Astral Zenith gave war a timetable.
That was how noble academies stayed civilized.
Three days after the first faction bell, the central board posted the Inter-Hall Strategic Exercises schedule in letters large enough for every student to pretend they were not afraid.
The timetable made it worse.
An ambush had honesty. A duel had shape. A monster breach had teeth people could see. A scheduled conflict arrived with ink, bells, faculty signatures, and the comforting lie that preparation made violence less violent.
Six hours.
Public observation.
Primary scoring variables.
The academy had translated fear into curriculum so cleanly that students would argue over procedure while learning how to wound each other without calling it war.
Civilization, apparently, was a better font.
Even survival needed minutes now, and that offended me deeply.
[Inter-Hall Strategic Exercises]
[Exercise One: Territorial Ethics Simulation]
[Duration: six hours]
[Public observation: approved]
