The Demon Lord swung its halberd downward.
The weapon tore through the air, dragging dust and loose stone in its wake. Kael stood directly beneath its path. Samantha lay broken in the rubble a few feet behind him. He could still move. If he threw himself aside, the halberd might miss him—but it would not miss Samantha.
Despair rolled off the twenty-meter giant, pressing against Kael's mind as heavily as its gravity. His legs trembled from blood loss. Every breath pulled at the deep gash across his chest. His Sovereign Aura was nearly gone.
But Samantha and the wounded cadets were behind him.
Kael remained exactly where he was.
His flickering golden aura snapped inward.
The scattered light compressed violently against his skin and chipped longsword. The wasteful flare disappeared, replaced by a dense, thin layer of liquid gold wrapping his body and weapon.
At the edge of the crater, Lucien saw two System notifications flash across his vision.
