"...This is it, everyone. Either you return victorious, or you never return at all."
"..!!"
Even though Heigra and Drais remained utterly composed — their calmness unshaken by the heavy words — the rest of the assembly could not suppress the tremor that ran through their bodies, not showing if it was from excitement or fear.
One of the generals clenched his jaw until his teeth scraped audibly, and his rough, gravelly voice broke the tense silence, "Is it time, then... to activate the Iron Pact Wall plan? But without Verilion, how could we possibly execute it? …Are we to replace it with Planet Shadhar instead?"
The long-dreaded moment had finally arrived — the moment they had known would come since the revelation of Verilion's existence. Every one of them had sensed this day in their bones, as if the stars themselves had whispered its inevitability.
