CHAPTER 206 — CALCULATED DEVASTATION
For a moment after the rooftop conversation, the sky felt strangely quiet.
The Jade Dragon no longer roared.
It did not charge another catastrophic beam.
Instead, the colossal creature circled slowly above the city like a storm that had learned patience. Its enormous wings moved with steady, deliberate rhythm, stirring the clouds and casting a shifting emerald shadow across districts still trying to recover from the previous attack.
Below, the city struggled to breathe again.
Emergency sirens still wailed through the streets. Firefighters dragged hoses through broken intersections. Paramedics worked frantically beside ambulances lined up along highways where evacuation traffic had stalled.
Smoke rose from several damaged buildings where the shockwaves had shattered windows and sparked small fires.
But the city was still standing.
And that meant something.
