CHAPTER 45: LEAVING (1)

The cup in Lucen’s hand had gone lukewarm.

He didn’t drink it. Just let it rest there, solid in his palm, fingers curled around the ceramic like an excuse.

The others were still inside the safehouse. Quiet. Distant. Callen was half-asleep on the couch, still pretending not to wince every time he shifted.

Mira had finally sat down near the mana rig, her bow propped against the wall at an angle that said don’t touch me.

Senna had taken up residence by the window, watching the street like she expected it to blink wrong.

Taira stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed, watching the kettle click down with one eyebrow barely raised.

Lucen leaned back in his chair.

The system flickered at the edge of his vision again.

[Spellcraft System – Design Node Available]

[Slot 3: Unassigned]

No sound. No alert. Just that same quiet presence. A polite ghost tapping on the inside of his head.

He kept his expression blank. Fingers still curled around the cup. He shifted one knee and let his hand drop just low enough to trail a trace of mana under the table.

A single sigil loop opened, opaque only to him. No flash. No glow.

He exhaled once.

’Okay. One fire. One ice. Slot three wants friends.’

He didn’t need anything fancy.

Not yet.

Just a simple, clean third option. Something fast. Something that didn’t care about elegance or control metrics.

He adjusted the internal node slightly. Pushed an elemental thread through a new glyph spine, then split it halfway and twisted the flow left—like he was writing with his wrong hand on purpose.

It fought him at first.

Then it snapped into place.

System text populated, faint and blue.

[New Spell Constructed]

[Spell Assigned: Shockweave Bolt]

Slot 3: Active

Base Type: Elemental / Lightning

Mana Cost: 7

Range: 12 meters

Effect: Launches a high-speed electrical pulse. Minor tracking. On hit: brief neural disruption (~0.4s)

Cast Type: Instant / Mid-Trace Cast Available

Lucen let out a quiet breath and tapped the screen once to dismiss the display.

The window faded. The air settled.

He curled his fingers tighter around the cooling cup, masking the last few traces of mana withdrawal threading down his wrist.

He didn’t smile.

But his eyelids dipped.

’Fire, ice, and stun. Sounds like a meal combo.’

Behind him, a chair creaked.

Senna walked past, glancing sideways once. Just enough to make him wonder if she’d felt the mana shift. But she didn’t slow. Didn’t comment. Just grabbed a drink from the counter and walked back to the window.

Lucen exhaled.

Mira spoke without looking up. "You still awake?"

Lucen said, "Barely."

"You didn’t say much after we got out."

"Didn’t feel like saying anything."

She nodded. Stirred something metallic in a half-empty mug. "Good call."

Taira reached above the stove, pulled down a sealed ration bar, and dropped it onto the counter beside him.

"Eat."

Lucen raised a brow. "Am I dying?"

"No. But you look like someone who would forget to eat and then pretend it was a tactical decision."

Lucen muttered, "Maybe I just don’t like chewing."

"Maybe I don’t like cleaning up unconscious casters. Eat."

Lucen unwrapped the bar and took a bite.

Dry. Cardboard-adjacent. Hints of stale berry and regret.

The system pinged again.

[Spell Slot Usage: 3/7]

[System Load: Balanced]

[Suggested Threshold: Maintain current diversity]

Lucen dismissed it with a blink and stared at the center of the table.

Callen had started snoring faintly. Mira had stopped stirring.

Senna stood perfectly still.

Taira sipped her drink.

And Lucen?

Lucen sat there chewing like he didn’t have enough mana in his blood to light the whole block if he got annoyed.

He swallowed.

Then said flatly, "So... anyone else want to explain how that Reaper thing knew we were there?"

The silence that followed wasn’t casual.

It was tight. Stretched. Like something had finally run out of slack.

Mira spoke first. Quiet.

"I was gonna ask the same thing."

Senna didn’t turn from the window.

Callen didn’t snore.

And Lucen leaned back.

Cup in one hand.

New spell in the other.

And no one the wiser.

—

No one answered his question.

Not directly.

Mira stood up first.

Didn’t say anything. Just took her mug to the sink, rinsed it with one hand while the other stayed loose near her hip.

Her bow never left her back. When she dried the mug, her fingers were still shaking. Barely. Just enough to catch the light if you were watching.

Lucen watched.

She said, "I’ll get a report started."

No one stopped her.

The front door clicked shut behind her five seconds later.

Senna moved next. She stepped back from the window and picked her coat off the hook. Her sword slid into the back sheath with a faint tap like it belonged there.

Lucen glanced over.

She caught his look.

"Be careful," she said simply.

Lucen didn’t reply.

She didn’t wait.

Taira spoke next. "I’m moving the vehicle. Patrols are light, but I don’t park twice in the same district unless I’m dead."

Callen raised two fingers in a half-wave from the couch. "Don’t get pulled over."

"I never get pulled over," Taira said, tone dry.

Lucen believed her.

The door opened again. The wind outside was colder now. You could smell the shift in temperature, like metal and dust and somewhere-too-far stormfront.

Taira left.

Which left Callen.

Still on the couch. Still slouched like someone had turned off his spine. His shield was by his feet again, dented just above the handle grip.

Lucen said, "You gonna sleep there?"

Callen didn’t open his eyes. "I’m deciding whether getting up is worth the pain."

"You want odds on that?"

Callen snorted. "I’ll take pain over paperwork."

He stood. Slowly. Groaned. Then limped toward the back hall without another word.

A minute passed.

Lucen stayed seated.

The system buzzed faintly in the back of his vision, but he didn’t open it. He just let it sit there, low and humming.

Then—

A soft scuff.

Gen dropped into the chair across from him, upside down.