Chapter 157: Ashes and Sky
Yujin fell to one knee immediately after.
She was panting. Her face pale. The circlet had stopped glowing.
But she smiled anyway.
"Worth it."
Her fingers dug into the cracked stone beneath her, trying to keep her upright. Every part of her ached — the wings, the tail, the half-shifted dragon spine that had flared to life mid-charge. The power from the divine beast form was immense, yes... but wielding it without mastery?
That was a storm she wasn’t quite ready for.
Still, the look on Rin’s face had been worth it.
Rin adjusted her stance. Her normally composed face was pinched with tension. She flexed her fingers once—and drew a weapon from her side.
A short, curved blade—not quite a dagger, not quite a sword. Something old-school, ceremonial-looking, but Yujin’s instincts screamed danger. That wasn’t a simple backup weapon.
That was the real one.
No banter. No smiles. Rin just tapped the blade once against her palm, and the air around her shimmered with faint purple distortions—waves warping light like heat rising off asphalt. The same effect she’d used earlier in short bursts, but now it was forming a perimeter around her.
Yujin narrowed her eyes. "That’s new."