The battlefield was soaked with fire, ichor, and divinity.
Hive titans, once unstoppable juggernauts of consumption, began to slow their advance. The acidic tides receded. The shrieks of the devouring legions dimmed. And then—without warning, without a signal seen or heard—they stopped.
The first to notice were the scouts on the outer rim of the frontier.
"They're… pulling back?" whispered Thalia, sweat-soaked and battle-worn, her hands still glowing from summoning divine flame.
Ayola narrowed her eyes, her fingers already dancing across the threads of fate, trying to catch what she could not see.
Across the shattered plain—where godly blood burned in trenches and demon claws clutched Hive carapace—the Hive retreated.
Not in chaos.
Not in defeat.
In precision.
In silence.
In control.
Like a hand slowly withdrawing into darkness, the Hive fell back beyond the shattered frontier, into their growing nest behind the veil of stars.
👁️ A Watchful Withdrawal
Zion stood on a risen obsidian hill, his glowing seven-pointed general's sigil pulsing in unison with the world around him.
"They… pulled back?" Sael asked, disbelieving.
"They had us," Elis added, breathless. "They were seconds from taking a full flank. We were losing—and they stopped."
Zion did not answer.
His eyes remained locked on the edge of the field, where distant Hive shapes vanished into the horizon like retreating shadows. His silence said more than any words could.
💠 Suspicion Among the Divine
In the war councils of the pantheons, tension bloomed like poison ivy.
"They saw something," growled a god of flame. "Something we haven't seen."
"Perhaps they fear our full strength?" a young demon general asked, hopeful.
"No," came the sharp voice of a divine strategist from the celestial pantheon. "The Hive doesn't fear. They calculate."
Ayola, now seated at Zion's side, whispered, "This wasn't fear… it was preparation."
Even Papa Legba, observing from the Crossroad, frowned. "Something foul stews behind that silence."
🔍 What Do They Know?
The question spread like wildfire:
"Why would a predator pause at the scent of blood?"
Across Bassoon and Zantrayel, gods, demons, and mortals alike turned their eyes to the stars and the silence beyond them.
And far in the nest—deep within an ancient Hive womb—the First Queen moved slowly through vast caverns of stored knowledge. She communed with the Lords Marshal in absolute stillness.
"We have tasted their strength.
Now we wait for them to show us their weakness