"One day, you'll understand what you've truly freed."
Her heart tightened, but she said nothing.
For now, she would let the gods celebrate their hollow victory.
***
The heavy clang of metal echoed faintly in the distant corridors of the fortress. The air was thick with the acrid scent of gunpowder and scorched mana. Ling Yu's vision flickered as she leaned against Xie Lingzhou's arm, her once snow-white robes torn and stained with blood and ash. Her breathing was shallow, her skin pale under the dim light of the evening sun that filtered through the fractured skylight.
The chaos of the divine anchor's collapse had just settled, but the sound of collapsing debris still rolled like distant thunder. The entire operation had been brutal, monsters, corrupted beasts, and the very essence of the anchor fighting back until its final moment. Ling Yu, despite her grievous wounds, had stood till the end, severing the anchor's core with her own hands while drenched in its miasmic residue.
