The northern sector sun hadn’t risen yet when the two hundred fifty-three formed up.

Not in disorder.

The training field in silence.

The vapor of breath in the cold early morning air.

---

[DraconicLegacy]: it’s 4am here. I don’t care. I’m not leaving.

[Stephen_Summers]: I just got here with my cold dinner because I didn’t dare heat anything up in case I missed something.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ viewers rising at 4am. this is the power of Kai.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: 253 in formation before dawn. that was well planned. Drak learned from Mara.

[Leo_Willis]: the vapor of breath in the cold air. I can see them from here.

[ShonqezThomas22]: a different late-night chat. the ones who are here are the ones who really follow the stream.

[DraconicLegacy]: someone count how many are on Mara’s side because I don’t want to do the math.

---

Drak was at the front.

Two weeks of watching Mara fight, laugh, and get into a lake.

Two weeks of processing what that meant.

He looked her in the eyes when Mara came out of her tent.

---

Mara came out first.

Urgo behind her. Brek. Keth. Gorm.

And forty-two more — those who had decided that the law Mara wrote didn’t change what they saw in her every day.

Forty-seven in total.

Mara looked at Drak’s formation.

She counted.

She showed nothing on her face.

---

[DraconicLegacy]: Mara counting the 253 without changing expression. (ง’̀-’́)ง

[Stephen_Summers]: 47 vs 253. I did the math. I didn’t like it.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ MARA STANDING!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

[Martin_Wiersmar]: Urgo, Brek, Keth, Gorm in the front row behind Mara. the veterans chose.

[Leo_Willis]: it’s 4am and my jaw is clenched. what have you done to me.

[ShonqezThomas22]: 42 more who decided to stay. those 42 decided knowing the numbers. that says something.

---

Kai came out of the tents.

Serah and Lira behind him.

The three placed themselves behind Mara without saying anything, just staring at the other Orcs.

Drak looked at them.

His eyes on Kai specifically.

"This is Orc business."

"I know."

"You have no place here."

"Mara is part of our group." Kai looked at him directly. "That gives me a place."

Mara glanced at him sideways.

Kai didn’t look at her.

He was looking at Drak.

---

Drak looked at the two hundred fifty-two behind him.

Then at Mara.

"You wrote the law yourself, Warlord. Weakness has no place in this camp."

"I wrote it," Mara said.

"Then you understand."

"Completely."

"The fight against the human—"

"Was the best fight I’ve had in two years."

Drak stopped.

"He drew against you."

"Yes."

"A rankless human."

"Yes." Mara looked at him without changing her tone. "And?"

"That’s not a victory."

"It wasn’t." Mara crossed her arms. "It was something better."

---

[DraconicLegacy]: "it was something better" — Mara isn’t going to convince them but she said it anyway.

[Stephen_Summers]: Drak learning to speak with Mara’s logic. this is what a good Warlord does. teach so well that your own can argue against you.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Mara not moving a single centimeter. 253 in front of her and not moving.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: "and?" — two letters. Mara summed up her position in two letters.

[Leo_Willis]: Drak is nervous even if he doesn’t show it. you can tell by how he holds his stance.

[ShonqezThomas22]: this conversation is more tense than any blow from the previous fight.

---

"You’ve been different for two weeks," Drak said. "Since the three of them arrived."

"Yes."

"A Warlord doesn’t change."

"A Warlord who doesn’t change doesn’t learn." Mara looked at him. "How many new combat methods did you learn in the last twelve days, Drak?"

Drak didn’t answer right away.

"Exactly." Mara looked at him. "I learned four. Directly from fighting them. That’s not weakness."

"You laughed."

Silence on the field.

"Pardon?" Mara said.

"At the lake. You laughed." Drak looked at her. "A Warlord doesn’t laugh like that." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"You yourself used to say it..." He looked at her with a serious face. "That when an Orc laughs like that with outsiders it’s because they want to abandon the camp."

---

The field in complete silence.

The vapor of breath in the early morning air.

Serah and Lira behind Kai. Urgo behind Mara.

Mara staring at Drak.

"You’re right," Mara finally said.

Drak didn’t expect that.

"A Warlord doesn’t laugh like that." Mara looked at him. "I do. I hadn’t done it in two years and I did it." A pause. "If that seems like weakness to you, then we have a difference of opinion that can only be resolved one way."

Drak looked at the two hundred fifty-two.

Then at Mara.

Then at Kai.

"Does the human fight too?"

"The human fights too," Kai said.

---

[DraconicLegacy]: "I hadn’t done it in two years and I did it" (╥﹏╥)

[Stephen_Summers]: Drak asked about the laugh. THE LAUGH. that’s what really disturbed them. they felt their Warlord would abandon them.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI ANSWERS FOR HIMSELF!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

[Martin_Wiersmar]: "we have a difference of opinion that can only be resolved one way" said without emphasis. that’s more terrifying.

[Leo_Willis]: Drak asked if the human fights. Kai answered before Mara opened her mouth. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ

[ShonqezThomas22]: it’s 4:15am. I haven’t had dinner. I don’t care about any of that.

[DraconicLegacy]: 253 vs 47 plus Kai Serah and Lira. someone take bets.

---

Drak looked at the four of them.

At Mara with her arms crossed and eyes that had shown nothing throughout the entire exchange.

At Urgo behind her with his fists at his sides.

At Kai with his smile.

At Serah with her markings in the cold early morning glow.

At Lira adjusting her glasses at four in the morning because Lira wore her glasses when she wanted to.

Drak raised his head.

"Growhhahhahhhahs"

The Orc war cry erupted from his chest.

The two hundred fifty-two repeated it.

The sound bounced off Mount Heiguers and came back.

Mara answered.

Her war cry was different from Drak’s — lower, longer.

The forty-seven repeated it.

---

[DraconicLegacy]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

[Stephen_Summers]: the cry bouncing off the mountain. I heard it from here.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ MOUNT HEIGUERS ANSWERED!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

[Martin_Wiersmar]: viewers: 24,100,000 at 4am. the stream doesn’t sleep.

[Leo_Willis]: the 47 repeating Mara’s cry. those 47 chose well.

[ShonqezThomas22]: Kai in the middle of two Orc war cries smiling. that man is in his element.

[DraconicLegacy]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ IT BEGINS ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

---

The two hundred fifty-three lunged.

---

[System — notification]

[Active combat: 253 vs 47 + 4 variables]

[The system notes that current viewers are 24,100,000 at 4am]

[The system considers that the time doesn’t matter when the stream is worth it]