Chapter 65: 65. Twelve Hours to the Circle
That one hit differently. He held it for a short time.
"Then I’m glad Aldric came when he did," he said. "I’d make the same call again if I had to, because the other option was the Corruptor reaching Level 55 and killing two hundred more people."
His determination was strong, which showed how serious his choices were. He knew that every choice had its own weight, but some were necessary for the greater good. The echoes of that moment stayed with him.
Marshal stood by the window and didn’t say anything. Her silence meant she was deciding whether to accept this or keep arguing. Lucian had learned to wait through those silences.
He knew that being patient was often the best way to find common ground. He could tell that her choice would affect not only their immediate future but also the path they were meant to take as the tension in the room grew.
Instead, Glacielle spoke.
She told Marshal, "This situation isn’t your fault." She said everything in a direct way, not a gentle way.
"That’s not a failure of your command; it’s just who he is."
"And who he is," Octavia said, "is why this family is what it is."
She looked at both of them. "He took the risk for us and for everyone on that path. That’s not recklessness; it’s simply who he is."
Glacielle nodded, her expression softening slightly. "We need to embrace that, not just for him but for ourselves," she added, her voice steady as she continued.
"Understanding his choices will help us deal with the obstacles ahead."
For a moment, the room was quiet.
Glacielle got up and walked to the middle of the room. She held out both of her hands, one to Marshal and the other to Octavia.
"We’re both protecting him," she said. "Not one of us alone, and not him alone, but together!"
"And that means we stop blaming ourselves and start making sure it doesn’t happen again."
Neither Marshal nor Octavia thought about it for very long.
The three-way clasp held for a moment and then let go. Lucian watched from the bed and thought that whatever the word was for the thing he was looking at, it was something he hadn’t known how to want until he had it.
He opened his mouth to say something. But the words caught in his throat, tangled in a mix of desire and uncertainty.
Instead, he simply reached out, hoping to bridge the distance between them with a touch that spoke louder than any words could.
And then the system notification came in red.
He had previously seen blue and gold notifications, along with the occasional gray notification indicating a completed quest log. Red was new.
[Alert for an emergency.]
[Corvus Blackthorn has started the Final Protocol.]
[Location: Northern Mountains, 50 miles from the capital.]
[Threat Level: Very High.]
[Countdown: 12 hours until launch.]
He rose too quickly, and the room swayed around him. Before he could lose his balance, three pairs of hands steadied him.
"Get yourself together!" one of his companions urged, their voice sharp with urgency.
The gravity of the situation settled in as he glanced at the countdown timer, fueling his determination to act swiftly and gather their team for the impending crisis.
Glacielle said, "Something’s wrong." She could feel it through the connection.
"Show them," Marshal said, looking at his face.
He showed them the notification, and the room changed around it.
...
The war council met again within an hour. General Ironheart was at the head of the table, and Kaelen Shadowstrike had just returned from a reconnaissance run that had cost him three of his four supporting scouts and confirmed what the notification said.
Kaelen said, "Corvus is in the northern mountains at an old summoning circle."
He laid out a rough field map on the table with the kind of methodical speed that comes from having done similar work in worse conditions. "It’s alive... the energy signature is consistent with a mass ritual summoning."
Brother Aldric had taken his holy books out of his bag and was going through them with one finger and a look that Lucian didn’t want to see on the face of a paladin of the Light Order.
The tension in the air thickened as Lucian exchanged glances with Aldric, sensing the weight of the situation.
"We need to prepare ourselves," Aldric said quietly, his voice steady despite the unease, "for whatever might emerge from this dark convergence."
"Calamity class," Aldric said. He said it like it was a word he hoped he wouldn’t have to use outside of school. "It’s a classification that can be found in records from the Ancient Wars."
"It’s above Mythic tier and needs a lot of sacrifice to call and a Master-class soul’s energy to anchor the summoning."
General Ironheart said, "A soul of the Master class."
"Yes." Aldric turned to Lucian. "A Gacha Master specifically."
"The bond network acts as a resonance amplifier for the ritual..."
"Without it, a Calamity summon is unstable."
"It destroys the summoner before the entity completes its arrival."
The table was still.
"He needs me," Lucian said, and he was surprised at how flat and steady his own voice sounded. "That’s why he’s been watching us."
"That’s why the assassins were only supposed to watch... he wants me to join the circle."
Ironheart said, "As a sacrifice."
Lucian’s heart raced at the implication of Ironheart’s words. The weight of the decision pressed heavily on him, forcing him to confront the darkness that loomed just beyond the edges of their fragile alliance.
"Yes," Lucian said as he looked at the map. "So he’s going to keep moving pieces until we get to him."
"If we don’t get there in twelve hours, he uses the thousand people he’s already taken."
The silence had a certain heaviness. Lucian’s heart raced at the thought of those lives hanging in the balance.
He knew they had no time to waste, and every second counted as they plotted their next move with urgency and determination.
"Then we go to him," Lucian said. "We stop the ritual and bring the people back before the twelve hours are up."
Ironheart looked at him with both his real eye and his glass eye, and neither of them seemed to be doing anything other than judging. Lucian could feel Ironheart’s gaze on him, which was a silent challenge that made him want to prove his strength.
"We can’t just stand here," he insisted, his voice steady despite the tension. "We need to gather our allies and prepare for what lies ahead."
"You’re not fit in terms of your condition. "The general said, "The triple-sync almost killed you six hours ago."
"I’ll get better." Lucian said, "We have time, and we’ll use it."
He glanced around the table. He looked at Seraphina, who was watching him with the same look she had in the council chamber that morning, as if she were trying to figure out how useful something was.
He looked at Kaelen, who held his gaze like a pro. Aldric, who continued to hold the open text, caught his attention.
He looked at Glacielle, Marshal, and Octavia. They were all around him, like a family that had made up its mind about where it stood.
"We’re going north," he said. "Everyone who wants to can."
"Ten hours from now, we hit that circle before Corvus finishes the ritual."
The people in the room didn’t say anything.
He got the system reward while he was sleeping during the recovery period. When he woke up four hours later, Glacielle was sitting next to him, and he could hear people getting ready outside the window.
[You got the Legendary Defender achievement.]
[Three Mythic beings have been defeated.]
[Fourth Emergency Summon Orb as a reward.]
He held the orb in his hand and looked at its color, which was a shifting shimmer that moved through the spectrum without settling anywhere. The system note that came with it was very specific.
[Guaranteed SSS-Rank Support Class.]
[This summon will add to the current party composition.]
"Support class," he said out loud.
Glacielle stared at the orb. "Most likely a healer. Or a buffer."
She was quiet for a moment. "We should call before we march, and we’ll need every edge we can get in that circle."
He thought about how to do the math. The dangers of entering a Calamity summoning ritual against a man who had been planning it for months and had spent a thousand lives getting ready for it.
He thought about the hole in his current party and how the lack of reliable healing had made the triple-sync injury so bad.
"Agreed," he said.
He sat up in bed and threw the orb into the air in the small room. The shimmer turned into light, and the fourth portal opened with a warmth he hadn’t felt from any of the other summons.
It was golden-white and slow, and a figure came down from it.
The portal closed, and there was a new person in the room. Lucian looked at the fourth warrior and opened his mouth to say something.
The army was gathering outside the window. Fifty miles to the north, in a mountain circle that had been built when the world was younger and more dangerous, Corvus Blackthorn watched his enemies come closer through his crystal orb.
He smiled with the crazy happiness of a man who thought he had planned for everything.
There are six hours left. The Calamity lay down by the seal and waited.
The world breathed and waited with it.
