Over the course of several days, teams and soldiers from both Sawn Industries and Iron Legion were brought to the island. 

After sifting through the Mantle’s data more, I discovered their name for the landmass: the Island of Continuance. 

Umara had spent the preceding days taking the others to clear out Shades from all across the upper city. When the soldiers arrived with plenty of armament, including an outfit of tanks and aircraft, a base was established next to the citadel and any Shades that dared approach were eradicated with impunity. 

That didn’t stop most of the newcomers from having nightmares the first night, but they had already been briefed on the circumstances. 

Everyone who was brought to Continuance was here for the next decade at minimum. I didn’t intend to let any of them, except for the highest Authority soldiers, go back to the mainland. Which was why after complexes were constructed and when the city was declared relatively safe, the families of all those stationed here would be moved. That was especially so for those who had come from Wonderland, who were already familiar with the stringent demands.

The Island was now one of my greatest secrets, something that was mine and mine alone. Neither the Church nor the Kingdom knew anything about it, and I intended to keep it that way. 

Most importantly, not even my Desert Eagles knew anything about the Heart. 

I hadn’t let them peer at the data. I hadn’t even spoken about it to Umara, who tactfully refrained from asking questions. They didn’t know about the true nature of the Heart, what it did, or its history. All they knew was what they saw. While that was a significant leak in itself, it also wasn’t enough for them to make the wild guess about what it truly was. 

It was a powerful source of Mana and Vigor that underwent some mysterious process. That was it. I doubted even Kwon and Song understood what they had seen. 

As for Katta, my greatest concern regarding my information lock, she understood even less, no doubt. Even if she told her father about the island, he likely wouldn’t take it as a big enough deal to demand investigation. Of course, nobody could ever predict what Anderson might do should he learn about this. He was a wildcard as much as a person could be. 

But I doubted that Katta would spill the beans. While I’d have to let her go back and visit her father eventually, she seemed rebellious enough to keep some things for herself, including this experience. 

I’d already had my talks with her. Unfortunately, she was protected enough to force me into a ‘wait and see’ approach. Of course, if she wanted any part in Sector 4 in the future, she needed to have my trust. Leaking things would forfeit that, and she knew it. 

With construction underway and with the city on lockdown, I finally pulled us out of the island. We flew back to the mainland and everyone got some much needed R&R. There were no missions for a week, not that I was idle for any of it. 

To Umara’s dismay I was hard at work as soon as we returned. Polly and Sawn both had plenty of things to brief me on and a pompous englishman was demanding my presence. 

I sent Umara to handle him while I got updates on everything else. 

Sawn Industries was at an all time economic and industrial high. Sawn was pulling in so much money that he couldn’t spend it all if he tried. Billions of coin were moving through his company and his operations had scaled so high that his greatest issue right now was finding people to hire. All those readily available across the Kingdom were already working for him, including a significant percentage of the world’s summoner population. Thankfully the company had become so rich and famous that there were constantly renowned craftsmen, enchanters, thinkers, and inventors crawling to him for a job. Jobs were getting filled as fast as they were opening. 

But I had prepared or this eventuality as well, and Sawn followed directions well. He had already started grabbing the talented and entrepreneurial and throwing them into the world with companies of their own. 

Sawn Industries couldn’t make everything. Not because it was incapable, but because people wouldn’t stand for it. If everything ever made had the Sawn Industries stamp on it, then the company would start becoming a Kingdom unto itself. At that point I’d be directly inducing the creation of the world’s first anti-trust laws. 

I wasn’t interested in that. 

But creating dozens of smaller companies that other people had to run? Companies that they’d be managing and paying me to operate? Now that was an attractive deal. 

Sawn agreed, and so batches of people were sent out to be fruitful. Most of them were little companies that built little things with the help of Sawn Industries tech and knowledge. We gave them things like the Mana Engine and they created tools to do anything from carpentry to construction. This was also how we started bringing magic to the ordinary population. 

With my trains and farming technology, cities would begin to explode in density and population. With that came the opportunity for different forms of work. With the majority of the population no longer needing to farm or labor, they could do modern jobs, thinking jobs. 

Of course, that was a decades long process, but I was already preparing for it. Generating dozens of children companies was the first step in this diabolical plan of mine. 

My plan to bring information to the populus, and by consequence, make Sawn Industries so unfathomably famous that even the most backwater village would know our names. 

Thankfully, an opportunity to push that agenda presented itself as soon as I returned. 

Polly’s primary report was regarding our nagging neighbors on the frontlines. Stronghold Echo was demanding that we make a show of ourselves and aid them. We could no longer put them off, so as soon as I was back, I let Polly send off the message and set the date. 

The pieces were quickly moved. We were going to send but a single Combined Arms regiment of 1800 soldiers. They would reside within Stronghold Echo for a month where they would participate in joint operations alongside Kingdom soldiers. 

Those in charge of Stronghold Echo had no idea that they didn’t want this. They would sorely regret demanding our presence, and I would be laughing my ass off while watching the consequences. 

The best part was that I’d be attending this joint operation. I had been sitting in the lap of my own luxury for so long that I’d forgotten what it was like to lay in the dirt of a Kingdom Stronghold. I wanted to go back and take a peek at what it was like once again. I wanted to see things as their soldiers did. 

I wanted to remind myself, but primarily my soldiers, what it meant to be among the premier military force of this world. 

The joint operation came at the end of the month. Until then, I was taking care of anything that demanded my attention. Thankfully there wasn’t much because I had done a good job of decentralizing. I had trustworthy people who were good at their jobs, Polly especially. She took care of the base perfectly while I was gone and so she’d be using her vacation time while we were conducting the joint operation. 

When the day finally came some weeks after we settled Continuance, I was on a tank rolling to Stronghold Echo. 

……

…

“Ugh, why did I have to get saddled with this…”

Major General Larissa rubbed her temples in stress, looking through the paperwork she had been sent several days prior. 

The list of accommodations Iron Legion was requesting. From hangar space and priority air traffic to living space and garage reservations. Despite there being over 100 thousand troops at Stronghold Echo already, Iron Legion, with just 1800 troops, would be taking a whopping 5% of the base’s area and 25% of their hangars for accommodation. The General refused to believe their vehicles would take that much space but the Iron Legion was unbending with their ‘request’. 

Just getting them to accept the offer for joint operation had taken this long. It had gotten to a point where Iron Legion simply refused to engage in correspondence for a time. Now, they were actually agreeing, and yet Larissa felt that the whole thing was just a plain bad idea. 

She had seen footage of Iron Legion battles, the few they had released, had seen the numbers they occasionally reported. Many of the generals around her were disbelieving, saying that it had to be fake, that they were putting out inflated numbers. 

Nobody had properly seen John Cooper’s tanks in battle yet. Nobody had seen the new models of vehicles, planes, and helicopters in action. Despite John Cooper having said that his armament was still open for purchase, not only were extremely few generals considering purchase, but John Cooper also set a huge wait time for delivery. There hadn’t been a single tank sold to the Kingdom, not a single ‘gunship’ as he called them, not a single ‘high-capacity bomber’. Only things like their Chariot APCs and standard configuration planes were sold. 

That wasn’t considering that Iron Legion was requiring that their products be sold with training. Once the tanks were finally put up for grabs and rolled out, they would have to send summoners to go train to be a tank captain, which would take even longer. 

Larissa guessed that John Cooper was trying to show off his armament before selling it, trying to prove its might on his own terms so that others couldn’t discredit it. 

But today was the big day. Iron Legion was finally stepping beyond its area of isolation. Not only were they going to do battle alongside the Kingdom for the first time, but by extension they were opening themselves up for evaluation and scrutiny. 

Yet they sent a mere 1800 soldiers, backed by air support and logistics. Larissa wasn’t sure if she should be impressed that they sent a sizeable portion of their small army, or disappointed that it was just that, a small portion. 1800 soldiers wasn’t a drop in the bucket compared to what they already had stationed at Stronghold echo. 

In a large scale battle, 1800 wasn’t even a casualty rate. 

But when they had requested a force capable of facing at least 15 thousand jointly with Kingdom forces, they didn’t expect to get so little. They didn’t even send a full General, just a few Authority 10s and a Brigadier General. 

It was why Larissa was placed in charge of handling them. The General refused to step out if they weren’t going to send someone equal. He was rather insulted and now Larissa was paying for it. 

“General.”

Larissa raised her head, turning to her assistant. 

“They’re on approach. I think you’re going to want to see this.”

“Why?”

“Well…”

The assistant didn’t respond, but Larissa was standing anyway. The two walked out of the headquarters and took a Steed to the walls. 

There were thousands gathering on the ramparts, all looking into the distance, and more were gathering every minute. Larissa and her assistant disembarked and pushed their way up. 

Once they got a visual, they stared. 

200 metal monstrosities were barreling their way, kicking up a sandstorm behind them. Even from a few miles away, Larissa could feel their presence. Completely unlike anything she had seen before, this group of soldiers wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that they were there. If they were in the field, the Scourge would see them like a beacon. 

But perhaps to them, that didn’t matter. 

It wasn’t long before they reached the base, slowing down as they got closer to the walls. 

At the front of the convoy was a tank of colossal proportions. Larissa recognized the model. 

The M300 Superheavy Battle Tank. 

The stacked cannons pointed straight at the walls made Larissa stress levels spike. She had seen video of those things in action. If one fired, they’d blow a hole clean through the wall. 

But what pulled her gaze wasn’t the menacing barrels or the way the rest of the tanks swiveled their turrets. 

It was the man standing on top of the lead tank. The sight of him made Larissa’s stomach sink. 

Commander John Cooper, in the flesh. 

She grit her teeth. No wonder they didn’t send a General. They sent the fucking face of Iron Legion itself, the man of too many titles to count. 

The World’s Greatest Inventor. 

The War Machine. 

The Envoy of the Dead.

The World’s Richest Commoner

The Most Powerful Summoner. 

Hailing from the Magisterium’s Calamity Class, survivor of the Fall of Purple Sky, survivor of the Fall of the Treehouse and Stronghold Charlie. 

The man who’s written nearly every new text on tactics and previously unknown forms of warfare. 

His accolades were as towering as his infamy. There wasn’t anyone in the Kingdom’s military who didn’t know his name, didn’t know his feats of lethality. 

And he was looking right at her, as if he already knew who was assigned to Iron Legion matters. 

Larissa met his gaze and froze, unable to turn away despite everything in her body telling her to. She almost blanked out, could practically feel his Aura combing over her brain. 

Before she suddenly regained herself and saw him nod toward the gate. She scrambled, shouting. 

“Hurry up and open the gate!”

She ran down the walls while the guards pulled on those large chains. The Superheavy tank slowly rolled through, barely clearing the height and width by a couple feet. 

John Cooper jumped down from the very top of the tank until he was right next to the bottom main cannon, staring at her as she stood there in front. 

She had never felt so tiny. For some reason, even idle, looking at the tank instilled a feeling of dread. 

She had learned to face Brigadiers and Marshals with a perfect poker face, feeling no fear before them lest she be mistaken as inept. She had led troops for over two decades, facing all manner of Scourge assaults on her prior station. 

But in front of this thing, she felt wholly insignificant. 

In front of the man who built them, she felt inferiority on a level she didn’t know was possible. 

“Brigadier General Larissa.”

“S-Sir…”

“If we could be shown to our accommodations.”

“Of course…”

She answered absentmindedly, her assistant thankfully quick on her feet and running to bring the Steed around. 

The two led the tanks to their staging grounds, John Cooper simply sitting on the armored surface and smoking a cigar. That’s when Larissa noticed the woman next to him wearing an oversized hat sharing the cigar with him. 

She guess it was Umara Talerria, the Witch, famous for being John Cooper’s fiance. Not much else was known about her but she was rumored to be even more powerful than her fiance, a genius, gorgeous woman of mysterious spells and obscene firepower. 

When everyone started comparing warlocks and knights to a cold summoner was a mystery. 

The tanks, both Superheavy and Light, rolled onto a field previously cleared for them, filing themselves in and shutting down. Soldiers climbed out of them, primarily summoners with some warlocks and knights sprinkled in. Behind those tanks were a few dozen Chariots and combat vehicles, including supply trucks for logistics. 

There were also aircraft in the sky and helicopters kicking up sand as they moved to land in the airfield. She had never seen most of the models before, unique variants that Iron Legion kept to themselves, most likely. 

She felt another headache coming on. 

Despite being only 1800 strong, they brought more armor than the entire Stronghold. A quick count showed Larissa 20 Superheavy Tanks and 150 Light Tanks as well as 100 Chariots. That wasn’t counting the aircraft. 

She’d have a lot to report to the General, and he’d have to step out himself now. That was going to be another headache. 

She wasn’t sure how John Cooper was going to act. She had heard many things about him. She wasn’t sure which rumors to believe. 

And he was walking right toward her. 

She straightened up as he and his fiance stopped in front of her alongside an agent. 

He smiled and put out his hand, her neck turning upward so she could see his face. Even his fiance was tall. 

“I appreciate the welcome, General.”

“Of course, sir. We tried to prepare as much room as possible, but forgive us if it wasn’t enough. I don’t think anyone expected so… much.”

“Nobody ever expect the spanish Inquisition.”

“...Sorry?”

Larissa’s brows raised, noticing Umara rolling her eyes with a small smile. 

John Cooper sighed. 

“Nevermind. We’ll make it work and take what we need to. I assume the General and Marshal will want to speak with me, so we can head there now.”

“Of course. Right this way.”

“Sure…”

He nodded, but didn’t step to walk with her. Larissa took a few steps before stopping, looking at him weirdly. 

“Sir?”

“...You’ve got a raid coming, Larissa.”

“A raid? We have sensors several miles out that would trip alarms.”

“I’m sure you do.”

John lifted his wrist to his mouth. 

“Commander to all stations. Don’t unpack yet boys. We’ve got incoming.”

Larissa noticed everyone around the tanks freeze before suddenly climbing back into the tanks. Those that had shut down rapidly spun back up, and unlike before, enchantments suddenly went active across their armor, flashing with such dense mana that it made Larissa’s skin tingle. 

The Superheavy Tanks moved first, starting to roll toward the exit, all others following. 

That’s when Larissa’s ear twitched. 

One alarm suddenly sounded across the base, and then all the others chimed seconds after. They blared the sound that indicated there was an incoming Scourge force. 

It was nothing new. They faced attacks regularly, holding them back at the walls as was standard protocol. 

After all, they were a Stronghold. Sending out tens of thousands of troops to do head on battle was too costly for manpower and resources when it was unnecessary. It was better to simply fight on their own turf, especially now that they had their own shields to handle indirect fire from Bombardos.

But the tanks were rolling out to do battle outside the walls. Larissa couldn’t help but panic. 

“Commander, we can handle sieges. There’s no need for you to deploy.”

“Nonsense, General Larissa.”

He smiled at her, a wide grin of white teeth and cigar smoke. 

“It’s a perfect opportunity to earn your confidence. And to be honest, the Iron Legion follows a different combat doctrine. I’m guesstimating the incoming force to be around 20 thousand strong. Allow us to handle it. Maybe you’ll get to report a nonexistent mortality rate.”

“Sir!”

Someone shouted after he finished talking, Larissa glancing up at a tank that was somehow slightly bigger than a Superheavy Tank, with only one cannon instead of two. Out of a hatch poked the head of the Brigadier General Larissa was supposed to handle. 

“Yes?”

“What’s the policy for this fight, sir?”

“...Glass the motherfuckers.”

Larissa’s brows raised at the term, the Brigadier General smiling and saluting. 

“Yes sir.”

“Don’t wait for me General. You know what to do.”

The General nodded and sunk back into the tank, leading the charge as the tanks stormed through the gates. 

One of the Superheavy Tanks missed its alignment and knocked into the wall, demolishing a portion of it and knocking down one half of the gate. 

John clicked his tongue. 

“We’ll pay for that. Anyway, why don’t you come join us for a walk, General Larissa.”

“A walk? Where?”

“Outside the wire, of course. You’re gonna get front row seats to the show. Hope you have good boots.”

“I…”

Larissa watched him start walking off, glancing at her assistant, who shrugged confusedly. Then, the two followed behind. 

She pondered, wondering what he meant by ‘glassing’ them. 

Before long, the Scourge started making their approach. Guards were posting the walls and the tanks started setting themselves up. 

Larissa could see the Scourge flooding toward them, like a tidal wave of flesh. They were clustered together, running at them with wild abandon. Bombardos also appeared in the distance, coming over a sand dune and orienting themselves. 

But then, one of the tanks suddenly fired. 

The shockwave made Larissa’s ears ring despite being a distance away. Yet she kept her eyes on the air and watched the projectile from the cannon sail across the atmosphere. 

It made impact with the abdomen of the Bombardo several miles in the distance and exploded, turning the Bombardo into an eruption of flesh and fire. It was utterly decimated, just like that. 

No fanfare, no charging knights, no deaths. Just a single projectile from that tank and dozens of lives were spared. 

It was so easy she almost didn’t want to believe it. 

The other tanks started reorienting their cannons to face the incoming horde. It was clear now that the enemy was well within their range. 

The Scourge would have to charge through hellfire to even reach the Stronghold. Larissa suddenly wasn’t sure there would be any work for them to do. 

All because of a mere couple hundred tanks. 

And soon enough, she learned what John Cooper meant. 

What it meant to glass your enemies.