"We leave in six hours. Rest, recover, gather the elites. This won't be a siege. It'll be swift, surgical. We're going to crack their heart open before they even feel the knife."
David nodded, a grim smile on his lips. "You'll have us at your back."
"Good," Ethan said, his eyes glinting. "Because I'm not just going to conquer them."
He turned toward the rising sun beyond the Sanctum walls.
"I'm going to show the Labyrinth what it means to defy fate."
The gates of Grosh'ka closed behind them with a low groan that echoed like a funeral bell.
Ethan stood at the front of the assembled strike force, cloaked in silence and shadow. Kaeryx slithered beside him through the air, its celestial body flickering in and out of visibility like a drifting constellation. Silent. Waiting.
Then, with a single subtle flare of its power, Kaeryx announced their departure.
