Chapter 2965: Outbreak |
The streets of District Three had transformed from chaos into massacre.
The collapse happened with horrifying speed, the way these situations always spiraled once the critical point had finally been crossed. Two Alliance enforcer positions fell within minutes of each other, and after that the entire district began unraveling faster than anyone could respond.
The infected multiplied continuously.
Crowds that had been fleeing moments earlier suddenly turned against themselves as compromised civilians hidden among them lost control. Some collapsed screaming onto the pavement before rising again with stiff movements and empty eyes. Others attacked without warning, spreading panic through the already overcrowded streets faster than the infection itself.
The Alliance enforcers stationed throughout District Three had originally been deployed for riot suppression and refugee management.
Not for this.
They carried restraint artifacts, crowd-control formations, suppression barriers—equipment designed to handle violent civilians and maintain order during unrest. None of them had prepared for an outbreak where every frightened civilian might suddenly become another enemy.
And so the civilians ran.
Thousands flooded through the main avenues in blind terror, pushing desperately against one another while screams echoed endlessly between the district towers. Some carried injured children in their arms. Others dragged wounded relatives behind them while blood stained clothes and faces everywhere—sometimes their own, sometimes belonging to someone else entirely.
From the second-floor window of the Red Lotus, Gwen stood silently watching the district collapse outside.
She only needed a few moments to understand exactly what she was seeing.
Then she turned and went downstairs.
---
They were already waiting for her in the grand lobby.
Gwen did not know precisely when they had gathered there. Some must have arrived during the last hour, drawn either by instinct or by the silent understanding.
More than three hundred people stood waiting beneath the pale morning light.
The apothecary staff. Nyx and her Red Lotus crews. Oeno and his gladiators, the foundations members. students and volunteers and people who had shown up to help and stayed when things got worse.
All of them were watching her.
Gwen crossed the courtyard quickly before pulling a district map from the operations wall and spreading it across the nearest table.
Her thoughts moved rapidly.
Not panic.
Calculation.
She had lived in this city for nearly ten years now, actively helping its people and overseeing countless relief operations throughout District Three. Every major road, alleyway, supply route, and defensible structure already existed clearly within her memory.
Without hesitation, she began marking positions across the map.
Eight points.
A defensive perimeter covering three city blocks surrounding the Merlin Apothecary Center and the Red Lotus mansion.
Those two locations would become the anchors of their defense. Whatever happened to the surrounding district, those buildings had to remain standing.
Three major roads would stay open and heavily guarded.
Five smaller streets would be sealed entirely.
Barricaded.
Collapsed.
Burned if necessary.
Nyx leaned over the map studying the markings carefully before giving a slow nod.
"This way we completely isolate the area. But it won’t hold for long."
"We only need to hold six hours," Gwen said. "Twelve at most." She looked up from the map and saw five hundred faces looking back at her. "By then help will come"
She said it the way she believed it — not as reassurance but as fact — and the people listening heard the difference.
Gwen immediately started assigning responsibilities.
The apothecary staff and senior healers would remain within the inner perimeter handling treatment, infection screening, and emergency stabilization.
Nyx and the Red Lotus crews would secure the main defensive roads while maintaining communication between checkpoints.
The Foundation volunteers and younger cultivators would reinforce barricades, evacuate trapped civilians, and direct survivors into secured sectors around the apothecary center.
Gwen’s gaze lingered on the three major defensive positions marked across the map.
Oeno would take command of one of the major roads.
As for the remaining two—
Slowly, Gwen lifted her head toward Lizzi.
Lizzi immediately understood.
The young woman looked back at her with the expression of someone who already knew what was about to be asked and already hated the answer.
"I’m supposed to stay with you," Lizzi said firmly.
"Lizzi..." Gwen exhaled softly before shaking her head. "Please. This is an emergency. People’s lives are at stake."
Lizzi frowned deeply but did not argue immediately.
Instead, she held Gwen’s gaze silently for several long seconds before finally muttering a quiet chant beneath her breath.
The shadows beneath her feet suddenly rippled unnaturally.
Then part of the darkness detached itself from the ground and slithered silently across the courtyard floor before merging directly into Gwen’s shadow.
"This will protect you once," Lizzi said quietly. "If it breaks, I’ll abandon my position immediately and come find you."
Gwen immediately understood what she had done.
A high-level shadow technique.
An extra life.
She gave a small nod.
"Understood."
Then Gwen turned back toward the gathered defenders.
"Nobody moves before taking a repellent pill," she said sharply while scanning the courtyard. "Nobody."
The atmosphere immediately became more serious.
Nyx began distributing the pills at once alongside several Red Lotus members while Gwen gathered fifty Foundation volunteers and headed directly toward the central avenue.
Somewhere beyond the smoke-filled streets ahead—
The infected were already coming.
The central avenue was clearly the weakest point in the entire defensive perimeter.
It was the widest road in District Three and connected directly to the transit sectors where the outbreak had first spiraled out of control. If the infected continued spreading through the district, that avenue would inevitably receive the heaviest pressure first.
By the time Gwen arrived there, the position already looked lost.
The infected were pouring heavily from the northern end of the avenue while trapped civilians remained caught between both sides in complete panic. Alliance guards stationed at the front were retreating step by step with the controlled desperation of trained soldiers who understood they were steadily losing ground yet still refused to completely break formation and flee.
Every few seconds another scream echoed across the avenue as someone stumbled, got dragged into the crowd, or suddenly turned against the terrified civilians around them.
Both Oeno and Livin were Grand Magus-realm cultivators capable of holding one of the other major defensive roads by themselves for a period of time.
Gwen was different.
She was not even a Magus yet.
In direct combat strength, she could not compare to either of them.
But there was a reason she personally chose to take command of the most dangerous position.
Gwen pushed through the collapsing frontline without the slightest hesitation.
Then she stepped directly to the very front of the avenue.
Her sword slid free from its sheath in one smooth motion before she raised it high above her head. Spiritual energy flared around her body while her voice cut through the chaos of the street with absolute clarity.
"Hold the line. Right here."
The sheer certainty in her voice alone made people stop.
"Do not be afraid!" Gwen shouted as golden spiritual light spread outward around her. "Stand with me! Let us protect our city!"
The Foundation members behind her immediately steadied themselves.
The retreating guards stopped backing away.
Even some of the fleeing civilians close enough to hear her voice slowed instinctively before turning back toward the frontline.
Then suddenly someone within the crowd pointed toward her.
"Lady Star Maiden..."
The words spread across the avenue faster than sound should have allowed.
People turned.
Many of them had never met Gwen personally. Some only recognized her from rumors, relief efforts, or the reputation she had built over months of working openly throughout District Three.
But now they saw her standing at the very front of the collapsing avenue with her sword raised high and not the slightest trace of fear or hesitation visible anywhere in her body.
And suddenly—
The line no longer looked impossible to hold.
Civilians who had been fleeing moments earlier began falling back into formation behind her because Gwen was still standing there—and if she was standing there, then maybe holding the line was actually possible.
One hundred defenders quickly became two.
Then three hundreds.
Alliance enforcers stationed nearby saw the line stabilizing and immediately began shifting toward it as well.
More civilians joined.
More guards regrouped.
Several isolated Magus-level cultivators emerged from surrounding streets and added themselves to the growing formation.
Soon the avenue held over a thousand people.
Gwen stepped forward once more before releasing her spiritual energy fully across the battlefield.
The leading infected slowed beneath the force while the advancing mass behind them momentarily compressed against itself, buying precious seconds for civilians to escape deeper behind the defensive line.
The golden radiance spread across the avenue like the light of a second sunrise.
And people followed it.
---
Gwen did not merely hold the line.
She pushed it forward.
Step by step.
The entire defensive formation slowly advanced northward through District Three closer to the teleportation gate sector.
As the formation advanced, it continued growing larger.
Civilians picked up abandoned weapons from fallen guards and joined the rear ranks.
Three hours passed.
Then suddenly—
The infected flooding into the avenue from the northern junction no longer resembled a chaotic wandering mass driven by instinct or drawn toward spiritual energy.
They moved with coordination.
Purpose.
Pressure.
The formation shifted instantly as hundreds of infected poured into the intersection simultaneously, followed by hundreds more immediately behind them. Entire side streets began overflowing as though something deeper within the district had deliberately redirected the horde straight toward Gwen’s advancing line.
"What happened...?"
"Where are they all coming from...?"