On the map, the border lines once traced in vermilion had been covered by brand-new blue arrows.
Seven thick arcs extended simultaneously from the edges of the Fairytale Empire's territory, like a slowly opening hand closing toward the Spirit Theocracy.
Eva lightly tapped a spot on the map with her fingertip, landing on a small fortress that had been marked repeatedly.
"Pass down the order," she said in her usual steady voice. "Before dawn, every legion must reach its designated position. There is no need to wait for further instructions. Advance independently according to the plan."
The messenger standing below bowed to acknowledge the order and hurried out of the administrative hall.
His footsteps swiftly faded through the empty corridor, like a stone cast into still water, its ripples spreading outward faster than anyone had expected.
At daybreak, along the Fairytale Empire's border, seven blue torrents surged across the buffer zone that both sides had tacitly maintained for so long.
The First Legion drove straight down from the northern border like released floodwaters, its target the Spirit Theocracy's strongest northern barrier—Ironwall Pass.
It was a fortress built from massive blocks of obsidian, its walls more than a hundred feet high and lined with dense battlements. It had once been one of the strongest defensive works during the standoff between the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire.
It now belonged to the Spirit Theocracy, defended by more than ten thousand rigorously trained regular soldiers and several hundred Soul Masters.
But the Fairytale Empire's First Legion did not halt before the fortress to deploy its formation as it had in the past. They advanced too quickly—so quickly that the sentries taking their shifts atop the walls did not even have time to sound a complete alarm.
Only when the first