Chapter 60: No Words
The sun of Barovik did not rise. It leaked.
The morning light streamed across the rooftops like a truth no one wanted to see—yellowed, dirty, too late. And yet, everyone was there. Gathered around the Central Square, surrounding what remained of the statue of Eldros, now reduced to a cracked, headless torso.
Eren stood on the steps of the Order’s ancient altar. The marble burned beneath his boots, his hands clasped behind his back. Behind him, Kaela, Morwynn, Nyssa, and Sylha occupied the four cardinal points of chaos, motionless, as if forming the vertices of a new world about to be born.
And kneeling in front, wrapped in weakened runic chains, was Hagan.
Without the ritual robe. Without the blind crown. Just skin covered with sacred scars and the lost gaze of a man who did not know where he had buried his own soul.
The crowd did not speak.
They did not need to.
Mana mirrors floated in the air, recording everything. The secret guild The Core watched in real time. Citizens trembled in silence. Former acolytes of the Order hid behind poles, walls, veils of shame. No one dared to interrupt.
Eren sighed. He didn’t like having to say grandiose things to such a large audience. He could do it, in fact, but he always got fed up when he had to.
But Eren spoke anyway, so maybe he would gain some reputation.
"Look closely."
The voice was not loud. But it carried a different timbre—dense, resonant, almost physical. The kind of voice that makes your neck obey even before your mind processes it.