The pristine, elite facade of the Royal Academy was completely gone by nightfall. It had been replaced by a crude, heavily armed fortress.
The shattered iron gates were blocked by massive chunks of masonry and broken statues dragged from the courtyards. The two hijacked arcane siege cannons were positioned flawlessly behind the rubble, their heavy brass barrels aimed directly down the main avenue leading back to the burning capital.
Sera stood on the roof of the Great Hall, looking down at the perimeter.
Over a hundred commoner students were patrolling the walls. They were wearing mismatched pieces of Vanguard armor and carrying military-grade spears. They looked exhausted, terrified, and freezing, but they were awake. The fear of Lucian dropping the sky on them was vastly overpowering their fear of the cold.
