The Airship Strikes Nora's Tower

Then everyone saw VQU burn.

From the Gravenhurst distance, a void-spewing airship struck Nora's Tower. The tower tried to save itself, shrinking and reshaping away from impact like architecture with a survival instinct, but the movement was not enough. The hit landed. Green-black fire, smoke, and void gas climbed into the skyline while Centrum Security Forces fought around the wreckage.

It looked like the main attack.

That was the point.

VQU was personal enough to pull every eye toward it. The school held the students who had just split from QUEST: Ellenthyra, Nell, and Zetch. It held the dorm note in Ash's pocket, the unfinished class day, the whole illusion that the morning separation had been ordinary.

The party had every reason to fear for them.

But there was no confirmation. No deaths. No survival. Only smoke, distant fighting, and the horrible possibility that the apparent target was also a distraction.

While VQU burned in the skyline, Gravenhurst was already being taken at street level.