However, despite all that and every reason why no one should have been able to live within what remained of the territory of the Southern Guardian Reva was now in charge of himself. There was against all odds one group of people that managed to make it close enough to where Reva and Cami were that no robots would bother them anymore. These were people who were considered refugees from what had once been the territory that was connected to the Southern Guardian. There was a unique balance between the Guardians and the humans of the land near them. Once the Southern Guardian became lost and forgotten to time eventually so did the lands that humans normally attack and terrorize as well. Their lands were conquered and taken over by the humans of other areas as just as there was a Guardian for each direction on the Mecha Lord's side. There was a hero that matched them on the human side as well. Four heroes to fight against the Four Guardians and one to fight against the Mecha Lord themselves.
Just a known collective as the Five Heroes that was fated to be the ends of the Mecha Lord and their four guardians. Their roles were set from the start though as anyone from any region could end up fighting one of them. Reva being a hero himself just chose the Southern Guardian of the time since they were the weakest one normally and thus would last the longest amongst the five. However, being the weakest of the five strongest robots as well as the five heroes meant that when compared to anyone else they were the strongest. When comparing and contrasting the strongest eleven beings there will always be one that ranks at the bottom as that is just how things work when ranking with numbers. There are those at the top, those at the middle, and those at the bottom. Being on the bottom might make you the weakest of the strongest however when compared to everyone else that is further below you rather than above you. Then you are stronger than them as a result of this.
When Reva did not awaken as the Southern Guardian there was also no true Mecha Lord either since one could not awaken at the moment. The reasoning is on the off chance that the current Mecha Lord and current Hero fighting them end up taking each other out. Instead of one merely killing the other thus the current Mecha Lord remains as such just with their memories wiped to think they are a brand new one in the next cycle. That or the Hero that kills them ends up becoming the Mecha Lord of the next cycle themselves. A brand new person that human must be roboticized and then eventually rise to the rank of Mecha Lord as a result. Until then once the Guardians awaken they will combat against themselves and humanity until the new Mecha Lord arises. Until then, the combat was supposed to continue however no one deemed worthy of being a true Mecha Lord was rising up through the ranks because they could not be. This was because Reva was not activating himself thus the system could pick someone as it was only set to do so once all four Guardians were considered activated.
The four of the five Heroes would continue to appear per usual and fight against the other three guardians per usual with those that defeat them. They become the next ones themselves in the next altered cycle. There never be a fifth Hero anymore because there is no true Mecha Lord as that new fifth hero also has to be someone that is newly roboticized after the person the next true Mecha Lord is themselves. The new altered cycle is one where rather than coming together as a single force to fight as one on both sides. The humans and the robots are merely fighting each other one on one. One Hero fights One Guardian thus the current hero replaces that Guardian if they win in the next cycle or the current one remains but has their memories wiped to think they are a new one. Once all three Guardians are defeated those Heroes become the Guardians of the next cycle while the one that would have had to fight Reva. That Hero is considered the wild card now as their purpose forgotten they are just odd Hero out that a number of things could happen though as they were easy to spot amongst the four because they only have one party member.
Anyway, the area that Reva was supposed to attack as the Southern Guardian without him doing so fell to both human and robot hands. The original rulers of the lands were overthrown since only another Guardian, Hero, or Mecha Lord could challenge them. Thus without one constantly doing so or the threat of one doing so looming overhead of them the entire time. The lands were considered free real estate in a sense as they took what they wanted as the original rulers were powerless to stop them. Having no Guardian that targeted their lands meant that all three of the other Guardians plus the other leaders of the other lands were on their own. Craving it up and taking their piece bit by bit
Thus the people of the lands lost their homeland and rather than being welcomed by the others they seen as a source of free labor as they were not citizens of their lands thus their laws did not apply to them. While the robots would just capture and roboticize whoever they came across and did not just straight up take out first. So the refugees fled deeper and deeper into what was left of Reva's territory until they entered an area that was safe for them because it could be considered within the eye of the storm in a sense. They ended up settling and building a village in what they viewed as the safe zone within the area now just known as the South. The village that sprung up would be allowed to continue existing because it was within the strongest area of Reva's range that allowed him to passively control all robots within it. Though one would think that being within the strongest area of Reva's control the strongest that he had currently should be located. However, they were actually right outside it instead as they did not on a subconscious level want to get too close as they would do nothing that could possibly endanger Reva. So they stayed a certain distance away from where he was located at all times, this range being large enough to allow a village to exist within it. There was everything that was needed for a village to survive and thrive on its own without venturing outside of said range.
Thus this isolated village would become the last settlement of those that were once citizens of the lands the Southern Guardian normally terrorized. The people here are the only ones that could be considered true people of the South rather than a mixture of all the other regions that happened to the rest of their lands that were taken over by humans and robots of the other regions.