The bond stuttered.
Not much. Just enough to feel.
Bond severance technique, Ishtar said. Her voice in his mind was tighter than it had ever been. He has specific knowledge of Calamity Summoner class mechanics. This was prepared. A pause. Hold the bond. Whatever you feel, hold it.
The four remaining mobile operatives came at Ishtar from four angles simultaneously.
Trained formation. They’d clearly drilled this specifically. The approach was designed to divide attention and create space for the bond-severing technique to work.
Ishtar looked at the four of them coming.
Then she moved.
Corbyn had seen her stand still in the academy arena for an entire duel. He had not yet seen her move.
She was fast in the way that made fast seem like the wrong word. Not blurring, not theatrical. Just already where she needed to be before the operatives finished committing to their positions. The first two went down before they reached her. The third adjusted, got closer than the others, and still went down. The fourth stopped.
Made a decision.
Ran for the passage exit.
Eight seconds.
The bond-severance field was still running. The red-edged wire pushing against the connection between Corbyn and Ishtar, creating interference in his mana flow, making the pulse behind his sternum feel like it was coming from somewhere slightly wrong.
Corbyn found the pulse.
Breathed.
Body is the power. Mana tells it what to do.
He stopped fighting the interference and moved through it the way Ishtar had told him to move through Stellan’s pressure. Go around it not into it.
The bond steadied.
Ishtar looked at the lead operative.
He was still standing. Still running the severance field. His expression had not changed but something behind it had. He was recalculating in real time.
"It’s not going to work," Corbyn said.
The operative looked at him.
"You held it under active severance," the operative said. He sounded like a man updating a database entry. "Three days into your first term."
"Ten days," Corbyn said.
The operative lowered his hand. The red-edged field collapsed.
He looked at Ishtar one more time.
She looked back.
He made his final decision in under a second.
He turned and went through the secondary tunnel at the back of the cavern, the one Corbyn hadn’t known was there. The remaining operatives went with him. Their footsteps faded fast. People who knew exactly where they were going.
Silence.
Four unconscious operatives on the cavern floor. The green bioluminescence returning now that the gold light was fading as Corbyn released the bond to conserve mana. The smell of the gate. Wet stone and something older.
Marsh’s voice came from the passage to the right. Rough. Controlled.
"Veatch."
"Here," Corbyn said.
Marsh came through the passage. Moving carefully. One hand pressed to his left side. Not a serious injury but not nothing either.
He looked at the four bodies on the floor.
Then at Corbyn.
Then at the space where the seam had been.
He didn’t say anything for a moment.
"How many got away," Marsh said.
"Five," Corbyn said. "Through a secondary tunnel at the back. I didn’t know it was there."
"Neither did I," Marsh said. He looked at the tunnel entrance. "They mapped this gate before we arrived."
"Yes," Corbyn said.
"They were specifically here for you," Marsh said.
"Yes," Corbyn said.
Marsh looked at him for a long moment with the expression of a man who had more questions than the current situation had room for.
"Are you injured," Marsh said.
"No," Corbyn said.
"Good," Marsh said.
Footsteps from the other passage. Lyra came through with her group behind her. She had heard the noise and moved toward it despite the instruction to stay put. She came in fast and stopped when she saw the cavern.
Four bodies. Marsh with his hand pressed to his side. Corbyn standing in the fading gold light.
Her eyes moved across the scene once.
Then they settled on Corbyn.
"Are you alright," she said.
"Yes," Corbyn said.
She nodded once. Then she turned to the students behind her and started organizing them with the efficiency of someone who had decided that falling apart could wait for a more convenient time.
Dex came back from the entry point at a run. He stopped at the cavern entrance and looked at the four bodies on the floor.
Then at Corbyn.
"I told you where they were," Dex said. He was breathing hard from running. "The two hidden ones. I found them."
"You did," Corbyn said.
Dex nodded. Satisfied. He put his hands on his knees and caught his breath.
Outside the gate the academy emergency response was already activating. Corbyn could hear it through the entry passage. Running footsteps. Voices. The specific controlled urgency of people trained for situations they hoped they’d never actually face.
Vael would know within minutes.
Cole would know.
The Council representative would know.
And somewhere outside the academy walls, a lead operative was sending a report to someone above him.
The Calamity Summoner held the bond under active severance pressure.
He held it and it didn’t break.
Corbyn stood in the green-lit cavern and looked at the unconscious operatives on the floor and thought about what that report was going to mean for what came next.
Marsh looked at him from across the cavern.
"When we get outside," Marsh said, "I’m going to have a very long conversation with you."
"I know," Corbyn said.
"And then Vael is going to have a longer one," Marsh said.
"I know," Corbyn said.
Marsh looked at him for another moment.
Then something shifted in his expression. Not warm. Not approving. Just honest.
"You held the bond under severance," Marsh said. "Ten days in."
"Yes," Corbyn said.
Marsh looked at the space where the seam had been one more time.
Then he turned toward the exit passage.
"Come on then," he said.
Corbyn followed him out.
Behind them the cavern settled into silence. Four bodies on the uneven floor. The green bioluminescence doing its patient work on the walls. The smell of wet stone and something much older underneath it.
And in the secondary tunnel at the back, fading footsteps heading somewhere the academy didn’t have a map for.