"Brandon, I'm sorry…"
Those were the last words Iffah said to Brandon before accepting her fate and vanishing with the aerial demon beast, leaving Brandon behind to suffer in agony despite her unwillingness.
"I swear that I'll kill you one day!"
Brandon screamed at the top of his voice before collapsing onto the ground.
"What in the world is going on here right now?"
Alexander furrowed his brows and carried Brandon on one shoulder to bring him back to the fortress territory. Out of everyone present in this area, he was the only survivor.
As for the other members of the Nirvana Sect, they remained in the fortress territory after Alexander's orders.
"I need all of you to remain in the fortress territory to guide anyone to safety if they do end up nearby. As for me, I'll explore around to search for survivors nearby. We need to save every single life we can."
Alexander might have convinced the others easily. But he also understood that there was a limit to how much he could do alone.
At the very least, the others would be safe from harm. Alexander comforted himself as he returned to the fortress quickly.
Every second he wastes here would only put Brandon's life into greater peril, even though the wounds on Brandon weren't significant enough to take his life, internally broken down he was.
Even if he isn't able to come back to his senses, the least they could do was keep him alive and lead him back home.
Losing all his friends must have been painful for him. The demon beast tortured his friends to death before his own eyes. Yet all he did was watch them get tortured helplessly despite them looking up to him as a big brother.
After Alexander returned to the fortress, he immediately met up with the others and heaved a sigh of relief and helplessness.
Yes, there were survivors, but most of them were injured, not to mention that the demon beasts scarred most of them with their sudden appearance.
Alexander settled Brandon down and got the medics to tend to him before gathering the others for a meeting.
They had to get to the bottom of this matter and the least they could do now was figure out when this entire invasion from the demon beasts started and how they broke out of the seal.
"Ray, now that both Alexander and Garen are exploring the ruins, I might need you to be in command when I'm away."
"No worries, you can count on me for this."
Ray assured him with a pat on his chest.
Luke was unable to lead everyone else considering his behavior and way of handling matters, not to mention that even communication was a problem for him.
Max, while strong, had no experience with leadership and wouldn't want to gain leadership either.
Ruby, on the other hand, was a newbie when it came to team events and even if she tries to become the leader, there was a chance that she wouldn't be able to lead the others as well as him.
"Ray, do you still remember where the ruins are?" Alexander inquired so that he could get Lancelot and Garen to gather back with them.
Right now, they needed every single manpower they could gather and Lancelot and Garen were of paramount importance to them.
Lancelot was the only one with combat strength to handle another demon beast besides Alexander while Garen was the only one who could gather vision.
"Are you intending to look for them all by yourself?"
"We need every single person we can get now, especially Lancelot and Garen if we want to save as many lives as possible."
"I understand."
Ray responded as he told himself that this was wise words from a general of the battlefield.
"I'll take my leave first and if there's an emergency, I'll try to return to the fortress territory as quickly as possible. In the meantime, just continue with our current plans."
"Of course."
After settling everything and ensuring that Ray was confident of the actions to take, Alexander made the journey towards the ruins alone as he cut through the path with his spear in hand.
"Growl!"
Hearing the vicious threat from a demon beast that was lurking in between bushes, Alexander drew out his weapon and changed it into a long sword.
Relying on just his hearing alone, Alexander located the hiding location of the demon beast without much difficulty.
Without alerting the demon beast, Alexander gathered spirit energy into his sword and infused the Azure Dragon energy into his sword.
Dashing past the direction of the lurking demon beast, Alexander used his sword to stab towards the area that the demon beast was hiding in, causing an explosion as the demon beast growled in pain and fell onto the ground from above.
"When you enter the afterlife, open your eyes wide so that you don't offend those you can't afford to. Well, if you cherish your life that is."
Alexander said towards the demon beast which had just breathed its last breath.
"Young man, you should leave this place now. Your friends are currently searching for me and will only enter deeper into the ruins without a clue as to what's going on in the outside world."
The voice which had called towards Lancelot said towards Alexander who was approaching the ruin.
Alexander stopped in his tracks and kept his weapon knowing that he would be safe from danger.
"Senior, but I need my sect members to unite together with us to stand a better chance at survival."
"I see, take this token that I have just passed to you. When the time arises, this token would activate and help you to turn the tides of the battle."
The voice answered as a token appeared in Alexander's hand.
"Thank you for this token senior, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first. Please ensure the safety of my sect members in the meantime."
"Don't worry about them, if they do manage to help me out, I assure you that all this chaos will cease to continue. If they fail, all of us will perish here."
"They will succeed," Alexander replied with confidence and left without turning back.
While all this chaos was going on with the Tiger Tier cultivation forces were all heading towards the fortress occupied by either the Nirvana Sect or Paladin Haven with few heading towards the Moonlight Cult fortress area.
Along the way, most of the Tiger Tier cultivation forces were still willing to save the others except for a few which found it to be too troublesome for themselves.
Amidst the chaos in this dimension, all the geniuses besides those from the Dragon Tier cultivation forces were in great danger. Of course, this included Ace whose identity was unique from the others.
"I wonder how they're doing right now."