Chương 119: Chapter 112

Dominion Eight Bell News The message came late. The chime rang once. Then again. Caelis finally answered.

"Caelis, it's Idan. Get out of bed and to the studio. You need to be on in twenty minutes." Caelis glared at her device.

"Idan, it's the witching hour. What could possibly have happened that requires my sleep as collateral damage."

"Look at the current uploads to the World Tree Lattice. Twenty minutes, Caelis, or someone else goes on." He ended the connection. She grumbled under her breath, pulled up her Lattice feed, and looked at what was there. Her eyes went wide. Caelis Morwyn sat perfectly still at the center of the frame. Her hair, deep luminous blue, fell in a flawless cascade over one shoulder. Her eyes matched, sharp and saturated, the kind that made it clear she missed nothing and forgot even less.

The dress was immaculate and unapologetic, rich dark blue cut high at the collar, tailored to her form with an exactness that reminded viewers authority did not require restraint and composure took nothing from beauty. She had guessed they had not heard the last of the Ghost of the Wastes since he made himself known on Valecis Isle. She had been right.

"Good evening," she said.

"This is an emergency Eight Bell Broadcast. What you are about to hear has been verified through multiple Dominion channels and confirmed by Royal Knight deployment." The man beside her straightened. Edrick Halven was the same as always. Handsome, she noticed not for the first time, in the safe, curated style Dominion audiences trusted. Dark hair cut just long enough to soften his features, a clean jawline, posture trained into composure by years of broadcast discipline.

His suit was immaculate, slate grey with silver trim. His eyes betrayed him, as they always did, flicking to Caelis a fraction of a second too long before returning to the projector. He recovered quickly. The moment did not go unnoticed by anyone watching closely. Behind them, the studio wall shifted. Lattice visuals bloomed into place, Technica sigils resolving into live feeds and tactical overlays of the unmistakable architectural outline of the Royal Mirefall estate on the southern coast of Valecis Isle.

In the control room above, Director Halen Veres leaned forward, hands braced on the console.

"Engagement's already spiking," said Maybell, his assistant.

"Anyone with a Lattice connection is tuning in."

"This man is ratings gold," Halen replied.

"Make it count." He raised three fingers toward the studio floor. Three. Two. One. He pointed. Caelis smiled at the projection.

"Thank you for joining another emergency broadcast from Dominion Eight Bell News. This is breaking news. Earlier this evening, the annual Five Seat Martial Tournament Gala, hosted at the Mirefall Royal Estate on Valecis Isle, was the site of a coordinated mercenary incursion and the deployment of a top-tier formation inside a hall containing the King of Vera, the royal family, and senior diplomatic representatives from every major power in the Western Bloc." The co-anchor's jaw tightened.

"How is that possible? How did a mercenary formation get past the wards of the estate?"

"Royal family experts have confirmed it was an Arcanum-Technica hybrid gate construct," Caelis said.

"One of fewer than a dozen documented in existence. How the estate's existing ward architecture was bypassed remains under investigation." The lattice feed shifted. Aerial footage of Mirefall, emergency transport signatures visible on the grounds, Knight Order sigils flaring at the perimeter. Stolen novel; please report.

"Do we know the mercenary organization involved?" Caelis adjusted her expression accordingly.

"Witnesses confirm the attacking force was a subcontractor of the Dusk Assembly called the Legion. Sources close to the action further claim the operation was bound by a Covenant Token, though details grow harder to verify from here. People with direct knowledge of the events allege the Token was issued by a mercenary in the top ten of the Independent Mercenary List. The identity of the Token holder has not been officially confirmed, and the identity of the Covenant's benefactor remains unknown."

Edrick leaned forward slightly.

"For viewers unfamiliar with mercenary law, what does a Covenant Token mean in practice?"

"It means the contracted party had no legal mechanism for refusal," Caelis said.

"Under the mercenary code established by Grand Master Merlin Mase, a Covenant Token issued through a properly compensated Oathbond is an absolute obligation. The contracted party completes the mission or faces consequences scaling to the Token's level, ranging from direct suppression of one's mana to forfeiture of standing to death, depending on the terms." A pause.

"Which makes what happened next all the more significant." The studio lights dimmed. The footage that replaced the lattice graphics was not aerial. It was interior, sourced from a diplomatic attendant's personal relay crystal, the image unsteady but unmistakable. The hall of Mirefall. The chandeliers. The sealed exits. And at the center of it, in matte black armor with a skull mask that made the air around him look uncertain about its own composition, the Ghost of the Wastes. The control room went very quiet.

"Confirmed?" someone asked.

"Confirmed," Halen said.

"Knight sensor logs, lattice cross-verification, and three independent relay feeds. He was there." On screen, Caelis did not pause.

"The Ghost of the Wastes was present at the Mirefall Gala in the capacity of a contracted protector for Her Royal Highness Princess Talena Aurion," she said.

"His presence was not publicly disclosed prior to the event. Based on available footage, he engaged Calder the Threshold and Ash Han the Still, both ranked in the top twenty of the Independent Mercenary List, in direct combat, held them to a standstill without injuring either of them, and subsequently issued a threat to the Dusk Assembly that resulted in the invocation of the Assured Destruction Clause by Thessaly the Scion herself." Edrick stared at her.

"The Assured Destruction Clause," he said slowly.

"That hasn't been invoked in—""Forty-three years," Caelis said.

"Our research team confirmed it within the last hour. There are six documented invocations in the clause's history. This is the seventh." She looked directly at the camera.

"To be clear about what that means: the head of the Dusk Assembly, one of the most powerful independent mercenary organizations in the Upper Planes, invoked an emergency override of an active Covenant Token, a thing the mercenary code explicitly states cannot be overridden, because the Ghost of the Wastes made a credible threat to destroy her organization if she did not." The lattice feed held on the Ghost's image.

The skull mask and crimson and stormglass violet eyes contrasted violently with the bright golden surroundings of Mirefall's grand hall. The projection was captivating. The hall frozen behind him.

"The threat was credible," Caelis said simply. In the control room, the engagement counter had stopped updating meaningfully. The number was too large to track in real time.

"And Crown Prince Ardeshir of Ava," Edrick said quietly. Caelis held the camera for a moment.

"Crown Prince Ardeshir Atame of the Dominion of Ava was killed during the incursion by the mercenary known as the Hollow, operating under the Covenant Token contract. His uncle, Lord Davan Atame, was present and has returned to Ava with the Crown Prince's remains. The Dominion of Ava has not yet issued an official statement." The studio was very quiet.

"The succession question in Ava is now open," she continued.

"The political implications for the Western Bloc's alliance structure are significant and developing. We will continue to report as information becomes available." She paused.

"What is confirmed tonight is this. A Covenant Token from a top-ten mercenary was used to engineer an incursion against the Vera royal family at a diplomatic event attended by every major power in the Western Bloc. The Crown Prince of Ava is dead. The Assured Destruction Clause has been invoked for the seventh time in recorded history.

And the Ghost of the Wastes, an entity that many in the academic community had classified as a composite legend rather than a single individual, has been confirmed present, active, and operating in the Upper Planes." Her gaze held the camera.

"Whoever engineered last night's events did not account for him." The lattice filled with a new still image. This time the Ghost stood at the center of the hall with Thessaly the Scion holding onto him, her purple hair vivid against the matte black of his armor, both of them surrounded by the aftermath of an evening that had no clean resolution.

"This is still developing," Caelis said.

"Knight Orders remain active on Valecis Isle. Diplomatic communications are ongoing. This broadcast will continue." She did not look away from the camera.

"This has been Dominion Eight Bell News. I'm Caelis Morwyn." In the control room, Halen leaned back slowly.

"I wish I had a home address for the Ghost of the Wastes," he said. Everyone in the room looked at him. He chuckled.

"Ratings gold. I would send him a thank you note personally." An intern named Lala spoke up from the back of the room, her eyes still on the image.

"It makes you wonder though. He was so restrained in there." She paused.

"Really makes you wonder what happens when he actually lets loose." Everyone heard it. Everyone considered it. They all looked back at the image of the Ghost of the Wastes standing in the center of Mirefall's chandelier light with the head of the Dusk Assembly attached to him like he was the only fixed point in the room. Most of them swallowed.