CHAPTER TWELVE: OF THREADS, TRAPS, AND THE COLLAPSE OF KINGS
THIRD PERSON'S POV
SOVEREIGN CHASE GROUNDS – 1 PM | Broadcasted Live Across Supreme Allievo Academy's Aureum Gymnasium
The Sovereign Chase Grounds transformed into a battlefield of silence and echo—an ancient forest turned chessboard, where nine hunters moved like ghosts against the blare of sirens, the echo of crunching twigs, and the tick of a countdown clock.
But before the first sound of combat—before even the first command from Lyle or pulse reading from Riyee—the entire gymnasium held its breath as the screens flickered... then shifted.
A pulse web lit up across the central monitor—veins of light in violet, crimson, and arctic blue, forming what looked like a neural map spanning through the Ardent Court's tactical visors, weapon braces, collars, and gauntlets.
And Tofer—silent, subtle, smiling—purposefully tapped his transmitter.
The screen exploded with pulses. Runes representing the Court members spun in synchronized motion. Heat, breath, bio-signals, synaptic movement—all visualized.
And for a full heartbeat, the entire crowd stared.
"What is that?" someone in the junior bleachers whispered. "Is that... magic?"
Headmaster Lazaro's voice rang out from the Council Balcony, cold and clear.
"No. That is not magic."
He folded his arms. His next words rang loud across the speakers.
"That is war."
Every student turned toward him.
"The Ardent Court's Pulse Network—anchored by the Artemis Collar worn by Arielle Del Rio and controlled through Lyle Soriano's Crownsigil—is a strategic sensory system. It allows real-time synchronization across their movements, even when blindfolded or cut off from line of sight."
He nodded once, grim. "Every heartbeat you're seeing? Every breath they take? That's shared."
A beat.
"This isn't a squad. This is an organism."
From the massive Aureum Gymnasium, thousands watched with bated breath. The walls throbbed with the audio feed now synced—deliberately—to the Ardent Court's private communication line. Every call, every snark, every tactic... broadcast to the entire student body.
"Southwest quadrant clear. Crosswind two clicks." Xythe's voice cut through first, cold and low like steel on stone.
"You're two inches from an infrared tripwire, Prince," Riyee said, the grin audible in her voice. "Don't make me revive your arrogant ass again."
Laughter broke out across the gym. Someone from the senior bleachers whispered, "She's really leading him."
From the Council Balcony, Headmaster Antonio leaned over to Lazaro. "It's been years since we've seen them like this."
Headmaster Lazaro nodded, arms folded, eyes sharp on the screen. "Eight ghosts in the woods. One queen with a blade behind her smile. This is not a game anymore, Antonio. This is a warning."
But now that they'd seen the pulse web, even the most casual onlookers began to understand the subtle movements—how Riyee knew Saichel's grin without seeing him. How Xythe preempted a trap two clicks away. How Lyle, at the helm, moved like a god threading fate itself.
Because they weren't talking. They were feeling each other move.
Riyee's Artemis Collar blinked once. Pulse received. Saichel's signal: "Flickering tension—northeast quadrant. Emotion irregularity detected."
YOU ARE READING
OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)
Teen Fiction✧ STRINGS BETWEEN US ✧ Book Two: Operation Winterspine by miszywitch She thought she buried the war with her title. But some crowns aren't laid down--they're reactivated Arielle Rylance Del Rio walked away from the Ardent Court, from the strategist...
