CHAPTER 135 — THE LAB BENEATH THE ANCHOR
For a long moment after the Black Steel Dragon fell—
No one moved.
Steel fragments lay scattered across the cavern floor like the remains of a fallen god. The molten glow that had once pulsed within its chest faded completely, leaving only dull, inert metal.
The anchor above dimmed from violent white to stable silver.
Quiet.
True quiet.
Not the tense silence of waiting.
The silence of something finished.
Colby was the first to break it.
"So…" he coughed, pushing rubble off his chest. "We killed it, right?"
Marek groaned from where he lay half-buried. "If it gets back up, I'm quitting."
Zehell exhaled slowly.
She was still half-supporting Long Hao, his weight leaning into her shoulder.
"You alive?" she asked quietly.
"Unfortunately," he replied hoarsely.
She almost smiled.
Almost.
He straightened slowly, though his movements were stiff. Every breath pulled at bruised ribs. His core felt… raw. Not broken.
But used.
Inside—
