The holographic map of the Third Continent expanded in the center of the room. Millions of glowing waypoints, hidden aquifers, and subterranean tunnels illuminated the western and central regions. The entire eastern half of the map remained completely shrouded in a grid of artificial fog.

Red analyzed the boundary line dividing the continent. The Fourth Continent held a massive territorial advantage.

’They operate completely blind to my Vanguard,’ Red calculated, studying the fog of war. ’I have four of their champions in chains, and Voranthar has no idea the eastern front just collapsed. But they will know soon.’

"What the hell is the Radiant Monarch doing? He should be getting system notifications about all my achievements and his loss. It’s been months since my army entered the second continent," Red muttered and leaned back on the throne.

"Honestly, I would have been at ease if he and the other three gods of the fourth continent had made their moves or some kind of retaliation. Because if they are not affected by their continuous losses, it means they are planning something big."

He pulled up the live feed from the cavern. Syra had already cornered Megan against the rocky wall. Krax stood over Chris with his greataxe resting casually against his shoulder.

The field interrogation was officially underway. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Down in the subterranean cavern, Syra extended her hands. The ambient shadows clinging to the stone walls surged forward, completely engulfing Chris and Megan. The assassin stripped away their sight, their hearing, and the physical sensation of the ground beneath them. Absolute sensory deprivation isolated the two Earthlings in a void of pure darkness.

Chris began to thrash violently against his star-iron chains. He screamed into the silence, his mouth wide open, eyes darting frantically in the pitch-black sphere. Megan curled her knees to her chest, shivering uncontrollably as the psychological isolation tore at her sanity.

"They are breaking," Syra noted, watching from outside the shadow dome. She held her dagger ready. "I will drop the veil. Ask for the coordinates."

Syra pulled the darkness back just enough to let a sliver of ambient light touch their faces.

"The supply lines," Iron-Scale commanded, stepping closer. "Give us the exact locations."

Chris gasped for air. He opened his mouth to speak.

Before a single word left his lips, his chest began to emit a blinding, unstable golden glow. The light did not come from his armor. It radiated directly from his veins, burning furiously from the inside out. Megan screamed as her own skin illuminated the cavern, her veins pulsing with the exact same violent energy.

The energy signatures of the two captives spiked astronomically, bypassing their previous limits entirely.

[ System Warning: Catastrophic Divine Detonation Imminent. ]

Red bolted upright on his throne.

[ Get out! ] Red roared through the communication terminal. [ Evacuate the cavern immediately! ]

Iron-Scale heard the Sovereign’s command and reacted instantly. He wasted no time verifying the threat.

"Move!" Iron-Scale bellowed.

Gulag slammed both palms flat against the cavern wall. Her amber core flared to its absolute limit. The bedrock violently ripped apart, forming a massive vertical shaft leading directly up to the desert surface.

Krax grabbed Syra by the shoulder, hauling the silver-scaled assassin under his arm. He bent his knees and launched his massive frame straight up the newly formed tunnel.

Iron-Scale channeled his emerald core. He generated a localized hurricane beneath his boots, propelling himself and Gulag upward right behind the Orc general. They surged through the vertical shaft, racing against the expanding golden light below.

The two Earthlings detonated.

A cataclysmic shockwave of hyper-condensed radiant energy obliterated the subterranean cavern. The explosion vaporized the star-iron chains, the bedrock, and the two human bodies entirely. The blast traveled straight up the escape shaft, chasing the retreating Vanguard commanders.

Krax, Syra, Iron-Scale, and Gulag burst from the sinkhole just as the ground beneath the desert completely gave way.

The surface of the Sea of Glass violently erupted. A massive pillar of golden fire shot thousands of feet into the sky. The thermal expansion instantly turned miles of surrounding dunes into liquid glass, sending a rippling earthquake across the entire eastern province.

The Vanguard commanders tumbled across the distant, stabilized dunes, coughing up dust and watching the localized mushroom cloud of radiant energy scorch the upper atmosphere.

Red stared at the blazing projection in his sanctuary, and ran a hand over his face.

’I jinxed myself,’ Red realized, sitting slowly back onto his throne. ’The Radiant Monarch planted a fail-safe inside their bodies. He sacrificed his own pawns the moment they lost their magic to ensure they could never leak military secrets.’

The gods of the Fourth Continent were finally making their move.

The golden pillar of fire eventually dissipated into the upper atmosphere. The extreme temperatures left behind a vast crater of smooth, cooling glass that reflected the desert sun.

General Krax and Iron-Scale slid down the slope of the crystallized basin. His plated boots cracked the fragile surface with every step. Gulag followed right behind him, scanning the perimeter for any signs of secondary traps.

’Everything burned to ash,’ Krax thought, kicking a pile of grey soot. ’Nothing organic survived that blast.’

He reached the dead center of the blast zone and noticed a metallic glimmer beneath a layer of fused sand. Krax drove the heel of his boot into the glass to shatter the crust.

He reached down and pulled a palm-sized metallic disc from the rubble. The object bore intricate geometric engravings completely untouched by the extreme heat.

"Sovereign," Iron-Scale called out, holding the disc up toward the sky. "We found something."

[ System Notification: Pre-Calamity Cartographic Engine Detected. ]

Red tapped a command on his armrest. "Activate it."

Krax pressed his thumb against the center of the disc. The metallic surface slid apart to project a highly detailed, three-dimensional hologram. It perfectly rendered the entire topography of the Third Continent.

Hundreds of crimson markers illuminated across the eastern dunes, detailing the exact coordinates of every Aethelgard mobile fortress, subterranean supply cache, and hidden military stronghold.

Gulag crossed her arms and stared at the floating crimson grid. "They carried the entire invasion blueprint in their pockets."