The group returned to the Demon Capital in silence. The skies above the obsidian spires churned with slow-moving clouds of ember-red mana, massive sigils rotating far above the city as reality settled back into place from Jax's teleportation.
The moment space unsealed, demonic sentries dropped to one knee across the capital's upper districts, sensing his return before they ever saw him.
Jax stepped forward first, Alexi slung over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. She was unconscious, her own blood completely dried against her temple and her lips. Her breathing was shallow but steady, her mana pathways were in complete disarray.
The backlash from having her spell forcibly terminated had left her hollowed out, her consciousness drifting in and out, flashes of memory bleeding into one another without order. Every time she stirred, the pressure of demonic authority pressed her back down into helplessness.
