Splurt!
The first guard went down before the alarm had even finished its second cycle, and I saw the moment it happened with a kind of clarity that stuck in my mind longer than I wanted.
One second, he was standing there with his weapon half-raised, and the next, there was a clean hole through his chest where his divine core had been, the compression blast having passed straight through him without resistance.
He didn't say anything, didn't even have time to react properly.
His body simply dropped onto the stone courtyard like something that had been cut loose, blood already spreading beneath him in a dark, widening pool.
"Move forward, now!"
We broke into a run toward the gates, and more defenders started appearing along the walls above us, first a handful, then more behind them until dozens were lining the height of the structure.
