Kade Sutton

Combat instructor at Solmere. He opens his first class by telling the cohort what he thinks of soul abilities.

Given name from the author's notes. Ch. 260 gives only "Instructor Sutton".

The first class

Ch. 260, in the combat yard at the academy's eastern edge.

SUT: Today we establish baselines. Sword against sword, no abilities, no Alchemy. I want to see what you actually are before I spend a year teaching you to hide behind what your soul gave you for free.

He pairs Arthur against Corin Ashby, the top of every ranking, in the first round of baselines.

He stops the blade

Corin breaks the rule mid-duel and enhances his blade with Alchemy. Sutton crosses twenty feet of packed earth faster than the chapter can register.

Corin's glowing blade, already committed to its downward arc, met not Arthur's guard but Instructor Sutton's bare hand, two fingers closing around the flat of the enhanced steel and simply stopping it, dead, mid-strike, the way a person might catch a falling leaf.

The enhanced edge does not scorch his skin. He does not raise his voice.

SUT: I said no Alchemy.

SUT: You heard the instruction. You chose not to follow it. I want you to sit with why, before you offer me an explanation I haven't asked for yet.

Nothing in the chapter says what let him do that. It is the first display of adult power in Acts 12 to 14, and it is unexplained.

What he says about Arthur

Two sentences, delivered in his ordinary instructional register before moving to the next pairing.

SUT: You held your ground against an enhanced strike with an unenhanced blade and didn't lose your footing. That's worth noting.

Later, from the author's notes

The notes list "Kade's early skepticism" about Arthur as something Headmistress Seraphine's eventual recognition pays off against. Ch. 260 is not skeptical, so either the skepticism comes later or it is not the same Kade. See ../volumes/09-the-scholar.md.

Open questions

• What stopped the blade. Soul ability, Alchemy, or technique.