Armin rose silently from his seated position.
The room had turned bitterly cold, and perhaps, the Spirit realized his identity as frost suddenly crept along the windowpanes despite the summer air outside.
Soon, the spirit hovered in the center of the room… She had mournful eyes gazing not at him, but at something beyond…
"Why… did you leave me…?" she whispered again, her voice didn't seem to be from her mouth, but it was also not some sort of telepathy… It felt somewhere between the two.
In any case, Armin slowly raised his hand, not in attack, but in recognition.
He wasn't just seeing her. He was reading her.
The trails of residual soul energy left across the floorboards, the emotional resonance in the corners of the room, the faint shiver of cold air not because of the weather but from grief… With his various trainings, he read it all and analyzed his situation…
'She's emotionally anchored. Strong. Her soul was only fractured, but not yet dissipated. I should be safe.'
