Bodies lay scattered across the street and against the walls. Blood darkened the frozen ground, footprints cutting through it in overlapping paths.

The fighting had stopped.

Tess wiped her blade clean against a fallen cloak and scanned the rooftops one last time before she sheathed it. Her breathing was steady, but her shoulders stayed tight, waiting for something else to move.

Gilbert leaned on his spear for a moment longer than necessary, jaw clenched as he rolled one shoulder and tested the stiffness in his arm. "That's the last of them," he said.

Adan stood near the gate, eyes unfocused, listening past the quiet. "Here."

Torchlight began approaching from the streets.

The rhythmic marching of boots followed.

A small column of town soldiers rounded the corner in uneven formation, shields up, spears lowered, faces pale as they took in the scene before them. They slowed instinctively, steps faltering as they counted bodies that shouldn't have been there.

Their captain raised a hand.

"Halt."

The soldiers stopped short of the gate, eyes flicking between Tess, Gilbert, and Adan, then to the dead Order operatives at their feet.

"We're here to secure the northern gate," the captain said carefully. "Guild Master's request."

Tess nodded and stepped aside. "It's clear for now."

The captain hesitated, then gave a short signal. The soldiers moved past them, taking positions along the wall, weapons raised, watching the streets beyond with renewed tension. "Close the gates!" he roared.

Instantly, the lever was pulled, and the gates began to close.

The gates had barely finished closing when movement stirred at the edge of the street.

A figure stepped out from between the buildings, walking calmly into the fringe of torchlight.

Weapons came up immediately.

Spears snapped forward. A sword scraped halfway from its sheath.

"Hold," Adan said, sharp and controlled.

Ennu stopped just short of the light, hands loose at her sides, posture relaxed in a way that didn't invite reassurance. She didn't look at the soldiers. She didn't acknowledge the weapons pointed at her.

"They're breaking through the southern gate," she said, eyes directed at the other guild assistant.

He nodded, "Get back to Hanitz," and turned towards Gabriel. "To the southern gate."

The soldiers began to lower their weapons.

The former Paladin was already moving, boots striking the ground hard as he broke into a run. The red glow in his eyes had faded.

Tess fell in on his left without being told, cloak snapping behind her as she matched his pace. Gilbert followed a step behind, spear held low and steady despite the stiffness in his arm. Adan brought up the rear, already scanning ahead.

They didn't look back.

Behind them, the soldiers finished lowering their weapons, confusion giving way to urgency as orders were shouted and positions tightened along the wall. The northern gate was secured.

The streets opened as they moved south, panic thickening again the closer they got. Townsfolk spilled from doorways and alleys, fleeing north towards the barracks.

The sounds hit them first.

Orders barked in sharp bursts. The clinking of steel. Shields being struck together.

The southern gate stood wide open.

Beyond it, torchlight churned as bodies collided just outside the gate. Eldenreach soldiers were already engaged, shields locked, spears thrusting in tight formation to hold the opening. They fought shoulder to shoulder, pushing forward a step at a time, forcing the attackers back into the killing ground outside the walls.

Town soldiers moving as one. Orders obeyed. No panic in the ranks.

"They're holding," Tess said.

They were almost at the gate when the ground detonated.

The street ahead imploded as something slammed into the stone, the impact ripping outward in a violent shockwave. Wooden buildings shattered. Earth buckled. The air itself seemed to tear.

Gabriel felt the force hit a fraction of a second before it took him.

He was thrown sideways, blades torn from alignment as the blast hurled him across the street and into the ground hard enough to leave an indent. The impact rattled his bones and drove the breath from his lungs.

Tess was sent spinning the opposite way, lifted clear off her feet and slammed through a building in a storm of splintered wood.

Gilbert vanished in a cloud of dust, his body flung backwards into a collapsed cart, the sound of breaking timber swallowed by the roar of the blast.

Adan was driven straight back, boots skidding as he fought it for a step too long before the force ripped him off his feet and hurled him into the shadow of the gatehouse wall.

The street fell apart around them.

Gabriel pushed up back to his knees on instinct.

"Lumnassë"

Invisible weight crushed him flat against the ground, pinning his chest, arms, and legs as if the street itself had turned solid. His blades scraped uselessly as he tried to move.

Gabriel bared his teeth and forced breath into his lungs as the spell tightened, holding him there while the sounds of battle at the gate broke apart into shouting and screams.

Whoever was casting hadn't aimed to kill him.

They'd aimed to stop him.

Gabriel strained against it, muscles screaming as he forced his forearms beneath him. The ground resisted, grinding against his body as the weight bore down harder, pressing him flat again.

He tried again

Veins bulged out along his neck as he dragged his head up by inches, teeth clenched hard enough to ache.

Boots came into view.

Eight sets.

They approached at a measured pace, unhurried, spreading as they closed in, careful to keep their distance. Dark cloaks stirred in the disturbed air, sigils catching the torchlight in dull flashes as they fanned out around him.

Gabriel tracked them without turning his head, counting by sound and shadow, fixing their positions as best he could while the spell kept him pinned.

He blinked.

The weight vanished.

His chest slammed full of air as the pressure released, his body jerking against the stone as freedom returned all at once. He sucked in a breath and froze.

Blood hung in the air.

So did pieces of flesh. Shards of bone. Torn fragments of cloaks and armour, suspended as if time itself had stalled mid-breath. A single drop of blood hovered inches from his face, trembling, catching the torchlight.

The eight figures were no longer whole.

What remained of them drifted slowly apart, gravity reasserting itself piece by piece. Wet sounds followed as bodies collapsed to the street in heavy, disordered heaps.

Silence fell for a moment..

Footsteps broke it.

One set.

Measured. Unhurried.

A figure walked through the falling debris as if it weren't there, long coat untouched, blade resting easily at his side. The air seemed to bend around him, magic retreating rather than resisting.

A man stood where the circle of bodies lay.

Short silver hair framed a face untouched by strain or battle, features calm in a way that didn't belong on a street soaked in blood. His eyes blue, deep and distant, passed over the ruins and the fallen without interest, as though they were already accounted for.

His armour caught the torchlight as he stepped forward, gleaming with an unnatural clarity. Not a scratch on its surface. Not a dent broke the flawless lines. It looked less worn than forged moments ago.

A pristine sword rested at his hip, still sheathed. Still unused.

As he crossed the broken street, the air seemed to tighten around him. The mana in the area recoiled with every step.

He stopped a few paces from the former Paladin.

And in that moment, the chaos of the southern gate felt small.

Gabriel met his gaze.

It started in his hands and spread up his arms.

His breath came sharp as something inside him tore loose, not rising. Breaking

Fear hit first.

Buried beneath years of discipline and hate.

Then anger followed it out.

The red in his eyes flared violently as crimson fog exploded from his body, not shaped, not focused, ripping outward in jagged waves that shattered anything that it came into contact with.

He jumped, muscles screaming with the effort as he hauled himself upright, both swords clenched so hard his hands shook. The fog wrapped around his arms and blades in wild, flickering coils as he lunged forward with everything he had left.

"LUCIUS!"

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