The dust hadn't yet settled when Aris dropped to one knee, chest heaving, knuckles white around her baton. The floor beneath her hummed—faintly, unevenly—but this time, it didn't resist her. It had heard her. Felt her pulse. And for one fleeting instant, the Obliette had acknowledged something foreign:
Belonging.
Leon stepped up beside her and offered a gloved hand.
She didn't hesitate this time.
As he helped her to her feet, the others slowly gathered around the fading echo of the shattered Form-Eater. It was gone, reduced to nothing but a hovering glyph, spinning gently above the cracked ground like an old memory refusing to leave.
"You've done something we didn't think possible," Roselia murmured, watching the black sigil trace lazy loops through the air.
"Let the Tower remember this," Liliana whispered.
Milim stretched her arms overhead, grinning. "Told you she'd do something loud."
