The chamber was strangely quiet.
At least compared to earlier.
Most of the cultists were on the floor.
Some unconscious.
Some groaning.
Some questioning their life choices.
One man was somehow upside down inside a crate.
Nobody knew how that happened.
Not even Andre.
He had stopped keeping track.
Andre stood in the middle of the battlefield.
Breathing heavily.
Covered in cuts.
His shirt was torn.
One sleeve was gone.
His knuckles were bleeding.
But he was still standing.
Meanwhile—
Kai wasn't.
Fais stood over Kai's unconscious body.
Looking down at him.
Disappointed.
"I expected more."
Nearby, Eric finally found the courage to move.
The architect carefully stepped forward.
Very carefully.
As in—
The kind of careful movement someone makes around a sleeping dragon.
"Um..."
Fais glanced at him.
Eric immediately regretted existing.
"Nothing."
The architect stepped backward.
Fais returned his attention to Kai.
The battle was over.
Or at least—
It should have been.
The captain reached down.
Grabbing Kai by the front of his shirt.
Lifting him effortlessly.
Kai dangled like a broken doll.
Blood stained his clothes.
His head hung forward.
Unmoving.
Fais raised his right gauntlet.
The golden one.
Power gathered in his arm.
Eric's eyes widened.
"Oh."
"That's bad."