The command center was in a fever pitch as the battle to defend themselves had increased in intensity. Operators were continuously communicating with each other, and every several minutes, someone was running to the Ministers to give them updates.
Feng Liwei had just complied the latest information together, and walked over to the room where the ministers were overseeing operations. He politely knocked on the door, and entered when one of the guards stationed inside the room opened the door for him.
"Operator Feng, what are the current numbers?", Minister Xia asked.
"Minister, currently we show twenty seven members of the armored unit dead, and another seventy two injured. A frigate class flying ship took severe damage but was able to enter the array, unfortunately, four members of the crew also died. Seven other frigate class ships and a destroyer has taken moderate damage, and two frigates have taken light damage."
Feng Liwei opened his mouth to present the next portion of the the report when
Wei Huoran suddenly appeared in room and yelled, "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
Feng Liwei looked over at the light screens the ministers were using to monitor the situation when a bright flash appeared followed by the largest ball of fire the guard had every seen. Liwei could only guess that it was several hundred of kilometers in diameter, but before he could speculate about anything else, the ground began shaking.
Everyone in the room saw a massive shockwave and a giant wave of seawater continue on from beyond the edge of the massive fireball, and as it traveled towards them the shaking of the ground became more intense. Small objects fell off tables, books landed on the floor, glasses of water had their contents sloshing onto the floor.
Feng Liwei also noticed two other things, as the shockwave and tidal wave got closer, the shaking grew stronger, and now even the furniture in the room was falling over. Also, on the light screen, he noticed that as the approaching threat closed the distance towards the barrier, the array became brighter.
Feng Liwei tried to watch when the aftermath of the enormous explosion crashed into the protective formation of the island, but the impact was so intense it caused everyone to find something to grab onto or duck under. All the strongest cultivators in the room used their Qi, auras, or domains to protect the space they were in, and Feng Liwei could only wait for everything to calm down.
It took around ten seconds for the shockwave to pass by the island, but once it did everything slowly returned to normal. After a few minutes, the ground stopped shaking, and operator Feng turned his eyes back to the light screens. He was shocked because it had appeared at someone cut a perfect half spherical piece out the ocean for a just a moment before the edges collapsed towards the middle. The sea was chaotic as it seemed to correct the imbalance brought on from the explosion flash boiling millions of tons of water. He could only stare until a hand patting his shoulder brought him back to reality.
Wei Huoran patted an operator in shock on the shoulder a few times to see if he could rouse him, and after a few attempts, the man reacted.
"This is not the time to lose yourself", Huoran said, and everyone in the room seem to come to their senses, "Everyone, we need to check and verify the conditions of our people, our protection, and finally clean up the mess out there."
"Right", Minister Xia walked into the monitoring room where the operators were also recovering, "Everyone stop, check yourselves, check your neighbor. If you are too injured, we will get you to a treatment center now, but if you know you are fine, we have to get back to work."
Huoran started checking the people closest to him, and handing out elixirs to each operator.
"I know this is a lot to think about right now", Huoran said in a loud voice, "Remember that if you feel this way, everyone else on the island feels even worse because they do not know what is happening right now."
"Daoist Wei is correct", Minister Zel interjected, "As soon as you can adjust your condition, we need to reach out the emergency rescue services, and formation defense teams, and find out the effect of that last technique."
A quarter of the room drank the elixir, and returned to their terminals before resuming their work. Huoran walked over the two ministers as more operators returned to their work.
"My apologies, that last attack was from my master", Huoran told the two, "I will return outside the array to keep any further attacks from following."
The two ministers had grim looks on their faces when they thought about the power of that attack.
"We appreciate your master's efforts", Zel said.
Huoran bade the two farewell, and teleported out, but he did not immediately head to the formation's border. He first took a moment to check on Meirong to make sure of her safety, and let her be assured of his. After a quick and simple explanation, Huoran then returned to outside the Grand array, but the sea had already calmed down like nothing ever happened.
'Quanliyuan, find everyone you can', Huoran said in a tired manner.
Huoran's visor lit up as it displayed the remains of all the soldiers in the area. The artifact spirit had also established a link with the satellite again, but it was low on energy, so Huoran had it operate in recon mode for now.
It did not take long for Huoran to get his first piece of good news, the remaining flying ships and armored units had recovered and were heading back out to drive away any stragglers.
Huoran switched to a different goal at this point, 'Quanliyuan, highlight the bodies of our forces. It's time I return them home.'
'Of course', the artifact spirit simply said.
Huoran moved from place to place, collecting the remains of the residents of the island as more reports poured in. The island and its people were safe, and the only damage was from the shockwave that caused a mess. Huoran on casually listened to updates as he eventually found everyone who had perished in this battle, and returned to the command room.
Several days had passed, and life on the island slowly returned to normal, but some things would take time. Huoran had learned from his QFold that the formation had used all the reserve energy they had set aside for it, and was currently only operating on Qi from the spiritual vein only. The streets once again were full of vehicles as people were returning to their normal routine, but there was one change. Construction teams had the same authority as other emergency rescue teams to take higher priority lanes when structures reported damage. A full scale effort was in progress as clean up the massive amounts of bodies of the enemy proceeded.
The ministers discussed how to handle this situation, but they ultimately agreed to Huoran's plan to bury all the bodies next to the spiritual vein. Also, they planned today's event in honor of the defenders that paid with their lives. It took sometime to agree to a plan because this was the first time someone had died since Huoran had settled the island. He commissioned the top artisans to create three monuments that would be placed in Sun city, Moon city, and Market Square. The first two would give the families of the fallen, as well as, the citizens a chance to honor their sacrifice. The last one would be placed in its own memorial park to show the visitors to the island the bravery of its people.
This morning, Huoran was in Sun city for the first of three ceremonies to be held today to honor the fallen. All the ministers, Wei Huoran, and Zeng Meirong dressed in black robes as several of them gave speeches honoring the dead. Once that was complete, a ceremony was held were Huoran presented the family of the deceased with a uniform, storage ring, and items of compensation.
When everything ended, they moved to Moon city to do it again. The memorial in Market Square was very simple. With the island in mourning, and no visitors on island currently, Market Square was as empty as the first day it had opened. It would be like this for a few more days when the period of mourning was finished, and then Huoran would allow for guests to return again.
Even the continental competition had been delayed due to the attack from the Draco Serpentis empire.
Another development about the Draco empire was that with the emperor and most of the army dead, it gave the whales and turtles and opening. Under the sea, the two sides attacked the remains of the empire, but did not turn their eyes towards the island. At this point, the only living royalty of the Draco empire was the prince and princess that had been sent for insurance many years ago.
Grand Lord Merchant Kang was sitting on the bridge speaking with the other two when a communication came through.
"Hurry and answer the call", Kang ordered the communication officer.
"Immediately, Grand Lord", the woman answered as she manipulated the controls.
A giant light screen appeared and Kang was greeted by Wei Huoran.
"Good day, Grand Lord", Huoran bowed slightly.
"It's good to see you Daoist Wei", Kang returned the greeting, "Can you hold a moment, and I'll bring the other two here?"
"Certainly", Huoran answered.
Kang looked and nodded at the woman, and soon two more light screens appeared with Grand lord merchants Gong and Shen. After another round of greetings, Huoran spoke first.
"Grand Lords", Huoran went to explain, "The battle against the Dragon Emperor has finished, although my master had to assist. We have finished our days of mourning, so once again I invite you to return to the island with your people. I must warn you that other sea clans are fighting with each other, so stay cautious. If I am not there when you arrive, please excuse my rudeness, as I have others to contact as well."
"We understand, Daoist Wei", Gong replied, "But we are not offended. We only wished we could have participated in the defense against the Draco Empire."
Huoran laughed, "I did not realize the top merchants were so ready to fight. But it is unnecessary, we will not involve others in a situation like this."
"Are you sure your location is secure, boy?", Shen inquired.
"Absolutely, this is probably the best time to reserve seats at your favorite hotel or restaurant before others return", Huoran told the three.
"Excellent", Shen chuckled, "There is some wine that was hard to get that I'll definitely grab this time."
"Then I await your arrival", Huoran smiled, "Farewell for now, I must speak to others."
The light screen that displayed Huoran disappeared, so Kang looked at the other two, "The last one to arrive has to buy the first bottle."
He had the woman close the other light screens, and ordered the helm to travel to Sun & Moon island at top speed. The crew reacted quickly, and soon the three giant flying 'cruise' ships were making their way to their next destination.
Chief Razortalon had traveled to the very center of the continent for an important conference. It was not just him, but important members of every tribe were there or would arrive soon for this grand meeting. There were two main major events that had to be discussed over the next few days: The aftermath of the 'Zodiac' Stones, and Sun & Moon island. Fortunately for Razortalon, Huoran had sent him many interesting stories and the recordings for proof. It would be at least another day before everyone arrived, and the conference started, but Razortalon knew Chief Bloodclaw was here. He did not have anything else to do since his camp of people had already set up their site, so he left to go find his friend. It did not take long, and soon Razortalon landed at a nearby camp where the wolves had claimed. It took a minute for Razortalon to navigate his way through the wolves' camp since there were many clans other than the Bloodclaws, but soon he saw his old familiar friend speaking with another old friend, Lady Auburn of the Fire Foxes.
"Did you start having fun before I arrived, or am I interrupting something?", Razortalon called out to Chief Bloodclaw.
Jaeger Bloodclaw snorted, "My mate would attack me in my sleep if she thought I was pursuing Lady Auburn."
"Oh, is there such a history?", Razortalon teased the wolf lord.
"Aye, she live in a clan close to the fire foxes", Jaeger replied, "Lady Auburn competed with her often."
"Lyra was so easy to rile up", Lady Auburn giggled as she looked like she was remembering something.
"So you must know everything that happened recently", Jaeger said to Razortalon.
"Pour me a drink first", the eagle lord responded, "I came to speak with friends, and you want to bring up business. No wonder it is just us."
"Not quite, do you plan on joining us?", Bloodclaw asked to the darkness in front of him.
Footsteps could be heard as a beastkin walked towards the three. He looked familiar, but different than the three remembered, and once the beastkin was close, Lady Auburn spoke.
"You from the Ironclaws, correct?", she asked.
"Mishra Ironclaw, chief of the Ironclaw tribe", the beastkin answered.
"Your his son", Jaeger Bloodclaw remarked, "I'm sorry that your father joined the great hunt too early."
"Thank you, seniors", Mishra replied, "But I believe my father was proud of his last moments battling a great foe."
"True", Razortalon recalled what he knew of his friend, "It should be soon before your tribe finishes the year of remembrance."
"It will end soon", Mishra agreed.
"Alright", Jaeger grumbled, "Enough of this, Chief of the Ironclaws, I invite you to a drink, while we tell you the stories of your old man's youth."
"I accept", Mishra said as a mug was given to him.
The four beastkin toasted by hitting their mugs together as Jaeger Bloodclaw started recalling how he met Mishra's father.