The Primordial's breach had left a mark not just on the inner walls of Sanctum, but deep within its people.
No longer was the threat something that came from outside. Trust had to be reforged, beginning at the core.
Iden stood at the Nexus Chamber, watching as engineers, mages, and soulbinders reconfigured the inner grid systems. Triple-redundant mana filters were being fused into the Etheric Conduits—tech-arcane circuits meant to detect even soul-echo anomalies. If something tried slipping through again, it would be met with five layers of spiritual firewalling and one hell-forged command matrix.
[Internal Counter-Infiltration Protocols Engaged][Project Name: Wardglass Dominion][Integrity: 94.3% and rising]
"That's not just defense," Kael said, standing beside Iden. "That's bait for anything stupid enough to try again."
"Exactly," Iden replied. "And this time, we'll chase them back to the source."
Nyra pulled the map from the briefing table and unrolled it over glowing runes. A red zone pulsed outside Sanctum's northeastern perimeter.
"This... Blightzone emerged the moment the Primordial vanished," she explained. "The terrain warped. Mana readings are corrupted, and all long-range surveillance fails."
Iden traced his fingers over the jagged territory.
"Fourth wave's still building up. If they're anchoring their vanguard through this zone, we need to cut it off before it blooms into another breach."
Kael rolled his neck, eyes narrowing.
"Then let me take a team."
At dawn, the team moved out. Kael and Nyra would lead the assault—Kael commanding the eastern front's elite Tyrant Triad, and Nyra deploying with a specialized Spellweaver Shadow Wing—fast, silent strike-class units optimized for corrupted terrain.
This wasn't a siege.
This was surgical annihilation.
[Elite Sortie Deployed – Blightzone Entry Initiated][Primary Objective: Trace the corruption anchor][Secondary Objective: Test spiritual ward disruptors in hostile territory]
Kael's three Tyrants moved like silent dreadknights through scorched underbrush. Each of them now bore their third-class upgrades—hulking, bipedal armor constructs fused with soulsteel and nullite plating, powered by fractured Will-Cores.
Their names: Ironblight, Goreveil, and Hollow Ash.
They moved without words.
They reached the Blightzone perimeter just as static filled the air. Shimmering fog curled around their legs. Trees had twisted into clawed spires. And in the distance—movement.
Dozens of beasts emerged, not Tier-B, not even normal fiends.
These were Soul-Hollowed Carapex, chitin-armored leviathans with hollow skulls that pulsed with stolen mana. They moved like broken machines, jaws split open by curses, eyes empty of reason.
"This is the prelude," Nyra said quietly. "They're digging a path—one step at a time."
Kael raised his hand.
"No more steps."
What followed was a ballet of carnage and coordination.
Kael's Tyrants waded into the corrupted line like a hammer dropped from heaven. Ironblight crushed the first Carapex into the earth, triggering a chain of mana explosions. Goreveil used his hydraulic cleavers to sunder four enemies in one motion.
Each strike from the Tyrants fed data back to Iden via his soul-link relay.
Nyra, meanwhile, moved through shadow, her unit activating Phasecut Sigils to blink through enemy clusters, slicing their cores before the creatures could even react. A clean, ghostly symphony of precision.
And then, amidst the blood and shrieking ether—
[You have gained 1.4% EXP][Tyrant Sub-Legion Efficiency: 91%][Blightzone Anchor Reading Detected – Source Stabilizing Within 9 Hours][Current EXP: 89.3% → 90.7%]
During the push, Kael glimpsed something deeper within the fog. Not just movement—but intention.
A towering shadow, far larger than any siege beast, moved behind the warping trees.
It did not attack. It watched.
"Mark that," Kael murmured. "There's something beyond this anchor. Something that doesn't want to be seen yet."
"A Primordial?" Nyra asked.
"No," he answered. "A Warden."
The very term made her breath hitch.
Iden stared at the incoming feed. His mind already danced with equations.
[Primordial Residue Displacement Detected][Fourth Wave Surge Incoming – ETA: 15 Hours][Recommendation: Finalize Defensive Arrays and Complete RP Allocation]
With his EXP now pushing toward Level 49, the system flickered as it prepared to push him toward Level 50—the first Tier Ascension threshold.
But the real choice would come after.
He closed his eyes.
"We're no longer holding the line," he said. "We're redrawing the map."