Back in the Eastern Cardinal, the world moved along like one SSS-ranked soldier wasn't missing.
Reconstruction crews worked through rubble that used to be apartment complexes. Street vendors reopened their stalls in neighborhoods that still smelled like smoke and death. The government issued new regulations about structural integrity and emergency protocols. News networks cycled through the same footage of Kruel's attack, analyzing it frame by frame like studying a particularly violent nature documentary.
Life continued because life had to continue. You couldn't stop civilization just because three million people died in less than a day. That sounded callous when you said it out loud, but it was true. The survivors needed food, shelter, medical care. Buildings needed rebuilding. Bodies needed identifying and burying. The world kept spinning whether you were ready for it or not.
