They did not celebrate the survival of their projection fight
The border field still smelt of burning law and spilt blood when the last of the residual pressure faded. Lucifer kept his footing by stubbornness rather than strength. The wound across his ribs leaked freely despite the hurried seals Anita had been forced to use. Damaris remained half collapsed against Lilith, gold light under his skin still flickering in unstable waves. Nyx's darkness hung thinner than normal. Rhazor's damaged wing dripped heat onto the broken stone. No one looked victorious, they looked like people who had just been told the clock had been set on fire.
Lucian's voice came through the channel, stripped of any extra. "Palace lattice confirms the orb pattern change. The climb is no longer steady. It is steep. Whatever the being did when it left, it removed the slow schedule on purpose."
