Chapter 156: Fired Stall
Across the room, Junjio shifted. His voice trembled when it came, too soft at first, like he hoped someone else would speak instead.
"What if..." he swallowed. "What if there aren’t enough rogues for all of us?"
His Ikona flickered on his shoulder, barely holding its shape. The fear in his question landed heavier than it should have. They all knew the system didn’t guarantee balance. Just risk. Just terms. Just outcomes.
Wes didn’t move from where he leaned, arms still crossed, Ikona pulsing steady at his side.
"Ours didn’t come with a timer," he said, tone level, like he wasn’t even trying to convince. "So we team up. Let the system assign. Half stats beat a closed casket."
He met Elias’s eyes as he spoke, gave a small nod — not pushing, just aligning, like they’d already chosen the same thing before the words ever left their mouths.
Elias inhaled slow through his nose. His hands had steadied. The pulse of his shard no longer jittered — just throbbed, low and full.
"Someone’s dying out there," he said, voice low, words slow. "We have to move."
The cry hadn’t come again, but the absence made it worse. That last echo still rang behind his ribs, the silence that followed drawing blood all the same.
Kikaru folded her arms, her Ikona’s light dimming, the motion sharp and immediate.
"And risk our stats for what?" she said, tone flat, words clipped. "For one person the system probably doesn’t care about?"