As if on cue, the barely conscious evilus soldiers began to move, hauling their damaged bodies towards the nearest members of the raid group.
Everyone, quickly coming to their senses, did everything they could to distance themselves from the evilus forces.
"Oh Lord, I beg of you… deliver my soul to my loved ones as you have promised," one evilus soldier cried out with unnerving intensity.
Boom!
His pious cries and fervent wishes were soon drowned out by a cataclysmic explosion.
Members of the Bahamut, Astraea, and Ganesha familia desperately tried to flee for their lives, but the explosion was far from small—it carried the same, if not a greater, intensity as the previous blast.
Vasiliki unleashed every ounce of magic within her, desperately trying to save as many as she could, especially Michalis and Clair, who had sprinted to her side after hearing Clair's warnings. She couldn't afford to lose any more familia members; one was already too many.
Powerful blast waves swept through the room, knocking down and destroying everything in their path.
Yet this was only the beginning of a flame-wreathed banquet.
The evilus had somehow converted every soldier within the building into deadly weapons.
One by one, with trembling hands and tear-stained eyes, they carried out their final duties.
"Dieeeeeee," one cried.
"Wait for me, mother!" another shouted.
"May chaos take the world!"
"Glory to Lord Thanatos!"
Various last words echoed through the room as each evilus soldier detonated the explosives planted within them, their voices drowned out by the explosive sounds.
Fire and soot engulfed the entire space as members of the raid group were caught in the inferno.
It was hard to tell who was alive and who was dead, as no one had the luxury of looking out for another while barely preserving their own life.
One could only hope that their allies had managed to make it through the chaos in one piece.
"Ahahahahahaha, isn't this a riot!" Valletta's sinister laughter mingled with the explosions.
She had slipped away during the chaos, watching her pawns blow up in a glorious conflagration.
"Who would have thought that attaching ignition pieces to fire stones would be this effective? Now anyone can blow themselves up whenever they want," Valletta muttered with a sinister smile, the containers on which she sat creaking yet barely withstanding the force of the blasts.
"Y… you vile monster!" Lyra yelled with all the rage her small body could muster.
She had managed to crawl to the safety of the shipping containers where Valletta sat.
"Weren't they your comrades, your friends?" she raged, wiping off blood and soot from her face.
"Comrades? Friends?" Valletta repeated in genuine confusion.
"You sure are slow for a pallum. Those aren't our soldiers, sunshine—they're just walking fireworks. Can't believe you can't figure out something so simple," she taunted.
Lyra's eyes trembled with a mix of emotions as her mind quickly pieced things together.
This entire base was just a decoy; none of the evilus core forces were actually here—only disposable soldiers.
The other two bases were likely in the same situation.
Then, where was the evilus main force? This realization sent chills down her spine…
.........…
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the evilus base, members who had separated from the Ganesha and Astraea familia forces looked around in confusion.
On the second floor, some Ganesha familia members were escorting captured evilus soldiers when, suddenly, the first explosion rocked the building, sparking panic among them.
"What's going on?" one asked.
"Is the captain alright?" another inquired.
As confusion set in, a half-dead evilus soldier crawled toward his unconscious comrade, his hand desperately searching for something in his robes.
"Oi, what are you doing over there?" a Ganesha familia soldier called out, but it was too late. With a click, searing light flashed, followed by an explosion that triggered a chain reaction with the explosives planted on the fallen evilus soldiers.
Raging flames swallowed each floor like a tide, leaving barely any room to react.
On the third floor, some Astraea familia members were escorting captured evilus soldiers when one mad zealot murmured something strange after hearing the sound of the first explosion.
"May my worthless life finally atone for my sins," he said as tears and blood streamed down his face.
Normally, this would have sounded like the harmless babbling of a defeated foe, but Neze sensed something different.
Her keen senses as a wolf beast kin picked up on an unusual detail.
"No, Asta, get away from him, now!" she cried.
Immediately, she rushed toward Celty, grabbed her arm, and leaped through the window, sending shards of wood and glass flying.
The remaining Astraea familia members didn't hesitate to follow her lead.
No sooner than the girls exited the third-story window, a bright yellow ball of fire engulfed the entire floor, sending them crashing to the ground as waves of compressed air slammed into their bodies.
"It started a chain reaction," Clair cried, her clothes tattered as she applied pressure to Kaguya's bleeding arm.
Her ears kept ringing and twitching, as the sound of explosions erupted from the upper floors, reverberating throughout the building.
Dust and rubble fell around her as ominous cracks spread through the walls and ceiling.
The only thing holding the place together was Vasiliki's ice and a bit of luck—but that wouldn't last long.
The survivors needed to be quickly located and secured before they attempted to leave the building.
To make matters worse, Valletta was there, completely unscathed, watching their desperate struggle with an amused expression.
"This is just the beginning; you justice munchers can't stop what's already begun" Valletta declared with a grand gesture.
"Ah, I guess it's time I made my exit" she said, glancing at a pocket watch.
"So see you all later… actually, I guess I won't, because you all will be dying here… Kyaahahahahahah!" Valletta concluded, before walking toward a secret exit.
Boom!
A small explosion rocked the exit Valletta had just used, ensuring that none of them could follow.
The building wasn't going to hold together much longer; Vasiliki was quickly running out of magic to reinforce her ice, and many were still unaccounted for.
With so much chaos unfolding, enormous pressure fell on Shakti as the raid leader.
Swallowing her fractured emotions, Shakti made a painful decision.
"We are pulling out now!" Shakti announced.
They had no choice but to retreat—the raid was a complete loss.
Little did they know that this was just the beginning of a greater evil unfolding within the city...….