The signal came not in words, but in fire.

  Above, Soldraknirr desded, its wings blotting out the sun, casting an ominous shadow over the battlefield. A pulse of raw energy rippled through the air, an unspoken herald of the storm to e. The Embercd Legions moved into formation, squads of eight to ten men spaced apart to minimize losses against rge-scale bombardments. Eait was supported by a barrier specialist, their runes glowing faintly as they eled protective wards to keep their rades alive.

  The battle erupted in a cacophony of elemental fury.

  Shock spells cracked like thunder, stunniire lines of defenders. Bze sigils ignited, setting the battlefield afme and leaving nothing but charred corpses in their wake. The wind howled as razor-sharp currents sliced through armor and flesh alike. The very earth itself rebelled—stone fists smashing into formations, jagged walls rising and falling, reshaping the terrain with violent i. Freezing spells sealed escape routes, turning pathways into deadly, impassable gciers.

  A lone Embercd rebel, emboldened by reckless ambition, rode a surge of sand to elevate himself above the walls—only to be struck midair by a stray shock spell. His body vulsed violently before plummeting lifeless to the ground below.

  Above the chaos, Soldraknirr took to the skies once more. The defenders retaliated, ented ballistae loosing their payloads in desperate defiaheir bolts found their mark, smming into the Dragon-mech’s golden hull with earthshaking force—but Sorius-Pting ehe Starfire drake answered in kind, blue fmes raining from the heavens, lig against enemy barriers that strained uhe uing assault.

  Some Embercd warriors breached the ramparts, and there, amidst stone and steel, the fight devolved into brutal melee. Sword met sword, teeth gnashed against steel, and the cries of the dying wove into a gruesome symphony.

  Lyrius, watg from Soldraknirr’s cockpit, smirked. Amused. Unbothered.

  “The savages fight with Fenralis barriers and fortifications,” he mused, voice rich with derision. “No matter. Their mages will tire.”

  Soldraknirr bombarded the field, releasing alchemical bombs from its underbelly, each ister spiraling downward with eerie precision. The moment they struck, a sickly green vapor erupted, melting steel, stone, and flesh alike into bubbling ruin. Strategic points where enemy forces gathered—makeshift and posts, barricades, and natural roations that could serve as cover—were swallowed by the corrosive tide. Screams cut through the din of battle, soldiers stumbling from the fumes, armor sloughing off in liquefied heaps as their bodies followed suit. The earth itself withered, scarred by the dragon-mech’s relentless purge.

  His hands moved over the trols, the cockpit amplifying the flow of magic c through his veins. Within Soldraknirr, the spellwork became sharper, more potent—its reach extended, its burden lessehe mech responded in kind—tubes mimig muscle fibers pulsed with crimson energy, their glow intensifying as are circuits wove the intation into something far greater. The actuators tensed, ready to unleash devastation.

  He uttered the words.

  “Aero, audacter. Venti, veloci. Fornor, falea, galego.”

  The world inhaled.

  Then exhaled ih.

  "Ventus Fornori."

  A terrible stillness seized the battlefield. The air, ohick with smoke and magiow ceased to move entirely. Those caught within the spell gasped, their lungs seizing, their hands g at their throats in silent hrass bed, shriveled, and turo dust. The once-lush fields of Vellmont curled into brittle ruin. The fortunate died swiftly; the unfortunate fell to their knees, eyes wide, lips f soundless prayers to absent gods.

  Among the Embercd ranks, panic spread like wildfire. Some fled, desperate to escape the horror that had unfolded before them. Those who turraitor in that moment were met with precise, merciless fire from Vellmont’s Luminite Riflemen. Any survivors were executed by the most loyal of Lyrius' lieutenants. ers. No sed ces.

  Lyrius raised the dead, his Drais lineage asserting its dreadful dominion. The corpses stirred, shuddering with unnatural vigor as neantiergy coursed through their ruined veins. Eyes once dulled by death ignited with baleful light, their bodies reassembling, flesh knitting together with grotesque speed. Whether friend or foe, it mattered not—all who had fallen were his now. the tattered remnants of their former selves, they stood, ons clutched in unfeeling hands, awaiting his and. One way or ahey would serve him.

  Soldraknirr roared once more, its golden form looming like a vengeful god over the wretched and the dying.

  The sughter had only just begun.