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Even his own aura was not harmless. It wanted to respond to the heat and fury that he sensed from Banda. It wanted to influence his thoughts, to urge him into a direct fight with the Raptor of Kortan as a challenger to be met.

Which was absurd. They were not equals. Not in the least.

But there was something so moving in it. So motivating. And convincing, too.

Because if he ran, if he stalled, if he failed to meet Banda’s challenge head on, then Banda would know.

Everything would be laid bare. The aura would give it away. How true and feeble the deception had been all this time. And then Banda would really attack Warrenhold. That wicked red smoke would go down into the Entry Tower and search all throughout the fortress, learning its shape and its secrets, devouring any of the defenseless residents that it could find. Sure, they should've all been gathered in the Tower of Night by now, and yeah, maybe its nightrock walls would be able to offer some protection against such an infiltration, but still.

That was no guarantee. Not at all. That was a hope and a prayer, at best.

In many ways, this flash of a feeling was impossible to articulate. The auras made it so.

Instead, Hector merely felt that he needed to be more than even he himself thought he could be, right now. He needed to be the thing that Banda’s aura was searching for. Testing for.

He needed to be Darksteel.

There was no avoiding it. Banda Toro would know if he tried. And then, not long after, Bloodeye would know. So even if Banda left them alone, the next assault would come very swiftly--and be much, much worse than this.

At best, it would be a true siege. At worst, a total slaughter.

Yes. Hector felt certain of these things. Beyond certain, even. As if he had lived through such experiences before.

And so, to everyone else, it probably made little sense, what he was about to do. There was no opportunity to explain his thought process to them. Hell, even if there had been, he probably wouldn't have been able to. So he didn't try. He just turned back to the others behind him, to Roman Fullister and Joana Cortes.