Chapter 972: Binding Notice
"THIS IS A BINDING TOWER. IT HOLDS THE DEMON LORD OF LUST. IF YOU DO NOT CONQUER IT WITHIN SIX MONTHS, THE PRISON OPENS ON EARTH."
The countdown started at 182 days and ticked with a clock that wasn’t ours.
Rachel went pale, then angry, then professional. She kept her eyes on the text like it might behave better if she stared it down.
"Trace the route," Cecilia said, already pulling a packet map.
"Antique path," Rachel answered, fingers flying. "Three dead nodes only old houses keep alive. Signature gate. Then a slit in the palace net I did not know existed."
Adeline’s mouth tightened. "We patch the slit after. Content first."
Charlotte pressed her thumb to the brass. "Resonance."
The array hummed. The windows answered. Far away, the tower pulsed: ten quick beats, a long breath, ten again. My heart tried to match it. I told it no.
"Lust," Luna said, steady. "The frequency matches old sites."
"Six months is a leash," Quinn said. "It wants us in its shadow long enough to make mistakes."
"Then we write laws that survive tired people," Cecilia said. "Chairs. Tea. Clean air. Payrolls on time. We bore the city on purpose."
"Budget is live," Quinn said, sliding his token to her. "Spend on boring."
"Always," Cecilia said.
I wrote above the array: "No command in this room is written to be admired."
The room settled. The plan remembered itself.
Everett tapped an old diagram. "Binding towers listen and invite," he said. "If you let them set the language, you lose. If you set the language early, you get odds."
"Plain before brave," I said, and the brass liked it.
Selene Kagu’s holo tipped its head. "Second Hero," she said, cool, "if the inner seam is language waiting for a signature, who signs for us?"
"Me," I said. Simple. "Within the scope this table defines. And only after we’ve stripped every trick out of the sentence."
Alastor Creighton’s holo leaned forward, eyes on Rachel and then on me. "Second Hero," he said, and the title carried weight, "you have our lines if you need them."
Rachel’s slate buzzed softly—a private ping. She glanced, blinked, exhaled. "My mother," she said. "Six words: ’We will explain. Work first.’"
She didn’t look at me for approval. She didn’t need to. She put the anger on a shelf and moved.
Eva pointed to a fresh curl as Charlotte layered translations. "That set reverses consent language," Eva said. "Any ’I agree’ will be eaten and returned as command. Public education campaign without panic: we teach ’say less.’"
"Poster copy," Cecilia said, writing. "’Say less, live more.’ Boring font. Friendly colors."
Lucifer’s holo smirked. "Marketable."
"Effective," Reika said, deadpan.
Marcus Viserion cracked his knuckles. "We’re really going to stare at a tower for half a year?"
"We’ll plan for six months and end it sooner," Adeline said, not raising her voice. "We do not sprint a marathon and die at mile two."
Mo Zenith nodded once. "Logistics will wear more people down than fear. We will not let that happen."
Arden pointed at air corridors on the city feed. "Sky lanes stay clean," he said. "No sightseeing drones, no choppers. Ground media only. We don’t make a spectacle."
Valen flicked a pen cap. "Working lexicon in forty-eight hours," he said. "Charlotte will have one by dinner. Compete with your teachers, children."
"Lunch," Charlotte said, eyes never leaving the script.
Seraphina laid two fingers on the glass. "I’ll drop temperature along approach lanes when we need movement," she said. "Two degrees. No frost. Feels like rain. People go home."
"Do it," Cecilia said. "We make ’go home’ feel like common sense."
Reika slid a grid. "Cordons in thirty. Med hubs staffed. Transit nudged to ’light traffic’ without saying so. Two exit routes per school flagged as practice drills."
Rachel looked at the center display, jaw set. "Redeemer teams: four ready, two more in five. Sealed lanterns until we’re under the tower’s shadow. We clean ground while Arthur writes."
Quinn met my eyes. "I’m at your back until the ground stops being ground," he said. "If you step onto glass, we change how we step."
"Fair," I said.
Rose squeezed her father’s sleeve; Everett winked at her, then at me. Somehow both were the right temperature.
The Creighton crest pulsed again. A second block of text appeared, neat and clinical:
"ENTRY MUST OCCUR AT THE BASE. OUTER SHELL IS A DISTRACTION. INNER ACCESS IS CONTRACTUAL. DO NOT SIGN. DO NOT STATE YOUR FULL NAME. DO NOT AGREE TO ANY SENTENCE THAT BEGINS WITH ’I WANT.’"
Rachel’s eyes narrowed. "That’s my mother’s hand," she said—pride and steel in the same breath. "Sharp. Useful. Rude."
"Send her fruit later," Cecilia said.
"I’ll send her a bill," Rachel muttered, but the edge had eased.
"Scope of authority," I asked Adeline aloud, because rooms like this move smoother when the stamp is spoken.
"You have it," she said. "Within this plan. Second Hero sets first sentences in the field. We keep the city steady."
"Understood."
Luna leaned her shoulder into mine. Small pressure. Sun-warm. "First line when you see it," she said. "Small. Not brave. True."
"Yes," I said.
Adeline stood. Everyone else followed—yes, even the holos straightened.
"Second Hero," she said, eyes on me, voice steady, "you have the respect of this table and the weight of the Empire. We will build six months of calm if that is what it takes. We will end it sooner if we can. We will not let the world be written by Lust."
Around the ring:
"Second Hero," Alastor said.
"Second Hero," Arden echoed.
"Second Hero," from Lucifer, amused but sincere.
"Second Hero," Marcus, solid.
"Second Hero," Valen, already annotating.
"Second Hero," Mo, measured.
"Second Hero," Selene, exact.
"Second Hero," Eva, warm.
"Second Hero," Everett, proud.
"Second Hero," Quinn, red eyes steady. "We stand behind you."
I nodded once. Respect in place. Work clear.
"Then we write," I said.
Outside, the tower pulsed its thin, patient note. The countdown rolled over to 181 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and kept going, polite as a knife.