Ignisar dispelled the shifting sandstone walls. The sprawling labyrinth collapsed back into a single, expansive courtyard beneath the scorching desert sun.

Krax carried Tyler by the neck. Gulag dragged Ashley by her ankle. Iron-Scale and Syra brought Brandon and Jessica out from the dissolving corridors. The commanders tossed the four Earthlings into the center of the plaza. Star-iron chains bound their wrists and ankles securely, nullifying any residual magic they possessed while unconscious.

Up in the sanctuary, Red leaned back against his obsidian throne. He tapped a glowing rune on his armrest to open a direct spatial corridor.

"Go eat," Red commanded.

A glowing crimson prompt instantly materialized in front of his eyes:

[ BASE SUMMONING COST: 1,500,000 DP ]

[ SUSTAINMENT UPKEEP: 50,000 DP PER MINUTE ]

A tear in space ripped open directly above the captured Heralds in the courtyard below. Glitch dropped from the void and landed gracefully on all six legs.

The infant Void-Weaver chirped loudly. Its blue eyes locked onto the dense divine magic radiating from the unresponsive bodies. Glitch padded over to Brandon and opened its small jaws. A stream of blazing orange light tore away from the boy’s chest and vanished into the anomaly’s mouth.

Ashley lost her crackling blue aura next. Jessica’s pink regenerative light faded into nothingness. Tyler’s toxic green mana dissolved completely as the creature eagerly swallowed their hijacked power.

The four Earthlings gasped awake simultaneously.

Brandon coughed violently, trying to summon flames to his hands. Only ordinary sweat beaded on his palms. Ashley pulled against the massive metal chains, her eyes widening as the constraints refused to yield.

"My magic," Jessica panicked. She stared at her normal, unblemished hands while rubbing her bruised wrists. "Where is it?"

Iron-Scale stepped forward. He looked down at the trembling humans.

"You do not need magic to bleed," Iron-Scale stated.

Syra stepped from the shadow of a nearby pillar. She held a condensed blade of darkness inches from Tyler’s cheek.

"You destroyed a continent because you thought you were untouchable," Syra whispered. "Your King sent you to burn us."

Tyler scrambled backward, dragging his chained legs across the dirt. "Stay away! We are Heralds! King Voranthar will slaughter you animals!"

Iron-Scale gripped Brandon by the collar and lifted him entirely off the ground.

"Your King knows exactly who is marching toward his gates," Iron-Scale announced. "We delivered the message hours ago. The Sovereign of the Red Spiral remembers the void. He remembers the twenty-eight cowards who sacrificed the twenty-ninth student to save themselves."

The color drained from Brandon’s face instantly. His mouth hung open.

Ashley stopped struggling. She stared at the towering commander with wide, terrified eyes.

"Red," Ashley choked out. Her voice cracked. "No. That is impossible. We killed him. The Royal Mage tore his soul apart."

"He built a civilization out of the abyss to return the favor," Iron-Scale replied. He dropped Brandon onto the dirt. "Just like how he was once used as a fuel, you are just the fuel for his reclamation."

Jessica vomited onto the sandstone. Tyler curled into a fetal position, shivering uncontrollably as the reality of their situation broke his mind completely.

Up in the sanctuary, Red watched the projection with absolute indifference.

Glitch tilted its head and let out a satisfied purr down in the plaza. The stolen magic digested inside the anomaly, isolating the hijacked human essence from the arcane power.

Suddenly, two brilliant streaks of pure white light launched from the courtyard below. The energy shot upward through the atmosphere and pierced the sanctuary hull. The light slammed directly into Red’s chest.

He gripped the armrests of his throne. His skeletal structure cracked and realigned. The metaphysical trauma binding his existence mended significantly, fusing the missing pieces of his humanity back into his core.

[ SOUL INTEGRATION COMPLETE. FRAGMENTS RECLAIMED: 4 / 14 ]

[ HOST SYSTEM AUTHORITY ELEVATED. ]

[ ASSIMILATING RETAINED ELEMENTAL DATA FROM DEVOURED HERALDS... ]

[ NEW SYSTEM PATH UNLOCKED: ABSOLUTE THERMAL-KINETIC AUTHORITY (PASSIVE/ACTIVE). ]

[ DESCRIPTION: HOST CAN FREELY MANIPULATE TEMPERATURE STATES AND ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY WITHIN THE SOVEREIGN TERRITORY. IMMUNITY TO FIRE AND LIGHTNING DAMAGE GRANTED TO ALL FACTION UNITS WITHIN TETHER RANGE. ]

[ NEW SYSTEM PATH UNLOCKED: CELLULAR MASTERY PROTOCOL (ACTIVE). ]

[ DESCRIPTION: HOST CAN INSTANTLY ACCELERATE OR HALT BIOLOGICAL REGENERATION IN ANY ALLIED OR ENEMY UNIT AS LONG AS THEY ARE IN A BLEEDING STATE. GRANTS ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER TOXICITY AND ACIDIC TRANSMUTATION. ]

Red flexed his fingers. A spark of blue lightning arched across his knuckles, followed immediately by a small, controlled flame that healed the scorched skin instantly.

’I am piecing myself back together,’ Red thought, staring at the telemetry data. ’Every Herald they send just hands me another weapon.’

King Voranthar gripped the edge of the scrying table. The polished marble of the Aethelgard throne room reflected the glowing map of the Third Continent. Four brilliant golden beacons pulsed on the crystalline surface, representing the divine signatures of his elite squad.

Suddenly, the golden light within the four beacons violently snuffed out.

Voranthar leaned closer. He expected the markers to vanish completely. But four tiny, fragile white embers remained in their place.

’They are still alive,’ Voranthar realized, his knuckles turning white against the stone. ’He did not kill them. He ripped the magic straight out of their bodies, just like Jason and Chloe.’’

The Sovereign of the Red Spiral was not just marching for conquest. He was actively reclaiming the stolen power.

Voranthar stepped back from the table. His crown felt entirely unbalanced on his head. He looked toward the heavily armored royal guards stationed by the grand doors.

"Leave me," Voranthar commanded.

The guards immediately exited the chamber. Voranthar waited for the heavy oak doors to click shut. He walked behind his gilded throne and pressed his hand against a concealed rune carved into the wall.

The stone panel slid away to reveal a descending spiral staircase. Voranthar grabbed a torch from the wall bracket and hurried down into the absolute darkness beneath the castle.

He descended past the dungeons and the foundational bedrock. The torchlight flickered wildly as he reached the lowest vault.

The underground chamber possessed no doors. It was a perfectly spherical room carved from black obsidian. Voranthar stepped inside and placed the torch into a floor sconce.

He knelt on the cold stone. He bowed his head toward the empty center of the room.

"He is consuming them," Voranthar spoke into the shadows. "The anomaly took the desert. My Heralds are entirely powerless."

A voice echoed from the empty space directly in front of him. It possessed no physical source. The sound resonated with pure, terrifying authority, vibrating through the bedrock itself.

[ YOU SQUANDERED THE GIFTS OF THE RADIANT MONARCH. YOU LOST THE SHIPYARDS. YOU LOST THE DESERT. AND NOW YOU LOSE THE VERY SOULS WE GRANTED YOU. ]