Megan raised her right hand toward the sky. Radiant energy pooled in her palm and expanded into a miniature sun, illuminating the ruined basin with blinding intensity.

"I will show you how to properly exterminate pests," Megan announced.

She swept her arm forward. A continuous torrent of incandescent light erupted from her hand to sweep across the battlefield. The intense heat instantly fused the loose sand into a molten sea of orange glass.

’We will burn alive out here,’ Gulag calculated, watching the sweeping beam vaporize a nearby boulder.

She dropped to her knees and plunged her hands deep into the shifting dunes below the glass layer. Her amber core flared brightly. The earth violently split open beneath the surviving Vanguard infantry, swallowing the soldiers into a rapidly forming network of subterranean trenches.

A ceiling of rock sealed shut just as the searing light washed over their position.

Krax remained above ground. The blistering heat warped his bronze armor, but he ignored the rising temperature entirely. He gripped his greataxe tightly, kicked off a crystallized dune, and launched his massive frame directly at Megan.

"Get out of the way!" Chris yelled. He thrust both hands toward the incoming attacker.

Chris hastily manifested a concentrated gravity well between Megan and Krax. Krax slammed the broadside of his axe against the invisible spatial barrier. The kinetic impact shattered the surrounding glass floor and halted his momentum instantly.

The sudden shift in focus left a temporary blind spot in Chris’s defenses. Iron-Scale seized the opportunity. He channeled his emerald core to generate a concentrated wind blade, hurling the crescent of roaring energy straight at the distracted Earthling.

The wind strike bypassed the diverted gravity shield and slashed across Chris’s chest plate. Golden metal shrieked as the blow carved a deep gouge near his collarbone and threw him completely off balance.

Megan sneered at the coordinated assault. She intensified the light radiating from her body to create a blinding flash meant to disorient the attackers.

The extreme illumination cast stark, elongated shadows behind every piece of debris on the battlefield, which was a perfect cover for an assassin.

Syra utilized the absolute contrast to her advantage. She dissolved into the darkness trailing a broken spire of molten glass and traveled directly through the newly formed shadows. She materialized directly behind Megan, and swung her condensed blade of darkness at the back of the woman’s knees.

A repulsion field flared violently before the blade could connect. Chris had recovered just enough to project his spatial magic outward, knocking Syra backward into the glass floor.

"Stop playing around and burn them!" Chris spat. He clutched his damaged chest plate while glaring at the Vanguard commanders.

Up in the orbital sanctuary, Red leaned his chin on his knuckles. He watched the holographic projection pulse with colliding energies. The Vanguard executed a flawless multi-front assault against two vastly overpowered anomalies.

Glitch scratched at the floor tiles and stared at the projection with wide blue eyes. The infant Void-Weaver let out a sharp chirp.

’They are pushing them into a defensive corner,’ Red noted, observing Krax recovering his footing for another charge. ’Let us see how much mana these heroes can burn before they break.’

Chris grabbed Megan’s wrist and violently pulled her close. Their glowing figures merged into a single blinding silhouette. The light from her core fused entirely with his gravity well, and a sphere of hyper-dense luminescence expanded between them. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The glass floor beneath their boots instantly melted into bubbling slag.

"Burn them to ash," Megan commanded.

She pushed her radiant mana into the anomaly. The sphere violently pulled the molten glass and surrounding bedrock inward while simultaneously vaporizing the material. The intense gravitational pull threatened to drag the entire Vanguard frontline into the miniature sun.

"Into the trenches!" Iron-Scale roared over the destruction.

He channeled his emerald core to generate a massive tailwind. The gale force pushed the remaining infantry deep underground. Krax vaulted backward into the gaping mouth of a nearby tunnel and dragged Syra along with him to escape the expanding vaporization field.

Down in the dark earth, Gulag slammed her fists against the tunnel walls. She reached her amber magic upward to bypass the melting surface and grip the deep bedrock directly beneath the two Earthlings.

’Let us see how well your sun burns underground,’ Gulag calculated, twisting her wrists sharply.

She shattered the foundational stone. The molten glass floor collapsed entirely. Chris and Megan lost their footing and plummeted into a massive sinkhole. The sudden drop severed their physical connection. The hyper-dense singularity destabilized and winked out of existence.

They crashed into a confined subterranean cavern hundreds of feet below the surface. Megan shrieked as her unrestrained light magic rebounded off the cramped stone walls. The extreme thermal feedback scorched her golden armor and blistered her exposed skin.

She instinctively sealed off her mana core to prevent incinerating herself in the enclosed space.

Chris thrashed against the rocky floor. He threw his hands out to project a defensive gravity well, but the tight surroundings severely restricted his spatial authority. The shifting bedrock compressed around him, driven by Gulag’s continued manipulation from the adjacent tunnel.

The earth locked his arms against his sides.

Krax dropped into the cavern through a secondary vent. The general swung his greataxe flat against the side of Chris’s helmet. The metallic impact echoed through the stone chamber. The boy’s eyes rolled backward, and he slumped into the dirt completely unconscious.

Megan scrambled away from the fallen captive. She raised a trembling hand to cast a minor light beam. Syra materialized from the absolute darkness behind her. The assassin drove the pommel of her dagger directly into the back of Megan’s skull.

The woman collapsed into the dust.

Iron-Scale descended into the cavern a moment later. He unspooled the star-iron chains from his belt. The commander systematically bound the wrists, ankles, and torsos of both defeated Heralds.

Up in the sanctuary, Red reclined against his obsidian throne. The holographic projection of the Third Continent updated to show the hostile energy signatures completely neutralized.

"Now... what should I do with them?"