Gemini attended Congress sessions regularly, but this was the first time he’d seen the largest auditorium — dubbed the Chamber of Stars — used in the past four years or so, in his time at Ark City. The general proceedings of Congress every day was rather free-and-easy; most senators, who had the right to vote for or against any motion, could do so remotely from the comfort of their homes or offices with artefacts or plain old clerks and runners.

Only those who wanted to support or oppose any ongoing proposals by making arguments would appear at Congress itself.

This was the usual conduct of a Congress session.

Once in a blue moon, however, Congress sessions that instructed every single senator to be in attendance were called. Those sessions usually dealt with incredibly important motions, like resource allocation, the appointment of a new senator and whenever Demigod Eliza was taking part.

And for the past ten millennia, only one session that even required the presence of important individuals of Ark City — basically anyone who had a modicum of influence in Ark Interior — had been convened. That was around fourteen years ago, when the Second Extermination was launched by the Southern Assembly.

No one, absolutely no one, had expected for such a Congress session to be called fourteen years later.

“There’s so many people,” Lila observed. “How many are there exactly? Hundreds? Thousands?”

“More than that, I’m afraid.” Gemini, like the other senators who didn’t know anything, was looking around anxiously. “You know what this means, right?”

“Things are about to change drastically,” Lila murmured. “This probably has something to do with the impending civilian evacuation, right?”

“I’ll let you sit on me if that isn’t the case,” Gemini replied.

“I’ve already done that, though.” Lila covered her mouth.

“Not that kind of sitting!” The Constellation rolled his eyes, and felt his spirits lift slightly. As long as Lila was with him, Gemini knew that he could face anything the world threw at him.

Even if it was the Demon God himself.

After a few minutes of playful flirting and banter, the huge auditorium had finally filled up. The Paragons, senators and key appointment holders like Campmaster Magnus had a private room of their own, and every single room was occupied. The Paragons that had been hibernating in Ark City to minimise losses to their lifespan had evidently left their seclusion too, which was nothing short of frightening to Gemini and probably anyone else in the know too.

“Esteemed members of Ark City, the Memory Sifter will be arriving shortly,” said the emcee, who was wearing a dark set of robes. “In view of her privileges, I would like to inform everyone present to rein in their cultivation. Not doing so will be grounds for immediate suppression.”

Murmurs ran around the auditorium as she left the stage, but it seemed that almost every person here knew about Emily’s history of being assassinated. Those that didn’t were swiftly enlightened by the others, and Gemini could tell that the solemn atmosphere was enough to dissuade any funny business in the first place.

Minutes ticked by, and the emcee returned once more, three familiar figures following behind her.

“Esteemed members of Ark City, the Memory Sifter, Lord Emily, will now begin her speech.” The emcee glanced at General Degurechaff, who was standing at her right, and Campmaster Magnus, who was covering her left flank.

The latter nodded.

“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” began Campmaster Magnus. “I apologise if there are any breaches in custom, but Demigod Eliza has already moved to secure our passage out of the Wildlands.”

“Out of the Wildlands?”

“Demigod Eliza?”

The Campmaster waited for a few moments, before he yielded the stage to Emily, who nodded in response. “As everyone is aware, the primal demons have been adapting their siege strategies over the past few years. I have been running my models, along with a gifted team, and within the next few days, Ark City will take, for the first time in the past three years, irreplaceable losses.”

Her words silenced the whispering current immediately. “And the moment that happens, Ark City will fall within a week. Our prior state of affairs was predicated on the invulnerability of our walls and of our people. Once the demons come up with a strategy that yields even the mildest success, everything will snowball from there.”

She took a deep breath. “That time has come.”

“Some of you might be wondering why we didn’t make this knowledge known earlier,” she continued. “But this is the Wildlands. The world of the Demon God. Speaking in such a public venue will alert, and has alerted him. As we speak, his forces are probably forming up once more, but fortunately, we’ve already depleted his current batch of training troops.”

She took a step back, and Campmaster Magnus took the stage once again. “As of now, we’re declaring an immediate evacuation. The civilians in Ark City are already boarding the twenty transports we’ve built over the past year. This is the last instruction of Ark City’s Congress — leave no one behind and take everything you can with you.”

“Ark City has begun its final countdown,” said the Campmaster. “Three hours after the final Ark-class transport leaves, the city will destroy itself. Once again, take everything you need, leave no one behind, and board the Ark-class transports once the civilians are fully evacuated.”

His nostrils flared. “The final session of Ark City’s Congress ends here. Other than the senators and the Paragons, everyone, please prepare to evacuate as quickly as possible. Leave nothing behind.”

The walls of the Congress building turned into dust with those words, and after a frozen collective moment of shock, everyone turned into streaks of light, heading to their own destinations. Now, without the soundproofing effects of the building, Gemini could distinctly hear a deafening roar from the Mass Driver, as the first of the Ark-Class transports shot towards the skies.

“Paragons…senators.” General Degurechaff gestured for everyone to come closer. Most of the senators and the Paragons had brought their family along, and a small crowd formed around the general.

“This is your last mission. Defend the transports with your life. As we speak, over fifteen Exemplars and Sages are heading towards us. Hold them off for as long as possible, and then retreat on the Acheron.”

For a few seconds, no one spoke.

Gemini could understand why. After all, staying behind to delay the demon equivalent of Paragons and Lords to protect the others was…nothing short of suicide.

The ground shook as Senator Guo Ming took to the skies, with Harlinder close behind. Qi swirled around both of them, and the sudden display of strength had seemingly triggered a whole bunch of chain reactions from everyone else. The aging Paragons, the usually-lazy senators…all of them took to the skies one by one, ready for the fight of their lives. Their spouses, their partners, all gazed at those heroes, their eyes abnormally shiny.

“Lila…” Gemini hugged her. “Go. I’ll protect you.”

Without waiting for her, the Constellation took to the skies. Sending one last glance — an action mirrored by everyone else — at General Degurechaff, the contingent of Lords and Paragons turned into blurs.

Their destination: the walls of Ark City.

Behind them, Degurechaff began to brief those that were left behind one last time. Gemini knew that he was urging them to take whatever important things they had and evacuate, just like everyone else flying with him, and as one, they threw on another burst of speed.

This was going to be the fight of their lives.