Foundation of Smoke and Steel

Chapter 174

DanielThe construct was unlike anything Daniel had ever seen.

Its walls shimmered faintly, planes of hardened Pulse rising from the earth in rigid geometry, sealing Daniel, Karguk, Shira, and the others inside a cage that had not been raised for imprisonment but for preservation. Beyond the translucent barrier, the Iron Tide roared in confusion, yet the sound reached them only as muted thunder, dulled by compression and distance.

Urzag wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and laughed. The sound echoed oddly against the construct's inner planes.

"You're a fool, Karguk," he said, pacing just outside the barrier, spear still in hand. "You follow useless insights and personal desire instead of the standards of the Tide and High Fang. It is thinking like this that creates weakness. Instead of attacking the Murai and following the ancestral path, you stand here speaking to humans. This is why the Tide grows weak."

Karguk did not respond at once. He stood grounded, shoulders squared, his Pulse drawn inward rather than flaring outward. There was no visible strain in him — only control.

Shira stepped slightly forward, her voice low but carrying through the barrier. "You mistake restraint for weakness. You know nothing of Karguk's plan or the mission of this Wave, and yet you challenge him like a coward, relying on stupidity and trickery. You do not have the strength to claim the Wave, Urzag. You never have."

Urzag's gaze snapped toward her, sharp and cutting. "You know nothing, Shira. Another reason a woman — especially a half-blood — does not belong on a battlefield."

Shira's fingers flexed around the hilt of her blade. The movement was small, but the intent behind it was not.

Ethan observed calmly from the back of Daniel's mind.

Daniel almost smiled despite the situation.

Ethan replied, his presence steady and almost detached.

Daniel considered this.

Ethan corrected.

Outside the construct, the Iron Tide's roar began to shift. It was no longer confusion alone. There was division in it now. Warriors turned not toward Daniel but toward Urzag. Some pressed forward in support. Others held back, watching.

Urzag noticed the shift. His laughter faded.

"Your time is done," he called to Karguk. "You speak of mission while the horizon darkens, ignoring our honor and our purpose."

Karguk's eyes narrowed slightly. "You speak of what you do not understand. You know nothing of the horror that awaits us, or the broods that will be lost, or what they will do when they come."

Stolen story; please report.

Ethan said.

"I understand this," Urzag shot back, ignoring the warning entirely. "The Tide must grow stronger through conquest, not caution. The Empire is weak. The Murai are weak. All humans are weak. You speak of future calamity, the Tide is strong. The Tide will always be strong but the only problem I see is you."

Daniel felt the words settle into the air.

Ethan replied.

There was conviction in Urzag's voice now, not only pride. That was more dangerous than anger.

Daniel thought.

Ethan replied.

Daniel's gaze drifted upward along the inner planes of the construct. The geometry was flawless. The harmonics were not.

Daniel prompted.

Ethan said without hesitation.

Daniel widened his awareness beyond the construct. At first he thought it was residual vibration from the fractured berserker chant. Then he felt it clearly; a disturbance in the air above the Tide. This time it wasn't Pulse. The distinct flavor of mana, thick and structured. A massive surge of densely packed mana was cruising their way with the intensity of a fighter jet.

Whatever it was, it was coming in fast.

A disturbance rippled through the rear ranks. Heads turned. Fangborn who moments earlier had been fixed on Urzag now shifted their attention skyward. The sound of the Tide changed, losing its unified edge and dissolving into uncertain murmurs.

Daniel lifted his gaze with them.

Flying carriages descended through the cloud line in disciplined formation — not one, but several, cutting through the sky at sharp angles. Their hulls shimmered with reinforced arrays that drank from the air as they moved. Doors opened mid-flight and cultivators dropped from impossible heights, falling in controlled arcs before arresting their descent at the last possible moment.

Daniel recognized them. The Zhou family. And the Wangs.

What the hell were the Wangs doing here?

He felt the shift in the Pulse singers before he saw it. Their attention fractured. The construct flickered.

Daniel thought.

Ethan replied dryly.

Below, Urzag planted his spear into the earth and spread his arms wide, still attempting to command the moment. "See!" he shouted to the Tide. "Even now the humans are treacherous!"

The murmur among the Fangborn deepened but was no longer unified. Some watched Urzag. Others watched the sky. Karguk's gaze did not leave Urzag, but his Pulse tightened further, coiling inward.

The Pulse singers sustaining the construct redoubled their effort as the barrier began to change. The lattice shimmered, and long sharp spikes materialized along the inner walls, inching inward. Their purpose had shifted from containment to execution.

Urzag's expression hardened. "No one moves," he said coldly, "or all those within die."

The clearing froze.

"Krai," Urzag barked, "summon the Firebreathers and destroy those incoming—"

Something changed in the mana above them. A dense concentration descended, the tone of it shifting in a way Daniel could not quite classify — raw, altered, wrong in a way that didn't follow any pattern he recognized. The construct hummed. Its pitch dropped. Fine cracks of refracted light spread along its planes.

Then something struck the upper lattice.

Steel — a blade drove down from above, point first, punching through the hardened geometry as though the construct were glass. The sound that followed was unforgettable, a resonant fracture like a bell splitting under strain. The lattice warped outward from the point of impact. The blade tore downward in a single decisive line.

The construct shattered.

Compressed Pulse dissolved into vapor, the rigid planes disintegrating as the geometry collapsed.

A figure landed between Karguk and Daniel, boots striking earth with controlled force. He did not look at Daniel first. He looked at Urzag.

Caleb Zhou.

He grinned at the orcs surrounding him.

"I hear you guys were hosting my family."

He pulled his blade free in one smooth motion, the air around him still trembling from the force of his descent.

The Iron Tide fell silent.