"I know," Reidar said.

"Do you really?" Lena's eyes blazed. "Aaron stood beside me during training sessions. We fought monsters together. I trusted him to watch my back when everything started. And he sold us all to the Church for power."

Reidar let her breathe, giving her the silence she needed and the time to vent. There were no words to describe the rage she felt, and certainly, Reidar wasn't trying to describe it. But he understood.

He knew it well, although not as well as Lena did, what rage was, as he constantly felt rage because of his inability to be with his family. He barely reached Creamont. His mother had been in a coma since the start of the apocalypse. All of that made him rage at a world that had decided to betray him. When the woman finally relaxed, it was shaky, but her shoulders squared.

The fire in her eyes didn't dim, but it settled, banked into something colder.

Reidar nodded. This was the Lena who had led scouts through monster-infested ruins.

The one who had held Havenwood together when the Church did whatever it could to make them fall. The settlement wasn't just wood and wire. It was blood and bone. And Aaron had tried to carve it open from the inside.

"We'll make him pay," Reidar said. The room held its breath. Even the shadows seemed to lean in, drawn to the weight of what had been said, what would soon be done.

"Do you really think the plan will work? Will it really separate Aaron from Silas?"

Reidar leaned against the wall.

"If Aaron doesn't leave to protect the War Hounds' base, Silas loses his power source. No War Hounds mean no workforce and no supplies, but the circle they already made might be completed." His fingers tapped his thigh. "But if Aaron leaves, the circle might be destroyed."

Lena's jaw tightened. "Either way, we cut them off."

Reidar nodded. "If we are able to pull this off, of course. They can't defend both places. That's for sure, and we will capitalize on that."

Silence stretched.

Reidar knew the plan hinged on chaos. Aaron and Silas together were unstoppable. The War Hounds were a distraction, but a deadly one.

Even with his summons, Reidar couldn't be everywhere at once. Plus, there were too many variables and too few guarantees. Victory wasn't certain. Survival wasn't promised. But retreat wasn't an option.

Jake set down his weapon. "So, what do we do?"

Reidar watched as Jake gripped the Storm-Edge Kris. The blade looked heavy in his hands. Of course, it wasn't. Jake was strong and had the potential to be stronger than anyone else in the world.

He was only eleven years old, but the Church didn't care about age; Aaron would kill him without hesitation, and monsters would kill him without a shred of doubt. He was meat, after all.

Reidar felt guilty for having to ask him to fight, but he had to, because it didn't matter how he felt; survival called for strength, not fairness.

He looked at the boy. "We need to work harder than anyone else." He paused. "We will level up for as long as it takes, and then you will split into groups to do the same with the others. As for me, I need to be ready for whatever Aaron and Silas have in store. Lena will take a group, and you will take another. You need to help the others get stronger. Do you think you can do that?"

Jake nodded.

"Good… because they will depend on you, so you better not let them down."

There was silence for a couple of moments.

"The Spriggans, the Ironsides, and the Sun Chasers will need to take care of themselves after that."

Lena was clearly uneasy with the situation, with giving Jake such responsibilities. Reidar understood what she was thinking, because he was having the same thoughts.

"Don't worry," Reidar said. "I'll use the Vorathid Foragers to keep the worst monsters away from you guys. That takes the pressure off you, Jake, and the others. The summons handles the heavy combat, and you two lead the teams."

Those words not only eased Lena's worry but also Jake's.

Lena's expression eased. "Thanks. Let's just hope it will work."

<Hope is a luxury,> Reidar thought, but he didn't say it aloud. He simply nodded, accepting her doubt as the price of the task he had laid before them.

The room fell silent, save for the rhythmic shhhk-shhhk of the whetstone sliding against Jake's blade.

It was a sound of preparation, a promise of violence. Reidar watched the boy. Jake wasn't trembling. His hands were steady, his eyes focused on the steel edge of the Kris.

He had accepted the burden Reidar placed on him, a burden no child should carry.

Lena turned back to the window. The city lights were nonexistent; Creamont was a skeleton of concrete and shadows, hiding monsters and traitors alike.

Her reflection in the glass was ghostly, pale from the toxin, but her eyes were fierce.

She wasn't looking at the city anymore; she was looking at the past, at the betrayal that had cost her everything. She was sharpening her resolve just as Jake sharpened his knife.

"Get some rest," Reidar said, breaking the silence. "The next days will break us if we aren't ready. We need to be at our peak, so get as much rest as you can today. Ok?"

Jake nodded, while Lena didn't even turn around, but Reidar knew she heard.

Reidar left them there, stepping out into the dim hallway. The air was stale, smelling of old dust and tension. He walked toward his own quarters, the weight of the gamble pressing down on him.

He was betting everything—his father, his friends, his life—on a race against time. Aaron was leveling his forces. Silas was building his circle. And Reidar had to build a god-killing force from scraps before the clock ran out. Hopefully, Jake and Lena would be enough to level the field, since he was likely not going to join the next battles.

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