For example... how did the Second Sanctuary manage to become independent back then?
There were two reasons.
First, the Second Sanctuary received support from the Third Sanctuary in the form of "nuclear weapons." They finally acquired a trump card capable of mutually assured destruction with the other powers in the "core region."
Don't underestimate "nuclear weapons." While "nuclear weapons" can no longer kill an Eighth Rank Evil God... they're still enough to obliterate cities and slaughter low-ranked Cataclysmic creatures.
The upper echelons of the major powers can certainly run, but... what's the point of running?
Once the territory is lost, the people are gone. Centuries of accumulation become a fleeting illusion overnight.
So, "nuclear weapons" were indeed the greatest leverage the Second Sanctuary had to overturn the table.
