"We are indebted to you for your assistance," General Noh said, lowering his head slightly as he pressed a closed fist to his heart—a solemn Ajnal gesture of deep respect.

Lukas returned the bow with calm composure, lifting his index finger to the centre of his chest in the Azcoyatl fashion. "It was the least we could do. The Xok'al are enemies to all of us. In standing together, we honour both our dead and our duty. We acted as we must."

He straightened and met Noh's gaze.

"The High Priest sustained significant strain in the confrontation with the Warden and is currently recovering. I will speak on her behalf for the time being."

Noh regarded him a moment, then gave a slow nod.

"You mentioned your request regarding the remains—the Warden's body and half of the Commander-class corpses."

Lukas inclined his head.

Noh offered a faint, weary smile. "They are yours to take. Without your intervention, I fear I would have arrived too late, and the fort would have fallen along with the lives of countless soldiers. This is but a small token of our gratitude."

"We thank you, General."

Noh's expression darkened. "Still… though today's victory has bought us time, the war is far from over."

Lukas narrowed his gaze, noting the shift in tone. He had expected as much. But the weight in Noh's words carried deeper meaning.

"The Warden we faced here is not alone. On my way to Soaken Eagle, my delay was caused by an ambush."

Noh's voice dropped.

"There were only two attackers… two Wardens."

Lukas' breath caught. His eyes flicked wide for the briefest moment.

"I barely escaped," Noh continued, glancing at the scarred edge where his right forearm used to be. "My arm's still recovering, and a portion of my armour is gone—but I made it out. I came here to regroup and help bring this one down. I suspect… it wouldn't have been enough without your aid. You and the High Priest have our thanks."

Two Wardens? Three, counting the one they had just killed? An ambush on Noh?

But setting a trap for someone of his rank required more than just cunning—it demanded planning, deep knowledge of Ajnal military routes, transport patterns, fallback protocols… even predictive modeling.

Were the Xok'al truly that intelligent?

Lukas' chest tightened.

His headache throbbed again, sharp behind the eyes, but he forced himself to push it down. Now was not the time.

"You mentioned 'many'. Does this mean you know of others beyond the one we killed and the two that ambushed you?"

Noh nodded gravely. "Yes. General K'in on the Western front also reported a clash with a Warden-class entity. That confirms at least three more are active in this region. But I believe it doesn't end there. They've gauged our strength—and they're still advancing. That means they're confident in dealing with us."

Lukas' mind reeled.

One Warden they could take down—if cornered, exposed, and struck with overwhelming force after meticulous preparation.

But two?

No. He had seen firsthand what the Warden was capable of. That last state it had entered—whatever it was—had elevated it beyond any simple classification. It resembled the Ajnals' Heart of Spark, but much stronger… and if they didn't have a one-shot way of ending it, it would wipe them all out. They had no one capable of tanking such a monster.

An all-out war against the Xok'al wasn't feasible. Not yet. Not even with the Generals at their side.

Their objective hadn't changed. The Warden was down. They had earned time—enough to regroup, repair, and most importantly, sweep the plains to find Ayu.

And as cold as it sounded, the Ajnal would have to shoulder the invasion's weight alone.

It was a harsh truth, but one rooted in strategy. The Ajnal were strong—they had depth in the capital, forces of higher calibre like the Grand Priest and the Empress. If the Xok'al were truly committing to an all-out assault, then so be it. It would expose their scale, their structure, and all their powerhouses.

And they would watch—and prepare.

"I understand, General," Lukas said carefully, voice steady. "Unfortunately, the High Priest will require time to recover, and several of our Meca sustained significant structural damage during the engagement."

He paused, then added with firm finality.

"We'll remain in communication. But for now… we won't be able to offer direct support."

"We understand," Noh said, though a flicker of disappointment crept into his voice. "Then may your path remain clear, Lukas of the Azcoyatl. Let the High Priest know we are indebted to her."

A respectful nod was exchanged.

With nothing more to say, both went their separate ways.

Outside the command chamber, he spotted Imani and Wang waiting by the inner fortress wall. Arjun was still out, scouting ahead like they'd discussed.

"We got the green light. Take half the four-tails and distribute the orbs as agreed. Scavenge all the blades and pack them into the MRV storage. Bring the Warden to Chiara's chamber."

He sent the orders out as his gaze met Imani's. With a sharp exhale, he let the tension ease just a bit and leaned against the wall, eyes tired.

"I seriously need a break."

Imani smiled faintly. "I believe you do, commander."

He shook his head. "No more of that. At least not right now." He ran a hand through his hair, half-smirking. "So, tell me something good. What'd you think of my gadgets?"

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"You one-shotted a Warden," Wang said, crossing his arms with a grin.

"Yeah, well… if that didn't kill it, I was ready to just walk up and surrender."

He let his eyes close for a beat.

"Took a lot of calibration, that one," he muttered. "Had to sync the EM release timing with Chiara's field oscillations down to under 0.08 milliseconds. And then there's the rotational channel—if her input so much as nudges the charge while the disc's spinning up, you lose angular coherence and the whole projectile veers. At that velocity, half a minute of arc off and you're drilling air."

He opened his eyes again, voice quieter now, but laced with the same obsessive edge.

"Spent three nights reworking the coil sequence just to stop the rails from vibrating out of phase. Field tests showed heat spikes past 83% output, so I routed the main loop through a double-layered capacitor bridge to keep the damn thing from frying itself on discharge. And the whole frame had to stay mobile—she needed to adjust the curvature of the magnetic rails in real-time, mid-fire, through raw EM control. One misstep and we'd have melted the rig or misfired straight into the mountain."

He paused.

Imani blinked.

Wang tilted his head.

Then both shrugged, almost in unison.

Wang chuckled. "Well, it worked."

Imani smiled. "No idea what you just said, but… well done."

They all laughed for a long while.

"I really missed you guys."

They nodded, warm and silent—but a flicker passed through Imani's eyes, echoed subtly in the others.

Lukas caught it and sighed, shifting the topic before it even came out. "You should go grab your share of orbs. We'll need all the SP we can get."

"Well, I'll be needing quite a number of them if you ever want me to tank that thing," Imani said, his gaze drifting toward the Warden's body as Jun's and Mei's squad Mecas moved in to scavenge the surrounding corpses. A larger automaton approached to haul the Warden itself.

"No need for that. We've got time," Lukas said, then paused. "And… there's more to this stage than I initially gave it credit for."

Imani's brows drew together. Curious, but not pressing.

"Let's wrap this up first. I'll fill you all in later. For now, take the orbs. Rest. We move out at dawn—heading east toward the plains."

"I suppose not on foot?" Wang asked, smirking as his eyes landed on the hulking vehicles parked near the base perimeter. "They look like something out of a modern Earth military column."

"Well, I got some inspiration," Lukas replied with a shrug. "But if you look closely at the side panel, instead of the usual Made in China, it actually says: Made in the Azcoyatl Empire."

He tried to keep a straight face. Failed.

"Lol. How fast do they go?"

"However fast your EM output can make that motor run," Lukas grinned. "You don't think I built them to run on fuel, right?"

Wang raised an eyebrow. "So no combustion?"

"Of course not," Lukas said. "Hybrid pulse converter linked to a central EM turbine. You channel your field through the interface—it syncs with your signature and gives you full control over torque and traction. The more people channeling, the faster it runs. If it's just one… well, you might be better off running."

Wang let out a low whistle. "Man… I really missed having you around."

Lukas shrugged with a smirk. "Yeah, well… you'll curse me the moment you blow the stabiliser because you overcharged the climb vector."

"I'm gonna pretend I understood all of that," Wang said, grinning. "Still sounds awesome."

Imani chuckled. "Until we flip one off a ridge."

"Hey," Lukas said, pointing at him in mock offence. "They're self-correcting. Probably. Anyway, Mei knows the system inside out—she can explain it. Was pretty eager to see you, by the way," he added with a knowing blink.

Wang shrugged, trying to play it cool, though a faint flush crept up his ears.

He stretched his arms behind his head. "Guess I'll go claim my cut before the others start hoarding. I've got a Third State to pursue."

Imani gave Lukas a long look, then nodded. "Dawn, then."

"Dawn."

They all dispersed, one by one.

Lukas stayed there a moment longer, back still pressed to the wall, eyes half-lidded.

Chiara had said he should still be alive, but… the more time passed, the harder it became to hold on to that possibility.

His absence hit them, no matter how much Lukas tried to patch things up with fancy toys and half-smiles. The lack of such a talented front-line melee specialist left a gap—an anchor they no longer had. And without anyone even close to Chiara's level of talent, their influence in the Ajnal side was far weaker than what they had in the Azcoyatl Empire.

Imani and Wang weren't bad, but…

Lukas exhaled as he pushed off the wall. He let the thoughts drift away and locked onto the next tasks. There was no rest for the wicked, they say. Was he really that bad?

He grinned as he made his way toward Chiara's chamber, thinking about the rather interesting corpse waiting to be dissected—and wondering just how much SP it might give her.

Time to get back to work.

Alonso Shemson.

A warrior. A man of honor. A brother.

Alonso stood still, reading the inscription carved into the large stone resting flat on the ground.

Ayu landed beside him with a thump, having leapt clean over the cliff's edge.

"So this is where it ha—what the hell!?"

"Funny, eh, staring at your own gra—"

Before he could finish, Ayu stepped forward and shattered the rock with a single kick. Sharp cracks echoed across the ridge.

"Why the fuck did they do that? They didn't even see you die!"

"Well, to be fair, I might've done the same," Alonso shrugged, smiling faintly. Honestly, he would've liked to keep the rock as a curious memento.

"Heck no! You don't mark graves for the living. That's just asking the spirits to come collect you! Bad luck—terrible luck! Who the hell did this? I'm gonna find them and—"

"It's okay," Alonso said, chuckling as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Judging by the wording and the clean carving, he was pretty sure it had been Imani—but he kept that to himself. And spirits, huh? Sometimes he forgot how different their worlds had been before The Tower. Did her culture really believe in that sort of thing? Might make for an interesting conversation later.

"Come on. Let's check the base."

"You're just gonna let it slide?" she asked, fuming.

"Let it slide? What more can I do to that poor rock?" Alonso chuckled as he started walking back. "Let's go."

Ayu shook her head, still flustered, but followed shortly after—her form blurring with the wind as they made their way toward the nearby outpost.

Only for…

"There's no one here," Ayu said, her nose twitching as she tried to catch any scent.

"It seems so…"

But why?

The Xok'al attacked? Took over? But the base wasn't damaged at all. So… a retreat? They abandoned it?

Alonso sighed.

Where to now? It's not like they could just wander around and hope to stumble across an Ajnal settlement. As fast as they were, this stage was massive—and mostly barren.

Should he—

His eyes briefly flickered as he picked up a distant EM signal.

The content was scrambled by noise, but he could roughly estimate its origin.

"I picked up something. Let's check it out."

Ayu nodded, and the two dashed toward the source.

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