The three arms of the Suryax-Regalon army crossed the ocean, and the participating kingdoms braced for a war.
The war they braced for did not happen.
Because the moment the assault committed, the second part of the plan moved, the part that had been preparing in silence for the entire war. Across all three target islands at once, the native halves of the alliances simply left.
It happened through Natalia's network, the silent channel that had bound the three native sovereigns to Suryax-Regalon since the night in the impossible room. At the exact moment the army split three ways, the signal went out. And the three native kingdoms, who had spent the war conserving their forces and quietly drawing their people into a shape that could move at an instant's notice, moved.
