The night was dark, the moon hidden behind thick clouds. On the same beach where the giant fifth-order crab had landed two months prior, the two largest alliances in the tournament were gathering.
On the shore, the Conquest Legion stood in formation, thousands of soldiers lined up, their armor glinting in the torchlight. Lex stood at the front, her face cold, all her supplies packed into spatial bags carried by her rear guard. She'd learned her lesson after the moles had stolen half her supplies twice before. She wasn't leaving anything behind. If she was going to war, she was bringing everything with her. No one was going to rob her empty camp again.
Across the water, the Tide Pact's ships were sailing toward the shore. Finn Marrick stood on the deck of his flagship, grinning. He had his Abyss Watchers, creatures that could see everything across the entire battlefield, hidden or not. He could see every single one of Lex's soldiers, every trap, every hidden archer. He had the advantage.
Behind him, a giant demonic leviathan loomed in the water, its eyes glowing red. Opposite it, on the shore, three giant thunder dragons roared, their scales crackling with lightning. The two titans stared at each other, ready to tear each other apart.
Neither of them noticed. Neither of them saw the small group of figures slipping away from the underground fortress, moving silently toward the empty Conquest Legion camp.
Lirael crept into the empty Conquest Legion main city, his eyes scanning the empty buildings. He'd snuck in quietly, expecting to find tons of spatial bags, tons of supplies, tons of food he could take back.
But it was empty.
Completely empty.
Not a single grain of rice. Not a single spatial bag. Not even a broken pot. Just a few empty temporary huts, nothing else.
Lirael stared at the empty room, then slammed his fist into the wall. "Bastards! Absolute bastards! They took everything? Not even a single empty bag left? They didn't leave us anything?!"
He was furious. They'd wasted so much food before, and now they'd taken all their storage bags with them? What was he supposed to do with all that grain back home? He couldn't just leave it to rot! He couldn't waste it!
Then he paused. He looked out at the sea. Wait. There was another alliance. The Tide Pact. They were on the other side of the sea. They were all going to the battlefield too. But… would they have taken everything with them?
No way. No one was that paranoid. Not like Lex, who'd been robbed by the moles so many times. The sea guys? They thought they were safe. They thought no one could cross the sea.
Lirael grinned. He turned to the 500 elite fox-spirit soldiers behind him, small, light, fast. He didn't bring Gromm or Korg—they were too big, too loud. He needed stealth.
"Let's go," he said. He raised his hand, and ice spread across the surface of the sea, a smooth, invisible path, hidden by his ice magic. "We're going to pay the sea guys a visit."
They moved fast, skating across the ice, silent as ghosts. While the two big armies were gathering for their big battle, they were sneaking across the sea, right under everyone's noses.
Back on the beach, the battle had already begun.
Finn's Deep Sea Ghosts charged forward, translucent, immune to physical damage, slipping through the Conquest Legion's lines, killing soldiers left and right. Lex frowned, her soldiers couldn't hit them. The ghosts had soul attributes, normal attacks did nothing.
"Seraphina!" she called.
Seraphina nodded. She summoned her Light Guide, a small glowing spirit that flew forward. It touched the ghosts, marking them with a bright light. "Marked! They take extra soul damage now!"
Lex's Light Bards immediately opened fire, holy light slamming into the marked ghosts. In seconds, dozens of the ghosts vanished, destroyed by the holy damage.
Finn's face went pale. He hadn't expected Seraphina to bring her Light Guide. That was a rare ability, one that could counter his ghosts.
"Damn it!" he snarled. "Drowners! Self-destruct! Now!"
The Drowners, holding their tridents, charged forward, then exploded. Lightning burst out from them, tearing through the Conquest Legion's lines, killing hundreds of soldiers in seconds.
Above them, the thunder dragons and the leviathan clashed. The dragons bit into the leviathan, then exploded, taking the giant beast with them. Both sides lost their titans in one blast.
The entire beach was a mess. Bodies everywhere, fire everywhere, smoke filling the air. Both sides had lost half their soldiers already. No one was holding back. They were fighting for their lives, for food, for survival.
Meanwhile, Lirael and his soldiers had reached the Tide Pact's main city.
The guards were sitting by the gate, bored out of their minds. They'd heard the Conquest Legion were all landlubbers. There were no ships on the sea. The city was the safest place in the entire tournament. No one was going to attack them here.
One guard yawned, then rubbed his eyes. Wait. Was that… figures? On the sea?
He blinked. He must have been seeing things. Then he saw the small man in front of them tear open a scroll, and a giant meteor fell from the sky, right toward the gate.
The guard stared at the meteor getting bigger and bigger, and whispered, "I think… I just saw my great grandma."
Boom!
The gate exploded. The wall crumbled. Lirael and his 500 soldiers charged in, fast as lightning. The guards didn't even have time to scream. Most of the Tide Pact's soldiers were at the beach, there was almost no one left to defend the city. And the few who were left? They were no match for the Void-Forsaken elites, who'd been fighting wars their entire lives.
They swept through the city, straight to the treasury. And there it was. Tons of spatial bags. Tons of storage tools. Hundreds of them, just sitting there.
Lirael stared at them, then broke into a huge grin. "I knew it! I knew they wouldn't take everything with them! These idiots! They left all their storage bags right here! Perfect!"
His soldiers rushed forward, grabbing all the spatial bags, shoving them into their own bags. They hit the jackpot. Now they had enough storage to hold all that extra grain back home. No more waste. Perfect.
Back on the beach, the battle was almost over.
Only a handful of soldiers were left standing. The only two strong ones left were Lex's Radiant Knight Commander, and Finn's Drowned King.
The two stared at each other, breathing hard. They'd fought for hours. They were exhausted. But there could only be one winner.
The Radiant Knight swung his sword, fast as lightning. The Drowned King barely dodged, then dodged again, and again. He was completely outmatched. The knight was too fast, too strong.
Finn frowned. This wasn't working. He sent a message to the Drowned King. The plan. Lure him to the beach, trap him.
The Drowned King's eyes lit up. He turned and ran toward the sea, trying to lure the knight after him.
Finn waited. He waited for the knight to