The hall held its breath, everywhere around Elizabeth.
Leon kept his focus fixed on her as the last lingering tremors of mana around her finally settled.
The moment her aura snapped into place, a surge of dragon might flooded the chamber.
It rolled through the air in a wave so sharp that even the stone under their feet seemed to tense. No one blamed her.
That kind of force wasn't summoned; it leaked out on instinct, like the growl of an apex predator waking up.
Leon watched her silhouette steady and watched the rippling air calm down enough for him to truly see her.
The shift in her rank showed immediately.
She had already stepped into the divine stage on her own, but now the jump was unmistakable. Entry S-rank to peak S-rank in a single push.
Her three cores thrummed beneath her skin, each pulse carrying a different rhythm, mana, draconic force and origin energy folding into one another.
But something else lived around her too.
