Luna Dancer’s silhouette flickered across the rooftop, her peripheral vision catching Dexter Blades slinking along the alley wall.

  “Gale! Flank the Twin Daggers!” she barked into her comms, leaping down to engage.

  Dexter stood motionless, hands empty—until her blade flashed.

  “Predictable.” Luna sneered, her Miao Dao slashing like liquid mercury. Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks erupted as Dexter’s twin daggers parried the onslaught. He lunged inward; she danced back, maintaining the lethal two-meter sweet spot of her curved blade.

  Two alleys away, Gale sprinted toward the fray.

  Two hundred meters northeast, Eliza “The Marksman” Sharpe adjusted her stance on the tavern roof. Raindrops slid down her composite bow as she tracked Luna’s footwork through the crosshairs.

  Thwip!

  The arrow tore through mist and malice.

  Luna spun—too late. The hypersonic bolt punched through her leather armor, embedding itself in the cobblestones with a ground-shaking crunch!

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  “Eliza… damn you…” Luna crumpled, dissolving into pixelated ash.

  National Livestream Studio?

  Host Jessica Liu replayed the kill shot in holographic slow-mo. The arrow’s shockwave parted rain like Moses cleaving the Red Sea.

  “432 meters per second—supersonic!” Analyst Brian Qin jabbed the stats screen. “Eliza factored wind drift, target velocity, even raindrop refraction! That’s not marksmanship; that’s witchcraft!”

  Co-host Alex Wong grimaced. “Leather armor’s a death wish against Eliza. Should’ve worn Titan’s heavy plate.”

  “But mobility…” Brian countered.

  “Mobility’s worthless when you’re ?dead,” Alex shot back. “Remember the old saying: ‘Shadows fear light, warriors fear arrows.’”

  Rain-Soaked Town, South District?

  Titan (Gao Chong) crushed a brick wall with his bare fist. “Eliza’s next.” At 7’2” in powered armor, he resembled a walking tank.

  “Shields up,” ordered Victoria “Iron Valkyrie” Hale, her kite shield glinting.

  Raven (Wang Qiao) hefted his battle-axe. “We breach the tavern. Crush their nest.”

  Tavern Perimeter?

  Eliza crouched by a shattered window, her quiver trembling. “Three heavies inbound. Titan’s leading.”

  Marcus “Panda” Quinn snorted, adjusting his riot shield. “Let the big guy taste my ?bear? hug.”

  Ethan Gray spun his spear. “I’ll draw Titan’s aggro. Lena—flank Raven.”

  Lena Liu (Wu Sai) cracked her knuckles. “Victoria’s mine. Girls’ fight.”

  Dexter Blades materialized from a shadow. “Gale’s stalking their six. We pincer at the courtyard.”