The silence that followed was worse than the ongoing battle.
Rinako touched down in what used to be the central plaza, boots crunching on shards of glass that had once been cobblestones. The return to normalcy would take a while, as fading out from a somewhat lucid dream—a daydream, really. Buildings ceased flowing; streets solidified; butterflies of pure mathematics ceased to exist.
But the scars stayed on. Craters, collapsed spires, and shattered ward-stones bleeding essence into the air.
"Is it over?"
Takumi came out from behind a collapsed wall with Kairo and Sayaka close on his heels. They looked like they'd been through a war, indeed.
She turned to them, her usual half-mocking expression momentarily flickering away.
"The fight's done. Whether it's over? That's another question."
Sayaka was picking her way through the rubble, already analyzing its destructive character.
"Izar said something before leaving. I think about awakening something."
"I heard."
Rinako's tone was bland as she knelt down and pressed her palm against the broken ward-stone embedded in the ground. Cold. Lifeless. Protection for three thousand years, gone in an instant.
"The wards shouldn't have failed like this. They were built to last until the realm ceased to exist."
"Then why did they?"
"That's what we need to find out."
Kairo crouched next to her, his tactical brain already bouncing around possibilities.
"Timing, unbelievably convenient. The beasts attack in waves, coordinated. Izar arrives in the weakest moment of the wards. And Takeshi disappears just before everything turns to hell."
Rinako picked herself up and brushed the dust off her hands.
"You think the boy's connected?"
"I think coincidences like this don't exist."
From far away, the emergency forces began making their way through the streets. Healers. Builders. Soldiers. The city will recover, eventually. But something fundamental has changed.
Takumi stepped atop a piece of rubble, each movement filled with frustration.
"So what do we do? Wait for the next attack? Hope that somebody will figure out what's going on?"
"No."
Rinako made her face hard in a way that made all three of them stagger a step away. Not exactly with fear, but from the immense weight hanging in her presence.
"We find answers. Starting with the wards."
She jerked a thumb toward the northern districts, where the oldest and most powerful ward-stones had been situated.
"If someone sabotaged the defenses, they would have needed access to the core anchors. Only a handful of people in the entire realm have that kind of clearance."
"You're talking about Trueborns."
Sayaka's voice was cautious, as though she were testing how far she could push.
"I'm talking about whoever's responsible. Trueborn or not, they'll answer for this."
Kairo exchanged a glance with the others. They'd seen Rinako fight; they'd seen what she was capable of if she really cared. Whoever did this had just earned a powerful enemy.
"What about us?"
"You three? Go home. Get some rest. This isn't your fight anymore."
"Like hell it isn't."
Takumi stepped forward, defiance stamped all over his face.
"We just survived a nightmare invasion and watched you fight a shadow titan. You think we're just going to walk away now?"
Rinako looked at them for a long time. Three young warriors, barely out of the academy, covered in dust, blood-stained, and still standing, still ready to fight.
"You're aware you almost died, right? Multiple times?"
"And yet here we are."
Rinako smiled for the first time since the battle had ended, real and without the usual playful mask.
"Fine. But if you're going to tag along, you follow my lead. No heroics, no improvisation, and absolutely no dying. I hate paperwork."
"Deal."
There was silence between them as they passed through the ruined city, as each one was remotely lost in his or her own thoughts. Athenum was waking all around them. Citizens emerged from shelters; some were crying, and some gazed at the destruction in numb disbelief.
How many had died? Hundreds? Thousands? Answers would come only days later.
In District Five, they found the first of the core ward-stones. Or rather, what had been left of it: The massive crystal that had once stood three stories high had been reduced to scattered fragments across a burned-out courtyard.
Rinako knelt beside the biggest piece and ran her fingers along the fractured surface.
"This wasn't battle damage."
"How can you tell?"
"Do I know what attacks look like? Do I know the corruption of Izar? This is none of those." She held the fragment up and turned it around for all to see the clean cut running through its center.
"Somebody destroyed it from within. Deliberately. Before the attack began."
The implication hung heavy between them: premeditation, planning. Someone had maybe spent months, or even years, just to arrive at this point.
"We need to verify with the other anchors."
The same story at every location: Ward-stones being shattered from inside, in an act of dismantling the protective enchantments by one who knew exactly what he was doing.
Unmistakably so when they reached the sixth location.
"This was an inside job."
Kairo's voice held a grim note.
"Someone with access and knowledge and time. Someone the defenses wouldn't consider a threat."
Sayaka went pale.
"Someone from the council, perhaps? Or one of the Trueborn families."
"I said treason."
Rinako stood up, still holding the fragment of the ward-stone in her hand. Around them, the sun was rising, soaking the devastated city in hues of gold and amber.
"This needs to be reported. Right now."
They crossed to the center tower where the council gathered in times of crisis. This building had been mostly intact until the last few days, its own defenses still able to withstand the attack even after the collapse of the ward network.
Within, chaos reigned.
Councilors argued with military commanders. Some members of the council ran along with healers carrying the wounded, while the chaotic messengers mixed disorder together by running from one district to another with reports.
No one noticed three young warriors and a Trueborn entering through the main hall.
The chamber that housed both the council and the six most powerful beings in the realm was on the top floor.
Rinako shoved the doors and did not even bother to knock.
"We have a problem."
Suddenly, the chamber went completely silent. Six pairs of ancient eyes turned to her.
Lysander, the Dragon Sage, was the first to speak. "Rinako. Your timing is impeccable as always. We were just discussing the ward failure."
"Then you'll want to see this," Rinako said, throwing the fragment onto the council table. It clattered against the polished wood before coming to rest.
"The wards didn't fail. They were sabotaged. From the inside. By someone with intimate knowledge of their construction and full access to the core anchors."
The deafening silence that followed was broken by Veyra leaning forward. "You're certain?"
"I checked six sites personally. Same pattern at all of them. Clean cuts, deliberate dismantling, precise timing to coincide with the beast attack."
"Impossible."
Mordain, the Worldkeeper, took hold of the fragment and studied it closely as he said, "The security protocols alone would prevent such tampering. Unless..."
"Unless the person doing the tampering was someone the protocols wouldn't flag."
Rinako crossed her arms.
"Someone on this council. Or someone close to it."
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees. These were not beings accustomed to being accused of treason in their own chamber.
But Rinako remained unmoved.
"I'm not saying it was any of you. But someone with equivalent access, equivalent power, equivalent knowledge. The list of suspects is very, very short."
Takumi shifted uncomfortably.
They had walked into a den of apex predators and basically accused one of them of destroying the city. This could go very badly.
Lysander studied the fragment for a long moment, then looked up.
"If what you're saying is true, we have a traitor among the highest echelons of power. Someone willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for... what? What could possibly be worth this?"
"Izar's last words," Sayaka spoke up for the first time, her voice steady despite the sudden attention of six Trueborns facing her.
"He said this was about awakening something. That they'd succeeded."
"Awakening what?"
"I don't know. But whatever it is, it was worth destroying the capital's defenses and killing everyone who got in the way."
The council members began exchanging glances, some form of communication passing between them which others could not interpret.
Finally, Veyra stood. "This council is no longer secure. Until we identify the traitor, we can trust no one. Rinako, you and your companions will investigate independently. Report to no one, trust no one."
"What about you?"
"We'll handle the city's defense and reconstruction. And watch each other very, very carefully."
As they filed out of the council chambers...