Clara's body dropped without any resistance. Her strength disappears in a single, irreversible moment as if it had never existed in the first place.
When her body hit the ground, the impact sounded dull beneath the chaos of the battlefield, yet it carried a finality that cut through everything around it.
Blood spread beneath her rapidly, dark and thick, seeping into the dirt and forming a widening pool that swallowed the space around her as though the ground had opened to consume her.
Her eyes remained wide open. Frozen in a moment she never managed to understand. Filled with despair, anger, and shock that lingered even after life had already left her body.
Rafe let out a sigh as he watched her for a second, then shifted his gaze toward the spearwoman on the ground in front of him.
The woman forced her injured body to stand. Her muscles strained as she tried to push herself upright.
"You…" she said. She paused for a moment before continuing, "Thanks, I guess."
