The news spread across the continent fast, and both alliances were stunned.
Lex Thorne sat in her war room, staring at the report, her eyes wide. She couldn't believe it. The moles. The tiny, insignificant moles she'd been ignoring for months. They'd killed the crab. The Rank 5 beast that had been her biggest worry. And they'd done it without a single casualty.
She slumped back in her chair. She knew what this meant. When the other faction leaders found out, her alliance was going to fall apart. Her reputation was gone. She'd been the big, strong leader, and the moles had outdone her at every turn.
Then, she laughed. A low, excited laugh. "Interesting. You're the first one who's ever managed to push me this far."
She stood up, staring at the map. The western half of the map was covered in fog, the areas her scouts couldn't reach. That was where the moles were. The tiny, random wanderer she'd written off as a nobody.
She'd thought he was just some arrogant idiot, thinking he could take on the whole alliance by himself. Even she hadn't dared to fight everyone at once. But he'd done it. He'd attacked her fortresses, he'd used tunnel warfare, he'd planted spies, he'd killed the crab before she'd even had time to react.
Her whole plan to win first place was gone. Even if her followers were still the strongest, she couldn't catch up now. The moles had too many points.
But that was fine. She didn't care about first place anymore. She didn't care about the secret reward. What she cared about was the guy behind the moles. He was a genius. A master strategist. He was going to shake up the entire divine realm.
She grinned. She was going to recruit him. With her family's power, and his genius, they could rule the whole realm. Nothing could stop them. She'd do whatever it took to get him on her side.
On the coast, Finn Marrick got the news too, and he was just as shocked.
Unlike Lex, he'd played it safe. He'd never dared to fight the Conquest Legion head on. He'd waited until he had the crab, until he was strong enough, before he even tried to test the waters.
And the crab. His invincible Rank 5 crab. It was dead. Gone. Killed by the moles. No casualties.
And the moles weren't even part of any alliance. Everyone called them the moles, looked down on them for hiding underground, for stealing supplies. They'd thought they were just cowards.
But they'd torn apart the Conquest Legion. They'd killed his strongest follower. They'd turned the whole continent upside down.
Finn laughed, shaking his head. Perfect. The moles had gotten rid of the crab. Gotten rid of all the annoying guys who'd been challenging his leadership. Now he could just sit back, build up his defenses, wait for the monster invasion.
He leaned back, thinking. Who was the god behind those moles? What kind of man could train followers like that? What kind of family could raise someone that brilliant?
Laia Hayes sneezed, rubbing her nose. "Huh. Wonder who's talking about me."
She shrugged, then looked at the empty plate in front of her, and smiled sheepishly at the waiter. "Uh. Can I get another one of these cream puffs? Please?"
The waiter stared at her. He'd already cleared twenty empty plates from her table. He didn't say anything, just turned and walked away, his face blank.
Laia buried her face in her hands, embarrassed. Oh well. It was fine. She knew the academy was broadcasting this whole thing. She was the most popular contestant, after all. She was bringing in all the viewers, all the money. The academy was getting rich off her. So she could eat as many cream puffs as she wanted. It was only fair.
She straightened up, then looked at the map of the god realm. It was covered in tunnels, hundreds of them, stretching all across the continent.
She sighed. "I don't get it. Lirael's a master mage. Gromm's a lizard warrior. Korg's a void ape. How did they all turn into mole people? What happened to them? They must have gotten corrupted by the other moles. Teenagers. So rebellious. Oh well. I guess it's fine. As long as they're happy."
She went back to her cream puffs, completely oblivious to everything that was going on.
In the monitoring spire, the two examiners were having a very different day.
One of them was running around, writing as fast as he could, his hand cramping. The moles kept doing weird stuff, stuff that wasn't in the rulebook. Stuff that made it impossible to calculate their points normally. He was exhausted. He'd been working nonstop for weeks.
"Can they just fight normally for once?!" He groaned. "Why do they have to do all this weird stuff? It's impossible to grade!"
The other examiner, the one watching Laia, was bored out of his mind. He'd been sitting there for two days. All Laia did was write in her notebook, and eat cream puffs. She didn't do anything. She didn't command her followers. She didn't cast magic. She just ate.
He yawned, staring at the screen. When was this going to end? This was the most boring job he'd ever had.
Back in the Conquest Legion's war room, the faction leaders were shouting, screaming, blaming each other, blaming Lex for what had happened. They were all scared. They all wanted to run.
Lex waited until they'd finished, then spoke, her voice cold and sharp. "Are you done? Can I talk now?"
The room went quiet.
Lex leaned forward, staring at them. "It doesn't matter what happened before. The monster invasion is coming. We can't split up. We can't fight each other. From now on, we go on the defensive. We abandon the outposts. We abandon the other cities. We pull everyone back to the main fortress, and the three closest cities. We save our strength. We get ready to fight the monsters. And then, once we're done, we deal with the Tide Pact."
No one argued. They all knew she was right. There was nothing else they could do. The moles had won. They'd broken the alliance. They'd broken the whole tournament.
Now all they could do was survive.