Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday

Nothing much changed in Grace's life, except for the fact that she was now the second most powerful person in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Her life continued as usual. If she wasn't training to balance her newfound powers, then she was out on hunt missions with warriors.

Then, there was the duty of keeping all four of her bases - Blue Moon City, Starfall Isle, Hilton Base, and Greenstone - progressing.

Every month, she also attended the Great Alliance's meetings to discuss future plans about researches, development programs, and hunt missions.

By the end of the tenth year since her return to the past, things were a lot different on Earth.

Grace stood tall, literally and figuratively, at the center of what could only be described as a miracle on Earth. The old ruins were shrinking and the safe zones were growing, though little by little.

Blue Moon City was now the central heart of human survival and resistance, surrounded by a fortress of energy towers and natural barriers controlled by the spirit plants and stones.

Three more cities were reclaimed from the old ruins, located right next to Blue Moon City. While none of these three cities were fully rebuilt, the first stages of reclamation were complete.

But instead of rebuilding the cities on her own this time, Grace decides to include the Great Alliance too. Unlike before, this wasn't an effort of desperation, but of confidence. The Earth wasn't fully healed, but it was no longer dying. It was fighting back.

And she wasn't fighting alone anymore.

* * *

It was at the beginning of the eleventh year that Grace finally got full balanced control over her powers. And as per the system's data, she was already 86% match with the High Lord of the Magik Realm in terms of strength and power.

But she wasn't the only one making progress. Davian too finally made his breakthrough for the first time in past three years... entering Rank SS.

He also consumed a Level Six Blue Spirit Stone, unlocking water elemental powers that boosted his original powers.

Rune, on the other hand, had surprised them all.

Despite his background in knowledge and study, he had chosen to take a more active path. He entered the ranks of SS Elite Warrior. It was a term used exclusively in the Magik Realm for those who walked both paths of magic and strength. It was the stepping stone before Supreme Warrior. Only five such individuals had ever existed in the Magik Realm. And Rune was now the sixth.

And while these two men were working on their powers to grow stronger to help Grace, Dr. Kian was working just as hard to support them from behind the scenes.

The research teams had been continously working on finding ways to reduce the effect of the virus on the environment if not outrightly eliminate it.

After years of studying infected samples, testing on controlled plants, animals, and eventually surviving humans, his team ended up developed two successful versions of vaccines.

The first, already deployed, had brought mutated plants under control. They even grew birth to low percent mutated plants with the help of original normal plants, giving hope for a better future.

These experiments further continued to see if such mutations could be done with crops, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and whether the resulted harvests would be safe for consumption.

As a result, they ended up cultivating a mutated versions of that were not only safe for consumption, but far better for current evolved human bodies compared to normal food.

The second vaccine, developed after countless failures and near-deaths in the lab, was meant for infected animals. Trials on caged beasts showed results within weeks. The virus percentage dropped rapidly, allowing the beasts to turn into normal animals with lower percentage of mutations.

Just like the tests with plants, similar tests were done between these low-mutation animals and normal animals to see the results. And these results came out similar to that of plants.

For the first time in the past ten long years, mutated animals were actually safe for human consumption.

And yet... both vaccines were locked away for the time being as they couldn't be used even if they wanted to.

Because they were aware of one brutal truth - If the Veil remained cracked and open, releasing the vaccine into the environment would only delay the inevitable. Since there was no vaccine to deal with the Monster Beasts yet, their presence would only create problems. And without closing the cracks in the Veil, there was no way to reduce the numbers of Monster Beasts, let aline completely wiping them off the surface of Earth.

That's why, the most important matter that needed to be sorted out was that of the Veil. And yet, it was also the matter that needed proper time, planning, and study.

And at one point, Grace and 2025 finally thought of something.

- - -

The set-up was ready and so were the two who were about to try something really crazy. However, if their attempt turned out to be fruitful, a new door of possibility was going to open for not only Grace but also for the human race on Earth.

2025 was currently working on the several rings of data that were spinning around the now empty living room of the Villa in the Starfall Isle.

But other than these screens, there was a projection of the galaxy rotating in the empty space, glowing like the very heartbeat of the universe itself.

Rune, Davian, and Dr. Kian were also present there, sitting near the edge of the projection while Grace made her way before the console. Folding her arms across her chest, she focused her gaze on the screens.

"Are you ready?" she asked 2025.

"Yes, Master. I have stabilized the scanning frequency. We are now connected to the core of your energy signature. I will now initiate the Galactic Scan Protocol."

Grace nodded once, giving it permission to go ahead with their plan. "Do it."