Some minutes later…

Halo was still puzzling over why Light and Tough were racking up kills when he'd told them to go easy when the two clones materialized in the room.

Tough immediately shifted into shadow form to rest, while Light slumped into a seat. Halo sensed their exhaustion, but Light waved him off, saying he just needed to rest for a bit.

White gathered everyone back in the living room, though the confusion lingered until Light managed to write out an explanation.

It read:

"We were fighting four of them when a psycho who looked like a kid appeared. He almost trapped us in some kind of black box. We had no idea what it did, but I knew letting it close around us would be a mistake. We were in a hurry. The four men didn't survive."

Delilah stroked her chin for a moment.

"A psycho kid, huh?"

Light nodded positively and wrote again.

"Blond hair, cheerful demeanor. Black shorts and a cream hoodie. They referred to him as Holly. Based on how the black box appeared, it's almost certainly his gift."

Brave aggressively rose to his feet.

"See? This is what I meant. While we hesitate, they're free to move pieces. Maybe with another group, adventurers, or even bandits. Enough. Let's fight them head‑on instead of pretending this is control."

Delilah sighed, disbelieving. This was clearly eating at her. She could still counter if Northern Mist attacked first, but the real fear was evident, what if their first strike was calculated to render her countermeasures useless?

"Holly… that's new. Did they really bring someone from headquarters for this?" Delilah thought out loud.

Halo exhaled deeply.

He admired Delilah's careful planning, but in situations like this, pure logic was a dead end. They had to move first, getting caught off-guard would render their True Abilities useless all over again.

Leto yawned in his seat.

"Delilah, we can't keep circling like this. Come up with something."

Delilah looked distorted.

She turned to Halo, searching for some hope from the Shadow of Death.

Halo had offered to be her brother just recently, and while his advice clearly wasn't what she'd hoped for, he figured she still wanted something from him in that role—reassurance, maybe, or solidarity.

"Nava has already handed them enough pieces to see the whole board. Their minds may be greater than ours. When that's the case, forcing control is foolish… sometimes you give them what they want and beat them at the moment they feel safest."

Leto began laughing.

"If I remember correctly, you did something similar back in StoneHaven, when you acted on impulse and challenged Spector to a duel. Iris told me everything."

He turned to Delilah.

"Listen to him, he is an expert in throwing these kinds of parties."

The moment he spoke, Brave aggressively got to his feet.

"That's it, I'm done."

His tone brooked no argument. He walked out without a backward glance.

Omega shook her head in disbelief.

"Not again…"

They all knew what he was about to do. His patience was gone, and considering how his True Ability functioned, his rage might actually be an asset.

That moment, something clicked.

Through the heavy silence that filled the room, Halo began to understand their situation better. At the moment, their safest option was to wait, but waiting meant they could be ambushed at any time. Yet striking first would leave them vulnerable too.

Brave's True Ability, Inflammable Savage, drew power from both his rage and his enemies' anger. If they waited, Brave would lose the fire from Nava's betrayal. And since Nava served the God of Torture, he'd likely enjoy fighting them, leaving Brave with no useful emotions to fuel his power.

Brave clearly understood this. His hatred was already dulling. He needed to strike now, which meant he'd gone to attack alone.

"Uhm… you do realize Brave is going to charge in on his own, right? If we don't move soon, he could get himself killed."

Omega reluctantly got to her feet, and Leto joined her.

"I can't watch him die, I'm going as well." Omega said.

Leto stretched his body.

"From this moment on, we move on my orders. We attack. If you struggle with your opponent, fall back to me, I'll handle it. As for their greedy leader, Roji… leave him to me. I'll kill him without effort."

Omega, White, and Leto moved to leave as well, but Delilah stayed frozen, uncertain.

As soon as the others left, she spoke:

"This is a bad idea." Her eyes were fixated on the floor, flickering. Whatever she was visualizing wasn't good for them.

"We don't even know what the Northern Mist wants anymore. Nava planted the idea that they wanted us dead, and that alone tells me their real objective is something far worse."

She locked eyes with Halo, her dark eyes flickering.

"They played the long game. We can't win with an upfront assault."

Halo rose to his feet and began calming her down.

She wasn't wrong. But the Northern Mist had the upper hand regardless. They've had Nava spying from their midst for months, after all.

"You're right. We act with what we have at this moment. I've got your back, no matter what."

A flicker of hope stirred in her.

"Really?"

Halo motioned positively.

Delilah's expression darkened not long after.

"How did you adjust to this world so quickly? As Assassins, we always had intel before attacking. Charging in without knowing anything feels dark."

Halo forced a smile.

"Blame my training if you must. I spent most of my time in the forest, where wild beasts have no schedules. That's where I learned to listen to intuition, by watching animals."

Delilah smiled.

"Mine wasn't like that at all… but fine, let's do this!"

The energy that sparked in her was worth seeing, and Halo almost wished he cared about this mission like the others did. Almost. But he'd still keep them alive.

They needed to face the Northern Mist head-on.

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