Julian's voice was cold, flat as a blade. "If you lay a hand on any of them, Leo, you'll pay for it. I promise you that."
Leo only smiled, small and cruel. "I'm more confident than ever. I'll carve a path through them if I have to. No one will stop me."
Julian's eyes went darker. He keyed his comm without hesitation. "Mr. Glain, I'm going to kill him, you don't mind, do you?"
There was a brief, heavy pause over the channel. Then Glain's calm, old-voice answered, steady and deliberate, "Understood, I'll accept the consequences."
The words carried like a verdict. Leo, listening from wherever he'd slipped away to, laughed, sharp and arrogant. "You really think you can kill me? Don't flatter yourself, Julian." He lifted the crimson shard so it caught the dying light and let it pulse like a heartbeat. "And don't worry about Darwin. He's not tangled up in all this. I will become something greater than any of you, And i will ascend into a god that leaves your rules behind."
