The sixth day of the Feast ended quite peacefully, all things considered. Despite the destruction, chaos, and bloodshed that the Ersatz monsters caused, New Sparta was able to recover with relative ease and quickness.
After all, every single Upper Echelon company and Conglomerate all pooled their resources into reconstructing all of the damages done to homes and infrastructure.
They made a big show of it. Patriarchs, who would have never been seen mingling in the dirt with the normal people before, were now picking up shovels and digging out rubble.
It was pretty clear that they were doing all of this to recover their reputation. After all, these Patriarchs were never without their corresponding journalists, who recorded every good deed in their parchment papers to be printed tomorrow.
So, by the time the skies had turned a dark blue and the moon had risen to its zenith, New Sparta had turned back into the way it was before. As if nothing ever happened.
But of course, contrary to what the newspapers and propaganda would have you believe, people did die during the chaos.
There were a lot of casualties. All because there was no one to defend them against the onslaught of those powerful Monsters.
Where were the Upper Echelons who had promised to help them? They had retreated back into their lairs for safety. Putting priority on their precious resources over the lives of the innocent.
Of course, those affected by this tragedy were given compensation for what happened. The Upper Echelons spent lavishly to clean up their images.
So, on paper, everything looked alright.
However, people weren’t exactly fine when the Upper Echelons decided that the seventh and final day of the Feast would still continue as planned.
This left a sour taste on a lot of people’s tongues. How could they go on as normal knowing that any second, those Ersatz monsters could reappear and cause more damage?
It was a horrifying thought, especially now that they knew that they couldn’t depend on anyone else except for themselves.
But… what were they to do? They were at the whims of the elite.
It didn’t take long for people to realize the absence of magic. The Guild of Arcana had uncharacteristically closed off their doors to the public, and this led rumors to be spread quickly.
They couldn’t use magic. No one could. It was a travesty. There were people shouting in the streets, talking of an apocalypse coming. It wasn’t just in New Sparta. This happened all throughout the Royal Continent, and presumably, all over the world.
With magic being such a huge foundation of society being held up by magic, it wasn’t hard to see that the entire structure would soon tip over once everyone truly understood the repercussions of this change.
And so, the Upper Echelons and the Conglomerates moved first.
They established control. Stability. They sent out all of their Maugnetic cultivators and began to show the public about their marvelous powers, changing the very fabric of reality itself to alter to their needs.
They did this during the reconstruction. They showed it off proudly.
It was as if they were saying: ‘you don’t need magic, when you have us!’
Obviously, they weren’t doing this purely out of the goodness in their own hearts. By showing off their powers, their own companies would quickly get implanted into everyone’s eyes and increase their reputation. Maybe even make everyone forget what they did just a few hours ago.
They needed safety. Stability. They needed Maugnetics.
But unfortunately for them, someone had already filled that role for them.
“Reborn! Those guys were from the Reborn company!”
“Yeah! My family was saved by them. That demi-human! I think he called himself Jaku!”
“I owe my life to them!”
A lot of the Maugnetics and the Upper Echelons who had left New Sparta at the moment of chaos were flabbergasted as they heard those vocalized praises from the crowd.
It wasn’t long before they found out the reason.
“What? There were people who actually defeated those Monsters?!”
“We wouldn’t have left too if we had Nascent Spirit cultivators by our side—wait, what do you mean they were only in the Body Formation realm?”
“That’s not possible. I remember those demi-humans from Reborn. They’re barely halfway through their cultivation realms. They couldn’t have possibly defeated those Monsters!”
…
…
…
Michael returned back to New Sparta, having been incredibly exhausted after the day that he had.
He almost died. If he had just been a little bit slower, he could have died. If one of those Nascent Spirit cultivators turned around at the right moment, they could have killed him before he even pulled the trigger. Heck, even the guy he killed could have easily avoided a point-blank shot. That was just how insanely fast those guys were because of their cultivation.
In short, there were a million ways things could have gone wrong. He was just thankful that he was able to come out of that unscathed.
But once he was back in their territory, the very first thing he did was make a nationwide announcement.
He contacted the Shadow Orcs, ordering them all to put a clone down on every corner of the Rebornian territory and emit his voice in a loud announcement.
Thankfully, most of the Shadow Orcs were Maugnetics.
Down in the Kings region, Angora City, and every other territory in Reborn, everyone was broken out of their depressing thoughts as soon as Michael’s words were broadcasted all over the place.
“Rebornians, it’s me. Michael. Before, I always hesitated to call myself your leader. I didn’t think I had it in me, to be honest. And everything that I’ve done has been through the help of those around me.
And to answer all of your questions, yes. Magic is gone. And it doesn’t seem like it will return anytime soon.
But you shouldn’t worry. I will not make you worry. I realize now the responsibility that I have as the so-called Leader of Reborn. I have to lead the way. I have to show you the light.
And I will. I promise you this, Rebornians. Even if the whole world had turned upside down, Reborn will still be your home.
As long as you are within our territory, you have my guarantee that we will do everything in our powers to make your lives as comfortable as possible. That has been our motto since the very beginning. And I intend to make that true.”
Michael took a second to take a breath. This second part of his announcement will be a big change. One which he wasn’t sure yet if it was the right decision.
“All this time, the Nation of Reborn has resided in the Parched Lands. It is where Rebornians reside.
I’m planning on changing that. From this day forth, the entirety of the Kings region and the Lower Queens region will be under the Rebornian banner.
I will build our own country. A utopia. We will have our own rules. Our own pride. Our own culture. I will be returning to the Nation of Reborn soon to enact this change. Thank you.”
Sheina, Castelle, Yuna, and the rest of the Rebornian Chiefs all looked at Michael with teary eyes as he made this announcement.
To be honest, he didn’t know if he was rushing this or not. But after what he saw, after what he experienced, he was sure that this was the only way that they could fully protect the Rebornian citizens.
The Ersatz, the Upper Echelons, the Conglomerates. They all had their own goals. Michael was sure that theirs didn’t coincide with his.
This Nascent Influence was just a taste of what these people could do. Michael was sure of it. If a single person could make the very existence of magic disappear, then Michael had been underestimating the Nascent Spirit realm from the very beginning.
There were multiple more people of his caliber out there, hiding, waiting. He had to protect Reborn. And to do that, he knew that he needed to consolidate their powers.
Up until now, the territories beyond the Nation of Reborn were merely their allies. Their friendly neighbors that they interacted with from time to time.
But if Michael was going to be fighting against the elites, the Upper Echelons and the Conglomerates, he needed everyone’s help to create a seamless utopia that could stand all on its own.
And for the very first project, Michael knew that he needed to start speeding up technological advancements in Reborn.
With magic gone, phones, trains, and automobiles will become even more important, whether he liked it or not.
And he wasn’t just going to end it there. He truly planned to make a utopia that could function without magic, one that was technologically advanced just like Earth. Possibly even more.
“That’s for tomorrow. Now, I have to finish the Feast.”
He turned to look at Castelle.
“How’s our sales looking?”
The CEO looked at him with a smile.
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