Victor had already braced himself for the worst when the blinding light began to fade.
From the thinning smoke of the blast, Amara Rosavere stepped forward, her silhouette cutting through the haze.
She coughed under her breath, one hand gripping the artifact tightly while the other hovered near her face, as if trying to ward off the lingering dust and heat.
"S-sorry, cough, cough… using this artifact in a closed space… not exactly ideal, it seems," she muttered, her voice slightly strained as she waved her hand in front of her face, pushing away the drifting smoke that clung stubbornly to the air.
Victor blinked, his vision adjusting as the last of the brightness settled.
What came into view made his brow twitch.
A metallic structure, something akin to a mech-suit, lay completely shattered across the podium, its fragments scattered like torn armour after a battlefield collapse.
She had just… actually demonstrated that in a closed space.
