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.
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.
One commoner blade delighted by finally having enemies honest enough to stab.
One Thornécroft root network still waking through stone.
One engineer who had just broken an impossible displacement point and looked personally offended that combat continued afterward.
One instructor who had not been allowed on the Death Flag approach and had clearly decided rules could die now.
Veylan struck first.
