The words hung in the air like a death sentence. The Himulan Sect was under attack. Jacob's entire strategy had depended on those warriors arriving to bolster Seron's defenses, and now they were fighting for their own survival against an Argo assault that had been carefully timed to eliminate his most powerful allies before the invasion even began."Casualties?" Jacob asked, his voice tight with controlled emotion.Leo relayed the question to Carl, then listened to the response with growing despair. "Heavy fighting at the main temple compound. Multiple breaches in the outer defenses. Carl estimates at least two battalions of Argo regulars supported by armor and air cover. The Sect is holding but cannot disengage to come to our aid."Jacob slammed his fist on the table, the tactical maps jumping from the impact. Verons Heis had outmaneuvered them completely. While Jacob had been planning to summon reinforcements, Argo had already moved to neutralize those reinforcements before they cou

Seventy-two hours. Three days until Argo's invasion force launched its attack on a city that had no idea what was coming. Jacob stared at the maps spread across the operations table, his mind racing through scenarios that all ended badly."We cannot fight a conventional war," Jacob said, addressing the assembled group of Carl's surviving warriors, Leo's intelligence operatives, and Anna's growing network of contacts. "Argo has superior numbers, better equipment, and internal support from compromised officials. Meeting them head-on means annihilation.""So we do not meet them head-on," Roseline said from where she leaned against the wall, cleaning her weapons with the casual efficiency of someone who had killed more people than most soldiers even met. "We hit them where they are vulnerable. Make them afraid of the shadows."Carl nodded agreement despite his injuries. "Small unit tactics. Strike and fade. Target their logistics and command structure rather than engaging their main force

The Noble Council meeting descended into shouting matches and accusations that threatened to become physical violence. Jacob's security team moved to extract Anna before the situation deteriorated further, but the political damage was already done. Half the council believed her evidence, half thought she was lying, and that division meant neither side could take unified action against Bishop."That went poorly," Anna said with bitter understatement as they escaped through a side entrance while council members continued arguing."You got half of them," Jacob replied, trying to find the positive angle. "That is more support than we had before. Some of those families control significant resources that can help us."But Anna knew the real result of her public revelation. She had forced Bishop's hand without achieving the overwhelming support needed to stop him. Now the conspiracy would accelerate its timeline while she had fewer allies than hoped.Back at their operations center, Roseline

The discovery of Bishop's fail-safe complicated everything. They could not kill him without immediately handing Verons the exact locations of all five artifacts. But they also could not leave him alive to coordinate the invasion. Jacob stared at the automated protocols, searching for some weakness they could exploit."Can we disable the fail-safe?" Jacob asked Leo, knowing the answer would probably disappoint him."Not without access to Bishop's personal devices," Leo replied, studying the encryption protecting the system. "The fail-safe is tied to biometric monitors that only Bishop wears. If those monitors detect cardiac arrest or sudden removal, they automatically transmit the data. We would need to physically capture him and carefully disable the monitors before attempting anything.""So we cannot kill Bishop, and we probably cannot capture him alive," Anna summarized. "That means we focus on destroying everything around him instead."Jacob nodded agreement. If they could not remo

Jacob faced Verons Heis across the improvised roadblock, every instinct screaming danger. The Argo military commander stood relaxed and confident, as if cornering the Dark Blade was just another routine operation. Behind Jacob, his wounded team waited in the vehicles, trapped between pursuit from the burning barracks and this ambush ahead."I could kill you right now," Verons continued, gesturing to the armed soldiers positioned in darkness beyond the headlights. "End the legendary Dark Blade with a single order. But that would be too quick. Too merciful for the man who murdered my brother.""Your brother was butchering civilians," Jacob replied, his hand inching toward his concealed weapon. "I stopped a massacre. If you want revenge for that, it says more about you than me."Verons's expression hardened. "My brother was a soldier following orders. You executed him when he tried to surrender. Do not pretend you were some noble hero—you are a killer who got lucky enough to be on the wi