The silence in the central den settled like a suffocating shroud. Varkas was a cooling corpse in the silver mud, the white-gold light of the Justiciar replaced by the low, mechanical hiss of the mercury pipes. Only the jagged breathing of three survivors interrupted the rhythmic pulse of the machinery. Vane stood over the body, his hand tight on his spear as the cold thrum of the Silver Fang resonated through his marrow. This power was a hungry, demanding thing, yet the star-metal tip of his weapon remained pristine. The Authority had rejected Varkas's blood before it could even stain the metal.

Vane did not need to discover the limits of his power through trial or error. He had calculated them in the Old Gymnasium under Senna's brutal supervision, long before the first drop of Imperial blood had been spilled. The Silver Fang was a law of rejection, but it was not an absolute decree. It was a conceptual blade bound by the density of the world. Against Sir Elian's shield, the spear had been a hot needle through wax. Against a Justiciar, the reality was far more complex. A Rank 5 aura was a physical, mystical wall of high-density mana. To the Silver Fang, it was a mountain. Vane understood that he could not reject a mountain while it was solid and whole. He had to hollow it out. He had to starve the core until the law of the aura became a tattered, flickering suggestion.

He had done exactly that to Varkas, using the wyverns and the hydra to bleed the titan dry. Now, he had to apply the same cold arithmetic to Kaelen. And Kaelen was a Seer.

Valerica stepped away from the railing and moved toward Mara. Her violet hair was matted with grey dust, and her dark eyes had hardened into something cold. "He is watching us. Kaelen is not like Varkas. He will not charge into the mud. He is waiting for us to move into the open."

Vane looked up toward the dark rafters. He could not see the Captain, but he felt the violet weight of the Analytical Sight. It was a needle pressing against the back of his neck.

Vane walked toward Mara. The girl was huddled near a rusted brass pillar, her amber eyes wide and glazed. She was a variable the Empire wanted to cage, a child who had just seen a mountain die. Vane stopped five feet away. He did not tower over her, but he did not soften his stance either.

"Vane." Valerica's voice carried a sharp warning as she stepped between them. Her hands were glowing with the faint, golden warmth of the Starfire Aura. "She has given enough. She is exhausted. If you force her into another trap, you will break her."

Vane looked past the noblewoman. He did not argue or explain the tactical necessity. He locked eyes with Mara instead.

"The exit is five hundred yards through the Steam Core," Vane said, his voice a flat, clinical rasp. "The path is clear for now. You can run. You can try to find the retrieval squads or hide in the groves. If you leave, we will set the trap without you. It will likely fail, and Kaelen will kill us before he catches you."

Valerica's jaw tightened. "Vane, stop it."

"Or you can stay," Vane continued, ignoring the heat radiating from Valerica. "You can help me bury the man who burned Ash-Hollow. You can help me ensure he never puts a collar on another person. It is your choice. I am not commanding you."

Mara stood up. Her legs shook. She could still feel the lingering pressure of Captain Varkas's aura, the way it had made her bones feel like glass about to shatter. She looked at the dark tunnel leading to the surface. Freedom was five hundred yards away. Maybe. Probably not. The Empire had tracked her to Ash-Hollow. They had tracked her to the groves. They would track her to the ends of the world. Variables did not get to run. They were either used or erased.

She walked toward Vane and placed her small, trembling hand on the star-metal shaft of his spear. Her voice was barely a whisper. "What do you need me to do?"

Valerica watched the girl's fingers grip the wood. She wanted to object again, to pull Mara back and wrap her in protective gravity until the world stopped trying to devour her. But the look in Mara's eyes stopped her. It was not the blank terror of the courtyard. It was resolve. Fragile and terrified, but resolve nonetheless.

Valerica let out a slow breath. Her hands were still glowing, her internal furnace at odds with the cold efficiency of Vane's plan. "Fine. But when this is over, we are having a very long conversation about the difference between tactics and cruelty."

Vane nodded once. "I never expected you to feel good about it."

They moved out of the den and into the labyrinth of high-pressure pipes. The environment here was a nightmare of thermal vents and brass valves. The heat was a physical weight, creating translucent curtains of mercury vapor that distorted every shadow. It was the perfect stage for a Seer's downfall. Vane knew that Kaelen's violet eyes saw mana flows as clearly as a map. The Justiciar saw the intent behind every gesture, the heat of the blood, and the flicker of a thought.

Vane led them to a junction where four massive cooling towers met. He pulled several crystalline shards from Mara's belt and began embedding them into the rusted metal of the floor in a precise, jagged pattern.

"He thinks he is seeing the truth," Vane whispered.

He looked at Valerica. "I need you to anchor a low-intensity Event Horizon on these shards. Do not let the gravity collapse. I want a steady, rhythmic pulse. I want it to look like a desperate and failing defense."

Valerica knelt and pressed her hands to the floor. The sphere of darkness manifested, flickering and weak. To a normal observer, it was a sign of exhaustion. To Kaelen and his Analytical Sight, it would look like a feast. It would look like a Rank 3 noblewoman who was finally at her limit.

Vane moved into the shadows of a steam vent. He utilized Internal Pulse, forcing the silver mana of the Silver Fang into his skeletal structure. He prepared the law of rejection. He was not waiting for a fight. He was waiting for the moment the Seer looked into the mirror and realized he was blind.

The violet light appeared at the end of the corridor. Captain Kaelen stepped through the steam like a ghost materializing from mist. His primary rapier was gone, destroyed by the Silver Fang, but he had retrieved a backup blade from one of the fallen knights. His armor was scorched and dented, yet his eyes still glowed with that cold, analytical violet light.

He studied the trap. The flickering gravity well. The crystalline shards embedded at precise angles. The faint thermal signatures of three bodies trying to mask themselves in the steam.

"A parlor trick," Kaelen said. His voice carried the bored certainty of a teacher correcting a student's mistake. "You are hiding your signatures in the gravity distortion, using the child's lattice to refract my sight. It is logical. But I am a Justiciar. And your logic is flawed."

He took another step forward, his violet eyes cataloging every mana flow and every thermal gradient. He took his time, feeling the absolute superiority of his rank. He believed he was dissecting their final stand, piece by piece.

Kaelen was looking so hard at the lie that he had forgotten to look for the truth.

Vane gripped the star-metal spear, his heartbeat steady. The 9th kill was waiting in the steam.

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