Nox made it four blocks from Central Relief before the sealed channel tore openly enough to drop him against a shuttered storefront. Regeneration stayed offline, and every unfinished Crowncast injury began collecting interest the body could no longer pay.
Blood darkened the stabilization bands across his ribs; The right shoulder that had absorbed Corin's last reinforced strike no longer held clean rotation, and the sealed channel under the rib line pulsed like a locked door being kicked from both sides.
A fruit seller across the street kept weighing oranges as if a most-wanted collapse were ordinary weather. Two teenagers filmed until Diana's local field blurred their lenses without confiscating the devices, preserving privacy without creating a seizure story.
Vasa caught his weight without asking whether he wanted help; Diana kept the street cameras on local traffic only, denying the Directorate a clean collapse clip while still logging medical state for their own ledger.
