Rama's fingers trembled as he reviewed the casualty projections for the fourteenth time that morning. Two weeks since Herald. Thirty-one days until Ravager. The numbers refused to improve no matter how many times he recalculated.
[CHAMPION COUNT: 156]
[TRIALS REMAINING: 109]
[PROJECTED DEATHS: 12]
[DAYS REMAINING: 31]
Twelve more people would die becoming Champions. Twelve names he didn't know yet. Twelve families who would receive notifications like Park Ji-won's mother had—professional, sympathetic, inadequate.
His hospital room had transformed into operational command center. Three monitors displaying real-time trial data from Beijing, Washington, Tokyo. Tablet showing recruitment pipelines. Communicator cycling between Void Defense Bureau channels. Medical equipment monitoring his recovery pushed to corner, largely ignored.
