"Are you alright?" Liora swept in on her floating cloud Spark, vapor curling beneath her feet as it skimmed the heat ripples above the ruined ground.

"Yes, everything's fine." Adyr looked at her and gave a tired smile, noticing she was back to her normal form with the ape's bulk gone.

Though he looked tired, his only real loss was the severed link to Citadelith. He would need to use his skill again, which costs 300 crystals, to reactivate the damage transfer. Aside from that, only a light fatigue clung to his limbs—the kind a hot meal could wash away.

"Thank God." Liora exhaled. "I honestly didn't think he'd still be alive."

"Yeah," Adyr said, his voice turning quiet and thoughtful.

The war had ended in their victory, yet Sevrak's survival weighed on his mind.

Given the man's nature, the future wouldn't stay calm for long. In Adyr's view, Sevrak was the type to set aside everything—even his pride—to reach his aim: an obsessive controller, like a company boss who grinds his workers without a shred of moral or ethical concern.

Leaving a man like that as an enemy promised trouble, but there was nothing to be done. Adyr did not yet have the strength to kill him, so he let the thought go for now.

He looked from the sky to the shattered plain, where broken walls smoked and blackened towers slumped into glowing piles. This had once held a kingdom; now it was a landscape of embered stone and twisting heat. Watching fire run along the fractures, he felt his mood lift.

Because he knew in all this ruin lay his greatest gain.

A new sound rose through the crackle and hiss of flame, a deep, gathering hum rolling across the field, and when they turned toward the noise, the hoverjets swept in low through the clouds.

With the Blood Dragon's invisible energy dispersed, the interference that had crippled their systems was gone, and now, as the field returned to sight, the six hoverjets steadied in the air like squat fortresses of steel.

Liora and the others watched the unfamiliar machines in silence. After seeing what those engines and payloads that could launch nuclear missiles were capable of, their faces showed a mix of respect and cautious awe.

He moved his gaze from craft to craft, examining them closely, flame reflections playing in his pupils, and, still hovering over the burning field, he spoke in a calm, even tone.

"Do you mind if I take these lands for myself and my people?"

"You want this place?" Zephan asked, surprise plain in his voice.

There was no objection to giving Adyr his own lands. He had earned the right to rule a kingdom of his own.

He was still Rank 3, but he already possessed 2 of the 3 conditions required of a ruler: people and power. All that remained was territory.

The Umbraens' domain had once been fertile, perhaps even better than most, but now it was broken beyond recognition.

"If you wish, we can help you find another place," Throgar said. He was already thinking of how to keep close ties with the kingdom about to rise here. Even for the reclusive Gorathim, politics mattered for the future of their race.

"Nah, this place is good." Adyr smiled at their ready agreement. "My people are good at rebuilding what has been destroyed. Do not worry about that."

It wouldn't be the first time humanity would rise from the ashes. The difference was that this time, they would rise from the ashes of others.

Also, there was something Adyr wanted to check in this place, and to find it, he had to reclaim the territory first.

***

"So you want us to build a shelter city here?" Henry Bates peered out through the open hoverjet hatch, a thoughtful look on his face.

Ever since Adyr's briefing and his declaration of war on the Umbraens, he had remained at Earth's Player Headquarters, monitoring every update and report from Beyond about the mission Adyr had taken on.

When the news came that it had succeeded and Adyr had truly managed to claim a territory, Henry insisted on crossing over to see it with his own eyes.

In human history, it was likely the most consequential development yet: an entire race taking a step forward. They had not only found a new world; they had claimed lawful ground they could colonize and live on.

There was one small problem, though.

Henry looked down, his brow tightening on instinct. The terrain below was burned and torn open, as if titans had fought across it, a level of ruin few would dare imagine.

The sky was tainted with a sickly ceiling of cloud. Smoke from nuclear detonations, battle-born ash, and wind-lifted sand had congealed into a thick, dirty layer that dimmed the morning sun.

If the STF team had not recorded the entire fight with specialized equipment, if Henry had not watched every detail before coming, he would have been struck dumb standing here, trying to grasp what could have produced devastation like this.

"Can't we do it?" Adyr stood beside him, studying the same scene.

Hearing the question, Henry turned to the man who was, in large part, responsible for this unimaginable ruin.

He had known Adyr since childhood, but looking at him now, he let out a long breath.

It was not only Adyr's appearance that had changed. The power he held was something people on Earth now built cults around and raised religions in his name, speaking of him as if he were a divine being.

Such a vast change in so little time had begun to pull Henry away from his sense of the ordinary. Then his frown eased, amusement touched his features, and he laughed with open relief. "Of course we can."

The world, history, and human life were changing without pause, and Henry knew he had to change with them.

As one of the spearheads of humanity, he needed to adapt quickly and keep leading from the front. With that in mind and eager for the task, he steadied himself and returned to a professional frame of mind.

"Finding clean, fertile ground would be better, maybe. But turning this place back into a livable zone is not impossible. I would even say it is our specialty." His tone was steady and confident. It would take a few more resources than usual, but that was not a concern for them now.

Their greatest gain was that, with this territory, humanity no longer had to hide.

Before this, they had lived in underground refuges they built in Pacthold. Now they would walk the surface under the identity Adyr had created for them and do what needed to be done.

"Also, there are a few spots the Umbraens used earlier for gathering energy crystals," Adyr added, passing along the intelligence he had received.

Although much of the territory was damaged or destroyed, the region was vast, and many Sparks lay hidden, unharmed, and ready to be claimed.

Unlike the Velari, who lacked manpower and had to seize every Spark they encountered, the Umbraens were an established people with a high number of Practitioners.

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