The top of the hill was quiet.
The wind blew gently across the training field below, where hundreds of students were still being rounded up by the instructors. The chaos had calmed. The gunfire had stopped.
Now, there was only golden sunlight, stretching long shadows across the grass, and two students standing side by side in silence.
Damien Bloodbane stood straight, hands loosely at his sides. He wasn't out of breath. He didn't look exhausted. If anything, he looked like he had just finished a light jog.
But he was quiet. His sharp eyes remained on the horizon, unblinking, expression unreadable.
Beside him, Jiang Xiao Yu adjusted her ponytail with a flick of her fingers, then glanced at him from the corner of her eye. The corners of her lips tugged up ever so slightly.
"So," she said, breaking the silence with a playful lilt, "do you always fight through meteor rain and elemental apocalypses like you're taking a stroll in the park?"
