One was Rynne, for obvious reasons, and the other was Michael’s first acquaintance in the whole academy, his direct upper-year senior, Lira.

He had started typing in the message bar but stopped and decided that calling was better. This way he would know whether communication was even possible, and if she did not answer, he would just text Rynne, who he felt also had a greater chance of knowing more information.

The call connected faster than Michael expected.

For a brief second there was only silence on the other end, then Lira’s voice came through – bright, lively, and completely out of place compared to everything that had been happening.

"Wow... Michael calling me first? What is this?" she said, her tone full of teasing amusement. "Don’t tell me you’re getting married. You even took the initiative to contact me first."

Several dry responses surfaced in Michael’s mind immediately.

He ignored all of them.

"How are you?" he asked instead, his voice steady. "Are you in the academy right now?"

There was a slight pause, then a soft hum from Lira.

"I’m fine," she replied. "And yeah, I’m inside the academy."

Michael didn’t say anything right away, but inwardly, he had already drawn one conclusion. If she could joke like that, then the situation at the academy wasn’t at its worst. That alone eased a small part of the tension in his chest.

Lira continued without waiting for him to ask further.

"If you’re calling about what happened... it’s already passed," she said. "The academy took a hit, but the foundation wasn’t damaged. So overall, it’s still stable."

Michael listened quietly. Then Lira’s tone shifted.

"...We still lost people."

Michael’s expression darkened.

"A few students," she added, more quietly now. "Some instructors too. And one of the directors... the one who was in charge of protecting the ordinary population around the academy... he was severely injured."

Michael’s grip tightened slightly around the device. His mood sank.

So many casualties. He had expected losses, but hearing it like this weighed heavily.

Instructors were at least Rank 3 Awakeners. And even a director – someone at Rank 4 – had been pushed to that extent. Just how strong had the attack been?

Michael’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"...Was it from the dimensional cracks?" he asked. For some reason he felt like this much damage was too much to have been caused by monsters.

Lira answered immediately.

"No. It was the demonic supernaturals."

Michael’s brows tightened slightly.

"...That bad?" he muttered under his breath.

"It’s not surprising," Lira said. "Not only did the academy have to deal with monsters coming out of the dimensional cracks, some of them reaching Rank 4, they also had to handle those troublesome demonic bastards at the same time. And they did it while being half-staffed."

Michael understood what Lira meant. The academy was never fully gathered in one place. Instructors had assignments, directors had responsibilities beyond the academy grounds, some were always away handling external matters, and stronger or upper-year students were not always around.

If he wasn’t mistaken...

Even the dean and vice dean were not around most of the time. At least since he had entered the academy, they had never once appeared in the flesh, and even the dean who had wanted to see him months ago was nowhere to be found.

All of this meant that when the attack happened, the academy had not been at full strength, which should also have been the case for other similar organizations around.

Michael leaned back slightly, his gaze lowering. A faint chill settled in his chest.

His hatred for the demonic faction grew stronger with every passing moment.

And yet...

There was almost nothing he could do. Not at his current position.

Michael closed his eyes briefly and forced himself to calm down. Letting emotions take control would not change anything.

When he opened his eyes again, his expression had returned to normal.

"...Right," he said quietly. "That’s not actually why I called."

Lira made a soft sound of acknowledgment on the other end.

"What is it then?"

Michael’s gaze flickered slightly as he glanced at the message still open on his device.

"The academy message," he said. "The one about everyone returning in two weeks... do you know anything about it?"

There was a brief pause. When Lira spoke again, her tone had changed slightly – still casual, but with a trace of hesitation beneath it.

"...I’m not sure, but I have a feeling the academy might be preparing for something." She paused. "...It feels like they might be going to war soon."

Before Michael could ask anything further, Lira spoke again.

"I can’t talk for long," she said. "Things are still a bit... busy here."

Michael understood.

"...Alright."

There was a brief pause.

"Take care," Lira added.

"You too."

The call ended. The line went silent.

Michael lowered the device slowly, his gaze unfocused for a moment.

War.

The unease in his chest did not fade but only grew heavier.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​