thirtytwo

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"WE HAVE REPORTS SAYING that the south legion has safely arrived and settled." Nikolai says as the three of them are standing around the desk with the map of Ravka. Nyx would glance at Adrian every once in a while to make sure he was okay. He hadn't healed yet, but still insisted on being here. And she still had not found a way to deny his stubbornness.

"So our best move is to push the Darkling's army south, so that they have no choice but to move east. We need to push them as far east as possible, until they have no other choice than to surrender." Adrian says, using his free arm to point at positions on the map.

"We have to make sure that, they don't turn back on the south and attack them. We will have to keep their attention to us." Nyx muses, tilting her head slightly in thought.

"Do we even stand a chance? They have a whole army of Grisha and we have not more than fifteen. And Adrian is in no state to be on the battlefield." Nikolai points out and she closes her eyes in thought.

"Nyx could just stop all their hearts and we call it a day." Adrian suggests, making her wince at the thought. She couldn't imagine killing the people she had worked with, nearly her whole life.

"I... can't kill them. Not because I don't have the power... it's just..." She trails off, opening her eyes, expecting to see them disappointed. She is shocked to see them look at her in understanding and she lets out a breath of relief. If it had been him, he'd have expected her to put aside any of her personal thoughts or emotions.

"Alright, then no one can fight a war if they're too calm." Adrian says and she frowns.

"He has a lot of Heartrender. He knows I am able to kill his whole army in a blink of an eye, so he'll have his Heartrenders hidden behind the frontlines, making sure to keep the second army protected from me." Nyx points out, leaning forward on the table.

"Wait, how powerful are you to begin with?" Adrian asks in curiosity and she looks up at him, before taking a deep breath.

"I could kill a hundred people using three different methods at once." She answers and he looks at her in pure shock. "Stopping their heart, crushing their lungs or giving them a stroke."

"I mean I knew you were powerful after the whole Skiff thing, but that's insane." Adrian gapes at her and she chuckles softly. "No wonder the Darkling valued you so much. How has he not killed all of us yet?"

"He has other plans." She responds. Nyx had still not told anyone about Aleksander's real plans and even if they were at odds now, she had made him the promise of never telling anyone.

"Is there anyway we could outmatch the Heartrenders?" Nikolai asks, making her focus on what's at hand again. She takes a deep breath and realisation hits.

"Amplifier." She breaths out and Nikolai looks at her in disbelief.

"You have one?" Nikolai asks and she nods in response.

"Everyone in the Darkling's inner circle has one, I just never used mine." She responds and she digs into her pocket, taking out the necklace. The one she had nearly gotten rid before. On a silver chain hung a ring made of the fang of a Amur Leopard. "I never used the ring so, the Darkling had it made into a necklace. It was a gift."

"What's an amplifier?" Adrian asks, looking at the necklace in curiosity.

"It's an object that increases a Grisha's power, usually made of bones of an animal." Nikolai explains and she nods in confirmation.

"He put yours on a necklace, isn't that basically putting your power on a leash?" Adrian asks and Nyx nods with a sad sigh. "Are you going to use it?"

"It would be a good idea right?" Nyx wonder as she brings the ring up and looks at it.

"Don't use it immediately, let's wait for them to drop their guard and then you use the amplifier." Nikolai suggests and she nods in agreement, putting the necklace back in her pocket.

"So for now, let's just prepare. We are making the first move. We'll set the frontline here, make trenches here. Set traps here and there. It's best if we do this during the night. Starting tomorrow, we'll send twenty men every night to set it up. His army will start moving towards us, when he realises we've done nothing so far and by then, we'll be ready to face them." Nyx says as she shifts figurines that represents her army to a place not far from where they're currently posted.

"That settles it. I'll let the Lieutenants know." Nikolai nods, before walking out the tent, leaving Adrian with Nyx.

"Will you be okay?" Adrian asks, slightly worried for her and she smiles reassuring.

"It'll be fine."

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