Sera and Helena rushed forward, trying to pull the kneeling people to their feet, but it felt like dragging statues rooted into stone.
Aether's advance had forced the metallic figures backwards, yet the crowd did not move with the same urgency. Instead of fleeing, they remained on their knees, faces lifted, eyes wide, as though the battlefield had transformed into a sacred altar before them.
"Get up. You need to leave this place right now!" Sera shouted, gripping the shoulder of a man kneeling on the blood-soaked ground.
His gaze did not shift from Aether, not even when she shook him harder.
White arcs of light streaked across his pupils, reflections of the spear's motion carving through steel bodies. Every swing left behind a luminous trail that lingered in the air for a heartbeat before fading like dissolving stardust.
"I-It's fine…" the man murmured, his lips trembling while a strange smile curved across his face. He slowly turned to Sera, eyes shining with unstable devotion.
