Silence washed over the area.
Barely a second or two had passed from the first movement to the last. The onlookers had only caught a blur of roots and a flash of something sharp—then death.
By the time the Experts from both sides reached the area around the Haan Di Pavilion, they stopped in their tracks. They found themselves only a few metres away from Aksai, standing on opposite sides of the street.
Between them lay the bodies of the five dead men.
The ground around the corpses was already turning red as blood poured out and formed small pools that reflected the dim evening light.
No one spoke. The only sound was the slow drip of blood hitting stone.
And Aksai stood there, as calm as if nothing had happened at all.
Ren stood frozen as the five bodies hit the ground. For a moment, he could not breathe.
The faces of his fallen supporters stared back at him—eyes wide, mouths slightly open, stuck between horror and confusion. They had not even understood how they died.
