As Echo talked, Elzio almost missed Poblima’s actual attack. If it hadn’t been for Ilshe’s piercing thought of Watch your back! that cut through their magical communications, Syrene would have missed her cue too. Instead, she took Poblima’s attack, discharging a small illusion.

Poblima’s eyes locked on Syrene’s, and for a moment, Elzio thought she hadn’t seen it. Syrene had missed her mark or something else had been wrong.

But then, just as Elzio was about to give them the order to attack, Poblima turned and raced from the lane.

Athin, I want your group pushing hard and fast, Elzio ordered. Syrene, the minute the enemy shows up to contest them, I want you, Ilshe, and Martin to push your tower down.

They had to get something here.

Deluuth’s towers were aggressively reinforced, so pushing was slow going. The structures had gotten stronger over the course of the battle—Nexus Deluuth must have taken a trait that scaled tower durability with experience gathered by her team. It was a cheaper buff than just over all tower strength, relying on fights lasting significant periods of time to really be worth it. Irona had gambled that this battle would stretch out, and she’d been right. With thirteen heroes on the field, it was almost guaranteed.

After a few minutes, however, the outer tower fell, and Lin Chian, Athin, and Isla pushed forward to the inner structure. All without any response.

Something wasn’t right.

Elzio, do you want us pushing here? Syrene asked. No one’s responded to them, we don’t know—

There. Echo’s voice overpowered Syrene’s as all five enemy heroes appeared at once in the Northern Genyl-Deluuth road—a road with nothing in it but two doppels and a dangerously low tower.

So that was their play. A full on base race. With five enemy heroes in that road, they’d outpush both of the three-person pushes Elzio had going—especially with how reinforced the Deluuth towers were.

Elzio’s breathing grew tight as his eyes darted across the map. All the illusions of victory, of outsmarting the enemy died, leaving their shriveled, once hopeful shadows in the pit of his stomach. He needed to react.

They’re not responding to our pushes, he said. They know they can shove down a lane faster than half of us. Syrene, take Ilshe and Martin to the Southern Echo-Deluuth road. I want all six of you pushing.

“That’ll be a tight race.”

Elzio jumped, almost having managed to forget that Carlin was in Echo’s base with him.

“I’m sorry?” Elzio blinked a few times, grounding himself in reality as his attention was snapped from the map, mental communications, doppels’ eyes and ears.

“It’ll be a tight race,” Carlin repeated. He looked agitated. “If we don’t, in some capacity, respond to the push, the enemy might fight through faster.

“To match them, I’d have to recall all six heroes.” Elzio wasn’t necessarily protesting, but the idea made his chest grow tighter. They had a victory angle here. Didn’t they need to seize that at all costs? Would there be another chance? “It would be our six against their five, and they still might beat us there. What do we do then? Do you and I join? Do I throw some pitifully underleveled doppel at them? We can’t take that chance.”

“With the buffs I’ve been giving our allies, I don’t think that’s true.” Carlin’s voice was surprisingly soothing, and flooded Elzio’s brain with an unexpected calmness. “I have Lin Chian’s upgrade too, the Cuirass of Diamond. Bring back three others. I’m not sure who, maybe Ilsh, Isla, and Syrene. People who can fight, clear minions, stay alive. Keep Athin and Martin on the tower.”

I do not like this plan, Echo said. She was the only person listening in on the conversation, but she made her displeasure known. It removes our much needed advantage. Recalling four of our heroes to fight their five will only serve to buy us time. If Athin and Martin cannot end the battle before Irona’s heroes defeat ours, then it is all lost.

She was also right. Recalling the Genyl heroes was skating on thin ice—gambling that they could survive long enough for only two heroes to fully push through the base. If the Deluuth heroes stayed and fought… If they won, Genyl would fall, and Echo would likely follow shortly after. Even if she didn’t, even if Nexus Deluuth fell, it wasn’t worth risking Genyl, risking Ashlight and her heroes.

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Even if Echo’s team succeeded in destroying Nexus Deluuth, Elzio couldn’t in good conscience let Ashlight and her heroes die.

Syrene, Lin Chian, Ilshe, and Isla, I want you all to recall to the Genyl base and respond to the Deluuth push down there. Martin, Athin, stay on that tower.

We won’t be able to fight them, Ilshe said, his voice calculating in its serenity. We’ll be able to hold them for a short while, but ultimately they will look for an angle, and we’ll be lucky to escape with even one hero to fend off their next push.

Elzio could feel tension building in his muscles because Ilshe was right. He just had more experience on Elzio and Carlin.

Would this work if we left Martin here? Syrene asked. The rest of us recall?

That will bring the fight closer to a coin flip, Ilshe said. 5v5, their levels versus our items. If we win that fight, the battle stays even. If we lose the fight, with lose the entire match. Still not good odds.

All right, then all of you recall! Elzio could see the life points sloughing off Genyl’s northern tower. We’ll reset after that.

As he spoke, however, an odd sensation crept across him. Like his ears had just popped. Some persistent noise that had been hovering over him seemed to have vanished.

Ilshe has dropped his psychic link with you, Echo said. They have something they want to discuss where we cannot hear.

From her tone, it was clear that Echo fully expected a betrayal. This was what she had been bracing for since Fathina first reached out to them, and now it seemed as though her concerns were coming true.

“They’re still pushing the tower though.” Carlin’s voice again caused Elzio to jump. “Look.” He gestured at their map.

The entire Genyl team was throwing their entire force against the interior Deluuth structure. Syrene was working with them.

Syrene, what’s going on? Elzio asked. He had expected to maybe see a fight break out among them, something indicating a betrayal, but her eyes remained fixed on the tower.

Athin gave his team an order, she said. Their mental link had remained intact, since it was run by Echo, not Ilshe. We’re going to base race this.

But… but we won’t… The words couldn’t quite filter through Elzio’s mind even as he realized what Syrene was saying.

The Genyl heroes wouldn’t win the race. It would be close, but with how fast the Deluuth heroes were powering through the Genyl gate, there was slim to no chance that Genyl would win. Deluuth would beat them to the nexus.

That sacrifice isn’t worth anything! Elzio finally responded, fighting through his realization. The Deluuth heroes will destroy Ashlight and just recall to their base. They have ability to get back to their nexus in seconds. You’d be the only one left.

To recall quickly, the Deluuth heroes would need ten seconds of uninterrupted channel time. Syrene’s voice was clipped and urgent. You know what to do.

This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t supposed to be how it happened. Elzio had planned it out so meticulously, worked with the Genyl heroes so closely. This was supposed to be his final victory. No more compromises, not like in Ythrel.

This isn’t right, he thought, directly to Echo. Even in his thoughts, his voice sounded weak and quiet. We’d drafted a dozen different battle plans and a dozen more contingencies.

None of which materialized. Echo’s voice was shockingly somber. It wasn’t like her to care about others, not like this. Not heroes or nexi, at the very least. Either she had grown to care or she’d learned how to speak kindly to Elzio when he was upset.

Either way, the development surprised him enough to distract him momentarily from what she’d said.

None of which materialized.

She was right. None of their strategies had gone to plan here. Deluuth’s heroes had been too wilely. The plans had been important, bits and pieces had been recycled into their moment-to-moment reactions, but over all they hadn’t come to fruition like Elzio’s first battle against Pythret had.

They’d been important, but two lessons learned stood out from the others.

You can’t plan war.

Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made.

Elzio opened his mouth, ready to make his decision.

“I’m going to Ashlight’s base.”

The words, though precisely what Elzio had planned to say, were not his. Instead, they came from Carlin. While Elzio had been internally despairing about the decision he would have to make, Carlin had packed up his bench. He held in his huge hand, a small emerald ring.

“For you,” Carlin said, tossing the ring to Elzio. “It’s a Refresh Band. Ten uses of an automatic cooldown refresher. I was making it for Isla but…”

Elzio closed his mouth and nodded, slipping the ring on his finger. They needed to get there in enough time to stop the Deluuth heroes from recalling to their base. Any damaging spell would be enough, any tiny tick of damage-over-time, even a minion’s tiny sword was enough to stop a recall. With Elzio’s doppels and Carlin’s tankiness, it had to be enough to buy Syrene time.

“Let’s go,” Elzio said.