Valentina paused, her pen hovering over the parchment. She looked at him, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"The agenda is nearly exhausted, Apollo. Is this a matter of immediate strategic necessity?"
"It is the foundation of the necessity," Apollo replied. He leaned forward, his shadow stretching long across the table. "We have been dissecting Tremor's connection to the Underlayer and the Legion as if they were isolated strategic variables."
"We have treated the Legion as a force of nature, a storm to be weathered. But the presence of Ignivara, the precision of Zane's movements, and the specific architecture of the operation they were running... it points to a singular, terrifying truth that this network can no longer afford to ignore."
The room went unnaturally still. Even the flickering candlelight seemed to freeze in place.
