Meanwhile, in Grandins, the floating city of the demihumans.
White light bloomed inside its teleportation chamber.
Unlike Astraea's pristine starsteel halls, this chamber was carved from living stone and adorned with banners of fur, fang, and feather—symbols of the many demihumans of the past that called Grandins home.
Three figures emerged.
Ragnar.
Rovan.
Rina.
They didn't fall.
They didn't bleed.
They stood upright as the teleportation glow peeled away from their bodies, cloaks fluttering slightly as residual mana dispersed into the air.
For half a heartbeat, the chamber attendants froze.
Then—
"They're uninjured."
"But they came without anyone."
"Does it mean that the one who made the alarm blare was an enemy?"
Low murmurs spread instantly. Relief. Doubt. Confusion.
Everyone in the teleportation room knew what Ragnar and the twins' mission had been.
