Chapter 406: Chapter 406: The Fall of the Thal’zar [XX]
Steel clashed sowhere beyond the do. A Void Creature shrieked and was cut down mid-sound.
Trafalgar did not look away from him.
He could not ignore an order that ca from Elenara through Thaleon.
Lysandra already understood. Her expression had tightened the mont he spoke.
"We were assigned to hold this route," Trafalgar said evenly.
"I know," Thaleon replied at once. "You did well."
His gaze swept the field once, asuring spacing, numbers, pressure points.
"You were fortunate it was us who erged from that corridor," he continued. "It could just as easily have been enemies."
Then his tone shifted, subtle but firm.
"We need to go back in."
The rain intensified briefly, drumming against the roots overhead.
"One of my familiars followed Valttair," Thaleon said. "Icarus spoke."
That drew Trafalgar’s full attention.
"He revealed more than he should have," Thaleon continued. "The Void Creature has intelligence. The experint succeeded. And this," he added, gesturing toward the rifts tearing the battlefield apart, "is his doing."
Not Thal’zar. Not Kaedor.
"Icarus caused it," Thaleon said. "House Thal’zar is collateral damage."
The words settled heavier than the rain.
So this was not not a desperate gamble from a dying house. This was Icarus’ design from the beginning, an experint pushed past restraint, a creature granted intelligence and then turned loose upon the world. The rifts were not a consequence of desperation. They were the result of success. Now all the world knew.
He let the information move through him, slotting into place with everything he had seen since the first distortion split the air. The Void had not been chaotic. It had been purposeful. Selective where it mattered. Indiscriminate where it served confusion.
’Fucking madman, Icarus is mad.’
The mission shifted without ceremony.
Retrieve the Thal’zar heirs.
The house itself would pay. It would bleed for what it had allowed. Weakness carried a cost, and Thal’zar would not escape it.
But the heirs could not die.
This was no longer about preserving their pride or restoring their power. It was about preventing a vacuum that would fracture the balance between the Great Families even further.
The objective was clear.
If they left this sector, the pressure here would spike imdiately. The rifts were still active. The Void was still pushing. This corridor was the only stable evacuation route left in this section of the castle.
Holding it ant survival for those fleeing.
Abandoning it ant chaos spreading outward.
But ignoring Elenara’s order was not an option either.
Trafalgar’s eyes remained on the corridor leading back inside, but his thoughts moved elsewhere.
’Why do they want the heirs of House Thal’zar?’
Kaedor would die. Of that he was certain. The way things were unfolding, there was no path left for him.
So it wasn’t about saving him.
’They want the heirs.’
Not for rcy but for leverage.
That was the intelligent move.
If House Thal’zar was erased completely, it would not bring stability. It would create a vacuum. Soone would try to take their place. Another Great House might expand. Smaller factions would push upward. Old grudges would resurface.
And the balance between the Eight would fracture.
’If one pillar falls entirely, the others will start asuring each other.’
That would an tension.
Instability.
War.
Not open war imdiately, but sothing worse. Political fractures. Quiet movents. Opportunistic strikes.
The heirs alive ant control.
Rain struck harder against the roots overhead.
Trafalgar looked between Thaleon and Lysandra.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
"Helgar has already moved," Thaleon said, his gaze shifting briefly toward Trafalgar and Lysandra. "Your brother went ahead. The First Heir of Elenara is with him, along with several others. They’ve already begun searching. The heirs are competing to be the ones who secure them."
The words settled differently than the earlier revelation.
So it was not only an order.
It was a race.
Trafalgar felt the implication imdiately. If one of the heirs of another house reached the Thal’zar successors first, the narrative would be written by them. The credit would follow. The leverage would follow. Influence would shift quietly in the aftermath, long before anyone admitted it openly.
He exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing toward the dark corridor that led back inside.
If he went, and succeeded, it would not only fulfill Elenara’s order. It would strengthen his standing.
If he reached the Thal’zar heirs first, if he secured them while the others competed in the dark, it would solidify his standing in a way that no internal argunt or quiet maneuvering could undermine. Influence inside a Great House was not given. It was taken, reinforced through visible outcos.
He did not care whether Morgain’s na grew louder because of it. But when the Thal’zar heirs understood who had pulled them out of the collapse, that debt would not vanish.
"I’ll go," Trafalgar said at last.
"I know where they are," Thaleon replied evenly.
He extended one hand, and a small summon ford beside him, compact and precise, its shape woven from condensed mana and root-light. It settled low to the ground.
"Follow this. It will lead you to them."
Lysandra stepped forward without hesitation. Garrika moved with her, rain sliding down her dark hair as her green eyes fixed on the corridor ahead. Morgain soldiers shifted formation around them, tightening into a forward escort without needing further instruction.
Behind them, Karon remained where he was, repositioning himself near his fourth brother to reinforce the defensive line they would leave behind.
"As you can see, there are fewer rifts opening now," Thaleon said, his voice carrying easily over the clash of steel and the distant distortion of mana. "There are no enemies left aside from the Void Creatures. House Thal’zar has already been taken."
His gaze lifted toward the massive root that split through the castle like a pillar forcing the structure apart from within.
"What remains is Kaedor, Icarus, and the primary Void Creature. And they are already being dealt with."
A heavy THOOM rolled through the air the mont he spoke their nas, stone trembling underfoot as the clash above intensified.
"Up there," Thaleon continued, "you can see Elenara engaging Kaedor."
Another distant detonation answered him.
"Below, in the tunnels, Valttair is holding a two-against-one. Icarus and the intelligent Void Creature."
His eyes shifted back to Trafalgar and Lysandra.
"It appears your father is doing well. The Void Creature’s focus is shifting toward him now."
The battlefield around them felt lighter by a fraction, the pressure thinning as fewer distortions tore open the air.
"That is why it is calr here," Thaleon finished. "Its attention is moving elsewhere."
He extended his hand slightly, and the small summon beside him shifted forward, its form tightening as if it understood the command before it was spoken.
"So you can move now," he added. "Follow this one. It will take you directly to them."
His gaze moved across the Morgain soldiers, then to Lysandra, then finally settled on Trafalgar.
"I will handle this sector with the others."
There was no doubt in his tone. No need to assert authority. It was simply a redistribution of weight.
"Go."
Before turning away, his eyes found Aubrelle.
For a brief mont, the battlefield seed to narrow around them.
"Bring pride to our house," he told her quietly. "From this point forward, it will matter."
Then he faced the advancing Void again, summons already shifting formation around him as the rain continued to fall.
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