Valeria lowered her claymore, her mouth slightly open as she watched the impenetrable red tide break and dissolve against their home. She glanced at Alvian's profile, noticing the harsh, tired lines around his eyes softening just a fraction as the city's defenses held perfectly. Without a word, she reached over and gently brushed a stray flake of ash from his dark collar, a quiet, intimate promise that she was still right beside him, even as he rewrote the rules of war.
"The defenses are self-sustaining," Alvian noted, his voice calm amidst the distant roar of dying monsters. "The more they attack, the stronger the walls become. It is a perfect closed-loop system."
"It's a meat grinder," Valeria corrected, a shudder of awe in her voice. "They're throwing themselves into a woodchipper."
