It had been seven days, and Anbord had started its operation of taking back its lands. Expedition groups were formed, each led by two leaders with 15 members in a team. Their missions were to secure at least 3 kilometers of land with strict rules to fall back if the danger they encountered was above their level. When that happened, they were to prioritize survival over victory.

A group of 15 wearing high-tech black armor with red designs, with an insignia of a white, glowing sword on their chests, marched in an organized line towards a land filled with darkness and decay.

They drove hover, topless cars, travelling at the speed of sound. In no time, they reached their mission region.

They got down while two of them pressed some buttons on their armor, causing the cars to flash and turn invisible. Then they all turned to their leader, awaiting further instructions.

Their leader was a tall woman, standing at 6’6 feet tall in black armor with golden designs. The insignia of the sword on her chest was much more detailed than the rest.

Her golden eyes glinted as she smiled with a mischievous grin. Her short silvery-white hair swayed slightly as power built up around her.

"Just destroy everything. Dad will fix everything later," she said, causing most of them to chuckle.

"As expected of the First Princess. Always finding work for the emperor," a man with long yellow hair and demon horns chuckled.

"Hehe! Now let’s go!" Delphina exclaimed and turned unhurriedly as her right hand shot forward.

Her fingers clasped around a clawed hand, stopping it just right before her face with the same smile.

Light suddenly burst from her hands, burning the void-born in seconds, its shrill cries echoing loudly in the vast region.

Delphina had changed just like everyone else in her family after the ascension. Age-wise, she was now 16 years, but appearance-wise, she looked mature. The reason for her growth in height that rivaled her elder brothers was because of the name she awakened alongside her power.

She had awakened her god-art or path at once, instead of going through the long process of affinity refinement to get magic, then the path.

She had skipped all that. Even her level of power was at the Grandmaster. As for her power, her team would be the first to witness it as the void-borns pounced towards.

The void-born were feline-like creatures with multiple tails ranging from two to four, and shadowy wings. They were creations of Nyxirra and Kassiel, giving them a very powerful yet weird constitution.

A heavy shockwave burst from Delphina as she raised her hands into the sky.

"I still haven’t tried this out..."

The wind stilled as a sharp pressure fell on the void-borns, causing them to halt their advancement and look up.

What they saw scared them. A pure white blinding descended with speed, bringing with it burning flames. It plunged deep into their midst, annihilating them before they could even make a sound.

The team behind Delphina was slack-jawed as they watched her decimate a whole pack of void-borns with a single move.

Silence followed.

Not the calm kind—but the stunned, ringing silence left behind when reality realizes it has been outmatched.

Ash and fading motes of light drifted through the corrupted air. Where the void-born pack had stood, there was nothing left but scorched earth and a faint afterimage burned into space itself, like a memory that refused to fade.

Delphina exhaled slowly.

"...Okay," she muttered. "That works."

The ground twitched.

Her smile widened.

From every shadow, the darkness answered.

The land ahead convulsed as more void-born surged forth, dozens, then hundreds, pouring from fissures like living ink. Some crawled, some flew, others phased in and out of existence as if reality were optional. Their screeches overlapped into a maddening chorus, warping the air.

"Formation Delta!" one of the squad leaders barked.

The fifteen snapped into motion instantly, spreading out in a defensive arc, rifles of condensed energy humming to life. Red targeting lines cut through the haze as they opened fire, suppressing the outer ranks.

But Delphina stepped forward.

"No need," she said lightly.

Light erupted from her back.

Dozens of glowing blades formed in the air behind her, hovering in a slow, deliberate orbit. Each sword was different. Long, curved, jagged, thin as needles, broad as cleavers. Some bore intricate crossguards, others had no hilts at all, pure intent sharpened into shape.

"Let’s start simple," Delphina said.

She snapped her fingers.

The swords screamed forward.

They did not cut through the void-born.

They erased them.

Each blade left a streak of white-gold brilliance as it carved through flesh, shadow, and malformed cores. Void-born split apart mid-leap, their bodies dissolving into nothing before they could even hit the ground. Wings disintegrated. Tails severed and burned away.

Delphina lifted her hand and drew.

The swords curved back to her, merging, reforming, reshaping mid-flight.

A massive greatsword formed in her grasp, taller than she was, its blade wide and radiant, engraved with flowing sigils that shifted with her thoughts.

She swung.

The air split.

A crescent of condensed light roared outward, flattening the battlefield. Everything in its path, void-born, corrupted ground, lingering shadows, was sheared cleanly away, leaving a trench of smooth, glass-like earth behind.

The team stared.

"...That was a Grandmaster-level cleave," someone whispered.

Delphina tilted her head. "Really? Felt smaller."

A roar shook the sky.

Something big emerged.

The ground ruptured as a hulking void-beast rose, a twisted amalgamation of feline and serpentine traits, eight tails writhing, wings stitched from shadow and bone. Its presence alone crushed the air, void energy bleeding from its core like smoke.

"Commander," the horned man said tensely, "that one’s..."

"I know," Delphina interrupted cheerfully. "Looks fun."

The beast lunged.

Delphina vanished.

She reappeared above it, light coalescing around her legs as she drove downward, blade-first. The impact detonated like a falling star, the shockwave hurling nearby void-born into the air like broken dolls.

The monster shrieked, thrashing wildly.

Delphina landed lightly, already moving.

More swords formed, thin rapiers this time, spinning rapidly as they stabbed in precise, surgical strikes. Each thrust pierced a critical node in the creature’s body, locking its movement and pinning it in place with glowing blades like stakes.

"Too slow," Delphina said.

She raised both hands.

This time, the swords were short, broad-bladed, executioner-style weapons.

They formed a circle.

Then fell.

The void-beast was reduced to nothing but drifting embers in a single synchronized strike.

The battlefield fell quiet again.

The team slowly lowered their weapons, expressions ranging from awe to disbelief.

The man with demon horns laughed weakly. "Princess... remind me never to spar with you."

Delphina stretched her arms over her head. "Aww, but that’d be fun."

She glanced toward the deeper darkness ahead, her golden eyes gleaming.

"Alright," she said, light gathering once more around her. "That was the warm-up."

The shadows ahead recoiled.

And somewhere beneath the corrupted land, something far more dangerous noticed her.

...

The second expedition team advanced without ceremony.

Fifteen figures in black combat armor with crimson tracings moved through the dead land in staggered intervals, boots crunching against soil that hadn’t known life in years. The air here was thicker, as if it resisted being breathed.

Their leader raised a clenched fist.

The team froze instantly.

Sensors flared across their visors. Red glyphs bloomed and stacked over one another.

"Void density spike," one of them muttered. "Not swarming, hunting pattern."

That was worse.

The ground ahead shifted.

Without warning, a void-born burst upward, jaws unhinging as it lunged for the point scout. The soldier reacted on pure instinct, twisting aside as claws scraped sparks off his armor. He fired point-blank, the blast shredding one wing, but the creature didn’t fall.

Two more emerged from the shadows.

"Contact! Three o’clock and below!"

The squad snapped into motion.

Energy rounds streaked through the air, illuminating the battlefield in flashes of red and white. One void-born was torn apart mid-leap, its body collapsing into oily smoke. Another slammed into the ground and skidded, screeching as a blade of condensed force took its head clean off.

But the land answered back.

The darkness thickened, pulling together like a closing fist. Shapes moved just beyond sight, fast, coordinated, patient.

"They’re flanking," the leader growled. "Form up! Back to the ridge!"

They moved as one, retreating step by step, covering each other with disciplined fire. A soldier went down as a tail punched through his side armor, lifting him off the ground.

"Man down!"

Before the void-born could finish it, two squad members charged in, blades humming as they carved the creature apart in brutal close combat. One grabbed the fallen soldier and dragged him back, armor smoking, his blood already sealing under emergency nanofields.

The ground cracked.

A larger void-born forced its way out, four-legged, plated in shadow, its eyes glowing with malignant intelligence. It roared, and the lesser ones surged forward with it.

"This is turning into a breach-level engagement," someone said tightly.

"No panic," the leader replied. "We hold."

They did.

One by one, they adapted.

Trip-mines were deployed mid-retreat, detonating in blinding arcs of light that tore through advancing packs. Energy shields flared and shattered under repeated impacts. Ammunition counters dropped into the red.

A soldier lost an arm to a slicing wing and kept firing with the other.

Another was dragged under, and a moment later, a grenade turned the ground into a crater, taking three void-born with him.

Finally, the leader slammed his fist into the earth.

"Fallback threshold reached. All units, disengage!"

They didn’t hesitate.

Cover fire intensified, precise and relentless, forcing the void-born back just long enough for the team to withdraw. The darkness snapped at their heels, claws scraping stone, shrieks echoing behind them.

Then, abruptly, it stopped.

The void-born did not pursue beyond the marked line.

The team regrouped on stable ground, battered, breathing hard, armor scarred, and smoking. Fifteen had gone in.

Fourteen stood.

No cheers followed. There was no celebration.

Just quiet nods, clenched fists, and the unspoken understanding that the land had been taken, measured, hard-won, and paid for in blood.

The mission marker updated.

[Territory secured: 3.1 kilometers.]