With thousands of water spears screamed through the air, sharp and condensed to lethal density, each one carrying enough force to impale stone, let alone flesh. They converged toward a single point toward Selena, who remained on her knees amid fractured pavement and drifting dust. She did not look up. She did not sense them. Or perhaps she did, and simply did not care. Her shoulders trembled faintly, head bowed, tears slipping unchecked down her cheeks as her world imploded inward. Razeal married. The words echoed inside her skull like a curse she could not undo. It drowned out everything else danger, instinct, survival. The holy aura that once roared around her now flickered weakly, unstable and unfocused, responding more to emotional collapse than defensive will. The shock had consumed her completely. In her mind, she wasn't in the capital anymore. She was standing alone before the ruins of her own future, watching it burn in silence.
In that same sliver of time, Sofia descended.
