"The intensity of the storm is at it's peak, chief. Most of the men are already on their knees." Yamato, the investigation squad's captain said as he fell to his knees himself.
"We have held our position for 4 long hours, we can hold out for two more hours,Yamato...We have to hold out...we have no choice." Zeyner panted heavily as he said. He was the only one who held the barrier from the starting. Hisashi, Isao and the other captains who started with Zeyner fell after they held their position for three and a half hours. The other normal protectors started to fall after an average of 2 hours after they started. The standby protectors took the place of the fallen protectors and sprung into action.
"Sir, the pressure on each protector is increasing drastically with each falling protector and you can't go on any long, chief." Nariko, who just joined the support team stated as she felt the pressure increasing.
"Tell the fallen protectors to immediately..." Zeyner stopped himself from talking as he witnessed the storm's end, all of a sudden.
All the protectors fell as they saw that the storm had passed them. A few protectors passed out from over exhaustion. Zeyner almost fell to his knees but was immediately caught by Nariko who stood him up.
"Sir, you said the storm would last for 6 hours, but it's only been 4 hours. Your assumptions are generally not wrong. How did this happen?" Nariko asked Zeyner with a troubled face.
"I sensed the speed of the approaching storm and the amount of dark energy. I calculated how much time the storm would last with the data I sensed. I am sure that the amount of dark energy that passed us isn't equal to the one I sensed. The dark energy escaped somewhere else for sure. I don't have a good feeling about this, Nariko." Zeyner stated as he supported himself against Nariko.
"Did you sense the dark energy shifting it's course or...getting nullified as it hit the pure energy in the air...Sir." A panting Hisashi asked as he dragged himself towards Zeyner.
"I only focussed my attention towards holding the barrier and spent all my energy to compensate the falling protectors. I didn't have any stamina to sense anything. I don't have enough energy to spend trying to sense anything now." Zeyner said as he dragged himself to find a seat for him to sit down.
"Sir, your orders?" nariko asked Zeyner as she witnessed how tired the protectors were.
"A good night rest...Nariko...order them to have a good night rest." A gasping Zeyner ordered as he tried to catch his breath.
"Understood sir." Nariko assumed command and took over the responsibility of dismissing everyone.
All the protectors dragged themselves slowly back to their home. They were completely exhausted of energy and had barely any energy to walk. None of the citizens knew of the fact that the protectors saved them from a great disaster as they slept peacefully.
Shin was still in a deep meditation state at the cliff as he was contemplating all the things that happened in his past before coming to Areon as he calculated the storm would last for 6 hours as well.
The healer's squad who weren't depleted of their energy were ordered to guard the gates for the night, they were split into the same four groups they were before and were sent to guard the four gates of the city. The healer's squad wasn't trained for sensing darkness or for actual combat but were highly skilled in healing and were only equipped with basic fighting abilities.
"Why do we have to guard the gates while every single protector is sleeping. Even the captain is sleeping." One of the three in the H2 squad nagged as they guarded the East gate.
"They worked hard for hours, the captain had to jump in and transfer her energy too because they were short handed. They deserve a break man, let them sleep for today. We will ask a day off tomorrow as compensation." The Two of the three conversed as they kept patrolling atop the gate as the third one went to have some water.
"Hey, why isn't Hisashi here yet? He said he wanted to drink some water, right? Not nod off, slacking somewhere, right?" The two stared at each other as they made their way down the wall towards the small tent by the gate.
"Didn't I tell you he was slacking." A vein popped up from their heads as they saw Hisashi laying on the ground. Both of them approached him to wake him up with a kick.
"Uhh.." They both stopped in their tracks as they looked back with broadened eyes witnessing something heavy in their chest.
'Thub'
It was the sound made by the bodies of the two healers as they fell to the ground with a rotting sword beaming with darkness pierced through their hearts.
A body similar to a human with pitch black skin colour, beaming with dark energy made it's way to the east gate exiting the tent after killing the three men. It proceeded towards the East gate's unguarded control room and pulled a lever, opening the East gate.
He proceeded out of the gate into a distance towards a river flowing from the North-West into the sea in the South-East. He stopped to glance at the river for a moment, only to turn back and raise his hand as if he was signalling someone to rise up from a crouching position and started walking back towards the East gate. An army of darkness who looked similar to the person leading them, rose from the river and followed him, they counted from 600 to 700 in number, armed with dark and rotting swords.
It was already past 2:30 am by the time this small proportion of DK's army made it's way to the East gate.
"Hmm..Uhhh....wra...spread out....kill em all...!" The demon who led them here ordered as he gave a vicious smile. The demons split up into groups and headed towards different directions of the city.
They started barging in slowly and started killing the people in their sleep. One of the men sleeping in a stable who tried to run after seeing the demons, accidentally pushed a burning lamp which immediately lit up the whole place. It wasn't long after that before the screams filled the East side of the city as flames rose burning the houses and everything in the east side.
The sleeping Chief who lived closer to the East side of the city woke up suddenly as he heard the cries of the people form the east side of the city. He was heavily depleted of his energy, yet he could easily sense what was happening in the city.
The chief grabbed his Soul sword and rushed out of his house. As he exited his house he could hear the sound of the city's bell. The bell was only rung if the city was under attack. The exhausted protectors woke up hearing the bell and prepared to move out even after realising they had not much energy spare.
The city rose in flames as cries filled the air while bodies of men, women and children piled up on the east side of the city.