“Ah... ah...” Sais’ mouth hung open, disbelief pooling like cold rain. After a long beat she snapped back, “You little gourd!”

Medith caught Sais with a gentle arm. “Let it go, sis. He’s a kid. Why bother?” She was beaming, no anger in sight, like spring sunlight breaking clouds.

Bang! Jerome’s iron fist crashed down. Tianensai caught it on reflex. It looked like he stopped a casual punch, yet hairline cracks spidered across the ground under his boots.

“Commander Medith is an honored guest, a hero of Sia City. If she lacks vision, you’re still a baby who can’t call his father.” Jerome’s voice boomed like a great bell beating the air. The sound rolled and shook the bones. Medith flinched, fearing one roar might shred their eardrums.

“Hmph.” Tianensai didn’t argue. He folded his arms, cold as frost.

“Commander Medith, sorry about him—”

“He’s got personality. I like it.” Medith reached to ruffle his hair. He sprang back like a bristling cat. “Don’t touch me!”

“Hey! Don’t push it!” Haidra saw Medith clutch her reddened palm and finally bristled. “Who’s pushing it? That damn fat hag touched my hair!” Tianensai’s eyes went red, sparks under ash.

“Fat...” Even Medith’s good temper took a hit, a thorn sinking deep.

“Enough. I’ll deal with you later. First, into the city.” Haidra hauled Tianensai and tossed him onto a horse. His face burned with anger, yet care seeped through like warmth by a hearth, as if the boy were his own brother.

“People with skill get a long leash, anywhere.” Milia watched Tianensai, a sour-sweet ache in her chest. Back then, Lina mouthed off to Medith and lost a hand. Now Tianensai points at Medith’s nose and walks away. Different stakes, sure, but still a little lemon.

“Medith! Look, it’s the heroes of Sia City!”

“Ah! It’s really her, in the flesh!”

“Lord Haidra and Captain Mure are here too!”

“So that’s... the Elf Clan? Gorgeous...”

“Oh, my god! What’s with that woman?”

“I heard they stopped a tsunami!”

“More than that! Heard Medith and a few dozen cut through tens of thousands of Mountain Bandits!”

“Huh? I heard she alone chased ten thousand down.”

“No way that exaggerated.”

“It’s true! My friend went up the mountain for firewood, got surrounded. He thought he was dead. Leaves shivered, and the bandits scattered like ghosts.”

Medith’s pink ears twitched. She could only smile wryly and shake her head, like brushing off snow. Legends always balloon. One person chasing ten thousand? If it were that easy, she wouldn’t have stitched a web of plans, rehearsed every bad turn till dawn. That stretch cost her more than a few strands of hair.

“Yah-ho, big Commander’s tough! A lone charge, ten thousand wide open!” Sais couldn’t resist a jab. Medith threw up both hands. “Alright, alright, I was wrong, okay?”

“Smart girl.” Sais flashed a winner’s grin. Not many chances to dunk on Medith.

They rolled toward the Royal Capital with the surge of a river, laughter flickering like campfire sparks. After the tsunami and those days at sea, Medith’s crew and Kailon and Haidra had braided tight, deeper than oaths. This ball felt like a done deal...

...

October 23, 10:52 p.m. Powell walked a narrow alley and met the man he’d wanted to see.

“Fi—”

“Shh. Use that name.” Powell started to say a title; the black-robed man cut him off. He stood about six-foot-one, robe swallowing his frame. Night and angle drowned his face in shadow.

Yet the pressure pouring off him hit like thunder rolling down a cliff. Even a fabled wyvern would tilt its head up. It was a born-king aura.

“I’ve lured the target here. Three days, roughly, and he’ll step onto this ground. How many he brings, how strong—they’re unknown. But I’ve given you enough. You know what to do.” His words carried a hidden blade. The weight of it made Powell sweat like rain in summer.

“My lord, do you have a plan for Lachesis?” Powell asked, respectful as kneeling in a temple.

The man sighed, barely a breeze. “I threw every tool at it and found nothing. No wonder they call Thanatos the ‘Nation of the Gods.’ That piece someone dragged in at great cost is no easy prey.

Stick to the plan—use numbers and gear, encircle without striking. When the moment ripens, cut clean.”

“Yes...”

“This time, only success is allowed. Failure—you know the price.” His tone dropped to ice. Powell felt a prick against his neck, like a needle from the dark. “Understood, my lord.”

A glance glinted from within the black. He turned to leave. Powell remembered something and called out, “My lord, one more thing.”

“Speak.” No warmth, like a god hearing a beggar’s wish.

“It’s the Elf Clan. The women in the rumor seem tougher than the rumor.”

“Oh? On what grounds?” A ripple touched the shadow.

“She’s strong in martial skill, sharp in instinct, brilliant in mind. Her grasp of war is staggering. Not at your level, my lord... but her command might match yours.

She also seems familiar with the Collapse Point. This tsunami—she was the one who found that point.

They’re the biggest unknown. Sais of the Thorn went with them. That woman’s senses are razor-sharp; we almost blew the cover on the spot...

The other three aren’t easy either. The shoulder-length brown-haired one is Milia, first-rate in battlefield command.

The green short-haired one is Iling, top-tier recon. In a disaster that sudden, she mapped every distress point in the city within an hour...

There’s also a Sprite with brown shoulder-length hair, a petite loli look. Rumor says Wolf-Star Soledo was shot by her. She lay in shadow for three long hours. While kin died and the gate got smashed, she held. She caught the instant Soledo had to show his true body and killed him.”

“Oh?” Interest woke in the black-robed man. Three minutes of quiet passed like waves pacing a shore. “Interesting... she’s been preparing since the start.”

“What do you mean, my lord?”

“Look at her lineup: sniper, recon, commander, a war-god on the field, plus her own near-omnitalent. She runs the whole board and keeps the final trump. That’s a mobile war team.

They can take over a strange army in no time. Heh. Interesting...

Don’t worry. I’ll keep her in the Royal Capital. And even if she gets there, what can she really do? Just follow my instructions.”

“Brilliant, my lord...”

Satisfied, the black-robed man nodded and left. He walked to a corner of the coastline, pried open a broken stone, and stepped straight inside. The stone closed. The sea-breath settled. Everything looked normal again.