The next morning, Laia woke up to a huge ping from her realm panel. Realm army mobilized. 200 million soldiers, 10,000 starships, ready to deploy. She blinked, staring at the panel. Wow, those refugees really were fast. They'd already gotten the whole army ready in one night? That was way quicker than she'd expected. She grabbed her bag, and headed out, where the overlords were waiting, all geared up.
"Ready to go?" Kane grinned, already opening the portal to the western border.
"Yep!" Laia nodded, grinning. "I can't wait to get that bonus!"
When they arrived at the western border, Orien was already there, waiting nervously. He'd been worried that the rogue gods would attack first, but when he saw Laia's army—200 million soldiers, starships, dragons, the huge Chaos Lord trying to hunch out of the way—he let out a huge sigh of relief. "Wow. You brought your whole army? That's perfect. They're right over there."
Just as he said that, the ground shook, and Kaelen's army appeared. Kaelen himself stepped out, a huge man with red hair, a giant battle axe in his hand, grinning like he'd already won. "There you are, you little brat! You dare come to my border? You think you can beat me? I've defeated a dozen Overgods before!"
The overlords' faces went dark instantly. He dared to insult their Overgod?
Kane didn't even wait for a signal, he immediately ordered all the starships to focus fire. "All weapons, maximum power! Fire!"
Torin shifted into his full ancient dragon form, roaring so loud the sky shook, and charged forward. "You dare talk to our god like that?!"
Rokar led the entire orc army, charging forward, weapons raised, yelling the same chant they'd yelled a hundred times before. "FOR THE OVERGOD!"
Rhea's swarm poured out, billions of rakkasra, swarming over Kaelen's army before they could even reach for their weapons.
Kaelen's grin froze on his face.
Wait.
What?
His whole army, the one he'd spent a hundred years building, the one that had beaten Orien's army a dozen times... it was gone? In ten seconds?
He stared at the starships in the sky, the thousand-foot dragon, the overlords walking toward him, and his eyes went wide. Wait, these were the Overlords of the Races! The ones who went missing a year ago! They were all here? Working for that little girl?
Oh. Oh right! That was the hidden Overgod! The one who'd cleared the Chaos Sea! The one who'd tamed the Ancient Chaos Lord!
He couldn't win. He couldn't even run.
He immediately dropped his axe, put his hands up, yelling as loud as he could.
"I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! DON'T KILL ME! I'LL JOIN YOU! I'LL BE YOUR FOLLOWER! I'LL PAY YOU TAX! ANYTHING!"
Laia blinked, staring at him. Wow, that was even faster than the Chaos Lord! She nodded, grinning. "Sure! You can join! Welcome to the realm!" Kaelen let out a huge sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground. Thank the stars. He wasn't dead.
Orien stared, his mouth dropping open so far he could catch flies. He'd been worried about this rogue god for ten years! And Laia defeated him in ten seconds? He hurried over, scrambling to shove the ten million gold into Laia's hands. "Miss Hayes! You did it! That was amazing! Here's your bonus! And... there's one more thing. There's a Void invasion in the northern border. They've been breaking through our defenses, and we can't stop them. If you could defeat them... I will give you twenty million gold. As a reward."
Laia's eyes went so wide they almost popped out. Twenty million? That was twice the Chaos Sea bonus! She nodded immediately, shoving a loose coin into her pocket. "Sure! I'll do it! We can leave today!"
The overlords perked up, hearing that, their auras flaring. Void invasion? Those guys from outside the pantheon, the ones who'd been trying to break in for ten thousand years? They dared to come here, threaten their Overgod?
Kane nodded, already updating his starship schematics on his wrist. "Right. We'll bring the whole fleet. We'll wipe out the Void army before they can even cross the border."
Torin grinned, cracking his knuckles so hard the ground shook. "Finally, someone worth fighting. I'll bring all the dragon clans. We'll crush them before lunch."
Laia, meanwhile, was staring at her realm panel, which was pinging nonstop. New population: 50 million refugees from the western lands! Realm size increased by 200 million acres! She grinned, doing the math in her head. More tax, more money, more free resources. This guardian job was the best thing that ever happened to her.
She didn't notice, far in the northern border, the Void Emperor, the leader of the Void invasion, had just gotten the message. He stared at the report, grinning, his purple eyes glowing.
"A new Overgod? With all the overlords of the races? Finally. Someone who can give me a real fight."
He stood up, roaring to his army.
"Mobilize! Prepare for war! This is gonna be fun!"