Snow fell gently on Sanctum. A lie, soft and pure, trying to hide the scars beneath.
But nothing could truly bury the signs. The air shimmered again. Rift energies pulsed faintly across the sky, forming distant cracks in the clouds — small, but growing, like veins of an inevitable nightmare.
The third wave was coming.
And Sanctum was changing.
Inside the old observatory—now converted into a tactical planning loft—Kael stood near the balcony, leaning on the stone railing, his three Tyrants hovering in stasis behind him. Their obsidian armor shimmered with flickers of evolution, signaling their readiness for a third class ascension. But Kael's focus wasn't on them. It was on Rael, seated just inside, flipping through a thick leather-bound tome on soul reinforcement.
"…You didn't tell him yet?" Kael asked, quietly.
Rael looked up, brushing hair from her eyes. "No. Iden has enough weight on his shoulders already. We have time. After this wave."
Kael stepped closer, hesitating. "You sure? If something happens…"
Rael placed her hand on his. "Then it happens. But I'm not going anywhere without telling him. Just—promise me, Kael. No matter what, you come back to me."
His grip tightened slightly. "Only if you do too."
She smiled faintly, standing, and pressed her forehead against his. The hum of mana and war preparations fell away for just a second. "We live through this, Kael. And if we do... I'll tell him everything."
At the Sanctum Core Chamber, Iden stood overlooking the lower reactors. Engineers and skeletons moved around the humming towers like bees in a hive. The new Etheric Conduits pulsed brighter now, carrying regulated mana toward the defense grid.
Nyra joined him, her cloak trailing embers behind her. She carried two datapads and a slight scowl.
"You're pushing too much through the western grid," she said. "At this rate, you'll collapse the ambient node before the third wave even touches it."
"Not if we recalibrate the inversion field just before surge impact," Iden countered. "We redirect the flux back into the kill zone."
Nyra rolled her eyes. "That'll work. Barely. But it'll cost you the secondary gate shield."
"I'll take that trade."
She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "And if this isn't the last wave? If it keeps escalating?"
Iden didn't answer right away. Instead, he opened his interface:
[Level: 48][EXP: 9.1% → 12.8%][Summon Capacity: 688,130][Active Units Deployed: 673,900]
"The stronger they come, the faster we level. I can hit 49 before dawn. And if I reach 50…"
Nyra looked at him, surprised. "You'll break the million mark."
"1,376,260. Enough to simulate full-world conflict scenarios inside controlled dungeons."
She whistled low. "You'd command more than most nations at that point."
"I'd rather command less," Iden said. "And not need them."
She touched his arm gently. "Don't forget to rest. Even gods burn out."
"I'll rest after the 14th day," he replied. "Not before."
Meanwhile, along Sanctum's outer perimeter, the new Etheric Defense Grid crackled to life. Mages, scouts, and engineers worked in layered shifts. The grid spires, taller now and partially embedded with Rift-ore, began to glow with eerie violet-white light.
And then… the first pulse.
A tremor in the snow. The wind changed direction.
In the distance, near the ruined remains of the Hollow Reaches, a second rift opened.
Wider.
Stronger.
The third wave had arrived.
And this time, they brought siege beasts.