As Magnus was establishing the framework for evolution in the oceanic world. A massive multi-continental war was happening all around the Earth.
Humans had to realise that they were not the overlords of the planet like they used to be.
Animals now filled the entire planet, biodiversity was at all time high and humans had to establish themselves once again.
...
[Sophia]
She flew at her highest speed to the continent of South America. Her desire to finish this and return to Magnus was at all time high as it was the place for the greatest growth in her eyes.
After a couple of hours of resting and flying, she had made it to the continent. Trees and fauna covered every inch and square meter.
Animals the size of houses kept knocking trees down as sapling which grew at a rate faster than bamboo soon replaced the trees.
As she flew closer and closer to her home, she could see humans trying to create a safe space for each other.
And her problem with the plants didn't stop at their ridiculous growth speed.
The majority of plants soon adapted poisonous or paralyzing properties.
Those that would drain humans of their mana if they stood in one place for too long...
Thankfully, her team had a rendezvous where they would establish their base of operations, as it should have been the most favourable strategical position.
The once powerful rivers which granted humans an easy way of transport and commerce were now a curse, as even the shallowest waters could have thousands of mana eating leeches.
As such, the problems were better dealt with in mountainous regions where not many animals could invade at once.
Because of the mountainous area of the west continent, especially in the south, the ability to fly would give it a great geographical advantage.
Though no one knew if or when gorillas would learn to fly, it was nevertheless the best place to start, given their lack of knowledge.
When Sophia arrived, she went on a rampage, provoking any kind of overlord in the region, especially the ones hidden in the mountains.
As she sent her provoking mana pulse, powerful angered roars responded in kind. Not long after, dozens of meters tall beasts emerged.
Even one from the skies, she recognised it right away as the feathered serpent. Its hundreds of meters long body emitted much higher majestic pressure than any other overlord.
Sophia didn't take any chances and one shotted every other overlord as she analysed the feathered serpent waiting for her.
It didn't have a trace of arrogance in its eyes, just certainty. The certainty that it would win and prove its undisputed dominance.
As the few remaining smart overlords that hid in the dark before acting retreated in fear of disturbing the two powerhouses, Sophia contacted her support team to hurry up.
The feathered serpent looked at her with a provoking gaze as it sent out an air shockwave that rocked her insides.
If not for her passive domain, that gave her some degree of absolute control of her immediate surroundings, she would have had a ruptured heart, lungs, and liver.
She suppressed the bloody feeling threatening to come out of her mouth as she reinforced her domain.
Once he realized she wasn't yet dead, the feathered serpent looked at her like an opponent, going 'all out' in an instant.
Even with her domain, the massive mana alone smacked her into the ground, creating quite a deep hole.
She spurted out blood as she quickly took out a healing pill and a bunch of equipment.
Even when she was decked out in top tier equipment, she could barely stand up. The enchants on her body creaked and threatened to break.
It was at that moment when she looked at it with her eyes that she realised that the feathered serpent might be an actual ruler of the skies.
The feathered serpent didn't let her defy its might so easily, as it created a ball of concentrated wind that shredded anything in its vicinity.
As soon as it released it, it transformed into a tornado with a width of 300 meters. Even though it expanded to such size, its power only grew in strength.
Like a pebble, her domain barely kept her on the ground as trees hundreds of meters away were being pulled out of the ground and being thrown around like rag dolls.
Worst of all, she knew that it was testing her.
If it wanted to kill her, the feathered serpent would have been able to destroy her in just a second or less.
It looked at her with intensity and she even thought for a second that it has been looking for her with a happy gaze.
Unfortunately, she couldn't entertain it, as her domain kept getting more and more compressed. Gradually, it became more and more stable and her equipment stopped cracking.
Once her domain, which used to span 100 meters, now stands only 1 meter from her. Something in her churned as she realized that even though she could now withstand the power of the tornado, her mana was running out.
As the feathered serpent observed her in anticipation, it soon turned into disappointment.
As if to express it outright, it shot a beam of compressed air, which made clean work of her arm before exploding a kilometer away and levelling a whole mountain.
The tornado vanished not long after and the feathered serpent soon vanished into the skies once again. Looking for something, someone.
Sophia's eyes dialed in shock as she stood there without an arm for a second before collapsing.
Where was her invincible rise? Why couldn't she beat a mere animal pretending to be a god? Is she so weak, even after transmigrating back in time, even after training so hard, she couldn't even establish a damn base of operations?
Depressing thoughts clouded her mind, as the only thing keeping her barely alive was the pill she swallowed earlier.
She could feel it. Her desire for absolute authority manifested in the form of a domain where she should be untouchable was trashed.
What was her desire to be with someone she loved? Someone that she chased so hard after when she couldn't even complete the simplest of tasks.
There wasn't anyone to pamper her, to tell her that she would rise stronger than ever before, like a phoenix rising from ashes.
Even her subordinates were 3 hours away, even though they were travelling at top speed. There was no Magnus to tell her to train more, no loved one to give her the words she so desperately needed right now.
Loneliness hit her like a truck as she sent her last message with her remaining strength before slipping into dreamland.
[Found an opportunity, leaving for a long training. Don't search for me.]
She sent this message to her backup and even Magnus.
No one doubted her, not even Magnus, who just thought that she was lucky before continuing his flight to Africa.
...
[Aki & Han]
Aki had a terrible feeling as the world around her tried to establish communication with her.
It wasn't something new to her as she always felt inclined to the nature. Her connection only grew and grew once mana appeared in the world.
Even in the purgatory, she felt a light tickle of the Earth trying to talk to her. But this time she felt like Earth was slightly more panicky.
Its normal calm and rock steady wavelength, which they used to one day make real communication, was now like waves.
The planet began to send out more and more threads in an attempt to force communication, and for just a moment, it succeeded.
It was a set of pictures, one of which was a piercingly hot ball similar to the Sun in the skies. The ball was being encircled by a serpent, as she could see a faint barrier separating the two.
The other was a picture of a winged serpent flying in the skies.
And finally, the third was a picture of a woman who emitted light. Behind her were thousands of desperate living beings with their eyes replaced by the very same light she emitted.
Aki had almost collapsed as her vision grew blurry, as if those pictures were being ripped from her mind.
"Are you okay?" Han asked as he grabbed her feeble body and placed her down to rest.
"I-I think I saw something. I know that I saw a serpent surrounding a sun like body as if waiting to devour it. I've also seen something else, but it grew too blurry..."
"Aki said as the feeling gradually faded, leaving only the first vision intact.
After seeing that she was feeble and not combat-ready, they decided to set up a temporary camp for the day.
Han sent out a few scouts to see the surroundings. Especially when they weren't that far from their potential place.
The scouts were quite effective and soon scouted multiple areas. The once vast Taklamakan desert was actually nowhere to be found.
A few hours later he received informations that neither did the Gobi desert.
The once barren places turned into vast swaths of savanna. One of the scouts almost lost his life when he encountered a huge herd of gigantic animals.
Their momentum alone almost knocked him out, even though they were a hundred meters away from him.
If not for that blessed flight, he would be a pancake by now...
These herds, which would decimate even the most advanced militaries of the world with a simple charge, were overshadowed with but a one huge newfound problem.
Their intended target, the Himalayas, was now being occupied by several kilometer large bird.
Han recognized it as the Roc, and it appeared to have made a nest on Mount Everest.
Furthermore, its power was so vast that even entering near the mountain range the gravity would skyrocket by hundreds of times and, as if the earth below their feet was alive, it would try to skewer them alive.
Like Dracula, it left daring animals who had challenged the might of the Roc skewered in dozens of meters long spikes and left to rot.
One of those corpses was from an Eagle resembling a Philippine branch. Its size and wingspan could have been said to be almost half a kilometer and yet its fate was clearly sealed in but a single strike.
As the scouts kept hovering around the Himalayas, the Roc opened its eyes and sent a piercing screech which invoked a scale 5 earthquake.
The scouts, not daring to provoke the bird any further, quickly retreated and sent their information to Han.
With the bird present, it had completely crashed their plans to use the Himalayas as the main base of their organisation.
With the precarious position, even creating a base on the other side of the Himalayas could provoke it one day.
Although Han firmly believed that Magnus could potentially fight the bird off, he couldn't be present at all times in the base.
And as such they turned to another alternative, the great island where the Sun rules the land, Aki's homeland.
Han gave orders for the scouts to go ahead and see the state of the Hokkaido, the largest island.
Aki had recovered by the time scouts had reported the existence of the Roc and they were on their way.
They took a detour to avoid it as well as to look for any potential dangers that might be growing in the savannas.
Although they didn't see anything outrageous yet, the amount of huge herds was staggering. And yet they couldn't see a single predator, as if the herds had trampled them completely over.
As they continued on forward, except for a talking toad that somehow learned to speak a human tongue without the presence of a single human, which they let go alive, the journey was pretty much peaceful.
Aki had already reported her visions to Magnus. He said that he would see what could the first vision she remembered was and even mentioned that he would take a look at the Roc.
Aki and Han could now focus on building a piece of the upcoming civilization.