Bones cracked. Limbs slid together. It launched itself across the hall.
Merlin didn't think. Didn't blink.
He just stepped, wind curling beneath his boots, twisting sideways, blade already drawn.
The skeleton passed him by inches.
Merlin turned with it.
Slashed once.
The blade caught under the jaw, slicing up through where a throat should've been.
The skull shattered.
The body didn't fall.
It kept moving.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Merlin muttered.
Dion choked a breath and sprinted the other way.
Another skeleton lunged.
This one faster. More stable. Not crawling, climbing.
Flint intercepted it mid-step. Two blades. No words.
The bones cracked but didn't collapse.
They came back together.
"Not dying fast enough," Flint muttered, jaw clenched.
Merlin ducked another claw swipe. His back hit Dion's shoulder.
"Stop running in circles!"
"I'm not running—I'm tactically avoiding bone stabbing!"
"Same thing!"
A ribcage slammed into Merlin's arm.
