Cold steel hissed an inch from Alph’s ear.

  Nylessa's obsidian daggers slammed into the incoming blade, catching the strike before it opened Alph's throat. Metal shrieked against stone as she threw her weight into the parry. She had emerged from the workshop shadows, ink spilling into water, her body coiled at an unnatural angle to take the blow meant for him.

  "Move," she hissed.

  Her fingers locked on his wrist. The world snapped sideways. Flicker wrenched him through space, joints shrieking under the strain. The workshop blurred.

  Alph's palms struck cold brass. The impact drove air from his lungs. Ozone and rust choked his throat as Nylessa's shadow pressed against his back, her breath sharp against his ear.

  "Stay down, idiot," she whispered.

  Across the chamber, Haldrix's prosthetic arm blazed to life. Runes carved into the brass plates ignited with crackling fury, mana arcing between the conduits in violent threads. His hand rose, fingers spreading as offensive runes activated in sequence.

  The assassin was already moving. Her silhouette fractured between the pillars, ink bleeding into shadow, impossibly fast. Lightning erupted where she had stood a heartbeat before, scorching brass and stone.

  The assassin emerged from the brass pipes like smoke solidified. Her frame was lean, compact, built for spaces no one else could reach. Half-goblin, Alph realized, yet her movements carried the precision of a apex predator. Twin curved blades flashed as she pivoted toward Haldrix’s exposed back.

  Rugnir’s shout sliced through the noise. "Behind!"

  A crossbow bolt streaked across the chamber. The assassin's dagger flicked upward without hesitation, deflecting the bolt into the vaulted ceiling. But the distraction cost her momentum.

  Haldrix twisted, his prosthetic arm surging with violent light. Runes erupted in a compact arc, electricity tearing through the narrow space between them. The assassin's silhouette fractured, dissolving into shadow that scattered like ash before wind.

  Alph pushed himself upright, palm landing hard on the workshop table for leverage.

  The stone beneath his hand depressed with a soft click.

  The workshop floor tore open with a jagged groan. Brass veins flared white-hot as rune grids ignited beneath Alph’s fingers. The ground heaved, panels splitting apart like ice under an axe. Solid stone collapsed into black fissures, molten rock glowing beneath, heat surging upward in suffocating waves. The walkway shattered into jagged islands, each tilting precariously over the abyss.

  The assassin materialized behind Nylessa, twin blades angled downward for a spinal strike. The platform groaned as trap plates beneath them shifted, seams cracking open with a metallic scream. Sparks rained from severed conduits overhead, illuminating her’s feral grin for a heartbeat before she lunged.

  Nylessa twisted. The movement ripped a seam in her sleeve. A dagger grazed her shoulder. Blood bloomed crimson against dark cloth. She gasped. The chamber’s roar swallowed the sound. She pivoted mid-lunge and arched her blades toward the assassin’s throat.

  Alph’s Flicker launched him forward, hunting knife aimed at the gap between their clashing steel. The instant his blade neared flesh, she dissolved like mist.

  Laughter echoed, warped and directionless. "Sloppy, Shadow Rogue," The assassin’s voice taunted. "I’ll cut you piece by piece, half-breed."

  Haldrix’s voice cut through the chaos. "Don’t touch anything!" he roared, his prosthetic arm crackling with barely contained energy. "One wrong move and this whole chamber collapses!"

  Haldrix hurled a rune stone. It exploded against the ceiling, light searing through the chamber. Shadows congealed behind brass pillars, sharp as blade edges.

  His voice slashed through the dimness. "An Umbral. She uses shadows to strike."

  Thorfin downed an elixir, his stance steadying as the stimulant hit. He braced behind his shield. Rugnir stood firm beside him, crossbow reloaded, eyes tracking the darkness.

  The assassin materialized on the next platform, arms spread wide. "Oh? You must be the famous Haldrix Grimforge. Didn’t know you old men knew about my kind."

  Rugnir’s crossbow twanged. The bolt streaked toward her—she flicked it aside with a dagger, scowl twisting her lips. "Rude."

  Her hand blurred. A dart hissed through the air.

  Thorfin’s shield snapped up. Metal shrieked as the dart punched through the metal, stopping a finger’s width from Rugnir’s eye.

  Alph raised his crossbow and squeezed the trigger. The bolt hissed toward her, but she tilted her head, letting the projectile whistle into the darkness. Her gaze snapped to him.

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  "Disobedient children!" She snarled, legs coiling before she launched herself across the gap. Her boots cleared the bubbling lava in a single vault, landing firm on his platform and she advanced swiftly towards them. Nylessa lunged to intercept her, but the assassin pivoted on her heel. She drove a dagger toward Nylessa’s spine while her free hand flicked a dart at Alph’s chest.

  He raised his hunting knife. The dart collided with the steel with the force of a hammer strike. Vibration numbed Alph's fingers. The blade spun from his grip and hissed as the lava swallowed it. Nylessa triggered Flicker. She vanished and reappeared few inches ahead, the lethal thrust barely missing her back.

  The assassin moved before Alph could track the motion. One instant, her dagger poised to skewer Nylessa's spine; the next, she stood behind the half-elf, curved blade biting into exposed skin of her neck. A thin line of crimson welled along the steel's edge.

  Nixy's blade inched forward on Nylessa's throat.

  Instincts blared. Nixy abandoned her assault and leapt into the shadows. An eerie silhouette lingered where she had stood. Its foreign shape radiated menace.

  A whisper of danger penetrated the chaos, audible only to Nixy. She snarled. She recognized the unseen enemy was superior. Her thin lips twitched while she calculated the odds of survival. She shifted into a defensive crouch, ready to clash.

  Rook emerged from the shadows like a blade unsheathed. His tattered cloak billowed as he stepped between Nixy and Nylessa, the half-goblin’s curved blades still humming with the promise of blood. His voice cut through the tension, low and lethal.

  "Nixy."

  The name hung in the air, a warning wrapped in a single syllable. Nixy’s oversized ears twitched, her grin sharp as broken glass. She didn’t lower her weapons.

  "Recruiter Rook?" Her voice dripped with mock surprise. "Why did you intervene in my kill?"

  Rook’s fingers flexed around the hilt of his short-sword. The metal groaned under the pressure. "Stop. Retreat. Don’t meddle in my affairs. This child is off limits."

  Nixy’s laughter was a dry, rasping sound. "Heh. A small-time Tier 3 recruiter dares to threaten me?" She tilted her head, her long fingers tapping the flat of her blade. "Do you want to die?"

  Rook didn’t flinch. His voice dropped, each word a nail driven into the silence. "Take a step. You’ll see who dies."

  Behind him, Nylessa’s breath hitched. "Rook?" Her voice was thin, strained. "What are you doing here? Please—take Alph away from here."

  Rook’s jaw tightened. He didn’t turn. "You. Shut up." The command was a whip-crack. "Not only did you charge in recklessly, you came close to dying. Is this what you promised when you said you wouldn’t intervene?"

  Nylessa didn’t speak. Shame flared in her eyes.

  Nixy’s grin split wider, teeth catching the dim light. "Oh? Your ward?"

  A low chuckle scraped from her throat. "Heard you’d taken a shine to some half-breed. But this?" Her eyes flicked to Nylessa, "Dark elf? Really?"

  She exhaled, sharp and amused. "How adorable."

  Rook’s knuckles whitened.

  "Walk away, Nixy," he said. "This isn’t your fight."

  Nixy only watched him.

  “I won’t stop you from killing that old dwarf. He’s your target.” Rook’s voice was ice. “Go ahead. But stay away from her.”

  Nixy’s blades twitched. The air crackled, taut with violence. “What if I don’t?” she murmured. “What if I kill that pretty little lass?” Her gaze pinned Nylessa, sharp with hunger. “What can you do, Rook?”

  The question hung, unanswered.

  Rook drew his short sword and notched his dagger into a reverse grip. The steel hummed as it left the sheaths. He crouched, his boots grinding against the grit of the stone platform, and lunged.

  Nixy’s eyes widened. Her Tier 4 senses failed to track the sheer velocity of his movement. She snapped her curved blades upward to parry, but the air was already thick with Rook’s steel. He moved with a clinical, lethal rhythm.

  A flurry of strikes descended on her like a rhythmic storm. The short sword hammered at her guard while the reverse-grip dagger carved through her defenses with surgical precision. Red lines bloomed across Nixy’s pale green skin, and a dull ache from heavy bruises began to set in. She retreated, her heels skittering backward toward the jagged edge of the platform. One more step and the void would take her.

  Nixy used Blink, reappearing at the far edge of the platform. Her breath hitched, and terror bled into her voice.

  "You... you aren't Tier 3. You are Tier 5! What are you doing working as a lowly recruiter?"

  Rook gave no answer; his form dissolved into the shadows, leaving the space where he stood empty.

  Zshk!

  Nixy's gaze dropped to her chest. The steel tip of the shortsword burst through her sternum from behind. Crimson flooded her throat and spilled over her lips.

  Rook leaned close. "I warned you," he whispered. "You didn't take my advice."

  Rook twisted the steel blade, feeling the structural resistance of bone and the wet give of muscle. He made sure the point punctured the heart thoroughly. Hot, metallic-smelling blood drenched his knuckles as the life faded from Nixy’s eyes.

  He grunted, lifting the half-goblin’s limp weight effortlessly with the sword still buried in her chest. With a sharp, lateral motion, he threw her carcass to the side. Her small frame crashed against the brass wall with a heavy thud.

  The body fell away, but a mechanical, clicking echoed from the stone behind her. Rook stiffened as the floor vibrated beneath his boots.

  Haldrix’s roar shattered the air. "Dammit! Another trap!"

  Haldrix’s voice cut off as white radiance tore from the stone. Ancient runes, interlaced and blazing, flooded every platform, searing the eyes with pure, unrelenting light.

  When the blinding light finally receded, the platforms stood vacant. Not a single soul remained. The workshop returned to a heavy, suffocating silence, broken only by the rhythmic, molten churning of the lava rising far below.