The meeting from the previous night never truly ended.
It simply followed everyone into the morning.
Leonidas was already in the yard before dawn, correcting stances with quiet gestures instead of shouting. The Shield Core moved in disciplined silence, shields locking and unlocking as they had practiced countless times. The numbers Sun Tzu had spoken the night before weighed on every man's back.
One hundred and twenty-one fighters.
That number wasn't abstract anymore. It had faces.
Sun Tzu stood near the edge of the yard, slate tucked under his arm, watching without interfering. He wasn't counting yet. He was observing—fatigue in shoulders, hesitation in steps, the way one young man favored his left leg after yesterday's drills.
Numbers were born from moments like this.
Liam arrived late, coat half-fastened, eyes still heavy with sleep he hadn't really gotten. He stopped just outside the yard and reached for the Ledger without thinking.
[NEXT SUMMON: 21 DAYS]
Twenty-one days.
No shortcuts. No sudden saviors.
He lowered his hand and watched the men train, recognizing some of them by name now. Farmers. Woodcutters. A boy who'd arrived as a refugee less than a month ago and still looked startled every time steel clashed.
Leonidas raised a fist.
The formation froze.
At first, Liam thought it was another correction—until he felt it too.
A faint tremor underfoot.
Then another.
Dust slid off a stack of crates. Birds burst from the trees at the edge of the village.
Sun Tzu's calm expression sharpened. "That isn't training."
A scout ran out of the southern treeline, face pale, breath tearing from his chest. "Chief—monsters. South road."
"How many?" Liam asked, already moving.
"Five," the scout said. "Ironback Ravagers. Together."
Five.
The word settled like a weight in Liam's stomach.
Sun Tzu spoke softly but clearly. "This is not a hunt. This is contact."
Leonidas didn't hesitate. "Shield Core—form up. Tight spacing. No pursuit. No one breaks."
The men moved faster than Liam had ever seen them move, shields snapping together, spears lowering. Fear was there—Liam could see it—but discipline held it in place.
The Ironback Ravagers burst from the brush moments later.
Up close, they were massive. Bigger than any illustration or description had prepared him for. Thick, armored backs like layered stone. Tusks curved and chipped, stained dark at the tips. Their small eyes held no thought, only momentum.
"Hold," Leonidas ordered.
The first Ravager charged.
The impact sounded like a wall collapsing.
Shields screamed. Men grunted as boots slid backward, heels carving lines in the dirt. One shield bent inward but didn't break.
"Brace!" Leonidas shouted.
Spears stabbed low, aiming where muscle met joint. The Ravager screamed—high and ugly—but kept pushing.
A second beast slammed into the flank, tusks scraping shields, forcing the line to stagger. One soldier cried out as his arm bent wrong and his shield slipped.
"Close!" Leonidas barked.
The men closed ranks, dragging the injured back just in time.
From the treeline, shadows moved.
Vlad's followers arrived without warning, no formation, no signal. They didn't try to stop the Ravagers head-on. They slipped around them, blades flashing, cutting tendons, stabbing eyes, hacking at soft flesh beneath the plated backs.
One of them was caught by a backswing and thrown aside, landing hard and not moving.
Vlad didn't turn.
"Cut," he murmured. "Don't wrestle."
The fight dragged on, minutes stretching unbearably long. One Ravager collapsed under repeated spear thrusts, blood soaking into the earth. Another turned too slowly and lost a leg tendon, crashing down with a scream that made Liam's teeth ache.
The third broke through.
Its tusk punched through a shield, lifting a man off his feet. The scream cut short as the beast surged forward.
Leonidas moved without thinking. He slammed his shield into the Ravager's skull, just enough to turn its charge. Two spears drove up into its throat. The beast collapsed, crushing dirt and blood beneath it.
When the last Ravager fell, the yard was torn apart. Broken shields. Bent spears. Men on their knees, gasping for breath.
Silence followed.
It felt too loud.
Sun Tzu moved first.
He knelt beside the fallen, fingers checking pulses, eyes steady. His slate appeared in his hand, the scratching sound painfully clear in the quiet.
"Report," he said.
Leonidas stood rigid, chest heaving. "Shield Core—one dead. Two injured. One serious."
Sun Tzu wrote it down without comment and turned to Vlad.
"Your people."
Vlad wiped his blade on a corpse. "Two dead. Three injured."
The slate scratched again.
"Total casualties," Sun Tzu said evenly, "three dead. Five injured."
The words hit harder than the blows had.
Liam swallowed. "Civilians?"
"No civilian deaths," Sun Tzu replied. "One near miss. Recorded.
Relief flickered—and vanished just as fast when Liam looked at the bodies being covered with cloth.
They butchered the Ravagers under Sun Tzu's supervision. He stood close, watching portions carefully, stopping anyone who took too much.
"Controlled portions only," he said. "This is nutrition, not reward. Anyone who eats reports symptoms."
That night, fires burned late.
The meat was heavy and rich. Those who ate it felt warmth spread through aching limbs, bruises easing faster than expected. Some slept deeply, dreamlessly.
Others vomited until their throats burned.
Sun Tzu recorded everything.
The next morning, Leonidas stood before the Shield Core. His voice was steady, but his eyes lingered on the empty spaces in the line.
"You held," he said. "You lost men. Remember both."
Vlad gathered his followers separately, eyes bright, voice low. "You survived," he told them. "Next time, we take more.
Liam watched from a distance, the Ledger heavy against his side.
Three dead.
Numbers reduced.
Strength gained.
For the first time, the math Sun Tzu talked about felt painfully clear.
And the road beyond Ridgebrook lay quiet.
For now.
-
Bonus scene not canon
Vlad watched Rasputin drink fermented milk without blinking.
"You survived poison, bullets, and knives," Vlad said. "This is how you die?"
Rasputin smiled serenely. "Faith protects me."
Vlad nodded. "Good. Then I'll poison the faith next time you bastard."