Caerleon finished taking itself back.
The rebuilt containment structure sealed around the whole core, the risen soldiers stood frozen in their unbroken lines, and then the entire chamber dissolved into white transport light before any of it could start moving again.
The Waiting Room held them for a moment, the way it always did, and the System did its silent work. Wounds closed, mana refilled, the exhaustion of six hours lifted off their shoulders, and the pressure that had lived behind James's eyes since Greybridge finally drained away.
Then the light set them down in the Hale Estate basement, on the same stone floor they had left from.
Their bodies were whole, but their gear told the truth. Finn's armour carried the commander's two cuts, Ronan's shield was gouged from rim to boss, Maeve's focus was cracked along one edge, and James's coat still had the tear where a Redfield blade had found his ribs. The System healed Challengers, and it let their equipment keep the receipts.
