The gunshot echoed sharp and clean through the yard.
Metal rang as the bullet struck Grigor's firearm mid-motion, the force knocking it from his grip. The weapon hit the ground with a dull clang, skidding across stone already littered with shells.
Grigor staggered.
Blood bloomed instantly along his arm.
"GRIGOR!"
Raya's scream tore through the battlefield, raw and unrestrained. Before anyone could stop her, she stepped forward, out of cover, out of safety, straight into the danger zone.
"Miss Seraphina, don't...!" someone shouted.
Too late.
Grigor gritted his teeth, pain flaring white-hot through his arm, but instinct overrode it. With his uninjured hand, he snatched his fallen gun off the ground, turned sharply...
And fired.
One shot.
Clean.
The sniper dropped from the rooftop in the distance, collapsing without a sound.
Silence followed for half a second.
Then chaos surged back in.
By the time the smoke shifted, Raya was already beside him.
