The night held its breath.

The sigil circle burned above the clearing, transforming the battlefield into sacred ground.

No longer a place of slaughter.

Now a court.

Ancient figures emerged from the Dominion ranks, robed magistrates, elder adjudicators, and silent record-keepers whose eyes glowed with centuries of memory. They did not belong to Valerius. They did not belong to the Dominion.

They belonged to the Law.

A tall adjudicator stepped forward, his voice carrying the stillness of ...