Chapter 67 - Return to the core of the Nightmares

The window to Ray's room slid open without a sound, letting in the damp, salt-kissed night air of Chittagong. Silently, Ray vaulted over the sill and dropped toward the dark ground below. From the neck down, his body was completely encased in Valerie's living armor—a sleek, multi-segmented shell of dense, pitch-black organic plating that hummed faintly with compressed spirit energy, leaving only his head exposed to the cool breeze. Slung over his shoulder, the heavy scabbard housing Katarina's blue-sapphire sword form remained dead silent, masking her immense spirit signature.