Darian, Lyra, Elara, and the guards entered through the estate gates and moved into the main hall together, their footsteps echoing across the polished floor.
Lyra walked slightly behind Darian, her gaze fixed on him—on the absence of any injury where she had last seen him wounded. Dirt still clung to her clothes, her hair uneven and slightly tangled, her hands not entirely steady.
She had seen Darian break. The memory sat heavy in her chest, sharp and quiet. No one else would ever know. But she did.
And somehow, it didn't make him smaller.
It made everything else… make sense.
She hesitated for a moment before speaking, her voice low. "You… healed."
Darian glanced at her, then forward again. He tried to smile—just enough to sell it. "It's my Essent ability," he said, a touch unsure, like he was reaching for confidence rather than standing on it.
Lyra studied him for another second—the steady voice, the practiced ease. But she saw the cracks beneath it now. She recognized the fear, and the sheer, exhausting effort it took to hide it. It was a mask she knew all too well.
The hall had already gone quiet by the time they crossed halfway in. Guards along the walls straightened, cadets near the far end fell silent, and the hovering security drones adjusted their positions with faint mechanical hums.
Orion stood ahead, rigid, his expression unreadable for a fraction of a second before it hardened the moment his eyes landed on Lyra.
He closed the distance quickly. "Lyra." The single word carried both relief and anger, tightly restrained but unmistakable. He stopped in front of her, taking in the state she was in—the dirt, the trembling, the faint redness in her eyes—and something in his expression shifted.
Without another word, he pulled her into a firm embrace. Lyra tensed at first, caught off guard, then slowly relaxed, her grip weak as it caught onto his coat, her breathing uneven as she leaned into him.
"Are you hurt?" Orion asked quietly.
She shook her head against him. "No…"
He pulled back, hands still on her shoulders, scanning her face once more before the brief softness disappeared, replaced by sharp control. "Why did you go to the undercity without telling anyone?"
Lyra hesitated, guilt flickering across her expression, but before she could answer, Darian stepped forward.
"It was my fault," he said, voice steady. The attention of the entire hall shifted to him as he rubbed the back of his neck briefly, then straightened. "The estate was getting dull, so I took her out. Just to explore, nothing serious… but I pushed it too far and took her into the undercity. That part's on me."
The words settled heavily in the silence. Orion's expression darkened almost instantly as he stepped forward and grabbed Darian by the collar, the motion sharp enough to ripple tension across the room.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Orion's voice cut through the hall, no longer restrained.
Darian didn't resist, though his posture stiffened. "I—"
"You take my sister, with a bounty on her head, into the undercity for fun?" Orion snapped, anger rising.
Commander Varrus stepped in immediately, placing himself between them with firm authority. "That's enough."
Orion's grip tightened slightly before he finally released Darian.
Darian adjusted his collar quietly.
Varrus looked at Darian briefly, then back at Orion.
"He'll receive appropriate punishment," Varrus said calmly.
Orion turned toward him, his expression sharpening. "Punishment?" His voice dropped, colder now, controlled in a way that carried more weight than shouting. "Do you think this is a field exercise? She has a bounty on her head. The undercity is crawling with criminals, and your cadet takes her there because he's bored?"
"He made a mistake," Varrus replied, holding his ground.
"This isn't a training error," Orion cut in, the restraint in his tone thinning. "This is negligence, and that negligence nearly—"
"Orion."
The voice came from behind him.
Calm. Familiar.
Orion stilled, but he didn't turn immediately.
The shift in the room was instant—guards stiffened, cadets went silent, even the hovering drones steadied as the weight of that voice settled over them.
Then Orion turned.
Valer Spero stood a few steps behind him.
Very much alive.
A ripple of shock tore through the hall.
Zeri took a step back, eyes widening. "He's… alive?"
Around him, faces mirrored the same disbelief—guards exchanging stunned glances, cadets frozen mid-breath, the entire hall caught between recognition and doubt.
Valer didn't acknowledge it.
His coat was torn, armor scorched, dried blood streaking his sleeve—yet his posture remained steady, gaze sharp and unshaken.
He stepped forward, passing Orion.
"We deal with Mario Vance first," Valer said, voice firm.
At his command, guards dragged a restrained figure into view—bound in high-tech cuffs that locked his arms and suppressed any movement.
Mario Vance.
Barely upright. Blood staining his clothes. Breathing uneven.
But his expression—intact. Watching.
Valer stopped in front of him, gaze cold.
"This is the man responsible for the bounty and the assassination attempts on our family."
Orion moved up beside him, jaw tight.
"Father…" his voice steadied, controlled now. "..you thought it was a good idea to bring him here?"
Mario let out a low, broken laugh, coughing as blood touched his lips. "You must've realised by now… I'm just a pawn," he said, voice strained but amused.
His gaze flicked between them, lingering on Valer. "And yet… you still brought me here." A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "Not for me." He exhaled sharply, almost amused despite the blood. "You're waiting for whoever's pulling the strings to make a move, aren't you?"
His head tilted slightly, eyes glinting. "But no matter." His voice dropped. "No one can stop what's coming."
He gave a sharp whistle.
The sound cut clean through the hall.
A sharp beep interrupted the silence.
Varrus lifted his wrist.
"Sir," a voice crackled over the comm. "We're detecting some kind of black—"
The transmission cut off.
Mario smiled.
Then he whistled.
A sharp, piercing sound.
For half a second — nothing happened.
Then the hall exploded.
The floor split open with a deafening crack.
Black ash burst upward in violent waves. Debris tore through the air. Marble shattered. Guards were thrown back as the ground fractured beneath them.
Shockwaves rippled across the chamber.
Smoke and ash flooded the hall.
And chaos began