Just an hour later, the entire city knew of the evacuation. Much to Alaster's surprise, there was very little panic. They had known about the Demonic Invasion for a while now and after the Tarian Siege just a few years prior, they had prepared themselves.

Most of the citizens had already prepared themselves for a potential evacuation, even if they had no idea how such a thing would be done.

The Trains weren't a closely kept secret, but it was also not proclaimed in the streets. Due the citizens' own prior preparations; Soldiers began to bring groups down to the Trains. In just three hours after the announcement was made, the Train was on its way to Galmore with its first shipment of citizens.

Of course, a messenger had been sent the moment the decision had been made to evacuate, ensuring that Galmore was aware of the incoming people and had begun to make preparations for them.

Alaster smirked to himself imagining the annoyed look on his Tutor's face as his workload increased. But that thought led to his daughter, which Alaster was not ready to think about.

Luckily, there was plenty to help take his mind off it.

He had his Undead helping the Soldiers move supplies or haul building materials. The Siege would be long, of that, Alaster was certain. Even if the other Sieges had not been. And defenses would need to be repaired as best as they could in between battles.

As he had suspected, Keylan tried to talk his daughter into going with the citizens to ensure their safety and organization. He failed utterly, though he knew he would. Surprisingly, Iris actually considered it. Not because she was scared, though she certainly was, but because she knew that the people were the priority.

She had seen the army camped outside their city walls. She had read the reports of the battles taking place around the continent. She knew there was little hope of victory. She had seen enough battles to know that it was impossible to tell who would live and who would die.

She could be the first, or Loka, or maybe even her father. Alice would be leaving the city alongside their mother, and she did not know if she would be able to see them again. That thought alone terrified her, but she kept to her oath to protect the city.

Knowing that her decision to stay might be the deaths of her Knights, the friends and comrades she had trained with, eaten with, and talked with, since the very beginning. She knew all of them by name and by face. She knew who their closest friends were, how many siblings they had, and plenty of their embarrassing stories.

As Iris looked out the window of her office in her Order's Barracks, observing many of her Knights in the yard below preparing as best as they could, she wondered how many would still be alive in a week.

If any.

Alaster had not wanted to manipulate the facts or claim his own opinions as fact, so when he spoke with his sister, he told her the situation in its entirety. To her credit, she actually thought it though, though the result was not surprising to Alaster.

She would stay, and even given the choice, so too did all of her friends. Though Alaster pondered just how severely that choice had been affected by their unknown connection to his sister.

Luckily, Elliot Siphas had managed to convince his wife and daughter to leave. Both of whom objected for their own reasons. Nora Siphas did not want to leave her husband, possibly for the last time. Isabella Siphas objected, stating that the soldiers would need capable Healers and Doctors, as many as they could get.

Elliot managed to convince his wife to go by pointing out that their baby boy would need his mother. And he managed to convince Bella by telling her that the citizens would also need a healer as well as some form of Nobility in the face of such changes.

Alaster was glad to see them go, though he wished the necessity was not present. The fewer people he cared about in the city, the more he could focus on the slaughter in front of him.

Unfortunately, Arthur had been unable to convince Astrid to leave. She vehemently refused to part with her husband only to receive news later on that she was going to be a single mother. Luckily, Alaster knew she could fight. Perhaps not one of the best, but she would be able to hold her own against the Devils.

The Argalon were a different matter, but there was nothing he could do about that. If all things went according to plan, she would never be in the battle regardless.

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So naturally Alaster attached ten Shadow Assassins solely to Astrid to serve as her bodyguards and if nothing else, distractions, so she could get away when the plan inevitably went up in flames.

He also attached four upgraded Iron Guardians to her, though they could not hide in her shadow. She was not at all too pleased to see them following her around everywhere, but Alaster had intentionally avoided seeing her in person so as to avoid her wrath.

The Upgraded Iron Guardians now stood as tall as the Argalon. Their impossibly thick and heavy armor ensured they would survive even a powerful attack from the Argalon, even without their shields. Unfortunately, their attack power was still quite lacking. Alaster was unsure they would be able to kill even the ordinary Devils.

Hopefully they would not need to. If Astrid came under attack, the Guardians would cover her entirely with their shields while the Shadows dealt with the enemy. Hopefully.

Luckily, her pregnancy had only just begun to show, so she should still be able to maneuver and run just as well as before. Alaster hoped.

Alaster admitted he knew next to nothing about pregnancy, let alone its effects on the mother.

With everyone he knew and cared about settled with what they were doing, Alaster focused on the upcoming battle itself. He knew how to activate all of his Abilities and Magic without the aid of the System. He could do so even before he became an Expert due to Belgroth's insistence.

The same could not be said for the other soldiers. And as powerful as he was by himself, he knew that this siege would not be determined by one man, not entirely. As such, the Argalon Mages were the priority for everyone.

The Soldiers that were on break or found themselves waiting for whatever reason, practiced using their Abilities without the System. Engineers and Enchanters ensured that their tools and Runes could operate without the System. Officers drilled their soldiers to target the Argalon Mages and not to rely on the System.

It was chaos, but it had a certain flow to it. A single goal that every soldier kept in mind with each movement they made.

Survive.

So the Engineers checking their four Ballista and single Trebuchet atop one of the many towers found it strange that the Hero of their city sat atop the battlements, feet dangling over the edge, staring at the Demon Encampment, seemingly doing nothing.

But Alaster was perhaps the most busy, if not physically.

Within his mind, he coordinated the thousands of Undead within the city, the tens of thousands of Undead outside the city, his Death Knights, his other Bodies, and the Lich that had sworn itself to him. A lich that commanded its own thousands.

Alaster had Undead throughout the Continent and he received reports from them constantly.

He knew the Gilaen Empire was finally engaging the Demons in force. He knew the City States were competing with each other over how many Demons they could kill. He knew Kemore had sent offers of reinforcement to Zalar as it fortified its own cities. He knew Athera was seeing good results from its Guerrilla warfare. He knew Taria and Celarn had all but combined into a single country to defend themselves.

He even knew Hason and Xedora were preparing their own armies. Xedora was practically drafting its entire population and training them as best as they could as quickly as they could. While Hason had confiscated every Slave within their borders with promised payment to their owners at a later time, with a bonus if the Slave died. Every slave, regardless of their ability to fight was conscripted.

Despite knowing all of this, Alaster knew very little of Tauras. The Dwarven Kingdom was largely underground, and there was a wraith-like Monster in the countless deep tunnels that could hide in the darkness, similar to his Shadows. As such, the Dwarves had many ways to detect ethereal creatures as well as ways to dispatch them.

That was not to say that Alaster was blind to the actions of the Dwarves, just that he knew the least about them compared to the rest of the Nations.

Unsurprisingly, the Dwarves were making no moves to provide aid to the other Nations in active conflict with the Demons. Instead, they were fortifying their already incredible defenses.

With the Demons having no apparent way to traverse through dirt and stone, they would have to come at the Dwarves through the tunnels. Tunnels lined with enormous forts and riddled with tight corridors, blind spots, and hidden passageways.

Alaster suspected that the Dwarves would be largely untouched until the rest of Humanity submitted, and even then, they would hold out for generations. Unless the Demons had some hidden method to attack, which as early into the war as it was, Alaster had no doubt they had many secrets.

Despite understanding that Humanity as a whole had to fight back, Alaster did not care for the other Nations. They could do whatever they wished, so long as it did not interfere with the people Alaster actually cared about.

Which meant, Alaster had ordered the complete withdrawal of his Undead Forces from outside the Alliance. This primarily referred to his other bodies, Fenrir and Vivian. Vivian had immediately changed course and begun the long flight to Onigas, though not before she sacrificed the rest of her Minions to wipe out a supply caravan.

Fenrir's journey to Onigas would be much slower, as he could not fly. Before he left, Fenrir called down one of the Elves in the canopy high above the ground. When one hesitantly obeyed, Fenrir handed him a letter explaining the situation throughout the Continent. Fenrir did not care about the Elves, but he figured that the harder and longer they fought, the less pressure would be exerted on Zalar, his first destination.

Fenrir would travel through the Jungles of Athera until he reached Zalar, where he would then travel to Ivrand, the capital of Zalar, and catch the next train to Onigas, if it still stood by that time.

Even Lezrem was called back from Galmore. His vast hordes of Undead would provide ample fodder for the Demons to waste their Mana and Energy on.

It was a busy day, and it would only get busier.

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