Moments later,

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The combat exercise was meant to be low-stakes - nothing more than basic formation practice, for younger students who had not yet mastered full shifting. They were paired in groups of four, working through simple defensive drills against enchanted training dummies that moved slow and struck soft.

Lycian was leading his group, as he usually did. He signaled clearly, adjusted their positions when the dummies shifted, and stepped in to cover a younger boy who stumbled. Everything was calm, controlled, exactly as it should have been.

Then one of the dummies malfunctioned. It lunged faster than it was supposed to, its wooden arm swinging hard straight for...