The ships came at noon.
Not one. Not three. Seven vessels, their white and silver sails catching the bruise-colored light, cutting through the black ice like knives through frozen meat. They did not sail on water. They sailed on Source—Lux crystals embedded in their hulls, pulsing with stored power, melting the frost as they advanced.
Sejin stood at the edge of the camp, his claw hanging at his side, and counted.
Seven ships. Each large enough to carry fifty Vessels. Three hundred and fifty soldiers, maybe more. All of them sent to capture one boy.
"They're afraid of you," The Other said.
"They're afraid of you."
"Same thing, different word."
Sora appeared beside him, her sword drawn, her Ventus aura flickering. Her face was pale.
"Mira's ship is at the front," she said. "The Silvercrest. She's not in command."
Sejin looked closer. The lead ship was larger than the others, its sails embroidered with the family crest—a phoenix rising from light. Figures stood on the deck. Armed. Armored. Waiting.
"Who's in command?"
"Her mother. Lady Seri Silvercrest." Sora's voice dropped. "She's worse than Lord Park. Smarter. More patient. And she doesn't make mistakes."
Sejin's claw pulsed. "Then why is she here? If she doesn't make mistakes?"
"Because she thinks you're worth the risk."
---
The camp mobilized.
Soldiers grabbed weapons, formed ranks, took positions among the stone spires. Jae limped to the front, his Ventus blade gleaming. Yuna stood behind him, her bandaged hands glowing with Aqua light.
Sejin watched them move. The precision. The familiarity. They had done this before. They had faced impossible odds before.
"They're going to die," The Other said.
Not if I can help it.
"You can't stop seven ships."
Then I'll sink them.
Sejin walked toward the front of the camp, toward the ice field where the ships were anchoring. Sora followed.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Negotiating."
"With Lady Seri? She doesn't negotiate. She dictates."
"Then I'll listen."
---
The ice field was a flat expanse of black crystal, stretching from the camp's edge to the ships' anchored hulls. Sejin stopped at the midpoint. Far enough from the camp to be exposed. Close enough to retreat if needed.
Sora stood ten feet behind him. Her sword was still drawn.
"She won't come out," Sora said. "She'll send Mira."
Sora was wrong.
The gangplank lowered from the lead ship. A figure descended—not Mira, but an older woman, tall and severe, her white hair cropped short, her silver robes immaculate. Her Lux aura was so bright it hurt to look at.
Lady Seri Silvercrest walked across the ice as if it were marble. She stopped ten feet from Sejin.
"Sejin Yun," she said. Her voice was calm, measured, without warmth. "You've caused my family considerable trouble."
Sejin met her eyes. They were blue, like Mira's, but colder. Deeper. The blue of a glacier, not a sky.
"I didn't ask to be born," he said.
"None of us do. Yet here we are." Lady Seri folded her hands in front of her. "My daughter speaks highly of you. She believes you can stop the Ura King. She believes you are worth protecting."
"And what do you believe?"
Lady Seri's eyes narrowed.
"I believe you are a weapon. Weapons do not need protection. They need handlers." She stepped closer. Her Lux aura pressed against Sejin's shadows, shrinking them, dimming his claw's purple light. "You will come with me. You will submit to examination. You will allow my scholars to study the Void inside you. In exchange, I will not burn this camp to the ground and kill everyone in it."
Sejin's jaw tightened.
"If I refuse?"
"Then I will kill you. Not because I want to. Because you are too dangerous to leave free." Lady Seri's voice did not change. No anger. No threat. Just fact. "You have three minutes to decide."
---
Sejin turned. Walked back to Sora.
"What do I do?" he asked.
Sora's face was pale, but her voice was steady. "You run. We'll cover you."
"They'll kill you."
"Maybe. But we knew the risk when we stayed."
Sejin looked past her, toward the camp. Jae stood at the stone spires, his Ventus blade raised. Yuna beside him, her hands glowing. Other soldiers—faces he didn't know, names he hadn't learned—taking positions behind rocks, behind tents, behind anything that might stop a blade.
They were going to die for him.
"That's what a team does," The Other said quietly.
I know.
"You don't have to let them."
Sejin turned back toward Lady Seri. The three minutes weren't up.
"I have a counter-offer," he said.
Lady Seri raised an eyebrow. "You are in no position to make demands."
"Then listen anyway."
He walked toward her. Not fast. Not slow. Just steady.
"I'll come with you. I'll let your scholars study me. I'll let them poke and prod and ask their questions. But you leave the camp alone. You leave Sora, Jae, Yuna, and everyone else alone. They go free. No retaliation. No 'accidents' later."
Lady Seri's expression didn't change. "And why would I agree to that?"
"Because if you don't, I'll let The Other out. Right here. Right now. And we both know you're not ready for that."
The silence stretched.
Lady Seri's Lux aura flared—bright, blinding, then dimmed. Her cold blue eyes searched Sejin's face for weakness. For fear. For anything.
She found nothing.
"Three days," she said. "You have three days to say goodbye to your friends. Then you come with me. Willingly. Without resistance."
Sejin nodded. "Three days."
Lady Seri turned. Walked back to her ship. The gangplank rose. The Lux crystals pulsed.
Sejin stood alone on the ice, watching the seven ships settle into the frozen field like wolves circling a wounded deer.
---
Sora grabbed his arm.
"Three days?" she hissed. "You're giving yourself up?"
"I'm buying time."
"Time for what?"
Sejin looked at his claw. The purple light was faint, almost gone.
"Time to figure out how to kill a Lady without waking the King."
---
The camp was quiet that night.
No fires. No laughter. The soldiers sat in darkness, their weapons close, their eyes fixed on the ships. The children were gone. The wounded were gone. Only fighters remained.
Sejin sat outside his tent, his back against a stone spire, his claw resting in his lap.
"You lied to her," The Other said.
About what?
"About letting The Other out. You can't control me. Not yet. If you'd tried to summon me, you might have failed."
Sejin's jaw tightened. "She didn't know that."
"She suspected. That's why she agreed to three days. She wants to see if you're bluffing."
"I'm not bluffing. I'm stalling."
"Same thing, different word."
Sora appeared from the darkness. She sat beside him, close enough to touch.
"You shouldn't be alone tonight," she said.
"I'm always alone."
"Not anymore."
She didn't say anything else. She just sat there, her shoulder near his, her breath fogging in the cold air.
Sejin didn't move.
But he didn't tell her to leave.