"NOOOOOO!" The sound tore through the silence like a wound. It wasn't just a cry of pain but the howl of a man who had watched every last glimmer of hope gutter out and die. The wretched voice echoed from within the newly-claimed lantern, each syllable reverberating against the hollow spaces of the ruined street until it seemed as though the city itself was mourning.
And then, abruptly, it ended. The wail cut off like a string snapped, leaving only the faint shimmer of light breaking apart inside the battered air. The second lantern dissolved into motes, fragments of radiance swirling like dust caught in a sunbeam. Those flecks drifted toward Ludwig's own Soul Letting Lantern, fusing into its shell with quiet inevitability, as though it had always been waiting for this moment.
For a second his own lantern felt heavier, as if it had its own existence reconfirmed.
A cascade of system text flared before his eyes.
[You have killed one of the former Apostles of Necros.]
