Mary was still numb in shock as the protective earth dome was lowered. John, who had collapsed from mana exhaustion, was filled in on the situation by Zahun. As they returned to the battlefield, they saw the soldiers pushing the beasts back. Many beasts had been caught in the aftermath of the Chimera's spell, giving the soldiers a huge advantage.
The group made it to the city safely and went their separate ways to recover. John went to the infirmary to heal his broken bones, Zahun went back to his room to recover his mana, and Mary needed time alone to process the death of her husband.
-A few hours later-
The beasts had been driven back by the soldiers with minor casualties. Out of the 30,000 soldiers who had participated in the battle, there were only 1,000 fatalities and 5,000 wounded.
The number of fatalities would've been much higher had it not been for the timely takedown of the Alpha Chimera. After the Alpha of the pack had died, many of the weaker beasts fled the battle.
Over 10,000 beasts had either run away or been killed by the Chimera's final attack, taking much stress off the shoulders of the soldiers. After that, the only thing left was for the soldiers to finish the remaining beasts. Zahun and John had also come out after recovering to help out.
Mary was in no fighting shape to be able to help. Overall, the battle went a lot better than what anyone feared. The only regrettable thing was the death of Noah, but in battle, anything could happen. It was also only with the death of Noah, that the Chimera went down as quickly as it did.
Many would remember Noah for his noble sacrifice that saved the lives of many others. John was swamped with work as he had to work out the logistics of the aftermath and what would happen next. Mary went back to the Bellmont Manor to rest and tell the people there what had happened.
When Katherine was told of her father's death she was distraught with grief. Mary sobered up and went on to plan the funeral commemorations for all the people who lost their lives in the battle with the beast horde.
For a while, the whole household was stricken with grief. Many of the staff had family who worked as soldiers, and some were family of the deceased. Alex was also impacted by the mood, even though he hadn't known the people here very long.
-----
-Alex's POV-
Since the day my grandma had returned, the whole house was grim. From what I overheard her telling my mom, I knew my grandfather had passed away in battle. I hadn't known him very long, but it was still disheartening to hear of his passing.
He was one of the first people I had met, and he was someone who had visited me regularly. I was beginning to feel quite attached to him. At the very least, he had gone out in a noble way. Saving the lives of many and sacrificing himself for the good of the world. A true hero.
I tried to cheer up my mom and grandmother whenever I saw them, and it worked. You could never be in a bad mood for too long with a baby. My mother hadn't taken the news too well, but I could see that she wouldn't stay like this too long. With the magic of this world, my grandfather had already lived for over 130 years despite looking 60. And with the volatile nature of this world, danger could be anywhere.
Funeral preparations were underway as well. There would be a public commemoration in Gildia, the border town where the battle took place, and later a private funeral would be held for Noah at the house.
The funeral and commemorations wouldn't be happening for another week though. There was a lot of work to be done, and I would hardly see my father or grandmother for hours. My mother spent more time with me, but she also had her share of work to complete.
I had a lot of free time and no responsibilities so I continued reading and practicing my magic. I had broken through to (Perfect-Scarlet) the night my grandmother returned and was preparing to break through to Orange sometime soon.
Avery told me there was a huge change to cultivation after reaching the orange realm, but had yet to tell me what it was saying, 'It would be best to tell you after you reach that rank. There is no point in you knowing it now.'
I figured Avery had a reason for it, so I stopped asking. I hadn't really made much progress with my magic as I couldn't experiment, but I had gotten much better at controlling my mana. I was able to make a water ball in less than 3 seconds and I also improved the efficiency of my magic. Before lifting a pound took around 50 mana, but now it took around 40 mana to hold it up for one second.
I was able to improve, but the improvement wasn't as much as I liked. I was getting impatient for the day I would be able to go out alone. The maids had also picked up on my level of self-reliance and stopped paying as much attention as they trusted me a bit more, but I was still a baby and under constant surveillance while awake.
I was also able to stay awake longer now. When I was barely a week old, I could only stay awake for an hour at a time and slept for around 3/4 of the day, but now I was able to stay awake for 4 hours at a time and only slept for half the day.
My body was growing, but the growing was slow and I needed to power through.