The road north from the burning plains was a welcome change of scenery. Cool, damp air replaced the ash, and the ground underfoot turned from black glass to soft, springy moss. Lin Tian walked at the head of their small column, feeling the steady hum of the Link Pentagon in his core like a well-tuned instrument.
"I'm just saying," Lu Cang grumbled from behind him, adjusting the strap of his new spear, "a monarch implies a ruler. You don't get a title like 'Void Monarch' by being some random beast in a cave."
"Maybe it's not a title it gave itself," Su Lan suggested, walking beside Lin Tian with her usual measured pace. "Maybe it's what the survivors called it. The thing that rules the emptiness."
Xueya moved up on Lin Tian's other side, her presence a gentle chill. "The System called it a threat to universal resonance. That suggests intelligence, not just hunger."
