The first wave had come fast and brutal, like a knife to the throat. And yet, they had held.
Sarissa stood at the edge of the central plaza, her sword slick with black ichor, shoulders heaving with each breath. Around her, the other guild leaders stood in similar states. Bloodied, grim, but alive.
The ground beneath their feet was a broken tapestry of ash and flame, twitching bodies of slain monsters.
It felt like victory.
It looked like it, too.
"Clear." Someone muttered over the comms.
"Still no movement on the east quadrant."
"Plaza secure. For now."
No one lowered their weapons, though. The silence that followed was not comforting. It was not the relief of battle's end but the pause before something worse.
The city, normally sleepy due to the safety that night brought with the [Safe Zones], had gone eerily quiet now. Deadly silent, even.
