The arrays burned first, the soldiers and mages died immediately after. The solid enchanted stone and metal of the garrison held fast, but when the Origin Flames died, only a charred plain remained.

The soil was blackened, steaming from the lingering heat. A line of gurgling molten lava was all that was left of the border wall.

The soldiers of the Empire stared in horror at the scene. Not just because the Chalal stronghold had endured centuries of harsh conflict just to fall in the span of one breath. But also because the Origin Flames were still violet.

With the battle with the World Tree approaching, no one wanted to waste mana or the focus necessary to conjure Primordial Flames for an oversized pebble.

"That way!" Lith pointed at the horizon and took flight followed by the living storm.

"Good gods, did you see that?" Said one of the border guards, a young man in his early twenties.

"If I saw that?" The older soldier smelled the burned flesh and tasted the thick oils from the vaporized body fat that coated his tongue. "I can feel that! I wish I could unsee that."

"What? Not that, you idiot!" The young soldier stood up and pressed the emergency rune on his service amulet. "Sir, the road is clear. I repeat, the road is clear."

Before the commanding officer could reprimand him for drinking so early in the morning and on the line of duty at that, the young soldier zoomed out on his hologram and shared the vision of the burning valley in front of him.

"Father of All Dragon!" The situation was above the paygrade of the border army so the commanding officer called the general in charge of the area.

"Father of All Dragon!" The general contacted the Magic Empress and the Magic Council, the only powers in the Empire with the authority to wage war.

Milea was elated at the news, considering it the first benefit the Empire reaped for helping Lith.

"Soldier, I'm mobilizing all the available troops." She said while sending streams of orders to her generals via a holographic runepad.

"Until the first reinforcements arrive, I'm entrusting your platoon with a task that will determine the prosperity of the Gorgon Empire. Cross the borders, search for enemy survivors, and kill anything that moves.

"If no one alerts Chalal's military in time, our army will reach the heart of the Republic while they are still trying to understand what hit them."

***

Deep in the Republic of Chalal's hinterland, inside the Yggdrasill's Fringe.

'Mogar almighty, why are you doing this to me? I'm following your will! Everything I've done was for your good and that of all your children!' The World Tree had overcome the sudden pain and limited their connection with Ra'ntar, but it was too late.

Hundreds of their Chroniclers had been exposed and the Yggdrasill had to help them escape capture or Ra'ntar would just be the first of many to be violently interrogated.

'That accursed Verhen planned this thoroughly.' The World Tree thought. 'If I seal my Fringe, the pain will stop completely but if I do that, my Chroniclers will be left stranded and alone in enemy hands.

'To make matters even worse, from so up close he's likely to have already figured out my position.' The Yggdrasill perceived the army of Divine Beasts moving toward the access point to the Fringe located in Chalal in a straight line.

Not one of them strayed from the main path or scouted their surroundings. They all moved at Dragonspeed and were bound to reach their destination in less than a minute.

'Take arms, my Chroniclers. Ready for battle, my Librarians. Prepare to protect your homeland, my elves.' The telepathic command resonated throughout the entirety of the Fringe, from its center to its borders.

'The enemy is coming though the Chalal way. Assemble there and prepare your spells. Attack the invaders the moment they step through the boundary without giving them time to recover. I want them dead before they can take a look at my domain.

'Strike true and hold back nothing or this attack will be the first of many and none of you will know peace anymore.'

***

Blood Desert, Ra'ntar cell, at the same time.

"My, my, this blade is truly a marvel of magic. I've always been proud of your father, but this goes beyond my expectations." Jirni's cheeks flushed like those of a maiden in love and her lips formed the sweetest smile as she dug her needles deep into the Chronicler's flesh.

She knew that soon Ragnarök would leave so Jirni devoted all of her focus to finding the perfect position for her needles to mimic the angry blade's effects to the best of Skywarp's abilities.

The combined effect of the two weapons inflicted Ra'ntar pain that brought him to the brink of fainting without ever crossing it. Jirni was careful, studying the changes in the elf's heart rate and blood pressure as she poked and prodded him.

Whenever she found the right spot, she always waited for Quylla's permission to move on to the next needle.

"Wait a second, Mom. He needs to recover a bit or his heart is going to burst." Quylla administered nutrient potions and life force to Ra'ntar to keep his condition stable no matter what Jirni did.

As for Friya, she kept the space sealed and had already Dominated several spells.

The Chronicler glared at the three women in hatred, crying. Every nerve and fiber of his body was burning with pain and his spells were as useless as his paralyzed limbs. He was trapped in a cage of agony with no way out.

Yet.

'The moment the cursed blade leaves, the pain should halve.' Ra'ntar thought. 'At that point, either I kill Jirni Ernas or myself, I will be released from this torment and my master will avenge me.'

***

The greeds of Dragons crossed dozens of kilometers with each flap of their wings, closing in to the Fringe's access point by the second.

Lith had learned from M'Rael's scheme that a Fringe was akin to a separate world and the connection with Ra'ntar might be cut off at any moment. For that reason, he was carrying Tezka over his head since the beginning of the flight.

The Suneater could fly faster than Lith, but intelligence was more important than speed. Lith shared with Tezka his readings about the position of Solus' light via a mind link and the Suneater used them to infer the exact location of the Fringe's access point.

Assessing distance and the set of dimensional coordinates based on a gut feeling was an impossible task for Lith and child's play for the creator of dimensional magic. When they had walked through Chalal's borders, Tezka had already narrowed the position of the access point down to an area of twenty kilometers of radius.

As he correlated the variations in the signal's intensity with Lith's speed, the Suneater had reduced the area to ten kilometers of radius. By the time the Yggdrasill had stopped seizing, Tezka had already reduced the area of search to 100 meters (330').

He never stopped his mental calculations and shared his findings with Lith as soon as the Suneater determined a more precise set of coordinates.