Layla rose to her feet, carrying a medical case filled with medicine shipped from the human world and healing crystal cores collected from Hell. It was heavy, yet she held it steadily in one hand as though she carried nothing at all.
"I'm going to the medical camp. The wounded are still waiting for me."
She reached the door, paused, and looked back.
"Hans, the energy nodes in the Incantation core area are unstable. Remember to check on them."
Hans crouched on the ground without looking up. "Got it."
Layla left.
Hans continued drawing incantations.
His fingers moved swiftly across the ground, the incantations flowing from his fingertips like water, like light, like some living liquid. Every line was precise, every node carefully calculated. After drawing the final stroke, he stood and stretched his stiff neck. His joints cracked loudly.
"I'm going to the Incantation core area. All those arrays have to be activated within three days, or there'll be trouble at the Wall of Seals."
He picked up his toolbox and hurried out of the meeting room.
Wu Heng was the last to leave the meeting room.
Standing at the doorway, he looked back.
Hans's incantation markings still covered the floor of the meeting room. Their lines glimmered faintly in the darkness, like a net that had yet to be woven shut.
He turned and headed deeper into the palace.
London, temporary settlement.
Old John sat outside his home, smoking the cigarette he had saved for three months. It had burned down to the butt, hot enough to sting his fingers, but he could not bear to throw it away. Pinching the last bit between his fingertips, he took one final drag.
A radio sat on a wooden crate beside him, broadcasting the news.
"...Today, the Demon Hunter Guild