The boy's body did not just died peacefully. It began to dissolve.
Cracks spread across his small frame like fragile porcelain breaking apart. Light seeped through the fractures, pale and weak at first, then it became brighter. The shattered armor crumbled into dust, drifting away on a wind that did not exist.
The green smoke leaked out in thin strands, no longer violent or corrosive, only… tired, as if finally released from its duty.
Then the body collapsed inward.
The flesh did not turn to ash, but something deeper unraveling. The smoke was pulled toward the center of where his chest had been, condensing, spiraling, and shrinking. A low pulse echoed once through the ruined ground.
Clyde's eyes narrowed.
From the fading remains, something solid emerged.
It hovered for a moment before dropping into Clyde's open hand with weight far heavier than its size suggested.
A Demon artifact.
Clyde frowned, his brow tightening as understanding struck him.
