Nyx left Dockside before dawn.
No announcement.
No argument.
Just a message left on Alpha's desk.
If they want proof, they'll manufacture it. I won't let it be here.
Alpha read it once.
Then folded it carefully.
[Guardian Anchor: Stress Spike — Deferred]
Rex burst in moments later. "She's gone."
"I know," Alpha said.
"She shouldn't be alone," Rex said.
Alpha's jaw tightened. "She won't be."
By midday, the Registry moved.
A controlled incident.
A registered cultivator escorting evacuees through a transit hub—live cameras rolling.
Nyx stepped out of the crowd.
She felt it instantly.
The registered technique in the air—tight, efficient, provocative.
Designed to interact with Null Weave.
[Trigger Pattern Detected: Induced Feedback Scenario]
The man smiled calmly.
"Subject Nyx," he said gently. "You're causing disturbances."
People began filming.
Fear spread.
Nyx raised her hands. "I'm not doing anything."
The cultivator activated his technique.
Feedback slammed outward.
People screamed.
Glass shattered.
Nyx cried out as the reflected force tore through her nervous system.
[Null Weave: Defensive Reflex — Overload]
Energy flared.
Uncontrolled.
Not aimed.
The cameras caught everything.
"See?" the man said loudly. "She's unstable!"
Nyx collapsed to her knees, blood on her lips.
Across the city, feeds exploded.
NULL-WEAVE SUBJECT CONFIRMED HAZARD
DOCKSIDE LEADER'S ALLY CAUSES PUBLIC INCIDENT
Alpha felt it like a knife.
Guardian Anchor roared.
[Violation Detected: Engineered Harm — Authority Abuse]
He moved.
Not running.
Arriving.
The transit hub locked down as Alpha stepped into existence—space stiffening around him.
The registered cultivator froze.
"What did you do?" the man whispered.
Alpha looked at him.
"You used civilians as bait," Alpha said.
The cameras were still rolling.
Good.
Alpha turned to them.
"This," he said calmly, "is what fear looks like when it wears a badge."
He knelt beside Nyx.
She looked up weakly. "I chose… didn't I?"
Alpha nodded. "You chose people."
He stood.
Guardian Anchor expanded—not crushing, not violent.
Revealing.
The feedback pattern unraveled visibly.
The setup became obvious.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
[Public Perception Shift: Manipulation Exposed]
Sirens wailed—this time not Registry.
Civil authorities.
The registered cultivator backed away, panicked.
"You can't—"
Alpha didn't touch him.
He didn't have to.
The man's technique collapsed inward.
Self-contained.
Harmless.
Broken.
[Registered Technique: Revoked — Live]
Alpha lifted Nyx carefully.
To the cameras, he said one thing:
"She is not your weapon."
Then he was gone.