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Chapter 153. Orders from the Top.
Ceres's POVThe summons comes an hour before the break of the dawn sun, and the runner who brings it does not look at my eyes and doesn’t tarry for any kind of questioning. “Summons and complaint,” the runner says, thrusting the letter, it is the High Council Chamber. I know what it is about already.I get dressed without thinking, slip on my jacket over a shirt that reeks of smoke, and slide out of my quarters with my jaw closed hard. Two of my personnel are dead. One died where the west wall collapsed. Another bled out waiting on evacuation that never arrived. Their names are still lodged in my throat.The hallway leading up to the higher levels is quiet in a way that is definitely orchestrated. No chatter from the patrol. No movement. Just the smooth walls and the lights that give the sense that calm has not been purchased with bodies.The doors of the chamber open readily.They are already seated.Five of them today, sometimes seven, sometimes three. Depending on their expectat
Chapter 152. The Girl Who Didn’t Speak.
Seth's POV.The first time I saw her was in front of a broken staircase, one hand on the railing as if she was weighing whether the rest of the structure was sound.She did not appear to be hurt. That was the first thing that registered. Everyone else showed their injuries. Limping legs. Bandaged arms. Weak gaze that kept darting to corners that no longer existed. She simply stood, stable and calm in a manner that did not belong in a situation like this.It had formerly been an outpost for Ceres’ relay. Reinforced walls. Heightened lines of sight. Good places to create choke points. It could have withstood. It didn't. The burn marks can tell far more about it than any survivor. Breaches in the walls of the west. Internal damage done. Fire was applied in places where a precision strike would have been better. Failure upon which layers of poor decisions are heaped.She was watching me as soon as I entered.I felt it. That subtle push against the eyes that means a person is paying attent
Chapter 151. What Shadows Don’t Say
Noel's POVThe base just didn't feel the same after the mission.It never did, especially after intense brawls, but this time it wasn’t because of damage, loss, or wear and tear. It was eerily quiet, as if the walls themselves were listening. Soldiers trooped along at a slower pace. Muttered conversations ceased as soon as someone walked into a room. Everyone was thinking, and no one wanted to be the first to open their mouth.I went to the locker room and sat down without removing any equipment.The smells of metal, oil, sweat, and disinfectant lingered. It was a familiar scent. One that should have been grounding. Instead, it made everything feel all too real.I closed my eyes and here it came once again.That shadow.I hadn’t counted on that. Now I understood that. During the struggle. While everything was mayhem. While orders were being barked out. While opposing abilities were erupting into vicious bursts. I’d felt it extend the wrong way. A.pull that was nonsensical. A presence
Chapter 150. The Cost of Standing Still.
Seth's POVA struggle like this lingered in me after the struggle itself.Not the movements. Not the blows. These faded quickly, stored away with the rest of the physical memories. But the sensation, the weight in my chest, the shakes long after the adrenaline left my system that stayed.I had raised my fists against my own people.No. That wasn’t true.I hadn’t fought them. I had fought the uniform, the orders, the situation.“That’s the lie I kept telling myself,” that's how I summed up... It was a quiet road from here to the castle. Too quiet. They drove along the road hugging the cliff, with the moonlit sea shimmering far below like a scattering of broken glass. The wind beat against the windows with a mournful, deep moaning noise, and I tried to hear what guilt sounded like when words failed.Ceres drove as if nothing had happened.One hand on the steering wheel, a relaxed posture, humming to herself as if after a successful training mission rather than a field where blood and sm
Chapter 149. The Shadow I Didn’t Chase.
Noel’s POVThe first thing I felt was pressure.Not fear. Not excitement. Pressure, like the air itself was leaning inward, compressing around my chest, reminding me that this wasn’t training anymore. This was real. Real enemies. Real blood on concrete. Real lives hinging on every wrong step.Velkor’s outskirts were burning.Floodlights cut through smoke in harsh white lines, slicing shadows apart and stitching them back together in ugly shapes. Government units moved with discipline, voices clipped, orders sharp and efficient. This wasn’t chaos. This was controlled violence.I stayed low, close to broken walls and overturned crates, my shadow stretching thin beneath me, alert, listening. Shadows always talked. Not in words, but in pressure, in direction, in that quiet pull that told me where danger lived.“Advance left,” Alex’s voice came through the comm. Calm. Too calm. “Noel, cover the rear.”“On it,” I whispered.I slid backward into the shadow of a collapsed beam, breath steady
Chapter 148. Lines in the Dark.
Seth’s POVThe car smelled like oil, metal, and something burned into the upholstery long before I ever sat in it. The engine hummed low, steady, like it had made this trip too many times to care anymore. Ceres drove with one hand on the wheel, relaxed, as if we were heading to a meeting instead of a battlefield.I stared out the window, watching the dark blur past, trees thinning into broken land and concrete scars. Camps like this were never placed somewhere clean. They thrived in forgotten spaces. Places no one would miss if they burned.“Where are the others?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral.Ceres didn’t look at me right away. “Redeployed,” she said. “Different camp with a higher priority.”That answer sat wrong in my chest.“Just us?” I pressed.“For this operation,” she replied. “Yes.”The silence that followed was thick, heavy. I didn’t like being alone with her thoughts. Ceres was dangerous not just because of her ability, but because she enjoyed watching people figure out
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