There were so many ways this could have gone.
Frankly, Xavier had been preparing for a stabbing the moment he stepped inside.
But when his eyes fell on Luca's crumpled form in the corner of the room, all his thoughts flew straight to D-29's earlier warnings.
Without a word, and without waiting for permission, he strode inside. His polished boots clacked sharply against the floor as he rushed forward.
And then, upon emerging from the hallway, he saw it.
The Duke and Duchess pressed tightly against the far wall, their expressions grim, a faint spiritual barrier shimmering around them.
It didn't take a genius to figure out why no one had called the doctors.
They couldn't.
Not when the air was so heavy and charged that it felt like trying to breathe through water, the wild, suffocating force of Luca's spiritual energy spilling unchecked into the space.
Even seasoned veterans would struggle to stand in this room. So it followed that most people simply wouldn't survive it.
