Reyna returned at dusk with the kind of force that said the contract would not complete itself.
The sky tore open wider than before — multiple rifts bleeding black and crimson across the city walls. Legion soldiers poured through in endless ranks, no longer probing. This was the final push. Cultists moved among them like shadows with purpose, whispering doubt into every defender's ear. Siege engines rolled forward in perfect formation, flames roaring along their frames.
Reyna stood at the center of it all, crimson eyes locked on the inner districts. She had new data now. She knew exactly where to hit.
The trio met her in the widest square still standing, the one the defenders had turned into their last line.
Vesna was still raw. The carved wheel on the warehouse wall, the almost-reunion, the hope that hurt — it all sat heavy in her chest. But she fought anyway. Dagger in hand, eyes scanning for the crest on any face that might still be alive in the chaos.
Zzyzx pushed further than she ever had.
She no longer just protected. She adapted. Tendrils lashed out in new patterns — one moment a shield around Vesna, the next a whip that drained three Legion soldiers in a single cold surge, feeding the power straight back into the fight. She felt the new rage from the last encounter still burning inside her, and instead of questioning it she used it. Turned it into something sharper. Something that refused to let anyone take Vesna from her again.
Leshwai had his biggest moment of the entire volume.
When a siege engine crashed through the barricade and threatened to crush a cluster of civilian defenders, the little gremlin swelled into full hulk form and charged. Thorns exploded outward in a living wall of green fury. He slammed his bulk against the massive machine, muscles straining, antlers glowing like beacons as he held the engine back long enough for the civilians to scramble clear. A demon blade caught him across the side, but he didn't falter. He roared — small body, enormous heart — and shoved the engine sideways until it toppled into a rift and vanished.
The line held.
The trio fought for a city they had come to care about. Not because it was strategic. Not because it was theirs. Because people were still inside it. Because the bell was still ringing. Because they had chosen to walk into the fire.
Golden threads from the few remaining Weave casters flickered in support, weaker than before but still there. The rookies' lessons from earlier volumes echoed in every coordinated strike. Zzyzx's adaptation created openings the defenders could use. Leshwai's raw, stubborn defense bought them time. Vesna's blade and focus kept the three of them moving as one.
It wasn't clean.
It cost them.
A chaos-laced blade caught Zzyzx across a tendril, sending a spike of wrongness through her that made her recoil. Leshwai took another hit shielding Vesna, blood matting his moss. Vesna felt every wound through the bond, felt the city's pain like it was her own.
But they held.
Reyna watched from the front line, calculating. When the last major rift began to destabilize and her forces started to fracture, she gave a single, crisp signal. The retreat was as precise as the attack had been. No panic. No rage. Just cold acceptance that this city would not fall tonight.
She locked eyes with Vesna across the smoke one final time — a hunter acknowledging worthy prey — then stepped back through the largest rift and vanished.
The rifts sealed.
The siege broke.
The city survived.
But the victory didn't feel clean.
Vesna stood in the middle of the square, breathing hard, blood on her hands that wasn't all hers. Zzyzx stayed extended, tendrils flickering with exhaustion and that new, protective ache. Leshwai deflated slowly, pressing himself against Vesna's leg, small again but still fiercely present.
They had won.
Something still hurt.
The bell in the distance finally fell silent, but the fires kept burning, and the three of them stood together in the wreckage, knowing the road east was still waiting.