Several hours earlier.
Lord Malgros had given the word and the magic circles began activating across Novaria simultaneously; every continent, every circle, all of it moving at once.
Leon was gone from the continent; they'd confirmed that.
And as humans say, "strike while the iron is hot"
Malgros had taken one precaution before initiating; he'd gone to see Lord Zhask personally. Their king. The being that even in the devil realms made people lower their eyes without being asked, equal in power to the devil sovereign himself.
Just in case the white haired boy came back.
Zhask would handle it.
And so across Novaria the circles activated, one after another, a chain reaction spreading across every kingdom and continent simultaneously, and in the human continent the sky began changing color above Everett; deep red bleeding into the clouds from the edges inward like something was being poured into the atmosphere from above.
The monsters hit the city gates first.
