Leviathan One slowly loosened its tentacles. The siege turtle it had strangled to the brink of death sank helplessly into the depths, like a great ship with its hull breached.
After a swirl of water, it vanished.
On the back of the other giant turtle, General Glash stood soaked to the skin. He watched his trump card dragged into the darkness, watched the human defensive line at the harbor regain its fighting spirit. Only shock and fury remained in his blood-red eyes.
"Retreat!"
After weighing his options again and again, he finally let out a hoarse roar that pierced the curtain of rain.
"Full retreat! Back to Coral Camp!"
The remaining siege beasts scrambled to turn around. Wounded Many-Armed Folk warriors dragged their comrades' bodies with them, fleeing ignominiously into the sea without even having time to retrieve their weapons.
They had arrived full of bluster and retreated in disarray, leaving more than twenty bodies on the bloodstained beach.
He had wanted to pursue them, but the harbor had suffered too much damage. Besides, a single Leviathan One could gain no advantage against more than a dozen level-five professionals.
The battle was over.
Barrett leaned on his sword, kneeling on one knee in ankle-deep muddy water.
Rain washed over the dents in his armor, carrying warm blood out through the gaps.
He watched the enemy recede like a tide, watched the enormous creature called Leviathan loom intermittently beneath the sea's surface. His nerves, stretched to their limit, finally relaxed.
"We won..."
He murmured hoarsely.
"Did we win?"
"We won!"
Around him, surviving Garrison members and police officers supported one another. Some slumped against broken walls; others simply lay down on the cold paving stones, letting the rain wash over their faces.
The clang of weapons slipping from hands, heavy panting,