The blade pressed deeper.
Breaking skin.
Drawing blood.
Astro's hand trembling.
High Judge forcing compliance.
Astro fighting underneath.
Neither winning.
Just frozen at the precipice.
Then our marks blazed.
Both simultaneously.
My Omega Servant symbol.
His High Judge mark.
Burning.
Searing.
Not the draining.
Something else.
Divine attention.
Luna.
The chamber shifted.
The walls lined with statues.
Luna carved in marble.
Perfect.
Beautiful.
Cold.
Dozens of them.
All facing the soul-heart.
All watching.
All witnessing.
The marble gleamed with an unnatural sheen—polished to mirror-brightness yet somehow absorbing light rather than reflecting it. Each statue stood taller than any wolf, carved with such precision that individual strands of hair seemed ready to blow in an absent wind. Their robes flowed in frozen cascades, the stone so thin in places it appeared translucent. The craftsmanship was inhuman. Perfect. Lifeless.
The statues' eyes began to glow.
