He who defy Gods (Arifureta X OC/Male Reader)

(Season 2) Chapter 16 Aftermath

No one's POV

After Sora left, Shizuku fed Kouki the vial of Ambrosia and he recovered instantly. Once Liliana regained consciousness, she instantly took command and organized the chaos in the castle. Temporary hospitals were set up for the injured, and people were dispatched to find out what had happened.

It was discovered that Eri had turned close to 500 soldiers into her puppets, and, excepting the few hundred Sora had obliterated, they had all vanished without a trace. Liliana surmised that they'd followed Freid in his retreat and were somewhere in demon territory now.

Her scouts had also discovered magic circles made of mana crystals buried in the nearby hills, which explained how Freid had transported such a massive army without being spotted. Chances were that Eri had made her puppet soldiers draw them in secret.

The king and all of the high-ranking ministers had been assassinated by Eri's soldiers days ago as well. At present, Heiligh's throne was empty. Until things settled down, Liliana would have to take charge.

After the storm passed, it was likely that the prince, Lundel, would be crowned king. He'd survived the upheaval in the palace and was next in line for the throne.

The most pressing issue now that the demons had left was that the Holy Church hadn't sent any communications down. No priests or paladins had arrived during the fight, nor had any of them shown themselves in the aftermath of the battle. The people were beginning to grow worried, especially because the pope, Ishtar, hadn't appeared either.

A certain gray-haired boy was morbidly curious to find out how the citizens would react when they discovered the main temple had been destroyed, and all of the highest ranking clergy killed.

Rumors were beginning to spread that Lord Ehit had saved the humans by sending down that huge two pillar the night of the battle, and most of the residents had only grown more devout since. The irony wasn't lost on either Sora nor Hajime.

Sora had, however, come up with a countermeasure for assuaging the people's concerns. Liliana had nearly fainted when he'd sent down the letter detailing his plan. Aiko, too, had buried her head in her hands and groaned when she'd read its contents. They hadn't been able to vent their frustrations at him either, as he hadn't descended from the Divine Mountain.

Naturally, there were a lot of people advocating a search party be sent up the mountain to see what had happened. But everyone in the capital was busy with the reconstruction effort, and no one could be spared to make the eight- thousand meter climb. The lift that went directly to the summit still wasn't working, so that climb would be the only way up the mountain.

Hiyama's remains had been discovered a short distance away from the courtyard. His body had been half-devoured, making it clear that he'd been eaten by monsters after Sora had kicked him out of the courtyard. There were traces of a struggle, so it was likely he'd been eaten alive. His left arm was completely gone. The bloodstains suggested that after he'd lost it he'd tried to crawl to safety, only to be caught and eaten from the feet up. A death so gruesome and painful that no one even wanted to think about it.

The more people searched through the wreckage, the more they came to understand how the demons had taken them so completely by surprise. Five days after the battle, most of the pieces had been put together. Kouki and the others were assisting Liliana in rebuilding the city now that they'd fully recovered from the ordeal. Their thoughts often turned to both Sora and Hajime, who hadn't reappeared since that day.

Most of the students had seen Sora in action, so they'd had an inkling of how strong he was. But even they hadn't expected he could summoned a huge 8 headed water dragon or call down an all-powerful laser from the sky. They were once again vividly reminded of the power gap between them.