The retaliation didn't come like an attack.
It came like proof.
Arjun understood that the moment the first screams echoed from the southern block—not screams of panic, not pain, but recognition. People shouting names. Running toward something they already knew was wrong.
He was moving before the radio crackled.
"Contact inside the perimeter," Marcus shouted. "Multiple hostiles. They're using our routes."
Our routes.
Nyxara was already airborne, wings snapping open as she launched herself over the rooftops. Arjun felt the bond stretch—not weaken, not strain, just extend—as she accelerated beyond human sightlines.
"They're not monsters," Eli gasped, eyes wide, clutching his head. "They feel… familiar."
Arjun's blood went cold.
The defectors didn't come as soldiers.
They came as guides.
They moved with confidence through side streets and blind alleys, leading a mixed group of outsiders—some armed, some altered, some carrying nothing but certainty—straight toward critical infrastructure. Power junctions. Supply caches. Stabilization points.
Places only insiders knew.
Mara saw it at the same time Arjun did.
"They're not here to kill," she said sharply. "They're here to demonstrate failure."
The phone vibrated weakly.
TACTICAL ASSESSMENT:
OBJECTIVE: CREDIBILITY EROSION
Arjun clenched his fists. "They're trying to show people that leaving was the smarter choice."
"And that staying was naive," Mara finished.
Nyxara's voice cut through the air, carried by the bond—tight, controlled, furious.
They're coordinated. One of the unbound is directing them.
Arjun closed his eyes for half a second, recalculating.
"Marcus, isolate sectors. Don't engage unless necessary."
Marcus hesitated. "They're inside, Arjun."
"I know," Arjun replied. "Let them show their hand."
The first strike was surgical.
A stabilization hub went dark—not destroyed, just disrupted. Emotional pressure surged in the surrounding blocks, anxiety spiking sharply as people felt the absence before they understood it.
Eli cried out, dropping to one knee. "They cut the flow."
Arjun felt it too—not the system blocking him, not null interference.
People.
Human fear amplified by design.
"They're using belief as a weapon," Nyxara snarled as she landed beside Arjun, claws flexing. "Let me end them."
Arjun shook his head. "Not yet."
Nyxara stared at him. "This costs lives."
"Yes," Arjun said quietly. "But ending it the wrong way costs the future."
She looked away, jaw tight.
The confrontation happened in the open.
The unbound man from before stood in the intersection near the darkened hub, arms loose at his sides, posture relaxed. Around him stood defectors and recruits—people Arjun recognized. People he'd fed. Protected. Trusted.
He stepped forward alone.
"You're making your point," Arjun said calmly.
The man smiled. "And you're letting me."
"Yes," Arjun replied. "Because I want everyone to see it clearly."
The unbound man laughed softly. "You're still trying to teach."
"I'm trying to expose," Arjun corrected.
The man gestured around them. "Look at them. They followed me because I promised certainty. Because you made leadership look expensive."
"That's leadership," Arjun said. "It costs."
"And faith is a limited resource," the man replied. "I'm redistributing it."
The phone vibrated.
SOCIAL DYNAMICS:
FAITH TRANSFER IN PROGRESS
Arjun felt it then—the real damage. Not infrastructure. Not bodies.
Doubt crystallizing.
People watching from windows. From rooftops. Asking themselves a quiet, terrible question.
If he's so strong… why is this happening?
Nyxara felt it too. Her wings flared instinctively, predatory aura rippling outward.
"Say the word," she growled. "I will remind them what fear feels like."
Arjun met her gaze through the bond.
Not like that.
She snarled—but held.
The unbound man stepped closer. "You can still stop this. Accept limitation. Formalize hierarchy. Let the system close around you again."
Arjun laughed softly. "You think this is about me?"
"Isn't it?" the man asked.
"No," Arjun said. "It's about whether people are allowed to leave without burning the house down."
The unbound man's smile faltered slightly.
"You didn't just recruit," Arjun continued. "You sabotaged. You used insider knowledge. That makes this coercion."
The man shrugged. "They chose."
"Did they?" Arjun asked quietly.
He turned to the defectors.
"You weren't offered freedom," Arjun said. "You were offered escape from responsibility."
One of them flinched.
"You didn't want to leave," Arjun continued. "You wanted me to fail so you wouldn't have to decide."
The silence was brutal.
The phone chimed faintly.
NARRATIVE SHIFT DETECTED
The unbound man's expression hardened. "Enough talk."
He raised his hand.
Nyxara moved.
Not unleashed.
Focused.
She crossed the distance in a blink, slamming into the unbound man with controlled, devastating force—pinning him to the ground without killing him, claws digging into reality itself to keep him here.
The shockwave rippled outward.
People screamed.
Fear surged.
Arjun stepped into it.
Not suppressing.
Absorbing.
The Conduit field didn't flare.
It deepened.
The panic slowed. Then steadied. Then stopped escalating.
People felt it.
The difference.
The unbound man struggled, stunned. "You said—no domination—"
"This isn't domination," Arjun said calmly. "This is accountability."
He looked at the defectors.
"You can leave," Arjun said again. "Right now. No pursuit."
"But understand this," he added. "If you come back as a weapon, I won't treat you as lost."
The weight of that promise settled heavily.
Two defectors stepped back.
Then another.
Not all.
But enough.
The unbound man laughed bitterly. "You still lost some."
"Yes," Arjun agreed. "But I kept the choice clean."
Nyxara tightened her grip. "What do you want done with him?"
Arjun looked down at the unbound man.
"You don't belong here," Arjun said. "And you don't get to recruit from my people."
He stepped back.
"Leave," Arjun said. "And take your lesson with you."
Nyxara hesitated—then released him.
The unbound man vanished into unreality without ceremony, expression unreadable.
Afterward, the territory felt bruised.
Not broken.
Bruised.
People gathered in small groups. Voices low. Emotions raw.
Eli approached Arjun slowly. "Some won't forgive you for this."
"I know," Arjun replied.
Mara stood nearby, arms crossed, eyes tired. "You didn't win."
"No," Arjun said. "I prevented a worse loss."
Nyxara joined him last, bloodless and fierce.
"You held me back," she said.
"Yes," Arjun replied.
She searched his face. "And if next time holding back gets you killed?"
Arjun met her gaze, the bond flaring—deep, singular, unshakeable.
"Then I die as myself," he said.
She smiled then—dangerous, intimate, approving.
"That," she said softly, "is why I chose you."
The phone vibrated once more.
SYSTEM NOTE:
UNBOUND VARIABLE — FAITH STABILIZED (PARTIAL)
WARNING:Future losses cumulative
Arjun stood at the center of the intersection long after night fell, feeling the weight settle deeper than ever.
Leadership hadn't cost him blood today.
It had cost him believers.
And tomorrow, the world would test whether that loss made him weaker—
Or more dangerous.