Dawn bled gray over the Forgotten Atlanta Expanse.
The south wall still stood, though barely. Whole sections leaned on nothing but Clayton's roots. Arrows jutted from cracked stone even as blood stained the moss in dark patches.
And beyond it, the Verdant Warden Thorn Crown Behemoth still waited.
It hadn't retreated. It hadn't collapsed. Instead of retreating, it stood in the ruins of the outer field, chest heaving, sap leaking from wounds that should have killed anything else. Its ember eyes burned through the haze of smoke and ash.
It was daring them.
Clayton watched from the parapet, Regalia in hand, his body aching with every heartbeat. His people were battered after the grueling battle against this beast, but they weren't broken. Not yet.
"We can't outlast it," Soren said, jaw clenched, his white-hot Emberblade resting against the wall. "It's not bleeding out fast enough."
