"Status report!" Zen's voice slicing through the blaring alarms.
The scout in the hologram coughed, a spray of crimson hitting the projection lens. "They didn't march, Your Majesty! It was an avalanche! A hyper-concentrated horde of mutated Void Beasts just dropped directly onto the primary staging ground! Thousands of them, all at once! They bypassed the perimeter entirely. We're being overrun before the main army can even cross the gate!"
A heavy, suffocating wave of kinetic mana instantly flattened the air in the plaza.
Zen didn't even have to look to his side to know who it was.
Valeria had already drawn her golden broadsword, vibrating with a deadly, high-frequency hum. Her crimson eyes were completely dilated, and her pupils shrunk into slits.
To a military general, an ambush was a tactical hurdle. To Valeria, it was a personal, unforgivable insult.
