The bell rang again.

It kept ringing, sharp and insistent, its sound carrying through the guildhall and out into the streets beyond, stripping away any remaining doubt about what was happening.

Hanitz was already moving.

"Listen up," he said, voice cutting through the noise.

The room quieted around him without effort. "Civilians go first. Get them out of the streets and into the barracks and the church."

He turned slowly, eyes sweeping the hall.

"If you can fight, you form up, and you hold ground. If you can't, you don't play hero. You escort, and you live."

"No unnecessary risks," Hanitz added, lower now. "Not tonight. Anyone who wants to survive does it my way."

Weapons were adjusted. Cloaks thrown aside. Groups formed with purpose instead of panic.

The bell kept ringing.

Hanitz turned, his gaze finding Gabriel without searching for him.

"You," he said, already moving closer. "You're not holding the streets. Take Adan and get to the northern gate. If they're coming in force, they'll try to pincer the town from both sides. Make sure it doesn't fall. Lad"

Gabriel opened his mouth to object.

"Don't," Hanitz said calmly, not raising his voice. "I'm not asking."

Adan was already beside Gabriel, sword in hand, jaw set. He gave Gabriel a brief look that said the same thing Hanitz had.

Tess approached, stopping short, eyes hard. "Why are you sending a guild assistant with him? Send us instead"

Gilbert came up just behind her, slower than usual. His face was heavily bruised, one cheek swollen dark and ugly, a split lip crusted with dried blood. One eye was half-closed, but his posture was steady.

"With respect, Guild Master," Gilbert said, voice rough, "Tess is correct."

Hanitz's gaze flicked to him.

"Oh, for creator's sake, I don't have time to explain, go with them."

He turned away before anyone could argue further, already issuing orders to the rest of the hall as the bell continued to ring overhead.

Adan stepped off first, already heading for the door. Tess hesitated only a heartbeat, then followed, Gilbert falling in beside her despite the pain written across his face.

Gabriel lingered just long enough to meet Hanitz's eyes.

The giant didn't say anything.

He gave a single nod.

Don't die, lad.

Gabriel returned it once, then turned and went.

The doors swung open, and cold night air rushed in as they stepped out into the chaos of Eldenreach, the bell still screaming above them.

The street beyond the guild had already begun to unravel.

Townsfolk scattered in every direction, clutching children, dragging carts, shouting warnings that no one had time to hear.

Torches swayed wildly as people ran, light breaking and reforming in jagged patches across the wooden buildings. Someone stumbled and was hauled back to their feet without slowing.

Gabriel moved through it, pace steady, eyes forward. Adan walked a step ahead, already angling them away from the densest press of bodies.

Tess kept to Gabriel's left, scanning rooftops and alley mouths, while Gilbert brought up the rear, hand tight on his spear despite the stiffness in his movements.

Then the sound reached them.

The unified rhythm of marching feet, iron striking frozen ground in perfect time. It rolled through the streets like a pulse, steady and unhurried, cutting through the panic with unnerving clarity.

"Why are they all heading to the southern gate?" Tess mumbled.

Adan nodded. "They're pulling what little resources Eldenreach has in one place."

Tess frowned. "That leaves the rest of the town thin."

"That's why Hanitz sent us to the northern gate," Gilbert replied, an edge of pride cutting through the pain on his face.

Gabriel didn't comment. He was already watching the streets ahead, the way the crowds thinned the farther north they went, panic bleeding away into uneasy quiet.

The marching sound drifted southward, growing more distant with every step they took. Torches became fewer here, light thinning until shadows clung stubbornly to doorways and rooflines.

Adan slowed slightly, senses stretching outward. "This area's been cleared," he said, his voice laced with suspicion.

Tess tightened her grip on her blade. "You think they evacuated it?"

"No," Gabriel said. "Townspeople should be here."

The northern streets lay open before them, silent and waiting, the dark bulk of the walls just visible beyond the rooftops.

Gabriel didn't slow.

He felt the tension in the air, the way the street ahead seemed to hold its breath, but there was no time for them to hesitate.

Adan caught on immediately and matched him, followed by the other two.

No signal was needed.

The first shadow peeled away from the wall to their right, turning into a man mid-step, blade already coming up.

Tess broke left without breaking stride. Her sword slashed once, clean and efficient, the strike hitting the man across the throat before he could finish raising his weapon.

Another figure dropped from above.

Gilbert stepped into it, spear snapping up in a short, brutal thrust that punched through the attacker's chest and drove him back into the wood. He wrenched the weapon free and kept moving.

Two more shapes shifted ahead, trying to close the street.

Tess and Gilbert widened the line, cutting angles, forcing openings where there were none.

They didn't stop.

Gabriel and Adan pushed straight through the gap they'd carved, the northern gate drawing closer as more shadows began to move.

They burst through the street, boots skidding briefly on frost-slick mud as the street widened.

And then they stopped.

A figure stood between them and the open stretch before the gate.

He was massive. Broad enough that his shoulders nearly brushed the buildings on either side, head scraping just below the eaves. He hadn't bothered with a cover. He didn't need it.

He simply waited.

The torchlight caught him slowly as they closed the distance, revealing thick arms corded with muscle, a frame built like a battering ram rather than a man. Blond hair hung loose around a face that was wrong for its size.

Soft eyes.

Gabriel felt it hit him in the chest.

"Dannis," he said quietly.

The giant's gaze shifted to him.

More shadows moved at the edges of the street, slipping into view from alleys and rooftops, blades catching the light as they closed in.

Tess shouted. "We've got company!"

Gilbert was already moving, spear coming up as he angled right. "We'll clear them."

Adan stepped back a pace, turning with them, blade low and ready. "Don't take long."

Tess and Gilbert crashed into the approaching soldiers, steel ringing sharp and fast as they forced space in the narrowing street. Adan followed, movements precise, controlled, drawing the fight away from Gabriel without anyone needing to say why.

That left the street ahead empty.

Just Gabriel.

And Dannis.

The giant rolled his shoulders once, the motion heavy enough to make the ground creak beneath his boots.

"We've been looking for you," Dannis said, voice deep and even.

Gabriel tightened the grip on his swords.

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