Lein walked down the headquarters corridor, following the agent leading him to a room at the far end of the eastern hallway.The door opened.Thaddeus Voss was already standing inside. Behind him, six staff members standing in two neat rows. All of them looked toward the door when Lein entered.Then all of them stood at attention at the same moment, the kind that was never ordered but happened on its own.Thaddeus took one step forward. His eyes, which had been full of calculation and weight, changed into something simpler than that."You really made it back, son." His voice wasn't loud but there was a weight being lifted from it. "This is genuinely the best news I've heard in the past two weeks.""The sea isn't capable of killing me, General Voss."Thaddeus laughed quietly. Brief, but real."Sit down."They sat on either side of a table that wasn't particularly large, and Thaddeus got straight to it without too much preamble."Over the past two weeks, I've been working hard to find a

The information reached Vael Dross's command desk less than five minutes after the Arcturus Continent released its official announcement.The Destroyer Devil had returned.In two days, the assault would begin.Vael Dross stood in front of his large screen, reading the announcement text for the third time as if there were a possibility its contents would change if read often enough.But nothing changed, and that was the fact of it.He set his tablet on the desk harder than he had planned.Two weeks. Only two weeks since that border battle, since the man who had nearly been killed fell into the sea with a body full of wounds and spiritual energy completely drained, and now he was already announcing himself back like someone who had just finished a rest.This didn't fit into any calculation Vael had put together.At that point, he said, "All commanders, assemble now."Three minutes later, the command room was full.Vael didn't give a long introduction."The Destroyer Devil has returned.

Vael Dross didn't spend those two days sitting idle.From the moment the Arcturus Continent's announcement came out, the entire Varek military machine moved without stopping. Vael already knew that the Destroyer Devil wouldn't come in any way that could be predicted. So he prepared everything for every possibility at once.Twenty thousand personnel deployed along the coastline. Not a standard formation, not rows built out of habit. This was a formation designed specifically for one purpose, to destroy one target.In the front row, five thousand fully armed infantry. Large-caliber assault rifles with ammunition coated in crystal energy to penetrate cultivation shields. Not standard military-issue weapons. This was ammunition developed over the past two weeks after they had witnessed just how useless ordinary rounds were against high-level cultivators.Behind the first row, twelve heavy artillery units lined up in two rows. Cannons with seven-meter barrels capable of firing explosive sh

The three hundred Varek cultivators had already taken their positions long before Lein landed on this beach.They stood in a formation that had been carefully calculated, grouped by the type of technique each used, the spacing between groups arranged to maximize overlapping attacks. Under normal conditions this formation could tear through a mid-sized cultivator force in a short amount of time.Normal conditions didn't apply this morning.Lein moved toward them. Not running at a speed that left no time to react, but walking fast enough to be seen coming, fast enough to make all of them direct their attacks at once.The first group released their techniques.Dense black energy waves launched forward in three streams designed to close off every angle of evasion.White energy radiated from Lein's entire body, and the black waves met that white layer and shattered like surf hitting an unmoving cliff face.Lein didn't slow down. He entered the middle of the first group and moved like light

Black and white energy exploded from all four bodies at once, filling the air around the beach with pressure that pushed the sand beneath their feet away from their standing points.Xiao Wuhen drew a thin sword from his hip. Its blade wasn't wide but every centimeter of its length radiated densely concentrated energy, black and white ink flowing along its surface like a small moving river.Xiao Feng drew his long sword, the energy flowing along the blade forming patterns that resembled calligraphy characters before dissolving into one shapeless layer.Xiao Yun was already holding both daggers, her spiritual energy flowing to the tips of the blades, black and white ink ready to be released.And Xiao Bao drew no weapon at all. Only his two fists, wrapped in energy so dense the air around them was trembling.Lein closed his hand into a fist. White energy flowed through his entire body, calm and stable as always.Then he moved too.Both sides met in the middle.Xiao Wuhen arrived first, h