Chapter 92: Duskmoor Goes Gray—Riftward Takes First

The Waygates inside Duskmoor were already beginning to brighten.

Cassian did not wait.

The Rare scroll in his hand had been sitting in his Inventory for a long time.

[Spatial Lock Scroll | Rare]

Rare. One-use.

Cassian had never thought wasting it on a single ordinary Waygate was worth it.

Now was different.

Ronan had delivered the scroll to Forgotten Shrine’s doorstep.

Garrick had taken one of Duskmoor’s strongest forces into Northwatch—and left all of it there.

The people who remained were lighting their Waygates now, preparing to carry away whatever they still could.

An old scroll Cassian had refused to waste had finally reached the moment when using it mattered most.

[Effect: Temporarily seals Waygate / Warden Gate and comparable Spatial Transit within the target area.]

Cassian designated the main Transit belt Crystal One had just confirmed.

"Open."

Gray-white spatial lines spread from the scroll.

Several Waygates that were already lighting up shuddered at the same time.

Then they went dark.

"Spatial Lock?"

The Duskmoor Lord closest to the main road went pale.

A second later, he saw Cassian standing in the wasteland.

And above him, twelve dark-gold winged silhouettes.

[Spatial Lock: Active]

Cassian dropped the dead scraps of the scroll.

Something Black Banner had once carried to Forgotten Shrine’s door was now sealing Black Banner itself inside.

Nine Praetorians and one hundred Legionnaires crossed the Boundary Marker.

Twelve dark-gold shapes descended into Duskmoor overhead.

Cassian gave only one order.

"The Lords, Heroes, and Troops still inside Duskmoor."

"Leave none."

Only then did Duskmoor understand what it had misjudged.

They had treated Northwatch as an easy target.

They had treated the chance of Riftward pursuing all the way back as a gamble worth taking.

They had even sent their strongest force out of the Region.

Now the man collecting on that mistake was already standing inside their Boundary Marker.

The first Domain went silent.

A second Lord status turned gray.

Then another cluster.

And another.

The remaining high-Quality units tried to resist.

Aurelia brought down lightning once.

Celia drew her sword once.

After that, fewer and fewer names in Duskmoor remained lit.

The Shattered Marches Channel fell into chaos.

[Duskmoor Lord: Riftward is really inside!]

[Duskmoor Lord: Spatial Transit is sealed!]

[Anonymous Lord: Didn’t they just finish fighting in Northwatch?]

[Anonymous Lord: Those twelve bats are all Legendary Troops?]

Calls for help quickly became pleas.

[Duskmoor Lord: I’m only a Production Lord!]

[Duskmoor Lord: Garrick attacking Northwatch had nothing to do with me!]

[Duskmoor Lord: Cassian, we can talk!]

Cassian saw the messages.

He did not answer.

He said only one word.

"Continue."

No new explanation.

No second set of rules.

Duskmoor only needed to remember one thing today.

War had been sent out from here.

The cost had come back here too.

Before night fully settled, the last lit Lord status on Duskmoor’s public roster turned gray.

The Channel stopped for several seconds.

A moment ago, people had still been asking how Riftward dared chase all the way into Duskmoor.

Now no one asked.

Aurelia landed beside Cassian.

"None left."

Cassian looked at the fully gray roster.

"Return."

——

Late that night, Duskmoor was finally quiet.

This time, even the system stopped listing the battle report line by line.

Lords. Heroes. Troops.

Kill Points. Battle Essence.

Equipment. Blueprints. Materials.

Everything folded into summaries first.

One number sat at the top.

[Kill Points Gained Today: 32,000,000+]

From the first Rocket volley in Northwatch to the last Duskmoor Lord turning gray.

More than thirty-two million.

The Battle Essence total beneath it was still climbing.

Equipment, Materials, and Blueprints had been sorted into separate folded pages. Cassian opened two pages in a row.

He still had not reached the end.

This was not the reward from killing one Boss.

It was not the loot from wiping out one wild army.

It was everything that spilled into Riftward after an entire Region went gray.

The Kill Points had already answered with more than thirty-two million.

The Battle Essence was still rolling in.

Two pages of Equipment, Blueprints, and Materials were not enough to reach the bottom.

And the whole return had started with a Rare scroll Cassian had refused to throw away on a mediocre use.

A route Crystal One had traced.

And Duskmoor emptying its best force outside its own borders.

What came back was not one ordinary victory.

It was enough to push Riftward’s entire combat line forward again.

Cassian looked once.

"Take all of it."

Warehouse notifications kept flashing for a long time.

Celia flicked the blood from her sword.

"That Rare scroll paid off."

"The scroll didn’t become more valuable."

Cassian closed the loot pages he had not finished reading.

"The place I used it did."

He left only the Battle Essence page open.

"Pull out what can become fighting strength immediately."

"The rest..."

"Isn’t going anywhere."

——

Forgotten Shrine.

Deep into the night.

The Gate closed behind them.

Veyra stood before the twelve Crystal Maidens lined in a row.

Every one of them had returned, but new cracks marked their Crystal Bodies. The worst injured had already gone to the Fountain to recover.

Veyra looked over them, then at Cassian.

"Northwatch was a rescue."

"Duskmoor wasn’t."

"No."

Veyra watched him for two beats.

"I used to think you were simply good at picking up things other people didn’t understand."

Cassian raised an eyebrow.

"And now?"

"Now I’ve realized something."

Veyra gave a quiet huff.

"You’re even better at waiting for people to hand you their own weakness."

Cassian did not deny it.

"They thought Northwatch was easy to take."

"They thought Duskmoor was out of reach."

"They were wrong about both."

Veyra kept looking at him.

This time, she did not ask how many he had killed.

She did not ask whether it had been worth it.

"Now that sounds more like your kind of rule."

Then her gaze moved to the twelve Crystal Maidens.

"However..."

"They’re still behind on Levels."

"Mm."

Crystal One was already Level 20.

The other eleven were still Level 10.

Before today, that had been enough.

After today, it was not.

Cassian opened the growth panels for all eleven at once.

The Battle Essence generated across Northwatch and Duskmoor was enough to push this troop line higher.

He did not start sorting the long list of Equipment and Blueprints from tonight.

First, he would finish the line that had actually fought these battles.

"Eleven."

"To twenty."

Battle Essence poured in.

Upgrade light flared one after another.

One.

Three.

Six.

Eleven.

[Crystal Maiden ×11]

[Level: 10 → 20]

Their Quality did not change.

All twelve were still Legendary.

The only gap had been Level.

Now that gap was gone.

When the last layer of light faded, all twelve Legendary Crystal Maidens stood at Level 20 for the first time.

Veyra looked them over.

"Now they’re even."

"Mm."

"Satisfied?"

Cassian looked at the twelve Maidens.

"The Battle Essence we made today..."

"Goes first to the line that actually earned it today."

The corner of Veyra’s mouth moved.

"Still you."

Cassian did not drag the Equipment and Blueprint lists back out.

He pushed the entire unsorted batch into storage.

Tomorrow.

Tonight, the only thing worth handling first was the troop line that had just fought the war.

——

At noon the next day, the Second Regional Ranking refreshed again.

The Shattered Marches Channel had filled early.

Yesterday, Ironwake had been first.

Riftward second.

Sable March third.

Today the list lit again.

Third.

[Rank 3 | Sable March]

Second.

[Rank 2 | Ironwake]

Then the top position.

[Rank 1 | Riftward]

The Riftward Regional Channel went silent for one beat.

Then it erupted.

[Anonymous Lord: FIRST!!]

[Anonymous Lord: Second yesterday and first today?]

[Tobias Reed: Anyone still want to ask why he went to Northwatch?]

[Rowan Ashford: I only want to know where he went last night.]

[Tobias Reed: That question is more dangerous than mine.]

[Rowan Ashford: Yesterday I was still recalculating what Riftward was worth.]

[Rowan Ashford: Today I’m calculating what it costs to stand against it.]

[Darian Frost: Yesterday’s Rank 2 meant Riftward had caught up.]

[Darian Frost: After Duskmoor went completely gray, this Rank 1 means something different.]

Black Banner messages hit the Shattered Marches Channel almost immediately.

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: Riftward slaughtered Duskmoor!]

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: Cassian is using the Ranking as an excuse to kill people!]

Mira replied with only two lines.

[Mira Calder: Garrick brought the army into Northwatch first.]

[Mira Calder: Black Banner also sealed Northwatch’s Spatial Link first.]

Cassian watched the Channel.

He did not explain how many had died the night before.

He did not list responsibility.

He sent one line.

[Cassian Vale: If anyone else wants to send a war into somebody else’s Region, look at Duskmoor first.]

The Channel slowed.

Yesterday, many people still saw Riftward as a new Region climbing the Ranking unusually fast.

Today, Rank 1 sat at the top.

And Duskmoor’s entire roster sat gray beneath it.

The next person considering sending a Spatial Lock and an army into Riftward—or sending the same kind of war into one of Riftward’s allies—would no longer think only about Kill Points.

They would think about Duskmoor too.

Cassian closed the Channel.

He had just started to open the batch of Blueprints dumped into storage last night when a Private Channel lit first.

Kara.

Not small talk.

She forwarded a Black Banner internal order directly.

Cassian read the first line and stopped.

[Black Banner Internal: Selected lower-ranked Member Regions will temporarily transfer expendable Heroes / Troops to be killed by Sable March War Lords.]

The next line was even more direct.

[Purpose: Concentrate Kill Points for the Second Regional Ranking.]

The room stayed quiet for two beats.

Kara’s next message arrived.

[Kara Voss: This isn’t a drill.]

[Kara Voss: They’ve already started.]

Cassian read the two lines again.

His eyes stayed on the word expendable.

After Duskmoor, Black Banner had not answered by sending a stronger army.

They had changed the math.

The Heroes and Troops of lower Member Regions were no longer being valued first as fighting strength.

They were being valued as raw material for 10× Kill Points.

The enemy had started repricing its own people.

Cassian looked up.

"They’re killing their own people too?"