"The physical threat is contained, but the spiritual contamination is not. The moment you scattered his physical forces, the magical countermeasure was activated."
The Royal Inner Court Chambers dissolved into a flurry of controlled, strategic movement. Iven Dros, Draven Holt, and Rella Vorn now moved under the sharp, assessing eye of Marcus, forced to begin the surveillance of their own plot. The irony was suffocating, the tension in their shared psychic space like the slow, methodical turning of a vise.
I watched as Alaric quickly issued final, quiet instructions to Gavriel and Rell, ensuring the external borders were secured while the internal purge began. He moved with the focus, containing the intensity of an apex predator who had successfully cornered his prey but knew the fight was far from over.
