The first assassin died before anyone gave an order.
Nyx moved.
Not like shadow.
Like the part of shadow that had never agreed to belong to light in the first place.
Her knife crossed the lead assassin's wrist, turned the blade away from Ren, and cut the man's throat shallow enough to silence, not kill.
Alive enough.
The restraint mattered immediately.
Black Crest expected panic, lethal answers, and enough blood to turn academy defense into scandal. Nyx cutting shallow, Seraphina demanding alive enough, and Veylan pinning instead of breaking all denied the assassins their cleaner story.
A dead attacker was simple.
A captured one could testify.
Valdrake hated testimony.
Seraphina would approve later.
If we survived.
The western stair erupted.
Five Black Crest assassins.
One injured Support Witness.
One damaged villain with a useless right hand.
One saintess under Church review.
One hero trying not to become the center.
