The cut along Icarus' flank did not close.
It remained open. Mana around the wound flickered unevenly, refusing to knit cleanly where [Morgain's Verdict] residue still lingered beneath layered damage. Blood traced downward in thin lines, dark against maroon fabric.
For the first time since the duel began, something fractured in his composure.
Frustration.
His core pulsed harder.
The violet light intensified abruptly as he forced additional output through already strained channels. The air thickened around him as he cast [Miasma Collapse] repeatedly, not in clean sequence but in irregular detonations. Compressed spheres formed at uneven intervals, some above Valttair, others along the ground, others mid-air at oblique angles. They imploded inward and burst outward in layered grey shockwaves that overlapped chaotically, turning the chamber into a trembling pressure field.
The torn ceiling vibrated.
