The battlefield lay eerily quiet after Leonidas' breakthrough. Smoke drifted in broken ribbons across the trenches. The scent of burned wood, blood, and sweat clung to the air. Ridgebrook's defenders slumped where they stood—too exhausted to cheer anymore, too bruised to celebrate properly.
Leonidas had returned to the walls, but he didn't speak. He simply stood with both hands resting on the spear he'd carried through death's doorway. His eyes still burned with the clarity of a man reborn.
Liam approached him carefully. "You… good?"
Leonidas nodded once. "Breathing does not hurt. That is improvement."
"That's your standard?"
"Yes."
Liam sighed. "Alright, fair."
Orin limped to Leonidas' side, staring up at him as if seeing him for the first time. "That moment… when you pushed the captain back… I thought I was dreaming."
Leonidas glanced at her, and for a rare moment, the fierce king softened. "You defended your place in the line. That is why I did not fall."
Orin blinked rapidly. "D-Don't say things like that suddenly…"
Vlad appeared beside them without sound, leaning against the wall. "If he had died, I would've been very annoyed. I had a bet going."
Liam scowled. "With who?!"
"Myself.
"Of course you did."
Before any of them could say more, Sun Tzu stepped onto the parapet, eyes narrowed at the field. "The captain moves."
Liam turned quickly. "Already?!"
Across the battlefield, the Rank 3 captain's troops were shifting—not preparing a charge, but reorganizing in ways Liam couldn't immediately understand. Soldiers hauled crates to new positions. Ladders were moved, not forward, but sideways. Shield bearers drilled in quiet formation.
And the captain… watched.
Always watched.
Sun Tzu's expression tightened. "He is adjusting."
Orin paled. "Adjusting… to Leonidas?"
"Yes," Sun Tzu answered. "He understands Leonidas is no longer Rank 1. So he refines a plan that minimizes direct confrontation."
Liam swallowed. "Meaning?"
"He will attack where Leonidas is not standing."
Down below, the villagers mended shields and carried the wounded inside. Lira rushed past with an armful of torn cloth. Her hands shook, but she forced herself forward.
"We're almost out of clean wraps!" she called.
"Use what you can," Liam replied.
She didn't stop moving.
Sun Tzu continued scanning the enemy. "Observe their formations. Look at the angles. Look at the spacing."
Leonidas studied the lines. His brows furrowed. "They form wider fronts. Spread thinner."
"Correct," Sun Tzu said. "He intends to stretch our defense until something snaps."
Vlad grinned. "I love when things snap."
"No snapping," Liam snapped. "We're anti-snap!"
Sun Tzu ignored the exchange. "Chief, we must redraw the defenses. The enemy is abandoning brute force. Now they seek instability."
He drew lines with his finger on the scorched wood of the parapet, marking troop shifts, predicting angles.
"They will split into three prongs. One will feint the wall. One will strike the gate. One—likely the largest—will target the eastern breach where the ladders nearly succeeded."
Liam felt queasy. "Sun Tzu, we can patch the wall but not rebuild the structure in time."
"Exactly," he replied. "He knows this."
Leonidas tightened his grip on his spear. "We must deny him that weakness."
Before Liam could respond, one of the scouts at the watchpoint called out, voice trembling:
"They're… building something!"
Everyone turned.
Enemy soldiers erected a strange structure near the trench—planks reinforced with stakes and ropes, angled like a ramp or elevated walkway.
Liam squinted. "What the hell is that?"
Sun Tzu exhaled slowly. "A mobile assault bridge."
Orin blinked. "A—what?!"
"It allows soldiers to cross trenches at speed," he said. "They will overrun the east wall if we do not disable it."
Vlad tilted his head. "I can burn it."
"No," Sun Tzu said sharply. "If you go alone, you die."
Vlad smirked. "A valid possibility."
Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. "We need him alive."
The tension deepened. Sun Tzu's voice softened but remained grave. "They are using engineering tactics now. This captain is highly trained."
Leonidas nodded. "He respects us more."
"Or fears what we might become," Sun Tzu countered.
Liam felt a flicker of pride—and fear. "So… what do we do?"
Sun Tzu didn't hesitate. "We adapt faster."
The defenders worked for the next hour, moving planks, reinforcing the eastern wall, preparing oil jars, digging a new trench line behind the old one. Even the children carried stones to strengthen weak points.
Leonidas paced slowly along the wall, adjusting stances, correcting grips. His presence steadied the fighters the same way a pillar holds a collapsing roof.
Orin walked beside Liam, breathing unevenly. "He's different now. Stronger. But also… heavier."
Liam nodded. "Breakthroughs cost something."
"Yeah… I saw that."
Sun Tzu approached them again. "Chief, you must give an order."
Liam stiffened. "Which one?"
"Move Leonidas to the eastern wall."
Liam blinked. "But isn't that dangerous? He's barely stabilizing his qi!"
"Exactly why it must be done," Sun Tzu said. "If the east breaks, he is the only one who can anchor them."
Leonidas stopped pacing and looked at Liam.
"I will go where I am needed."
Liam felt the weight of leadership for the thousandth time. "Sun Tzu… do we have any chance?"
Sun Tzu paused—then spoke with absolute calm.
"Yes. Because the more complex his tactics become… the easier they are to break."
Liam stared. "What?"
"He adapts to us," Sun Tzu explained. "But adaptation reveals a fear. He fears what Leonidas now represents. He fears the Shield Core. And he fears that if we survive long enough… reinforcements might come."
"No reinforcements," Liam muttered.
"He does not know that," Sun Tzu said.
That gave Liam a strange, tiny burst of hope.
The sun dipped lower, painting the field a dark red. The enemy continued assembling their assault bridge, attaching ropes, reinforcing edges, preparing a mechanical frame to drag it across the trench.
A machine meant to kill them.
Liam opened the Ledger.
[NEXT SUMMON: 25 DAYS]
Still too far.
He closed it with a click.
The Rank 3 captain lifted his spear.
A single clear note from a horn answered.
Liam whispered, "It's starting."
Sun Tzu nodded. "This will not be a probing attack. This will be a storm."
Leonidas stepped onto the eastern wall, his new Rank 2 aura settling over the defenders like a shield.
"Then we hold," he said. "Again."
The enemy began to advance.
The next wave of the siege had begun.