Time soon pressed, and they soon made their way to the scouting location.

The desert was cold. Unlike the scorching heat of the day, the Sands of Drulgar froze at night.

The dunes rolled like waves of black ink under the pale moonlight.

Four figures moved across the ridge. They left no footprints. Their feet made no sound.

Lyra led the formation. Her mana bow was drawn.

Behind her a shimmering veil of mana wind-shadow magic, which wrapped around the group, bending the light and dampening the crunch of sand beneath their boots.

Behind her, Alaric moved with surprising grace for a man carrying a massive slab of iron.

Leona had chosen not to come as she would stay with the dwarf king and Hephaestus in case a suprise attack was launched

Elena was a shadow beside him, her daggers spinning idly in her fingers.

And in the rear was Lukas.

He kept staring at his hands.

The sleek, black Magitech gauntlets hummed with a faint, low-frequency vibration. He flexed his fingers, with these he didn't feel the metal.

Through the neural needles dug into his arms, he felt the cool night air on the gauntlets as if they were his own skin.

'Amazing!,' Lukas thought, watching the mana filaments glow soft blue. 'It's engineering.'

"Focus, Lukas," Elena whispered, her voice barely audible through the Wind Cloak. "Stop playing"

"Everyone remember to be quiet," Lyra commanded softly. She raised a fist.

The team froze.

They had reached the highest dune, the final natural barrier before the valley that led to the Iron Wall of the Dwarven Kingdom.

Lyra lowered herself to a crawl. The students followed suit.

They crested the ridge and looked down.

Elena gasped. Even Alaric, stoic as stone, tightened his grip on The Anvil.

The valley was on fire.

It wasn't a small forest fire, oh no, this was an ocean of torches.

Thousands of tents stretched as far as the eye could see.

The golden banners of the Dragon Empire snapped in the wind, marked with the crest of the Second Prince.

50,000 Soldiers.

But it wasn't just the numbers that turned their blood to ice. It was who walked among them.

Interspersed with the gleaming armor of the Imperial Knights were figures in ragged purple robes.

They were drawing massive geometric circles in the sand, corrupting the golden dunes into blackened glass.

Void Cultists.

"They aren't even hiding it," Elena hissed.

"The Empire and the Cult... marching side by side."

"They don't need to hide," Alaric rumbled.

"The Academy is gone. The Demigods are injured. Who is going to stop them? The ethics committee?"

"Anding to the chaos from those imperial bastard, no one has the time to stop them"

"Look at the rear," Lyra pointed. "By the siege engines."

At the back of the army, massive Ogres were straining against thick iron chains.

They were dragging three colossal sleds. On each sled sat a shape covered in heavy canvas tarps.

The wind picked up, howling through the valley.

FWIP.

One of the tarps tore loose.

Revealed underneath was a face made of ancient, weathered stone.

It was human-like but devoid of humanity. Runes glowing with a sickly green light were carved into its forehead.

Its eyes were empty pits the size of carriage wheels.

An Ancient War Titan.

"By the Gods..." Lyra whispered, her face pale. "They really went all out."

"It's like they didn't come to conquer Ironforge," Lukas realized, a cold dread settling in his stomach.

"But rather, came to erase it."

"We have to go," Lyra signaled.

"Durin needs to know. If he meets them in the open field, the Ironclad Legion will be wiped out."

They began to slide back down the dune, moving slowly to avoid breaking the stealth cloak.

SHIMMER.

The air directly in front of them rippled.

It wasn't the wind. It was a distortion in the light, like a mirage.

"Lyra!" Alaric warned.

Too late.

SCREEE!

The distortion shattered. A creature materialized out of thin air, standing less than ten feet from them.

It was a Void Stalker. A mantis-like monstrosity made of translucent purple chitin. It had been tracking their mana signatures.

It raised its head, its throat expanding to unleash a sonic scream that would alert the entire valley.

"Kill it!" Lyra shouted, materializing an arrow.

Although she could really kill it as someone of her level, she wanted to see the kids in action

Fortunately they didn't dissapoint

Alaric swung The Anvil, but the heavy iron was too cumbersome for a sudden strike.

Elena lunged, but she was out of range.

The Stalker's throat sac vibrated, ready to scream.

VMMMMM.

A high-pitched whine filled the air.

Lukas however under pressure didn't think.

He simply pointed his right hand.

Through the neural interface, his brain screamed one command: FIRE.

The Magitech Gauntlet responded instantly. The mithril filaments flared blinding blue.

ZWOOM!

A beam of concentrated plasma, thinner than a finger but seemingly hotter than the sun, erupted from the emitter in his palm.

There was no travel time. It was instantaneous energy.

The beam punched a clean hole through the Void Stalker's open mouth, exiting the back of its skull.

The scream died in its throat. The wound was cauterized instantly, no blood, no mess.

The Stalker convulsed once and collapsed into the sand. Dead.

Silence returned to the dune.

Alaric lowered his sword, staring at the smoking corpse. He looked at Lukas.

"Since when can you do that?" Alaric asked, eyes wide.

Lukas stood there, his arm still raised. Steam curled from the vents of the black gauntlet.

He felt a headache from the mana drain, but his hands... his hands didn't hurt.

He smirked, flexing the metal fingers.

"Since about two hours ago," Lukas replied.

"Move!" Lyra hissed, grabbing Lukas by the shoulder.

"We aren't clear yet!"

They turned to run.

But the desert has eyes.

From the valley below, a single red flare shot into the sky.

Another Void Stalker, positioned further down the slope, had seen the flash of blue plasma.

BWOOOOOOOOM.

A deep, resonant war horn blew from the Imperial camp. It was a sound that shook the marrow of their bones.

The ocean of torches began to move.

RUMBLE.

The ground beneath their feet trembled.

Lukas looked back.

The Ancient War Titans were rising. The stone giants pushed themselves up from the sleds, shaking off centuries of dust. Their eyes ignited with green soul-fire.

"They're awake," Elena whispered.

"Run!" Lyra screamed, abandoning stealth.

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