Chapter 6: The Uncrowned

The rebel outpost near the Dorsai Cliffs had never known silence. Not until tonight.

The air was heavy with storm-charged stillness, the kind that pressed against the lungs and whispered of bloodshed. The makeshift command tent at the heart of the camp was dimly lit, a flickering lantern the only source of warmth amid maps and scattered dossiers.

Alex stood alone inside, his coat slung across the back of a steel chair. His bare arms were crossed as he studied a crumpled surveillance photo—one that confirmed a truth he hadn't dared speak aloud until now.

The Sovereign Council wasn't fractured.It was united.Against him.

"You're reading that like it'll change if you stare hard enough," came a voice from the tent's flap.

He didn't flinch."General Kaito."

The man entered, armored and weary, salt-and-iron in his movements. Kaito's face was grim. "We intercepted a courier. Lancaster's High Marshal signed off on full mobilization. They're preparing for something big, Alex. A cleansing, maybe. Not just of rebels—of cities."

Alex's eyes narrowed. "Scorched earth?"

"Worse. Tactical displacement. Biochemical triggers."

A beat. Then: "Children?"

Kaito looked away. "They're not sparing anyone this time."

Silence crackled between them. Alex stepped forward, jaw tight. "We can't win this with sabotage and whispers anymore. We need a spectacle. Something that shakes them."

Kaito raised a brow. "You're planning something."

"I'm always planning something."

"…I mean something reckless."

Alex didn't deny it. Instead, he pulled a data chip from a hidden pouch and slid it across the table. "Satellite access codes for the Council's private channel. We leak everything—funding trails, asset transfers, classified orders. Public exposure."

"You want to enrage the people."

"No. I want to ignite them."

Kaito hesitated, then nodded. "I'll relay it to Lia."

Just then, the tent's flap opened again. Seraphine strode in—no disguise, no mask, her eyes glowing faintly from recent enhancement sync. "We've got a problem," she said, voice clipped. "Someone leaked our coordinates."

Kaito stiffened. "Internal?"

"Possibly. Or the Council finally cracked the cipher."

Alex turned toward her, his voice like a blade. "How much time?"

"Ten minutes. Maybe less. A full squadron inbound."

No fear. No panic. Just motion. Alex grabbed his coat, holstered his pistol, and scanned the tent.

"Where's Lia?" he asked.

"With the evac unit. She's moving civilians now."

Alex nodded. "Good. We hold the ridge. Blow the approach path after the last vehicle clears. Anyone not out in six—"

A deafening boom cut through the tent walls. The ground shuddered.

Seraphine was already moving. "That was too close. Artillery drone."

Alex grabbed the comms headset. "All units, Code Dustfall. Repeat, Dustfall. Defensive wedge formation, we buy time for extraction. Confirm when civilians are clear."

Outside, the sky burned with unnatural orange as drones zipped low, firing incendiary rounds into the outer camps. Screams echoed, but beneath them was something fiercer—shouts of defiance.

Rebels. Fighters. Survivors.

The Sovereign may have had the crown, but tonight they would meet the uncrowned—and bleed.