Smoke still hung over the city like a second sky.
Lucen sat on the remains of a collapsed billboard, legs dangling, blood dripping from his sleeve onto the rubble below. Hunters rushed through the streets around him, hauling stretchers, shouting coordinates, trying to make order out of ruin. Sirens wailed. Drones cut low over the wreckage, floodlights sweeping broken towers.
He just…watched.
[Corruption Load: 92%]
[System Stability: Critical.]
His vision still flickered at the edges, red warnings ghosting behind every blink. His mantle had burned out like a dying star, leaving his veins thrumming with static and pain.
Selindra was barking orders at a squad of A-ranks across the plaza, her coat torn, braid matted with soot. Every few seconds her eyes flicked toward him, sharp and suspicious, before snapping back to the work.
Varik hadn't moved. He stood near the fallen husk of a transport, blade planted in broken asphalt, watching Lucen with that same hammered-steel expression.
