"Let's go, Daedalus."
The words came out soft and quiet, but they still held weight.
The crowd closed in, tense and quiet, unsure what they were even walking into.
John's face tightened. His brow furrowed, and for a second, his mouth opened—like he wanted to say something. But nothing came. Not a single word. He didn't fully understand what he'd set in motion. Only that it was standing right in front of him now… and there was no going back.
All around them, people watched Kael move. Every step, every shift of his shoulders—they followed it like a threat waiting to happen.
Their weapons rose—not just swords or shields, not the usual kind. Stranger tools. Machines, maybe. Things that buzzed faintly with power but didn't look stable.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
He'd seen weapons like those before, once. In another life. But the ones in front of him now? They looked like knockoffs.
Downgraded. Incomplete.
