"Should I have?" Erik smiled, shrugging with his hammer still on his shoulder. He kept it in place with his right wrist, but still kept his left hand casually in his pocket. "I just went through the trouble of killing one of your buddies to claim this land. I wasn’t about to just abandon it again. Enkare Nkai can fend for itself for a few days."

Erik could see a glint pass through the man’s eyes on his last words. Yet, the man quickly covered it up by sneering disdainfully and rearranging himself on his palanquin. "Calling that wastrel Gabriel my buddy would normally be enough to earn yourself a death sentence."

Instantly, Erik’s smile turned to a dangerous grin as excitement flashed in his amber eyes. "Based on what I’m seeing now, you seem like more of a wastrel than he. But if you wish to carry out that sentence, I invite you to try..."

The man met Erik’s gaze with his own. Erik noticed calculations happening behind this man’s eyes and wondered what he was considering. Soon, however, the man scoffed and became the first to break the staring contest. "If I came here to fight, we’d be fighting already," he grumbled, clearly annoyed at breaking the silence first.

Erik smirked victoriously, but this newest confessor wasn’t about to let his small loss stand for long. Erik’s smirk quickly faltered when the man looked back at him again with a cruel grin. "Though you might be interested to know that something as mundane as death is far from enough to end our service to the Primarch."

Erik grimaced a little at the prospect of Gabriel still being alive. Not because he’d been such a strong opponent or because of some personal grudge, but because of the implications for future battles with confessors... assuming this man was telling the truth.

Seeing Erik’s expression shift a little was enough for the man to be grinning victoriously instead, now. Yet, he also quickly moved on. "But enough about that," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Since you’re here, I’ll be leaving again. The Primarch has no interest in devoting more than one of us confessors to this fight. I just wanted to get a look at you."

A light flashed in Erik’s eyes, inwardly calling bullshit, but not saying it out loud. Instead, he moved the shaft of the hammer of his wrist and into a tight grip as he narrowed his eyes.

"You think you can just leave after coming here?" he growled aggressively, icy-lightning crackling as it licked the edges of his body. "Whether Gabriel is alive or not, I have to believe death is an inconvenience at the least, and I’m itching to inconvenience you."

The man—who was already in the process of ordering his branded slaves to turn the palanquin around—glanced at Erik disdainfully. "We can fight if you wish, and I suppose you’ve earned the right to believe in a minuscule chance of victory, but can you beat me before my army overwhelms yours?"

His voice was dripping with superiority, and the belief that Erik was obviously a musclebound idiot... and Erik was fine with that. He pretended to flinch as he glanced behind the palanquin. There was a row of fifteen third-rankers lined up in front of the army that was already larger than Erik’s right now.

He’d noticed those before, of course, and he didn’t care. Those basic Humanitas Sangh third-rankers were hot garbage using quantity over quality, and these hunters obviously didn’t realise his beloved Astrid could devastate those ranks—especially when backed up by Nasir and Zohran.

Still, pretending to be cowed suited him, and so he did.

The man ate Erik’s fake frustration up with a cruel smirk. As his palanquin turned around, he glanced at Erik one last time. "Take your little victory and savour it, mutt. When we’re done with Europe, we’ll come back to repay you properly. I suggest you enjoy these last moments, stick to these borders you’ve gotten yourself, and don’t give us a reason to deal with you before it’s convenient for us."

First scowling, Erik then scoffed and spat on the ground as the palanquin moved back towards the battle lines. He kept his face in a frustrated expression as he watched the palanquin go until the very moment he felt the man’s omnisense leave him. Right then, he turned around to leave as a satisfied smirk appeared on his lips.

"Seems like everything’s going according to plan," he chuckled, seemingly to himself. "Do you think they’ll bite?"

"Their main weakness is arrogance," Elora answered smugly through their bond as she watched and listened from inside Erik’s dimension. "Even that Imogene, my fellow fairy, is not immune to that. She’s been spending far too much time on Earth. There’s a good chance she’s forgotten what it’s like to scheme against another of her own kind. And that’s not even mentioning her obviously fragile mental state."

Erik smirked at Elora’s propensity to give elaborate explanations. "So you’re saying they’ll bite..."

His beloved fairy rolled her eyes. "Yes, I’m saying they’ll bite."

He chuckled with anticipation. "That’s good... How are the preparations progressing?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Elora’s tone suddenly saddened a little. "It’s going fine, I suppose... But it’s weird being so far away from you without the bond snapping me back. I’m surprised by how much it unnerves me."

Frowning, Erik nodded. They’d noticed that the Elorium core wasn’t only taking up Elora’s spot in his soul, but also preventing the bond from snapping her back to him as it did when she went on a helicopter ride with Katya. There was some benefit right now, but neither of them wanted that situation to continue.

Elora had been working on their plans in Enkare Nkai personally the last few days, despite the fact that Erik remained in Maghreb, and it unnerved them both a little. She’d come back only for this event, and would soon return.

Fortunately, Erik had Emma to help take his mind off it, but Elora had no such distraction beside her work.

"It won’t be long now," Erik promised solemnly.

"I know," Elora smiled warmly. Then her smile turned mischievous. "But enough about that. I’m assuming you’d want the big moment to be after you and Emma are done with your fun?"

Erik’s eyes flashed with amused hunger as his mind’s eye flashed over to the thermae inside his dimension. Here, the beautiful, bound Emma was still kneeling on a pillow, obediently waiting for her master’s return.

"If possible..." he chuckled lustfully, before turning serious again. "Just don’t risk anything for it."

"Of course not..." Elora smiled.

Meanwhile, he’d arrived back with his army, and it was time to return to Maghradi.