Sin Rouge should have been quiet at this hour.
Instead it felt like a machine running too fast.
Lights still burned in the war room. Doors slammed. Footsteps echoed. Voices were sharp, clipped, restless.
The moment between Verosika and Malerion the one that had been seconds away from crossing a line neither of them could walk back from now felt like a phantom touch.
Something stolen.
Interrupted.
And the reason stood at the table:
a new symbol burned across a fresh intel screen the crescent again only this time attached to territory movement reports.
Not a threat.
Map.
challenge.
Quill zoomed in, jaw tense.
"Three gangs in Wrath vanished. One collapsed in Envy. Two neutral factions are suddenly 'open for takeover.' It's too perfect."
Doona tapped through financial logs.
"And money from those groups just… evaporated. No transfers. No laundering. Just wiped clean."
Dreg cracked his knuckles.
"That's bait."
Rafe leaned forward with cold calculation.
"No. That's pressure."
Liz, arms crossed, finally said what the room avoided:
"He wants us to move."
Silence followed.
Not fearful calculating.
Malerion stood near the head of the table, Verosika beside him. She didn't speak yet but everyone knew she was watching, thinking, adjusting herself into the same pace as Ouroboros.
The Watcher's motives felt clear now.
Didn't want negotiation.
contact.
He wanted acceleration.
To force Ouroboros forward.
Test them.
Malerion finally spoke.
Calm. Controlled. Cold.
"He's thinning the herd."
Bit blinked. "Meaning?"
"He's clearing obstacles but not for himself."
Malerion's eyes sharpened.
"For us."
Liz frowned. "Why? That makes no tactical sense."
Rafe murmured,
"Unless Ouroboros growing benefits him."
Dreg laughed a humorless laugh.
"So the bastard wants to play chess using us as the queen. Great."
Verosika finally stepped forward, her voice surprisingly steady.
"He's provoking you."
Everyone turned toward her.
She continued.
"He doesn't just want expansion he wants you to show your hand. He wants to know how fast you can move, how you think, what you prioritize."
Malerion looked at her for a moment impressed by the accuracy.
She met his gaze.
"And if you hesitate, the whole Ring will smell weakness."
Quill nodded reluctantly.
"She's right. The timing, the structure this isn't random. He's studying response velocity."
Rafe added quietly:
"The Watcher isn't testing power. He's testing leadership."
Dreg slammed one fist lightly on the table, smirking.
"Then we give him what he wants."
But Malerion shook his head.
"No."
The room froze.
Verosika raised a brow.
"No?"
Malerion turned to the projected crescent symbol, expression unreadable.
"He wants speed."
A beat.
"So we give him patience."
Quill exhaled.
"You're planning to starve him of data."
"Yes."
Liz smirked.
"That'll piss him off."
"Good," Malerion said softly. "Let him feel ignored."
Dreg grinned like that was the best sentence he'd heard all week.
Bit whispered:
"Okay but like… what if ignoring him makes him escalate?"
Malerion finally looked at them all his inner circle, forged through chaos, power, and trust.
"If he escalates," he said quietly,
"then he exposes himself."
Rafe nodded slowly.
"Smart. Dangerous. Very on brand."
Verosika leaned slightly closer and murmured where only he would hear:
"…You're enjoying this."
Malerion didn't deny it.
Because he was.
Not out of arrogance but because now the game was clear.
The Watcher wanted a monster.
So Malerion would make him wait for one.
He straightened.
"Hold the borders."
"Stabilize finances."
"Fortify Wrath and Envy positions."
"And send no response."
Quill typed quickly.
"Orders logged."
Liz smirked.
"Ouroboros goes silent."
Dreg cracked his neck.
"And anyone stupid enough to step in the gap dies."
Malerion nodded once.
Meeting over.
Everyone moved.
Except Verosika.
She stayed.
Watching him.
Feeling the weight of what almost happened between them.
And how easily it could happen again.
Quietly, she asked:
"…He ruined something tonight. Didn't he?"
Malerion looked at her not with dominance, not calculation but recognition.
"Yes."
"Are you going to let him ruin it again?"
A long silence.
Then
"No."
The answer wasn't loud.
But it was final.
Verosika's expression softened dangerously close to vulnerable before she smiled.
"Good."
She stepped past him close enough that her perfume brushed his throat.
"Next time," she whispered,
"we don't stop."
And she left the war room.
Malerion stood alone a moment.
The Watcher had forced movement.
But he had also awakened something neither side planned for.
Attachment.
And for the first time since rising to the Fifth Ring…
Malerion felt it
This was personal.