The smoke hadn't cleared yet.
Beneath the staircase of reinforced granite and forgotten wards, four figures crouched in the dark, breaths ragged, shoulders heaving. The scent of sulfur clung to their cloaks, clashing with the sterile tang of alchemical solvents they had just unleashed. It was the type of chemical cocktail only someone like Eclipse could have concocted—volatile but non-lethal, enough to send the Church's guards into panic without killing a single soul. The Sisters had tested it for days in their corner of the ruined lab, until they were certain it wouldn't hurt anyone.
Because that mattered to them.
Even now, even after everything.
Jun pressed her back to the wall, exhaling hard. "Three seconds longer and we would've been soup."
"Speak for yourself," Bell muttered, twisting the ring on her finger. Her eyes glinted with lingering adrenaline. "Eclipse said it wouldn't combust. Just... smell intimidating."
