Jerome looked up at the rising sun and was amazed by what he saw. Patches of dark clouds loomed in the sky, billowing like clouds of smoke from time to time, trying to fight the sunlight for dominance.

“This is very… ‘eerie’, wouldn’t even begin to describe it,” he said to Selene who was standing beside him.

“When you’re done sightseeing, meet me in the tent for the tactical plan,” she said and began walking away.

“That was no tactical plan last night, just a bunch of privileged kids throwing their weight around.”

“‘Kids’?” Selene turned to him with a scowl. “You know I’m one of those privileged ‘kids’, right?” Selene turned to face him.

Jerome coughed uncomfortably. It was hard trying not to slip up. “I meant… ‘Scions’. You know I wasn’t talking about you.” he quickly caught up with her. “Someone better hold the big guy this time around or I might end up knocking a few teeth off his face. Should make him look a little prettier.”

Selene laughed. “I’ll tell him you said that.”

“Are you sure about that? Your war room wouldn’t be able to contain the both of us if we fought. And just so you know, I never lose a fight.”

“Yes, yes. Tell that to him when you meet him. He’s not Arkesha, just so you know. You’re going to have to work to knock off those teeth.”

They both laughed as they walked toward the large tent.

“But seriously, Jerome. Kids?”

“It’s slang of sorts. It means ‘children’ and I never say it to mean ‘baby goats’ — not that any of you ever get the joke of it.”

“But it’s also the name for a baby goat. Goats are synonymous with stupidity and stubbornness, Jerome. Be careful who you say it to.”

~~~

“Welcome, Young Lady Itakar… Jerome. Are you ready to execute the plan?” Lang asked from his position at the table.

Jerome didn’t answer at first. His features were already schooled and he looked around for a place to sit. All the chairs were taken except for the one meant for Selene. His eyes met Hedon’s briefly and he could see the rage burning in them. He was also burning with rage but he calmed himself and smiled at Hedon.

“I’ll do the necessary,” he said, moving to stand behind Selene by the wall of the tent. Everyone caught the meaning of his words. He would not do more to help if anyone was in a bind; they were on their own. Many eyes shifted to look at him and then, at one another.

Selene took her seat and asked, “So how do we go about breaking through the blockade?”

“The cur doesn’t need to be here to hear that,” Hedon remarked, intent on angering Jerome.

“Unlike you, Hedon,” Jerome said. “I don’t need to be spiteful to communicate my intentions. Your end is near.” The voices in the room deadened instantly and everyone focused on Jerome’s words. “Pray to whatever ancestor you have to make it quick and painless, for I would not be merciful.”

Jerome’s voice held neither anger nor malice in his words. Every one of the Sprouts in the tent was extremely shocked by those words. The audacity of the Royal disciple in front of them was staggering; his words carried with them a promise of overwhelming pain and suffering. Hedon stood up slowly, drawing himself taller. He willed as much strength into his words as Jerome’s.

“Do you know who you mess with, you lowlife? I will make sure you never see the light of Terra Praeta!” He spat. His words, however, didn’t carry as much weight as Jerome’s.

“We’ll see about that, Hedon. We’ll see,” Jerome replied as he folded his hands in front of him looking at Hedon without any fear in his eyes.

Hedon seethed in anger. He looked around the table and saw that no one was moving to kick Jerome out. He knew he couldn’t do it himself and his right-hand man, Murray — who was signaling him to calm down — wouldn’t do it as well, so as not to jeopardize their plan. He swore in his heart to make Jerome suffer thoroughly before he died as he sat back down.

“Ahem. As we all know, we don’t have a lot in terms of numbers,” Lang stated. “We will best make an impact if we break through their defenses from one point.”

“That would mean concentrating all offense on one spot,” Selene said. “The Children would pick us off one by one, especially those on the outskirts of the group.”

“We don’t have much to cover up that end,” Lang said. “All we can do is have those from lower-tier families defend our flanks and back.”

Selene frowned at that. She knew what it was like to lose a teammate. It wouldn’t be nice seeing it happen even though the people who were going to be sacrificed were not her teammates.

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“Is there no other way to do this? Some artifacts we could gift them to help protect them as we rush through?” she asked.

“There won’t be enough to go around,” Fei Lin said, feeling the other woman’s turmoil of emotions.

Jerome listened to what they were discussing, planning to shut them out. But a thought occurred to him.

“Are we not forgetting about the Colossal Children?” he asked.

“Shut your mouth, cur!” Hedon roared.

Jerome raised an eyebrow, oh so slowly as he looked him in the eyes. The words were already in the air — ‘make me’ — and there was no need to say it. The look was all he needed to convey his thoughts. Hedon shot to his feet, brimming in anger.

“Young Lord Hedon,” Lang said respectfully, breaking the stalemate. “Please be seated so we can conclude this meeting and head for battle. There’s no need for a standoff here and now. When we’re done with the Children you can both go at it and no one will stop you.” His voice held a seriousness and was tight with a slight annoyance.

“The Colossal Children sleep during the day, Jerome,” Selene said.

“Hmm,” Lang continued. “We’ve been testing them for many days now and not once did they stand up to join the battle during the day.”

“So we’re hoping they won’t rise when we try to break through. Is there a means to stop them if they do rise?” Jerome asked.

Everyone looked at themselves waiting for someone else to come up with a solution. After a while, all heads turned to Lang and he sighed. Jerome was right, he knew it. They had to come up with a solution for every scenario.

“If that happens, we all take to the skies,” Lang said.

“Good call,” Jerome said. But he knew their chances in the air were even slimmer than on the ground. The flying Children would make it impossible for them. He had to make sure to do his best to reduce their numbers before the Colossals wake up. If only there was something more he could do. Everything he had in his arsenal was for assault and not defense. He could only defend himself while fighting.

An idea suddenly came to him as he remembered his training from the night before. He had noticed something about Suzie the night before as he trained to control five blades hovering in the air. It was almost as if he wasn’t consciously controlling the blades, only giving them mental commands from time to time. Jerome had been distracted by the fight with Arkesha, he had pushed this development to the back of his mind. Now that he remembered, he couldn’t help but want to try it out. He put his hands behind his back, earning him a glance from Hedon’s right-hand man.

Jerome chuckled. The older Sprout had been watching his every move since he entered the tent. He was a lot more alert than every other Sprout in the tent. Jerome flicked his index finger and a chunk of metal appeared in his palm. All the Sprouts around the table turned to look at him as they perceived the tangy smell of the metal.

“What, can’t I train in here?” he asked innocently.

Lang eyed him for a second and cleared his throat to get the attention of the other Sprouts. With a thought, the metal transformed, taking a thin snake-like form, and slithered away out of the tent.

Jerome was elated. It was like the living steel had actually become what its name implied: living steel. It functioned on its own without needing Jerome to help move it around. Jerome closed his eyes to monitor the sliver of steel as it slithered through their camp.

He could sense and feel everything around the sliver as though it were him, although his perception of the surroundings was a lot duller with the sliver compared to his real self. Jerome wondered how this was possible. Was it some type of mental skill he just developed? No. The ore. It must have been the ore he absorbed from the ground not long ago!

He let his mind wander around with the sliver for a while, taking it as far as half a mile away from himself. The sliver didn’t lose its strength and his connection to it didn’t dim one bit. Jerome felt there was more to this though. It wasn’t possible to just control living steel like this without repercussions. Even when they were in the vineyard, fighting the vines, he felt the side effects of using Suzie for prolonged amounts of time: it began sapping the iron in his own blood after a while. That was the major reason why he had lost consciousness.

The Sprouts seated around the table began standing up, bringing Jerome out of his reverie.

“Can I speak with you for a bit, Selene,” Jerome whispered to her, and they both walked out of the tent. He made sure they were out of hearing distance before stopping. Everyone was growing at a rate so fast, one couldn’t gauge the rate of advancement of his foes with assumptions so it was better to be safe than sorry. Light knows how many treasures or skills many of them must have discovered in Terra Praeta’s Night.

Jerome scanned his surroundings once again just to be sure. He had something in mind that could help Selene’s team when breaking through the blockade and by extension, it’ll help the other Sprouts as well.

“Take this,” he said to Selene when they were a good distance away from the assumed hearing range of the others and handed something to her.

Selene looked at the large chunk of shiny, red metal Jerome dropped in her hand. She watched as a small piece of it broke off and slithered up her arm, settling around her right bicep. It flowed with her muscles as she flexed them, not constricting her at all.

“This is amazing, Jerome!” she said in awe. “When did you learn to do that?”

“It’s like you said. Each and every one of us went through great transformations after the Tower of Solon,” he smiled at her. “When you’re with your teammates, the steel would split into tinier pieces and do the same thing. Just let them know it’s from me…a sort of protection.”

“Thank you, Jerome. Though I can’t help but think this would better serve our flank as we go into the belly of the beast,” Selene said worriedly.

“Don’t worry. The metal would do its job. I must keep it a secret, however. The more eyes see it the more they’ll know it’s tied to me.”

Selene gave him a nod and raced away to join her teammates. Jerome watched her go, hoping that she wouldn’t lose another teammate today. There was no guarantee for that, though. The Children may be able to reach those who would be in the middle of the group of Sprouts as they broke through the blockade. They had to watch out for unforeseen elements.

Jerome sighed. He had done all he could for them. They would see on the other side. He covered himself in metal armor before taking to the skies and flying in the direction of the blockade at an angle different from that of the Sprouts on the ground. The Children in the air noticed him just as Lang had predicted. They started toward him, closing any gap in their ranks that he might be able to squeeze through.

Smart, Jerome thought as he saw through their plans. The Children acted like they had no intelligence but as a group, they fought with intelligence. He thought about the Mother he had heard about but decided to shrug off the thought for later. If the Children were being controlled, it would be right to say, it was being done by a being much more intelligent than they were.

It was time to join the battle and every advantage he had gained after the Tower of Solon would be tested here today.