Jin had taken every crystal, every promise, and used them to sweeten the deal for his groups.
Though honestly, the rewards had barely been necessary. The core mbers, the veterans who’d served with Jean, would have co for free.
But the money helped attract the younger participants. The ten students from various Strahlfang-aligned houses that the opportunistic nobles had managed to gather weren’t completely loyal to the cause initially. They needed financial incentive beyond vague notions of house honor.
And the money ensured that afterward, when everything was finished, they could disappear before consequences caught up. Live comfortably in so grateful noble’s territory while House Strahlfang officially denounced them as rogue actors to maintain political appearances.
Plausible deniability. His father would understand that ga at least.
His father would probably be furious anyway.
Good...
Let him be furious. Let him know that his younger son had more honor, more courage, more family loyalty than he did. That Jin had accomplished what the head of House Strahlfang had been too cowardly to even attempt.
Maybe then he’d stop looking at Jin with that disappointed expression. That "why couldn’t it have been you instead" look that Jin pretended not to notice but felt like acid every single ti.
"Are we ready?" the veteran asked quietly.
His voice was low but steady. The tone of soone who’d done violence before and would do it again without losing sleep.
Jin nodded slowly.
Below, he could sense Ren and his group advancing through the marked tunnel. The Strahlfang watcher had already retreated to a rear position after sending the final bird signal.
The other two groups were positioned in lateral tunnels.
"You and the fliers block the exit," Jin ordered. "You prepare the lateral charge against the Owl. I need Zhao occupied long enough for to finish Patinder."
It was a suicidal plan if you thought about it rationally.
Zhao was a famous prodigy, a war veteran. The duo with Ren included impressive beasts devastating in combat.
But Jin wasn’t thinking rationally.
Hadn’t thought rationally since the day he saw Jean’s body.
Rationality required accepting things as they were. Required adapting to reality instead of trying to force reality to match your desires.
Jin had left rationality behind sowhere in the weeks after Jean’s death. Had discarded it like a worn coat that no longer fit, no longer served any purpose in the cold world he now inhabited.
All that mattered now was justice.
Revenge.
Making Patinder know, in his final monts, exactly why he was dying. Making him understand that you couldn’t kill a noble house’s heir and simply keep living as if nothing happened. That so debts were paid in blood regardless of political protection or tactical consequences.
Yes, House Strahlfang had never been particularly brilliant. Hadn’t contributed much during the war. Had arguably done more harm than good thanks to Wei’s sches and their conflict with the Blackwoods that had nearly sparked internal war at the worst possible ti.
That sa lack of... intelligence. Foresight, or whatever you wanted to call it.
Had led them here.
To this mont. To this tunnel. To this ambush that would either bring justice or end with Jin dead alongside the veterans who’d trusted him.
’Jean, brother,’ Jin thought as he prepared to jump, ’today you finally rest in peace.’
Patinder had detected the ambush.
Of course he had. The damned rotten one detected everything. Had that infuriating awareness that made him seem prescient, like he could sense danger before it fully manifested.
But detecting and being able to do sothing about it were very different things.
And Zhao was powerful, yes. One of the best instructors at the academy, with combat experience that dwarfed anyone else in these tunnels.
But he was alone.
One adult against multiple adults, while also trying to protect students who would beco liabilities the mont real violence started. Having to split attention between offense and defense, between fighting and safeguarding, between winning and preventing casualties on his own side.
The mathematics didn’t favor the professor.
And Patinder...
Patinder was just a student.
Talented, yes... Even monstrously so.
A prodigy that appeared once in a generation, maybe once in a century.
But he was still only fourteen years old.
Still had a body that hadn’t finished developing, muscles that hadn’t reached full strength, reflexes that were impressive for his age but nothing compared to trained adults with decades of combat experience.
Still vulnerable.
Still mortal.
Still capable of dying if you just hit him hard enough, fast enough.
Jin felt a smile pulling at his lips. It felt wrong on his face, twisted, like an expression borrowed from soone else. The tiger’s influence maybe, or just what happened to human features when they tried to express satisfaction about planned murder.
He didn’t care which.
Years of waiting...
Years of planning, of gathering allies, of positioning pieces like a strategy ga where the victory condition was a fourteen-year-old’s corpse.
Years of hatred accumulating like poison in his chest.
Festering... Becoming sothing so large and toxic it had displaced everything else that used to live in the space where his already small and poor personality had been.
All of it converging on this mont.
This tunnel.
This confrontation.
Jin took a deep breath. The air tasted like silk and stone and the sharp tang of sweat that ca before violence.
Then he jumped from the upper tunnel, landing directly in Ren’s path with an explosion of mana that made the entire tunnel tremble.
He erged from the shadows like a demon manifesting from a nightmare.
His marks blazing completely now, Silver 2 intensity making his skin glow. Spiritual energy fluctuating in the air around his exaggerated form.
The others blocked the escape routes.
Adults erging from side tunnels and rear positions, creating a perfect box. No way forward except through Jin. No way back except through veterans who’d survived real wars and knew how to kill efficiently.
No way up or down in tunnels that constrained movent to essentially two dinsions.
Trapped...
Zhao straightened, his own beast manifesting as he assessed the situation.
Jin could see it in the professor’s eyes, the recognition that this wasn’t simple sabotage or student conflict that had escalated. This was coordinated adults working together with clear purpose and no apparent concern for consequences.
This was an assassination attempt.
And Patinder...
Patinder simply stared at Jin with those eyes that seed to have seen too much for his age. Ancient eyes in a young face.
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