Caelum's Order shattered, but Sylas didn't immediately press forward. The golden formations collapsed in layers around them as their relationships came apart, yet Caelum remained standing with blood at the corner of his mouth and both mechanical eyes slipping in and out of rhythm.
What interested Sylas was that none of the exhilaration had left him. If anything, Caelum seemed even more invested now than he had been before his breakthrough. He had spent years searching for a weakness in his Path, and Sylas had not only exposed one, but had then broken apart the answer Caelum formed almost immediately afterward.
For someone who valued his own evolution above most things, humiliation and opportunity could easily become the same thing. Caelum had finally found something capable of forcing him forward, and from the way his gaze remained fixed on Sylas, it was obvious he hadn't reached the point where fear outweighed ambition.
His hand moved toward his waist.
