The chamber was silent.
Healers lined the edges of the room, their robes faintly glowing with prepared spells, yet none of them moved. Claude stood with his arms folded and jaw tight, while Henut watched with sharp, calculating eyes.
At the center of the room lay Exildra.
Her skin had lost most of its color. The cloth bandage around her ruined eye had already turned dark from the blood it had soaked earlier, though the healers had stabilized the wound as best they could.
Even so… the real battle wasn't the injury.
It was what was inside her.
Bahamut knelt beside the bed. He inhaled slowly, steadying his breathing. In his left hand rested the pale white flower they had risked their lives to obtain. The Life Rose glowed softly, its petals releasing a faint warmth that spread across his palm like gentle sunlight.
His right hand hovered above Exildra's chest.
For a moment, he didn't move.
Then the system spoke in his mind.
[The Life Rose will serve as the catalyst.]
