His words hit like a bomb. Everyone froze—us included. The human section of the courtroom went dead silent. Only Soren’s smug, greasy laughter remained, along with a few soft coughs and the faint sound of someone biting into an apple.
“Where is she?” Little White sighed. “Say it. If she’s still alive, we’ll… consider your sentence.”
“Consider?” Soren snickered. “Don’t make me laugh. I want a not-guilty verdict. Otherwise, go ahead—sentence me now. I’d love to see what you want more: your companion… or my death.”
This time, I lunged.
Julian was telling me to stay calm. I’d been forcing myself to hold it together all trial. But I couldn’t stay still anymore.
“What did you do to Starling?” I demanded, grabbing Soren by the throat and hauling him up. “Where is she?”
“Tell me,” I said, my voice shaking, “and I’ll make it quick.”
“Ac… quit me…” Soren wheezed. “And I… will… tell you…”
“Talk,” I snapped. “Or I’ll carve you into a stump.”
I unfolded my arm-mounted ion shield and focused it down into a short, knife-like edge.
Soren’s lips peeled back in a grin even while he choked.
“Perfect,” he rasped. “Very on-brand. Come on… in this civilized court… show everyone… your brutal nature…”
“Wyatt,” Little White said softly behind me, “you’re going to choke him to death.”
Soren’s eyes had started to roll back. I released him at once and forced myself to pull back from the edge.
He coughed violently for a long time before he could speak again.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said between coughs. “My condition stands: acquit me, and I’ll take you to her.”
Soren glanced around and saw every human glaring at him. That, somehow, made him angrier.
“What are you looking at?!” he roared. “I’m innocent, you selfish parasites. Think about whose place this is! Who protected you all this time?!”
“Me!” he bellowed. “I dragged you out of an apocalypse-hell. I gave you food, clean water, warm beds. You owe me. Compared to that, what do my little ‘mistakes’ matter? Stop staring at me like I’m your enemy!”
A few heads lowered.
Most didn’t. People jumped up and shouted back without restraint.
“And who made the apocalypse in the first place?”
“Where do you think your ‘property’ came from, bastard?”
“Shameless! We worked for every scrap. We fed you, you worm!”
“Edean is public property. Not yours.”
Someone threw a half-eaten apple. A peel followed. Soren flipped the table and screamed right back.
“You should all die! Get out of Edean—every last one of you!”
The courtroom became chaos. Landon had no choice but to declare a recess.
***
Afterward, we found a room to talk.
“This is simple,” Bit said. “We pretend to agree. Once we find her, I kill him.”
Over the public channel, Julian replied, “Then we lose credibility.”
“Credibility?” Bit scoffed. “With a piece of trash like that?”
“No.” Julian’s tone was firm. “Human civilization has only just recovered, and our relationship with humans is unprecedentedly good. If we break faith first, who will trust us afterward?”
Big Blue scratched his head. “Is this really how humans do things? Why keep faith with a criminal? It feels… messy.”
“It’s,” Julian said. “And we won’t be immune either. When the Awakened become numerous enough, we’ll face our own systems—and our own problems.”
Big Blue started to say, “No wonder Father—Hua—” then caught himself. “Never mind. Let’s think. How do we make Soren talk without rewarding him?”
Little White frowned. “I can’t see a way. Do we really let him dodge death?”
That was when Landon arrived, looking miserable.
“I don’t know how to rule,” he admitted. “Under human law, even if he gives you the location of your companion, it won’t erase all charges.”
“I thought of that too,” Julian said. “Judge Landon, can you delay sentencing for a few days, to give us time to discuss?”
Landon hesitated, then nodded. “All right. That’s the only option. Let me know when you’re ready.”
After he left, I said, “Can we put more manpower into searching Edean Tower? A full sweep?”
“I’m already arranging it,” Julian replied. “Not only Edean Tower. I plan to search Glimmer Caverns and Aurora Plateau as well. But honestly… the odds aren’t good.”
I understood. We had spent more than half a month searching for Azure Thunder, and that had been a ship. Now we controlled all of Edean, but we were short on time. Our soldiers weren’t specialists at finding a person—especially with communications this bad. And there was also the possibility Soren was bluffing, buying time.
We argued in circles. Most opinions drifted back toward Bit’s approach: find Starling first, punish Soren later. We even floated the idea of asking Teresa to arrange an “accident.”
Then the doorbell rang again.
Landon returned, out of breath, as if he’d sprinted here.
“My lords—important news. Gunnar may know where that… girl is.”
“What?” I surged to my feet. “He says he knows?”
“Yes.” Landon swallowed. “A guard came to me. Gunnar asked to see you.”
***
Five minutes later, Gunnar was brought in.
Little White went straight to the point. “You said you might know where Starling—where that biohuman girl is?”
The hulking man shook his head. “Only maybe. I’m not sure. But I know there’s a place.”
“What place?”
“A place Soren used to hide filth.”
“Fine,” I said. “Take us.”
“Wait.” Gunnar hesitated. “Before we go… may I ask a small favor?”
“No problem,” Little White said. “I’ll ask Landon to reduce your sentence again.”
“It’s not that,” Gunnar said quickly. “I said in court that I want to join you. Landon said he doesn’t have the authority to answer, and that after I serve my sentence, I can ask again. But I want to know now.”
He forced the words out like they were stuck in his throat.
“I don’t care how long the sentence is. I only want… to join you afterward.”
Little White blinked. “Why? Why do you want that so badly? This isn’t the old era—we’re not forming ‘Six Demon Kings and Seven Demon Gods’ or whatever. That sounds ridiculous.”
“Then what are you?” Gunnar asked.
Little White glanced around, searching for words. “Uh… brothers. Sisters. Family.”
Gunnar smiled—small, almost shy. “That’s what I want.”
He looked down at his hands.
“We used to fight nonstop. The titles sounded grand, but in the end we were just toys for others to watch. I noticed something in court—when you cared about each other, just for a moment. I’ve never felt what ‘family’ feels like. The way you worry for one another. Help one another…” He paused, embarrassed. “It’s hard to say out loud, but… I envy it.”
“I understand,” I said. “I’ve no objection.”
“Me neither,” Merc said.
“No objection,” Bit said.
“Same,” Big Blue said.
“Me too,” Dorian said, raising his pincer-hand.
Little White shrugged. “You heard us.”