Axel didn’t move. The heat coming off him could have melted steel. His chest heaved with fury.

Wesley glanced at Jude—and sucked in a sharp breath.

Jude’s entire face was a collapsed ruin of bone and blood. He was unconscious, wheezing through shattered teeth.

“Let. Go,” Axel said coldly.

Wesley held firm. “No.”

“Don’t be reckless, Axel. Just a misunderstanding!” Cody spoke from behind the crowd, trying to keep his voice calm.

Vince, Rosaline, Kaia, and the rest of the team had arrived—and the way they were looking at Cody could have frozen fire.

Rosaline stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on Axel’s head. “Axel… Jude and Cody? One deserted the battlefield. The other helped him cover it up.”

Her voice was quiet, but cut like glass. “They’re both going to face the military court. And they won’t survive it.”

Axel’s breath caught in his throat. He looked at her, eyes wide with pain… then slowly lowered his fist.

Cody stood frozen, sweat running down his temple.

Vince stepped beside Axel and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Lock them both,” he said coldly. “Wesley, notify Xander. Tell him we’re back.”

Wesley nodded, still eyeing Axel with something like awe.

Axel turned toward the horizon—toward the dust-covered battlefield where Killian had vanished.

...........

Whisper Syndicate Hq, Everton.

Xander stepped out of the conference room, fatigue etched deep into his features. In just a few short days, he looked like he had aged years.

Beside him walked Baggins—another senior leader of the Whisper Syndicate, and one of the few men Xander trusted.

The military had been holding back-to-back strategy meetings, hammering out defensive plans against the growing mutant beast threat. But that wasn’t what had drained Xander.

“It’s not over, Xander,” Baggins said gently. “They could still be alive. They might come back.”

Obsidian Squad—Xander’s pride, his most elite unit—had been handpicked and built from the ground up under his command.

“Don’t comfort me with false hope,” Xander muttered. “I know they’re gone.”

The news had hit him like a thunderbolt. But he had been tied down, coordinating battlefronts in the north. There had been nothing he could do—no rescue mission to launch, no help to send.

So he’d waited. Helplessly. And when the beast tide passed and still no word came, he assumed the worst.

Just then, a young woman in red came sprinting toward them.

“Mr.Xander! Emergency report from Mirabelle!”

She was out of breath but grinning ear to ear. “Axel—of the Obsidian Squad—entered the Mirabelle Mountains alone a week ago. He’s returned… with the entire squad! Aside from Millers, who suffered mental trauma, the others are safe!”

“What?!”

Xander’s mind blanked. For a second, he thought he’d misheard her.

“But… Wesley reported Axel was already reassembling the team—”

The secretary hesitated. “Wesley admitted in the report that he lied… He was protecting Axel’s mission.”

Xander sat down hard on the bench behind him, stunned into silence. When the weight of it finally hit him, he slammed a fist into his knee.

“Those bastards! Arrogant little shits…”

Then his voice cracked with emotion. “They’re alive. Thank God… They’re alive.”

Baggins chuckled beside him, watching his old friend unravel.

“Give Axel a second-class merit,” Xander said, voice hoarse. “Hell—give him whatever the fuck he wants.”

But the secretary’s face shifted, more serious now.

“There’s… more. Obsidian didn’t enter voluntarily. They were forced into the Mirabelle Mountains. There's a whole backstory to this…”

As she explained, Xander and Baggins’ faces turned darker and darker.

When she finished, Xander was visibly shaking with fury.

“Fucking garbage! All of them! This isn’t over. Not even close!”

“Jude’s in critical condition—Axel nearly beat him to death. Cody’s locked up too,” the secretary added.

Xander’s expression twitched. Beside him, Baggins whispered, “This whole thing could’ve blown over easily… but Axel hit the mayor.”

Xander waved a hand like he was swatting a fly. “Good! I would’ve done the same. They’re both goddamn traitors.”

But Baggins leaned in closer. “Don’t forget where this is happening—Drakenfall is Windsor territory.”

Ah, the Windsor family. A textbook case of riding one man’s coattails. With a God-Tier powerhouse in their bloodline, they had taken over every critical industry in Mirabelle. Their people were buried in both the military and political structures.

“A strong dragon can’t crush a local snake,” Baggins muttered.

Xander growled. “Axel saved them. I’m going to Mirabelle myself—get a plane ready.”

As Xander stormed off, Baggins let out a sigh. “Damn it. Why don’t I have a monster like Axel on my squad?”

Impulsive or not, Baggins knew exactly why Xander was doing this. If he had someone like Axel under his command, he’d move heaven and earth for him, too.

Just as Baggins turned to leave, a towering figure approached.

A man in red scale armor—broad shoulders, presence like a thunderstorm.

“Captain Nolan!”

Baggins immediately stood straighter and saluted.

Nolan. Commander of the Whisper Syndicate. The man who outranked them all.

“Xander’s headed to Mirabelle?” Nolan asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Nolan nodded. “The Spider Project we finalized today—Whisper Syndicate is sending ten candidates. I want you to pick them, Baggins.”

Baggins blinked. “General… are you leaving again?”

It was the first time they’d seen Nolan in months.

The commander gave a rare, quiet smile. “I’m going to Mirabelle, too. Just to meet Brooks. Xander’s going to need backup.”

And with that, he turned and walked off.

......

Frosthaven, the largest city in the Mirabelle region, housed the governor’s office—a towering building of stone and steel nestled among centuries-old trees and modern infrastructure. At this moment, two men sat across from each other in the spacious, high-ceilinged office.

Brooks, the current Governor of Mirabelle, appeared to be in his early fifties. He maintained the air of a seasoned politician—composed, shrewd. Sitting opposite him, however, was a man at least two decades older, with a furious expression darkening his weathered features.

“Uncle, please don’t get worked up,” Brooks said carefully. “It’s just some bruises and a broken face. Jude will recover.”

Jamin Windsor, the retired Chief Justice of Mirabelle and Jude’s father, slammed his palm on the table, his voice thunderous.

“Flesh wounds? Brooks, if no one had pulled that Axel off him, your cousin would be in the morgue right now!”

Brooks’d expected this. As soon as the news from Drakenfall reached him, he knew the Windsor family wouldn’t take it lightly. Jude, one of their own, had been publicly and viciously beaten within their own damn territory. It wasn’t just an insult—it was a direct challenge to their authority.

The Windsor family had long sunk their roots into Mirabelle. With a number of awakened individuals among their ranks and decades of strategic appointments, they practically owned half the city. From business monopolies to military influence, they were the shadow behind the throne.

After Brooks achieved the fabled seventh-grade God-Tier awakening, the family had pushed him to the forefront—to rule openly as governor. Since then, the Windsor family had moved from puppet masters to crowned kings of the region.

And now, a member of that royal family had been brutalized in broad daylight.

“I want accountability,” Jamin seethed. “You don’t let this slide. Or what’s the point of all we’ve built?”

Brooks rubbed his temples. “Uncle… this isn’t as simple as it looks. The timing’s delicate. Jude and Cody’s behavior wasn’t just inappropriate—it was criminal. And they fucked with the wrong people.”

He paused, letting that last sentence sink in.

“They crossed the Whisper Syndicate.”

Jamin’s brows furrowed. “So what? They’re not dead, are they?”

“They’re national-level assets,” Brooks snapped.

Jamin's expression froze.

Brooks lowered his voice. “Look. Best thing we can do now is damage control. Pull Jude out quietly, chalk it up to trauma or reassignment. Change his name. Disappear him for a while.”

“So we just… take the loss? Tuck our tail between our legs and run?”

“You want to bring this to a military court?” Brooks asked flatly. “Because if it goes that far… Jude and Cody will be executed. Officially. Publicly. Is that what you want?”