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The imperial dispatches went out within an hour of the cordon being established. Evan Roman had the authority and he used it: emergency contact to every Legendary and Mythical-rank hunter within a sovereign reach of Qintara's capital, every neighboring nation with bilateral defense agreements, every faction with something to lose if the city stopped standing.
The responses arrived by dawn. Thirty-seven refusals, each composed differently, each meaning the same thing.
This matter falls outside our operational jurisdiction at present.
Our forces are committed to domestic defense priorities.
We extend our deepest sympathies and will monitor the situation closely.
The terms of our agreement do not extend to Apocalypse-classification events without prior consultation.
The Emperor of Qintara, Qin Huanglong, read the final response from the Xiulan Alliance: four Legendary-ranks, all declining, the letter composed carefully. The color left his face in a sequence Evan recognized.
"They—" Qin Huanglong started.
"Yes," Evan said.
"All of them."
"Every one."
The emperor put the letter down with deliberate care. He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose.
Evan gave him a moment.
"We work with what we have," Evan said. "Which is more than nothing."
Qin Huanglong looked at him. His face said what he did not.
. . .
They gathered in the staging area at first light: every Mythical and high S-rank hunter present in the city, seventeen people around a field table with maps of the district and an overhead sketch of the Overlord's court formation drawn from the vice guildmaster's interior observation.
Evan laid it out: four extinction-rank targets, ten calamity-rank, plus the Overlord himself. Human resources insufficient for a full engagement. The proposal was one-on-one rank-matched assignments, coordinated to prevent the court from supporting each other.
"Immortal Lu takes the Overlord," Armand said. It was not a question.
"Yes," Lu said.
"The dragon." Armand looked at the sketch. "That's extinction-rank."
"You and your Vice Guildmaster," Lu said. "The dragon's scale becomes a liability in close quarters. Your output style suits it."
Armand looked at Suture. She tilted her head. That was yes.
"I'll take Veyra," Elias said.
He said it before anyone could assign it to him. His voice was flat and final.
"Elias—" Armand started.
"She was mine to lose," Elias said. "Leave it."
Nobody argued.
"Ancient Wraith," Evan said. "I'll handle it. One imperial guard S-rank as support."
"Are you sure?" Armand asked. "The Wraith's domain disruption—"
"I said I'll handle it."
Armand left it.
"The Lich," Chu Xinghe said. He looked toward the back of the group. "Henry. Han."
Henry and Han had arrived an hour ago, having clearly walked in mid-conversation and were still assembling the full picture from the pieces they had caught.
"The three of us," Chu Xinghe said.
Henry and Han exchanged a glance.
"Sure," Han said.
"Happy to," Henry said, at the same time.
They looked at each other.
"Fine," they said, also at the same time.
Chu Xinghe returned to the map.
Evan ran the count. "Overlord, dragon, wraith, lich. Four calamity-ranks to Elias's team." He tapped the sketch. "The Death Knight."
"That's extinction-rank," Armand said.
"Yes," Evan said.
"And we have no one."
"Correct."
Armand looked at Elias. Elias was studying a corner of the map.
"Elias."
"I heard you."
"Your hands aren't that full."
"They absolutely are." Elias looked up. "I have Veyra. Plus four calamity-ranks. Plus my vice guildmaster." He looked back at the map. "My hands are full."
"I'm not saying take both—"
"Then what are you saying."
"I'm saying someone needs to take the Death Knight."
"Yes," Elias said. "Someone does." He looked at Armand. "How's your schedule."
Armand's jaw set. "I have a dragon."
"Right." Elias looked at Evan. "Bureau?"
"Committed," Evan said.
"Imperial guard?"
"One S-rank allocated already. The rest aren't rated for this."
"So." Elias spread his hands. "We have a gap."
"We have a gap," Evan said.
The Death Knight's position sat circled in red on the sketch and nobody moved toward it.
"The Dao Guild has resources," Armand said. He was looking at the map when he said it.
"The Dao Guild's resources are committed to the Overlord," Lu said.
"All of them?"
"The Overlord requires full attention."
"What about that new S-rank alchemist of yours," Elias said. He glanced at Ren. "Rank alone doesn't cover an extinction-class engagement, but with support—"
"He's an alchemist," Lu said. "His function is field support."
"Then as field support—"
"No."
Elias looked at him.
"No," Lu said again, pleasantly.
Nobody had a move left. Armand put both hands flat on the table. Elias leaned back.
Lu turned slightly and sent a voice transmission on the private frequency only one other person in the staging area could receive.
Can you handle an extinction-rank target?
Across the table, Ren's mask was still. Behind it he was smiling.
I know a guy. A pause. Extort them as much as possible first, Guildmaster.
Lu looked at the group, still at the same impasse.
"Before we resolve the Death Knight assignment," Lu said, "there's something you should know. The Dao Guild has a Mythical-rank guest hunter available for this engagement. Freelance. He can cover the Death Knight."
Nobody at the table moved.
"You've been holding that," Evan said.
"I've been waiting for the right moment." Lu looked at each of them in turn. "Which brings us to the resource discussion."
"How much more is the Dao Guild hiding," Armand said.
"Nothing that concerns you for now," Lu said pleasantly, which was not an answer.
"The Dao Guild will require thirty percent of all recovered materials from this engagement. That includes the Overlord's equipment, his monster core, and all court drops."
Around the table, nobody looked pleased.
"Thirty," Elias said.
"Thirty."
"Immortal Lu, we're all putting our lives on the line here. Thirty percent is—"
"I fight the Overlord," Lu said. "Alone. My guild solves the Death Knight problem you've spent the last ten minutes failing to solve. If the distribution concerns you, either of those assignments is available."
Elias said nothing.
"The Overlord's core alone would be worth—" Armand started.
"Thirty percent," Lu said. "I won't ask again."
The pain around the table was visible. Evan looked at the ceiling. Elias pressed two fingers to his temple. Armand's hand went to his sword pommel and stayed there.
They nodded, each in their own time.
Lu raised his right hand.
He pressed two fingers together and drew them apart. The space tore: no gate formation, no mana array, just a Legendary-rank hand pulling reality open at the seam, the edges ragged and dark, the sound like cloth splitting under sudden tension.
A figure stepped through.
The obsidian armor was spiked at the shoulders and the joints, matte black that absorbed light rather than reflecting it, each plate fitted to a frame built for something heavier than a person. He carried an axe that one hand should not have been enough for, the head alone nearly a meter across, the metal dark red, forged at temperatures most materials did not survive. Three meters of handle, the blade edge catching the morning light and returning it wrong.
His helmet was a skull. Obsidian, matching the armor, the eye sockets filled with a dim red glow that had no natural source. Clearly a mask. Also the most convincing skull anyone present had encountered outside an active combat zone.
The assembled Mythical-rank hunters looked at him in silence.
He stood there and let them.
"I'm Bone Saw," he said. His voice was level. "Mythical rank. Savage Berserker." He looked at the sketch on the table. "I'll handle the Death Knight."
Nobody answered immediately.
The people who had been arguing thirty seconds ago had gone quiet.
"Why," Armand said slowly, "does he look more like a Death Knight than the actual Death Knight."
Nobody answered.