Chapter 161: Spires Deployed [2]

Leon stared at his fierce little sister giving him a formal bow with her face completely serious about it.

Something in him short-circuited entirely.

"AWWW!"

He lunged forward and wrapped both arms around her in a hug that had no regard whatsoever for her structural integrity.

"My little sister is treating her big brother with RESPECT! You’re so adorable!"

"GAH! I should not have said ANYTHING!" Emilia shoved both palms against his chest furiously. "You are so embarrassing! LET GO OF ME!"

"After EVERYTHING I’ve done for you this is my reward?! A formal bow and you try to escape?!"

"YOU ARE THE WORST!"

Nicholas and Roselle watched from a few feet away with matching smiles.

"Some things never change," Roselle said.

Nicholas tucked a strand of hair. "They really don’t."

Leon eventually released a flustered furiously glaring Emilia and turned to face his two closest peers. Nicholas stepped forward first and gave his shoulder a firm solid grip. His expression had gone serious in that specific way it got when he actually meant something.

"We’re being deployed to frontline Eastern sector. We’re counting on you Leon. Show them what you can do."

Roselle gave a clean nod. "We’ll be watching for our newest Spire in action."

Leon looked at both of them and the playfulness settled into something steady and real. "I won’t disappoint you."

A short distance down the corridor Alden stood with his back against the stone wall watching all of it.

Something quiet had settled over him. The kind of peace that shows up unexpectedly in the middle of things that are about to get very loud and very dangerous.

Then two arms wrapped around his waist from behind.

He blinked.

A familiar warmth settled over him, followed by the soft brush of silver hair against his shoulder blade.

"Alden~"

Seris pressed her cheek against his back. "All the best out there." Her voice was a whisper. "And try not to die."

He tilted his head back slightly. "Die? Are you looking down on me?"

"Yes." She said it without hesitation.

"Seriously?"

"You’re weak."

She delivered it so casually and so matter-of-factly that he almost laughed. He turned inside her arms instead and got his hands around her waist. His fingers moved through her silver hair slowly.

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "Looks like my vampire isn’t backing me up in this war after all."

"Obviously not." Seris lifted her head and her crimson eyes sparkled. "Why would I fight against my own people dummy?"

He looked at her more seriously. "What excuse are you giving the higher-ups when they push you on your position? Darius is covering you but the hardliners won’t stay quiet forever."

Seris poked his cheek. "I’ll handle my affairs Commander. You handle yours." She narrowed her eyes in a way that was entirely too pleasant. "Unless you’re worried about me?"

Alden flicked her forehead. "Not a chance. I’m wondering if you can survive five minutes without me."

Seris stared at him. "Are you looking down on me?"

"Yes," he said. "You’re weak."

She stared at him for one more second.

Then she started laughing. Soft and genuine and the kind you can’t manufacture. "You absolute bastard. Using my own words against me."

She lifted her head and kissed his chin. "Don’t get yourself killed." Before he could reply, she rose up on her toes again and pressed a quick, warm kiss against his cheek.

"I won’t." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Stay safe."

Nicholas Roselle and Leon had all simultaneously discovered something extremely interesting about the stone wall to their left.

"Fascinating masonry," Nicholas noted. "Didn’t see a thing."

"Nothing at all," Roselle agreed very quickly.

Leon stroked his chin. "Absolutely never happened."

Emilia however had not developed this skill. Her jaw dropped. Her eyes went between Alden and the Vice-President twice.

"S-Senior Alden is DATING Lady SERIS?!"

Leon’s palm slapped over her mouth instantly. "Shhh!"

"MMMPH!"

"Don’t ask."

"MM-MMMPH!"

"Trust me Emilia. It is significantly better for your health if you pretend you are completely blind."

She bit his hand.

"AHH!!!"

He deserved it.

Before the chaos could escalate Darius stepped over. He stopped in front of Alden with his hands behind his back.

"One more thing."

Alden looked at him. "What?"

"Head Chief Alarion left a message before he departed." Darius cleared his throat. "He said ’Your sword is not your thing’."

Alden waited.

"That is the complete message," Darius said.

Alden stared at him. "...That’s it?"

"That is it."

Alden started pacing. "What does that even mean. Is he saying my weapon affinity is wrong? That I should drop The Living Gazer and go pure casting? That I’m built for magic or mage — something like that?"

Darius shrugged. "That’s all he gave me."

"He sent you all the way over here to deliver a fortune-cookie riddle?"

"Pretty much."

Alden rubbed his temples and let out a long breath. "Classic Alarion. Thanks anyway Gramps."

Darius’s mouth moved into something that was definitely a smirk. "Good luck out there... Commander."

Alden’s face immediately soured. "Damn you..."

Darius chuckled and stepped back.

Isabella had moved to the center of the corridor. Seven swirling spatial portals crackled in a line behind her each one calibrated to a different deployment sector.

"These portals connect directly to our assigned forward positions," she said. Her voice carried clearly without needing to be loud. "The moment we step through the connections close. This is it."

Nobody had anything casual left to say. What was ahead was actual war with actual casualties and every single person standing in this hall knew it.

"Let’s move."

She stepped into the first portal and the white light took her. Arvendis followed without a word.

Theodore paused at his gate and flashed a crooked grin back at the room. "Try not to steal all the glory before I reach the front alright?"

Silence replied to his joke.

He laughed awkwardly. "Right. Tough crowd." He stepped in and vanished.

Leon stood before his coordinates. His chest rose once as he took a slow breath. His right fist closed at his side.

’Alright, let’s do this.’

He stepped forward and the light swallowed him.

Luna was already at the final portal waiting when Alden walked up. She glanced at him sideways. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

He stopped once and looked back down the corridor. At Nicholas who gave him a single clean nod. At Roselle who smiled with something warm and real behind it. At Darius standing in the shadow of the archway with that quiet satisfied expression he wore when he was proud of something and chose not to say it directly.

At Seris who looked at him one last time with those calm crimson eyes and gave one small deliberate nod.

Thought Claire was missing but he didn’t think further about it.

He turned and stepped through.

The light closed behind them and the corridor went still.

The Spires had deployed.