Xavier kept walking long after the Glassreach Basin stopped burning behind him.
The ground shifted from shattered rock to hardened dust, then to the outer stretch of transit lanes that fed into Helior Prime. The noise of the battlefield faded gradually, replaced by the distant traffic of the city that never cared what died outside its perimeter.
He didn't hurry.
He walked until the edge of the basin gave way to an active roadway and flagged down a passing transport, one of the older civilian haulers that ran freight between the outer sectors and the city core. The driver barely glanced at him twice. Blood and scorched armor didn't stand out much in this part of Jupiter.
They rode in silence.
The city grew larger through the forward viewport, its vertical sprawl rising in layers of steel, glass, and luminous signage. Helior Prime didn't look shaken by anything that had just happened miles away.
The trip took hours.
