By midday, the war no longer had shape. The first clash didn’t last long enough to be called a battle. Not exactly. As Samantha’s troops advanced, Sunji’s front line raised their shields and arrows together, disciplined and clean. The volley flew before vanishing into a wall of heat as fire bloomed midair. Mel’s men fell easily, their armor glowing red before it hit the ground.

  In the midst of battle, someone could be heard shouting to close ranks while someone else didn’t finish shouting at all. Mel gave the order to fall back before the second wave of abilities landed. It was clear now, the disadvantage that Sunji had. Now, no one questioned why the city fought from shadows.

  As the troops pressed on, the middle belt was supposed to be a funnel of hills and valleys that were supposed to narrow Samantha’s forces into predictable corridors where Sunji could strike, retreat, and vanish. On the maps in the war chamber, it had looked elegant. Inevitable, really.

  But on the ground, it breathed.

  Aurora stood at the edge of the inner terraces, watching smoke rise from places that were not supposed to burn yet. The air tasted wrong here, too wet for fire yet too hot for water and steam clung low, obscuring the sightlines that Julius had cleared only moments before.

  “She’s stopped pushing,” Bennet said, voice tight. He looked at Aurora, wide-eyed. “At least…she’s stopped pushing forward.”

  But Aurora looked away, feeling tense. She could already see that the fire no longer struck in waves, but appeared in sudden, localized bursts. She thought about how Samantha’s troops hit a granary here, a bridge there, but no longer anything that would justify redeployment.

  Her tactic is using distractions, she noted.

  “She’s splitting her units,” a general continued. “She’s sending fire teams in pairs and water wielders detached and moving upstream. Earth users are collapsing roads behind us instead of ahead.”

  Aurora’s jaw tightened.

  “She’s unthreading the weave,” she said softly. “Instead of tearing it.” She tightened her first. “Hmm…”

  They heard pants as a runner stumbled toward the dais, bloodied and wild-eyed. “Your Majesty, civilians are trapped near the western pass! The retreat is jammed!”

  Mel turned sharply. “Weren’t they cleared?”

  “They were,” the runner choked. “But the water shifted. Someone redirected it!”

  Aurora’s gaze snapped west, knowing all too well the culprit.

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  Villagers clustered in terrified knots, unsure whether to run or stay while fire streaked toward them.

  Aurora knew that Karl and his fellow water users moved without thinking.

  She knew that their water would surge, violent and alive, smothering flame but tearing through the ravine walls with it. And, of course, earth would crumble, and the path behind them would collapse entirely.

  As a result, the villagers would live, but they would also be trapped.

  Karl staggered back, chest heaving as his hands shook.

  Aurora felt the moment he realized what he and his men had done.

  This wasn’t strategy. No, it was triage: a triage that broke the plan.

  “Seal that sector!” Mel ordered immediately. “We cannot risk collapse spreading inward.”

  A general looked up sharply. “Your Majesty! If we seal it, those people—”

  “We can’t save everyone,” Mel snapped. “Sound the bells and redirect forces east.”

  So the bells rang.

  And the general flinched.

  Aurora calculated the situation in her head and noted that the bells sounded different now. They were louder, sharper, and stripped of the warmth of morning.

  The plan was…slipping.

  Samantha appeared at last, not at the front, but on a ridgeline overlooking the chaos. She stood radiant and untouched, white sparks dancing lazily along her fingers as she surveyed the fractured field.

  She clapped once, delighted.

  “Oh, this is much better,” she laughed. “You should have done this sooner, Aurora. Mel.”

  Her voice carried unnaturally far, easy for her due to her magic.

  “You see?” she called, spinning lightly in place. “You can plan for armies, and, I suppose, for gods too, if you must. But you never plan for…” She gave a wry smile.

  “People.”

  And, as if to answer, fire bloomed behind Sunji’s retreating units, not enough to kill them, but enough to scatter. Water surged unpredictably, no longer following Sunji’s channels, and earth split beneath carts and barricades alike.

  As a result, retreats turned uneven, uneven became panicked, and panicked became flight.

  Julius faltered mid-cast, fire sputtering as a group of civilians surged past him, screaming. He swore, cutting his attack short to avoid hitting them. Steam swallowed the space he vacated.

  Aurora clenched her fist until her finger nails broke skin.

  If Amy were here, she would be grabbing hands. Pulling people back. Standing in places no one told her to stand.

  A second runner arrived, this one shaking. “Lower districts are rioting, your Majesty! Rebels are blocking supply routes. They’re saying the bells lied! That…”

  Mel’s face hardened. “Deploy the guards.”

  “That will only—” a general started.

  “I will not allow chaos in my city,” Mel said coldly. “Order must be seen.”

  Aurora turned to her slowly.

  “You’re feeding her,” Aurora said almost lazily.

  Mel’s eyes flashed. “I am maintaining control.”

  “Hmm,” Aurora shrugged. No, you’re proving her right.

  Samantha laughed again, sharper this time. Her gaze flicked briefly toward Karl, still standing amid trapped villagers and broken terrain.

  “Oh, darling,” she purred. “You always did have a talent for breaking things without meaning to.”

  Karl looked up at her, fury and horror warring across his face.

  Aurora inhaled, grounding herself as the hum beneath her skin intensified. And the city waited and believed that she would jump into the fight. The savior. The goddess.

  But she didn’t move.

  Not yet.

  She narrowed her eyes, noting that Samantha wasn’t winning by force. Rather, she was winning by making every choice cost someone.

  Aurora closed her eyes for a heartbeat.

  To be sure, the plan was slipping.

  And if she didn’t change how this war was fought—

  Sunji would tear itself apart long before Samantha ever reached the inner gates.