Silence did not come all at once.
It arrived in fragments. In the lowering of weapons, in the ragged breaths finally released, in the way no one dared move too quickly as if the world itself might snap again.
The portal remained.
It looks like a vast, torn wound in space. Its edges shimmered with light. Beyond it lay darkness… and the path outside.
And somewhere beyond that—
The Red Dragon and the Dark Shade.
Alive.
That knowledge settled over the chamber like ash.
Some stared at the portal with hollow eyes.
Others clenched their fists in silence.
A Lunareth maiden exhaled slowly.
"…They escaped."
A Starforge engineer laughed once.
"Escaped? No. They retreated."
"That's worse," someone replied quietly.
No one argued.
They all understood what had almost happened.
And what would happen... eventually.
Everyone wore a strange face.
The black-robed leader stood apart from the others, his back half-turned to the battlefield.
Lucien noticed him immediately.
