Rita returned to her quarters after meeting the Council. Truth is, she didn’t know how to feel after everything that transpired there.

  On one side, she agreed with Lord Artemis that humanity needed to conquer the divine realm to survive. But what would happen to the mundane humans who could be corrupted easily? There were billions of people out there who wouldn’t be able to survive the conditions of the Divine realm. The bzing sun's heat of the blood desert was an example of this. It was a very unpredictable world compared to the mortal realm with creatures bearing unfathomable powers.

  Right there, Rita remembered her family members. Her little brother was mundane, along with her sickly mother and older sister. They didn’t have any divinity to even give hope for ascension. Thinking of them made her miss her family so she decided to check on how they were doing now that she was back in the mortal realm.

  She turned on her ability and her world instantly changed from the steel room given to her to a spaced apartment in Ga-mu-bin, one of the safest capitals in the Eastern Settlement. The apartment was modest but welcoming, its pale blue walls reflecting the soft light streaming through reinforced gss windows. A faint scent of vender lingered in the air, a reminder of simpler, safer days.

  It was afternoon and the sun was fully out. It was a hot day since it was coming to mid-June and the azure sky was beautiful as always thanks to the barrier over the capital city.

  Just then, the main door opened and a small child with fiery red hair rushed into the apartment while screaming and pying with a few figurines in his hand.

  “Alex, you’re going to fall.”

  The door fully opened beautiful brunette walked in holding a rge paper bag full of groceries. She had sparkling red eyes—a common feature in her family because their father was an ascender.

  “Damn it…” the woman cursed as she closed the door with a kick then headed to the kitchen.

  She had a pair of headphones and she hummed to the tunes as she removed everything they had brought.

  “Rachael…Rachael…see!” Alex rushed to his older sister and showed her a figurine of a green dragon.

  Bothered by the little boy’s excitement, Rachael zily removed her headset and turned to her brother.

  “Do you know who this is?”

  “It's Kaigen the Dragon? Right?”

  The boy nodded excitedly. “Do you think big sister will get to meet him? My friends say she’s now super powerful after she ascended to a summoner.”

  “Probably,” Rachael replied with a faint smile. “Your sister is super powerful. Hehe…I bet she’s stronger than that Kaigen guy!”

  The four-year-old boy’s eyes sparked with stars. “ Really! Then why doesn’t she have an action figure yet?”

  Rachael chuckled and patted the small boy’s red hair. “She doesn’t have cool dragon form, you see. Heck, it's only Kaigen with an action figure.”

  ‘Exactly.’ Rita chuckled.

  “Why can’t she become a dragon then?” the boy asked, curious about what his sister had just said.

  Rachael smiled and began unpacking whatever they had brought. “Because that’s not it works for ascenders. But know that your sister is saving the world as we speak. Those toy companies better make toys about the mighty Rita someday!”

  The boy nodded and returned to pying with his figurines.

  Rachael sighed and put her headphones back on and listened to her music.

  After seeing that they were safe, the imagery of the apartment faced and she was now back in the small room she had been given.

  Rita scanned the room she was in and threw herself on the small bed. She suddenly felt homesick after seeing her family. They were the reason why she was on this side fighting against the end of the world. Before ascending, their father had been the breadwinner of their family as an ascender for the government sector of the Eastern Settlement.

  Unfortunately, he died during a subjugation after a gate appeared outside the Eastern Settlement border. As the oldest and the only one born with special blood, Rita took it upon herself to become the breadwinner of her family. She fought against all odds to prove her worth to the highblood houses and her hard work finally paid off when she became one of House Feng’s diviners.

  The pay was high and the life of luxury was always within her reach even if she ever decided to retire. Sure, she risked her life doing this job. But without it, she wouldn’t have been able to pay for her mother’s very expensive treatment or her school for her mundane siblings.

  As Rita stared at the sterile ceiling of her quarters, one thought echoed in her mind: humanity might find a way to survive, but would her family be among those who lived to see it?

  "I can't agree with Lord Artemis...I just can't."

  ***

  Meanwhile, Shin was seated alone on his bed smiling at his communicator while reading a message from Ling Hana who was currently with her mother, Agatha.

  He still couldn’t believe that two months had gone by since he left for the Southern Reach. And now that his primary role of guiding Lunaris to her sister, Shin had already sent his request to be removed from this subjugation. Many would’ve looked at this as a cowardly move. But during that fight against the corrupted deity, Shin had had a lot to think about since that battle. His decision wasn’t a rash one because he still had people to live for in this world.

  He could’ve been one of the soldiers that died in that dungeon but he hadn't because it wasn’t his fate to die there despite having escaped death so many times.

  “Ling will awaken at fifteen. She won’t be rejected by the coming age.” He was still thinking about what Lord Artemis said about their world. It was common sense that the mortal realm was indeed dying away. The process could take a few years or even centuries….

  But it was sure to happen.

  Humans had zenshi to help them survive not save their realm. so, very soon, more cursed creatures will break into the human realm and begin their conquest. The continents would all fall unless the world had more ascenders to fight against the inevitable end. So, to survive, humans needed to go stronger to conquer the more vicious world.

  Could humans survive in that world? His ex-wife and daughter had divinity in them. The chances of Ling awakening were higher should they cross into the divine realm.

  He put down his communicator and rubbed his temples. Was there really no other way than to decre the end for the mortal realm? To move on?

  No. It wasn’t right to forget about the billions of mundane humans who managed to live and continued to fight even after the world was trapped in despair.

  He joined his hands and buried his face in them. Lord Artemis had a point but his vision wasn't the right way. Humans belonged to the Mortal Realm and that's it.

  “We’ll find another way to live. We have to.”