The silence that followed Ren's declaration was completely different from the breathless, adrenaline-fueled lulls of the battlefield.
It was a suffocating, absolute stillness...
It was like those veteran commanders were staring at a ghost, the blood draining completely from their faces.
"No." Selphira said it before he could even draw a breath to explain himself. Her voice cracked like a whip, sharp and laced with a terror she hadn't felt in centuries. "It is infinitely too dangerous!"
"If you crystallize yourself," Julius added, stepping forward, his exhaustion entirely forgotten under the crushing weight of the ultimatum, "it is over! All of it… The entire war and our bright future lost."
The youngest yet more politically significant Qilin prince grabbed Ren's shoulder, his grip unnecessarily tight.
