Nathan stood completely alone in the ruins of the Origin.
The Shepherd was gone. The heavy, black throne was nothing but dust blowing in the dead wind. The World was finally silent. Nathan looked down at his own hands—the hands that gripped Moonlight, the hands that fired the final arrow, the hands that now carried the raw, thrumming power of the Overlord. The new magic was a warm, steady fire inside his chest. It was just sitting there, waiting for him.
He heard fast, heavy footsteps crunching in the ash.
"NATHAN!"
Mirko crashed into him a second later. She was back in her tall, human form, and she wrapped her arms around his neck with enough C-Rank force to actually knock him back a step. She buried her face in his shoulder. Her pink eyes were wet with tears she was absolutely never going to admit to crying.
"You just disappeared!" Mirko choked out, holding him tighter. "The light swallowed you... we couldn't feel the link... we thought you were dead!"
