Chapter 482 - Shaking News

Ludwig's body shimmered in red hues, the glow not steady but rippling like the disturbed surface of a dark tide. From every pore and vein, bloodlike streams of Aura seeped outward, not in measured rivulets but in sudden waves, as though some inner dam had broken and released a flood too long contained. The cave mouth filled with that suffocating radiance, casting its stone teeth in the light of a furnace. The air thickened, trembling with the weight of power, and even the frost clinging to the rocks hissed faintly as though resisting the heat. The metallic tang of his own energy clung to Ludwig's tongue, bitter and sharp, while his skin prickled with the static of it. The display was not meant to be subtle. It was dominance, raw and unrefined, enough to establish beyond doubt who was the alpha, who was the predator that stood against the guardians of this frozen threshold.