The men held their breath, swallowing hard as the silence stretched between them like a taut wire.
"What…?" one finally breathed.
"What the hell just happened?"
Another stumbled back a step, hands raised slightly as if to ward off something unseen.
"W-What did you do to him?" he stammered, gaze darting wildly between his fallen comrade and the boy standing calmly before them.
Ezekiel's expression didn't shift. His posture remained relaxed, almost careless, as if he hadn't just sent a grown man crumpling to the ground.
"Just protecting myself," he said, the words falling flat and unhurried.
That was when the true weight of the moment settled over them, thick and suffocating. Their eyes locked on his face, and what they saw made the blood run cold in their veins,
