The light from Leo's power devoured everything.
Gold. White. Fire. Soundless destruction swallowing the cavern whole.
For one heartbeat, there was nothing but the roar of raw, unrestrained fury — then silence dropped like an axe.
A sharp, ringing silence.
A silence too deep to be natural.
Then—
The light collapsed violently back into Leo's body.
The cavern returned.
But it was no longer the same cavern.
Half the walls had melted into glass.
The lake had evaporated down to a steaming crater.
The pillars were gone — all of them — reduced to stumps of molten stone.
And the army?
Mostly ash.
Those who hadn't turned to dust lay unconscious, bodies twitching from the shock of the blast.
Leo stood at the center of it all, breathing hard, golden fire flickering across his shoulders like broken wings.
The priestess lay several meters away, burned, cracked, barely conscious — her black aura sputtering like a dying flame.
Leo didn't look at her.
