Chapter 8: Is Almost Ever Enough?

Tensions erupt in the training room as Charlotte dominates spar after spar—until a near-lethal move reveals just how dangerous she really is. Banter turns personal when the squad teases her connection to Cornelius, but things take a sharp turn when Miss Charlie drops the bomb: the campus is on lockdown. A vigilante is on the loose—violent, calculated, and maybe just a little too familiar. And then Cornelius strolls in—late, high, and defiant. A fight brews not on the mat, but between him and Charlotte, and when words finally cut deeper than fists, everything breaks. By nightfall, Cornelius is gone—into the shadows of District 0, whispering promises to the dead and hunting ghosts with vengeance in his veins.