For one heartbeat, there was nothing.
No light. No sound. No thought.
Then the world hit them at once.
The shattered barrier burst into sparks. Bandits surged through the smoke like screaming shadows. Fire leapt from broken carts, painting the courtyard in violent orange. Defenders who still lived scattered in panic, stumbling over bodies and rubble.
Shunya felt Naomi buckle beside him. He grabbed her instinctively, pulling her against him before she could fall.
"Naomi!"
Her breath hitched. Her sword dangled from her hand, its tip dragging the dirt. She was still conscious— but barely.
"I… can still move," she muttered, though her knees disagreed.
Vikoria staggered on Shunya's other side, her staff flickering with sparks instead of light. She looked like someone barely holding on to a waking dream.
"Shunya…" she whispered. "We have to go. We can not fight anymore."
He knew she was right as everyone had reached their limits.
He also knew Naomi would never say it herself.
