Zeph stood in the unsealing chamber, his body shrinking back to its normal six-foot frame as the Soul Mark's power drained away like water through a sieve.
Purple hair faded to black with silver streaks. Claws retracted into normal nails. The overwhelming strength that had let him shatter buildings with casual gestures simply… stopped.
The storage ring lay on the floor between him and the two wounded summoners, tantalizingly close and impossibly far.
Heat flooded the tunnel system. Marcus had entered the Bazaar.
The gaunt summoner, bleeding from his severed arm, smiled through the pain. "Out of time, anomaly. Out of power. Out of luck."
The chitinous one pulled himself upright, black beetles sealing the massive wound in his chest. "We'll take the ring. You can die here."
