The silence lasted longer than it should have.
Twelve minutes after the amber light consumed Krug's form and pulled his consciousness back to wherever Heroes went when they weren't killing people, the gap remained empty. No Accord advance. No scouts. No probing infantry testing whether the thing that had slaughtered 847 of their comrades over eight hours was actually gone or merely repositioning.
The psychological radius held.
Corporal Voss Hammertide — Human, 23 years old, Third Company, Iron Banner Regiment — stood behind a chest-high earthwork on the secondary line and watched the gap through the eyepiece of a battered spyglass. His legs were locked. Discipline had nothing to do with it. His body had been trembling since the fourth hour and had apparently decided to stop doing everything instead.
He'd seen the whole thing.
