Page 320 of Scarlet Wars
“Until a new Leader can rise to guide your people forward, the United Chiefs will assume temporary authority. There will be no disorder. No chaos. And nothing to worry about.”
That’swhen the murmurs started. Nothing like a dramatic speech to spark basic suspicion.
A man a few paces to my left called out, “Where’s James Walker? If he’s a prisoner, why isn’t he standing trial?”
Another voice rose near the front. “This doesn’t make sense. Emma Thompson led the defense during the attack on the Spring Palace. She sacrificed herself for our Leader, saved us from the Radicals. Why would she now be working with them?”
The High Chief didn’t respond. Instead, one of the guards on the platform raised a hand.
Next, two invisible hazes of magic lanced out.
Then, the voices stopped. Literally.
The crowd gasped as the two magi who had spoken up, dropped like standing had been a no more than a temporary privilege, crumpling to the stone in eerie unison.
No screams. No warning. Only sudden and brutal death.
I felt the shock ripple through the people around me. But underneath it, anger began to smolder.
Tactically, the Chiefs had just made acatastrophic mistake.
Cyclos magi weren’t known for their blind loyalty. They didn’t kneel because they were told to or scared into it. They followed logic. They followed truth. And more than anything, they werefighters, even the ones who had never held a blade or trained with Offensives.
Defiance was written into their bones.
And in killing two of their own without cause, the High Chief hadn’t forced them into compliance, like he’d hoped.
Instead, he’d given them a reason to fight.
Idiot.
On the platform, the High Chief calmly adjusted his stance, not a flicker of emotion on his face.
“Let this serve as a reminder,” the High Chief said, “betrayal will not be tolerated. Not from outsiders. And not from within.”
The people of Cyclos did not bow their heads.
They did not avert their eyes.
They met his words with iron in their spines; their jaws set like locked gates.
A taut, electric charge threaded through the crowd. All we needed…was a spark.
I nexed James a single word:Now.
A split second later, the air broke apart.
Like lightning tearing down from the gods, hundreds of green portals erupted across the square. Kanata C—Rachel’s—Offensives, Cyclos Offensives, Crown Offensives, and Slava Offensives, all portaling in together, side by side.
Energy roared through the ground, thrumming beneath our feet like a war drum.
The whole crowd gasped as five more portals tore open on the platform itself, with five familiar figures stepping through: Caden, James, Stephen, Rachel, and Sean.
The High Chief’s posture stiffened, clearly not too thrilled to see his party crashers arriving in matching formation.
“Took you long enough,” he sneered, scanning each of us with thinly veiled contempt before his gaze landed on Stephen. “You lifted the bubble almost half an hour ago. Care to explain how?”
No one answered.
