After what felt like hours crouched in that suffocating crevice, the squad finally moved.
No one spoke.
They walked in silence—every step calculated, every breath measured. The heavy darkness pressed in on them from all sides, broken only by the narrow glow of helmet lights bouncing off jagged stone, rusted support beams, the occasional fallen knight, and Styx bones.
Even Kean, normally agile and bold in his scouting, remained only a few meters ahead of the group—his usual cheer buried beneath caution. His movements were tight, restrained. No swagger. No remarks. Just careful steps and quiet signals.
They hugged the cavern walls, keeping low and close, weapons drawn. Each twist in the tunnel brought a new threat to mind—a new chance that something would lunge from the dark and drag one of them away.
From somewhere in the distance, the guttural roars of Styx echoed—deep and layered, bleeding through the stone. Flashes of gunfire flickered like distant lightning. Explosions followed. A stark reminder that they were not alone.
After an hour of silent movement, Kean halted, raising a clenched fist. The squad froze behind him, weapons raised.
"There's something up ahead," he whispered. "Looks like an old outpost. No lights."
Gilbert stepped forward, adjusting the settings on his visor. Through a collapsed corridor and half-sunken bulkhead, the faint outlines of a small station emerged.
"Let's check it out," Gilbert said. "Quiet and tight. No lights unless necessary."
They entered cautiously.
Like the rest of the trench, the air inside was heavy and thick with dust. Crates of ammunition sat empty and covered in mold, and expired nutrition solution was scattered across the floor. Anastasia found a few busted energy cells, which she jury-rigged to activate a couple of light strips, casting pale illumination through the gloom.
Kean ran a scan with his suit's sensor module. "No signs of Styx in the immediate area. Finally, some godsdamn luck."
William, who had just settled on the floor, rolled his head before getting back up. "Why would you say something like that?"
"I didn't take you for someone who believes in superstition," Anastasia commented.
"I don't. But I also don't believe in messing with that stuff if it's unnecessary," William replied.
"Fair point," Anastasia said.
Vivian remained by the door, watching the tunnels. "This place creeps me out."
Kean poked a dead monitor. "I've stayed in worse."
"Of course you have," Vivian replied, leaning against the wall.
They took turns resting—brief, uneasy sleep. Others patched wounds, checked ammo, and rationed what little they had. Gilbert and Adam did not rest. One stood near the entrance, watching. The other leaned against a far wall, using his scope to peer through a window.
Just as Gilbert was about to call for another perimeter check, the lights suddenly went out.
Click.
A small sound.
Gilbert's eyes widened.
"AMBUSH!"
Explosions rocked the outpost as smoke and flashbangs burst through the ventilation shafts. Deathwatch knights poured in from hidden crawlspaces like spiders.
Gilbert drew both swords, but the first blow caught him from the side—blade slicing through his left arm. Sparks and blood burst as he staggered back, crashing into a table.
"GILBERT!" Kean shouted, flinging a knife into the visor of a rogue knight. William tackled another, spear roaring as it carved a path.
Vivian activated her flamethrower module, clearing the left flank. "Adam! Mei! Get him!"
"Fall back!" Gilbert growled through the comms, gripping his arm. "Defensive wedge—get out of here now!"
They didn't listen. Chen Mei grabbed his fallen arm while Adam yanked him up, dragging him toward the rear entrance, laying down suppressive fire alongside Anastasia and Kean to cover the retreat.
Smoke, fire, and steel raged behind them—but they burst through a maintenance shaft, scrambling out and sliding down a steep ravine of broken rock and wires, deeper into the trench.
They didn't stop until the station was far behind, swallowed by the dark.
Panting, Gilbert collapsed against the rock wall, barely conscious. His armor hissed as emergency sealant activated around his shoulder. Chen Mei froze the severed arm and stored it inside her medical trunk before securing it onto her back.
Crackle.
"Knight 141, report."
Came the flat and cold voice of Knight 1A5.
Gilbert lifted his helmet with his remaining hand, voice raw and filled with fury. "We were ambushed again. Lost an arm. Forced deeper. With all due respect, sir, your zone can be overrun by Styx for all I care."
There was a pause.
"Understood, Knight 141. Your zone is clear. Continue the mission. Extraction routes will be evaluated."
Kean looked like he wanted to throw his helmet.
William slammed his spear into the ground.
The others remained quiet. Chen Mei leaned against Adam while Anastasia helped repair Vivian's armor.
Gilbert leaned back, closing his eyes briefly. "Rest. Fifteen minutes. Then we move."
The squad sat scattered inside a crevice barely large enough for all of them. Gilbert leaned against a stone wall, his severed shoulder wrapped in gauze and sealant, face pale under his helmet. His breathing was shallow but steady.
No one spoke for a long time. The tension hung like the dark shadows around them.
Then Kean exhaled loudly and let his head hit the wall behind him. "We're not getting out, are we?"
"Don't start," Vivian said, her voice clipped, throwing a pebble at him.
"No. Let him speak," Adam muttered, his rifle resting across his lap. "You're all thinking it."
"We're not dead yet," William said, but his voice lacked conviction.
Chen Mei sat cross-legged, her gloves stained with blood—most of it Gilbert's. She hadn't said a word since treating him. Her face was unreadable.
Kean laughed softly, almost hysterically. "We cleared three zones. Survived Styx, Deathwatch—hell, I suplexed a guy into a wall. We survived all that and still, here we are… the new decorative ornaments of this godforsaken trench."
"We're soldiers," Vivian said stiffly, almost to herself. "We volunteered."
Kean's helmet slowly turned toward her. "We're orphans. There was no damn choice."
Vivian flinched, her jaw tightening.
"I chose this," Chen Mei said suddenly, her eyes locked on the darkness ahead. "I was born noble. The Lotus Chen clan is one of the richest families in continental Asia. We had a large family, but I refused to become just another political tool. That's why I requested a transfer to the Dragon Legion."
She paused, her voice carrying an edge of certainty.
"My older brother probably arranged for me to be placed in this squad, hoping to force me back home."
A breath.
"I thought I could help lead. I thought I was strong enough."
Her voice dropped, bitter.
"I can't even reattach an arm."
"Stop it," Gilbert said, low and tired.
"Why?" Chen Mei asked, barely keeping her composure.
"We're bleeding. Starving. Cracking. You shouldn't even be standing."
"I don't need two arms to lead," he replied. "And I don't need guilt weighing my squad down. That includes yours."
Silence again.
Then Adam muttered, "How do they keep finding us?"
Gilbert's head dipped slightly. "Who?"
"The Deathwatch," Adam replied, looking across at him.
Everyone's ears perked up.
"Exactly. And not just that—they're always able to sneak up on us too," Vivian added, turning toward Kean. "Aren't you supposed to be our scout? Once can be chalked up to a mistake, but three times? That's incompetence."
Kean turned toward her, but for once, he had no reply.
"It's not Kean's fault," Adam said. "If you haven't realized, all the energy running rampant down here makes sensing anything difficult. Plus the walls… and the fact that they live down here. They know this place like the backs of their hands."
William, ever proud, finally dropped his facade. His spear lay beside him, uncharged.
"I don't know if I'm strong enough for this," he said quietly.
"No one is," Gilbert replied. "That's why we move together. We have to share the weight."
"Then say it," Kean said, looking at him. "Tell us straight—how many of us do you think will make it?"
Gilbert didn't answer right away. He looked at each of them. They all looked back at him. His squad. His family. All broken in some way.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'll bleed every drop of what I have left before I let any of you die in this trench."
Like a stone landing in still water, his words rippled through them. They nodded—painfully, wearily, but with conviction.
Gilbert pushed himself up, trembling but firm.
"Ten more minutes. Then we move. Stick close. We find the lift. We won't die in the dark."
"Hey, leader boy, I've got a question," said Vivian.
"Fire away," said Gilbert, taking a few practice swings with his sword, using his remaining arm.
"The nest you carved onto the graves. What's that for? Why a nest?"
Gilbert lifted his head, staring at the hard rock ceiling above them.
"At the orphanage where we grew up, some of the younger children once found a family of birds dead inside a nest," he said. "They were crying, making a fuss about it… so Kean and I held a funeral service. We buried them together, in their nest."
"Oh, I remember that!" Kean cut in, his tone suddenly cheerful. "Madam Mardgery even cooked a hearty meal for us afterward."
Vivian blinked, her lips parting slightly at the image Gilbert painted. "A nest," she repeated, softer now. "A grave. A home. All at once."
Gilbert gave a faint nod.
Kean chuckled faintly, a nostalgic smile slipping through his voice despite the grime and exhaustion.
"Madam Mardgery even made that stew with dried mushrooms and goat intestines. I remember you puked halfway through, Gil, when you found out what was inside."
Gilbert looked down from the ceiling at him.
"Sorry. I don't remember that," he muttered.
"You absolutely did," Anastasia chimed in, surprising everyone. "I was the one whose shoes you messed up."
Chen Mei let out the ghost of a laugh.
The crevice that had felt so tight and suffocating a moment ago now seemed much warmer. It didn't erase the fear, the blood, or the fractured nerves—but it reminded them, for a moment, of something human.
"I miss that place," Anastasia whispered, voice small but sincere.
"We all do," Kean replied, leaning his head back.
Vivian looked away, blinking hard. "I didn't grow up with you… but I'm starting to think I should've."
Crackle.
"Knight 141, grid CL2 routes have been sent to you. Lift extraction is allowed in twelve hours."
"Thank you, sir. Routes confirmed," Gilbert replied. He surveyed his squad, observing their bruised forms. Then he looked toward the tunnel mouth.
"Ten minutes are up," he said, voice firmer this time. "Let's go find our way back—to the nest we shall return to."