Chapter 214 First Line Fallen (2)

Chapter 214: Chapter 214 First Line Fallen (2)

The guard’s lips pressed into a thin line before he pulled a small key from beneath his vest and pushed it into the collar’s lock. His fingers slipped because of the blood on his hand, and Stefan almost grabbed him out of desperation, but Enzo caught Stefan’s arm.

"Let him do it." Enzo said with a stern look.

Stefan forced himself to stay still.

A second later, the lock clicked. The collar loosened and dropped into Stefan’s hands before falling to the ground.

For a brief moment, Stefan stood frozen as the familiar sensation of his ability rushed back through him. It was like taking a breath after being held underwater for too long. His shoulders trembled once, then he turned sharply toward the battlefield.

A wounded soldier was being dragged by two others, his face pale and his mouth open in a silent cry as blood poured from the torn armor around his stomach.

Stefan vanished into thin air.

The two soldiers carrying the wounded man stumbled as the air distorted around them, and in the next second all three appeared behind the second defensive line.

The guard stared in awe.

Enzo picked up the rifle from the ground, checked the magazine, then tossed it aside when he saw it was empty. "Weapon."

The guard snapped out of his shock and grabbed a pistol from the holster of a dead soldier nearby before handing it to him.

Enzo accepted it without a word, checked the chamber, and turned toward the retreating soldiers.

"Everyone still ahead of the second line, move back in pairs!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the smoke. "No one runs alone! Cover each other and drag the wounded if they can still breathe!"

Several soldiers turned at once. For a second, confusion crossed their faces as they saw him standing free.

Then one of the older soldiers shouted, "You heard him! Move!"

The order spread faster than the doubt.

Stefan reappeared beside Enzo, breathing harder than before. "I can’t move too many at once."

"Then don’t waste it on the dead," Enzo said, his eyes already moving across the field. "Take the ones who can still survive."

Stefan’s throat tightened, but he nodded before disappearing again.

Another monster burst through the smoke, heading straight toward a group of soldiers carrying a stretcher. Enzo raised the pistol and fired twice into its face, slowing it just enough for Dylan’s men to finish it with a burst of rifle fire.

Dylan looked over from the left side, his expression darkening briefly when he saw Enzo free, but he did not waste time questioning it.

"Enzo!" he shouted. "The inner gate is closing in three minutes!"

"Then keep it open for four!" Enzo shouted back.

Dylan actually smiled for half a second. "Still giving impossible orders?"

"Still expecting you to obey them!"

"I don’t take orders from you." Dylan said before turning away, already shouting at his men to widen the retreat path. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The guard who had freed them stood there for another second, staring at the men moving because of Enzo’s voice. Then he bent down, picked up a rifle from a fallen soldier, and joined the line without saying another word.

Above them, the command station was in pure chaos.

Margaret stood near the map table, her hands clenched tightly at her sides while every report arriving through the radios made the situation worse. The western screen showed soldiers falling back through smoke, monsters pouring through broken barricades, and the second line forming inside the gate under Rowan’s orders.

"Why are they retreating?" she demanded, though the answer was right in front of her. "I did not order a retreat."

Rowan did not even look at her as he took the radio. "Because the first line of defense is gone. If they stay there, we lose everyone."

Margaret stepped closer, her eyes narrowing as if she wanted to pierce daggers through him. "You are disobeying me."

"No, Commander," Rowan said, his voice hard as he continued watching the battlefield. "I am saving our people."

Her face stiffened. For the first time since she had taken control of the fortress, the officers around her did not wait for her approval. They were listening to Rowan, marking troop movements, sending ammunition to the second line, ordering medics away from the outer wall, and redirecting the recalled platoons before she could speak.

The authority she had tried so hard to hold slipped through her fingers in front of everyone, not because anyone announced rebellion, but because the battlefield had no patience for her pride.

A soldier rushed into the command station, his face covered in ash. "Captain, monsters are less than fifty meters from the western gate."

"Seal the civilian passages and keep the inner gate open until Dylan’s squad crosses," Rowan ordered. "After that, drop the steel barrier."

Margaret’s eyes widened. "The steel barrier? If you drop it now, the western outer wall is gone."

Rowan finally turned toward her. "The western outer wall is already gone."

The words struck harder because he did not raise his voice.

Margaret looked toward the screen again. Through the smoke, she saw soldiers retreating from the place she had been so sure was secure.

She saw the empty spaces where the reserve platoons should have been. She saw monsters crashing against the broken barricades and pushing deeper with every second.

For the first time, her certainty failed her.

Another officer approached quickly. "Acting Commander, we need to move you to the inner command room."

Margaret turned toward him slowly. "Move me?"

"The western tower is no longer safe."

Her lips parted, but no words came out.

The officer glanced toward Rowan, then back at her. "Please."

That last word was not respect, but urgency.

Margaret looked around the command station, expecting someone to wait for her decision, but everyone was already moving around her. Maps were being folded, radios carried away, wounded officers dragged from the floor, and Rowan had already turned back to the battlefield as if she were no longer the center of it all.

Her fingers curled tightly as anger and bitterness rose in her chest.

Then another explosion struck the western wall, shaking dust loose from the ceiling above them.

This time, Margaret stepped back unconsciously. Panic marring her face.

The officer immediately took the opportunity and motioned for two soldiers to escort her. This time, she willingly followed them.

But as she turned away from the screen, her eyes remained fixed on the burning western line, and for the first time since the battle began, the thought settled coldly inside her chest.

The fortress had not obeyed her... they only tolerated her.