The destruction of the Abyssal Bone Demon Emperor's Primordial Core left behind a sudden, catastrophic vacuum in the subterranean cavern. The absolute, suffocating pressure that had driven the Imperial Vanguard to their knees evaporated, replaced by an unstable, wildly fluctuating atmospheric density. The air tasted of scorched ozone and vaporized marrow. Plumes of acrid, black smoke rose from the charred crater where the skeletal behemoth had collapsed into a mountain of brittle, gray ash.
Corbin collapsed against the jagged obsidian floor. The heavy, protective layers of his 'Unyielding Warlord Physique' had entirely burned out. Without the system-augmented durability, his mortal flesh bore the full, catastrophic recoil of his physical exertions. Deep, jagged lacerations crisscrossed his chest, the exposed muscle fibers twitching with involuntary, violent tremors. His lungs drew in the toxic air in short, ragged gasps, his breath whistling through a throat raw from screaming.
