"Kill the static!"
The command sliced through the air, amplified by the unseen speaker, resonating not just in my ears, but in the fillings of my teeth. The crowd of fifty teenagers, their eyes glowing with that eerie violet light, surged forward.
It wasn't a charge. It was a wave. A chaotic, desperate mosh pit of blank faces and flailing limbs. The air in the Rabbit Hole live house, already thick with the scent of dry ice, cheap perfume, and nervous sweat, now tasted of metallic aggression. The strobe lights, pulsing red and blue, turned the advancing horde into a disorienting, epileptic nightmare.
"Non-lethal!" I bellowed, stepping forward, pushing Liza behind me. "Akemi! Protect Liza! I'll take point!"
"Understood!" Akemi's voice, surprisingly clear amidst the din, cut through the sonic chaos. She drew her [Ghost Walker's Bokken], the silver shimmer of its enchantment a faint, reassuring glow in the gloom.
The first wave hit me.
