Edward lunged forward, blade drawn back for the killing strike.
Auren knelt before the altar, blood pooling around his knees, a wild grin still carved across his face. The crimson lines burned through the floor, flaring brighter with every beat of Edward's heart.
He was one breath away from ending it—one swing from stopping whatever madness the ritual had become—when the world sround him detonated.
Every crimson ring across the city ignited at once.
Flames erupted through stone and timber, bursting upward in pillars of red fire. The church shook violently, its stained glass windows shattering into shards of molten light.
Then came the explosion.
The blast tore through the chamber like a storm. Edward was thrown back, his body hitting the floor hard enough to crack the stone beneath him. He caught only glimpses of movement—his shadow summons throwing themselves over him, their bodies splitting into ink and smoke as the roof caved in.
