The streets of the Underground were never quiet. Even in the dead of night, the market hummed with whispers, the kind that knew better than to be loud. But all that stopped when the first blade flew.
Clink!
A dagger ricocheted off a stone post, barely missing the girl in white.
Tessa staggered back, holding a glowing sigil tag tight to her chest.
"You shouldn't have come here," Silva said, stepping forward with the grace of someone who had already seen how this fight would end. Her violet eyes gleamed in the Underground's dim lamplight, a knife dancing between her fingers. "You have something that belongs to someone else."
Tessa didn't answer. She simply adjusted her stance, her left arm shielding the tag, her right hand pulsing with soft yellow light.
They clashed.
Shing!
Another blade. This one aimed for the tag. But Tessa raised a barrier just in time, a hexagonal dome flashing into existence as metal sparked against holy energy.
