While Noah and the others were finishing up, someone else was still struggling with the aftermath.
Verkesh hadn't moved from where he fell; his body still felt heavy from the earlier blow. But it wasn't the pain that kept him there; it was everything that had just happened.
Ethaniel becoming something else entirely, the power he gained, the way he carried himself as if he was, and yet no longer was the same Ethaniel he once knew.
Then Noah ended it without hesitation. There wasn't a struggle, and there wasn't even a moment where it felt like Ethaniel had a chance.
He was simply destroyed.
But even that wasn't what stayed with him the most, because what came after was something he couldn't push out of his mind.
The moment Noah stripped his soul from his core.
He could still see it clearly, as if it was happening right in front of him again. No matter how much he tried to focus on anything else, his thoughts kept pulling him back to it.
And then to her.
Gwen.
