The situation in Redclay City, which was located closest to the eastern anomaly, was more chaotic than in the northern Ironcreek City, although Redclay was slightly further away from the anomaly.

The reason for this was the leadership of the city. Even before the Disaster began, Mayor Redclay left the city for far-fetched reasons and moved to the central part of the Federation.

Unlike the mayor of Ironcreek, who was a local and genuinely cared about his fellow countrymen, Mayor Redclay was indifferent, since he was appointed by the Federation itself and came from the center.

He replaced the previous mayor of Redclay, who died after the second disaster under very mysterious circumstances.

And so, when there was no one in the city responsible for his fate, no one wanted to take on this burden. Most of the leaders, realizing that the city was doomed, began to secretly leave it, leaving it to its fate.

Without a clear explanation of what was happening and amid the chaos prevailing in the city administration, the situation in the city itself began to escalate. The military and law enforcement agencies made every effort to quell the riots and looting that broke out over the past day, but the situation only worsened.

The military and city services themselves began to doubt their abilities, and their morale began to decline. They were particularly affected by the demonstrative departure of the awakened from the Association, who, having received orders from their leadership, left the doomed city.

As the city slowly descended into chaos, a lone figure with flaming wings appeared in the sky above.

"Finally," Idan said, looking at the city from a bird's—eye view with his fiery red eyes in the guise of an Alpha of Fire. He knew that they didn't have much time, and he swiftly dived down, leaving behind a long trail of fire that burned brightly in the night sky.

"Snow," Idan called to the Spatial Snow Fox, who was following him through the void while sending messages to the chat using the {Whisper Talisman}.

A fox jumped out of the rift, happily wagging its tail and whining. Following Idan's commands, she opened several rifts, which then connected with others, creating portals.

In total, four portals were opened.

A young man with red hair and azure eyes appeared from the first one, who nodded to Idan with a smile. The rest of his group followed him out.

A petite beauty with long light brown hair came out of the second portal, followed by the former members of the Flower Garden Guild, who have now become part of the Kingdom Guild. The leader of this group was the youngest of the Valkyrie sisters, Hazel.

Nayla came out of the third portal, accompanied by a group of girls who had previously been members of the Queens Guild.

And finally, with a slight delay, Irene appeared from the fourth portal.

"Sister," — Idan greeted happily, seeing that Irene had come by herself instead of sending her Doppelganger.

Idan wasn't the only one who was happy to see Irene. The second man was watching her, smiling, and of course it was Arslan.

It had been five days since they hadn't seen each other and had been working apart. And during that time, Arslan realized how much he missed Irene and his son.

"I've gotten too used to seeing her every day since I moved to the Kingdom," he admitted to himself.

Irene also greeted her brother joyfully, then looked at Arslan and, seeing that he was all right, breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. This did not go unnoticed by others, who began to whisper and smile in response.

When Idan left, Arslan quickly approached Irene and took her hands, not being embarrassed by the close attention of others.

Everyone was already aware of their relationship and even knew about the existence of a common son, which at first shocked many.

It was a surprise for them to learn that two Heroes of the Federation, in addition to the first two, Nathan and Rachel, who got married, have a romantic relationship, not to mention having a child together.

This revelation shed light on why Queen Irene stopped appearing in public in the last year after the Second Disaster. It turned out that she was pregnant and hiding her condition.

When they found out that, despite having a child together, the relationship between Irene and Arslan remained a mystery, many began to speculate and romantic rumors. As a result, their love story became even more fascinating than it actually was.

Idan watched with a smile as his older sister and his wife's younger brother interacted with each other.

After a short observation, he examined all the gathered Guild members.

The appearance of anomalies radically changed the Guild's plans.

Even before the Disaster began, they were all prepared for unexpected turns of events and the fact that perhaps all their plans would be in vain.

There were now three groups operating in the North, along with Arabel's avatar: Felicia, Yara, and Irene's groups, led by her Doppelganger.

Two more groups, led by Hailey and Esma, were heading for the second and third nearest cities to the northern anomaly. Their task was to begin preparations for the evacuation as soon as Arabel completed her business on Ironcreek, teleported to them and joined their actions.

Yulaya's group had moved east and was now heading towards the second closest city to the eastern anomaly, pursuing a similar goal as her older sister's group and Hailey's group.

As for Ned, Idan's doppelganger and his first contract, he stayed in the city of Nordist.

Ned was tasked with protecting the Guild branch that was located in the city, as well as the Permanent Access Portal.

Idan and Arabel were aware that the Federation and the Associations were probably aware that they had moved their branch office from the Federation capital to Nordist. Hence, there was a high possibility that they might take some action against the Guild branch.

Especially considering that the Permanent Access Portal in this city was supposed to play a key role in the upcoming evacuation of cities.

By a happy coincidence, Nordist turned out to be one of the few cities that was further away from both anomalies. Considering this, Idan decided to evacuate part of the population of the doomed cities there.

As for Ned, Idan was confident that he alone would be enough to protect an important Guild node.

Idan only regretted a little that he might not be able to see how surprised those who dared to speak out against Ned would be.

Earlier, due to the extraordinary events that had happened to Arabel, Idan had not noticed how much Ned had changed after his resurrection and evolution. But now, after talking to him before the Disaster began, he realized that his partner had become something more than an ordinary Doppelganger.

"Well, let's get started," Idan said to everyone. "As I have noticed, the situation here is not the most joyful, and we have a lot of work to do."