As winter devoured the plains of Velgrath, the war entered a new phase: The Hollow War — a series of brutal stalemates fought in ruined cities, poisoned forests, and irradiated deserts. Neither side advanced. Neither side retreated. Yet bodies kept piling up.
Prince Dutch issued a decree: "No land is sacred now."
The Kingdom launched bombing campaigns using warplanes powered by refined Inn-cores. Villages near the Republic's southern ridge burned, their ashes caught in the cold wind like snowflakes.
But the Republic answered.
Veyrion, now Chancellor of the War Ministry, activated the Oblivion Choir — a sound-based weapon that used psychic frequencies to induce madness. Soldiers turned on their commanders. Entire platoons fell to infighting in mere hours.
War was no longer about winning. It had become a ritual of annihilation.