The Vanguard’s morale remained in a nebulous state. Everyone could feel that firing the Godslayer marked a shift in the conflict, but nobody could quite tell in which direction the scales had moved.

  Still, even with most of them dazed, injured, or both, the Vanguard set to work strengthening their position. They quickly dismantled what remained of the Crimson Reavers defenses on the Duke’s Road and used the materials to reinforce several buildings. After the final barricades were put into place and guard shifts were organized, most of the Revenants ducked inside the newly reinforced buildings to rest and recover.

  Finally given the ‘at ease’ after helping set up the defenses, the trio tucked into a quiet corner in one of the fortified buildings, eager to rest up after the battle. While they settled into their makeshift seats, Davon spotted Grant making the rounds through the room. The gruff old Revenant seemed to be chatting with each group of Vanguard.

  Thinking of their previous conversation about the Godslayer, Davon nudged Lyla.

  “Still eager to study that thing up close?”

  “Of course I am,” Lyla replied, in her usual neutral tone. “That level of destruction… I could learn a lot.”

  Davon’s eyes followed Grant intently. “I hope you realize just how terrifying you sound when you say things like that.”

  “Terrifying is what we need right now,” Kai stated.

  The young warrior was fully slumped in his seat. It was obvious to Davon that the Godslayer engine’s collateral effect hit Kai much harder than him or Lyla.

  “Won’t deny that,” Davon conceded as he rubbed his right forearm. He still ached from the near-overload, and the pain didn’t show any signs of subsiding.

  Makes me wonder how the Crimson Reavers are doing, he thought.

  From what Davon saw during the fortification process, roughly two hundred Revenants remained. This was a concern. He remembered from his scouting trip that about five hundred Crimson Reaver elites were stationed within the inner city.

  Looking through a nearby window, Davon noted that the sky remained the same muted red color it had shifted to after Tenebris’ empowering roar. That probably meant the magical effect was still active. Any Crimson Reaver they faced would be driven by the general’s strengthening magic.

  Davon frowned. That’s not good. Direct confrontation would end terribly.

  Returning his gaze to his friends, Davon noticed Kai shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Kai winced in pain with almost every movement.

  Davon didn’t even try to hide the concern in his voice. “How are you feeling, Kai?”

  “Bad,” Kai replied bluntly, still trying to find a comfortable position to sit in. “You know I can’t cast as much as either of you, and that shot went right above me. I’m lucky I didn’t combust, or… whatever happens when you overload.”

  “It depends, actually.” Lyla looked up from her spellbook. “I did some research into Revenant overload, back when we first joined. Some people burst into ghostly flame. Others explode. There’s even a few cases of overloaded people falling apart like shattered glass.”

  Both Kai and Davon looked at Lyla in stunned silence.

  “That’s… terrifying. AND not helping,” Kai muttered.

  Lyla just shrugged and refocused on her spellbook.

  As relative silence laid claim to the room, exhaustion crept its way through Davon’s mind. He realized that, since the siege started, he’d barely had a moment to catch his breath. The constant pressure of the last few hours suddenly caught up with him. He felt drained, both mentally and physically.

  Davon shook his head in an attempt to stave away the exhaustion, but found it difficult to keep his eyes open.

  Maybe this is an effect of the near-overload? he wondered. It feels different from the normal exhaustion of battle.

  Before Davon could think about it too deeply, Grant’s voice shook him from his train of thought.

  “How are you three holding up?” the old Revenant asked, towering over the trio.

  “Alive. Not as bad as it could be,” Kai answered through a pained chuckle. “Not by much, but we take what we can.”

  “Moreso curious about what our plan is now,” Davon interjected.

  “The plan is to change our approach.” Grant’s eyes wandered over the room. “Emma will be taking over the majority of planning from here on out.”

  Lyla looked up from her spellbook in surprise. “Oh? Why is that?”

  “Direct assault is my only specialty. With the state of our forces right now, that’s hardly a viable option.” Grant sighed. “We need to readjust our strategies to focus on thinning the enemy forces. Ambushes, hit-and-runs, that kind of thing. Fortunately, that’s the Green Tracker’s preferred way of combat, so I’m stepping back to let Emma take charge. I’ll just stay here and make sure we don’t lose our foothold.”

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  Davon’s ears perked up at the mention of ambushes. Ever since he decided to lean toward ambushing skills in his Reliquary runes, he hadn’t gotten much chance to use them. The prospect of finally getting to test out these abilities excited him to the point of forgetting about his exhaustion.

  “But, for the moment, we all need rest,” Grant stated. “That Godslayer shot will have left both sides of the conflict unable to fight, so take the time to recover.”

  “But shouldn’t we push while they’re exhausted? Strike while the iron’s hot and all that?” Kai asked, wincing as he leaned forward.

  “Look at yourself, boy.” Grant nodded towards Kai. “You can barely move without pain. Taking action now will only lead to further losses. Besides, Taz is leading the support crew into the city as we speak. They’re trying to set up a makeshift Imbuement Chamber within the walls.”

  Davon raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected the Boneshaper to get so close to the fight. Still, access to Imbuement would shift the scales in favor of the Vanguard. At that point, any advantage they could get their hands on was welcome.

  “Take a rest,” Grant repeated. His tone made it clear there was no room for argument. “Emma will come get you when she has something for you to do.”

  With those words, the old Revenant turned and left the group to their rest.

  Davon was still excited at the thought of Imbuement and ambushes, but Kai seemed to sink deeper into sulking. The young warrior crossed his arms, grumbling more to himself than his friends.

  “We should be out there pushing the offensive…”

  “Frankly, that would be stupid, Kai,” Lyla countered. “Grant is right. We’re already so close to being overloaded. Pushing our luck will either leave us weakened further or dead.”

  “Yes but —”

  “No buts. We need rest.” Lyla shut her spellbook dramatically with the final word. “The last thing we need right now is to be brazen or impatient. Trust in our leaders.”

  “More importantly, trust Lyla. Like we agreed.” Davon gave Kai a pointed look.

  “Alright, fine,” Kai conceded with a sigh.

  In the following silence, Davon’s exhaustion quickly overwhelmed his lingering excitement. He fell asleep almost immediately.

  —

  Davon’s rest was troubled by nightmares. Every scene that played in his mind involved fighting Crimson Reavers and failing horribly. They all ended with him and his friends getting killed in a myriad of ways. One particular nightmare troubled him more than the others: Tenebris, unbothered by the Godslayer shot, bearing down on the Vanguard’s hideout.

  Startling awake, Davon’s hand reflexively landed on his Reliquary. He scanned his surroundings quickly and realized he was safe in the hideout. Sinking back into his seat, Davon let out a drawn-out, exasperated sigh.

  Nightmares are the last thing I need with every else going on, Davon thought, frustration building in his chest. He lifted his bow and placed it in his lap, the weight and feel of the weapon bringing him a familiar comfort.

  Taking a moment to inspect himself, Davon realized that the effects of nearly overloading were all but gone. The pain had been reduced to a simple ache. Exhaustion no longer troubled him. When he tested the mental threads between him and his Reliquary, they seemed intact.

  With both of his friends soundly asleep beside him, and feeling much better about his chances in the coming fight, Davon tried to return to his own rest. He settled comfortably into the seat, closed his eyes, and did his best to quiet his thoughts.

  But further rest eluded him. His mind was too wired up from the nightmares to let him fall asleep again. Every time he would get close to dozing off, a stray thought would startle him right back into wakefulness.

  Giving up, Davon turned his attention to his Reliquary. He traced the runes on its side gently, thinking back to the times each one had saved his life, and the two that haven’t been used yet.

  Maybe I’ll finally get to use them, he thought, with another thrill of anticipation. Now that open combat is out of the question.

  Then his eyes landed on the final empty slot. He started thinking about what kind of ability would be most useful to him in the current situation. If there was ever a time to acquire a powerful new skill, it was now.

  Yet, as Davon’s mind worked to imagine such an ability, a thread of connection lit between him and his Reliquary. One simple, wordless message was sent through it, cutting Davon’s thought process short.

  His weapon was making an offer. A rune which would bring Davon incredible power when invoked: the strength he needed to turn the tide of a desperate battle and come out victorious. But it would come at a dire price, once the combat ended.

  What exactly do you mean by all that? Davon asked, sending his thoughts through the link.

  A flurry of images followed. Davon, weapon in hand, standing on a mountain of Crimson Reaver corpses. He was facing off against Tenebris. A short fight against the general, in which Davon managed to land a fatal blow. The general’s dead body under his foot. Then… Davon’s own body disintegrating due to overload.

  So… a brief period of increased strength, but at the end, I die?

  The Reliquary’s only response was a feeling of confirmation.

  Davon fell into deep thought as he considered the offer. He found it, at the same time, both incredibly tempting and incredibly terrifying.

  But, the more he mulled it over, the more he realized how good it could be. A way to overpower his enemies in a spectacular way and end the conflict, in exchange for a few weeks waiting for resurrection after the fact? It sounded almost too good to be true.

  Of course, if he mistimed it, or made a stupid mistake and got himself killed anyway, it would all go to waste.

  Still, that was a risk Davon was willing to take.

  Davon gripped his Reliquary. Alright. I accept.

  A second later, he felt the weapon shudder in his grasp. When he looked down at the previously empty slot, he saw a rune so intricate, it made his mind spin.

  This one rune was more complicated in its design than all the others carved into the bow, combined. Davon appreciated the complexity of the arcana, but quickly moved on, painfully aware of his shortcomings when it came to understanding that sort of thing. Lyla might’ve made some sense of it, but Davon felt just as confused as he did when he occasionally snuck a peek at her spellbook.

  With the new rune manifested, Davon’s Reliquary sent one final message of appreciation. Then it fell silent.

  Surrounded by sleeping Revenants, Davon pondered the change of heart his Reliquary seemed to have gone through.

  Previously, it had warned him of danger and urged him to be more careful whenever it could. Now it was giving him the ultimate tool for revenge that would guarantee his own death by the end of its effect.

  Davon’s brow furrowed in thought.

  Maybe the Reliquary wanted revenge on the Crimson Reavers and all monster-kind as much as he did. Maybe that was why it had been so focused on keeping him out of danger before. It was simply waiting for the right moment to give him this, so he could deliver the ultimate coup de grace to the invasion.

  Davon didn’t know how to feel about the fact that his Reliquary seemed to be just as calculating as he was. But then he smiled, deciding that it didn’t really matter.

  They were going to deliver righteous vengeance upon the Crimson Reavers, and nothing would stop them.