The town center was empty. Not a single vehicle was on the road as Zane and the others made their way to the hospital. The roadside was littered with hectically abandoned vehicles, but none of them were in the middle of the road. Following protocols, the autopilots had carefully moved the vehicles to the side of the road to allow the military to operate.

A few minutes from the car park, Zero turned onto a road that led directly to the hospital in the south-west of the city. After a few meters, the display in Zero's car and the PDA's flashed as barricades opened up in front of them. Metallic barriers and concrete bolts blocked the road. Only a small path led to the front, at the end of which a smaller area was kept clear. On the other side of the square, the military had erected another barricade, this one serving as a lock. Several soldiers, a tech mage, a tank and two ATBS secured the lock and blocked any further progress.

As the pickup approached the barricade, the tank's turret took aim at the pickup and all its occupants. The message flashing on the display and PDA was a warning that they were entering a restricted area. The message contained explicit instructions. Ignore them, and the soldiers might mistake the vehicle for an enemy and open fire.

"We're here," Zane said firmly.

Without a word, Zero drove slowly up the path to the tank blocking the way. The left sidewalk was filled with civilians trying to get through the security gate to the bunker under the hospital.

Again and again, civilians were startled by the sounds of the battle as it penetrated the center of the city. Smoke from burning buildings and crashed ships began to darken the eastern sky. The fact that only noise could be heard indicated that the troops' defensive efforts were successful. Still, the civilians waiting impatiently to get through the sluice were tense. The reassurances of the soldiers charged with maintaining order did little to change this.

"We're supposed to report here," Nathan broke the silence as he leaned over to Zane and Zero. He and Asagi sat in the back seat while Zane took the passenger seat. Zero's car was kept in plain anthracite, only the blue LEDs emitted some light, giving the interior something noble. Meanwhile, Nathan had played the warning on the large screen in the center console of the car, using the instructions from his PDA. The point on the map was just behind the barricade.

"Stop," a soldier who had taken up position in front of the tank held out his hand. With the guns of the soldiers and the tank still trained on the pickup, Zero slowed down. With the faint screeching of the brake discs, Zero's car came to a stop beside the soldier.

Zero rolled down the window to speak to the soldier, who peered into the car, his gaze falling on the spot behind Zane and a brief twitch showing on his face.

"What brings you here?" The soldier asked, pulling his PDA out of his pocket. It was a special military version, covered by a sturdy shell to reduce impact and drop damage.

"Here are our IDs," Zero held his PDA, which was synchronized with the others, out of the window to synchronize it with the soldier's PDA, while Zane leaned towards the window and explained:

"We're from the Academy, we were told to report here to help out."

"How are things at the hospital?" Zero asked. "I'm a medic."

"The evacuation of the hospital is proceeding without any major problems," he said as he studied the data Zero had sent him. One of the ATBS started to move and came to a stop beside the pickup. A window opened on the soldier's PDA and a feed from the pilot appeared.

"I can confirm your identity, sir," the red-haired pilot reported.

"Tyler, is that you?" Zane asked as his face appeared on the car's screen.

"Glad to see you're OK," Tyler replied.

"Good, thank you Tyler," the soldier continued, relieved at Tyler's confirmation. "The command post is at the hospital, report there for further instructions," he pointed with his PDA down the road in the direction of the hospital.

"Thank you," Zero replied.

"Thank you," Zane added.

"All the help we can get is welcome," he said goodbye to the four. The nervousness in his voice was clearly audible. "Don't worry, you can count on us!" Zane interjected.

"Take care," Zero nodded and slowly drove past the tank, which pulled to the side and opened the barricade.

"Ok, see you guys, take care," Tyler signed off from his deep red ATBS.

"You take care too." "Ditto!" Zero replied, followed by Zane.

"See you soon Tyler," Asagi added while Nathan waved.

"Good fight too, Zane," Tyler replied before the transmission ended.

"I'll drop you off at the command post," Zero explained as they drove past the crowd that had come behind the barricade like them.

"I'm going to check on Carol at the hospital and see if I can help," he added as everyone looked out the windows.

"OK, good luck Zero!"

"I'll come with you Zero," Asagi replied late.

"Thanks, Asagi," Zero smiled and tilted his head back.

Behind the barricade, the soldiers had set up one of several small camps on the right side of the street to coordinate their forces while they led the evacuation.

The assault had begun just 33 minutes earlier and the evacuation of the civilians was going well, even though it was the first evacuation under real conditions. The fact that more people had come to the city for the final exams only made the evacuation slightly more difficult.

The reason for this was that Halsion, as a peripheral town, had enough evacuation bunkers in case of an attack.

The evacuation bunkers were strategically placed throughout the city so that civilians could quickly reach a bunker in the event of an attack. One of the bunkers was located at the military base in the north, another at the east of the city, another at the hospital in the south and a final one at the academy in the west. There was also a network of smaller bunkers in the city center.

Despite the distribution of evacuation shelters, it took time to evacuate several thousand civilians. Moreover, the shelters were not designed for long stays. They were only intended to provide protection for a short time until the enemy was driven out or reinforcements arrived, so the bunkers were relatively narrow. If a siege lasted longer, the civilians had to be flown out if possible.

"This way, please," a soldier waved at a group of civilians, pointing to the next assembly point.

It was the first attack on Halsion since its founding, and despite the successful evacuation, there was a lack of routine among both the civilians and the military. While a small portion of the military rotated, most soldiers were stationed in Halsion, and the years of peace had taken their toll.

"Look at all these people..." Nathan mentioned without waiting for an answer, looking out the window at the crowd.

"They've never seen battle before," Zane replied.

"Neither have we..." Zero added, resting his right arm on the back of the driver's door and driving the pickup with one hand.

"They're all scared," Asagi added, her worried gaze fixed on the crowd.

Zero's pickup drove down the street, past the civilians waiting to enter.

"Please stay calm," an automated announcement came from one of the evacuation bunkers. Young, old, humans, elves, everyone was waiting to get into the bunker, and so they crowded in front of the entrance.

A girl shivered as her friend held her hand. A child huddled against her mother, trying to ward off fear as the mother tried to reassure her. She wore a symbol of the Architect Church around her neck. Beside her, two businessmen argued as if they had just come from a meeting. A young man with a gym bag was also standing outside the bunker. An elf was questioning a soldier, while the bystanders were hanging on his every word. They all waited impatiently to be let into the bunker.

The soldiers tried to maintain some peace and order, but the tension among the people was palpable.

"Why are they even attacking us? There's nothing here!" Zane expressed his anger at the situation and turned to Nathan.

"I'm wondering the same thing, Zane," Nathan replied in his calm and matter-of-fact voice.

"But this can..."

"Calm down Zane, it won't help."

Zane looked at Zero, whose eyes were fixed on the road, the tension also visible in Zero.

"Zero is right," Nathan added. Zane's eyes went back to Nathan and Asagi, who tried to calm him down with a smile, as if to say that she understood his anger.

"You're right," Zane said, calming down and sinking back into his seat. "But still..." Zane didn't get a chance to put his thoughts into words because a huge bang made the inmates jump.

The next thing Zane and his friends knew, they were covering their ears.

The bang was followed by an unnatural sound, like someone trying to scratch a blackboard with their fingernail, or metal sliding on metal, but mixed with sounds that only a computer could make. The shrill sound was difficult to describe, yet it sounded as if something was tearing at the fabric of the world.

The noise echoed throughout the city, drowning out even the sounds of battle for a moment. After a few seconds, it gave way to a lesser but still disturbing sound, which itself seemed to slowly fade away. A white pillar of light, tapering upwards, rose from the direction of the explosion and sound. At the same time, something black in the center of the pillar of light seemed to be pushing towards the sky. It seemed to be another pillar of light within the first. The unnatural black center of the pillar seemed to devour any light that fell upon it. As if it threatened to consume the world itself.