The tremors shook the very foundation of the Seventh Ring, cracks splintering across the stone walls as they crumbled under the force of Tel-Nu's final assault. The once-mighty walls of the Sanctuary, the last stronghold of the Core Seven, were no match for the dark force that bore down upon them.
Delson Snow Sr. stood at the forefront, his eyes wide as he watched the walls collapse, the ground trembling beneath his feet. His comrades—Junna, Cusi, Kira, Cormac, Dmitri, and Eshe—stood beside him, their expressions mirroring his own disbelief. They had prepared for this, trained for this, but none of them had expected it to end this way.
"Hold your ground!" Delson Sr. barked, his voice commanding, though even he wasn't sure what good it would do.
But it didn't matter.
The Seventh Ring was falling. The very heart of Corintopia—their sanctuary, their fortress—was crumbling, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
As the final wall collapsed, the entire city seemed to exhale one last, desperate breath before everything went silent.
Then, as if by some unseen force, the fires that had consumed the city began to fade. The smoke that had choked the air dissipated, and the rubble that had been left in Tel-Nu's wake... vanished.
The Core Seven blinked, their eyes adjusting to the sudden change. Where moments before there had been chaos, destruction, and the sound of the world breaking apart, now there was... nothing.
Nothing but a gentle breeze, rustling through the blades of grass.
The ground beneath their feet, once the bustling city of Corintopia, was now a simple grassy hill. No buildings. No walls. No smoke. No fire.
No city.
It was as if Corintopia had never existed at all.
"By the gods..." Junna whispered, her voice trembling as she looked around, disbelief etched into her features. "What... what is this?"
She wasn't the only one in shock. All around them, the citizens and soldiers of Corintopia were appearing from the shadows, just as they had during the attacks. But now, instead of rubble and destruction, they found themselves standing on open grassland, surrounded by nothing but the horizon. The towering walls of the Seventh Ring were gone, the command centers destroyed, and the entire city wiped from existence.
The citizens looked around, murmurs of confusion spreading through the crowd like wildfire. Soldiers stood with their weapons drawn, still expecting a battle, but there was no enemy. There was nothing.
"Where... where is the city?" one of the soldiers stammered, his voice filled with panic. "What happened?"
"We were just standing in the Sanctuary," another citizen whispered, clutching her child to her chest. "I... I don't understand. Where are we?"
The Core Seven stood at the center of it all, just as confused as the people they had sworn to protect. Delson Sr. scanned the horizon, his mind racing as he tried to comprehend what had happened.
"Is this... real?" Dmitri asked, his voice low, his fists clenched at his sides. "What did he do?"
"It's real," Eshe replied, her voice steady despite the chaos. Her ethereal glow flickered as she floated above the ground, her eyes scanning the area. "This is real. But the city... it's gone. Everything is gone."
As the citizens gathered around the Core Seven, a wave of fear and uncertainty spread through the crowd. Mothers clutched their children, soldiers whispered amongst themselves, and everyone's gaze turned to the Core Seven, hoping for answers.
But the Core Seven had no answers to give.
"This makes no sense," Cusi muttered, his hand gripping his staff as he looked around, searching for any sign of what had just happened. "One moment, we were under attack. The next... we're standing in a field. How is this possible?"
"The destruction..." Kira began, her voice trailing off as her mind raced. "It was all real. We saw it. The city was collapsing around us. And now..."
She gestured to the grassland beneath their feet. "Now there's nothing."
"Everything we built..." Cormac whispered, his normally calm demeanor shaken. "Gone. Just like that."
The Core Seven fell into a heavy silence, each of them grappling with the reality of what had just happened. They had been preparing for a battle—a battle that never came. Tel-Nu had torn their city apart, but instead of death and destruction, he had left them with this... emptiness.
Delson Sr. clenched his fists, his eyes narrowing as he searched the horizon. He had been prepared for a war—a war to protect their city, their people. But Tel-Nu had taken it all away without ever truly engaging them. He had stripped them of their power, their purpose, and left them standing in an empty field.
"Why?" Junna asked, her voice trembling with frustration. "Why did he do this? What was the point?"
No one had an answer.
As the citizens continued to gather around them, the Core Seven could feel the weight of their confusion and fear pressing down on them. They had promised to protect these people, to defend Corintopia from whatever threat came their way. But now, there was no city left to defend.
"Where do we go from here?" Cusi asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Delson Sr. didn't respond right away. His mind was racing, trying to make sense of what had happened. Tel-Nu had spared them all. He had attacked the city, destroyed their defenses, but no one had been harmed. And now, Corintopia was gone, wiped from existence as if it had never been there.
"Why save us?" Dmitri asked, his voice filled with frustration. "If he wanted to destroy us, he could have done it at any moment. Why go through all of this just to spare us?"
"He didn't spare us," Eshe said softly, her glowing eyes scanning the crowd. "He destroyed everything we've built. He took our home. Our city. He didn't need to kill us to defeat us."
"But why leave us alive?" Junna asked, her voice filled with anger. "Why relocate us? Why go through all of this?"
The question hung in the air, unanswered.
As the Core Seven stood in the middle of the grassy field, surrounded by their people, they could feel the weight of their failure pressing down on them. Tel-Nu hadn't needed to kill them. He had taken away everything they had worked for, leaving them with nothing but confusion and uncertainty.
The wind rustled through the grass, carrying with it a sense of eerie calm. The once-mighty city of Corintopia had vanished without a trace, and the Core Seven were left standing in the aftermath, questioning everything they thought they knew.
What was the point of it all?