Orion appeared in the middle of the eastern formation like a lightning strike.
Blue light burst across the battlefield and three soldiers dropped before the thunder followed after it. The ones around them barely had time to react before Orion moved again.
Lightning exploded beneath his feet.
A spear formed beside him and shot through the formation, piercing two soldiers and sending another crashing backwards. Before the bodies even hit the ground, Orion was already somewhere else.
The battlefield flashed blue repeatedly.
Soldiers shouted warnings too late. Some swung at empty air. Others only saw a flicker of lightning before pain crashed into them. Orion moved through them without slowing down, his expression unchanged as electricity crawled across his armor and arms.
A soldier raised a shield toward him.
Orion's hand moved slightly.
A snake of lightning wrapped around the shield, traveled across the metal, and exploded through the man's chest.
Another enemy tried attacking from behind. Orion vanished in a burst of sparks and reappeared beside him, a blade of condensed lightning forming in his hand before cutting cleanly across the soldier's armor.
The eastern formation started collapsing almost immediately.
The enemy soldiers tried regrouping several times, but every attempt ended the same way. Orion would appear before the formation stabilized and tear through it again before anyone could properly respond.
Within minutes, the eastern side had turned chaotic.
Orion stopped briefly near the edge of the battlefield and looked toward the ridge above the tree line.
Another enemy group was moving down toward the island.
Around forty this time.
He disappeared again.
A streak of blue lightning crossed the slope.
The first soldier never even reached the ground after Orion hit him. Lightning burst through the formation, throwing several men apart while the rest instinctively scattered to avoid the next strike.
Orion raised his hand.
Dozens of thin lightning arcs spread across the ground like roots before erupting upward beneath the enemy soldiers. Screams echoed across the ridge.
Then he moved through them.
Fast.
Too fast.
By the time the surviving soldiers managed to understand where he was, half their formation was already gone.
The second group fell apart even faster than the first.
Then the third.
The eastern side slowly became known for only one thing.
Blue lightning.
At the base of the ridge, near a narrow pass between two massive rocks, Orion finally stopped.
Someone was waiting for him there.
The man stood in the center of the path with a large curved blade resting on one shoulder. He was broad, heavily built, and unlike the others, he did not react when Orion appeared.
He simply watched him.
Lightning crackled around Orion's body.
For the first time since the battle started, he properly looked at his opponent.
Strong.
The enemy's energy was dense and steady. Not once had it fluctuated since Orion arrived.
The two stared at each other silently.
Then the man moved first.
The curved blade came down with terrifying force, splitting the ground apart as Orion disappeared from its path in a flash of blue light. Orion reappeared above him and thrust a lightning spear downward, but the man twisted and blocked it with the side of his blade.
The impact exploded across the pass.
Orion narrowed his eyes slightly.
The enemy stepped forward immediately, not giving him room to build distance. The curved blade swung again and again with frightening pressure, each strike carrying enough force to shatter the rocks around them.
Orion answered with speed.
Lightning snakes lashed through the air around him while blades and spears formed and vanished beside his body constantly, striking from impossible angles. The narrow pass lit up blue with every clash.
The soldiers nearby slowly backed away from the fight.
Nobody wanted to be close to them anymore.
At the far side of the island, the battle inside the forest had turned into something worse.
The enemy soldiers entered the forest looking for cover.
Instead, the forest closed around them.
Roots spread across the ground where there had been none moments ago. Soldiers stumbled as thick vines wrapped around their legs and dragged them into the undergrowth. Trees shifted slowly, changing the paths between them until the enemy could no longer tell where they had entered from.
Sera walked calmly between the trees.
The forest moved with her.
A soldier cut through a vine reaching for him only for three more to drop from above immediately after. Sharp thorns burst from nearby branches, forcing another group backward straight into thick roots rising from the ground beneath them.
One man tried climbing onto a higher branch to escape.
The branch tightened around his arm.
Then his neck.
Sera raised her hand slightly and the trees ahead bent inward, sealing another path shut.
The enemy formation inside the forest was already breaking apart. Worse, the longer they stayed inside, the weaker they became. Their movements slowed. Their breathing grew heavier. Energy drained from them little by little through every contact with the vines and roots.
Most of them did not notice until it was too late.
A massive root burst from the ground near the center of the forest and crushed six soldiers instantly before dragging the bodies beneath the soil again.
Sera kept walking.
Elsewhere across the island, the Starborns continued holding their ground.
The arrays buried beneath the island were still active. Enemy formations kept running into traps, barriers, and kill zones prepared weeks in advance. What began as an invasion had slowly turned into a brutal fight for every step forward.
Above it all, Morgan watched quietly.
The losses around him did not seem to bother him at all.
The Starborns were stronger than most clans would have been in this situation. Their formations held firm, their elders kept appearing in unexpected places, and the island itself fought alongside them.
Morgan had expected all of it.
Slowly, he removed the outer robe covering his body and handed it to a nearby soldier.
Blue armor appeared underneath.
The moment Sigil saw it, his eyes sharpened.
Morgan looked across the battlefield toward him.
"I think we've watched long enough," he said. "Don't you think it's time to play?"