The skies above Sanctum shimmered in the pre-dawn blue as Arlen finished the final mana infusion into the drone core. The launching platform buzzed, surrounded by relay towers blinking in sync with his heartbeat. Iden stood beside him, arms folded, eyes on the glimmering projectile suspended by arcane anchors.
"You're sure it won't get fried before it even leaves the atmosphere?"Arlen snorted. "No more than we do every time we push something beyond logic. This thing's ours. Let's see what our eyes up there can find."
With a flick of his wrist and an arcane signal from the core—
The first orbital drone ignited.
Crackling bluefire spiraled around the silver orb as it shot into the heavens, leaving a glistening trail like a comet. Within seconds, it pierced the clouds, gaining altitude fast. Back in the command tower, a large crystal interface bloomed with live map overlays as the satellite's vision stabilized.
"Acquisition confirmed," Arlen whispered.
Within moments, the global display pulsed with new data:
A massive jungle biome in the east, dense with Tier C beasts.
A frozen wasteland to the far north, home to ancient ruins and anomalous signals.
A fortified metal city—clearly player-controlled, marked by automated defenses.
A floating archipelago cloaked in clouds, its terrain unmapped but riddled with magical interference.
"So this world's that big," Kael muttered. "And we're just one fortress in the woods."
Iden nodded. "Now we start thinking globally."
The settlement was alive with momentum.
Builders expanded the relay zone. Trade channels buzzed with newly connected outposts from allies. With the Alliance Hall complete, three minor factions had sent formal communications of interest.
Meanwhile, the combat summons, numbering in the hundreds, had all been dispatched in rotating training raids—accompanied by battle-scouts and overseers.
Among them was the towering figure of the General Skeleton, now evolved and clad in adaptive bone-steel.
[Unit Report – Combat Division]
• General Skeleton – Level 40• Total Combat Skeletons Active: 1,902• Scout, Archer, Warrior, Mage, Tank units• 62 Units reached Level 20• 11 Units evolved to D-tier Subclasses
The general's aura had changed. He no longer needed verbal orders. Through mental link, Iden could feel how the once-hollow bones now pulsed with learned precision.
"We don't just command skeletons anymore," Iden said quietly. "We command experience."
While war never slept, moments of stillness whispered between it.
Rael, adjusting some new rune gloves in the medic field, turned as Kael approached with a pair of enchanted boneflowers—their petals shimmered violet and green. The juxtaposition of death's essence and life's color.
"They bloom better near you," he said, holding them out.
She chuckled softly, surprised. "Is that your way of saying something?"
He stepped closer, removing one of his gloves and brushing her hair aside gently.
"It's the only way I know how to speak… when the world lets me forget we're in a war."
They kissed, quietly, just once.
"Then let's keep remembering we're alive," Rael whispered, the flowers catching light as they fell to the earth.
Later that evening, after reviewing the drone scan data with Iden, Nyra didn't leave with the others. She stayed by the window, looking out at the distant torch lines guarding the forest edge.
"You've changed, Iden. Not just in power—but in presence."
Iden turned, half-curious. "You sound like you're building up to something."
She walked up to him, placed a small charm in his hand—crafted from the first tooth of a beast they'd slain together.
"This world chose chaos. But I chose where I stand."
A pause. Then:
"Come to my quarters. I don't want to wait anymore."
It wasn't seduction in her eyes—it was something closer to trust, vulnerability, hope.
He nodded.
Far beyond Sanctum's walls, the destroyed zones left by the Big One's second detonation stirred something older than Valtross. Distant sensors from the orbital drone picked up a glimmer—something moving through the dust.
But for now, in the heart of Sanctum…
...the fortress breathed as a city.