"Get out of the way. I'll kill you all. Don't block the way."
The man who shouted it ran like his lungs were on fire. Petrus, owner of Ledgegrove Bazaar, the one who had fed that monster and skimmed its Vision Crystals like cream off milk.
Those crystals had carried him from a young alchemy aspirant to a master.
Magnate was not a stretch. He had climbed in a decade and a half, and he had stepped on enough hands to keep his boots clean.
Now he was sprinting out of Spendworth Hills, fresh from a meeting with the other city owners, trying to reach the broken summit before the last nail went in.
He did not make it to the edge before two figures blocked him.
Corneal, owner of Spendworth Hills, stood planted like a gate with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
Theo of Silvertoll Summits leaned beside him, rolling his shoulders, knuckles already flexing like he was warming up.
"I. I. I can explain everything. It wasn't my doing," Petrus pleaded.
