Chapter 127 - Beneath the Carved Masks

Date: April X789 — Same Morning

Location: Magnolia — Council Assembly Hall

📍 Inside Council Assembly Hall

The room felt heavy, like a storm waiting to break. Teresa stood motionless at the center, her blade resting quietly at her side. Behind her, Romeo's breath came quick and shallow, his eyes jumping from the council dais to the tense crowd lining the benches.

Macao let out a slow, careful breath beside them, as if he might steady the whole hall by will alone.

The lead councilor stepped forward. The shimmering mana veil around him shifted like a living thing, parting just enough to show his sharp, cold eyes beneath the hood. He locked his gaze on Teresa, his voice slicing into the silence.

"You stand before us today not as a savior, but as a weapon left unchecked. A threat dressed in the illusion of protection."

📍 Near Council Benches

Romeo stepped forward without thinking. His sword bumped lightly against his hip, the soft sound echoing like a spark in the quiet.

"She's not a weapon," he snapped. His voice cracked, but his eyes stayed firm. "She's the reason Magnolia is still standing! The reason we sleep at night without our homes are not burning around us!"

Gasps rippled through the hall. The councilor's gaze snapped to Romeo, his expression twisting into thin, cold disdain.

"And who are you to speak?" he hissed. "A boy, barely more than a child. Clinging to false flames and borrowed courage."

Romeo's knuckles turned white around his hilt. His voice wavered for a moment — then steadied, rising sharp and clear.

"I'm someone who stood here when you turned your backs! Someone who learned to hold a blade and a flame because she taught me to see. To see what it means to keep standing, even when you're alone!"

📍 Central Floor, Assembly Hall

Teresa moved then, just the smallest tilt of her head toward Romeo. It was almost nothing, but Romeo saw it. His breath caught. He straightened, as if her quiet approval had slipped straight into his bones.

📍 Council Dais

The councilor took a shaky step back, trying to regain control.

"Regardless," he spat, "your defiance demands oversight. Your power demands to be held accountable—"

(Here you would include Teresa's reply — her refusal, her speech about echoes and choosing silence — as you originally wrote it. That remains the emotional peak.)

📍 Main Aisle, Council Hall

Teresa turned away. Her cloak whispered across the marble floor as she moved. One by one, the mages and guild leaders lining the benches lowered their heads — not from fear, but from a deep, instinctive respect.

Romeo fell into step beside her. He didn't speak. Neither did she. But when she glanced at him — just once, a flicker of golden light in her eyes — he felt his chest tighten. He nodded back, understanding everything she meant without a single word.

📍 Outside Council Hall Steps

Outside, the pale morning light finally began to break through the mist. The winter sun fought its way across the rooftops, turning the river east of town into a thin line of silver.

Teresa and Romeo stepped out first, followed by Macao, Bisca, Alzack, and Warren. They gathered into a small circle on the steps, the heavy doors shutting behind them with a quiet, final thud.

Macao looked back at the hall, then let out a low, almost disbelieving laugh.

"You know," he said, shaking his head, "I've never seen them look so small before."

Teresa tilted her head slightly — a soft acknowledgment — before turning her gaze forward again.

Romeo stepped closer, his breath curling into the cold air.

"What now?" he asked, his voice low but steady.

Teresa's eyes lifted to the far horizon — past the rooftops, past the twisting river, beyond the trees at the edge of safety.

"Now," she said, her voice calm and clear as a drawn blade, "we prepare for the next echo. And we choose how we shape its silence."