The monsters came in a wave, and I met them with a wave of light.
It was not the controlled bursts I had used on the ridgeline, not the focused beams that had saved Runa in the trial. It was something else entirely—a flood, a tide, a sun erupting in the darkness. The golden light poured from my hands, from my eyes, from the very core of my being, and it did not stop. It could not stop.
The first creature lunged at me, claws extended, maw gaping, and the light caught it mid-leap. Its flesh began to smoke, then to blacken, then to crumble. It fell at my feet, a heap of ash and bone, and the light did not dim. It blazed brighter.
