The underside's ceiling had been completely destroyed. What was once considered solid ground for those living below had collapsed in multiple places, leaving behind vast, jagged openings that stretched unevenly across the area. Some sections were far wider than others, but all of them had been torn apart by the violent conflict that had erupted beneath Alterian.

This destruction had not gone unnoticed by those above.

Police forces had already been dispatched to the scene, arriving in increasing numbers as reports flooded in. Although many citizens still held a deep distrust toward authority, at this moment they trusted the police far more than the guilds. After everything that had happened, the guilds were no longer seen as protectors, but as unstable forces whose loyalties were uncertain.

At the same time, members of the general public began to gather around the area. Guild members from different factions did the same, positioning themselves at the perimeter. These were not those who had been swayed by Gizin, nor those who had answered his call. Instead, they were individuals who had chosen to stay neutral, now acting on their own judgment.

They did what they could to keep people from approaching the broken ground or attempting to descend into the destroyed underside. For now, containment was the priority.

That fragile order was disrupted the moment the people from the underside began to emerge.

From multiple openings, survivors climbed upward or were lifted out by magic. As they reached the surface, the contrast between them and the people of Alterian became immediately apparent. Even though Raze and his group had done their best to clean them and help them recover, the years of hardship could not be erased so easily.

Their bodies were thin, many visibly malnourished. Their movements lacked confidence, and their expressions carried a mixture of fear, exhaustion, and disbelief. Compared to the healthy, well-fed citizens of Alterian, they looked fragile, almost out of place.

When the underside survivors rushed out into the open, the general public did not step forward to help.

Instead, many instinctively stepped back.

Eyes turned toward the police, searching for direction, and the police themselves hesitated. None of them had prepared for this situation.

A voice broke the silence.

"Hey, shouldn't they be locked up? We can't just let them roam around the streets!"

Another person quickly followed.

"Right. Aren't most of the people down there criminals? That's why they were sent to the underside in the first place. They can't live in the world above."

More murmurs spread through the crowd.

"And what about the children?" someone else added. "Some of them look so young. They've grown up in that place."

"That doesn't matter," another voice said sharply. "They were raised in an environment with no education, where death happens all the time. We can't just let people like that into society. They're dangerous."

The opinions blended together, forming an unsettling consensus among many in the crowd. Fear fueled their words, and ignorance reinforced them.

Yet not everyone agreed.

"How ignorant can you be?" a man shouted back. "They didn't all choose to live down there. The original people might have, but most of those trapped in the underside were born there!"

He gestured toward the exhausted survivors.

"How are they supposed to work or live in our society if they were never given a chance to learn? And if they were all violent criminals, wouldn't the underside have destroyed itself generations ago?"

Another person stepped forward, voice filled with anger.

"And didn't you hear? Gizin, the disgusting Grand Magus, called on the guilds to wipe out the underside. He even offered payment for it!"

That revelation caused another wave of murmurs.

"There has to be something he was hiding," the person continued. "Why else would a Grand Magus do something like that?"

Arguments erupted across the area, voices overlapping as tension mounted. The police found themselves surrounded, badly outnumbered by both the public and the underside survivors. They struggled to maintain control as emotions spiraled.

In the end, the police made a decision.

For now, they would attempt to contain the underside survivors in one location.

They justified it as a temporary measure, claiming it was for everyone's safety. In truth, many of them believed the same thing as the crowd, that the people of the underside were too dangerous to release freely into Alterian.

Some members of the public were outraged by the decision. Others silently approved. No one intervened as the police began to corral the exhausted survivors together.

That was when disaster struck.

One of the underside members stumbled, weakened from exhaustion, and nearly fell forward toward a woman standing nearby.

"Ahhh!" the woman screamed.

She yanked her child backward in panic, her fear overtaking reason. Instinctively, she cast a wind spell.

The blade of compressed air sliced deep across the underside member's shoulder and neck.

Blood sprayed instantly, pouring down as the man collapsed to the ground.

"What's going on?!" a police officer shouted.

Chaos threatened to erupt. The public far outnumbered the police, and the underside survivors, terrified and confused, had nowhere to go. Several people in the crowd began gathering magic, anger and fear feeding their spells.

"Didn't you see that?" someone yelled. "That underside member tried to attack her! Just like everyone said, they're criminals!"

A man raised his hand, fire magic forming rapidly.

Before he could release it, a sphere of water slammed into the flames, extinguishing them instantly.

The crowd turned.

Standing there was a guild member from another faction, his expression cold and resolute.

"That person did no such thing," he said firmly. "The Dark Guild and the Dark Magus are fighting against that scum right now. We saw who ordered this massacre, and we know who the real enemy is."

More guild members stepped forward, forming a line.

"We will protect the people of the underside who managed to escape," the man continued. "We will not allow innocent blood to be spilled here, on either side."

The police hesitated, unsure of how to respond as the balance of power subtly shifted.

Alterian was already changing.

****

*****

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