In a millisecond, a ten kilometer wide ball of fire appeared in the center of the lake. The millions of liters of water vaporized in less than the blink of an eye and the ground became fluid, forming a crater about two kilometers wide. At 49 million degrees Celsius, the fireball was more than three times hotter than the core of the Sun, so hot that it instantly turned sand into glass and liquefied it immediately afterwards. Everything inside the nuclear monstrosity disappeared in the blink of an eye: trees, rocks, sand, insects… everything sublimated, instantly passing from a solid state to a gaseous state. Even some boats found themselves inside the fireball, and the people inside them disappeared, evaporating in an instant. They didn't even have time to suffer.

In the millisecond after the fireball was born, a flash of light so powerful it dwarfed the Sun illuminated everything for miles around. The light was so intense that for a moment the bodies of Sobek and the other dinosaurs seemed transparent: people who looked at them could see the flesh and tissue disappear, leaving only the skeleton visible. The mighty light had such strength that it left the marks of shadows on the ground.

Sobek felt a searing pain in his pupils, and an instant later his eyes exploded inside the eye sockets. Moans and roars of pain rose from the dinosaur wall as everyone's eyes charred. Fortunately, [Regeneration] was ready to do his duty; even so, however, it was not a painless operation, because his eyes reformed only to be disintegrated again immediately afterwards.

The people inside the city were spared the worst of the flash of light thanks to the wall of dinosaurs that shielded them, but they could still see the intense light unraveling across the sky and heard the dinosaurs' moans of pain. Fear and dread immediately found their way into their hearts and many huddled together praying with all their might that they might survive. That was just the beginning.

The fireball's thermal radiation traveled at the speed of light in all directions, burning everything. Just one second after the bomb exploded, the temperature within more than 50 kilometers from the explosion shot up to more than 9,000 degrees, almost double that of the surface of the Sun. Everything struck by the fireball's light was instantly cooked. Anything in almost 8,000 square kilometers that was able of burning began to burn: plastic, wood, textiles, fabrics and, of course, leather and flesh.

It looked like the sun had fallen to earth.

Sobek clearly felt the heat wave hit him with unprecedented force. He had [Reinforced Skin] and [Regeneration] enhanced tenfold, had put on his armor and activated every possible mutation to resist the heat, yet even so his skin caught fire as if it were made of kerosene. Sobek grit his teeth and endured the pain. His body was working overtime, the burnt flesh being continually replaced by new flesh that burned soon after. If it wasn't for all the skills and boosts he had he would have been cooked alive in seconds.

But the dinosaurs endured. The city behind them was spared thanks to the shield they had formed with their bodies. If they hadn't, the buildings and houses would have already been on fire and people would have been burned instantly.

******

Apache had just finished assembling his troop; a large flock of birds, pterosaurs and bats of all shapes and sizes were now flying in formation behind him. He was about to give the teleportation order when the flash of light hit him. They were more than 350 kilometers away, yet the light was still so bright that the quetzalcoatlus went blind for a few seconds.

"What the hell…!?" Apache felt a lump in his throat. Was that the terrible weapon that even the pack leader feared?

The next instant, several things happened. First he and the other pterosaurs, birds and bats were hit by a heat wave. It wasn't intense, but they could feel the change in temperature: in an instant the air went from fifteen to more than forty degrees.

And this started the second event. Due to the higher temperature, the air pressure went completely out of control. In an instant all the birds began to fall.

"Teleport now!" Apache yelled as he saw the ground approaching dangerously. All his subordinates immediately executed: it didn't matter where, the important thing was to teleport elsewhere and avoid the fall.

Apache managed to teleport a short distance above the ground. She fell to the ground and tumbled a few feet. He felt the bones in his right wing snap, but thanks to [Regeneration] he was back to shape within seconds. As he stood up he looked towards the horizon, where the light from the fireball was still clearly visible. "What did those crazy humans create!?" he thought, before running towards his subordinates; they had to get together and teleport to the pack leader, and right away.

*******

Mazu emerged from the sea along the Ograd coast. He was at least 1,500 kilometers from the explosion. Yet even she could see in the distance a great light that illuminated the sky as if it were twilight. It was like a tiny sun appearing on the horizon. And it wasn't just Mazu: countless humans and animals could see the fireball despite the enormous distance.

******

Finally, after just five seconds, the thermal radiation began to subside. Sobek knew from the fact that his body had begun to regenerate faster than the heat burned him.

But he knew it wasn't over. The first wave had passed, but a much worse second one was on the way: the shock wave.

As the fireball expanded, the air around it heated and pressurized, until it exploded, expanding violently in all directions, traveling faster than the speed of sound and creating winds more powerful than any hurricane.

The shock wave was not long in coming. Within seconds of the explosion it was already unleashed and he was traveling furiously towards them. Human infrastructure was nothing to her power: not even steel-reinforced concrete could stand it.

The city was located quite far from the point of the explosion, so the shock wave that hit the wall of dinosaurs was not in the least comparable with the one that had been unleashed within the first kilometers from the point of the explosion; however, the impact was still extremely violent. The dinosaurs following Sobek's order had planted their feet firmly on the ground and had flattened their bellies on the ground, and had used all their strength to resist; but even so when the shock wave hit the wall of dinosaurs it was swept back at least ten meters. Sobek felt his bones crack like snacks and his organs implode; he thanked again that he had [Regeneration] with him, or he would be dead in a matter of tens of seconds.

Still, he was able to allow himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Now that the thermal radiation and shock wave had passed, even the most destructive part of the bomb was gone; however, that certainly didn't mean that things had calmed down. More extremely destructive waves were coming.

The first came from below. The dinosaur wall had saved the city from the intense light, heat wave and shock wave, but could do nothing when the earth started shaking. A magnitude 7 earthquake shook the entire region.

Following Sobek's order, the dinosaurs immediately abandoned their position and ran into the city to save as many people as possible from the seismic shock. Unfortunately, the help they could provide was limited: not knowing the city well they could not teleport at will, and on top of that the terrified people were not used to them and were even more frightened.

While the seismic shock was still settling down, the roar came. The deafening sound of the explosion finally reached the city with such intensity that many people became deaf. Window glass cracked and some even broke. The gas and petrol stations, under the force of the earthquake and the sound wave, broke down and the fuel inside caught fire.

Then, dinosaurs and humans witnessed an apocalyptic vision.

The fireball had now disappeared, but soon after the sun also disappeared. Millions of tons of dust and glass rose from the ground and created a mushroom cloud taller than any mountain. The immense blanket of smoke rose almost 60 kilometers above the ground and expanded 100 kilometers in width, covering the entire region and blocking out the sun. Sobek ascertained without a shadow of a doubt that the atomic mushroom cloud was thousands of times larger than those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It looked like a dead tree from which poison and dust rained.

While Sobek was still intent on contemplating the monstrous vision, Apache appeared at his side. With him came an army of birds. As soon as Apache arrived, his eyes widened in the face of so much destruction, and his subordinates even more: they had never thought that humans could unleash such a disaster. Shortly after, Buck and Carnopus also teleported next to him. All of them were wide-eyed and looked completely shocked. "What are the orders?" they asked anxiously.

"We must act before the radioactive fallout is released into the atmosphere!" Sobek roared. "Apache, immediately bring all available pterosaurs and birds to the top of the mushroom cloud! The others and I will take care of the lower part! Hurry up, everyone activate [Radiation absorption]!"

The dinosaurs didn't let him repeat it and rushed towards the mushroom cloud. They looked like a flock of birds flying towards an erupting volcano. Once they entered the intense dust cloud, they all activated [Apnea] to avoid suffocation, and then began to absorb the intense radiation. Slowly the dust began to settle and the mushroom cloud became smaller and smaller.

**********

"Madam president, we have to go!"

Jocelyne couldn't listen to Jackson. Her mind was lost. All she could do was stand at the window and watch in horror as the mushroom cloud soared over the horizon. She was in a hotel in the town of Askalin, the capital of the Republic of Alsace, about 1200 kilometers away from Frigeria. Yet, she was still able to see the monstrous formation.

"Madam president, you cannot stay here! The seismic waves and the shock wave are still coming towards us! We have to get you to safety and…"

The floor suddenly shook. Not so strong to bring down the building, but enough to knock over shelves and knick-knacks and open deep cracks in the walls and ceiling.

Abe grit his teeth. "Jackson, we have to take her away!"

"I know" his brother said, then he grabbed Jocelyne by the arm. "Sorry, madam president, but it is essential!" and with a jerk he jerked her away from the window.

Just in time! An instant later, the window cracked and then exploded in a storm of glass shards that flew like bullets throughout the room. A very powerful gust of wind came in and struck with such fury that it moved the furniture. The structure of the building cracked dangerously.

Abe stared in fear at the cracks opening everywhere. "We have to get out of here. It's not safe!"

"Yes. Let's go, come on!" Jackson exclaimed, dragging away Jocelyne who seemed to have gone into a catatonic state.

Once outside, they could breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, at that distance the shock wave was no longer strong enough to bring down the buildings, but still it had caused considerable damage. The streets were filled with people crying as they tried to get rid of the glass shards that had penetrated their flesh. Some appeared to have broken bones.

Jocelyne ignored them. She just looked back to the west, where the mushroom cloud was still clearly visible. "There will be no more peace" she whispered, and for a brief moment she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Jocelyne hadn't cried since she became president. Never, not even when she was alone. But at that moment, as she stared at the destruction unleashed by mankind's most terrible crime, the tear flowed of its own will from her eyes.

**********

It took nearly an hour for the mushroom cloud to finally collapse and settle to the ground. Sobek could finally afford to breathe calmly. The danger of nuclear fallout and catastrophe had been averted.

Only then was Sobek able to concretely admire the result of that single explosion. The lake had completely disappeared and the ground was still hot; in the center of it stood a crater a couple of kilometers wide. All around, the entire prairie was in flames. The firestorm would last for hours or perhaps days, until it ran out of fuel.

In all that devastation the city of Frigeria was the only part not completely destroyed. Even though it was leveled a bit due to the earthquake, it was still whole. Anyone who passed by after the explosion might have thought that a miracle had occurred: the entire region was engulfed in flames, while the city stood like a small pristine island in the midst of an ocean of destruction.

From what Sobek remembered, the most powerful device ever created on Earth had been created by the Russians with the infamous Tsar bomb. Originally the Tsar bomb was supposed to contain a power of at least 100 megatons, but to avoid too much damage the Russians had only tested one with half power, 'just' 50 megatons. However, it appeared that the Pengland Empire had not only built a Tsar bomb, but had also decided to use it to maximum power.

"Hey, pack leader… you showed me your vision… but I didn't know it would be like this" Buck muttered as he gazed out over the wasteland.

Sobek snorted. "Yes, I know. There is no vision or memory that can truly testify… this"

The dinosaurs were silent for a moment, obviously unsure of what to do. That was a situation totally out of their experience. And too terrified.

"Let's go" Sobek ordered. "People in the city still need our help. They weren't prepared for this and will surely be confused and scared. We have to help them put out the fires and rescue the civilians trapped in the rubble"