The silver dome of the counter-shield held firm against the red digital static at the main gates.
Zorya anchored the ancient magic from the East Basement, but the pressure forced thick blood from her nose.
The Silencer erased the dirt and the trees outside the academy walls and turned the physical world into broken wireframes.
Raziel wiped the blood from his ear and stared through the heavy iron bars.
Elector Mordecai stood fifty yards away in his pristine white robes.
He watched the silver shield block his deletion code.
The ten master sealers moved forward in their dark gray tunics.
They dragged their heavy wooden crates across the dirt road and stopped just outside the perimeter of Zorya's shield.
They opened the crates and pulled out thick iron chains covered in complex suppression runes.
"They are setting up the tri-point formations," Gideon warned.
He gripped the iron bars next to Raziel and pointed at the sealers.
