Alex was all alone in his prison, the guards having long since left to help in the battle.
Judging by the sounds and screams, the battle came in waves, with people clashing for a while before returning to their own place to prepare for the next onslaught.
Alex could only stay where he was and wonder what was going on. He had no way of knowing anything. With even the guards having left him, all he could do was guess what was happening.
For the first few days, Alex imagined that this battle was going to be over soon, and the guards were going to return soon enough. But as time went on, he began to wonder if the guards were never going to return here at all.
In that case, could he escape this place without anyone knowing about it?
All Alex really had to do was jump out of this place. Nothing would stop him from getting out since there was no physical barrier here at all. The only thing that would happen to him was likely that he was going to get knocked out the moment he stepped outside.
But so long as no one returned to place him back in the prison, he was more than okay with being knocked out.
Alex stepped away from the hole, walking closer to the edge of the barrier. He easily crossed the 20-meter range, and went as far as 23 meters. That was where he had to stop.
Just a 2-meter distance away from him. That was all there was between him and freedom.
‘Just 2 more meters,’ Alex thought. ‘I could’ve trained myself to cross this had I stayed in here for a decade or two longer.’
But freedom was far more lucrative for Alex than simple improvements to his Intent.
He took a step back at that point, looking through the prison for all that he wanted to take with him, and dashed out.
As he passed through the final 2 meters that kept him away, the pure strain of the formation on his mind knocked him out completely.
By the time Alex came to, some time had clearly passed. He had gotten out of the prison at daytime, and it was nighttime now. Logically, Alex guessed that only half a day had passed.
But something deep inside him disagreed. More time had passed than just half a day. Deep inside, he wanted to say that over 3 days had passed by now.
He got up and dusted off all the sand from his body before looking toward the city. Plumes of smoke rose from within it, the screams no longer as strong. Someone had clearly won.
Alex began walking toward the city.
For the first time in the past half a century, he had finally had the chance to see this city with his own eyes.
And it did not look as beautiful as it was described to them. Marred with blood and bodies, and dust and debris, it was far from the haven its name made itself out to be.
So many people had died here, so many corpses. It was weird seeing so many of them dead when Alex couldn’t even begin to separate the different groups that had fought.
Everyone dressed almost the same.
Alex didn’t know where he was supposed to go, only where he wanted to go. He had to kill the chief of the Sunwardens and hoped their enemies hadn’t done that job already.
A few men surrounded him at once as he walked through the streets, their spears pointed at his chest.
“Identify yourself, warrior,” one of the men shouted.
Alex looked at the men. “What happened here?” he asked. “Did the Sunwardens lose?”
“I said identify—”
They were far too close for Alex to have to do anything. Just applying his cultivation base’s aura on them was enough to make each one of the men stumble onto the ground.
Alex slowly stepped forward and grabbed the man who had spoken to him, and pulled him up. He reduced the aura on this one man.
“What… happened… here.”
Each word resounded in the man like a gong, making him tremble.
“We… won,” the man said.
“Who?” Alex asked. “The Sunwardens or the Grayhounds?”
“The Grayhounds.”
Alex looked around with a frown. “It looks like an overwhelming victory. How did you manage that?”
“Th-the Sandkillers, they betrayed the Sunwardens.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “I see. What about the chief of the Sunwardens?”
“He’s imprisoned.”
“Where?”
“In the Grayhounds’ dungeon.”
Alex nodded. “And what of his daughter and granddaughter?”
“I-I don’t know,” the man said. “They may be imprisoned too.”
Alex nodded and tossed him onto the ground. “Take me there.”
The man nodded with great fervor before standing up and walking on ahead. The man was far too scared to do anything unwise, so he did as Alex asked and showed him the proper way.
Alex passed through the Sunwardens’ side of the city, walking into the Stoneclaws. The Stoneclaws had seemed to have met a rougher state after the countless years of battle on mostly their ground.
Most of the buildings there were broken, the few people still living here with little to wear and even less to eat. There was no light in this section of the city for no one lived here to light the lanterns at night.
“Such a beautiful place, and yet it is reduced to this.”
Alex could only shake his head and continue following the other man.
Then, they reached the section of the city where they could hear countless cheers from, as though they were all in a festival.
‘That’s no surprise,’ Alex thought. ‘They did win.’
Alex walked into the brighter section of the Grayhounds’ tribe and had to immediately stop as he saw something as soon as he walked in.
There were long metal spears stuck onto the ground, and on them were the heads of many that had fallen.
One of those heads, Alex recognized, belonged to Extolite Fuxian. Goyin’s father.