Elvira stared at him, eyes wide. "What?
You fought a Daemon?"
Twelve hours had passed since the other Nephirid woke up.
They had already returned to the city.
Ben had explained everything to them, just as he had planned.
He told them it had all been an illusion caused by the lingering effects of the seal.
A shared hallucination.
Everyone believed him except Kaela.
She did not fully accept his story, but with the sealed ground destroyed and no way to confirm anything, she had nothing solid to use against him.
Ben was not worried about her for now.
What mattered more to him was the other seal, the one in his soul that still protected Apophis.
"Yes," Ben said calmly. "But thankfully she was still sealed.
I used the chance to absorb her power."
He raised his palm.
Dark aether swirled up from his skin.
"See this?" he said with a small grin. "This is just a fraction of what I took from her."
Elvira's eyes lit up the instant the dark aether appeared.
