Damon narrowed his eyes.
"No curse?"
"No."
"No hidden test where backing down means I failed?"
"No."
"No gate exploding, mountain collapsing, or monster appearing because I decided to use common sense?"
The guardian took a few seconds.
"No."
"You thought before answering."
"Because monsters may appear regardless of your choice."
Damon sighed.
"Great. Very reassuring."
A few steps behind him, Aria covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
Ester did not find it funny.
She was still watching Damon as though expecting him to collapse at any moment now that the Heavenly Body was no longer responding automatically.
Jian Yue, however, was not paying attention to the conversation at all.
His eyes remained fixed on the guardian.
Now that the helmet was open, the resemblance between them was impossible to ignore.
The shape of the eyes.
The line of the jaw.
Even the way they held their shoulders rigid seemed to have survived across generations.
