The plaza hadn't fully emptied yet.
Students lingered in tight groups, voices low, eyes sharp. The rankings still hovered above the obelisk, glowing like a provocation.
I felt it before it happened.
Not killing intent.
Coordination.
"Multiple hostile vectors detected."
"Move," Lena said quietly.
Too late.
The air screamed.
A spear of condensed mana tore through the space where I'd been standing a heartbeat earlier, detonating against the obelisk in a flash of blinding light.
Panic exploded.
Students scattered, shouting, tripping over each other as the protective wards flared too slowly—delayed on purpose.
"That wasn't a duel!" someone screamed.
I stepped forward into the chaos instead of retreating.
Three figures descended from above, landing lightly amid the crowd. Their uniforms were academy-issued—but altered, sigils hidden beneath glamours.
False students.
One raised a hand.
"Target confirmed," he said calmly. "Proceed."
So they weren't even pretending anymore.
Lena moved instantly, dragging two stunned students out of the line of fire as another attack ripped through the plaza stone.
Ren swore. "They're using civilians as cover!"
"Of course they are," I replied.
The blade pulsed.
"Public engagement increases risk."
"I know," I whispered. "Do it anyway."
Shadow Reinforcement spread—controlled, precise. No explosion. No spectacle.
I vanished from where I stood.
One assassin's eyes widened just before I slammed into him, driving him across the plaza and into a ward pillar. The impact knocked him unconscious instantly.
The second assassin adjusted fast, weaving complex seals mid-air.
Too complex.
"Black Veil elite," Lena said sharply.
The third didn't aim at me.
They aimed at the crowd.
I felt something snap.
I intercepted the attack mid-cast, forcing my mana into the forming construct and collapsing it inward. The backlash hurled the assassin back, skidding across stone.
The plaza fell into stunned silence.
Every eye was on me now.
The remaining assassin retreated—straight into a descending blade of light.
An instructor landed between us, weapon humming.
"Enough," the silver-haired man said coldly.
More instructors arrived in flashes of mana, sealing the area, restraining the attackers.
Too late to hide what had happened.
Too late to pretend.
The blue-eyed instructor turned slowly toward the watching students.
"This," she said, voice amplified,
"was an illegal assassination attempt."
Gasps rippled through the plaza.
The silver-haired man's gaze found mine.
"You were the target," he said—not a question.
"Yes."
"And you restrained yourself," he observed.
I nodded once.
His expression darkened.
"Then hear this clearly," he said, turning to the crowd.
"The academy has failed to protect one of its students."
Shock hit harder than the attack.
"Effective immediately," he continued,
"Special Observation protocols are suspended."
Suspended.
That meant authority shifted.
Eyes widened.
"And any faction found responsible," he finished,
"will be erased from academy influence."
The words were calm.
Absolute.
As the attackers were dragged away, whispers turned into fear.
Not of assassins.
Of consequences.
Lena exhaled slowly beside me. "They just declared war."
I looked at the cracked plaza, the terrified students, the watching instructors.
"No," I said quietly.
"They admitted they were already in one."
The blade whispered.
"Public acknowledgment achieved."
I closed my eyes briefly.
Because from this moment on—
No one could kill me quietly.
And that made everything far more dangerous.