[Celestial Academy — Side Corridor — 10:49 AM]

Raven knew where Alex was.

Not through the communicators — those had been silent for three minutes since the administrative wing corridor became a combat zone.

"Grim arrived," she said quietly.

"But Alex is still there with that boy and the necklace and corruption at 91%."

"I’m going to him."

---

Twelve Inquisitors in the side corridor.

Not the level 68‑75 ones she had been holding off.

These were different — Cael’s reserve squad, the ones he hadn’t sent first because he hadn’t needed them yet.

Levels 74 to 82.

Closed formation, no gaps between them, occupying the corridor from wall to wall.

Raven evaluated the formation.

She tried to advance.

The center Inquisitor — level 82, scars on his neck that weren’t decorative — extended his hand, and a strange energy came out of him.

[Magical Containment Barrier — advanced level]

The barrier wasn’t visible. But she could feel the pressure — the kind that pushed back no matter the entry angle.

Raven stepped back and summoned a spectral blood crow.

The spectral crow hit the barrier and momentarily dissolved before reconstituting.

"You cannot pass," said the center Inquisitor. Without particular hostility.

"I need to reach the main corridor."

"We understand." The same tone. "You cannot pass."

Raven looked at the corridor behind them.

Toward where Alex was.

Toward where the communicator’s silence remained that specific kind of silence.

Something cold settled in her chest.

Not fear. Something more precise than fear.

The certainty that if she didn’t make it in the next two minutes, Alex’s margin would close.

---

*They’re doing it on purpose.*

Raven evaluated the formation again while Army of Bones held the position behind her.

Twelve Inquisitors in a four‑meter‑wide corridor.

Active containment barrier.

Levels that in direct combat would require her to use everything.

*They don’t want to eliminate me. They want me not to get there. While I’m here, Alex has no backup, and Grim is holding off six in the other corridor, and the boy with the necklace is still there with F5 learning every second.*

*They’re using me as a piece.*

The cold in her chest turned into something else.

Not rage.

Rage was hot and diffuse.

This was cleaner than rage.

"Alright," said Raven quietly.

The center Inquisitor: "Excuse me?"

"I said alright." Raven lowered her guard.

Not as surrender.

As someone who had finished calculating and didn’t need a defensive posture for what came next.

"You’re right. I can’t pass."

The Inquisitor processed that.

"I’m glad that—"

[Army of Bones — DEATH’S ARMY — FULL ACTIVATION]

The corridor behind Raven disappeared under five hundred skeletons materializing simultaneously — not the compact type from previous fights, but the version that F3 had made possible since the Catacombs. Each skeleton with a base level of 40, coordinated in real time, operating as extensions of Raven’s nervous system instead of individual units.

[Necromantic Mastery — active — 200m radius]

All undead within two hundred meters responded to Fragment 3.

The skeletons in the courtyard, the reanimated that had escaped the control of Agustín’s escort, two minor undead living in the basements of the old building that no one knew were there.

All under Raven.

The level‑82 Inquisitor’s barrier was magical containment.

Magical containment worked against magic.

Five hundred physical skeletons weren’t magic.

They were mass.

---

The first group of a hundred hit the barrier simultaneously.

The barrier held.

The second group hit on top of the first.

The barrier gave way one centimeter.

"Hold the barrier," said the center Inquisitor. The first sign of tension in his voice.

Eight of the twelve redirected energy toward the barrier.

Four remained free to face Raven directly.

Exactly what Raven needed.

[Blood Whip — MP: 40]

The blood whip emerged from her left palm — five meters of solidified blood with the consistency of steel cable. The first Inquisitor who moved toward her took the whip on his raised forearm as a block.

[Hemomancy — activated at point of contact]

The blood that the whip drew from the Inquisitor’s forearm wound responded to Fragment 3 — not much, just enough to shift the block’s direction two centimeters at the critical moment.

Two centimeters were enough.

The next segment of the whip passed through the gap and connected with his neck.

[Inquisitor — level 75 — HP: 235,001 → -3,200]

The second Inquisitor activated an energy shield.

Raven didn’t attack the shield.

[Blood Needles — MP: 6,000]

Twelve needles of solidified blood fired not at the shield but at the floor in front of the Inquisitor — embedding themselves in the stone, leaving active blood points in specific positions.

The Inquisitor evaluated the needles on the floor. He didn’t see the threat.

[Hemomancy — activated on all twelve points simultaneously]

The blood in the floor absorbed the vibration of the Inquisitor’s footsteps and returned it amplified — not as damage, as imbalance. The shield remained active. The Inquisitor lost his footing for 0.3 seconds.

0.3 seconds was enough.

[Assassination Arts — passive — surprise damage +85%]

[Blood Weapon — sword — MP: 5,000]

The solidified blood sword connected with the Inquisitor’s side while the shield was still facing forward.

[Inquisitor — level 74 — HP: 231,801 → X-6,800]

---

Behind the twelve Inquisitors, at the far end of the corridor, Valeria appeared.

Not running. Walking. With the expression of someone who had spent two hours in the Academy knowing this would come and calculating when the moment to intervene would be.

She evaluated the situation — the barrier giving way under the weight of five hundred skeletons, two Inquisitors already significantly damaged, Raven in the center of the corridor with Fragment 3 active and the spectral crow reconstituted orbiting her position as an early warning system.

Valeria was no match for what she was seeing.

Not in terms of power.

Raven wasn’t there to eliminate Inquisitors.

She was trying to reach Alex.

And Valeria understood exactly what that meant because she had spent weeks helping that team do exactly what the Temple said couldn’t be done.

She was still part of the Temple.

That was the problem.

She approached the center Inquisitor.

"Drop the barrier."

The Inquisitor looked at her. "Inquisitor Valeria, Father Agustín’s orders are—"

"I know them." Valeria. "Drop the barrier."

"I can’t do that without authorization from—"

[Soul Manipulation — Fragment 3 — activated on skeleton number 347]

Skeleton number 347 was no different from the other 499.

Except that Raven had specifically positioned it at the barrier’s highest tension point three exchanges earlier, while the Inquisitors were watching the whip and the needles and the sword.

Skeleton number 347 didn’t hit the barrier.

It dissolved against it — releasing the soul energy that Fragment 3 had concentrated in it as fuel for the last forty seconds.

[Soul Manipulation — concentrated energy release — barrier failure point]

The barrier broke.

Not dramatically. It just stopped being there.

Four hundred ninety‑nine skeletons poured into the main corridor.

Raven passed behind them.

---

The center Inquisitor turned toward Valeria.

"Inquisitor—"

"I did nothing," said Valeria. "The barrier failed on its own." A pause. "Document it that way."

The Inquisitor processed that.

Valeria was already looking toward where Raven had gone.

Raven running down the main corridor toward the administrative wing, the spectral crow ahead, five hundred skeletons distributing themselves in corridor formation — not to fight, to block any Inquisitor who tried to follow her.

Valeria watched her run.

*She’s going for Carter.*

*Of course she’s going for Carter.*

Valeria looked at the center Inquisitor, who was still waiting for instructions.

"Contain the side corridor perimeter," she said. "The situation in the administrative wing is under Inquisitor Cael’s control."

"And the bearer of Fragment 3?"

Valeria considered the question honestly.

"She’s no longer in your corridor." She turned around. "Someone else’s problem."

---

[Main Corridor — heading to administrative wing — 10:53 AM]

Raven running.

The spectral crow processing the spiritual plane ahead — marking Inquisitor positions, highlighting the two trying to cut off her route from the parallel corridor.

*Two. Level 71 and 73. Blocking the intersection in twenty meters.*

Raven didn’t slow down.

[Shadow Meld — MP: 80/minute]

She melted into the corridor’s shadows — not disappearing, becoming part of the contrast between the window light and the darkness of the stone arches.

The spectral crow remained visible.

The two Inquisitors at the intersection looked at the crow.

They didn’t look at the shadow that passed between them.

[Shadow Meld — deactivated]

Raven on the other side of the intersection.

The two Inquisitors turning when they felt that something had passed but with no visible target.

Forty meters to the administrative wing corridor.

Thirty.

Twenty.

The sound of combat growing clearer — the specific impact of Blood Weapon against a Dominion field, the weight of Grim in Form 2/7 moving in enclosed space.

Alex was still fighting.

Ten meters.

*I’m coming.*